A blue pen and ink figure drawing of a woman with long dark hair, wearing an ornate clerical outfit, standing on her tiptoes and holding a lit match in her outstretched hand.

Study of Leoba Lighting Candles, 2025. Blue ink on vellum, 4 x 6 in.

There are two reasons why Leoba’s main duty at the Zabool Shrine of Lucca is keeping the candles and incense cones lit: she’s the tallest of the shrine’s priestesses and can reach most of the candles without a ladder, and she’s not good at much else.

Aside from maintaining the candles, Leoba spends her time in contemplation and prayer before the sacred pillar or in her quarters in the shrine’s basement. She mainly prays for a renewed connection with the Goddess Lucca and the Returned, who she saw in ecstatic visions as a child but not since.