telophase, there was Kerowyn in By The Sword as boss of her own mercenary company doing jewelry-making in her off-time... but I'm not sure she sold them...

Apart from the main Heralds of Valdemar (but you are so right about her recent trilogy, I don't think I'll be buying the last book), I still love Tarma and Kethryveris and Kerowyn, of course, the most. And I like to re-read the Runic Voices books. The Alta world was okay - I liked the internal interaction of the dragon riders and the dragons the most, too.