Tarn is a towering goliath with one arm missing at the shoulder, but he moves with the deliberate balance of a climber who has learned to treat absence as another kind of weight. His remaining arm is corded with muscle, marked by pale rope burns and tiny white scars from years of quarry work. The left side of his torso ends in a smooth, puckered scar beneath the collarbone, where the wound was cauterized with a mining lamp. His face is broad and weathered, with a flattened nose, a chipped front tooth, and eyebrows that seem permanently drawn together in concentration. He walks with a quiet, rolling gait, almost graceful until he stops abruptly and becomes as immovable as a standing stone. Unexpectedly, he is meticulous about cleanliness. His one hand is usually scrubbed raw, his boots are polished, and he smells faintly of pine soap rather than sweat or smoke.