Zia Zaldor Zanna served as a Jedi Master on the planet of Tenoo during the High Republic Era, where her role was to instruct Jedi Initiates.
While training on Rex Strata, Zia Zaldor Zanna developed a friendship with Faraz, a Houk technician. She also, at one point, destroyed one of his speeders. Simultaneously, she formed a rivalry with the thief Ace Kallisto, though this rivalry mellowed into a more playful dynamic as Zanna matured.
Years afterward, specifically in 232 BBY, Zanna, by now a Jedi Master, stood alongside other Jedi in the training ground of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Grand Master Yoda then declared that Jedi Initiates would be dispatched to an outpost temple located in the Outer Rim for advanced training. As the majority of the Jedi departed, Zanna's droid, Dee, pointed out that some of the younglings were unaccounted for. Zanna chuckled, correctly guessing that Kai Brightstar, Lys Solay, and Nubs were the missing Initiates. Zanna then used a holoprojector to instruct them to board the last shuttle, the Crimson Firehawk.
At a later time, Zanna had plans to meet with Faraz to acquire a cryo-spanner that she needed to fix the Jedi Temple's cooling unit. However, she noticed that Brightstar was mocking the pirate Taborr Val Dorn by wearing a makeshift helmet. Zanna then decided to bring Brightstar along on her mission to get the cryo-spanner. Upon arriving on the planet, Zanna introduced Brightstar to Faraz, her longtime friend. After exchanging the cryo-spanner, Zanna and Faraz began reminiscing about their shared history, but their conversation was interrupted when Brightstar informed Zanna that their shuttle had been stolen.
Quickly, Zanna and Brightstar commandeered Faraz's speeder bike to pursue their stolen shuttle. They then made a daring jump from the speeder bike onto the top of the shuttle, but the speeder exploded after they jumped off. Upon entering the shuttle and reaching the cockpit, they discovered that Kallisto was the one who had hijacked their shuttle. Kallisto informed the Jedi that their shuttle would fetch a good price. Brightstar ignited his lightsaber in an attempt to protect Zanna but accidentally damaged the ship in the process. This damage caused the shuttle to crash into a nearby cave. As they recovered from the crash, Zanna suffered an ankle injury and was unable to move.
They soon realized that the cave they had crashed into was not empty; instead, it was the home of a stalaat. With Zanna's ankle injury preventing her from moving, she used the situation as an opportunity to teach Brightstar a lesson about making good choices, tasking him with working alongside Kallisto. Brightstar and Kallisto then exited the shuttle to signal for help. Another stalaat suddenly appeared, startling Brightstar and Kallisto. Seeing an opportunity, Kallisto returned to the ship and used its weapons to scare the stalaats away with Zanna. Brightstar then used the comlink to call for assistance.
Help soon arrived to assist Zanna and the others. While DUM-series pit droids worked to repair the shuttle, an AZ-series surgical assistant droid applied bacta spray to Zanna's injured ankle. Zanna and Kallisto sat down and reminisced for a while before parting ways. Later, Zanna approached Brightstar and, seeing that he had learned his lesson, they returned to the Jedi Temple on Tenoo. Brightstar promptly removed the makeshift helmet from the training droid and resumed training with Nubs and Solay.