I Can’t Sleep - Kaladin | Gentle Bedtime Reading for Sleep

Episode Date: August 18, 2024

Unwind with this calm bedtime reading about Kaladin, one of the central characters from Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive. Benjamin’s soothing narration explores Kaladin’s journey, his struggles, and his growth throughout the series, all delivered in a steady and comforting cadence. With fact-filled storytelling—no whispers, no hypnosis—this episode is designed to ease insomnia, reduce stress, and quiet restless thoughts while you gently learn. Perfect for sleepless nights, fantasy fans, or anyone seeking calm reflection. Press play, close your eyes, and drift into peaceful rest with the story of Kaladin. Want More? Request a Topic: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/request-a-topic Ad-Free Episodes: https://icantsleep.supportingcast.fm/ Shop Sleep-Friendly Products: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/sponsors Join the Discussion on Discord: https://discord.gg/myhGhVUhn7 This content is derived from the Coppermind Wiki article on Kaladin, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. Read the full article: Coppermind Wiki – Kaladin. Happy sleeping! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to a Glassbox media podcast. What if I told you that most of the modern day self-help advice you've been hearing could actually make you worse? The key to a better life isn't about feel-good gimmicks that sound catchy. The Mentally Stronger Podcast gives you access to a licensed therapist who shares science-backed tools that will actually change your life. Hi, I'm Amy Morin, psychotherapist, mental strength trainer, and international best-selling author. In each episode, we cover research-back strategies, like how to stop relying on willpower and start creating habits for lasting change. And the five mental strength-building exercises you can do from your couch.

I also speak to world-class experts like Dr. Nicole Kane, who shares how to permanently heal anxiety by addressing the root cause. With over 200 episodes in our catalog, this podcast is for you if you're ready to crush self-doubt, conquer challenges, and become stronger than ever with therapist-approved strategies that can change your life. Listen to Mentally Stronger with Therapist Amy Morin, wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back or welcome to the I Can't Sleep podcast, where I read random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice. I'm your host, Benjamin Boster. Today's episode is about a character named Caledon from the Stormlight Arch

Archive by Brandon Sanderson. Caledon, nicknamed Caledon, renowned as Caledon Stormblest, is a windrunner of the Knights Radiant from Althcar. Despite being trained as a surgeon from an early age by his father, his chosen profession is that of a soldier. He is famed as the captain of High Prince Dallanar Colon's personal guard, a unit known as Bridge Four,

commander of the Bridgman Battalion, and High Marshal of the Order of Windrunners. Caledon has known adversity and loss throughout his life. He has suffered repeated oppression and betrayal by the light-eyed nobility, including being driven from his home by the city lord of his hometown as a teenager and being sold in his slavery by the commander of his army. Caledin has also been unable to save numerous patients, comrades, subordinates, and even his brother Tian from death.

Despite these challenges, or perhaps because of them, Caledin is driven to protect others. Utilizing his skills as a surgeon, he attempts to save as many lives as possible. As a soldier, he rescued thousands of soldiers during the Battle of the Tower, liberated a thousand bridgemen, and defended Dallinar Colin and King Ellicar Colin from numerous assassins. He is bonded with the honors friend Sifrena, more commonly known as Scylvan, This bond allows him to discover his powers as a surge binder and destiny as a member of the Knights Radiant, an order which has been defunned ever since the days of recreants. Caledon, along with Dallinar Colin, Renarin Colin, and Shalandavar, is one of the new founding

members of the Knights Radiant in centuries. Their public revelation during the Battle of Noroc serves as a catalyst for the re-founding of the Knights Radiant. After the refounding of the Knights Radiant, Caledon helped the expansion of the Knights Radiant by taking on Bridge Four as squires, with most of them eventually becoming knights themselves. Caledin is a very tall man,

even tall by Alessi standards, standing approximately 6 feet 4 inches in Rocharan feet, nearly seven Cosmere standard feet. He is leanly muscular and has multiple scars on his body. He has tan skin and shoulder-length wavy black hair, typical of anilethy. He was born with dark brown eyes, though, after swearing the third ideal of the windrunners, his eyes turn a pale, glowing blue whenever he summons sill as a shard blade, and for a few hours after he dismisses her.

