Bast

Bast (also spelled Bastet and Ubasti) is the Egyptian goddess of felines. During the reign of Ra, Bast served as his second eye. Her host was Sadie's cat, Muffin.

Background
When Ra found Sekhmet to be too unruly to be his champion, he replaced her with Bast. As Ra was forced to withdraw into the heavens, he bound Bast and Apophis together and sent them to the Duat so that she would eternally fight him, keeping Apophis from rising. Although Bast was proud to have this duty, she eventually began to realize that Ra had intended for them to kill one another repeatedly, thus weakening each other's essences, until they "ripped each other into nothingness", allowing the world to finally be safe. Bast was eventually freed by Ruby and Julius Kane.

The Red Pyramid
After Julius releases Isis, Horus, Set, Nephthys, and Osiris from the Rosetta Stone, Bast, still in cat form, travels with Amos Kane, Sadie, and Carter to the Twenty First Nome, Brooklyn. After an attack by the longnecks, Bast revealed her true identity to Sadie and Carter. Bast also defeated the longnecks. She was able to hold off Serqet in Manhattan long enough for the siblings to escape to the First Nome with Zia Rashid. She later rejoined them in Paris when the siblings went on the run from the House of Life and helped them travel to the Land of the Dead and later to Phoenix. She was forced into the Duat while fighting Sobek at the Rio Grande River, but managed to keep her host, Muffin, from harm. Later, as a gift from the gods, Bast is brought back from the Duat to help Carter and Sadie. Bast also has a knack to penatrate statues.

The Throne of Fire
Bast, along with Carter, Sadie, and Amos Kane, teach magic classes, as well as other classes such as Advanced Cat Grooming, and Napping. According to Carter, there was a waiting list to get into Napping. Bast went back to the Duat to check on Apophis. She told them a friend of hers (Bes) would be coming to watch them. She later told Sadie and Walt as they where travelling to find the final scroll of Ra that Apophis wants them to succeed in their quest. Sadie and Walt still refuse to abandon the quest and proceeded. She later joined them in the battle and afterwards when with Ra (her father) in his sun boat, as well as later when Anubis takes them to visit the gods she is their and it is quoted that "She looked as if she wanted to shred Horus like a scratching post". After Bes sacificed himself to allow Carter and Sadie to continue, Bast, Carter and Sadie go back to Sunny Acres (a place for old, lost gods) to visit him. Bes is in poor condition, all he does is sit in a wheel chair and stare out the window. Tawaret gets mad at Bast and yells at her that Bes's condition is her fault and that she used him. Bast felt ashamed for this happening to Bes.

The Serpent's Shadow
Bast continues to help guard Brooklyn House. She is relieved when Sadie, Carter, Walt, and their friends return from Texas alive and refers to them as her "kittens." Later, she goes to help defend the First Nome from Apophis and his followers and takes part in the battle against Apophis fighting him single-handedly before help arrives. Bast fights all the way through the battle, holding on even when the other gods are defeated and holds him off long enough for the Kanes to destroy Apophis with the help of the restored Bes.

After Apophis is defeated and the gods distance themselves from the mortal world, Sadie and Carter speak to her outside the House of Rest, where she seems to express some regret about losing Bes to Tawaret. She shows Carter and Sadie an image of Horus taking his throne (much like Carter had done). Bast also explains that she cannot return with them to Brooklyn House because the gods need to stay distant from the mortal world and the kids have grown up enough that they do not need her around all the time, but that she is sure that they will meet again.

Personality
Although loving and playful, Bast has a serious side to her that surfaces in the face of danger. Bast considers herself a coward for abandoning her duty to fight Apophis and because she will run when frightened. Despite this, Bast has made many self-sacrificing decisions to protect Sadie and Carter, belying her true nature as a brave warrior. She is also very protective, (as she is a goddess of protection), of Carter and especially Sadie e.g. After Horus and Isis had threatened them "she looked as though she wanted to shred Horus like a scratching post".

