Syskellyn “Kell” Eburt (Sis-kel-in EE-burt)

Race: Human Role: Performer, Stage Magician, Street-Level Intelligence

Kell Eburt is the kind of man who notices everything and volunteers nothing — at least not until he’s decided he can trust you. He is observant, measured, and quietly confident, with the unhurried manner of someone who has spent years working rooms of all reputations and learned exactly how much to say in each one. He is warm without being soft, direct without being aggressive, and when he decides to extend his trust, he does it completely and without hedging.

He arrived in Tevec nearly four years ago as part of a traveling performance troupe, with his wife Abby at his side. Their son disappeared shortly after they arrived. The troupe moved on. The Eburts didn’t.

He performs alongside Abby at various establishments around the city — some respectable, some considerably less so — and in those rooms he has made himself indispensable and trusted enough that people occasionally forget to watch what they say around him. This is, one suspects, entirely intentional. He has a reputation in certain circles that keeps would-be trouble at arm’s length without him ever having to confirm or deny the rumors behind it.

He is also, to the surprise of those who assume he’s simply Abby’s straight man, a practitioner of magic. By his own description, his days of throwing fire and lightning are long behind him — he’s a stage magician now, focused on entertaining and useful spells rather than dramatic ones. The bigger spells, he admits with sheepish honesty, didn’t always work the way they were supposed to anyway.

What defines Kell most, however, is not his skills or his instincts. It is the quiet tenderness with which he handles the woman he loves — holding her close when she falls apart, rolling his eyes when she snores, and meaning every word when he calls her the best singer he has ever heard.

Interesting Facts:

• He carries a small wooden carving of a pair of lips that he places casually on the table during conversations. It tells him whether the person he’s talking to is telling the truth, a half-truth, or an outright lie. He uses it without calling attention to it — most people don’t notice until it’s too late.
• His first instinct upon hearing Sabrael’s entire story — the ambush, the missing children, the conspiracy — was to offer his home as a safe house for the kids. He didn’t hesitate and he didn’t ask for anything in return.
• His most remarkable magical achievement is also his most embarrassing one. While attempting to use magic to clean his favorite shirt one day, Kell accidentally made it completely impervious to stains, dirt, ash, and liquid of any kind — the shirt simply repels everything the moment it makes contact. The unintended side effect was the coat hanging next to it, which absorbed every bit of color the shirt rejected. The coat is now an eye-watering assault of shifting, swirling colors that rearrange themselves every time the shirt absorbs something new. Kell is sheepish about both garments. Fiebrict considers them the greatest things he has ever seen.