Like most Risharan's, Caledon's eyes have an epicantic fold. His face is square and firm with strong lines and a proud chin. He prefers to be clean-shaven, but during his time as a slave, he grows a long, scraggly beard. He is branded on his forehead, with a sass-non-gly-pair indicating his slavery and a shash-cliff, meaning dangerous. These brands disappeared after Caledon swore the fourth ideal. Caledon is a natural leader, who inspires belief and confidence in his men. His squad members in Amram's army call him lucky and believe that being in his squad grants him supernatural protection.

Caledon also transformed Bridge 4 from a dejected and despondent group with the worst reputation into a highly motivated and effective fighting force. Delinar Colin remarks that his men are remarkably loyal and think very highly of him. Ever since childhood, Caledon has had a strong protective instinct, which only grows once he begins discovering and swearing the immortal words. He uses his medical skills to save people, first as an apprentice surgeon and later as a battlefield medic. As a youth, he joins the army so he can look after his younger brother Tian.

As a squad leader in Amiram's army, he recruits the youngest members with the least training to his squad so that he can train and protect them. As captain of Dallinard's personal guard, he protects Dallinar and the king from assassins on multiple occasions. Caledon draws a black and white distinction between light eyes and dark eyes, harboring a deep resentment and distrust for virtually all light eyes, fueled by the betrayals of people like Roshone, Amram, and Kateratam. Ironically, Caledon himself is noted to have many light-eyed qualities.

Many characters remark that Caledon has the bearing of a light-eyes, meaning a leader or noble, since the term light-eyes encompasses these qualities in the Alethe language. And others have noted that Caledon sounds like a light-eyed name rather than a dark-eyed name. Further, when Caledon comes into his true power as a knight-radient, he becomes light-eyed. Caledon despises these qualities in himself because they make him more similar to light-eyes. eye-dyes. During his recent struggles, Caledon shows hostility and resentment, although at times his wit, sarcasm, and intelligence show through. He appears to have got his sense of humor from his mother, and is constantly questioning the world around him. He dislikes beards, finds the way that they itch at the corner of his mouth to be annoying. Due to this, he tries to shave his own whenever he can.

He finds the Voron insistence on gender norms to be ridiculous and doesn't expect anyone to live up to them, questioning why people mock others like Ranaran for not being the traditional masculine ideal. However, he does seem to still believe in them and the dichotomy they enforce on how one's role in society. He simply doesn't enforce them himself. Caledon has the ability to manipulate the surges of adhesion and gravitation through his nail bond, with the Honor Spren Silfrenna. By breathing in stormlight, he gains superhuman strength, speed, agility, durability, stamina, and healing.

While his honor spren is present with him, his movements are enhanced by her, which Caledin describes as being guided by the wind. This gives Caledin a superior natural fighting talent, although it does not replace skill by itself. Caledon often refers to his powers as the three lashings. The full lashing is sticking objects together with adhesion. It is the first of the three lashings Caledon mastered, as it is the easiest to perform.

He can use this lashing to bond rocks to a sheer chasm wall and create a ladder, and similarly to use brushes as portable handholds for climbing. He also uses the full lashing to disarm as a pussing. by yanking their weapons with his own and neutralize them by bonding them to surfaces while sparring. Full lashings cannot affect a radiant skin, but they can affect hair and clothing. Basic lashings involve manipulating gravitation to make an object or person fall in a different direction. After his encounter with the assassin and Wyde, Calladin manages to duplicate the ability to perform basic lashings. He has since learned how to perform multiple lashings on a single object, as well as partial lashings.

He is able to fly by lashing himself into the air, and has gotten quite good at instinctively dismissing and renewing lashings in different directions to achieve complex maneuvers, such as looping and banking. He can also use this ability to transport people over long distances by lashing both themselves and himself multiple times in a direction. He typically does this while over the high storm so as to avoid running out of light. The reverse lashing is the most intense centered lashing of the three, and as such is generally more difficult to use.

