Lamya Ra

**Lamya Bethari Amati Ra** is a Princess from the Royal House of Ra. She is a former resident of Far East Sang in the Wintersea Republic and a member of Unit 919 of the Wundrous Society. She is better known by her alias **Lambeth Amara**  and nickname **Lam**.

## Biography

### Before getting into the Wundrous Society

Lamya was born in the Silklands of Far East Sang within the Wintersea Republic. As a princess, she was part of the Royal House of Ra. However, she eventually left the Republic and entered Nevermoor illegally to take the Wundrous Society Trials. Her family was part of this plan, which is considered treason in the Wintersea Republic. Lam completed the trials, and became a member of Unit 919. She was one of the last two candidates to perform at the Show Trial.

### First year

On her first day in WunSoc Lambeth managed foreseeing the arrival of the hometrain, which some of her fellow Unit members found a bit creepy. Once in, she didn't seem to listen to what was being explained and instead read the posters on the wall. Later, when told that Maris Murgatroyd will soon come and show Lambeth around the School of Arcane Arts, the Oracle just stared above seemingly not understanding that someone is speaking to her. However, she managed predicting the arrival of her Scholar Mistress. When asked by Thaddea about her school, Lam didn't respond.

During the year, Lam studied different types of meditation and attended Recognising Mesmerism and Decoding Nevermoor classes with her Unit.
On her first Decoding Nevermoor class, Lamya came last and stared at the stars above for most of the lesson, although she stopped when asked by Thaddea and Henry Mildmay to focus on the Live map, which she did and predicted a car accident. During another, this time practical lesson she went with Mahir and Archan on a Tricksy Lane, which was later visited by Morrigan, Cadence and Hawthorne who left when they saw someone else was already there.

When the Unit started receiving notes in order to pass the Loyalty Trial, Lamya usually stayed aside form the others but seemed worried after the first note was read. She later voted to fulfill the things wanted in the notes.

When Heloise blamed Morrigan for Alfie Swann's disappearance, Lamya warned both Morrigan and Marina Cheery to be careful, however only Morrigan heard the warning and yet didn't do anything about it.

During the summer, Lamya was invited by Morrigan to come at Hotel Deucalion but didn't turn up.

### Second year

During Golders Night, Lam was paired with an unknown student and sent to an unknown grey zone. When she realized that Morrigan was hurt, Lambeth and her Unit went to visit her in the hospital where Thaddea reenacted Mog's fainting.

While everyone was discussing the Hollowpox, Lam usually stayed quiet, However, when she saw that Morrigan was trying to hide her smile, Lam was fast to ask what had she done that day,

During her second year, Lam discovered that she had a talent in asking complicated question, which confused people and was most likely excited about using it.

After their practical Containment and Distraction task, Lambeth was the one to warn her Unit to get away from the meeting of the Concerned Citizens of Nevermoor so that they don't get involved in the following battle.

Lamya and the rest of her Unit visited the Gobleian Library on the last day before the summer holidays. During her visit, she stayed with the rest of her Unit, followed all instructions and was as worried as the others about the dangers they could encounter. During the battle with the bugs, she was the only one to stay clean due to the efforts of Archan Tate and Mahir Ibrahim. Cadence Blackburn, who was surprised by the encounter, asked Lamya about whether she expected the attack, leading to the Oracle's reply that she doesn't see everything. Shortly after that, the princess shouted at Morrigan Crow to turn her flame off but it was too late and led to Colin Feathers's attack. Lam was later told to leave the library by Marina Cheery - an order to which she obeyed.

During the autumn of Three, Lambeth and the rest of The Wundrous Society learned about the death to which the Hollowpox led and with the rest of WunSoc was in a bad mood. When the Concerned Citizens of Nevermoor gathered in front of Proudfoot House, Lam and her fellow Unit member Cadence were some of the first people to notice as they were just going out of the Whingeing Woods after their witchcraft lesson. When Thaddea Macleod tried to go and help the High Council of Elders, Lam was quick to stop her, dropping her witchcraft basket on the floor. Due to her knack, she realized that the Elders were too slow and along with Morrigan and Cadence tried shouting at them to be faster, only to be stopped by miss Cheery. Lam was also the one to encourage Morrigan to awake the Fireblossom Trees in order to distract the gathered people.

## Physical Appearance

Lambeth is small and serious-looking, with a tawny complexion and long, black hair as smooth as silk. She has a "regal" and "tranquil" look about her.  She is the shortest member of Unit 919.

## Personality and Traits

"*Lambeth was reading the posters on the walls and whispering under her breath and didn’t seem remotely interested in the conversation. She gave a small, quick smile as though someone had said something funny, then frowned, and then brightened again. Morrigan watched her closely. If Lambeth was a radar, she was obviously tuned to an entirely different frequency to everyone else.*"
―Narration of Morrigan's thoughts[src]
Lambeth is generally quiet. She is often detached from the rest of her unit, speaking only when her talent kicked in and she saw a few moments into the future, mostly to warn the others about what was to come. Her ability can be a distraction and competes with the present moment for her attention. She often stared at the ceiling to avoid looking at her unit and did not seem to pay attention to what happened around her.

