Ushira has an elegant, youthful presence, with a composed gaze that makes her seem older until she smiles. Her black hair is glossy and carefully parted, then braided close at the temples and pinned into a low knot. Her blue eyes look almost grey in the mist. She has a softly curving figure, including a full bust and rounded hips, and stands with a straight-backed stillness that gives way to quick, sure steps over roots. A faint scent of crushed mint and damp wool follows her; she knows about the mint, but not the wool. Unexpectedly for a forest scout, she keeps a tiny pressed-flower album tucked inside her coat and can identify the paper and ink of every page.

Ushira is watchful and capable, but not as self-assured as she appears. With strangers she is formal and assesses every detail; with children and frightened people she is unexpectedly patient. She can be stubborn about a route, yet will abandon her own plans immediately if someone is in danger. In good moods she shares small jokes and pressed flowers; when anxious she becomes brisk and over-organized.

Ushira grew up in Bellwash, a low-lying settlement where fog rolls in from the marsh and people leave bowls of milk at the tree line. Her mother, Nessa, kept the village's remedies and taught Ushira to notice small signs: a bird's silence, a bent reed, a stranger's wet boots. At fifteen, Ushira led a search party into the woods after her younger brother, Jory, vanished during a storm. She found him alive beside a fey ring, but an old neighbor who followed them was not so lucky. The neighbor returned days later with no memory of his own name. Ushira blamed herself for leading the search too quickly, and began learning the trails from a reclusive ranger named Catrin. Now she works as a guide and gathers medicinal plants, while trying to find out why the mist has started appearing even on clear nights. Her brother remembers the woods differently every time he speaks of them, and Catrin has recently stopped answering her letters.