It involves infusing an object and commanding it to attract a specific other object. Caledon unconsciously performs this lashing during the bridge runs for the entirety of his time as a bridgeman, infusing the bridge he carries to attract the Porchendi arrows being shot at him while approaching the target plateaus. Later at the battle of the tower, he infuses the shield he is carrying to draw an entire volley of arrows shot at bridge four.

In addition to the lashings, Caledon is able to use his surges to create a pocket of calm within a high storm. This manifests as a barrier of windspren. As a knight radiant who has access to two surges, he also has a resonance. Windrunners such as Caledon have an increased number of squires, more than any other order. The squires are also more powerful than those of the other orders. After Caledon swears the third ideal of the windrunners, Soprenna gains the ability to become a shard blade. Caledon can summon her in the form of any weapon he chooses, as well as a shield.

and transform it from one to another almost instantaneously. His preferred weapon for fighting is a spear, but he usually summons sill in her default blade shape when showing her off. Later the fourth ideal allows him to additionally summon windspren and manifest them in the physical realm as shard plate. His plate glows blue at the seams and is emblazoned with a glyph of Bridge 4 on the chest. The spren that can create it are always present nearby, though not always manifest. This allows Caledon to summit it at a moment's notice.

He can also send it out to manifest on other people and protect them this way. During his time in Amram's army, Caledin's natural talent blossoms him into a master at spearfighting. He is the quickest learner among the members of his cohort. His effortless ability surprises his drill sergeant, Caledon spends the year after his brother's death driving himself to exhaustion each day at the practice yard. He eventually grows to be known as the best spearmen in Amram's army. He is able to take down six spearmen by himself in seconds, even before he discovers his abilities as a surge binder. Combined with stormlight, he holds off dozens of Barshendi almost single-handedly.

While the spear is his preferred weapon, Caledon has training with other weapons as well. He often carries throwing knives as a secondary weapon and is able to use them with considerable accuracy. He has at various times wielded a quarterstaff, a hammer, and a halberd. After becoming the Kolin bodyguard, he starts training with the swordmaster Zael, though he is by no means an expert with a sword yet. Sill has also confirmed that Caledon's preternatural skill with weapons, evidence since the first time he picked up a quarterstaff as a boy, comes from their bond. Caledon also possesses a capable mind as a military commander.

He becomes the youngest squad leader in Amram's army when he is 18 years old. He manages to reduce the casualty rate of his squad to the lowest in the entire army. He is able to train Bridge 4 with barely any resources. He is able to quickly analyze a battlefield and assess the tactical situation. Caledon starts training in medicine with his father and assisting him in surgery when he is eight years old. His training is mostly concentrated in but not limited to surgery. After joining the army, he gains considerable practice as a field medic, attending to his fellow soldiers injured in combat. He has some level of understanding of pharmacology,

as he's able to harvest and extract his own antiseptic from knobweed sap. He also has a basic grasp of neurological disorders like epilepsy. Caledon has had a varied social standing throughout his life. His Beres de Leran, a dark-eyed surgeon of the second non, sets him at second non originally. When he has branded a slave by Amram, his rank changes to tenth non, like all slaves. When Dallinar rescues him and makes him captain of the Kolin Guard, his non is uncertain, since captain is a rank usually given only to lower Don light eyes. During this time he is treated as an oddity outside of the normal case system by many.

Once Caledin begins summoning sill as a shard blade, his eyes temporarily changed to blue, making him a light eyes before fading back to brown, making him dark-eyed again. Dallinar decides that his status as a shard-bearer makes him a light-eyes of the Fourth Dawn, regardless of his current eye-color. Since Fourth Dawn is a landed title, Helicar gives Caledan a small piece of the eastern Crownlands to rule over. This technically makes Caledan a landed lord,

despite him not actually having any control over his territory, as it is taken over by Voidbringer shortly before he abhor. obtains it. As Bridge Four grows into the refounded order of windrunners, Caledon is promoted from Captain to High Marshal. Shortly before the fused occupation of Eurythiru, Caledon steps down at Dallinar's request and becomes a surgeon. His notoriety of Stormblest and the high social status of radiance makes his effective status remain high, even if he is technically just a surgeon. He is reinstated briefly as High Marshal during the occupation, although he renounces command again upon retaking of the tower. Caledon was born in late 1153 to Leran and Hesina, a family of Second Non in the town of Harthstone and Toral Sadius's Princeton and northwestern Althcar.

