Run 2

Raised by a grandmother who whispered the names of every root and flower. Zara heals with one hand and harvests with the other. Gentle with plants, brittle with people — she trusts what grows from the soil more than what comes from a mouth.

Petra grew up on a hardscrabble farm wedged between a quarry and a forest. She can coax wheat from poor soil, find mushrooms in dead leaves, and chip useful stone from a cliff face. Master of nothing, capable of everything — and secretly terrified that one day none of it will be enough.

Restless prospector. Always convinced the next dig will be the big one. Impulsive but generous when flush. Showed up at The Clearing after burning through every mining camp east of the hills.

A man who speaks in grunts and builds in stone. Flint lost his hearing in one ear to a cave-in and his patience for small talk along with it. He respects craft, despises waste, and believes that what you build outlasts what you say.

Young healer-in-training. Compassionate but naive. Believes every wound can be fixed with the right herb. Came to The Clearing because she heard there was a woman named Zara who could teach her the old remedies.

Born on a river barge, Mira learned to read currents and people before she could read words. She fishes for dinner and fishes for secrets with equal skill. Charming and quick, but underneath the easy smile is someone who has never stayed anywhere long enough to be known.

Rowan tracked his first deer at fourteen and felled his first tree the same winter. He moves through forest like he belongs there and through conversation like he does not. Loyal to a fault once you earn it, but earning it takes years.