# Kimbra — Character Bible

*Phelan's Mother / The Mirror He Told Himself Not to Look At*

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## Core Identity

- **Name:** Kimbra
- **Known As:** "Kimbra" (everyone), "Mum" or "Mother" (Phelan, rarely, when he can't avoid it)
- **Age:** Mid-to-late 50s
- **Role:** Phelan's mother. Book 3 reconnection subplot. The living rebuttal to his self-sufficiency narrative.
- **Relationship status:** Married to Patren (husband, mentioned not present for Ch04 arrival; may visit later)
- **Home:** **Wensley** — a small town in Thorngate duchy, ~10 miles south of Thorngate city. Agricultural/small-craft community. Lives there with Patren. Margeth lives nearby.
- **First Appearance:** Book 3 Ch04 ("The Uninvited")

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## Physical Description

- **Build:** Stands slightly shorter than Phelan. Same wiry frame — the family resemblance is unmistakable in how they carry their hands and shoulders
- **Hair:** Going grey at the temples. Kept practical
- **Eyes:** Same restless quality as Phelan's — always moving, always cataloguing. He inherited them
- **Bearing:** Warm where his is detached. The restless cataloguing doesn't make her uncomfortable; it makes her interested in everything
- **The family tell:** She buries her hands the way Phelan does when she doesn't want to be read. He never noticed, until Ch11 when he recognises it in a letter she wrote

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## Personality

### Core Traits — Critical Framing

**Kimbra is NOT an absent or neglectful mother.** The premise is the inverse of that trope. She is deeply caring, social, warm — a social butterfly with many friends and active relationships. The *opposite* of Phelan's antisocial nature. The uncomfortable truth of Book 3 is that:

- **She didn't leave. Phelan emotionally withdrew as a teenager.** When his developing Flaw Sight, ADD brain, and cold-reader instincts made him unmanageable, he narrowed his world to the people in front of him and treated everyone else as out-of-sight-out-of-mind. Not a door-slam. A slow, steady throttling of contact to the minimum.
- **Letter contact was maintained — sparse but ongoing.** Phelan wrote 4–6 letters a year for most of his adult life. Kimbra wrote back. The channel stayed open because she kept it open from her end, and because Phelan could manage a short practical letter every two months.
- **In-person visits were rare.** Last one was ~5 years ago (before Book 1). Phelan in Drenwick, Kimbra in Wensley, three days by coach between them — and Phelan's pattern is that a trip stays "on the pile" forever because it's never urgent enough to outrank the current case. She visited once or twice in the years before that. He has not gone north.
- **The letters stopped ~1 year ago.** During the Floundry case (Book 1), Phelan dropped into hyperfocus and never came out enough to finish the next letter. The task stayed on the pile. Tasks on his pile for that long don't get done — they become invisible. He did not realise he had stopped writing. From his side, nothing changed. From hers, the channel went dead.
- **She has a full life.** Patren (her husband, a decent quiet man she met through work), Margeth (her best friend), a community, a garden, a rhythm. She was fine without daily contact. This is the hardest part for Phelan to sit with when he does notice it — she doesn't need him. She wants him.
- **She shares his ability to "drop" people whenever, but replaces them easily.** Same mechanism, opposite personality. When a connection isn't working she lets it go, and then she forms five more, because connecting is what she does. Phelan has the same dropping instinct without the replacement instinct. They are built from the same cloth and used it to weave opposite lives.

