MELITA
She remembered the taste of Tallsun on her skin; rich and invigorating, but pressing and marring too, adrift until her hands hurt with the clench and burn settled in her palms, with the rush of sultry air pulsing against her head. She’d been born under its feral, dry stature, alive and ambitious in the balm of its ire, a child of the dust, of the dirt, of the earth, of the fire from within – but Leafchange called and christened her flesh with cool intentions and a desire to move forward. So she did, she did, she did.Melita maneuvered with her bow on her back today, staff still cracked, not whole, not mended, no Wicker Woman sap yet collected (and that was intertwined along the back of her head too, stuffed amidst the dreams and aspirations, if Ludo hated how long she took or if they cared at all). The quiver settled along her shoulder, arrows whistling against one another on her quick, sure strides, Fangorn bounding behind, growling at anything and everything, a hiss on the ether, a brand lingering along her spine. She desired to hunt. She desired to move. She desired to do something, anything, other than listlessly, languidly, maneuvering beneath the swell of clouds and the shifting, the changing, of climates.
A shining light glistened from her peripheral vision and she stopped, ceased all motion, to watch and ponder over where it’d come from. Not an animal; nothing had shields of metal or glass reflecting across their sanction (nothing she’d yet to come across, anyway) – she scanned the fields much like a predator, settling and curling herself into a lower position, until she came upon the source: human, sitting on a wall. She didn’t recognize him, not at this great distance, but curiosity, boldness, and brazen capabilities spurred her onward.
Her smile was bright and luminescent as she moved closer and closer, lifted an arm to wave and beckon. “Hello!” Then she loomed, advanced, tilted her head at the sight of the strangle metallic object in his hands. “I’m Melita,” she fostered introductions before truly getting to the heart of her inquiry, measuring on some polite boundaries. “What’s that?”
See I've come to burn your kingdom down
