Kiyone's family are not wealthy, but are well meaning and genuine. They
have a small business in cloth production on the planet Tanima, a mountainous, rough-hewn
planet which was settled many milennia ago by a mixture of cultures.
Eventually they became one people. They have no magical abilities.
Kiyone's father Dai is a
strong, proud man who is pleased with his daughter's achievements in
the GXP. Her mother Amarante
is prone to fussing, and is convinced that the GXP will be the death of
Kiyone, so does not approve of her daughter going.
Their finances mean that they could not pay for Kiyone to enlist with
the GXP Academy, and Kiyone's father was too proud to ask for help. But
Kiyone was desperate to go. One of her school-fellows came from a
family with a strong military background, but she was wild and carefree
and did not want to go into the GXP. So between them Kiyone and her
friend Megumi Amano plotted to
send Kiyone to the GXP in her place - Kiyone told her family that she
had earned a scholarship through her high grades at school, whilst
Megumi really intended to run off with a young man she had met who was
involved in theatre. Megumi is a year older than Kiyone (who at this
point is 16) but Kiyone's academic brilliance has led her to be
promoted one class ahead of her age group.
For her first year, Kiyone studied under the name Megumi Amano. When
she is finally found out, they decide she is a good enough student to
kept on despite her deception. Somehow, Mihoshi is the reason for
Kiyone's revalation. Megumi comes from a rich family and Mihoshi knows
her. She has no discretion and gives Kiyone away. But it all ends well.
One of Kiyone's brothers was something of a rogue - a dabbling pirate
type who messes in fraud and other games. Kiyone has always known this
and turned a blind eye to his activities, making sure that she was not
assigned to areas where he operates. Two years after Kiyone graduated,
her brother got involved with dangerous people and was murdered. Kiyone
solved her brother's murder and it made her name across the GXP -
although all she sought was vengeance for a brother she had lost
(despite her flaws).
Mihoshi's brother Misao
(younger than Mihoshi but a lot smarter!) is conducting illicit
relations with Kiyone's sister Mashisu,
who is daring, ambitious and a little egocentric. Misao is very much in
love with her, but Mashisu is more in love with the idea of marrying
into a Seniwan family. She has always dreamed
of wealth and fortune and Kiyone is uncomfortable with the match
because it happened thanks to her partnership with Mihoshi. Mihoshi is,
as ever, oblivious.
Kiyone has one older sister, Niji,
and one younger, Mashisu. She
has one living brother (the eldest) who is married and his name is Ryu. His wife is Chika, and she has a small son, Matsu, who is obsessive about the
GXP and the stories of his aunt's brave vengeance of his uncle's death.
Kiyone's dead brother is called Keitaro,
and was the brother with whom she was closest. Ryu is a bit distant
from her, being the eldest.
Kiyone is the ambitious, educated member of the family in terms of
achieving. She is driven because she knows she's worked for and earned
everything she has. All her family are literate and went to school to
study arithmetic, etc - but young marriage is not uncommon on her
planet, and Kiyone was the only one of the family to still be in school
at sixteen, when she concocted her plot to get to the GXP academy. She
never liked being second best, and always strove to finish top. However
she finished her final year at the GXP second in her class because she
had helped Mihoshi to study and pass her examinations. She had no idea
how much of a lasting impact that deed would have on either one of them!