Zinnia has a lot of trauma associated with Lycaurica and planet Varahi in general. As a young child, she was taken away from her planet by government workers and then experimented on relentlessly along with her parents - who eventually died, leaving her and her sister, Hæko, the only ones to survive. Luckily, she escaped, but she was only one of the few that did. She and her sister escaped through a portal that scientists, the same ones that experimented on her and her fellow Alqati, managed to open. Only for a little while though, as it closed up very quickly. Only around seven escaped through that portal, out of the hundreds that were taken. The method in which the portal was opened also caused the scientists that chased after them to die when attempting to go through the portal as it closed. Zinnia and her sister fought often in the beginning of them living in the outside world, as Zinnia wanted to go back to Varahi but her sister didn't. Zinnia also had found a young kitten, no younger than 2, the child of two of the dead scientists, and took her - due to getting to know her and how sweet she was, and feeling bad for her. She ended up naming her Akhali. Hæko called the decision reckless and selfish, and wanted to give her up for adoption, while Zinnia wanted to keep her. Eventually, her sister left her, leaving Zinnia alone to fend for herself and the child. Zinnia did ultimately decide to give it up for adoption herself, realizing she wasn't fit to take care of it, a decision she nowadays feels conflicted about. Zinnia hopes to meet the cat again someday, but knows that has a very low chance of happening.
Zinnia had also decided to go to Varahi through the Ebrya portal to give the cat up for adoption. Though she had entered Varahi with no problem, going back was an issue. The Wish Lake was (and still is) heavily guarded and she as an Alqati was not allowed to go through. This left her stuck with nothing, having to fight and survive with no real home once again. After years out on the streets, Zinnia was eventually caught roaming around in Pynelough by soldiers. She was almost arrested, until one of the soldiers defended her from the rest and let her go. Zinnia was taken aback by the out-of-character kindness for a soldier as she ran off, but she tried to not think about it too hard. By this point, Zinnia had found shelter in an abandoned shed. She learned to live a life here, narrowly avoiding attempts of others to attack or hurt her, and though she knew she was not fit to survive here - she tried to accept it. One day, when sneaking out on the street, she caught the eye of another stranger. Zinnia learned to immediately run away at the sight of them, but this person suddenly panicked and said "Hey, wait! I'm safe! We've seen each other before!" Zinnia was at the entrance of the house when she heard this. About to run anyway, the person stepped into the light to reveal themself. It was the same soldier that defended her, that same blue goat-like cat, what felt like ages ago. Zinnia was taken aback - what had she come here for? To make a 'friend?'
"I'm not here to make friends." Zinnia told the goatcat. She got nervous and stepped back a bit.
"A-and I'm not gonna try to befriend you if you don't want that...I just, I wanted to offer something to you. I feel bad that you're stuck in this abandoned house scavenging for food scraps!"
Zinnia sighed. "What's the offer."
"Okay...Either, you come to live in my house... Or if you're not comfortable with that, u-um, I'll start giving you some of my leftovers each week. Our Church does a lot of these big feasts and I always come home with some."
