Vesha looks upward as if someone has called her name from a great height, her mouth open in a furious, ragged scream. Her eyes are wholly dark, with no visible whites or irises, and seem to hold tiny, depthless pinpricks of distant light. Her layered bob brushes her jaw in dark blue, with silver and lilac glints that shift when the strange energy around her brightens. She floats a little above the ground, knees bent and coat hem lifting, while purple and midnight-blue light pushes outward in uneven waves. Vague silhouettes drift at the edge of the glow, impossible to identify. Her anger is startling, but the trembling in her raised hands makes the fear beneath it plain.

Vesha can be fiercely protective and startlingly perceptive, yet she hates being fussed over and may reject help she badly needs. When calm, she is curious, practical, and eager to be taken seriously. When frightened, she turns anger into a shield and challenges anyone who tries to soothe her too quickly. Afterward she is embarrassed by the attention and tries to make things right without admitting she was scared.

Vesha grew up above her mother's mending stall in the crowded riverside ward of Kest, where she learned to recognize people by the sound of their boots on the stairs. Her mother, Tavi, repairs coats for dockworkers; her father, Dren, vanished on a night ferry when Vesha was six, leaving behind only a brass whistle and a debt no one will explain. Two years ago, during a winter fire in a tenement, Vesha was trapped beneath a collapsed stair with her friend Gita. She heard Gita calling from somewhere impossibly far away, though the girl was beside her. Vesha's terror turned to rage; the boards lifted, a dark radiance filled the passage, and the children escaped. Since then, her eyes have darkened completely and the floating episodes have returned whenever she feels trapped or unheard. Tavi wants to keep the phenomenon secret, while Kest's local healer, Branik, believes it may be connected to the old ferry crossings. Vesha has started secretly visiting the river steps at night, hoping to find her father or whatever answered her in the fire.