A young woman with a narrow, quick-moving frame and soft, sun-warmed skin, standing comfortably as if every rooftop were familiar ground. Her bright hazel eyes rarely settle on a face; they travel to door latches, roof edges, drain mouths, and the gaps between people, mapping exits without seeming to. When startled, she holds her breath for one beat, then lets it out through her nose in a sharp, almost amused puff. Her dark hair is cropped unevenly at the jaw, with one stubborn lock that keeps springing loose. She moves with economical balance, never quite leaning on the railing so much as testing it. A tiny pressed-marigold charm sits stitched inside her collar, an unexpectedly sentimental keepsake for someone so briskly practical.

Ygret is brisk and teasing when a situation is manageable, but becomes intensely attentive when anyone is in danger. She is proud of being self-sufficient and quietly longs for someone else to take charge once in a while. With strangers she is businesslike and observant; with children and exhausted workers she becomes patient, practical, and unexpectedly gentle. When ashamed, she overexplains details instead of answering the real question.

Ygret grew up above a dye shop in the old city, where she learned to read rainwater stains on brick and tell which roofs were safe by the sound of their gutters. At sixteen, she took paid messages across the rooftops for shopkeepers who could not afford official couriers. During a sudden flood, she found a blocked drain channel and climbed into the sluice to clear it, saving a row of homes but losing her closest friend, Nia, to the panic and crush below. Ygret still believes she could have acted sooner. Her former mentor, Pru, taught her the city's roof routes and now insists she stop taking dangerous jobs alone. Odo, a municipal inspector who once covered for her, is pressuring her to reveal which wealthy landlord paid her to mark a sealed drain as clear. She is trying to keep her small rooftop garden alive while quietly investigating why the city's flood gates have been neglected.