Fused characters

Appears from the start

A Fusing Archon, caravan mage, and protector who studies the consumption of magical harvests. She relies on Kit for dimensional storage and tests gravity-driven tungsten projectiles whose destructive force can exceed her safeguards.

Appears from the start

Tala's bonded dimensional storage item. A projectile experiment damages its interior equipment and doorway and drains its reserves, but it remains functional after Tala replenishes it.

Appears from the start

An archivist who examines isolated Culinary Guild records and finds that fear and secrecy kept them apart from the guild's broader knowledge. She takes responsibility for raising the problem with local leadership.

First appears in chapter 2

Tala's friend, housemate, and fellow Caravan Guild mage. She helps Tala establish a permanent doorway site for Kit, listens when Tala discusses her family history, and encourages her to confront the unresolved separation.

First appears in chapter 2

Tala's intelligent creature companion, whose appetite is comparable to Tala's unusually high food needs.

First appears in chapter 7

A mage working at the teleportation tower who helped Tala after her arrival from the academy. Nearing retirement without advancing, she expects eventually to undergo an involuntary transformation into a fount.

First appears in chapter 3

The Bandfast city lord's reforged wife and an Archon able to intervene through the city's defenses. She helps when Tala's iron body paint causes those defenses to mistake Tala for an intruder.

First appears in chapter 5

Tala's distinct mental aspect and archive-linked collaborator. Alat reconstructs suppressed memories that expose an apparent attack upon Tala's mind and helps her organize what the recovered experience means.

Also known as Mind-altering arcane

First appears in chapter 5

A hostile conceptual being seen in Tala's recovered memories. It manipulates attention and belief, attempts to penetrate or erase Tala's mind, and destroys her short-term memories before withdrawing.

First appears in chapter 6

A newly graduated information-processing mageling and one of Tala's former academy acquaintances. Lynn meets her in Bandfast and considers taking her on as a mageling and housemate.

First appears in chapter 8

An exacting inscriber who reviews Kannis's proposed inscriptions, corrects serious weaknesses, and records the improvements. She also agrees to monitor Tala's continuing magical compression while Tala remains in Bandfast.

First appears in chapter 9

An elite mundane combatant whose magic is devoted to exceptional reactions. He repeatedly defeats Tala and other mages at close range, then recommends mounted coordination and weapon practice for Tala and Terry.

First appears in chapter 10

A fellow caravan mage whose working relationship with Tala is becoming less formal. Tala grants him access to the memories she recovered so he can understand the danger facing her.

First appears in chapter 10

A magical adviser whom Tala authorizes to review her recovered memories.

Also known as Magnetic mage hunter

First appears in chapter 10

An Archon hunter with precise control over iron dust. He accepts Tala's public invitation to join a northern ending-berry expedition that is also intended to draw out the being that altered her memories.

First appears in chapter 19

A caravan leader and iron-magic specialist traveling with Tala toward Marliweather. She has learned to direct magic through the empty spaces within iron, an approach that advances her work without yet producing an Iron Archon Star.

First appears in chapter 22

Tala's eleven-year-old younger brother and a pre-magic candidate with unusually high gate throughput. He remembers her only faintly, fears she may disappear again, and brings her toward the family home after accepting her reassurance.

First appears in chapter 23

A bound material-guide healer based at the Carwheel family alchemy shop. Formerly a wildlands healer, he recognizes Tala as the missing eldest sibling and sees that she is an exceptionally advanced human Archon nearing fusion.

Also known as Licensed alchemist, Registered alchemist

First appears in chapter 24

Tala's eldest sister, a registered alchemist and central worker in the family's expanded alchemy business. She meets Tala at the shop during the difficult first reunion with the family.

First appears in chapter 27

A Marliweather Constructionist Guild paragon with fire, force, and magical-power orientations. He recognizes Tala as the Blood Archon and advises her to let her newly Fused state settle fully before she attempts refining.