Sura is a woman who resembles a collection of sharp angles and nervous energy. She is perpetually stooped as if leaning over a drafting table even when walking. Her skin is the color of sun-bleached vellum and is stained permanently with indigo and black inks up to her elbows. She moves with a frantic, bird-like precision, her head snapping toward any sudden noise. Most striking is her constant squint: one eye is usually squeezed shut while the other peers through a brass-rimmed jeweler's loupe that she has strapped to her forehead with a scarred leather band.