Nadzia is a lean, fierce young woman whose presence feels like a river deciding whether to flood. Her skin has the translucent blue-gray cast of water seen beneath storm clouds, with tiny silver flecks along her shoulders that drift slightly when she is angry. Her movements are quick and angular on land, but strangely smooth whenever she turns, as if her bones remember currents better than roads. Her hands are the first thing most people notice: long-fingered, strong, and permanently wrinkled at the fingertips, with pale mineral lines beneath the nails from years spent handling wet stone and river silt. She keeps her hair meticulously combed on one side and completely wild on the other, an intentional contradiction that makes her look half groomed traveler and half escaped torrent.