if not, winter

basics

name: uta zamfir / personal name: tsukishiro no hikada / employment name: midoririn ketsukinu / age: 57 / sex & gender: cis woman / sexuality: aromantic bisexual / marital status: married / birthplace: devya / residence: devya / title: lady of house zamfir / former positions: companion, lady in waiting, spy / loyalties: n/a

faceclaim: wao yoka / height: 174cm / build: svelte / hair: anywhere from black to ashy brown to pale blonde, long or short / eyes: black / movement: feline / smell: incense / fashion: rather masculine

ambitious, organised, pragmatic, tenacious, discerning, warm, generous, convincing, composed, charming / cantankerous, detached, temperamental, manipulative, transactional, cutthroat, self-serving, aloof, callous

past, sparknotes edition

tw: familial death

born to a poor noble family then left orphaned and penniless, tsukishiro no hidaka clawed her way to her station. jettisoned between relatives and other distant relations, she grew up quickly. she had to, to survive.

that surviving was spying. it was always so convenient, for the adults around her to instruct her to listen in on some, copy down some. she was always around, never paid any attention too. but she’s a clever girl and quickly learned to use that to her advantage.

as young as seven she starts working as a companion, and through that, works her way around regions and into the court as a lady in waiting but also spy. before anyone can think of getting her married, though, the war breaks out.

turns out, there were benefits to being sent from place to place as a kid then hop from employer to employer as a tween: ketsukino always knew someone who knew someone. with her youth and self-effacing presence (honed through years of practice), not to mention her expertise at making targets create their own explanations, her strategic importance in the network only grew as the war continued. any distress and disorder could be explained by her sudden marriage and new responsibilities. she was even briefly a member of the small council until she had to blow her cover.

it wasn’t even of upmost strategic importance, but when push came to pull, she couldn’t resist the urge to take that opening. with no support outside the small garrison stationed at the fort, she took to the sword and a legend was born that day. it was the beginning of the end, and though it did nothing to change the tides of the war, the newlywed earned the respect of the troops. that moment of weakness cost her everything—the notoriety made her too visible to resume her activities as a spy.

but there was a region to rebuild a family to raise, and that kept her occupied for years to come even as she lost her sense of self, her raison d’être. but life moved on, even as she mourned the world as she knew it.

misc headcanons