The Fires of December Characters

Born in the last cold hour of an unseasonably cold winter, December is named by her dying mother and raised by a wet nurse and then an innkeeper's family. She serves tables, marries Bark, leaves after he hits her, trains as a doctor, and proposes a two-bedroom marriage to the reeve Matin; after dying alone in her eighties, she wakes fifty-nine years in the past on her twenty-first birthday. She travels to Kingseat to warn the king about plague and the coming demon disaster, while seeking dignity and a home.

Arc: She saves Rema, exposes Bark's murder of Tap, hires Amaal, Tamantha, and Dmitrovik, investigates Count Flint, learns witchcraft and demon command, is imprisoned, bonds with Beautiful, and helps stop the fires. She keeps the memories of her old age even as she acts in her young body, and in the epilogue builds a normal life, frees the hexers, resists being named a prophet, and marries Flint.

• Bark — her first husband, who becomes abusive and later targets her with laws
• Matin — the reeve; her husband in her first life and later a friend and defender
• Rema — Matin's wife, whom December saves from choking
• Count Abrim Flint — her investigation target, love interest, and later husband
• Amaal — her spiritual advisor and traveling companion
• Tamantha — her lady's maid, stylist, and companion
• Dmitrovik — her hired footman, later butler and loyal ally
• Lord Geoffrim Satin — her interrogator, captor, and enemy
• Lady Petva — her confidante, later an enemy
• Beautiful — the demon she summons, frees, and ultimately bonds with
• Hoid — the immortal jester whose presence shapes her vision and whose story she helps shelter
• Gornil — her foster mother
• Yorduk — her foster father
• Brother Grund — a monk who shelters and guides her later in life
• the Prophet — a figure she meets in a dream and later hosts

Lord Geoffrim Satin is the Minister of Finance who initially encourages December and intercedes for her with the king. He interrogates her, forges a noble lineage to keep her in the city, and secretly plots to free and control the Megalith demon to prevent her vision. He is dying of a disease and seeks the Ever-Slaying Sword's power to heal himself.

Arc: He moves from seeming kindly administrator to manipulator and traitor: he uses December as a trap, steals the passphrase and power from King Beaudilog, kills the king, lets Lady Petva die trying to control the demon, and kills Flint. December reveals the Prophet's three tools, stripping his Investiture, and Flint kills him before his disease would have.

• December — his prisoner, interrogation subject, and enemy
• Lady Petva — his co-conspirator and ally
• King Beaudilog the Nineteenth — advisor who betrays and kills him
• Count Abrim Flint — enemy he tortures and kills, and who kills him
• General Drakes — rival whom he accuses before the king
• Hoid — tracked and investigated the immortal's death

Beautiful is the cat-shaped demon December encounters on the barge and later summons; it is also the Megalith, the giant demon around which Kingseat is built and which is pinned by the Ever-Slaying Sword. It can speak, feeds on compliments, wants to be called beautiful, and claims its nature is to destroy. In one future it destroys December's homeland and kills her, but in the final confrontation December names it Beautiful and bonds with it to stop the fires.

Arc: It begins as a mysterious and world-threatening demon, used in Geoffrim's plot and feared by hexers. After December refuses to crush it, it flees, but later she bonds with it, gives it cat form, and keeps it in Kingseat to learn what it is to be alive.

• December — summoner and bonded companion, who first died at its hands as the Megalith
• Lord Geoffrim Satin — planned to free and control it, and it cannot approach his imprisoning power
• Lady Petva — tried to control it and was vaporized
• Weonim — hexer who would crush it into a crystal
• Count Abrim Flint — travels with it and December after the bond

Lady Petva is King Beaudilog's niece and the royal recorder who helps Geoffrim document December's account. She warns December against spying on Count Flint, then later reveals glowing red eyes, summons a demon snake, and proves to be a hexer and co-conspirator with Geoffrim. She is initially suspected of killing Hoid.

Arc: She shifts from reassuring noblewoman to antagonist, confronting December and trying to control the reconstituting demon. Her attempt fails and she is vaporized; later notes also list her as likely killer of Hoid.

