Boyandarrow

Lorrick Al-Wahdi does not remember where he came from, but he knows it wasn't from here when travellers make comments on his clothes, on his accent, on his appearance.  They ask, "Are you from Qalasheen? From Rassid?". He cannot answer. What Lorrick does is water the garden, harvest the herbs, fill the carriage, place the wards. Did he place the wards? He'll place the wards again. Can't forget the wards. Can't let them in. The wards are there to protect him. Can't forget to place them. He'll be safe.

He tends to the grave and prepares the stew. He prepares two bowls but only eats one. He puts the other one out, and clears the one from yesterday, still full. At times, tending to the grave makes him cry, but he doesn't know why. Lorrick sometimes greets travelers and welcomes them into the house. They come to buy,  they come to talk, they come to ask things of him. He never lets them stay after nightfall. They must leave. They can't stay. They must leave before dark. 

Sporadically, Lorrick travels to the cities and sells his wares, from Sutica to Norland. There, he keeps a ward in his hand at all times. He rubs it between his thumb and forefinger and reads the writing, again and again. The ward makes him safe from the spirits in the walls, the spirits in the trees and the people and the rocks and the animals. He sees the dwarves and the elves and the orcs and the humans, with spirits on their clothes and in their hair, draped over them like a heavy cloth. The spirits can't get to him. The writing keeps them at bay. 

Sometimes, he meets someone who understands. They can come to the house, they can stay after dark. They can help with the cows and the sheep and the garden and the carriage, prepare the soup and tend to the grave, but not the wards. Lorrick places the wards. No one touches the wards but him. When people touch the wards, he has to take care of them. Take care of the people. Remove them. Remove the people who touch the wards. The wards protect him. They make him safe. He'll be safe.

(The character does not remember his own backstory, nor does he try to remember, yet will  be forced to face it and remember over time. Trauma caused memory loss. He was a herbalist and trader from Qalasheen, travelling with his alchemist companion. In short, the wards are not meant to keep spirits out, but rather keep his own spirit in. He is dead but does not know it, and the wards are keeping him from becoming a ghost, keeping him in living form. He can see spirits and is afraid of them because he is one himself and unconsciously knows they are alike. He continues doing what he did in life but doesn't know why he does it. The grave is that of his childhood friend and lover who sacrificed himself to try to save him, only partially succeeding by binding him to the wards.)