Rosie Silver, Loretober Day Twenty-Eight!

Rosie Silver is Clara's ex-girlfriend from before she ever met Kree...but who exactly is she? What were the circumstances of their relationship? Why did they break up and what happened to her?

Clara met Rosie for the first time after permanently moving to Havenwood and attending her first religious service, where everyone in town stuffed themselves within the Hearth Tower and mingled afterward in the courtyard. Rosie lived in town and was one of the elder children of the local blacksmith. She was quite popular throughout her childhood for her social skills and pretty looks, but Rosie and Clara never really got close since Clara was shy and always seen as the odd one out.

As a teen, Rosie began to grow quite rebellious compared to her extremely pious parents. She was getting old enough that they were expecting her to find a boy to marry and to build a family of her own, but she didn't want that. She wanted to travel and be free, without endless children (like her younger siblings that she had to babysit all the time) weighing her down. She also seemed to have no attraction whatsoever to boys. Some of them were fun to hang around...but she never felt a pull towards them, not like she did towards some of her girl friends. Now and then, Rosie would escape her family and hide in the fields on the outskirts of town, and this is where she often saw Clara.

Sometimes she'd be reading, sometimes she seemed to be looking for particular plants or mushrooms, and nearly always, Clara was often too immersed in what she was doing to notice Rosie right away. Whenever she got close enough to be revealed, Clara would startle, awkwardly wave, and scramble away with a red face as if caught doing something nefarious. Rosie found it amusing.

Eventually she caught up to Clara as she fled, and they began meeting together in these tall grasses. Rosie would vent about her family, responsibilities, and generally began to rely on Clara for emotional support. Clara was much quieter than her, and more secretive about her troubles, but the way she gazed at Rosie with her undivided attention made Rosie shiver. It made her feel like she was something special, someone adored. And Rosie adored her back.

They began meeting in secret more frequently, stealing gasping kisses and intimate touches. Rosie thought to herself, This...this is what I want, not a husband or a traditional family, but this thrill. If she and Clara could leave together, travel the world without a fear of ever being tied down except to each other, Rosie knew she'd find true happiness even with the risk of their relationship being exposed. But when she proposed this to Clara seriously for the first time, things between them began to sour. Clara told Rosie over and over that she needed to stay in Havenwood to take care of her aunt. Ava had a bad knee and an awful reoccurring cough. She relied on Clara's help to make money, maintain their garden, walk the distance into town when her knee was acting up. Clara couldn't just abandon her.

Rosie tried to convince her otherwise. Sending money back home, matchmaking Ava with a widower in town, even at her most desperate offering to bring Ava along with them, but Clara was firm. She couldn't leave. She wasn't ready and didn't know if she ever would be. This wasn't the only snag in their relationship, but it was what mainly led to the end of it. Eventually, Rosie gave up on convincing Clara, and they saw less and less of each other.

Sometime later, Rosie's engagement to a man was announced. The man was Rosie's childhood best friend who had left for an apprenticeship in an eastern city, but they kept in contact through letters. Their arrangement was a lavender marriage, meant to benefit and protect them both as they sought out other queer relationships, but none knew of their true intent, not even Clara. The start of Kree and Clara's story happens around this time, before Rosie is married and while Clara is struggling with her residual heartbreak. The rest will have to wait until I tell the official story!