Favorite characters!

I think Danielle Ferries started this meme, but everyone I know has picked it up and run with it, and now me too. I've been thinking about which of my characters are my favorites, and I've settled on some mildly surprising choices.

Of course I love all my characters, even the most despicable bad guys. But some characters intrigue me more than others, in a writerly way. These are the characters with a lot of surprises up their sleeves, one way or another, the secondary characters who are as vibrant as the main characters, the ones who for whatever reason make me want to write about them forever and ever and ever. Here they are in no particular order:

Kristof Hart--Viewpoint character of The Weredeer, who also appears in the short "The King's Messenger" (which appeared in Renard's Menagerie #5, although I think I have the reprint rights available now and may do something with it). He's not the shiniest spoon in the drawer, but he's ferociously loyal to his family and friends, and he's a good person besides. I feel kind of bad at the awful things I make happen to him.

Ash Cutsaw--Ash is a troll, and he was only supposed to be a minor character in The Taste of Magic. He sort of took over. He's a musician, and a damn good one, and he makes a great foil for Ana, the main character. Ana is talkative, impulsive, warm-hearted, and a little unsure of herself; Ash is cautious, quiet, and knows his place in the world. He's also been in jail!

Rone--Rone doesn't have a last name because he wasn't supposed to have a name at all. In Stag in Velvet, the (um, second) sequel to The Weredeer, he's a market thief Kristof catches and lets go, because Kristof feels sorry for him. He turned out to be useful to the plot so I kept him around--but he's also a fascinating character to write. He's the kind of guy you want to hug one second and smack the next. Kristof isn't sure what to make of him.

Tavrax the Lich--In Evil Outfitters, Ltd., Tavrax is a former warlord lich who has settled down to run Evil Outfitters. He's not a central character in the first half of the book, but I got so fascinated with him that he ended up with a much more important role in the second half. He's intelligent, well-mannered, rather smitten with Madeline Muir, one of his employees (who is also the viewpoint character for the second half of the book), and he also still loves committing the occasional murder.