Fekta has a broad, weather-tough face and a compact, sturdy frame, with the slightly forward tilt of someone accustomed to carrying wet bundles. Her skin is warm brown, her dark hair is usually twisted into a practical knot, and her hazel eyes keep returning to the nearest threshold. She smells distinctly of fennel, lamp oil, and river damp; she knows about the fennel and thinks it masks the rest. When waiting, she plants her weight on the balls of her feet, angled as if she might step aside to let someone pass. Her stillness is alert rather than serene, and people often mistake it for impatience.

Fekta is watchful and brisk with strangers, yet unexpectedly patient with frightened children and animals. She distrusts emotional speeches but is moved by small, dependable kindnesses. When she feels safe, she has a dry, almost mischievous humor; under pressure, she withdraws into tasks and makes herself difficult to reach.

Fekta was found, feverish and half-drowned, beside her younger brother after a flood tore through the low homes below the landing. A silent woman called Celia Thatch carried both children to safety and left before they could properly wake. Fekta remembers a rough wool sleeve, the smell of fennel, and a wooden bead pressed into her palm. She and her brother were raised in different towns by relatives who each believed the other child had died. Fekta now works the ferry landing at Kett's Reach, helping travelers and tending its lamps. She sends occasional letters to her brother, Gant, in the town of Tallowbridge, but neither knows the other was rescued in the same night. A landslip has damaged the landing, and its owner expects Fekta to help evict the families living in the sheds before repairs begin. She has delayed, risking her livelihood.