Kiyone's family are not wealthy, but are well meaning and genuine. They have a small business in cloth production on the planet Tanima, a mountainous, rough-hewn planet which was settled many milennia ago by a mixture of cultures. Eventually they became one people. They have no magical abilities.

Kiyone's father Dai is a strong, proud man who is pleased with his daughter's achievements in the GXP. Her mother Amarante is prone to fussing, and is convinced that the GXP will be the death of Kiyone, so does not approve of her daughter going.

Their finances mean that they could not pay for Kiyone to enlist with the GXP Academy, and Kiyone's father was too proud to ask for help. But Kiyone was desperate to go. One of her school-fellows came from a family with a strong military background, but she was wild and carefree and did not want to go into the GXP. So between them Kiyone and her friend Megumi Amano plotted to send Kiyone to the GXP in her place - Kiyone told her family that she had earned a scholarship through her high grades at school, whilst Megumi really intended to run off with a young man she had met who was involved in theatre. Megumi is a year older than Kiyone (who at this point is 16) but Kiyone's academic brilliance has led her to be promoted one class ahead of her age group.

For her first year, Kiyone studied under the name Megumi Amano. When she is finally found out, they decide she is a good enough student to kept on despite her deception. Somehow, Mihoshi is the reason for Kiyone's revalation. Megumi comes from a rich family and Mihoshi knows her. She has no discretion and gives Kiyone away. But it all ends well.

One of Kiyone's brothers was something of a rogue - a dabbling pirate type who messes in fraud and other games. Kiyone has always known this and turned a blind eye to his activities, making sure that she was not assigned to areas where he operates. Two years after Kiyone graduated, her brother got involved with dangerous people and was murdered. Kiyone solved her brother's murder and it made her name across the GXP - although all she sought was vengeance for a brother she had lost (despite her flaws).

Mihoshi's brother Misao (younger than Mihoshi but a lot smarter!) is conducting illicit relations with Kiyone's sister Mashisu, who is daring, ambitious and a little egocentric. Misao is very much in love with her, but Mashisu is more in love with the idea of marrying into a Seniwan family. She has always dreamed of wealth and fortune and Kiyone is uncomfortable with the match because it happened thanks to her partnership with Mihoshi. Mihoshi is, as ever, oblivious.

Kiyone has one older sister, Niji, and one younger, Mashisu. She has one living brother (the eldest) who is married and his name is Ryu. His wife is Chika, and she has a small son, Matsu, who is obsessive about the GXP and the stories of his aunt's brave vengeance of his uncle's death.

Kiyone's dead brother is called Keitaro, and was the brother with whom she was closest. Ryu is a bit distant from her, being the eldest.

Kiyone is the ambitious, educated member of the family in terms of achieving. She is driven because she knows she's worked for and earned everything she has. All her family are literate and went to school to study arithmetic, etc - but young marriage is not uncommon on her planet, and Kiyone was the only one of the family to still be in school at sixteen, when she concocted her plot to get to the GXP academy. She never liked being second best, and always strove to finish top. However she finished her final year at the GXP second in her class because she had helped Mihoshi to study and pass her examinations. She had no idea how much of a lasting impact that deed would have on either one of them!