A young Polish-looking man with a long, alert face and a stance that still seems surprised by its own reach. His skin has the matte, faintly fibrous look of birch bark warmed by blood, and his dark hair falls in untidy curls that catch burrs without seeming to snag. He moves with newly acquired strength, overcorrecting at doorways and setting cups down harder than intended. When he laughs, his broad front teeth show in a startling, almost boyish grin; when he eats, he carefully tests each bite with his incisors as if checking whether his jaw belongs to him. He keeps brushing an invisible leaf from his left shoulder, though nothing is there.

He is observant and generous with his attention, but wary of being treated as an authority simply because he has read many old stories. In calm company he is wry, curious, and happy to let a conversation wander; under threat he becomes brisk and practical, then apologizes later for sounding cold. He wants closeness but guards his grief fiercely. His new attraction makes him both more attentive to his friend and more anxious to avoid making that attention feel like pressure.

Before the Bracken-Clearing Seven, he made a living as a freelance illustrator, taking commissions for book covers, museum pamphlets, and the occasional campaign map. He read widely in Polish, Slavic, and other folklore, partly for work and partly because stories made the world's cruelties seem legible. Then came the displacement: a passage through a place that should have been an ordinary woodland clearing, a night in which his body changed from woman to eighteen-year-old man, and the dawning discovery that the forest responded to his notice. His first night with the fellowship was spent in the second room alongside the paramedic and the lawyer; he barely slept, listening for leaves moving where there were no trees. He remembers his former family, friends, and any former partner or children with exact, painful clarity. He is trying to learn the limits of his leshy nature without pretending that the transformation feels like a gift. He has developed a crush on the fellowship's sole woman, a feeling new to him and tangled with his changed body. He is determined not to make her responsible for sorting out his confusion.