Yu Xian

Name: Yu Xian; often referred to as Lady Yu
Age:  31
Gender: Female
Nation: Earth

Physical Appearance: Yu Xian (or Lady Yu, as she is often referred to) is a small woman, though a woman who carries herself with the confident blend of grace and poise that makes her seem taller than she truly is. Her build and features are graceful and delicate, though there is a tinge of mischief in her dark brown eyes and in the curve of her smile, as if she knows some great secret joke and is the only person in the world privy to it. She is, according to many, an remarkably lovely woman. And she certainly knows it. Why do you think she carries herself with such poise and that hint of cheerful wickedness?

It is obvious from a glance to even the most untrained eye that Lady Yu is of a noble background. From the way she holds herself, to the paleness of her skin (a highly sought after trait in the upper classes), and with the fine cut and cloth of her attire, she is a far cry from a common laborer's daughter or wife. Her dark brown hair is quite long, and is often pinned and tied up in a variety of styles, though she is equally fond of simply letting it hang loose, with the exception of a few strands swept up and pinned. Lady Yu especially loves to decorate her hair with flowers and ribbons.

Aside from her collection of hair pins and ornaments, Lady Yu is not much for jewelry. A simple pair of jade earrings are lovely, though she almost never wears decorative ornamentation beyond that. It is her hair and clothing where she prefers to focus her attentions. While she possesses a dizzying array of finery and dresses, her favorite outfit for day-to-day affairs is somewhat more practical (though no less elegant!). In its most simple state, she wears a sleeveless tunic-length ivory shirt, gently patterned in flowers. For her legs, it is long, loose, clay-hued pants, cut to allow both a sense of modesty and a free range of movement. Holding it in place is a wide plum and black belt. Her shoes are a simple pair of dark slippers, thought artfully embroidered in golden thread.

Atop that, her clothing tends to change with her moods, though Lady Yu loves to wear a short green blouse featuring long and open-ended sleeves, enhanced with a thick golden satin trim and fancifully-embroidered collar. And atop the pants, a long green skirt, cut open to continue to keep her movement unimpaired and embroidered with a thick trim in a brighter shade of green. Both the blouse and the skirt possess flower patterns similar to her undershirt. From her belt hangs a jade ornament, though it serves as little more than decoration. As an extra accessory, she likes to loosely hang a diaphanous golden scarf around her arms.

All of it is cut and fashioned from the finest silk, of course. Lady Yu would have nothing less.

Equipment: In terms of equipment, Lady Yu has almost nothing to speak of. Unless, of course, one means fashion accessories. She has plenty of those! But truthfully Lady Yu is not the sort of woman who lugs around masses of gear or equipment. She does not travel too terribly often, and when she does... she has servants to handle that kind of stuff for her. And when it comes to matters of payment, she is still rarely found with a coin purse. Again: servants. That, and she is used to the fact of simply picking out what she wants and having the bill covered later... After all, her family seal (which she does in fact carry with her) is often enough to get her whatever or wherever she pleases.

Combat Skills: Combat is not something Lady Yu is terribly well trained in. Correction: formally trained in. She possesses some degree of knowledge of Earth bending from old tomes and copying, and while she has proven to have a degree of aptitude in it, she is a far cry from a prodigy or one of the legions of strictly-trained benders that the army has to offer. To one who has dedicated themselves to the art and practice of earthbending, her abilities are uncontrolled and unrefined; too tainted by her whims and emotions to be anything stronger than adequate. Aside from her bending skills, Lady Yu would find herself defenseless in a fight... unless a good knee to the groin and vicious scratches from her perfectly-manicured fingernails counts as combat prowess.

Talents: Lady Yu is in possession of quite a variety of talents! Too bad few of them have any real useful or practical application in life. Like any proper woman of noble birth, she has received extensive training in song, poetry, literature, and dance. Her knowledge further extends to cover a surprisingly keen and insightful knowledge of fine arts; a talent and interest she inherited from her father. She also has a famous skill and eye for fashion, mad notable that she was often amongst the leading trends of fashion and style when she lived in Ba Sing Se. Tea is another field that she has a great interest and fondness in, and she is quite knowledgeable on the various styles, rituals, and presentations of teas.

Having spent much of her life flitting about in various noble and political circles, Lady Yu is well-versed at the art of etiquette, politicking, scheming, and coercion. She is quite good at knowing how to use her looks, charms, and words to get what she wants. Usually. She is not quite as good as she likes to think she is, but Lady Yu is no fool at court or in high-class social gatherings. These skills also extend to the art of hosting various social events and feasts, as is expected of any lady of a self-respecting house.

