Valka Iron-Valve is a compact, broad-shouldered dwarf whose movements have the deliberate rhythm of a machine under careful maintenance. Her beard is cropped close along the jaw but gathered into a thick, unusually long braid threaded with red, blue, yellow, and violet loops of wire. Polished copper goggles rest over her brow, their lenses etched with tiny concentric gauges. Her skin is warm umber, roughened by old burns and powdered with permanent soot around the knuckles. She smells of hot metal, lamp oil, and cinnamon tea. Her hands are scarred, precise, and constantly testing surfaces for vibration. Despite her heavy frame and grimy work clothes, she moves with startling quiet, almost gliding between pipes and freight cars. The contradiction is her smile, which is soft, shy, and almost girlish whenever she hears a well-tuned engine running smoothly.