I have seen the power you wield. You have the advantage of might and the ability to command the attention you needed. I am the daughter of a warlord who cannot touch the might of the Emperor.
[ Just to give context. She hears his message, though, that it does not matter if no one will listen: one must try anyway. Behind the device, Mel places her face in her hands for some time, considering. Her next reply comes later. ]
Are your people not paying a cost, both for their own hubris and for the disruptive nature of change? Will some of them not suffer or fall because of your choice?
I do not say this to press guilt into your hands, Mydei. I say it because this is my worry for my own home. That to bring such great upheaval to them will be both the fracture and the salve that can bring them to a better future. But who is lost in that fracture... That is what troubles me.
The kings of Kremnos are not decided by blood, but by death. The individual who defeats the current ruler becomes the king in their stead, and it matters not if that person is the child of the king or a commoner raised in the fields. You may not see your own strength when compared to those who have lived their lives for war, but that does not mean you are powerless.
( mydei knows this to be true. his father poisoned his mother, after all, when he learned that she sought to challenge him for the crown. it was this dishonorable act that led to her defeat at his hands, because she trusted him to abide by that which they venerated above all: honor. he would hope that mel finds a different way to wrest control from the emperor, even if she must light their home on fire. )
Their struggle to adapt in a new city with a new role weighs nothing when compared to their very lives, lives they would toss away without a second thought for hollow honor. But I have entrusted them to two people I know will see to it that they are treated with fairness, who will come to their defense and listen to their concerns, who will help them when I cannot. Is there anyone you trust to do likewise?
[ Not unlike Noxus, indeed. The rule of emperors has long been held as rightful in Noxus but there is nothing to say someone cannot challenge the Emperor, even if it might end poorly. If someone had the backing of the warlords of Noxus — or, barring that, the capability of handling the Emperor quickly and efficiently, and thus demonstrating their power — that would be another thing. But as an outsider, as an exile, no one would throw their lot in with her.
And until she discovered she had magic, she had no real power of which to speak of.
It doesn't mean she is powerless. But she knows she is no match for a man capable of cleaving her head from her shoulders. ]
There is no one.
[ What is left of her extended family would not dare to fight the crown. Kino would never have such ambition. Perhaps her mother would, if she were so deluded, but she is a problem in and of itself, and to place her in power would not change the trajectory of Noxus' history. Instead, it would perpetuate evermore. ]
My family is that of warlords, of people who have served the Emperor faithfully for years because they have been allowed to perpetuate conquest in other nations. And before I was exiled, my mother took her blade to our family tree, and I have fewer relatives as a result.
[ A war of succession that has cost the lives of uncles and cousins alike, and has forever strained her relationship with her mother. ]
Then you have my condolences. It is... aggravating to wish for something different, something better, and know you cannot at that moment.
( his impression of mel is that she is sharp, and sees more than what her eyes do at any point in time. perhaps that is simply his mind connecting two golden women together when there exists nothing, but he wonders... would mel damn herself if it meant helping others? would she slowly lose her humanity over centuries in order to protect the world, in order to guide others forward, knowing she could never see the end of it?
mydei thinks so. )
Unless such immortality is more common elsewhere, you do not have the luxury of seeing the seeds you wish to sow come to bear fruit. But you must trust in them. In your people, in finding those you can entrust the future to no matter what choice you make, even if you fear for them.
If they hold even a sliver of similarity to yourself, they will endure it.
[ Perhaps it would disappoint him to know that she hasn’t had overly strong feelings about the people of Noxus. Rather, that Piltover has taken up her attention, as have her plans and designs to get back in her family’s graces. To be worthy of her mother’s love. And as the months have passed, when she had finally seen her mother face-to-face, once she had gotten closer to Jayce…
She realized that her home no longer existed to her. She would never be a Medarda again, not the way she was. But now Piltover, too, will be lost to her. There is nowhere for her to go home.
