M E L I T A
Foolhardy. You lack discipline. The phrases stung, cut deep in her heart, and she thought about roaring back, a defiant little speck of dirt and ash, resembling exactly what Roana had just made of her. The howl receded in the back of her throat, died off as she hung her head, as she repeated the rest of the chords in her head, as the residual pain throbbed and bellowed. Her drive was what made her, what ensured her existence, her continued survival on the rocky, pebbled, marred path to this point – bloody, scarred, and bewildering, clawing her way into a world that wanted to do nothing but spit her back out. “I’m always willing to put the work in,” she uttered, a scarce whisper, all the seditious splendor cut out of her lungs and splintering at her seams.
But Roana wasn’t going to be the only one teaching her – the girl had ambition amongst and alongside those spitfire tendencies. She was fervent, she was greedy, she was covetous because these opportunities, these instances, these occasions were something she’d never had before – the hollowed grounds of the Rift had been an unrelenting swarm of treachery, cultivating nothing but live or die in her drumming mind. Caido kept proffering guidance, and she grabbed hold of them as if they were lifelines (and in some way they were; helping mold her, helping sketch her further and further, away from that little, terrified, irreverent girl tucked in the shadows, waiting for the monsters to creep in). Her stare flickered away from the ground, and back to the warrior woman. “But you won’t be my only teacher. Vai and Wessex have also offered to train me.” I’m going to learn everything, her thoughts uttered, shook, and presided, the acquisitive, ravenous, insatiable declaration keen and fervent in her gaze. Perhaps it was a hint of her inabilities, her ignorance, her frailties, that so many were willing to support her. Maybe it was a hint of her capability, of the right motives and calculations to achieve her goals. She didn’t know – and another inquiry took its place. “Is that all right?” Because she wouldn’t be limited to just one role, to just one world, to just one view – Melita would embody every essence, every sensation, every spellbinding tactic to gain her power, her prestige, and her might.
