Maeve is a broad-shouldered halfling with weathered copper-brown skin, silver-threaded hair, and hands roughened by seed sacks, river rope, and winter dike repairs. She moves with the deliberate balance of someone crossing a wet plank, placing each foot as though the ground might dispute her claim. Her smile is warm enough to invite a hungry stranger inside, yet one side of her mouth lifts slightly higher when she is calculating a concession. A reed pen rests behind her left ear, stained dark with berry ink. The unexpected contradiction is her delicate, almost aristocratic hands, which she keeps meticulously clean despite the grime of her work. She leaves behind the impression of a kindly aunt, a magistrate, and a loaded spring all at once.