Xiaoming

**Lucy Bluecrowne**: And you're the frigate in this tale?

**Xiaoming**: No, Lucy. I am a ship of the line.

**Lucy**: A *ship of the line?*

— *Bluecrowne*, pg. 198-199 |  | ”

****X******iaoming** was the mother of Liao Bluecrowne, wife of Richard Bluecrowne, and stepmother of Lucy Bluecrowne. She is also the daughter of the Chinese emperor Yu Shun, and was an immortal being, but she was unbodied by Ignis Blister.

## Biography

### *Bluecrowne*

Xiaoming and Liao arrived to see Bluecrowne House, and Lucy noted that Xiaoming was her stepmother, who she called Jìmû and loved very much. Xiaoming understood how Lucy missed the *Left-Handed Fate* and did not want to stay in a house on land, and gave Lucy a loving gesture. In the morning, Xiaoming sat on the porch with Lucy and assured her that the change could not be stopped, something she knew firsthand, and encouraged Lucy to try to make the house more homelike. She approved wholeheartedly of Lucy wanting her own boat, to Lucy's delight.

Liao came with Lucy, and they went to the Quayside Harbors in search of a cutter, and met Jianming Cerrajero. When Liao mentioned his mother being called Xiaoming, Jianming commented that it was a boy's name, other than in a folktale, infuriating Liao, who insisted that his mother was a woman, and real.

Jianming gave the same answer when Trigemine (who was after Liao for his conflagrationeer powers) asked about her. Trigemine's ally Blister spied on Xiaoming using tanglefire, and they realized that she was a reliquary, an immortal, and quite powerful. Blister worried about taking Liao with her there, and purchased a rope from Forgeron that he hoped would bind her. Lucy and Liao went home, where they found Xiaoming, Richard Bluecrowne, and Nell Levinflash. Xiaoming expressed compassionfor Lucy, who was upset that the *Left-Handed Fate* was going to Flotilla. Lucy gave her a parcel to send, which, though she didn't know it, was to be a gift for her.

In the evening, Lucy came back to Bluecrowne House from Christopher Swifte's shop via the *Driven Star*. She informed Xiaoming that the peddler Blister had taken Liao, and Xiaoming was not furious at Lucy, but seemed angry at herself instead. Lucy told all she knew, and Xiaoming used fire and bones to learn something, Lucy was not sure what or how. Lucy agreed to help Xiaoming get Liao back, and Xiaoming explained that Liao had been taken because he would someday be a fire master like her. They had taken Liao instead because he was easier to take. Xiaoming warned Lucy of danger and pain, then gave her an lixer that would, she said, help her walk through fire.

Lucy took Xiaoming to the place where Trigemine and Blister were. Xiaoming insisted on entering squarely without maneuvers, and she and Trigemine exchanged threats. They found Liao in the garden, trapped in a prison of fire. Xiaoming fought with Blister, after which Blister was in great pain whenever he used his conflagrationeer powers, Xiaoming had turned into a crane, and Blister had bound her with Forgeron's rope. She gave Lucy, who had endured the deathlike pain to enter the fire prison, directions through expressions. She managed to use a marlinespike given to her by Mr. Swifte to take apart the rope, and Xiaoming burst free.

Xiaoming, Lucy, and Liao escaped the garden. Xiaoming congratulated the two and professed her love for them, almost as a goodbye, knowing that she was not safe. Soon, Blister returned, hit Xiaoming with belluine, and she disappeared. Liao wailed, and Lucy was quite sad as well, but they managed to escape. Liao told his father that Xiaoming had been unbodied, he said, and would return sometime, he didn't know when. Xiaoming had indeed been, Liao said, a celestial being and a fire spirit. Lucy and Liao left the key, with "Bluecrowne" in Chinese on it, inside Bluecrowne House so Xiaoming could have it when she returned.

### *The Raconteur's Commonplace Book*

Captain Frost noted that Melusine and Lowe had different mothers.

### *Greenglass House*

Mrs. Hereward noted that Captain Bluecrowne had remarried after the death of his first wife, to a Chinese lady, and they'd had a son called Liao. Liao and his mother had lived in China while Captain Bluecrowne and Lucy had lived on the *Left-Handed Fate*, but eventually Captain Bluecrowne had built Greenglass House and brought his family to Nagspeake, which he thought would stay out of the War of 1812.

## Physical appearance

Xiaoming is tall and slender. She has dark eyes and long brown hair, which she wears in a bun. She wears clothes that Lucy helped her pick out, pretty but functional, such as trousers, but with ribbons and flowers and such sewn in.

Xiaoming can turn into a cranelike bird.

## Personality and traits

Xiaoming understands her children very well. She loves them and wants to protect them. Xiaoming is very powerful, though she hides it most of the time. She sacrificed herself for Liao.

## Gallery

**Take a look at our **gallery for Xiaoming****.