Rosalind Shimse

[rosalind]

The only remarkable thing about Rosalind Shimse, daughter of merchandiser and occasional traveling merchant parents, was her height.

For a Cairhienin girl, 5'0" even is nothing to sniff at. This, she presumed, was to be her lot in life. Like her many siblings, the family business was everything for a woman of the middle-but-aspiring merchant class in a quasi-feudal society. She kept the books, pushed wares, learned to bargain and haggle, and perform all the work required to keep the family and its business running, smoothly, in conjunction.

But Rosalind was not an unhappy child by any means. She had parents who cared for her future, and all of her siblings were required to work extra hard so as to attend to lessons weekly. This combination of discipline, education, and counting every metaphorical penny formed the core of the 17 year old who would, shortly after gaining that age, be shipped off to Tar Valon.

It's a common enough cause. Creditors do not come through. Goods from the trade routes are never a sure thing. Some combination of the two, no matter how safe one plays the game, is the inevitable fate of every merchant trader. Rosalind was sent to Tar Valon, as the only daughter of marrying age, so as to spare her marriage-selection-by-creditor. She had her letters of recommendation to introduce her to service in the Tower, where she could continue education but increase her prospects in a city as a learned woman with a trader's background.

Alone on her own, understanding that she has essentially said goodbye to her family, Rosalind was in Tar Valon for two days before she found herself being marched into the office of the Mistress of Novices at the quite pointed pinch on her shoulder by an Aes Sedai. That day, she was put into Novice Whites. Bearing in mind that Rosalind was a mere 17 years old, her tale isn't long. If it feels that way, it's simply rapid and radical changes occurring in quick and rapid succession.

If pressed, many of her fellow students would say that Rosalind is... fine. Helpful. Keeps very much to herself. But as she pointed out, fools get into trouble with things like pranks. Much better no one know what curiosity propels the Novice where in her (very limited) free time.