Tayce is a single mother. Her husband Bayan (Grau’s older brother) was murdered long ago by highwaymen 10 years ago. Left with three children to raise alone, Tayce dedicated her life to bringing them up right. Grau visits the family at least once a week to ensure that they’re safe and have everything they need. He respects and honestly likes Tayce, and his visits are inspired by familial concern and fraternal obligation, not any one-sided feelings for his brother’s widow.

The Soldado home is a squat, two-story wooden building in desperate need of repair. Overall, the building feels like the home of a family too busy living to bother with tedious chores. Inside, the house is remarkably clean and well kept, filled with worn furniture and decorated with the crafts and scribbling of children. Tayce ceded the one bedroom to her children years ago and sleeps on a settee on the first floor. Since Brienna’s illness, though, the boys have joined their mother downstairs with simple bedrolls on the floor.