Editing Zaira

{{Character|title1=Zaira|image1=zairagaz.png|location=[[The Isle of Cats]]|allegiance=[[The Pirate King]]|alias=Lady of the Cages<br>
Lady of the Gardens|relationships=[[Leopold]]<br>
[[Isery]]}}<blockquote>''"We have not met. Have we? No, this is definitely the first time. But - hmm." The Lady of the Cages shakes her head sharply. "Best to proceed as if it is the first, don't you think?"''<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/The_Lady%27s_Patronage|The Lady's Patronage|Sunless Sea|}}</ref></blockquote>'''Zaira''' is the overseer of [[red honey]] production on the [[Isle of Cats]].

==A Vacant Stare==
A direct subordinate of [[Leopold]], the Pirate King,<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/The_Honeyed_Tongue|Swap tales with a honey-smuggler|Sunless Sea|}} ''"The Pirate-King is watching you! Indeed he is, though not many see him these days. The people you want to watch out for are the King's Claw and the Lady of the Gardens.""''</ref> Zaira is known to most as the '''Lady of the Cages''' - although she prefers to be called the '''Lady of the Gardens'''.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/Isle_of_Cats:_Lady_of_the_Cages%27_Patronage|Isle of Cats: Lady of the Cages' Patronage|Sunless Sea|}} ''"She prefers Lady of the Gardens. Or just Zaira."''</ref> (She responds to both, and admits both are true.)<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/Proper_Nomenclature|Proper Nomenclature|Sunless Sea|}} ''"I much prefer being the Lady of the Gardens than the Lady of the Cages. But. The truth is I am always both."''</ref> Described as tall,<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/Cavendish_Abbey|A Meeting with the Abbess|Sunless Sea|}} ''"A tall woman in a golden veil picks her way between the thorned bushes."''</ref> she wears a distinctive gold veil that obscures her eyes, and carries dozens of keys with her that unlock the cages of the Isle's prisoners.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/The_Lady%27s_Patronage|The Lady's Patronage|Sunless Sea|}} ''"A veil of gold-mesh obscures only her eyes, leaving her glistening, bitten lips bare. Perhaps a hundred small silver keys jangle in a bunch at her left hip."''</ref> Her primary responsibility is to supervise and tend the Cage-Gardens, and ensure that honey production goes smoothly.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/The_Honeyed_Tongue|Swap tales with a honey-smuggler|Sunless Sea|}} ''"[..]the Lady - well, she's the keeper of the Cage-Gardens. Where they extract - um."''</ref> While not the official overseer of the Melliferous Sisters, who take care of the [[Lamplighter Bees|lamplighter bees]] and perform the bulk of the honey-harvesting, she works alongside them - for better or for worse.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/Cavendish_Abbey|Gossip with a Novice|Sunless Sea|}} ''"The Abbess and the Lady of the Gardens are having some kind of dispute over staffing, of all things."''</ref>

