Toma stands upright with the compact strength of someone who has hauled stone since childhood, though her limbs and torso are proportioned more like a short, broad human than a traditional long-bodied dwarf. She keeps her weight on the balls of her feet while waiting, as if the floor might suddenly tilt. Her face is open and almost gentle, with a square chin softened by full cheeks, a broad humanlike nose, and amber-brown eyes that seem too patient for her age. Her hands are heavily muscled, but her movements are careful and quiet, with none of the expected clatter of a laborer. The unexpected detail is her immaculate posture and delicate habit of smoothing wrinkles from her sleeves, even after a fight. She leaves people with the impression of a young mason trying very hard not to look frightened.

Toma is conscientious, observant, and unexpectedly tender with people who work with their hands. She is generous with food, directions, and practical help, but miserly with trust and almost punitive about promises. Around strangers she is reserved and precise. Around children she becomes patient, funny, and willing to make herself look foolish. Around her family she is defensive and sharp because their concern makes her feel trapped in the role of the frightened girl who survived the collapse. When angry, she becomes polite. When genuinely afraid, she starts making plans aloud.

Toma was born in the quarry settlement of Kharzug Ford, where her family cut foundation stone for human villages along the river. Her mother taught her to read cracks in stone, while her older brother Dov taught her how to swear convincingly at mule drivers. At seventeen, Toma was part of a crew repairing an old bridge when the central arch collapsed without warning. She survived by wedging herself inside a drainage channel, listening for three hours while four workers cried out beneath the rubble. When she finally crawled free, she found that the collapse had been caused by deliberate chisel marks hidden inside the keystone. The event changed her from a cheerful apprentice into a watchful, methodical worker who tests every wall twice and trusts no official inspection. Since then, she has followed the trail of counterfeit building seals through three towns. Her investigation points toward a respected merchant consortium that uses unsafe construction to control river crossings. Toma currently works as a journeyman mason in a market town, quietly gathering proof while sending most of her wages home to support her mother and Dov, who now walks with a permanent limp from the collapse.