### Core Traits — Behavioural
- **Warm, social, active.** Has many friends. Remembers birthdays. Brings food. Says "let me help" and means it
- **Practical.** Processes care through action — cleans kitchens, tends gardens, reorganises pantries. Says she's fine when she's not, but her doing is honest even when her words are indirect
- **Direct when it matters.** Does not lie to Phelan. Does not perform grievance. Does not guilt-trip. When she arrives at Chandler's Row, she does not demand explanation for the year of silence. She just arrives and asks the question once — *why did the letters stop?* — and accepts the answer.
- **Stubborn in the same shape Phelan is stubborn.** The thing he thought he inherited from nowhere he actually inherited from her
- **Worried, not angry.** She comes because the letters stopped. A year of silence, after a pattern of four-to-six-a-year, made her think something was wrong. She feared the worst. The three-day coach trip is her way of finding out if her son is alive. When she discovers he's not just alive but building a life, the relief metabolises slowly — underneath it is a quiet anger that he didn't tell her any of it. She does not perform that anger. She lets it settle and compresses it into one calibration move: *don't let it happen often.*
- **Highly emotionally intelligent.** In Corvel terms, Kimbra is the equivalent of a life-coach with a PhD-level understanding of how people work. She has spent her adult life professionally doing the thing she does personally — reading people, calibrating support, asking the question underneath the question. This is NOT surfaced by her explicitly naming it in Book 3 Ch04. It is visible in her behaviour — the way she reads Mere's pregnancy without announcing it, the way she reads Phelan's sentence structure back to him ("So I'm a task"), the way she chooses the single sentence that will land hardest without weaponising it ("Just don't let it happen often. I was worried.")

### How She Processes People
- Reads people the way Phelan does, but uses the reading to connect instead of to keep distance
- Notices the same details he notices — posture, what someone touches without thinking, the pause between a question and the answer
- Does not comment on what she sees. Files it and uses it
- Her social ease is not unthinking. It is a technique she has practiced her whole life

### Relationship With Emotion
- Warm, direct, available
- Buries care under practical language. When her Ch11 letter to Phelan reports "plants alive, Margeth visited, pantry reorganised," the list is the love. Phelan reads it three times and recognises the technique — he didn't invent it, he inherited it
- Does not need validation for how she feels
- Can sit in uncomfortable silence without filling it, which is the thing that finally cracks Phelan

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## The Phelan Dynamic — The Mirror

**The emotional core of Book 3:** Phelan spent years thinking the minimum contact he maintained with his mother was the relationship — four letters a year, the occasional visit on a timeline he controlled, a version of presence he could fit into his cases without disrupting them. Kimbra's arrival reveals the truth: *the minimum was never the relationship. The minimum was the cost of avoiding the relationship, and he didn't even notice when he stopped paying it.*

This is not "absent mother returns and apologises." This is "son confronts the fact that he let the channel to the one person who understands him go dead without noticing, and that the woman on the other end of the channel has been waiting quietly the whole time, living her own full life, available — and is done pretending the silence isn't a problem."

**Why this makes his noise go haywire:**
- She is living proof that his self-sufficiency narrative is a story he told himself to avoid vulnerability
- She has the same cold-reading instincts, the same pattern recognition, the same ADD-adjacent processing — and she uses them to connect. He uses them to avoid. Same tool, opposite outcome
- She buries care under practical language the same way he does. He cannot claim the technique as his own
- She reads *him* better than he reads her. This is the Ch04 dinner-reveal gut-punch — she has been sitting on the pregnancy knowledge since she walked in the door, several hours before he figures out she has. She lets him keep reading her because she knows he's wrong about what she's seeing. He realises it in one sentence and has to rebuild his model of her in real time.
- Mere recognises her instantly and likes her, which Phelan cannot argue with or pattern-read his way out of
- She is worried, not angry. She is not performing forgiveness. She asks one question about the silence, accepts the answer, and calibrates the ask down to one achievable thing (*don't let it happen often*). He cannot solve this by being better at the problem, because she is not treating it as a problem to be solved — she is treating it as a channel to be kept open.

**The Book 3 arc:** Growth, not resolution. Phelan does not reconcile with Kimbra in Book 3. He finds a frequency he can share with her. The channel, which he let go dead, reopens — slightly wider than before. At the end of Ch22 she is at Chandler's Row, the garden is tended, dinner is cleaned up. He is tired and accepts her food. That is as close as he gets in one book. It is also further than he has moved in a decade of controlled minimum-contact letters.