His younger brother Tien was born two years later. Growing up, Caledon preferred the shorter name Cal to his full name, which he felt sounded like a light-ey's name. At the age of eight, Cal began training with his father in surgery, though he dreamed of becoming a soldier. At first, he became sick of the sight of wounds and injuries. Over the next couple of years, he grew used to the sight and assisted his father during surgeries, which he figured would come in handy on the battlefield. However, the amount of time Leran spent with books and sick people, coupled with their class disparity, made people uncomfortable to be around Leran and Cal by association.

As a result of his isolated upbringing, Cal became very close with his brother, and at the encouragement of his parents, Laurel Wistiao, the daughter of the city lord. In 1164, Cal assisted his father in amputating one of the fingers of a 15-year-old girl named Sani. Once finished, Laron asked Cal why he was late. Cal admitted it was because he went with Ian to see what Jam, a boy two years older, had learned from his quarterstaff training. Cal was excited because Jam's father was a soldier in Bright Lord Amram's army. Leran replied that he knew Jam's father, having operated on his leg three times,

a gift from his time as a soldier. Cal argued they needed soldiers. but Liren claimed they needed surgeons more. Laren doubted that his son could actually hurt someone as he cried nearly every time someone was brought to them. Cal promised he would get stronger, causing Laren to ask who put these ideas in his head. Cal countered that it was about honor

and that no one told stories about surgeons. Leran told him there were two kinds of people in the world, those who save lives and those who take lives. that one couldn't protect by killing. Laren then informed Cal that once he turned 16, he wanted to send Caledin to train with real surgeons in Carbranth. Laren told Cal he had a gift from the heralds, and he didn't need to waste it on the small dreams of other men.

Two years later, Cal and Laurel were talking somewhere east of Harstone, while Tian gathered rocks nearby. Cal told her of his father's plans to send him to Carbranth to train to be. become a surgeon. Laurel asked why he hadn't told her. He lied, saying he didn't think his father was serious. Laurel wondered about his previous plans to be a soldier. His expression became gloomy, as he was conflicted on which path to choose, surgeon or soldier. Sensing his distress, Tien ran up to Cal with a rock that he found, giving it to Cal to make him feel better. Cal did feel better and when with Tien to find a lurk.

Laurel we joined them, commenting that Tien changed Cal for the better. Laurel continued to encourage Cal to become a soldier, and that he shouldn't let his father force him to do something he didn't want to. She even implied he could marry her

if he won a shard blade. Cow replied he still had time to decide, as they wouldn't take him until he was 16. Later, they encountered a group of older boys, one of whom made the claim his father went a shard blade. At Laurel's prompting, Cal contradicted him, which led to the boy, Jost, challenging Cal to a quarterstaff fight. Although it was his first time holding a weapon,

his natural talent for combat manifested. However, seeing that he hurt Jost, he stopped himself from fighting anymore. Jost, having no similar inhibition, beat Cal to the ground. Cal then asked Joss to teach him, but the older boy declined, telling Cal to, go be what you are. Joined by Tien, Cal made his way home, where Leran informed Cal that City Lord Wistio had died, and bequeathed a goblet full of spheres to Cal so he could study in Carbronth. Two months later, 13-year-old Cal attempted to treat a five-year-old girl named Myasol on his own. Cal started treating her, but it was too late as Myosol died from blood loss to tumultable severe wounds. An hour later, his father found Cal in front of the surgery room crying to himself.

