| **Audra ** |
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Background
Audra Endmore is a widowed woman - her husband, Nolwin Endmore, died of an illness in the spring of 289. Nolwin was the saddler in Terrick's Roost; he took over the establishment just at the time he wed Audra. Since Nolwin's death, Audra and a 'prentice boy have been the saddlers, and she seems to like it that way. Nolwin's death has made the 29-year-old business-owning widow quite an attractive woman among the small craftsman and merchants of the Roost, but she has thus far been indifferent to the prospect of sharing the burden of her position with a new husband. It's whispered that she recently rebuffed a local miller's son by cracking him over the head with a pie pan.
In truth, Audra has been the de facto proprietor of Endmore leather-working in Stonebridge for several years. Nolwin returned home from service as a foot soldier in Terrick's train as a crippled straggler. He did not make his way home until the summer of 284, and his injuries prevented him from actively running the business and from fathering any children besides the ones Audra bore in 280 and 279, both boys. Audra's elder son Jerold is 10, her second son died of a fever in his infancy. Nolwin was married once before he married Audra, but that marriage was only blessed with a daughter, who is now married to a baker.
Audra was born to a Stonebridge fishmonger by the name of Menger who bought up the catch of small fishermen and sold them to every plate, public house, and noble's table in Stonebridge. Her life has always been an active one, and her education has been that of a merchant's daughter and an craftsman's wife. She has good business acumen, reads intelligently, knows how to hire and fire, and keeps her own accounts. She knows how to look out for an advantage and make the most of it. She has learned and practiced leather working since the early years of her marriage, and she is a dab hand at everything related to saddlery, although she leaves much of the more complicated and decorative work to the 'prentice.
Even as a girl she was renowned for her strength and her ability to work, and the reputation has stuck with her. She was the youngest daughter after four sons, and she spent her childhood and part of her youth following her brothers around, unloading wagons, setting up market displays, frying fish and salting cod.
Audra's father had some business connections to the Endmores, and it was through that link that Audra's wedding was arranged. She was 17, Nolwin was 30 and a widower. They were married in 278. Her dowry helped expand his business, and the saddlery was, essentially, the bedrock of their union. Audra was not a romantic maid — she objected to neither Nolwin's appearance nor his personality, and liked the independence offered by the marriage. The earliest years of her marriage were the happiest she has yet experienced — motherhood was easy for her and she and her husband ran their workshop alone at that time. Audra was wife, assistant, 'prentice, all in one.
Audra, like many other women, missed her husband when he went to war. When he returned hamstrung in one leg and without the use of his right hand, she nursed him tenderly. In the aftermath of his death, she looks thinner and paler than she used to. But she is a woman who was born to thrive. She wants to improve her business, keep her coffers full and the prices of her suppliers low. She follows the news of the day and is closely informed by her regulars about local topics and gossip items.
Family
Physical Features
Audra is a woman of moderate height, with a slim and supple figure and dark hair pulled back into a long braid and pinned at the nape of her neck. She has a fair, pale complexion and a light dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose. Her face has an elegant structure: high cheekbones and forehead, straight nose, a small chin and narrow jaw. She has wide set, large blue eyes. The paleness of her skin makes her prone to ruddy cheeks, but also to dark circles beneath the eyes when she is sleep-deprived. She is in her late twenties or early thirties, but only laugh lines around her mouth suggest age. Her clear skin and general air of youth and vigor can perhaps be attributed to the decent, if common standard of living to which her garb also attests.
Audra wears a full skirt of brown homespun wool and a quilted bodice of gray linen over an undyed chemise. Her bodice is laced tightly in front and is decorated with a small chain, from which hang three coins, one gold, two silver. Her bare forearms are well-muscled and her hands hardened by manual labor.
