Vellit is a small halfling child with a round, wind-chapped face and a solemn expression that keeps breaking into sudden, lopsided grins. They walk with their toes turned slightly inward, but when sleepwalking they move in a straight, steady line without stumbling. Their hands are unusually busy: thumbs worrying the seams of their sleeves, fingertips picking at straw, palms opening and closing as if testing invisible knots. People notice the tiny straw twists they leave behind before they notice how frightened they are.

Vellit is candid but not fearless: they will tell a hard truth, then cling to their mother's sleeve while everyone reacts. They act wary with strangers and bossy with younger children, but become unexpectedly bold when someone is being blamed unfairly. When tired, their humor turns peculiar and they name household objects as if they were people.

Vellit lives with their mother, Delya, a thatcher who keeps the village roofs dry, and their grandfather, Odran, who taught them how to tell wheat from barley by touch. Three weeks ago, Vellit's older cousin disappeared after slipping past the last fence into the uncut field. The adults said the child had run away, but Vellit heard the harvest bell ring from the field long after it had been taken down. Since then, Vellit has begun sleepwalking toward the wheat and leaving little twists of straw on doorsteps. Their mother ties a soft cord around their wrist at night, but twice it has been found neatly untied. Vellit wants the village to stop pretending nothing is wrong and to find their cousin. They are scared of the field, honest even when honesty gets them in trouble, and ashamed that part of them wants to know what is calling.