• December — confidante, later enemy
• Lord Geoffrim Satin — co-conspirator and ally
• King Beaudilog the Nineteenth — her uncle
• Hoid — suspected killer of the immortal
• Count Abrim Flint — former court member with no love lost between them

Bark is an assistant foreman at the mines and a regular at the inn who marries December, grows abusive after she cannot have children, and later becomes wealthy mayor after finding the Winter's Cache. He marries the innkeeper's granddaughter and enacts laws against migrants and foreign-blooded workers to target December. He murdered Tap and hid the body to fake a landslide.

Arc: In the first life he is December's abusive husband and powerful enemy; in the relived past he proposes to her, is refused, confesses to killing Tap, and is hanged. He remains the central figure of December's early trauma and the target of her first act of justice.

• December — his first wife, whom he abuses and later targets
• Tap — old friend and partner whom he murdered
• Matin — interrogates and convicts him
• the innkeeper's granddaughter — his second wife

Count Abrim Flint is a Royal Minister of Espionage, a gambler and debt-ridden noble who once held a knife to December's throat and is suspected of killing the immortal Hoid. He negotiated with hexers to trade Hoid's captured spirit for demonstone, sees through December's disguises, and becomes her wary teacher and romantic interest. He is entangled with Duke Kird's daughter Melsi and with King Beaudilog's order to kill the immortal.

Arc: Initially December's investigative target and suspected murderer, he trades truths with her, refuses to sell demonstone to Duke Kird, is captured and tortured, escapes, and helps spark civil war. He is killed by Geoffrim, but after December is cast forward again she wakes beside him; he ultimately stabs Geoffrim through the throat, survives, keeps the stolen healing power, becomes an innkeeper, advises the new king, and marries December.

• December — her investigative target, love interest, and later wife
• Melsi — Duke Kird's daughter, his former student and romantic interest, who later forgives him
• Duke Kird — political rival and enemy, later tense but workable
• Lord Geoffrim Satin — enemy who tortures and kills him, and whom he ultimately kills
• King Beaudilog the Nineteenth — monarch who asked him to kill the immortal and later orders his execution
• Hoid — carries Hoid's captured spirit in a lantern and later collects him after death
• Weonim — hexer negotiating partner
• General Drakes — old acquaintance who arrests him

Amaal is a priestess on pilgrimage to see the Ever-Slaying Sword and the demon, hired by December as a spiritual advisor and researcher. She is eager, talkative, devoted to relics and the mandata, and she explains demons, the Megalith, and hexers to December. She becomes a loyal traveling companion and later a royal priestess.

Arc: She doubts December's rebirth story at first, but accepts the vision explanation and supports December's investigation. During the demon tempest she is vaporized with Tamantha, but in the epilogue she is overjoyed to meet the Prophet and, as royal priestess, blesses December's marriage.

• December — her friend, spiritual charge, and traveling companion
• Tamantha — fellow attendant and companion
• Brother Grund — her mentor before her pilgrimage
• the Prophet — she is overjoyed to meet him
• Hoid — he tricks her into describing Valor's temple murals
• Dmitrovik — co-attendant in December's service

Tamantha is a dressmaker who leaves her brother, repurchases her designs with December's money, and insists on serving as December's lady's maid and stylist. She manages December's court presentation, social reputation, and clothing, and she often warns December about danger. She is practical, protective, and ambitious for December's social success.

Arc: She moves from grateful employee to trusted companion, helping December prepare for court, investigate Flint, and manifest a dress from the demon's blood. She is vaporized in the demon tempest, but in the epilogue she turns down three squires and marries her rival clothing designer.

• December — her mistress, friend, and companion
• Amaal — fellow attendant and companion
• Dmitrovik — colleague in December's service
• Miss Greenwares — receives December's sealed lineage document from her
• Count Abrim Flint — warns December about him
• her rival clothing designer — she marries them in the epilogue

Dmitrovik is a hotel valet and footman whom December specifically hires and later makes her butler. He is loyal, economical in speech, and grateful because December's hiring saved his family. He is the father of six-year-old Irinek.

