Introducing Orca

A fragment from a bit further on in Sorrow's Knot, introducing another major figure in the story, Orca. You'll have to tell me what you think of him. This is sort of mid-chapter, but I don't think it needs a set up.
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"What living thing walks in the water?" Kestrel asked, ritually. She tilted her spear towards his chest and braced the butt into the earth -- that part did not look like a ritual.

The stranger hid his eyes with one hand and bowed his head. It seemed a greeting. "A trader in dyes, come from the West, Mistress. And a horse."

Kestrel squinted at him. "Come from Little Rushes?"

The horse started nosing the watercress. The man cocked his head. "I came through a town near the river's root, Mistress, but there was nothing there from which I'd ask a name."

"Nothing?" echoed Fern.

"Nothing living. The town is lost. Did you not know?"

Fern said: "�We �"

"We suspected," said Kestrel. Her spear hadn't wavered.

"I am sorry to bring you sorrow, then. I had meant to bring you gifts." He had turned his hand and opened it with a flourish -- it might have been a gesture of regret, except that the silver ring that had been on a finger was now sitting in his palm like an invitation. Kestrel did not take it, and after a moment, he reversed the gesture and lowered his hand. "Mistress, shadows are growing long, and my feet are growing cold." He covered his eyes again, then smiled, and said louder: "Mortal feet, my lady. In soggy stockings."

By this time half the village was standing to watch, and the other half was pretending not to. It was to them he seemed to speak.

Kestrel leaned her spear back. "A trader in dyes."

"Abalone and cinnabar, my lady, and more besides. Finest dyes from a far country, and the treasures of a long journey."

Kestrel reversed her spear. "This is Three Crows. We have no peace with the dead, and keep no peace with those who serve them. I am Kestrel of the water guard. You are welcome, living man."

"Orca," he said. "I'm called Orca, Lady Kestrel."

"Orca," she said, "come with me."