Lady Tressi

Lorist's spouse, frequently shown managing the inner household at Castle Panshi while Lorist is on campaign.

Sharp, well-read and engineering-minded — exactly the sort of capable, level-headed woman Lorist favours. She argues with him to his face when he derails her construction schedule for yet another supply run, yet keeps re-cutting her plans to fit his needs.

She has a self-deprecating sense of humour: Lorist once finds her slumped over his desk, helpless with laughter at the tale of a knight who proposed digging a giant pit-trap across the beast tide's path.

She first appears in House Norton's service as head of the construction command, responsible for raising the city walls and fortifications across the family lands. All building matters route through her, with Kodan allocating labour and Old Balek prospecting ore alongside.

She swore an oath to remain unmarried for life, and holds to it even after growing close to Lorist.

In ch 106 she runs the construction command, haggling with Lorist over convicts pulled off the wall for the convoy, warning that an unfinished wall will not hold if the Kemmes forces arrive in a month and a half.

In ch 170 her relationship with Lorist turns intimate; he proposes marriage, but she refuses on account of her oath and agrees only to regard herself as his lover. From then on she remains one of his women while never setting aside her construction work.

Later she takes the household's children under her wing: in ch 198 she leads Elisha and the Zeno brothers into the Edge Mountains to scout a site for new construction.