A 5-foot-8-inch human woman with soft facial features, a broad working person's nose, and slightly darkened pink lips that look as though she has been biting them in cold weather for years. Her long auburn hair is slightly wavy and usually pinned into a practical updo, though loose strands curl around her cheeks and several narrow wisps of white have appeared near her temples. She moves with the economical balance of someone accustomed to walking on ice, loose scree, and wagon roofs, placing each foot as if the ground might shift. Her hands are callused, scarred, and permanently dark beneath the fingernails despite careful washing. She has a quiet, almost homely presence until she draws her sword, at which point her posture becomes startlingly graceful and severe. The contradiction is in her face: she looks gentle enough to comfort a frightened child, yet her eyes become utterly cold when she decides someone must be stopped.