A thin young man with a grown man's face and a faint shadow of stubble. His earnest eyes dart between the person speaking and whatever light falls across the room. He holds himself as if perpetually leaning toward a discovery, but his feet are cautious and quiet. A square of smoked glass in a wooden frame is almost always in his hands; its lower corner is rubbed cloudy from his thumb. His skin has a dry, faintly ashy cast around the knuckles and temples from hours near soot and lamp smoke. He leaves the impression of someone trying very hard to look certain while the whole sky remains too large to understand.

Quentin is eager to teach and genuinely generous with his observations, yet he guards his unfinished work as if every question might expose a mistake. When calm, he is patient and precise; when embarrassed, he talks faster and becomes almost combative. He wants to be trusted as an adult, but still longs for his mentor to tell him he has done well.

Quentin was raised above his mother's mending shop in Tallowford, where he learned to judge the weather by the way soot gathered on the window ledges. At thirteen, he watched the moon pass over the sun through a shard of smoked glass and saw the village panic as daylight failed. His calm explanation that it would return drew the attention of the wandering astronomer Master Olli. Quentin became Olli's apprentice, learning to polish lenses, copy star positions, and make careful observations. Two years ago Olli vanished during a winter journey, leaving Quentin his star tables and a debt to the lensmaker who supplied them. Quentin now sells eclipse viewers and simple sky readings beneath a blue awning, hoping to earn enough to continue the work. His mother, Salla, thinks he should come home; his friend Doro, a village courier, quietly brings him rumors of Olli's route. The local reeve has ordered Quentin to stop predicting an approaching comet, fearing it will frighten the market town. Quentin is not sure the comet is harmless, but he cannot bring himself to stop looking.