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Big Bucket, born Cato Dahlia, was a member of the Black Company recognizable by his wild hair. Bucket would become a noteworthy sergeant and a father figure to Sleepy, future Black Company Captain. He almost certainly knew that Sleepy was a young woman in disguise before anyone else.

Shadow Games[]

Bucket was accused of common theft in Opal and joined the Company to escape from the authorities. He was accepted into the ranks along with Sparkle, Red Rudy, and Candles in Shadow Games. Like all newcomers, he often did scut work to earn increasing responsibilities.

Bleak Seasons[]

Bucket survived the Siege of Dejagore, during which he witnessed a small girl being raped by her uncle (possibly Rafi). Bucket threw the rapist over the city walls, and the youngster, disguising herself as a male, latched onto the Company. This was Sleepy, who would go on to become Annalist, and then Captain, of the Company. Bucket became part of the Old Crew when the Company splintered into two rival factions (the other being Mogaba and his Nar).

By Bleak Seasons, Big Bucket had become a "pretty fair sergeant" within the Company, and "advisor commander of a battalion of Taglian border rangers [...] a hardass leader with a reputation for getting his jobs done and bringing his people back alive".

She Is the Darkness[]

A male member of the Nyueng Bao De Duang unofficially became Bucket's bodyguard out of a profound sense of loyalty and gratitude, because Murgen and the Old Crew helped saved the remainder of their pilgrimage during the siege of Dejagore. Bucket's bodyguard was Suyen Dinh Duc, whom he rejected, but became close to nevertheless. Bucket, a white man from at least 7,000 miles away from the Nyueng Bao homeland, even learned Nyueng Bao burial rituals.

Bucket became a well-respected battalion commander in the army of Taglios. One of his favorite subordinate was a Taglian Gunni nicknamed Lhopal Pete.

Bucket, accompanied by his shadow Duc, followed Croaker through the shadowgate onto the glittering plain. There, Duc and Bucket were among the 13 people who escaped becoming one of the Captured, but at the cost of their own lives. Duc saved Bucket from a sorcery booby-trap that had been laid by Soulcatcher to cover her escape. Bucket took the time to pose Duc's body in the position called "In Respect of Patient Repose", a Nyueng Bao custom when a proper funeral has to be delayed. Then, as he continued his escape, he was killed by ravenous shadows. Fifteen years later, during Water Sleeps, Sleepy and her party discovered the remains of both men on the plain, and she was deeply moved. She realized that, despite Bucket's rejection of Duc's protection, "they became friends when nobody was looking".

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