Zeb

A tall figure, Zeb wears his blond hair slicked back and has purple eyes. Across the voyage on Princess Lorelei he swaps outfits repeatedly, part of the effort he and Olka make to slip past the assassins tailing them.

He starts the cruise in a well-cut light blue jacket over a striped shirt. The formal dinner calls for a navy ensemble: a black shirt under the jacket, finished with a white tie. When the time comes to meet their escape boat, he changes into a light brown suit set off by a flower-shaped lapel pin and a dark blue bow tie, letting a lowered fringe fall partway across his forehead. In his younger years his hair was maroon.

Zeb is gentle and good-hearted but timid, putting the safety of his loved ones first. He spooks easily and frays under pressure, yet he can act with resolve when Olka and Gram are threatened, most strikingly when he throws himself between them and gunfire aboard Princess Lorelei. His nerves show in fidgety habits, like being unable to eat or drink calmly while the pursuing assassins weigh on his mind.

For all his cowardice, he stays watchful and alert, guarding Olka through the whole mission. He doubts Yor's fitness as a bodyguard at first, uneasy about leaving Olka in her care, though events soon prove that worry misplaced. With no immediate threat around, he surprises everyone with his poise and social ease, keeping up the act as Olka's husband across the voyage without raising suspicion. He will even play up his own fright on purpose, letting Olka and Gram tease him so their fear settles after an attack.

Little survives about Zeb's early life. By his own telling, he and his family live in poverty amid the devastation of the second East-West conflict. He credits the Gretcher family's postwar black market with keeping him alive, recalling how a young Olka Gretcher slips him bread in secret; the kindness sparks his feelings for her and leads him to join the Gretcher crime family.

After infighting breaks the family apart, Leonardo Hapoon takes the reins. Zeb refuses to serve under him, objecting to his ties with pro-war radicals, and stays loyal to Olka instead. When Hapoon puts a price on the heads of Olka and Gram, Olka turns to the assassin group Garden to flee the country by cruise ship aboard Princess Lorelei. Zeb goes with her, phoning his parents three days ahead of departure to say his goodbyes.

Aboard Princess Lorelei, disguised as Arhaus Department Stores employee Furseal Grey, he passes Olka and Gram off as his own family and meets the covert Garden assassin Matthew McMahon along with Yor. He rightly pegs Yor as Olka's assigned guard and doubts her at first, though Matthew reassures him. When the enemy leaks Olka's location, Matthew suspects Zeb, who admits to phoning his parents but denies revealing anything. Assassins strike repeatedly during the escape, and Yor cuts them down through a masquerade ball and a promenade ambush. As the group flees amid the fireworks and is cornered on the roof deck, Zeb throws his body over Olka and Gram to block an assassin's shot, saved by a hidden bulletproof vest, then drops into a hatch and seals it. Once the killers are finished, Zeb, Olka, and Gram leave Princess Lorelei and reach their rendezvous ship safely.