Appearance
Bast is small and agile, like a gymnast, with black hair, lamplike yellow eyes, and wears a skin-tight leopard-print leotard. When she smiles, her eyes glint like a cat's and she appears to look either concerned, amused, or both. She, like all gods, can change her appearance at will, although magicians like Carter can see through it, with some inital difficulty.

Powers and Abilities
Bast is an extremely skilled fighter, both with and without magic. She is highly adept at using her two knives to fight and has many acrobatic abilities. One could say she has "catlike" reflexes. She can create glamours as needed. She also has her own battle avatar like Carter, though hers is twenty-feet tall and green with a cat head and it has claws 'as sharp as rapiers'. She can summon many different types of cats to help her attack or to defend her. She also seems to host cats often, as she hosted Muffin for 6 years. She can also make food appear, such as Friskies, milk, and cheese sandwiches. She may have power over fire, as she is a daughter of Ra, the sun god. However, she sees herself unworthy when she almost loses to Apophis. She is shown to be an incredible fighter to the point where she was able to fight Apophis from his rise to his destruction alongside the Kanes even where other, more powerful gods fell. Part of this fight she did single-handedly as well as no one was there to help her initally.

Although she is a Combat Magician, she is also an Animal Charmer and a Healer. She specializes in cats for Animal Charming and as a Healer heals Carter and Sadie many times in The Red Pyramid.

One ability she lacks is the ability to open portals. According to Bast she's very bad at it, though as a creature of the Duat she is able to slip through it on her own when nessacary. Her inability to open portals is shown when she has to have Sadie try to open a portal in Brooklyn and can't when she fails and has to have Sadie open one from Paris to America while escaping. She also states that she won't be able to open a portal to Phoenix after Sadie exahusts herself and the Demon Days will start before she can recover enough to do so.

After fighting Apophis for so long she can sense his thoughts if she is nearby. This proved useful as she was able to find out that he wanted Ra awakened.

Relationships
Ra: Bast is deeply loyal to her master, even after she realizes that he had planned for her to die while destroying Apophis.

Apophis: Bast both loathes and fears her mortal enemy, not even willing to speak his name. In The Throne of Fire, Bast finds out that when she gets close enough to the Apophis she can hear his thoughts, probably because she's been fighting him for so long.

Sadie & Carter Kane: Bast holds a deep, motherly affection for her two charges, calling them her 'kittens', even posing as Carter's aunt in public, causing Carter to call her "Aunt Kitty" (much to her annoyance). She often places their welfare before her own and sacrifices herself in the battle against Sobek to protect them.

Bes: Bes used to have a crush on Bast, but he eventually gave up after realizing that Bast only saw him as a friend. He may still have some feelings left for her. Bast trusts Bes, enough to let him guard Carter and Sadie, and is quite sad to see him in Sunny Acres without his ren.

Tawaret: Tawaret dislikes Bast, probably out of jealousy because of Bes's old crush on Bast. She blames Bast for Bes losing his ren.

Ruby Kane: When Carter and Sadie's mother Ruby goes to Cleopatra's Needle, she dies and Bast comes out of her cell. After, Bast promises Julius that she would take care of Sadie.

In Mythology
She is the great cat goddess in Egyptian Mythology. As the daughter of the sun god, she was believed to use the sun's power to make crops grow, so they prayed to her for good harvest. In the books, however, it is not shown or mentioned that Bast can generate or manipulate flames or solar power.

She was the goddess of music and dance, as well as joy and love. Bast also 'guarded' the households of ancient Egyptians.

Trivia

 * She is still hosted by Muffin, as her appearance hasn't changed (as it tends to with hosts).
 * Although she is the daughter of Ra, she doesn't seem to have power over fire, or doesn't use it.
 * Bast used to protect the children of the pharaoh in ancient Egypt, as she protects Carter and Sadie.

Gallery
Bast