Baxil

Baxil is an Emuli attendant and hired worker whose defining experience in this episode is to move through a rich man’s palace while expecting danger at every step. He carries a bulky bag of tools for his mistress, follows her into a revered hall, and tries to perform courage in the presence of his more confident companion, Av. His nervousness does not make him irrelevant: it gives the reader the clearest sense of how exposed the intruders are, how strange their mission appears, and how much Baxil understands without being told.

Identity and Working Situation

Baxil is identified as Emuli, with dark skin and hair, and he works alongside the taller, self-confident Av. The two men are employed by a mysterious mistress who pays them well. Baxil handles the practical burden of the operation, clutching the tool bag and producing whatever implement she requests. His position is therefore both useful and subordinate: he is close enough to participate in dangerous work, but not powerful enough to direct it or confidently explain its purpose.

The contrast between Baxil and Av establishes their different temperaments. Baxil repeatedly reacts to sounds behind him, while Av treats the palace as if the men had been formally invited, walking with a thick-bladed sword over his shoulder. Av even elbows Baxil when the latter turns around yet again. Baxil’s fear is mocked, but it is also reasonable. They are inside the home of Ashno of Sages, one of the richest and holiest men in Emul, whose palace contains hundreds of servants. The possibility that an ordinary servant might enter the corridor is enough to keep Baxil on edge.

The Palace Infiltration

Baxil hurries down a lavish corridor lined with a golden carpet, wall mirrors, an arched ceiling, and elaborate mosaics. A noise resembling a footfall makes him jump and spin around, although the corridor is empty. The opulence of the setting intensifies his unease: every beautiful surface suggests wealth, surveillance, and the consequences of being caught. His mistress claims that the palace servants will be occupied preparing a new guest wing, but Baxil remains unconvinced and struggles not to look over his shoulder.

The mistress herself heightens his uncertainty. She is not Emuli and does not appear simply Makabaki; she has dark skin and long black hair, eyes like a Shin, and a tall, lean build resembling an Alethi. Av describes her as mixed-blood, though the men speak cautiously because she possesses extraordinarily sharp hearing. Her appearance is difficult for Baxil to classify, just as her purpose is difficult for him to understand. She wears trousers rather than a conventional woman’s robe, dress, or skirt, carries a thin-bladed sword, and keeps her hair loose down to her waist. Her almost-white violet eyes and alert hearing make her seem able to detect the very apprehension Baxil is trying to conceal.

The Hallowed Hall and the Tools of Destruction

Baxil’s most revealing assignment takes place in the Hallowed Hall, where Ashno has placed images of his Kadasix for reverence. The location is not merely decorative; it is a sacred interior in which art, wealth, and religious devotion have been assembled into a private display. Baxil recognizes the violation before it occurs and watches uneasily as his mistress approaches the first work, a beautiful gold-leaf painting of Epan, Lady of Dreams, on a black canvas.

The mistress takes a knife and slashes the painting down its front. Baxil cringes but says nothing. He has nearly become accustomed to her casual destruction of art, yet he remains baffled by it. His silence shows the limits of his employment: he is paid to assist, not to demand an explanation. The destruction is also selective. Although the hallway contains topaz chips set into beautiful chandeliers, the group does not steal them because the mistress disapproves of theft. Baxil therefore sees a distinction she apparently considers essential: taking valuable objects is forbidden, while damaging revered images is part of the task.

The violence continues when the mistress moves on to a fine bust and gouges out its eyes. Later, she returns with her hair somewhat disheveled and asks Baxil for a padded mallet because there is a full statue farther down the hall. He supplies it from the sack without protest. The tool bag becomes an extension of his role: knives, belts, and mallets pass through his hands as he enables an operation whose intellectual and symbolic meaning remains beyond him.

Fear, Desire, and the Old Magic

Baxil’s fear is not limited to discovery. He also worries that his cowardice prevents him from becoming more than hired muscle in his mistress’s eyes. His private hope is to know the right thing to do, a wish that exposes both his uncertainty and his dependence on external guidance. He imagines that the Old Magic might provide an answer, because people say that every man receives one chance to ask a boon of the Nightwatcher. When he raises the possibility with Av, the suggestion is treated casually, but Baxil’s interest is serious: he is searching for direction in a life governed by orders, risk, and unspoken purposes.

The thought of the Nightwatcher’s curse makes him sick. That reaction places a limit beneath his longing for supernatural help. Baxil wants certainty, but he fears the price of obtaining it. His hesitation echoes the larger tension of the scene: the mistress acts with unnerving confidence, while Baxil can imagine consequences more readily than he can imagine control over them. Even his religious thought takes the form of a plea for provision and guidance, revealing a man who feels that courage and judgment are resources he lacks.

His desire for recognition is equally indirect. He wonders whether, if he were not such a coward, he might persuade the mistress to see him as something more than an employee. The attraction is not developed into a mutual romance; it remains Baxil’s private, frustrated aspiration toward a woman who is beautiful, dangerous, authoritative, and emotionally inaccessible. Her beauty makes his employment feel more perilous, while her authority prevents him from converting admiration into action.

Character Function and Significance

Baxil functions as the scene’s anxious witness and practical enabler. Through him, the palace’s splendor becomes threatening rather than merely impressive, and the Hallowed Hall’s religious beauty becomes vulnerable to deliberate desecration. He notices the golden carpet, mirrors, mosaics, chandeliers, paintings, busts, and statues, but he experiences each object through the danger of what may happen next. The result is a perspective built from suspense: the unseen footfall matters because Baxil hears it, and the destruction matters because he cannot stop himself from flinching.

He also creates a sharp contrast with the mistress’s composure. She walks ahead, gives precise instructions, uses specialized tools, and considers acquiring a Shardblade only to avoid making the work too easy. Baxil, by contrast, carries the equipment, supplies the requested mallet, fears the palace servants, and searches for moral direction. His weakness does not erase his agency; he continues to follow, observe, and assist. Yet the scene ends without resolving his questions or granting him the certainty he seeks. Baxil remains suspended between fear and loyalty, fascinated by his mistress and unable to understand the purpose of the destruction he helps carry out.