Declan Winterhound
Declan Winterhound
Declan Winterhound is the representative of the Scales of Eldath, the peace-keeping wing of the Emerald Enclave, and Karma's contact within her faction. He raised her to Balancewarden and sent her The Hearthwardens.
What the company knows
He has been placing people in this work for thirty years, by his own reckoning, and has handed the Balancewarden rank to a fair number of others in that time. His view of most of them is that they arrived believing peace was something you declare at people.
He does not send healers. When Karma's elevation came through, what arrived at Nuts Deep was a wagon, four workers, a load of sawn timber, and Aldith Fenn.
The letter
Declan's letter setting out what the Hearthwardens are for is the company's fullest sight of him. From it:
- He explains himself at length and in order, and interrupts himself with practical detail — whether the wagon took the river road, what Aldith is like, what he has stopped arguing about.
- He is candid about the parts of the work that go unrewarded. A village that the Cult of the Dragon fails to turn, he notes, looks exactly like a village that was never going to turn, and Karma should not expect to watch her successes happen.
- On tending: a week is enough, and has been enough for thirty years. The crew rebuilds and then teaches the place to finish the work itself. In his words, a village made dependent on the Scales is a village the Scales have failed.
- On weapons: the Hearthwardens carry none and will not be given any. He has been asked more than once and his answer has not changed in thirty years — the moment one of them carries a blade, the doors that make the work possible close.
- He ends with a standing offer: when Karma cannot be sure a place is safe, she is to write to him and he will tell her what he knows of it.
Relationships
- Karma — the Balancewarden he raised; his correspondent and the reason The Hearthwardens exist
- Aldith Fenn — the Eldathyn he posted to Nuts Deep to run the crew, and with whom he has a long-running and unresolved disagreement about the river road
- Scales of Eldath — his wing; standings are tracked on the Renown Tracker
- Emerald Enclave — the wider faction