Reserved, pessimistic, and deliberate, Kiana Tsu is very much a product of her childhood.   Born to poor, immigrant parents, she learned to be streetwise and independent at a very early age.   Her mother and father worked in the kitchen of struggling Chinatown restaurant, and it wasn't long before Kiana did too.   Her father was a quiet man who rarely spoke to his daughter aside from disciplining her.   But her mother was quite the opposite in every way.   She was a kind, loving person who did all she could to protect her daughter from her father's temper.  

Suddenly and tragically, at age ten, Kiana's mother took her own life.   With the death of her mother, Kiana's father grew even colder. He blamed Kiana for her mother's death and their families financial problems. For years he made her life miserable, until one day when Kiana was fourteen, her father arrived home with news that he was remarrying the restaurant's hostess. This betrayal of her mother was the last straw.   She protested furiously to her father, but to no avail.   The marriage went ahead as planned, and the day before her stepmother moved in, Kiana ran away.

Shortly after arriving in her new surroundings, Kiana lied about her age, and again found work cleaning dishes.   The restaurant pays her a small salary under the table and she supplements her income with a variety of less-than-legal activities.   She spends her free time at the library of the local college, which is also where she usually spends her nights.   However, haunted by reoccurring nightmares, her recent nights have been far from restful.