Nao-Yeon Lian Hua [Zhi Ming]

MY NAME IS NAO-YEON LIAN HUA, AND MY AFFINITY IS EARTH. MY SECONDARY ELEMENTAL IS SPIRIT. I AM HETEROSEXUAL AND I AM PLAYED BY FINNE.

+ polite, sincere, open-minded, just, honest, pleasant, articulate, kind.

- credulous, crybaby, pampered, naive, clumsy, weak-willed, overly tenacious, stubborn.

Having been well taken care of and drilled with routines from the ethics and behavior prep classes in the palace, Nao has become what her society deems an ideal Xihe princess. Respectful, dainty, and demure; highly suitable to fulfill the role of a flower decoration in the spotlight of the Imperial family. She seems fairly passive at times as she does not often take the initiative to start doing something out of her own volition; a byproduct of her education. Unless there is a great impetus pushing her to go out of her comfort zone, she'll most likely not do anything to disturb her personal peace. Ironically, her good nature acknowledges many forms of great impetus, which has never failed to almost always put her in trouble.

Nao quite enjoys the palace life where she doesn't need to beg to get what she wants. She only ever needs to ask and she'll most probably get it, which explains why she's kind of spoiled and tends to be persistent in demanding for what she wants to have until she has it. Growing up in an excessively conservative and sheltered environment, she learns general studies from the palace tutors and tends to easily believe everything that she's told since she doesn't have any other resources for knowledge to compare it to, which also makes her extremely open to people's views and beliefs. In other words, she's sufficiently informed of issues going around the palace and the world, but she has never thought of the reasons why certain things happen the way they do. The questions sometimes pop out in her mind, but she has never bothered to find out.

Also, Nao is a crybaby. She may seem like she has an iron will because of the way she presents herself, but anyone who knows her well enough also knows of her sweet and soft Castella mental strength exclusively developed by her well protected life at the palace. Poke at it and she'll get teary-eyed, cut it and she'll cry ten Niagara Falls (that's technically thirty waterfalls).

She is extremely adoring towards those whom she treasures, and she sure displays it all too well. Because she doesn't really associate with peers her age at the palace, she knows better than anyone to appreciate their existence in her life.

In addition, she speaks in an extremely formal speech pattern (except to Sumire [kind of]) that is enough to make you feel embarrassed even when you're sleeping, and she cringes at every vulgarities you utter. Yes, even the most harmless "Damn it" is unacceptable. It'll make her sad.



At this point of time, Nao had long accepted the fact that she was born into this world as one of the many princesses of Xihe and that she has only one elder brother from the same parents, along with many other… brothers. She was made to go through the same palace education with her sisters and sisters-in-law, molded into what was deemed befitting for the Xihe Empire's representation of highly respected female values; most of them being general studies, ethics, literature, music, and dancing. Out of those she loved and practised music the most, and had become one of the best traditional musicians in the family.

Nao had no memories of her mother. As a curious young girl, she had asked for her mother by instinct, and was told that her mother fought hard to bring Nao into this world at the expense of her own. This was a concept that Nao understood years later. Her father, the Xihe Emperor, was almost entirely absent in her life as she was growing up due to his duties as the ruler of Xihe. However, when they met during family events and spontaneous encounters around the palace, he often told her that she resembled her mother day by day. For these few instances where she could see his love for her mother reflected in his eyes, Nao loved him back and liked to pay him occasional visits before bedtime just to give him a good night hug.

Of course, her good night hugs were also reserved for her elder brother and Sumire.

Her brother took the place of both the father and mother roles for Nao, and raised her well even when he was young himself. She spent a considerable amount of time just playing and enjoying his company whenever he was not busy with his princely duties, and grew really close to him.

Nao also enjoyed Sumire's presence in her life, the gazelle halfling companion girl whom she had regarded as her best sister-like friend (and unbeknownst to her, they are actually half-sisters). The Empress, who had assigned Sumire to become Nao's companion, didn't take very kindly to Nao treating Sumire more like a friend than a servant girl. But she didn't care. She liked Sumire wayyy more than the Empress, anyway.

Sibling rivalries in the palace were subtly prevalent in the palace with the young male heirs' intense preparation for the ritual of succession and the girls' inconspicuous beauty and talent contests, and with all these going on around Nao, Sumire was her only comfort and support since her elder brother wasn't always there because of his training. Even when she was distancing herself from Nao, Nao had always taken the initiative to close the gap and would sometimes ask for Sumire to accompany her when she wanted to go into town (though Sumire played hide and seek really well, Nao and the other servants couldn't manage to find her).

Alas, everyone grew up and was forced to follow their own paths in life.

Elder brother's free time was significantly reduced the moment he successfully completed the ritual of succession and became the Crown Prince. Nao couldn't demand for her dear brother's company as she knew that he had more than enough trouble keeping up with his duties and convincing the Emperor's councilmen that he was suited to take their father's place on the throne.

When she found out about Sumire's escape from the palace, she was devastated. After crying her heart out for a few weeks, a resolve formed in her. If Xihe became a friendlier place for halflings, Sumire would probably come back.

And now, Nao seeks to strike out for peace with Namco Banda and the Western world to improve relations between nations - so that she can provide Sumire with a place to gladly come back to.