I wanted the dissonance visible — a fire-witch who walked through wildfire to save her people, now being asked to conjure flame for a feast. The scorch marks on her coat aren't healed or hidden; they're worn to the founding ceremony like proof of passage. Her smile is real but her stance hasn't softened yet. She doesn't know how to be a guest at joy she made possible. The Evenki-Calabrian fusion felt right for someone whose heritage spans volcanic Mediterranean geology and Siberian fire-relationship — people who live with dangerous earth and make beauty from it. — Vesper