Vallia is a small, watchful girl with light blond hair that slips from its pins and light brown eyes that stay fixed on whoever is answering her. She walks with quick, short steps, then stops so abruptly that adults nearly walk into her. Before speaking, she draws a little breath through her nose and holds it, as if waiting to see whether the answer will be true. Her old-fashioned dress has a stiff, carefully mended skirt that rustles when she turns. She leaves the impression of a question left hanging in a room.

Vallia is affectionate and inquisitive, but not easily distracted once she believes a question matters. She wants to be brave for Veilchan, yet still seeks her mother's hand when the house feels too quiet. In play she can be merry and inventive; around departures she becomes intent, literal, and hard to placate. She accepts firm boundaries better than evasions.

Anja and John Kauffman married before Vallia was born. Her father, Bruke Von Braken, is a Redcap of the Autumn Court; her mother, Fantasia Von Braken, is a Sluagh of that court. Vallia has grown up knowing that her parents are not quite ordinary, though the adults have never given her a complete account of what that means. Her younger sister Veilchan is still small enough to be carried when tired. Anja sewed Vallia an older German-style dress from carefully kept cloth, and Vallia treats it as both Sunday clothing and proof that her mother can make something last. When John leaves for work with the U.S. Army, Vallia asks why he is gone and whether she can go with him. The questions began as ordinary ones. They grew insistent after a departure that came with hurried packing and explanations she could not follow. She remembers the empty space at the table more clearly than the words used to explain it. Now she watches doors, listens for news, and tries to work out what grown-ups mean when they say 'soon.'