A broad, weather-browned man whose shoulders have the rounded set of someone who has spent decades lifting feed sacks. His beard is trimmed with a work knife and always carries a few flecks of straw. He moves with an odd economy: each step seems to test the ground before accepting it, and he can become so motionless beside a fence that people mistake him for part of the post line. His clothes are plain, but his boots are polished at the toes. Unexpectedly, he keeps a tiny painted wooden swallow tucked into his hatband, its bright blue wings almost absurd against his mud-stained clothes.

Oswin is generous with labor but stingy with praise, and his sternness is often an awkward disguise for tenderness. Around familiar people he is steady and faintly dry-humored; around strangers he becomes watchful, measuring exits and listening for what they leave unsaid. When tired or frightened, his restraint can turn into blunt control. He wants William to be independent, yet quietly resents every sign that his son may no longer need him.

Oswin raised William Hirst on a small farm where every season meant a different kind of labor. He taught William to mend a gate before it failed, to tell a sick animal from a merely stubborn one, and to respect the weather without pretending it could be controlled. Oswin rarely praised him; when he did, it was usually a brief, treasured sign of approval, such as handing William the good whetstone or letting him take the lead with a nervous mare. Years ago, during a winter famine, Oswin followed a trail of missing sheep beyond the boundary stones and returned before dawn with no explanation for the blood on his cuffs. After that, he became more vigilant about the dark and began locking the barn from the outside. He still tends the farm, but a poor harvest, a dwindling supply of livestock, and William's growing distance have left him afraid that the life he built is coming apart. He keeps in touch with William through short notes and carefully practical gifts, each one carrying more affection than Oswin can say aloud.