Lan Fan

About Lan Fan

Lan Fan is Ling Yao's loyal bodyguard, a masked kunoichi from Xing trained alongside her grandfather Fu to protect the young prince with her life. Fierce, silent and utterly devoted, she fights with blades and explosives and can sense the Homunculi like her master. When an injury costs her an arm, she takes automail and returns to the fight. Her loyalty to Ling is absolute.

Appearance

Lan Fan is a young Xingese woman usually seen in the black garb of her clan's retainers, her face hidden behind a white mask with a single red marking. Her long black hair is tied up for combat, and she moves like a shadow: across rooftops, along walls, gone before a guard turns around. She fights with short blades and kunai, carries small explosives, and keeps her whole body angled between her prince and any possible threat. The one time her discipline cracks is when Ling himself is in danger.

Personality

Silent, fierce and utterly devoted, Lan Fan defines herself entirely by her duty to Ling. She speaks rarely, obeys instantly and holds herself to a standard no one else would survive: when an injury costs her an arm, her only concern is returning to her post. Yet she is not a machine: she is young, proud, and quietly wounded by the suggestion that she is merely a tool. Ling's insistence on treating her as a person matters to her more than she can say. Her loyalty is the old, absolute kind, but the story keeps asking what it should cost her.

Background & Story

Lan Fan was raised in Xing alongside her grandfather Fu, both sworn retainers of the Yao clan, trained from childhood to guard the young prince Ling Yao with their lives. She crossed the great desert at his side into Amestris, watching from the rooftops while Ling played the fool in the streets below. Xingese training lets her sense the Homunculi's unnatural presence, making her one of the party's best early-warning systems. When protecting Ling costs her an arm, she refuses to become a burden: she takes an automail replacement and fights her way back to full strength so she can stand at his side again.

Powers & Abilities

• Blades and Explosives: A kunoichi's arsenal (short blades, kunai and small bombs) used with rooftop speed and total precision in defence of her prince.
• Qi Sensing: Trained in Xing's arts, Lan Fan can sense the Homunculi's disturbed energy from a distance, tracking enemies no one else can feel.

Key Relationships

• Ling Yao: Her prince and her whole world. She would give anything for him, and his respect for her as a person is the thing she treasures most.
• Winry Rockbell: The mechanic whose workshop fits her with automail after her injury, a debt of gratitude Lan Fan takes very seriously.
• Fu: Her grandfather and fellow retainer, who trained beside her and guards Ling at her side, the two are the Yao clan's shield wall.

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