Flaws: No one is perfect, of course. Lady Yu once thought she was as near to perfect as any fine lady could get, but she is quickly learning the error of this train of thought. That is one major flaw right there. But can one blame her? It ties in with another major flaw of hers- lady Yu has never been wanting in life, and having lived in the lap of luxury, she unfortunately has a very narrow and skewed vision on the way the world truly works. It used to be a simple snap of her fingers and she could have whatever she wanted! The lives of others was little else than gossip and idle chat, traded carelessly over tea or wine with people who shared her narrow and skewed vision on life. Until recently, the largest burdens placed upon her was to keep her household running efficiently and obsessively maintaining her standing in Ba Sing Se's various social circles.

And despite her markedly willful way, Lady Yu is a woman who has never had to truly think for herself. True, she has been commented upon as headstrong and willful, but even at her most daring, she has never stepped into the realm of true rebellion. She knows the limitations and expectations of a woman such as herself, dictated over centuries of tradition and culture. There has always been some grand framework of that to guide and plan and dictate each and every one of her moods and mannerisms. Her husband has done nothing but reinforce these rigid unspoken laws on her, and Lady Yu has (for the most part) cheerfully gone along with them. After all, how can you rail against an invisible cage when you are hardly even aware it exists in the first place?

She is also a victim of possessing slightly obsessive behaviors, which is most notably manifested in her fervent drive to keep up amongst the cream of the crop of the social elite, and her constant judging of everyone around her depending on their ranking amongst those social circles... provided they are even worthy enough to be included within those circles. Her meticulous nature also makes her rather obsessed about appearances and keeping up with them. She can be almost neurotic when it comes to providing the most presentable image she can. Ruin her clothes and hair, and she'll go to pieces just like that.

History: Yu Xian has lived the sort of life that most people could only dream of. Born in the city of Han Tui, she was the third daughter and eventual second-youngest child to the powerful Yu family. The Yu clan was one of the most powerful noble families in the region, and in Han Tui they had long been perhaps the most powerful family who had any direct control over the city. With wealth and political power abound, the young Xian never found herself in want of... well, anything, really. Beautiful, charming, and willful almost to a fault, she may have only been the third daughter, but she was certainly the most notable of her siblings. Her parents were all but enslaved to her whims and fancies, particularly her father. Any resistance or resentment he might have harbored over not having been granted a son was easily melted with the gentle fluttering lashes of her large brown eyes and high sweet giggle. Though his attentions may have been focused three years later on the arrival of her younger brother, the man has still not broken free from the spell of his lovely little Xian.

With her family's wealth and affluence, Xian was raised under some of the finest tutors available, and was thoroughly trained under all of the elegant arts, etiquette, and niceties a young noblewoman was expected to learn. She was not much on the scholarly pursuits, but on the arts and etiquette she flourished. She was a social creature, comfortable with the leisurely grace of socializing and in love with the grand spectacle of parties and feasts. It was widely regarded that she would be a fine lady when she came of age, and the man who would be the one to wed her would be a fortunate one indeed.

Contrary to the popular image of noble families being little more than cold political machines who only tolerated one another out of necessity and to keep up appearances, the Yu family was always very close. Xian and her sisters were often the talk of the city (though Xian was always the toast of the trio), and her brother was simply so adorable that she could not help but love him. And love to tease him. Older siblings do have their obligations to gently torment their little brothers and/or sisters, after all. Yet there was never any true malice in her teasing, and whatever hurt feelings that came about were quickly and easily forgotten. It was a goo thing she was so close to her family-- the rings of nobility in Han Tui were somewhat limited in number, providing her with few suitable playmates. Occasionally she would delight in a romp with the children of some of the family's army of servants, but such behavior was harshly discouraged.

Xian's beauty and charm were not the sort that faded away with childhood, as one often sees. In fact, it was quite the opposite effect- as she aged and matured, the young girl blossomed into a remarkable young woman. Word of such a remarkable young lady spread like wildfire amongst the ceaseless gossip of the nobility, and the Yu family eventually found themselves all but inundated with visiting young nobles and men of wealth, hoping to claim this Xian as a bride. She may have only been the third of the Yu daughters, but she was by far the most sought-after. She and her family reveled in this level of attention, and her sisters were fortunate enough to be married off during this flood of interest.

