Oska's bodyguard/aide de camp/thrall-like person, but oddly disrespectful for a subordinate. Cranky and rude, but seems good-hearted. He and Oska are obviously close.

Madhu is half-tabaxi, half-dwarf, and was raised as an orphan by the nuns of Paratti. Being male, and also only half-tabaxi, he was unable to become a nun or any of the attendant roles, but this doesn't bother him too much; instead he became a beekeeper. He also became a ranger, roving far across Mrassa. Part of being a beekeeper in that part of the world is getting know wild bees. He likes solitude, and is cranky, abrupt, and inappropriately blunt with people he doesn't know.
 
Oska and Madhu grew up together, and are very fond of each other though they are completely different people (and squabble all the time). They consider themselves cousins. When Oska was sent out on an investigative mission by the nuns, Madhu part-volunteered, partly was told to accompany her. He is convinced that if he didn't, she'd wander into a live volcano before she got out of the mountains. The price is that he has to pose as her...servant or something, which Oska thinks is hilarious. Madhu does not.
 
Madhu doesn't particularly like Malfa, or any city. He might like to get out of town to the wetlands at the base of the peninsula, and just spend the day poking around in the reeds. Wetlands are a new thing for him.