The Pebble Ring Observatory
Tovin
“A tall, lean man, about 170 cm tall, in a patched gray coat with a lantern hanging at his belt.”
Tovin is an observatory caretaker who stands as tall as a grown person and moves slowly, like someone who has spent a long time in low gravity. He is gentle with children but takes the observatory's routines very seriously.
2 stories feature Tovin
Where you've met them
Pebbles on the Wrong Pull
A scheduled shower of tiny comet pebbles is about to pass safely over the Pebble Ring Observatory, but one beam-sail tilts out of place and starts pulling the pebbles toward the telescope dome. If the pebbles keep piling up, the dome could jam shut before the night’s sky watching begins.
The Singing Visitor Ship
A drifting visitor craft sends out a long, musical beacon that makes the Pebble Ring Observatory’s pebble markers begin to hum back in answer. The sound is beautiful, but it also pulls attention away from the skywatching schedule and risks drawing the craft too close to the delicate ring path, where even a small bump could send both stations spinning off course.