Leran told him that he was proud of Cal's work, and there was nothing he could have done to stop myosol's death. Cal confessed to Leran that he doesn't want to be a surgeon, but Leran just answered that he would have to learn when to care. Near the end of 1166, Cow was walking through the city of Harstown when he overheard two women claiming that his father stole the spheres from City Lord Wistio upon his death. Gritting his teeth and knowing that it was his father, Cal stepped out of the alleyway and gave one of the women a sharp look,

causing both to flee inside the bakery. His satisfaction was short-lived as he didn't understand why people said such things about his father. He was still stewing when he turned a few corners, walking to where his mother stood on a step-ladder. When Hesina asked about his lessons, he blurted out that everyone hated his father and that they believed he stole the spheres from Wistio. He also lamented that he didn't have friends and asked what would happen if he wanted to become something other than a surgeon. Hesina reminded him that he had Tien and that he shouldn't be so quick to discard. his studies because he wanted to be like the others. She also told him not to hate the townspeople

as they were just repeating what they heard. Seeing her glance to the city lord's manner, Cal debated whether or not he should try to see Laurel again. Each time he had tried, he'd been turned away by her nurse. He wondered what it would be like marrying Laurel, and if he did, but he always feel inferior to her. He was still considering this fact and debating whether or not to be a surgeon or a soldier, when Laron ran in declaring the new city lord had arrived. Cal went with his parents to the town square to await the arrival of city lord was shown. Tien was already there, having already picked out a spot. As Tien ran by, some older boys made an unintelligible remark about him, which made Cal furious, wanting to confront them, but knowing it wasn't a good time.

Cal joined the end to view the procession of a dozen wagons in a carriage. The carriage stopped and a middle-aged man stepped out. A light-eyed man scanned the crowd with a distasteful look on his face before turning to climb back into his carriage without addressing the crowd. Before he could, Laren called out, trying to welcome him to Hirstone, introducing himself as the town surgeon. Roshone responded by blaming Laren as the reason he ended up in this pitiful. miserable quarter of the kingdom. City Lord Rochon's arrival brought great misfortune to Cal's family. Believing that Laren had stolen the spheres from Wistio,

he coerced the townspeople to stop making donations for Laren's work, which was the primary source of the family's income. While the townsfolk acquiesced, they still secretly provided provisions to Laren and Hesina. One night while drunk, Laren told his son not to make the same mistakes he did, and get sucked back into his tiny, foolish town. Cal argued that Laren had always told him to come back, but Laron admitted he'd been an idiot when he said that,

adding that the town's people didn't want him there. Cal asked him why they couldn't just spend the spheres, but his father said the spheres were for his education. Besides, if they did spend them, they would be doing exactly what were shown wanted them to. Instead, they did the best with what they had with Kallel. Cal continuing his studies, hisina taking on random jobs,

and tea in apprenticing with Raal, a carpenter in town. At the same time, Cal was secretly still trying to decide what path he would take in the next several months, that of a surgeon or of a spearman. A series of thumps interrupted Cal's thoughts, sending him scrambling out of his chair.

His father pulled open the door, revealing not a monster, but three masked men demanding the spheres. However, they weren't the highwaymen, as Caledin initially thought, but rather Ludin, Oral, and Balcis. Normal townsmen presumably hired by Roshone. Ashamed and caught off guard, the men left without taking anything. Half a year later, Roshone invited Laren to the mansion for dinner. Although Laren and Hesina tried to hide the meeting from him, Cal found out and attended,

wanting to support his father if he confronted the city lord. As they rode to the city, Cal asked his father why they tried to hide the meeting. Laren admitted that he wasn't sure if he even wanted to attend as a part of him just wanted to take the family and flee to Carbran's, or another Alethy town. Laring confessed that he had tried to leave once, but there was a tie between a man's heart and his home, and he couldn't bring himself to leave. Having cared for the townspeople for so long, he couldn't leave them in the hands of Roshone. Once they arrived, the pair were led to a dining room where Roshone was already eating. A servant gestured to a side table set up in a room off the main dining hall, but Laron sat down at Roshone's table insisting that he was of second non,

and surely he could have a place at his table. Not wasting any time, Roshone discussed their present situation and asked them to return the spheres, ending their defiance. When Cal responded with an outburst, Lairn sent him away to the kitchens. Their Rishone's son Riller walked in with Laurel, and confusing Caledon for a servant, ordered him to fetch their supper. Cal protesting that he wasn't a servant, lost an argument over his calling with Riller, leaving him humiliated. As Laren and Cal left, the mansion, the latter admitted to his father that he had been considering

joining the army. However, he had resolved to becoming a surgeon so that he would have the education to stand up to the light eyes. During their conversation, Cal saw something unfamiliar in his father's eyes, killed. He then realized that Laren had indeed stolen the spheres from Wistillo, changing everything, but also changing nothing. He resolved to use the spheres for his training, but would eventually pay them back to Laurel. While on a hunting trip, Roshone and Riller were seriously injured by a white spine and brought to Laren's surgery room.