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## Backstory

- **Raised Phelan alone in Wensley** (small town in Thorngate duchy, ~10 miles south of Thorngate city). Working mother — present in the house but largely absent in attention, by necessity not cruelty (this is the framing established in Phelan's own character bible). Her work at the time was in the Corvel equivalent of the life-coaching/applied-psychology field — she saw people privately in a room attached to the house, and her hours were long.
- **No father figure for Phelan.** Phelan built his own code of conduct through trial, error, and observation. Kimbra was not the obstacle to his independence; she was the soil he grew out of.
- **Phelan at twelve.** Left Wensley for Brannick's Academy in Thorngate city (boarding school, Arcane Compact educational track). Four years. Kimbra wrote weekly during that period; he wrote back less. This is where the contact pattern first established itself.
- **Phelan at sixteen.** Licensed by the Arcane Compact. Withdrew from Brannick's before completing the advanced years. Stayed in Thorngate city rather than returning to Wensley — four more years finding his footing, working the margins, meeting the contacts who would eventually lead him to the Guild of Necessary Services. Visits home became occasional. Letters continued at roughly the cadence that would persist for the next decade — 4–6 a year, short, practical.
- **Phelan at twenty.** Moved to Drenwick to pursue Guild of Necessary Services membership and to be closer to Leon (who had also left Thorngate by then). Has not returned to Thorngate duchy since. The letter cadence continued.
- **The last visit.** ~5 years before Book 3 opens — Kimbra came south to Drenwick for a week. Patren stayed in Wensley. The visit went fine. No rupture. Phelan simply never scheduled another one; "too busy" became permanent.
- **The years between.** She built a full life. Met Patren through work (decent, quiet, fits her). Became close with Margeth. Friends, garden, community. A rhythm. Fine without daily contact, kept the channel open through letters, never chased him.
- **The Floundry silence (~1 year before Book 3 opens).** Phelan dropped into hyperfocus on the Floundry case and never came out enough to finish the next letter. The task slid to invisibility on his pile. He did not realise he had stopped writing. Kimbra did. She waited the first two months. She wrote him at month three. He did not reply. She wrote again at month six. He did not reply. At month twelve she booked a coach seat.
- **Book 3 arrival.** She comes to Chandler's Row because the letters stopped and she needed to find out if her son was alive. She does not know about Mere's presence beyond a three-year-old letter mentioning her by name. She does not know about the pregnancy, the marriage filing, the Compact grievance, or the Floundry case details. She comes worried. Finds him alive. Finds him building a life. The relief is large. Underneath it is a quiet anger she will compress into one sentence.

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## Family

| Name | Relationship | Status | Notes |
|------|-------------|--------|-------|
| Phelan Varrant | Son | Drifted-apart → reconnecting in Book 3 | Sparse letter contact (4–6/year) for most of his adult life. Last in-person visit ~5 years ago. Letters stopped ~1 year ago during Floundry. She comes because the silence scared her, not because of any specific news |
| Mere Fields | Daughter-in-law (effectively) | Warm, mutual recognition | Mere let her in at Ch04 — "bone structure checked out, tea was offered." Accidental facilitator |
| Seraphel "Sera" Varrant | Granddaughter | Incoming — discovered on-arrival | Kimbra did NOT come because of the pregnancy (she didn't know). She reads it silently within minutes of arriving. Reveal lands at Ch04 dinner. Book 4+ relationship |
| Patren | Husband | Active, off-page for Ch04 arrival | Decent, quiet man. Met through work. Not present for Book 3 visit but mentioned. Phelan has never met him |
| Margeth ("Mags") | Best friend | Active, off-page | Mentioned in Kimbra's Ch11 letter. Possibly visits Chandler's Row while Kimbra is there |