Zaira has consumed so much red honey that her own memories have been essentially washed away.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/A_Walk_with_the_Lady_of_the_Cages|A Walk with the Lady of the Cages|Sunless Sea|}} ''"Personally, I've drunk the memories of so many homes, I couldn't pick a particular one out of the lot. Tricky things. [...] Have I muddled this up? I did say I set up a meeting with the King for you, didn't I? Well. I did."''</ref><ref name=":0">{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/The_Garden_of_Roses_and_Cages|Talk to the Lady of the Gardens|Sunless Sea|}} ''"She tells you that she was once a prisoner in this very garden, but that she escaped and drank down her own memories stewed bright and honey-sweet. "And then I was whole again!" She claps, and a laugh echoes from her twisting lips. "Or maybe that was someone else. It most probably was. Don't you think? It sounds very far-fetched, now that I say it out loud.""''</ref> She struggles to remember the people she meets,<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/A_Message_for_Zaira|A Message for Zaira|Sunless Sea|}} ''""How is the Venturer? Still a Rubbery Man? He isn't? Are you quite sure?" The Lady of the Cages rubs her cheek. "Maybe that part comes later. I shall have to make a note.""''</ref> let alone practical advice,<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/A_Message_for_Zaira|Hand her the medallion|Sunless Sea|}} ''"I'll have a reward sent to your ship. Don't worry, I asked the Sisters to pick - I can't seem to remember what's edible and what isn't these days. [...] Can you fry wine in batter? I don't see why not!"''</ref> and even has difficulty remembering her station and duties.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/The_Lady%27s_Patronage|The Lady's Patronage|Sunless Sea|}} ''""We have not met. Have we? No, this is definitely the first time. But - hmm. [...] Best to proceed as if it is the first, don't you think? [...] I think we should be friends. I'm very important you know - or I was. No, still am. [...] Yes, I am quite sure I still am."''</ref> In a stark dissonance from the reality of the Cage-Gardens, she views them as a place of peace, pointing out that the [[Exile's Rose|roses]] that grow there are innocent even though they are hybrids with [[Hell|Hellish]] flowers.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/Tending_the_Rose_Garden|Wait... what?|Sunless Sea|}} ''"Nightmarish? You really think so? Well, you must have odd dreams.. [...] This place is full of peace. Do I mean peace? Yes, I think I do. Serenity. Stillness. The roses are innocent, even though they half-sprung from hell. You don't find that worth something?"''</ref> Her responses to Leopold's pragmatic advice are equally eccentric and detached; her idea of getting to know a business partner is consuming the memories of someone who knew them.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/A_Request_from_Zaira|Accept|Sunless Sea|}} ''"Do say hello to the Merchant Venturer for me, won't you? He was such a awful child. [...] I drank the memories of someone that went to school with him. [...] I like to know my business partners. It was Leopold's idea, of course. He's very thorough."''</ref> She seems, perhaps out of necessity, to be entirely dissociated from the meaning and consequences of her duties and the process of harvesting red honey.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/Tending_the_Rose_Garden|Offer her a crewman|Sunless Sea|}} ''"Memories of salt and zee! Mmm. She'll do nicely. Won't you? Yes, I think so. Yes. Have you had a little accident, my dear? No matter, the flowers like the ammonia."''</ref> However, she is still coherent enough to be sharp-witted when spurned,<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/A_Walk_with_the_Lady_of_the_Cages|You politely decline|Sunless Sea|}} ''"Zaira looks confused for a moment, and then stamps her foot in a charade of rage. "You are banished from my presence! Begone, foul disappointment!" She gives you a wink, before her face clears. "But really, I am rather cross. Yes? Mmm. I probably won't kill you. But one never quite knows, does one?""''</ref> and when threatened she is remarkably lethal no matter her mental state.<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/Proper_Nomenclature|Threaten her|Sunless Sea|}} ''"Zaira does not waste time with words: she slips a long, thin dagger out of her sleeve and cuts the throats of two of your crew. The dagger is pressed to your own throat before you can even give a shout of horror. "Violence! I remember violence!" She laughs breathily. "Do you think I should kill you?"  You don't. You really don't. "Oh, all right then.""''</ref>

Zaira is actually completely blind. It appears that her eyes were put out (understandably not depicted in her artwork) and her brain ravaged by lamplighter bees harvesting her memories<ref>{{Citation|https://sunlesssea.fandom.com/wiki/The_Garden_of_Roses_and_Cages|Talk to the Lady of the Gardens|Sunless Sea|}} ''"A breeze lifts her gold-mesh veil: there is a shadowed emptiness where her eyes should be, and livid scars all around. The sort a nectar-maddened lamplighter bee might leave, when it burrowed into a brain."''</ref> - perhaps lending credence to her own story of freeing herself from the Cage-Gardens,<ref name=":0" /> but also offering a further explanation for the erasure of her identity.

== References ==