Arc: He becomes December's trusted agent, tracking Count Flint, arranging the Megalith tour, rescuing her from the hexers, and later managing her hotel empire. He is intimidated by General Drakes but remains a steadfast ally.

• December — his employer, lady, and ally
• Irinek — his daughter
• Miss Greenwares — former employer who fires him
• Tamantha — colleague in December's service
• Amaal — colleague in December's service
• Count Abrim Flint — tails and reports on him for December
• General Drakes — intimidated by him

Matin is the reeve of Rivershore who accepts December's two-bedroom marriage proposal in her first life and dies in the plague. In the relived past he investigates Tap's murder, convicts Bark, and writes December a letter of introduction to the king. He is dutiful, thoughtful, and prefers caring for people to enforcing law.

Arc: He goes from December's husband in a remembered life to a stranger in the past who becomes an ally, then later defends her against witch accusations and shelters her. He becomes Minister of Finance, becomes close with Flint, and never learns of the life December lived with him.

• December — his wife in her first life, later a friend and defender
• Rema — his wife, whom he loves
• Bark — interrogates and convicts him for Tap's murder
• Nathenial — his old bailiff
• Count Abrim Flint — becomes close with him
• Kamdon, Torrent, and Jamek — his sons

Hoid is an immortal white-haired jester and first-person narrator who appeared at December's inn the night before her twenty-first birthday. He is murdered in Kingseat by a powerful flame, later revealed to be a trap in Valor's forbidden temple that burned him to death. His spirit is carried in Flint's lantern before he is reconstituted.

Arc: He moves from mysterious victim and suspected cause of December's vision to active investigator of his own death. He realizes he accidentally self-immolated in Valor's temple, tricks Amaal into describing the murals, and recuperates with December and Flint while gathering the story.

• December — recuperates with her and Flint while gathering the story
• Count Abrim Flint — carried in his lantern and later collected by him
• Valor — hunts her, and her temple trap kills him
• Amaal — tricks her into describing Valor's temple murals
• Lord Geoffrim Satin — royal agents investigate his death
• Lady Petva — initially suspected of killing him

King Beaudilog the Nineteenth is the monarch of Kingseat who wears a small table as clothing and initially dismisses December's warning. He is advised by Geoffrim and Drakes and is threatened by Duke Kird's warships. He takes the passphrase power himself, allowing Geoffrim to steal it.

Arc: He goes from indifferent ruler to brief bearer of the imprisoned power, then is betrayed and killed by Geoffrim; his burned head is thrown down the palace steps. His death helps trigger civil war.

• Lord Geoffrim Satin — his advisor and betrayer
• Lady Petva — his niece
• December — petitioner he dismisses and then permits to speak
• General Drakes — his Minister of Defense
• Duke Kird — a rival duke
• Count Abrim Flint — ordered him to kill the immortal and later orders his execution

General Drakes is the Minister of Defense, a stern city-defense commander who stands at the king's right and resembles Bark to December. He arrests Count Flint and later intercepts December, but he doubts Flint's capture was genuine and suspects he was baited. He is one of the king's most outspoken critics.

Arc: He moves from feared authority to more complex figure: he interrogates December, learns Geoffrim and Petva knew of her meeting with Flint, rushes out, and is later killed. Geoffrim uses December's meeting with him to accuse him before the king.

• King Beaudilog the Nineteenth — his Minister of Defense and outspoken critic
• December — interrogates her and fears her as a dangerous ignorant prodigy
• Count Abrim Flint — arrests him and is an old acquaintance
• Lady Petva — learns she and Geoffrim knew of December's meeting with Flint
• Lord Geoffrim Satin — rival whom Geoffrim accuses
• his wife — accompanies him on raids

Duke Kird, also called the Orange Duke, is a powerful duke whose daughter Melsi was seduced and abandoned by Count Flint. He moors warships at the edge of his lands and demands demonstone as repayment, blaming the king and Kingseat society. He later takes over the city and crowns himself king.

Arc: He goes from angry father threatening civil war to self-crowned ruler. Under his rule, relations with Flint are tense but workable, and December and Flint become innkeepers.

