Nina lifted her head from her hands when she heard familiar footsteps thud across the floor. She winced. Feren no longer dressed as a Protectorate, so how he managed to continue to make noise in soft shoes was beyond her guess. It would be just like him to have something loud and uncomfortable in the soles solely to create melodramatic entrances.

-excerpt from "Rising to a Challenge"

As one of the few non-magical Artisans, Feren loves styling himself into a tragic victim even though he’s had everything handed to him and roads of opportunity available at every turn. He was once Adair’s boyfriend and sentinel-intended, but he felt he wasn’t good enough to be a sentinel and dropped out of this role. Overly melodramatic about everything, he hacked off the long braid that Protectorates use to designate their occupation when he decided to stop training as a sentinel, a punishment usually only reserved for someone being kicked out of the group. Why just go back to an Artisan hairstyle when he could show the world how horribly he failed? (Which he hadn’t.) With every opportunity he throws away, fewer paths remain open. He’s currently studying as a scholar with no real career goal in mind while working at his girlfriend’s restaurant as a waiter and delivery boy – when he can be bothered to show up. If an easy road to recognition and leisure presents itself, he’s going to jump on it with no questions asked. He is always focused on improving his situation with the minimum amount of effort on his part, and his plans usually involve riding someone else’s coattails. Feren is a secondary character in the Unexpected Inspiration series.