One of the things about the sorceress Zurfina, who is Senta’s mentor, is that she is frequently gone.  Senta ends up raising herself to a large degree.  But in book 4, because we get to see where she is going this time, we actually get to see quite a bit of Zurfina.

I love Zurfina.  She’s one of my favorite characters.  She’s completely amoral, self-absorbed, vain, slutty, and extremely powerful.  Some of my favorite moments in all the books are scenes with Zurfina, and this book is no exception.

A cloth-bodied doll with a porcelain face lay back on the pillows at the top of her bed.  It looked remarkably like her, though it was not dressed as she was, instead wearing a flowery print dress with a straw hat that matched exactly what Senta had worn the previous day.  The doll shrugged, and getting up to its feet, wobbled its way to the foot of the bed.  The young sorceress went to the window and looked out at the birds while she ate her sandwich.  The branches of a large maple reached almost right up to the side of the house and a family of microraptors had built a sloppy nest just three or four feet from the window.  Soon it would have two eggs in it, but at the moment it was empty.  Before she even realized it, Senta had finished her meal and turned back around.  The doll, seeing her hands free, stretched its arms up in the air to signal it wished to be picked up.  The girl obliged and tucked it into the crook of her arm.

“I send you on an important errand and here you are, playing with dolls.” 

The sultry voice came from Zurfina, who was standing naked at the landing.   Senta couldn’t help noticing that her mistress possessed what she thought must be the perfect female form.  Curvy and bosomy, she might have been a model for a famous statue had it not been for the constellation of five large star tattoos, two below her clavicles, one around her navel, and one above each hip bone.  And one…”

“Fina!  There’s another star on your knee!”

“So there is,” said Zurfina looking down.

“Is there even a tattooist in Port Dechantagne?”

“Don’t be stupid, and don’t change the subject.  I count on you to take care of things here in Birmisia for me.  You’re thirteen years old now and you should be able to handle that.”

“I’m almost fifteen.”

“Really?  What year is this?”

“It’s the year of our Lord nineteen hundred five.”

“Really?  What month?”

“It’s Treuary 25th—just six days till a very important date.”

“Treuary… 1905…”  Zurfina looked up at the ceiling and tapped her chin with her fingers.

“Did you hear me?  Six days?”

“I have to go away for a while, Pet,” the elder sorceress announced.  “I’ll try to be back before the end of spring.”

Senta stared open-mouthed as Zurfina turned and ascended the stairs.  She could hear her climb two flights of stairs and she could hear the door to Zurfina’s study open and shut.

“Six days!” she called up.