At the age of 17, Xian found herself married off in an almost unexpected fashion. Like most marriages amongst the nobility, it was a match made for political reasons, and Xian had little to no say in the affair. Not that she complained too long or hard; she knew exactly what these marriages were all about, and that the notion of marrying for love was something that only happened in fairy tales. Her husband was a man known as Xue Rengui. Normally, he would not have even been considered to be married to Xian-- he was a man of humble origins who hailed from a small village bordering the Si Wong desert. Utterly preposterous for a man to even dream of courting a woman such as Yu Xian.

Yet what Xue Rengui lack in family history, he more than made up for in personal prestige. Though he was only thirty two years in age, Xue Rengui had already established himself an impressive career in the Earth Kingdom's military, and had only recently just become promoted to the title of general amongst the Earth Kingdom's bender divisions. He was not the first general to court Xian, though with such a high-rising career in the military and having distinguished himself at such a young age, his potential to rise in the social and political ranks (as well as further military promotion) was almost limitless. It was something of a risk and a gamble, pairing the two of them together, but Xue Rengui was madly in love (or at least lust) with Yu Xian, and his persistence and potential eventually won her parents over.

And that was the tale of how Yu Xian came to be married to a man nearly twice her age.

Not that she minded-- he was nowhere near the oldest man to come courting after her. And just as his persistent nature won her parents over, it warmed her to him as well. Not that she married him for love-- even now, Lady Yu can not quite bring herself to admit that she loves him, or that she ever truly has. But their marriage has, aside from recent events, not been an unhappy one. They tolerate one another, and they even like one another. The boundaries of their social lives are well-defined and both are willing to play by the rules and put up with one another. In a marriage formed purely for political gain, Lady Yu could not hope to ask for more than that. He is a good husband to her after all, even with all his faults and tendencies to pay more attention to his duty rather than his home and family.

Shortly after their marriage (a grand affair, as expected) Xue Rengui's duties brought him to Ba Sing Se. Away from home now for the first time in her life, and accompanied only by her husband and two favorite servants, Lady Yu quickly found the city to be the place of her dreams. She adjusted quickly to the city, not the least bit intimidated by the fact that she was no longer the center of attention, as she had been back in Han Tui. In fact, she thrived in the world of Ba Sing Se's Upper Ring district.

By the time she was 21, Lady Yu was one of the most prominent women in the city.

It was no surprise. Driven as she was, and tasked with nothing else to do but play at the game of asserting herself and her husband as dominant figures amongst their peers, Lady Yu more than rose to the occasion. Her husband, though a talented general and skilled earth bender, was not a man with a knack for etiquette and politics. In these affairs he relied heavily on his wife-- a task she was all too happy to be tasked with. And why not? It brought them honor, it brought them prestige, and with it: deals. Gifts. Money. Power. This gave Lady Yu all the comforts and freedoms she had back in Han Tui, if not more.

Her husband was also often absent from home. As mentioned before, he was a man who knew his work and was far more inclined to take to his work tasks than he was to entertaining and attempting to navigate the ever-shifting maze of court favor. As a representative of her husband, Lady Yu was free to follow these pursuits as she pleased.

When he was home, the pair rarely had time alone with one another. There was always some party to attend or some social gathering that they simply had to show their faces at. Personal time was an afterthought almost, though they did try to make what little time they had with one another enjoyable. Xue Rengui pretended to show interest in Yu Xian's idle gossiping chatter and fondness of the arts, and in return she pretended to show interest in his displays of earth bending.

Only, Lady Yu found that she did not have to pretend to enjoy earth bending.

It was hard not to. Xue Rengui was indeed a skilled master of the form, and watching him... watching him was art. There was something in the way he moved, in the way he flowed and shifted between stances and forms, that was enthralling to Lady Yu as the most sensuous of dances. She had to know hoe he did it. She had to have that power for herself. Her husband consented to teaching her, though ultimately the pair never got the chance to properly follow through with his promise. Did that stop her? Not in the least! Earth bending scrolls were easy enough to obtain, and she had watched her husband often enough to have some vague sense of where to start. He found out that she was pretty good at it too, though Lady Yu never pursued it more as anything other than an idle hobby. There were often more pressing and immediate concerns at hand.

For nearly a decade, life continued to operate in this fashion. There was little change in the ebb and flow of life in Ba Sing Se, unless, of course, one counted grand galas and fashions and gossip. But then things began to fall apart.