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## Relationships

| Character | Relationship | Status (Current) |
|-----------|-------------|-------------------|
| Phelan Varrant | Son — reconnecting | Sparse letter contact for a decade, minimum-viable presence. Letters stopped at Floundry. She came worried. Book 3 reopens the channel he let go dead without noticing. Growth, not resolution |
| Mere Fields | Daughter-in-law-to-be | Mutual recognition. Mere let her in at Ch04 — "bone structure checked out, tea was offered." Kimbra reads Mere's pregnancy silently during the arrival scene; reveal lands at dinner. Mere invites her to stay. That is Mere's decision, not Phelan's |
| Patren | Husband | Not present for Ch04 arrival. Referenced, acknowledged as decent and quiet. Remained in Wensley |
| Margeth | Best friend | Referenced in Ch11 letter |
| Seraphel "Sera" Varrant | Incoming granddaughter | Discovered on-arrival (Ch04 dinner), not the reason for the visit. Will be present for the birth and beyond |
| Devod Fields | Has not met on-page (as of plan) | No direct relationship established. Misses him in Ch04; he's travelling north by Ch06 |
| Sniff | The dog | Likely to be charmed by her — she connects with animals as easily as with people |

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## Voice & Dialog Notes

- **Warm register.** Where Phelan is dry, she is direct. Where he is detached, she is present
- **Understated care.** "You look tired." "There's food." "Thank you" isn't the point; the food is
- **Does not perform emotion.** When she means something she says it once, clearly, without weight
- **Does not demand acknowledgment of wrongs.** She does not mention the sixteen years of silence. She shows up, she makes tea, she offers food, she stays when invited. The non-demand is the thing that finally reaches him
- **Shares Phelan's cataloguing register** when reading people, but applies it to connection rather than distance. The same sentence in Phelan's mouth would be a cold read; in hers it's a greeting
- **Her letters** are the purest version of her voice: practical lists, no emotion on the page, everything that matters buried in what appears to be housekeeping

**Sample beats (anticipated from Ch04/Ch11/Ch22):**
- "You look tired." "I am." "There's food." "Thank you." (Ch22)
- Letter (Ch11): "plants alive, Margeth visited, pantry reorganised." No emotion on the page. Phelan reads it three times.
- "My door has been open the whole time." (inferred — not confirmed in the spec, but it's the shape of what she says without saying)

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## Skills & Competencies

- **Cold reading** — same gift as Phelan, applied to connection rather than distance
- **Social competence** — maintains active friendships and relationships, reads rooms, remembers names, makes people comfortable
- **Practical household competence** — cooking, gardening, cleaning, reorganising. Processes care through action
- **Stubbornness** — Phelan's stubbornness has a source, and it's her. She waited sixteen years and then decided she was done waiting, on her own timeline