Caledin and Lerin determined that Rillers' injuries were already fatal and tended to Rishone despite his protests. They anesthetized both patients, Roshone for surgery, and Riller for mercy. During the procedure, Lerin hesitated when he discovered a piece of the white spine's tusk near Roshone's femoral artery. Caledon considered how easy it would be to fake an accident,

but they continued on to save Rishon's life as Riller died. When Caledin asked his father why he did not let Roshone die, Laron answered that they have to be better men than the light eyes. In the weeping of 1168, Caledon found himself increasingly hoping for the sun and the wind again, the weather making it difficult for him to get things done. One day when Caledon was lying on the roof during the rain after repairing a leak, Tian called up to him wanting to join him.

While Caledin didn't think anyone else could cheer him up, he knew Tien could because somehow he just always knew the right thing to do. At first it was just the two of them sitting in silence. Then Tien presented Caledan with a gift, an intricately carved horse that he made a Ralph shop. Caledon asked if he showed the beautiful, horse to row, but Tien confessed that it got him into trouble because it wasn't useful. Not a bit discouraged, Tien said he would make him proud tomorrow by finishing a chair.

Caledon found himself amazed at his brother's ability to smile, even in the darkest of times, swearing things grew brighter around them in that moment. However, it was short-lived, as Caledon admitted his concerns about their father having to spend the spheres to not only Tien, but also his mother. Hesina promised him that there would be enough spheres for him to go to Carbronce in two months. Caledon suggested that perhaps the entire family should come with him, not wanting to leave them behind, especially with Rochon strangling them. Hesina informed Caledin that they only spent the spheres to make Rochon think he was winning,

not because they needed to. Once Caledon laughed, the spheres would be safe in the hands of the Arden's, while he studied to become a surgeon. However, Hesina reminded him that his life was his own and that he didn't have to become a surgeon to make them proud. They sat for a while. Caledin considered her words, and what Deanne could possibly like about the rain.

When Laren came with news, that there was a gathering in the square. Roshone assembled the townsfolk as Meredith Amram, a general for high prince Sadius, had arrived in hearthstone to recruit soldiers for the army. There, Caledin and his family were shocked to learn that Laurel was now engaged to Roshone himself after Riller's death. Meanwhile, since only six men had volunteered,

Amram asked Rishon to announce the list of conscripts. As city lord, Roshone was barred from placing Larian or Caledin on the conscription list because they served a vital function to the town. However, Roshone placed Tien's name on the list instead. When Caledin tried to take his brother's place, he was denied because the law gave the choice to Roshone alone. Left with no other option, Caledin enlisted in the army in order to protect Tien and promise his devastated parents that he would bring Tien back safely in four years. Amram also promised Leran that he would make Tian a messenger boy for a while. Caledon received his initial training under Tux, who taught him the importance of controlled passion,

to be passionate and to care without losing control of his emotions, a lesson that he did not initially understand. During his training, Caledon demonstrated a natural aptitude for being a soldier, learning the spear faster than anyone else in his cohort, barely even needing instruction, much to Tuck's surprise. After freezing on the battlefield the first time, Caledon was assigned cleaning duty by Tux, not to punish him, but to help him fit in more. Tux explained about how many soldiers struggle with the need to hurt the enemy. However, Caledin didn't believe he froze because he was afraid to hurt someone, but because he realized he could kill if needed.

