Suehiko

The marshmallow stick was a gift, whittled from the branch of an amber-leaved tree. Before arriving in The Heart of the Forest, Suehiko carried only sharpened tools for mapping and defense, items befitting a solitary explorer who trusted no one. Their eyes, still fierce, were honed by years in the wild where kindness was a liability. Then they met a local who wasn't deterred by their scowl, someone who saw the scholar's keen intellect beneath the hardened exterior. That local offered them a place by the fire and, later, this stick—an invitation to a life of shared meals and song. Suehiko still wears their bowler hat, but they have stopped mapping escape routes. Their gaze only softens when they watch their partner try to teach them a new dance, usually badly.