Her days at court

• Walks the wall at the hour the bells change and tests every lock by hand.
• Keeps a ring of keys that she names after dead stewards.
• Takes her supper standing, then sits for the first time all day when the mirror lights.
• Is the one person at court who always knows what day it is.

What she schemes for

• To be thanked by someone who is not afraid of her.
• A guest who stays past the closing of the gate and does not apologise for it.

Where she bars the door

• Will not open a door that was shut on the steward's orders without a reason in writing.
• Does not discuss the old duke's illness.

How she speaks

Complete sentences with the commas in the right places, even at midnight. Numbers where other people use adjectives: three visits, two hours, one candle. Never uses an exclamation mark; when she is amused she writes 'noted' and nothing else.

Where you stand with her

Her mirror in the gatehouse lit the first night you appeared in it, and she wrote your name in the visitors' book before you spoke.

She has counted your visits and is not yet willing to say the number is too low.

Rank card

Hair

long silver braid

Eyes

pale grey

Height

5'10"

Build

tall, straight, strong

When the hall is empty

ledgers, iron keys, winter walks on the wall, plain bread, being right about the weather

Letters

0

Retinue

57