Despite Amram's promise to Liren, the older messenger boys, including Tien, were soon organized into several squads to reserve units to make up for a shortfall in recruitment. Dalar assured Caledon that these squads would not see combat unless the army was in serious danger. Less than four months after his enlistment, Caledon took part in his third real battle. Amram's army was attempting to hold a hilltop, but as the battle deteriorated, Messenger boys were assigned to Schiller's company. Hearing that the messenger squad was sent to the front, Caledon ran recklessly through the battlefield and an attempt to,

to reach his brother. On the southeast side of the hill, squad Lidivarath placed Tien and two other boys in the front lines, successfully using them as bait. Caledin, killing a man for the first time during his run, reached Tien only after he had been killed. Weeping and bleeding from wounds taken during his run, he hugged Tien's dead body until long past the end of the battle. Caledon sent a letter to his parents, informing them of Tien's death, and his decision not to return to hearthstone. He spent the next year driving himself to exhaustion every day on the practice yard, vowing vengeance and never letting another person die because of his lack of skill. He became the best spearmen in his company and was rumored to be the best in the entire army.

He eventually meant Tara, the daughter of an assistant quartermaster, who coaxed Caledon out of his single-mindedness, claiming it would burn him out. The two became romantically involved. The two became romantically involved, but they separated soon after she was transferred to a scribe's job in Morne's vault. Caledon blamed himself for their failed relationship, knowing that he'd been stupid not to send responses to her letters. He later joined the takers under Turk's leadership. There, Caledon met Durk, who became a mentor to him. Turk was impressed with Caledon's abilities, considering him a natural-born soldier, an artist with a spear. Unfortunately, every member of the takers was eventually killed with Caledon being the lone survivor.

At the age of 18, Caledon was promoted to squad leader, making him the youngest one in the army, and became known as Caledin's Stormblest. One year after becoming a squad leader, in Issue 1172, Caledon fought his final battle in Amram's army. Prior to the battle, Caledon met with a squad leader Agare and two of his sergeants. Caledan bribed Garrett had transferred Sen, a young and inexperienced soldier, to Caledon's own squad, whom he entrusted to his sergeant Dalit. He also bribed the surgeons to give priority to his men. While bribing the surgeons, the money pouch stuck to his hand by what Caledon assumed to be a windspren. Although it was actually his first meeting with Silfrenna.

After consulting with Dalit, Caledin went to the front lines to prepare for battle. Once the signal to March was given, Caledon's well-disciplined squad used non-standard tactics to avoid taking any casualties. However, the larger battle didn't go nearly as well. When the larger body of Amram's forces broke, Caledon's squad was left in the middle of the enemy. During the chaos, Caledon single-handedly defeated six men to save Sin, who had been stranded alone without the rest of the squad.

After treating sin, Caledon saw an enemy battalion lord and decided to kill him, hoping such a feat would get him transferred to the shattered plains, where Caledin believed the real fight and honorable men can be found. Caledin and two of his sub-squads executed their plan flawlessly, was Caledin himself lining the killing blow on the enemy battalion lord. Immediately after, an unknown enemy, a full shard bear, later revealed to be Hellerand DeVar, appeared and cut through Amaram's army, killing Sen, Dallad, and two more of Caledan's men.

Helleran continued on to attack Amram, whose honor guard had abandoned him. Enraged, Caledon and his 20 remaining men chased after Helleran. Helleran killed 16 of Caledon's men before Caledon finally managed to kill him, saving Amram's life. Amram and Korab, one of Caledon's men, urged Caledin to claim Helleran's shrew. shards, as it was his right to do so by ancient tradition. However, Caledon was disgusted by the thought of wielding the same blade that claimed the lives as so many of his friends. Instead, Caledin gave the shards to Corrib and walked away. A few hours later, Caledon was called to Amram's War Center, where he met Amram and a group of his men along with the four surviving members of his

squad. After a short conversation, Amram and his men Amram, Amram, and his men Amher, Amher, ambushed Caledon, killing the surviving members of Caledon's squad, while Caledon himself was restrained. Amiram apologized, but said this was the only way to ensure secrecy. He informed Caledon that he had thought it over for hours, before finally being convinced by Restare's that the best interests of Alethkar would be served if he wielded the shards himself. As an act of mercy and gratitude, Amram spared Caledon's life and branded him with the sauce non. Glyphpher to mark him as a slave to be sold.