Warden Esk of the Oak

The Greenwake's Wake-master, who keeps the Hollowing Oak and speaks for the living land — calm as deep water until you bring an axe or a relic-broker.

Esk has wardened the Greatwood since before the relic-fever, and treats the town-powers' squabble over the Wright's Shard the way she treats a forest fire: a thing to be contained, not joined. She'll teach a newcomer the wild's skills freely and warn them, exactly once, about the Rootbound who went too deep into the green and didn't come back as themselves. She and the Mourners' Veil-Keeper write to each other; they are the only two who think the relic's answer is simply to wait.