Captain Cerys Lark is a tall human woman with a weather-beaten face, a broken nose set slightly crooked, and shoulders hardened by years of hauling ropes, bodies, and frightened travelers up the Veiled Stair. Her skin has the dry, wind-polished texture of old parchment, marked by pale scars from falling masonry and one thin silver line beneath her left eye. Her dark brown hair is cut close on one side and braided tightly on the other, with bits of blue stair-thread woven through it. She moves with careful economy, placing each boot as though the floor might suddenly become a wall. The unexpected contradiction is her hands: broad, scarred, and callused, yet delicate enough to repair a clockwork music box she keeps hidden in her quarters. She leaves behind the impression of a locked door that has learned to speak.