• Melsi — his daughter
• Count Abrim Flint — blames him and becomes a political rival; later tense but workable
• King Beaudilog the Nineteenth — demands demonstone from him
• December — she and Flint become innkeepers under his rule

Miss Greenwares is the innkeeper who employs valets and stores December's sealed lineage document. She is status-conscious, harsh to staff she considers beneath the hotel, and fires Dmitrovik while citing his fosterling status and unwed fatherhood. December confronts her, reveals her own fosterling and bastard origins, and forces her to sell the hotel.

Arc: She goes from controlling innkeeper to defeated seller, agreeing to sell for fifty gold and leaving by carriage. Her treatment of Dmitrovik leads December to buy the hotel and improve conditions.

• December — her guest, later the buyer of her hotel
• Dmitrovik — employee she fires
• Tamantha — receives December's lineage document through her
• her staff — glares at and mistreats them

Weonim is a female hexer elder who negotiates with Count Flint and warns him that selling demonstone to Duke Kird would be treason and start a civil war. She later mothers December among the hexers and gives her the words to crush Beautiful into a crystal. She believes strict demon contracts are the only way hexers and demons survive.

Arc: She moves from wary negotiating partner to mentor figure who tries to guide December into crushing Beautiful. When December frees him instead, Weonim calls her an idiot and backs away.

• Count Abrim Flint — hexer negotiating partner
• December — hexer elder and mentor figure
• Beautiful — would crush him into a crystal
• Duke Kird — warns that selling demonstone to him is treason

Brother Grund is a monk who advised Amaal before her pilgrimage and suggested elevating the mandatum's language; he rewrote the second mandatum as 'Don't be a dick.' Later he shelters December at a monastery, gives her books on demons and witchcraft, and sends her south to the plains. He is found dead alone in the field, identified by his sword-and-heart pendant.

Arc: He becomes December's guide and shelterer after her wanderings; his death is the first time December hates the Prophet. In the epilogue timeline, he is a visiting Brother at December's blessing.

• Amaal — her mentor before her pilgrimage
• December — shelters and guides her; she mourns him
• the Prophet — December hates the Prophet over Grund's death

The Prophet is a legendary figure who arrived from the Goddess, slew the demon/Megalith, left the Ever-Slaying Sword to pin it down, and later vanished. He appears in December's dream, says he is trapped and cannot travel, and promises to try to send help, mentioning three passphrases he left. In the epilogue he sends a simulacrum years late and is invited in to eat and meet Amaal.

Arc: He moves from absent legend to dream contact and late visitor. He apologizes to December, says he tried, and remains exhausted and trapped.

• December — dream contact who later sends her a simulacrum
• Amaal — she is overjoyed to meet him
• Beautiful — slew and pinned the demon/Megalith
• Valor — ancestors prayed to Valor, and he arrived from the Goddess

Melsi is Duke Kird's daughter, described by Flint as a good student whom he did not intentionally seduce but became close to before leaving abruptly. She is the wronged daughter whose treatment causes Duke Kird to threaten war. She eventually forgives Flint and becomes the new Minister of Espionage.

Arc: She goes from wronged romantic interest to forgiving political figure. Her forgiveness helps resolve Flint's past.

• Duke Kird — her father
• Count Abrim Flint — her former mentor and romantic interest, who later is forgiven by her

Rema is Matin's wife, who in the first life chokes on a breakfast sausage on December's twenty-first birthday and dies, delaying December and Bark's wedding. In the relived past December saves her from choking, and she survives and clings to her children. She later chats warmly with December beside the hearth, and December thanks her for being good to Matin.

Arc: She moves from a remembered death that shapes December's first life to a saved living woman in the new timeline. December lets go of her love for Matin when she sees Rema alive.

• Matin — her husband
• Kamdon, Torrent, and Jamek — her children
• December — saved by her and later a friend

Gornil is December's foster mother at the inn, who wakes her on her twenty-first birthday, questions how she knew the choking maneuver, and tries to remind her of the previous night's discussion about Bark. She is concerned about December's behavior and marriage prospects.

Arc: She remains a background foster mother whose warnings and concerns frame December's early life and return to the past.

