The Queen of Wolves was the Shaman-Empress's mother.
- It would explain why Moriko Halfwolf and the Shaman-Empress look so much alike, and the Shaman-Empress wore a decidedly canine mask—rather like the Sword of the East's helmet...
- The Queen of Wolves is also the only female Ancient shown in Zinn's flashbacks.
- Maika is "stronger in blood" than many previous hosts... which would make sense if she's not just the Shaman-Empress's distant descendant, but also her niece.
Areka sent the queens of Thyria their mask fragment
- The experiment he and Maika interrupted involved the two upper mask fragments.
- Before dying, Moriko tells Maika that Areka ran with a mask fragment.
- In the present, the queens of Thyria had one of those upper mask fragments. (The other one is Yvette's.)
- Areka's cousin says he never returned home after leaving with Maika and her mother, but it's possible that he sent the mask to his family for safekeeping (perhaps while fleeing to the pirate queen for shelter, or the Wave Court itself?). The Blood Queens could have kept the details secret to protect him and/or the mask—we know Yvette searched for Maika, and she might also have been looking for Areka.