There is a price one pays for prominence: enemies are everywhere to be found. There are a myriad of reasons as to why one would tend to form enmity in court, though most often the reasons boil down to little else aside from petty jealousies and envy. Possessing a beauty such as Lady Yu's and having a husband that was absent from her side and home more often than not, it was a perfect opening for one to place a finely wrought-out lie to fester and spread along the rumor mill. Usually, these rumors were laughed at and quickly brushed aside as if they were nothing more than a mildly irritating insect.

Eventually, one of these rumors did manage to plant its roots and grow. Tales began to spread of an illicit affair between Lady Yu and one of... Oh, what was it? Lady Yu never found out who it was exactly she was supposedly having an affair with. One of the royal guards, it was said. Normally, she would have easily taken care of the affair just as she had with the others...

... had her husband not gotten word of this rumor.

Had he spent more time at home, or if he had spent more time listening to his wife and strengthening his actual understanding with her, he would have known to laugh it off just as Lady Yu had been all these years. But Xue Rengui was an honest, direct, straightforward man. He did not know the ways of the court, and the seed of doubt exploded in the heart of the man who had not taken his time to know his wife as well as one should have after 14 years of marriage. His rage was absolute. He confronted his wife angrily, and her denial and retaliation almost boiled down into an honest to goodness fight, with blows that went beyond the verbal insults and accusations the pair flung at one another in the heat of their confrontation.

It took time, but Lady Yu managed to calm Xue Rengui down enough to explain the situation to him. Or at least, attempt to. He seemed to have some to some degree of understanding, but he was not so easily won over by his wife's words. The seeds of doubt were planted too deep. So he came up with a “suggestion.” Lie low until matters died down and he could find proof of her innocence. And to him, staying in the confines of their mansion would not be enough. She had to leave the city, and to stay with his family until he decided otherwise.

Lady Yu balked at the idea. Leave the city? She knew her husband's humble origins. She knew well enough that he meant for her to live in some miserable hovel out along the Si Wong Desert for... however long it took. Too long, regardless. It was a horrid idea, yet she found herself with no option but to accept. To lose her husband and all the influence she had built up over the years would be a far harsher blow than to simply stay with her in-laws in some hovel. Maybe. Sometimes she wonders if it would have been more preferable to go home to her family in shame.

And so, Lady Yu, once the center of Ba Sing Se's most prestigious social elite, now finds herself in the backwoods village along the border of the harsh Si Wong Desert. Oh, how the mighty have fallen...

Personality: If one were to say Lady Yu was nothing more than a shallow careless noble who has no sense of how the world works, then... well, they'd be right. Having lived the sheltered life of high (and more importantly, incredibly wealthy) nobility, Lady Yu's outlook and mannerisms on life have been shaped and molded by the limited view of the world provided to her. Concepts such as 'hard work' are things reserved for servants and common laborers, people which often pass by completely unnoticed by those such as Lady Yu. To those such as herself, they are little more than objects, and are never paid more attention to than what is required. As such, the woman easily comes across as imperious, demanding, and something of an airhead.

Not that she is a bad person, mind you. While Lady Yu is shockingly naive and ignorant on a great many matters and basics of life most people take for granted, she is not the caricature of a shrill demanding noble who exists only to order her lessers around. She is an assured, confidant woman, well-trained to act with dignity and grace. True, she sometimes caves in to childish tantrums or can be annoyingly domineering, but. She simply acts as she thinks is proper. To those she considers her equal or to the rare few others she opens up to, she is a good woman. She's just... clueless, really.

Not that she is totally clueless. Put her in a situation regarding etiquette, art, and/or socialization, and she flourishes. She is a very social creature by nature, and when she puts her mind to matters, she can be a cunning little politician and mastermind, unafraid to use her talents and charms to get what exactly she wants. Were she possessed of a wider understanding of the world and a more insightful nature, she could easily use her talents to have some degree of control over matters such as national politics or reformations. Pity she only sees it as a useful tool for fulfilling her shallow desires.

She can be a stubborn girl at times, almost awfully so. She knows what she wants and when she wants it. And once she puts her mind to a matter, Lady Yu always gets what she wants. Always.

Lady Yu's current predicament is a test. She has never strayed far from her comfort zone before in her life, and this is a test for her, though not in the way her husband perhaps intended for it to be. One must wonder if she will snap under the current conditions of her life, or will she show a surprising resourcefulness and, for once, assume some degree of responsibility in her life? Having never had her adapability be put to the test before, it is a question one must ponder...

Pet: Ew, no. While Lady Yu admires fancifully-bred pets and lovely birds who can produce melodious songs, she is not one who wishes to actually own a pet of her own. They poop. That's gross.