Note: These profiles describe characters as they appear early in their stories. Some details change as the books unfold.

The Baker · The First Pathfinder

A quiet man with flour-dusted hands and a gift for listening. Crumb has baked bread at the Crossroads for as long as anyone can remember. He does not seek attention, does not raise his voice, and does not turn anyone away from his table. When a stranger arrives bearing a lantern that burns without oil, Crumb discovers that keeping the roads requires more than bread—though bread is still where it begins. 

The Candlekeeper

Keeper of flames at the Crossroads. Liora tends the lights that guide travelers home—and carries a few of her own that she doesn't speak about. Steady, watchful, and quietly fierce when something she loves is threatened. 

The Miller

Forty years at the millstones have taught Osric to measure everything twice—grain, words, and trust. Practical to a fault, skeptical of anything that can't be weighed, yet loyal in ways that don't require saying aloud. 

The Sparrow

A small brown bird who appeared at Crumb's windowsill one winter and never left. Kindle notices things humans miss—the weight of silences, the shift in someone's breathing, the way bread crumbs fall when hands are troubled. Whether she understands or simply witnesses is a question no one has answered. 

The Traveler

A stranger who arrived at the Crossroads carrying questions and a lantern that shouldn't still be burning. Ash speaks carefully, watches everything, and seems to be looking for something—or someone. What they find at the Crossroads may not be what they expected. 

Bakers in Training

Three young people learning more than bread under Crumb's patient instruction. Their year of apprenticeship becomes something none of them expected—including Crumb himself. 

The Neighboring Village

The village to the east, connected by the Fate Road. Relations with the Crossroads are complicated—old grievances, practical needs, and the slow work of sitting in the same air when history makes it hard.