abstract
| - Varpa is a female Smoke Knight assigned to Xerxsephnia von Blitzengaard's (aka Seffie's) service. She has lighter red hair than most of the family, and wears metal gauntlets (or possibly has mechanical hands). She also [ writes poetry] [[Chronology - Volume #|✣ ]] about cheese under the nome de plume La Fromage Amore. (Or perhaps that's the title of a slim volume of her verse.) Varpa is first seen when [ Seffie directs her to “get in the way a bit”] [[Chronology - Volume #|✣ ]] of Malek, another Smoke Knight that Seffie's brother Tweedle has sent to keep an eye on our heroine. Evidently her method of “getting in the way” involves a lot of kissing. Agatha's own Smoke Knight (by Tarvek's release), Violetta, is aware that the two Smoke Knights are following her group, but doesn't [ call them out] [[Chronology - Volume #|✣ ]] until she discovers that one of Dio Zardilev's party has been killed and disguised (as Zardilev himself) using Ghost Spider venom, indicating the work of Madwa Korel, a Smoke Knight loyal to Lucrezia Mongfish, aka the Other. Varpa and Malek are evidently loyal to Grandmother and set aside other all other assignments to destroy those in the service of the Other. They accompany Agatha's group through the catacombs of the Immortal Library under Paris, and then on the chaotic journey across the city to Tweedle's planned masquerade ball. In the process of said journey, Malek is killed by Eotain and Shurdlu, while Varpa gets speared in the shoulder. After getting quickly patched up, she takes out Shurdlu with a blowdart to the head, then slips away from the battle, telling Agatha she will return to Seffie and send them more help. However, when Agatha eventually arrives in Seffie's general vicinity, there's no sign of Varpa; whether she reached her employer remains unknown.
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