Raven is a lean, feline-featured swiftstride shifter with long limbs, a narrow waist, and a loose, spring-loaded way of moving that makes stillness look temporary. Her tawny skin is dusted with fine russet fur along her forearms, shoulders, spine, and the sides of her face. Rounded catlike ears tilt toward every nearby conversation, while a short, expressive tail often curls around a chair leg or hooks lightly around her own ankle. She grooms the fur at her wrists with almost comical care, yet her clothing is perpetually stained with crushed berries, ash, and spring mud. Within a minute of meeting her, most people notice that she rarely looks at faces. Her attention goes to hands, boots, water vessels, doorways, and whatever living thing in the room appears most uncomfortable. The contradiction is disarming: she looks untamed, but keeps her herbs arranged with the precision of a jeweler.