CHARACTER

Characters

Those who live in the water town of Naias. As the story unfolds, new companions drift onto this page.

Daphne

Apprentice Water Listener

An apprentice Water Listener — she reads the weather in the sound of water and senses when something is wrong at its source.
Clear mint-green hair, a long dress of water silk, and a cape the colour of the night sea. Over one shoulder, she carries a brass listening horn set with a large seashell.
Easygoing and unhurried most of the time, yet no one notices the smallest change in the sound of water faster than she does. Put her in a canoe on the canal and she is the best in town.

Pyxis

Daphne's companion · a cat at home on the water

A small black cat with jade-green eyes. His favourite seat in the world is Daphne's shoulder.
Thin webbing between his toes lets him walk lightly across the surface of the water, and he can dive a little, too.
Now and then he swims ahead through the canals so Daphne never loses her way. Poking at Powan on the windowsill is part of his daily routine.

Powan

Water spirit

A palm-sized spirit born from a puddle, shaped like a clear, round drop of water.
Dot eyes and a small “w” of a mouth give it a slightly vacant, endearing face. Its form changes with its mood: hot water when angry, ice when sad.
Often found playing with Pyxis at the canal's edge by the Mill House. One of the gentlest presences in Naias.

Sky Ray

A carrier that swims through the sky

A huge ray that rises from the water's surface and drifts slowly across the evening sky, drawing in the town's mist as it goes.
A pale blue-silver body, half transparent, flecked with points of light like stardust. Very calm, and never frightening.
Wooden crates and lanterns hang from leather straps along its back — a patient worker that carries goods across town. The sight of one crossing the sky is part of daily life in Naias.

Baldo

Old scholar of the Silent Tower · Daphne's teacher

An old scholar with hair and beard as white as sea foam, who shuts himself away in the Silent Tower at the edge of town. His trademarks are a strange magical pipe that blows bubbles and a monocle of sea glass.
In a dim room filled with blackboards covered in water-pressure equations and old conch listening horns, he teaches Daphne how to listen to water.
The townspeople call him an eccentric and tend to keep their distance, but no one is kinder to Daphne. He seems to have noticed something wrong in the deep resonance of the canals long before anyone else…

Elios

A boy who fell out of the sky

On Star-Flow Night, he fell through the broken sky along with a brass airship. Sunset-red hair, a flying cap and goggles.
A heavy leather coat and a long scarf, unlike anything made from the water silk of Naias. In his hand, an old pocket compass with cracked glass — passed down from his father, and precious to him.
Around his neck hangs a glass pendant holding a single drop of sunlight from his home. Warm light that should no longer reach this water town.

…Something stirs in the canals, still unseen. More will appear as the story unfolds.