A compact gnome with a perpetually coal-smudged nose and calloused fingertips, Elmo moves with quick, precise steps like someone who's spent decades on narrow ridgelines. His face is ringed with a short, wiry beard threaded with copper wire—both decoration and quick-strengthening twine for emergency bracing. He favors a patched leather apron crisscrossed with chalk marks and faded guild stamps; his clothes are always slightly damp from roof resin. When he climbs, he hums low tuneless rhythms, and when he stands still he tends to tilt his head as if listening for the wood's grain. Unexpectedly, his left glove is always pristine and white, tucked into a hidden pocket as if preserved for a funeral or a formal meeting.