Lucia

Lucia had risen an awfully long way for one who had come from more or less nothing. Out with her clutchmates on a harsh winter's night in the cold, a cold for which Ssar bodies had never been designed. A cold that took and took, numbing the senses and dulling the thoughts until eventually one who had fallen victim to it just ceased.

Lucia had survived, by the strength of the fire that burned within her. She had been found, and adopted. She had risen, then, through the ranks of the Word-Keepers, catching first Zellus' eye and then that of the Principia herself.

Lucia, in all likelihood, took some time to realise just how much the Principia had come to rely on her. To rely on the inner flame that dwelled within her chest, just as she herself had all those years ago. Vena did rely on her, lean on her, and prefer her for advancement when the chance for advancement came up. That was the way of the Church, to catch the eye of one who would take you under their wing and use you as the bedrock upon which they would construct the work they had yet to do. In the end, Knight-Captain Lucia would become a Chapter Master, and then the Grandmaster of the order in its entirety when an ageing Zellus finally stepped down.

Lucia got used to the Principia relying upon her, in the end. What she never got used to was the Guardian Goddess coming to see her in the same way. There were many in the Church on Kythara who had faith, blinding, overwhelming faith, but they all had found the Guardian as the vessel in which their faith might lay. Lucia had never been quite the same. She did have faith in her Goddess, of course, but the bulk of her faith, the faith that lit and sustained the flame that dwelled within her, was a faith in what she was meant to be — a protector, bound by oath, to bring justice where justice had been absent. That had proven a faith that the Guardian found dependable — a faith upon which She hoped that the Church might build itself.

No, that wasn't quite right. The Church would not build itself, it would have to be built by those who served within its ranks.

By Lucia.

So the old Grand-Master put down her recollections and returned to the classroom, where a promising young recruit had but recently caught her eye.