Name: Yinda Ansel. "Yinda" is close enough to "Linda" for me to say that the name means "pretty." "Ansel" means something like "adherent of a nobleman." In other words, it just sounded good. Her cousins sometimes call her Yin.
Age: 16
Birth date: March 26th
Appearance: Short brown hair and slanted brown eyes. She's small for her age, and a little underdeveloped, if you get my drift. And skinny as hell. To be brief, she looks like a stick. She generally wears dirty, tattered boys' clothes and runs around barefoot (claiming "equal rights for toes" and so forth), though when at home she's expected to look presentable, and usually winds up being dressed in the latest girly fashions by her cousins. She also wears a bracer of throwing knives on her left wrist--she would have one on her right wrist, as well, but it was confiscated by one of her cousins on the grounds that Yinda is too young for weapons.
History: Yinda is the niece of one of the most successful hotel owners in the entire country of Western. She, like many of the Ansel children, grew up at the Three Sisters, but unlike the children whose parents live and work at the hotel, Yinda's ubringing was a group effort taken on by the entire family when her mother died and her father disappeared. The Ansel family is largely intermarried, and just about everyone is batty to some extent. As a result of this upbringing, Yinda is high-energy, talkative, loud, willful, and used to getting her way.
Around the time she turned thirteen, after getting a few months' taste of actually working at the hotel, Yinda decided she was tired of that life and ran off to make her fortune as a thief. After a year or so of street life, Yinda inadvertently met up with one of her distant cousins, Jericho Lapene, a Border Guard who happens to be just as much of a treasure-monger as herself. The two now travel together raiding old ruins and stealing towels from hotels. In the story Yinda's exploits primarily fund the group's travels. (If this wasn't so, she'd probably have enough money to live comfortably off of for several years after the very first chapter.)
It can also be noted that Yinda has widespread connections, mainly along the main rail lines--all people willing to buy silver spoons and hotel towels without awkward questions.
Personality: She's a brat. rofl
No, really. Most people just tend to overlook this because she's such an endearing brat. And most of these people don't find themselves in a position where they have to put up with her for more than an hour at a time (those who do and still think she's adorable are usually her relatives, and they're all mad anyway). Normal people who have to deal with her for long periods realize fairly quickly the sort of person she is. She's selfish and whiney--even though she predominantly lives on the street, she's still used to the posh accomodations of the Three Sisters--and when required to "rough it" in the wild, she's usually downright miserable and makes sure everybody knows it.
In a more domestic setting she naturally exerts her will upon individuals with more passive personalities--and her will is usually to treat them as some kind of living plush-toy for her cuddling enjoyment. As Erika once described her: "She's like a chipper little mind-control alien." Similarly, she won't abide by anyone being gloomy or depressed, and usually tries to cheer them up by annoying the emo right out of them (though this usually gets her ignored or yelled at).
Yinda also has a penchant for giving people presents, either because she thinks they need them or to win them over. She's really just out to be everyone's little sister.
She gets along least of all with Nathan, possibly because their personalities are similar enough to clash.
Tortures: The biggest torture in her life comes when she gets lit on fire during a fight with Nathan towards the end of the story. She gets hit in the stomach with a fireball and suffers second-degree burns to her torso, neck, arms, and legs, leaving her scarred for life after a lengthy recovery.
Other tortures include not having proper parents, traveling with Nathan, and having a crush on Vitae (yes, that's a torture).
