Throughout the years that she has been around, Zyanya keeps herself hidden and only comes around to meet her new descendants or when someone is in need of her help. She stays away so much so that when people hear her name they tell the story of a legend. Many people think of her as a myth and that she was never real. The stories stem all the way back to the year 1000. Even the Mikaelsons thought her a myth until they came face to face with her.
Zyanya has met everyone descendant except one. Bonnie Bennett. That is because her mother Abby wouldn't allow them to meet, and Zyanya being Zyanya accepted that and wouldn't go against Abby's wishes.
But when Zyanya gets a vision of one of her favorite descendants' death, that descendant being Sheila. She decided it was time to visit Mystic Falls and make herself known to her latest descendant Bonnie.