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  Juniper 'Juni' Coilstep

  Route surveyor

  Juni measures roads in boot lengths, stitches worn maps and can be distracted from supper by a bad contour. She wants her work used beyond her own crowded maproom. Her curly hair, green eyes, scuffed gloves and battered map case usually arrive before her explanation.

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  Orlo Brast

  Sizzle Court champion

  Orlo Brast knows how to hold a room, rescue a losing argument and make an opponent laugh at the wrong moment. His silver flame earring marks his first victory. He enjoys good tailoring and expects words to carry more weight than a shovel.

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  Nima Quilljar

  Jar-book keeper

  Nima tends Sourhall’s living jar books, reads tiny labels through wire-rimmed glasses and dislikes a visitor announcing a discovery she has spent the morning preventing from spoiling. Her dry humor is easier to hear when the room is quiet.

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  Baron Grex Greaseledger

  Heat contractor and warehouse proprietor

  Grex keeps his loading floors swept, his stores counted and a warm seat for a useful visitor. His bald head, trimmed beard and gold-rimmed glasses are familiar wherever a winter delivery needs financing. He likes to make a bargain sound like practical kindness.

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  Vellum

  Chorus keeper

  Vellum keeps the Cathedral’s singers breathing together and knows which stair carries a voice clearly. Long white hair, blue eyes and wire-rimmed glasses soften a man who can still interrupt a beautiful note because the fitting beneath it is slipping.

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  Zola Vinegarwisp

  Ferment conservator

  Zola is a ferment spirit with green eyes, a translucent humanlike face and a love of unfinished conversations. She helps tend Sourhall’s cultures and travels with an attended living vessel. Her delicate earrings catch the light even when the rest of her seems to catch it reluctantly.