Melody Staughton Vielle

Is it possible, you wonder, to both be true to yourself and be happy? Once you would have been sure that it was. As a child, you were happy, going along with all your father's mad plans, one step ahead of the law. Then, as a young woman, you were happy, marrying the man you loved, raising his child, becoming his, instead of you. But there was too much of your father in you than you realized, and you found yourself growing discontent. You still loved Peter, and you still loved Minuet, but there wasn't enough left over after being a wife and a mother to be Melody. You told Minuet all your Zach stories, but would anyone ever tell Meolody stories?

You started travelling, first short trips, then longer ones. You couldn't really explain to Peter where you'd been - how could you tell him that you'd been a saltbreak apprentice for a month, or a gunrunner? Somehow he seemed to understand that you needed this, though he couldn't share it. Each adventure you went on, you kept a few souvenirs. Just to prove that you'd existed. And you put them in the place that no one else in the universe knows about - the compartment on the outside of your father's asteroid. The asteroid itself was his hidey-hole, that he never told anyone but you about, and the compartment was the crowning touch. If someone did find the asteroid, disguised and hidden out in the middle of the Riden belt, they'd know they'd found the secret. They wouldn't even bother to look for anything else, and if they did, they'd hardly spot it. The safest place in the world. After your father died, you visited the asteroid once, and left everything inside in place - it wasn't yours to take, but it was important to you to know it was there. And now, you've been keeping the extra pieces of your life there as well, to know that they are there.

This most recent trip, though, seems likely to go a lot longer than you expected. You thought initially to serve as lady-in-waiting to Arista Nomarche (and faking the background check for that was one of the hardest things you'd ever done), for perhaps a few months at most, but then the inworlds went to war, and then Arista decided to move to Heidelmere - by herself - and you knew that without a friend there, she would wither and die. It was strange to realize so suddenly that you might not be going home for a very long time, but you had a sense that Arista needed you more than you'd ever been needed before. So you went with her, along with her other handmaiden, Ilse, and you've stayed. The Hegemon also sent an Elite, Garthain, to watch over his sister. Poor Ilse, smitten with one and devoted to the other. You'd hope for them all to be happy, but you don't see how it will be.

As for yourself, don't really know what to hope for any longer, that you still have family, or that they've gone on without you. But you're sure there's still something, some Melody story left to write, some future still left to leave your mark on.

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