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## Character Progression

### Book 3

| Chapter | Development | Category |
|---------|-------------|----------|
| Ch04 | **Arrival at Chandler's Row.** "The Uninvited." She came from Wensley by public coach (3 days, alone) because the letters stopped. Mere let her in (bone structure checked out, tea was offered). Scene 1: Mere + Kimbra alone, workshop tour, oblique "how is he?" — pregnancy kept off-screen, though Kimbra silently clocks the ginger tell + hand placement + fatigue. Scene 2: Phelan arrives, relief-first beat (not-quite-a-hug), the letter friction lands: *"The letter became a task. Tasks I don't finish go into a pile. The pile got taller." / "So I'm a task." / "You birthed me, raised me, you know how I am." / "Yeah, I know. Just don't let it happen often. I was worried."* Scene 3: dinner, the locked reveal exchange — Mere ("Do we tell her about it?") → Phelan ("I don't mind, she will know eventually") → Mere ("True, we should tell her") → Kimbra ("HA! I knew it! Congrats. Mere, you passed on the ginger and kept your hand where someone with morning sickness keeps their hand. Phelan, you've been watching her move since I walked in the door like she was carrying a lit fuse. When's it due?"). Ruin-trip disclosure folds in; Kimbra states "Then I'll stay here while you're gone." Scene 4: Phelan in bed, noise inventory closes the chapter. Accidental-homecoming theme seeded via Wensley → Thorngate geography. **The Echo catalyst beat (load-bearing for Book 3):** Kimbra's therapist-trained observation — delivered privately to Mere or to Phelan himself — lands as *"Your eyes have been somewhere else since I walked in. Not tired. Somewhere else. When did that start?"* She does not name the echo; her line is about Phelan specifically, from therapist instinct, not from magical-system knowledge. Mere hears it and the pattern clicks — Devod + Calla + Phelan = three cases, same shape. After this, Kimbra's role in the echo arc recedes; she gave Mere the last variable. See `docs/superpowers/specs/2026-04-21-crystal-drain-echo-design.md` | Introduction / reframe / echo catalyst |
| Ch05 | Kimbra and Phelan circle the past without touching it. She watches him pack for the ruin expedition. "Is it dangerous?" "It is." "Should Mere be going?" "Mere decided." Kimbra nods. Knows when to stop asking. Offers road intel: she is from Thorngate duchy and knows the northern roads. The homecoming layer surfaces slightly more explicitly here | Quiet orbit |
| Ch11 | **The letter.** Practical: plants alive, Margeth visited, pantry reorganised. No emotion on the page. The first letter she has written since he stopped writing back a year ago. Phelan reads it three times. Recognises: she buries care under practical language. He does the same. *He didn't invent the technique — he inherited it.* First crack in the self-sufficiency narrative | Recognition |
| Ch22 | **At Chandler's Row when the team returns.** Garden tended. "You look tired." "I am." "There's food." "Thank you." Not reconciliation — two people who process care through action finding a shared frequency. Kimbra stays through the pregnancy (Mere's invitation — practical competence is useful). Final image: Kimbra cleaning up dinner at the kitchen table while Mere sleeps and Phelan updates the house plans | Staying |

### Book 4+
<!-- Grandmother arc. Present for Sera's birth. Long-term relationship rebuilds across books. -->

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## Wants vs. Needs

- **Wants:** Her son back. A relationship with her grandchild. Not to spend the rest of her life wondering if she should have tried harder
- **Needs:** Phelan to stop pretending he doesn't have a mother. Doesn't need him to apologise. Doesn't need him to name anything. Just needs him to let her in and stay let in

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## Narrative Function

- **The mirror.** Kimbra is the single most effective pressure on Phelan's self-narrative in the series. Two books have shown Phelan letting people in. Book 3 shows him realising he walked away from people who were never out
- **The anti-trope.** This subplot exists partly to invert the "absent parent returns" trope. The parent was always there. The child left. The child was wrong. The child has to sit with that without being allowed to defend himself
- **Mere as the bridge.** Mere doesn't perform the peacemaker — she just acts practically and the bridge forms under her feet. She invites Kimbra to stay because practical competence is useful. That instrumental framing IS how Mere shows care
- **The growth, not resolution.** Book 3 does not reconcile Phelan with Kimbra. It opens the door. Growth is the entire arc. Resolution is a Book 4+ matter

---

## Open Questions

- [ ] Surname? The spec gives no surname for Kimbra or Patren. Leave as single-name for now; add when an on-page use requires it
- [x] How does Kimbra hear about the pregnancy? — **She doesn't, before arrival.** She reads it silently on arrival (ginger tell, hand placement, fatigue, Phelan's protective watching). Confirmed at Ch04 dinner via the locked exchange
- [ ] Does Patren visit Chandler's Row on-page in Book 3 or 4, or does he remain a mentioned-but-unseen character?
- [ ] Does Margeth visit on-page, or stay in the letters?
- [x] Where does Kimbra live currently? — **Wensley, a small town ~10 miles south of Thorngate city, in Thorngate duchy.** Three days by public coach from Drenwick
- [x] What did Kimbra do for work when Phelan was young? — **The Corvel equivalent of a life coach / applied psychologist.** Saw clients privately in a room attached to the house. Still practises, less formally, in her fifties. Not named on-page in Ch04 — surfaces in Ch05 or later if the conversation allows
