She has never been hungry for power.
Only ever hungry for blood. For flesh.
For revenge.

And yet, here she is. It is not the leadership that is so intoxicating, but the fact that Ghaul had chosen her. Still, so many years later, his opinion is paramount. Even with Stave’s children left someplace safe while she seeks out the entities he has trusted her to protect.

She had not embarked on their quest, she does not know which of them is which. But she knows them as magic when she sees them. And she is proud, Gospel, but not too proud to want better for her children. The children who had wrestled and kicked and made her so unbearably miserable. She cannot say whether it had been worth it, but she knows that they will be powerful. She had come from half of nothing, her foolish, ordinary father, and she will not allow her children to know what it’s like.

So, she lifts her head proud when she addresses them. She does not bother with introductions, doubts that they will care that she has not given them her name. “I want better for my children,” she announces. “I want Gravitas to be able to manipulate the stars, so that he might know true power. And I want Tirza to be able to restore her youth. In this, she will find her own power.”

She nods then, concise. She has said all she needs to say. “Thank you.” Because she knows better than to anger magic. She turns then to return to them, her children, who she hopes will someday be more powerful than she.