Kaela Thorn is compact and hard-boned, built like a coiled spring rather than a soldier. Her olive skin is weathered by wind and watchfires, and her sharp face seems carved from intent, all narrow cheekbones and a mouth that rarely softens into a true smile. Her black hair is cropped close at the nape, with one thin braid tucked behind her right ear as a family marker, though the braid is threaded with a tiny ember-red bead she swears is purely decorative. A pale scar runs from her left temple to her cheekbone, clean enough to look deliberate. She wears fitted dark leathers under dragon-glass reinforced armor plates that catch firelight with a smoky sheen. Unexpectedly, she keeps her gloves immaculate and embroidered at the cuffs, as if a meticulous seamstress lives inside a hunter. She moves in short, silent increments, always measuring doorways, shadows, and exits before she measures people.