• December — her foster daughter
• Yorduk — her husband

Tap is Bark's old friend and hiking companion who is said to have died in a landslide before December marries Bark. In truth he found the silver vein and told Bark, who murdered him and hid the body under rocks to fake the landslide. December leads Matin and Nathenial to his body, and Bark confesses and is hanged.

Arc: He goes from alleged landslide victim to exposed murder victim. His corpse and the silver vein become the evidence that brings down Bark.

• Bark — old friend and partner whom Bark murdered
• December — she accuses Bark of murdering him
• Matin — finds his body with December and Nathenial
• Nathenial — finds his body on the hillside

Nathenial is the reeve's old bailiff who accompanies Matin and December up the hillside and finds Tap's body. He is a minor but named ally in the investigation of Bark.

Arc: He remains a supporting figure in the murder investigation, helping expose Bark.

• Matin — his old bailiff
• December — accompanies her and Matin up the hillside

Yorduk is Gornil's husband and December's foster father, part of the innkeeping family that raises her. He is mentioned through Gornil's relationship and the foster family's inn.

Arc: He remains a background foster father; December warns her foster parents about their unborn grandson falling in the well.

• Gornil — her husband
• December — her foster father

Will Kartov is a wealthy playboy at the gambling tables whom Count Flint points out to December as a safe mark. He boasts, buys December drinks, accepts her mistaken 'triple downed' bet, and later shoves and insults Flint when Flint interrupts. He is a minor socialite used in December's con.

Arc: He remains a minor mark in December's gambling-parlor performance, with no larger arc shown.

• Count Abrim Flint — acquaintance who considers him a wealthy mark
• December — her supposed mark at the Night Barges

Viscountess Marchiksik is a rich, widowed noblewoman who dances with Count Flint at the festival. Flint later describes her to December as rich, widowed, and boring. She is a minor court figure.

Arc: She appears only as a social connection for Flint and a source of information about his habits.

• Count Abrim Flint — dances with him
• December — discussed by Flint in her hearing

Dtimi is a courtier who approaches December for a dance, insists when refused, and leaves after Count Flint intervenes. He is a minor social annoyance.

Arc: He appears briefly as an unwanted suitor and is rebuked by Flint.

• December — asks her to dance and insists when refused
• Count Abrim Flint — rebuked and driven off by him

Telich is the head of housekeeping at the hotel who informs December that Miss Greenwares regularly turned away people she thought were beneath the hotel's standards. This helps December understand Greenwares's treatment of staff.

Arc: A minor staff member who provides information after December buys the hotel.

• December — new hotel owner she informs
• Miss Greenwares — former employer

Mozbiki is the primary bookkeeper who reviews ledgers with December and notes that it is unconventional for a woman of her stature to let rooms in her private residence. He is a minor financial staff member.

Arc: He remains a background employee helping December manage the hotel's finances.

• December — client and employer

Irinek is Dmitrovik's six-year-old daughter, who clutches a large stuffed dog, mimics her father's bow, and draws on a chalkboard in the hotel lobby. In the epilogue she receives all the drawing materials she wants and a glowing cat to pet.

Arc: She is a minor but humanizing figure for Dmitrovik; December welcomes her and supports her drawing.

• Dmitrovik — her father
• December — welcomes her to draw in the hotel lobby

Goyvid is the royal Megalith guide who meets December's group, carries a sketch of December, and leads the tour. He tells the story of the Ever-Slaying Sword and encourages reverence. He is distracted by Amaal so December can slip away.

Arc: He remains a minor guide whose tour enables December to enter the hexer tunnels.

• December — guide for her Megalith tour
• Amaal — distracts him during the tour

Valor is the Shard or goddess whose forbidden temple in the city contains a trap that burns Hoid to death. Her murals depict worlds she visited, giving Hoid the clue to search for three worlds where dragons ruled. Ancestors prayed to Valor, and the Prophet arrived from the Goddess.

Arc: She remains an offscreen divine figure; her temple trap kills Hoid and her murals redirect his hunt.

• Hoid — he hunts her, and her temple trap kills him
• the Prophet — ancestors' prayers to Valor relate to the Prophet's arrival