Yu'er

Yu'er is the daughter of Pangzhen's brewer. Her mother was the town's physician, and from the time she could walk she trailed after her with a herb basket, up and down the hills — first for the fun of it, until in time she could make some sense of a pharmacopoeia.

She is not bold. Her first words come out small, and her instinct is to hide. Her mind, though, is already made up: she can gather herbs, light a fire, name wild greens and find the road. People tell her to stay back. She goes anyway — she will not be one more person hidden behind someone else.

At the outpost in Weeping Creek there were more wounded than healers, for the party's physician had turned into something else. She mixed a salve for cuts and torn flesh by her mother's method, sent Soul to gather the three herbs she lacked, and later rolled the same medicine into pills for wounded thieves trapped in the woods.

Then the puppets took Pangzhen and the Village of Lu. She hid from them, slipped into the village, and was dragged down into the thieves' tunnel.

When they meet again, the body is no longer hers to command. Leng Tu wears it as a substitute and speaks through her to deceive Soul; the Flesh Lily held out to her father is a fake. Her mind is still inside, keeping every word she hears, waiting.

Deep in the Mirage Estate she has breath enough for one thing: Leng Tu is going to Soulrend Cliff. Her father is still in the back streets of Pangzhen, alive only because of the true flower.