A slender, long-limbed young woman with light bronze skin and a calm posture that never quite settles. Her chin is often raised, but one hip remains angled toward the nearest exit, as if courtesy and escape were equally important forms of preparation. Many narrow black braids, tied with russet thread, frame her clear youthful face. Her dark hazel eyes are flecked with amber, yet their most memorable quality is where they go: doorways, hands, windows, servants' trays, and the spaces beneath tables. She moves with economical precision, turning her whole body rather than exposing her back. Her fingertips are unusually clean and soft because she wears thin gloves whenever she handles ink, coins, or rough cargo, but the underside of her left thumb is permanently darkened by old graphite rubbed into the skin. The unexpected contradiction is that her polished, aristocratic appearance conceals the watchful habits of a traveling quartermaster who can sleep sitting upright beside a wagon axle.