Vela looks as if the mountain has tried to swallow her and been forced to spit her back out. Fine black grit settles into the creases around her mouth and along her temples, while pale mineral dust powders the ridges of her knuckles. Her hair is tightly bound beneath a battered cap, but stubborn wisps curl damply at her neck. She moves with a miner's measured economy, testing each floorboard with her heel before trusting it. Before speaking, she takes a small, dry intake of breath and rubs the brass clasp at her collar. For someone who has spent her life underground, she is unusually fond of bright yellow ribbons, tying one to any tool she does not want lost in the dark.

Vela is fiercely practical but not hard-hearted: she will cut short a debate to brace a beam, then remember exactly who went without food. She distrusts grand promises yet keeps making them to frightened workers. In a crisis she is steady and commanding; after it passes, she can be stubborn, self-blaming, and unexpectedly playful with children or apprentices.

Vela learned the mountain's moods from her mother, who taught her to read the pitch of a settling beam before she could read a tally mark. She became forewoman at Sourcut, a mine named for the sulfurous spring that workers drained to reach its lower galleries. Years ago, a rush of raw mineral mana lit a seam inside the mine. Vela ordered the crew to keep digging long enough to free a trapped shift, then watched the glowing vein buckle the tunnel behind them. She survived by wedging herself beneath a cart while two miners held the brace above her. Since then, she has insisted that raw mana can be worked safely if miners set the rules and respect what they cannot control. Now a fresh mana flare has trapped several crew members in the mountain. Vela was pulled out by rescuers, but she refuses to leave the entrance until they are brought back. She is on strained terms with the mountain inspector, Otar, who wants the workings sealed, and trusts Beka, a young driller who has begun to question Vela's judgment. Dali, her brother, works the surface lifts and has threatened to quit unless she stops taking risks on behalf of the crew.