For Cimri Staelish, Longacre is a prison. She could simply leave, taking a barge down the Whisper River to Remesiana and starting a new life, but the fetters of time and uncertainty weigh heavily upon her. She’s not about to run off into an ambiguous future. She needs gold and promising prospects, lest she find herself fleeing headlong into some blind alley. Yet promises like those are in short supply in Longacre. Although Cimri’s ambition alone might not be enough to help her escape her childhood home, if it’s teamed with that of other ruthless souls, maybe she can find a way.
Born to Jaks and Annari Staelish—a pair of seasonal lumber workers—Cimri grew up in the lumber camps of the Whisperwood and wintered in Longacre, staying in a modest house owned by her aunt, Rhona Staelish, who also served as the town’s sheriff. While the lumber camps were hardly a safe, wholesome place for a child, Cimri found Longacre dull and full of rules and nosy old folks.
Cimri’s parents were heavy drinkers, and mostly left their daughter to entertain herself. As she grew older, Cimri became more rebellious and daring, running away for days at a time and earning a reputation as a teenage vandal. More than once, neighbors or Sheriff Staelish dragged Cimri home after catching her mid-theft or engaged in other petty mischief. But the family’s situation took a turn for the worse when Cimri’s mother, Annari, was arrested for belligerence and public drunkenness. After 2 days in the town jail, Annari returned home, accompanied by Rhona. Cimri tried to listen under the door while her parents and the sheriff had a long, hushed talk. Yet all she could pick out was the resolution: they were finally leaving Longacre.
The next day, Cimri and her parents began packing a wagon. Cimri was initially excited about the new adventure on which her family was about to embark, but the true situation quickly became clear when her aunt appeared once more. Rhona had arranged new jobs for Jaks and Annari at the northern edge of the Whisperwood, but Cimri wouldn’t be joining them. Instead, she would stay with her Aunt Rhona in Longacre, where she would be safe and perhaps even start to learn a trade. Cimri didn’t take the news well. Feeling betrayed, she ran off, and her parents left without even saying goodbye.
Cimri lived resentfully with her aunt for 5 years. At first, she blamed Rhona for sending her parents away, but after they didn’t return to Longacre to visit her for 3 years, Cimri blamed them for abandoning her. Their letters claimed they had taken off-season jobs and couldn’t make it back to see her, but soon their letters stopped coming at all. Rhona did her best to be a mother to Cimri, but it was too late. Cimri defied her aunt at every turn, and when she turned 16, she left home to make her own way.
In the years since then, Cimri has haunted Longacre. She learned how to use a knife from an ex-brigand and how to pick locks from a traveling Varisian, how to drink from hardened army vets, and how to curse from Whisperwood loggers. But Cimri taught herself how to use people. No one she trusted ever followed through, so she stopped trusting, and instead learned how to lie and manipulate to get what she wanted. Eventually, she was sure, she would fall in with someone with potential— someone passing through who would be her ticket out of her backwater home.
Recently, Cimri took to squatting at the local ruin called the Ash House. It had been her home for weeks when one night she stumbled home to find a light in the upper window. That night, she met Razelago, and perhaps found a way out of Longacre for good.
