Kora is a compact young woman with the dense, practical strength of someone raised hauling water, stone, and winter fuel. Her pregnancy is unmistakable, yet she moves with startling speed, keeping one hand lightly beneath her belly only when she thinks nobody is watching. Her skin is wind-darkened across the cheeks and nose, while the backs of her hands are rough with pale cracks from years of frost and salt. Thick black hair is braided into two ropes tied with red thread and tiny copper bells, though the bells never ring when she walks. Her eyes rarely settle on faces. Instead, she watches doorways, rafters, loose stones, and the hands of anyone near her. The contradictory impression is of a woman who looks physically burdened but carries herself like a person prepared to sprint across a roof.