Cui

Cui is the granddaughter of Lu Sanqian, chief of the Village of Lu. Her father, Lu Jieyuan, was captain of the village guard; when the Maskwalkers rose, he and his wife joined the Mandate columns led by the Three Heroes of Kunlun and left home to fight them.

When she was smaller, her father, her mother and her grandfather each tied her hair in turn with a red ribbon of three-ply cotton. She treasured it and never let it out of her keeping.

Soul found her in the testing ground of the Village of Lu. Her soul had been displaced, and a single shred of obsession was all that was left; it said the same few things over and over. She wanted her mother and father, she wanted her grandfather; her parents had joined the Mandate, her grandfather was the village chief and could not be found. She wanted him to tie her hair one more time.

She gave Soul the ribbon and asked him to carry it to her grandfather. Lu Sanqian walked as far as the gate of the clan shrine and died there without his reunion, the ribbon on him and a letter to his son.

The ribbon reached Lu Jieyuan in the end. He was holding his wife's body when Soul found him; he said that no news was the best news, and swore to hold on long enough to go back to the Village of Lu, back to Cui.

Later, in the Mirage Estate, he spent himself on one blow that wounded the thing, and died saying: don't be afraid, Cui, your father is coming to keep you company.