Vela is a petite young woman who seems to occupy less space than she actually does, shoulders tucked in as if accustomed to slipping past people in crowded stairwells. She is always poised on the balls of her feet, ready to dart across a roof or duck beneath an arm. Rain leaves her warm ivory cheeks pink and glossy, and damp, jaw-length dark-brown curls cling in separate loops to her forehead. Her hazel eyes catch amber flecks in lamplight. A quick, guarded half-smile makes her seem more amused than she feels. The unexpected detail is her tiny rooftop garden: she keeps a battered tin of seedlings tucked inside her work satchel and can identify half a dozen edible city weeds by touch.

Vela is alert and quick to help, but distrustful of anyone who offers help too easily. She can be playful when sharing a small victory with a neighbor, yet becomes brisk and stubborn when someone is in danger. She wants to be seen as dependable, though she resents being treated as if she must save everyone.

Vela grew up in the cramped rooms above a shuttered ropewalk, where her mother, Doma, mended sails and her father, Kett, cleared roof drains for the district. At thirteen, Vela was on a roof when a storm overwhelmed a blocked channel. The flood tore through a row of homes and carried away her younger brother, Tavi. Vela had noticed the gutter clog earlier but kept quiet after a landlord threatened to charge her family for disturbing the roof. She has never forgotten that choice. Since then, she has worked as a runner and drain-checker, quietly clearing hazards before heavy rain and helping neighbors whose landlords will not. Her former supervisor, Grem, says she is stealing paid work by doing it for free. Her friend and confidante, Jatta, tends a rooftop garden with her and urges her to leave the district before its old roofs collapse. Vela is currently trying to prove that a property owner has been diverting stormwater into a poor block's drains.