On Hallowmas, Winter of Two, it was revealed that she is a princess from the Royal House of Ra in the Wintersea Republic, smuggled into the Free State illegally (like Morrigan Crow), and that her aloof demeanor was a result of wishing to keep that a secret. When Lamya finally revealed the truth to her fellow unit members, she was very apologetic about hardly speaking to them.

Lam was also shown to have a caring side, especially for her Unit members. She tried to protect Thaddea from getting in trouble, asked Morrigan about her activities and problems and always used her knack to help them, whether it would be with saving their life, saving them from troubles and helping them do what they had to.

## Abilities and Skills

### **Knack**

Lambeth is what the Wundrous Society calls a "radar" — specifically, a short-range oracle. Her talent is seeing a few seconds or minutes into the future. Near the end of *Wundersmith,*Lambeth explains that she applied for the Wundrous Society to learn how to cope with her visions better, as they used to give her headaches.

In Autumn of Three, she saw the events at Courage Square several hours ahead — very much further into the future than any of her previous prophesies.

### **Awareness**

Lambeth was the only one to notice the slinghouls during Unit 919's inauguration and the one to work out what the black circle in the WunSoc logo meant.

### **Distraction**

In the distraction workshop, Lambeth was skilled in asking complicated questions that caused confusion, and hence distracted people.

## Relationships

### Unit 919

Lambeth originally spoke to Unit 919 very little, and later apologised for this- explaining that it was due to her secrets. She remained somewhat quiet after this as well, but perhaps became closer and less detached from her peers. She is a loyal member of the unit and often warns the other members of possible mishaps.

Archan and Mahir seem to float around her a bit, the three of them quickly formed the first group in Mildmay's tricksy lane practical lesson and the two of them defended Lambeth from the book monsters at the Gobleian Library.

## Etymology

**Lamya** (لمياء) is an Arabic name meaning "having beautiful dark lips."

**Bethari** is the Javanese form of the Indonesian Batari, "goddess."

**Amati**, though unknown, is a possible archaic Italian form of the Italian *Amato*, itself derived from the late Latin *Amatus*, a name that means "beloved." Amati also sounds like the English word *amity* which means "friendship." It is likely that she is named after her grandmother, Ama, with this name.

**Ra**, possibly meaning "sun," most likely comes from the sun god character from Egyptian mythology.

The name Lambeth Amara was created by taking the first few letters of each of the four names and sticking them together to create the alias (Lam-Beth Ama-Ra).

The name **Lambeth** comes from the Old English *Lambehitha* meaning "landing place for lambs" from *lamb* and *hythe*. It may be the author paying homage to London as Lambeth is a inner borough (with many famous landmarks) located in London. **Amara** means "grace" and comes from the Igbo people of Western Africa.

## Trivia and Behind-the-Scenes

* Lambeth and Morrigan are both from the Wintersea Republic and in the Free State illegally.
* She is fourth in line to inherit the throne from her grandmother
* She is the only member of Unit 919 who was not seen or directly mentioned during the Show Trial
* Her changing facial expressions on the first hometrain (quick smile, frown, brightened again) might have come from observing Miss Cheery's speech from a few moments into the future

"*Oh yeah.* <She slapped herself gently on the forehead, laughing.> *Only forgot the most important bit, didn’t I? Every new unit in the Wundrous Society has a conductor, who stays with them for their junior scholar years. My job is to get you where you need to be. I obviously mean that in a practical, day-to-day way – I will physically transport you to and from Wunsoc, as the conductor of this Hometrain.

But in a broader sense, I’m here to help you get where you need to be by the end of your junior years, a sort of … guide, I suppose. Here to help you navigate your Wunsoc education. If there’s anything you need for your classes, any special equipment or kit or anything, I’ll make sure you have it. I’ve already put in a big order to the Commissariat this week.* <She checked off an imaginary list on her fingers.> *Boxing gloves, fireproof armour, a full set of kitchen knives, a sensory deprivation tank … you’re an interesting lot, aren’t you?*"
―Miss Cheery[src]
* Lamya enjoys stargazing.
* Her favorite WunSoc class is Transcendental meditation

## Appearances

* *Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow* (Indirect mention)
* *Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow* (First appearance)
* *Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow*

## Notes and References

1. ↑ any estimate of the time must include, the whole golden brolly rail ride, the search of the hotel by Fenestra, the time to break down the door, the time for Hawthorne and Cadence to assemble in the early hours of the morning, and the time for Lambeth to contact Hawthorn and Cadence and inform them of her prophesy
2. ↑ http://www.behindthename.com/name/lamya
3. ↑ http://www.behindthename.com/name/bethari
4. ↑ http://www.behindthename.com/name/amati/submitted
5. ↑ https://www.behindthename.com/name/ra

Anah Kahlo · Archan Tate · Cadence Blackburn · Francis Fitzwilliam · Hawthorne Swift · Lambeth Amara · Mahir Ibrahim · Morrigan Crow · Thaddea Macleod
Sumati Mishra · Arch's Patron · Baz Charlton · Hester Fitzwilliam · Nancy Dawson · Lambeth's Patron · Miss Mulryan · Jupiter North · Thaddea's Patron
Miss Cheery