Saicere (Caesura) is the sword Kvothe is given by the Adem once he becomes a member of the school. Its name means to break, to catch, and to fly. Kvothe renames it Caesura, a word for the jarring break in a line of perfect verse. The townspeople in present day Newarre call it Kaysera "the poet-killer" in their stories, and say that it was made of silver.
Kvothe describes the blade as being a smooth burnished grey, with a slightly extended hand guard. Kvothe doesn't know what metal the blade is made out of, and Kilvin does not know of any metals with the same properties, and supposes that it was made by one of the arts that has been lost.
Kvothe is the sword's two hundred thirty-seventh owner, which he realizes means that it is probably more than two thousand years old. Indeed, if Finol was killed at the Blac of Drossen Tor then it was forged before the Creation War.
The Atas, the history of the sword, takes Kvothe the better part of an hour to recount. Parts of it are revealed in The Chronicle.
- "First came Chael who shaped me in the fire for an unknown purpose. He carried me then cast me aside
- "Next came Etaine ..."
- ...
- "Next came Finol of the clear and shining eye, much beloved of Dulcen. She herself slew two daruna, then was killed by gremmen at the Drossen Tor."
- ...
Larel, Carceret's mother, was the last to carry Saicere before Kvothe, a fact which adds to the enmity Carceret has for him.
The possibility that the sword has two names is explained by another contributor.
One drawing name and one sheathing name. Saicere is its drawing name and Caesura its sheathing name.
Wise Mans Fear Ch.125 p.820:
"I drew it from its sheath. The faint ring of leather and metal seemed to whisper of its name: Saicere [...] I slid it back into its sheath and the sound was different. It sounded like the breaking of a line. It said Caesura."