La Zara — Donatella Donati to the Florentine chronicles, Sara to the oldest — is the matriarch of an ancient, hidden lineage and mother of Varys, the Black Guelph.
Lineage
From her comes the blood that makes scales sprout on Varys: that of the dark elves, who in this Florence are the Black Guelphs of deepest lineage — a people of underground and night turned Florentine house. Her line is said to descend from the Queen of Sheba and the Solomonic house of Axum, and to belong to the “hidden children of Eve”, those absent from the genealogy prayed aloud. She presides over a cult of possession and trance that ties Florence to Africa and to an East older than Rome.
Through her, Varys is both a Black Guelph of the city and heir of a line that touches Zenobia and the Dark Queen.