Doren Kavic is a compact gnome with the tidy look of someone who spends more time beside a workbench than in sunlight, yet he moves with quick, springy grace like a cat that has learned to dance. His hands are stained with soot and machine oil, but his sleeves are always impeccably folded back with almost ceremonial care. He wears a weatherproof engineer's coat patched at the elbows with bright green cloth, brass buttons mismatched from several different uniforms, and tiny hidden pockets that clink softly when he walks. The unexpected detail is that his left boot is polished to a nobleman's shine while the right is permanently scarred by acid burns and stitched with copper wire. His face is lined with concentration, not age, and he has the faint, startled expression of someone always listening for a clock that has begun to run too fast.