Some characters are built carefully from the ground up.
Others… are just there.
Xara was never part of the plan.
She was never part of the original design.
Twenty years ago, when Markus and The Fractured Light Trilogy first began to take shape in my mind, she wasn’t a name, a voice, or even a defined figure. She was simply… there. A presence at the edge of the frame. A shadow moving just behind him. Not a love interest. Not an obvious ally. Just someone dangerous enough to stand beside him—and not be questioned.
At the time, that was enough.
But as Dawn of Shadows went through draft after draft, that vague presence became a problem. She didn’t behave like a supporting character. She didn’t fit cleanly into any role I tried to give her. Every attempt to define her too early felt wrong—like forcing something into place that didn’t want to be understood.
She lingered in the margins.
Watching. Waiting.
It wasn’t until the third draft that something shifted.
She stopped being passive.
She made choices.
And more importantly, she began to act without permission.
That’s when I realized she wasn’t there to fill a role in Markus’s story—she had her own reasons for being there. Her own instincts. Her own agenda. And whatever loyalty she carried… it wasn’t simple.
This sketch isn’t where she began.
It’s where I finally started to see her clearly.
Even now, I wouldn’t call her fully understood. There’s a restraint to her. A control. The kind of presence that doesn’t need to announce itself to be felt. She doesn’t posture. She doesn’t explain. And she certainly doesn’t ask.
She observes.
She decides.
And when she moves, it’s already too late to question why.
I’ve come to accept something while writing this trilogy:
Not every character is meant to be explained the moment they appear.
Some of them earn that understanding over time.
Some of them never do.
And she may be one of those.
And if there ever comes a moment where Markus stands in her way…
I’m not certain she hesitates.
— Markus Kane: Dawn of Shadows