Should she return to Noxus? If it means her mother will leave Piltover, she would make that sacrifice. To be her weapon until she could stop her (or until she was forced to try — though she no longer has the necklace the Black Rose operative gave her). But once her mother is gone…what is the alternative? She will never be free of the Black Rose either, her mother’s debt only given to her. If she stays away from Noxus, she will be hunted; if she returns to Noxus, she will be a glorified hostage, as she was before.
There’s so much she doesn’t know. Who is she to declare that what Noxus is doing is wrong? She is no one.
And yet… ]
I haven’t been home in so long that I don’t know that I’m the right one to make these changes. But I also do not know who would want to. If there is anyone who thinks similarly to me.
[ And with hounds at her back, can she find them before trouble finds her? ]
I do not fear not seeing a new dawn rise for my homeland. I am mortal and it is inevitable. But I would need to go home first. [ There’s a pause between this text and the next. ] And I will need to stop my mother.
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no subject
[ Just to give context. She hears his message, though, that it does not matter if no one will listen: one must try anyway. Behind the device, Mel places her face in her hands for some time, considering. Her next reply comes later. ]
Are your people not paying a cost, both for their own hubris and for the disruptive nature of change? Will some of them not suffer or fall because of your choice?
I do not say this to press guilt into your hands, Mydei. I say it because this is my worry for my own home. That to bring such great upheaval to them will be both the fracture and the salve that can bring them to a better future. But who is lost in that fracture... That is what troubles me.
no subject
( mydei knows this to be true. his father poisoned his mother, after all, when he learned that she sought to challenge him for the crown. it was this dishonorable act that led to her defeat at his hands, because she trusted him to abide by that which they venerated above all: honor. he would hope that mel finds a different way to wrest control from the emperor, even if she must light their home on fire. )
Their struggle to adapt in a new city with a new role weighs nothing when compared to their very lives, lives they would toss away without a second thought for hollow honor. But I have entrusted them to two people I know will see to it that they are treated with fairness, who will come to their defense and listen to their concerns, who will help them when I cannot. Is there anyone you trust to do likewise?
no subject
And until she discovered she had magic, she had no real power of which to speak of.
It doesn't mean she is powerless. But she knows she is no match for a man capable of cleaving her head from her shoulders. ]
There is no one.
[ What is left of her extended family would not dare to fight the crown. Kino would never have such ambition. Perhaps her mother would, if she were so deluded, but she is a problem in and of itself, and to place her in power would not change the trajectory of Noxus' history. Instead, it would perpetuate evermore. ]
My family is that of warlords, of people who have served the Emperor faithfully for years because they have been allowed to perpetuate conquest in other nations. And before I was exiled, my mother took her blade to our family tree, and I have fewer relatives as a result.
[ A war of succession that has cost the lives of uncles and cousins alike, and has forever strained her relationship with her mother. ]
no subject
( his impression of mel is that she is sharp, and sees more than what her eyes do at any point in time. perhaps that is simply his mind connecting two golden women together when there exists nothing, but he wonders... would mel damn herself if it meant helping others? would she slowly lose her humanity over centuries in order to protect the world, in order to guide others forward, knowing she could never see the end of it?
mydei thinks so. )
Unless such immortality is more common elsewhere, you do not have the luxury of seeing the seeds you wish to sow come to bear fruit. But you must trust in them. In your people, in finding those you can entrust the future to no matter what choice you make, even if you fear for them.
If they hold even a sliver of similarity to yourself, they will endure it.
no subject
She realized that her home no longer existed to her. She would never be a Medarda again, not the way she was. But now Piltover, too, will be lost to her. There is nowhere for her to go home.
Should she return to Noxus? If it means her mother will leave Piltover, she would make that sacrifice. To be her weapon until she could stop her (or until she was forced to try — though she no longer has the necklace the Black Rose operative gave her). But once her mother is gone…what is the alternative? She will never be free of the Black Rose either, her mother’s debt only given to her. If she stays away from Noxus, she will be hunted; if she returns to Noxus, she will be a glorified hostage, as she was before.
There’s so much she doesn’t know. Who is she to declare that what Noxus is doing is wrong? She is no one.
And yet… ]
I haven’t been home in so long that I don’t know that I’m the right one to make these changes. But I also do not know who would want to. If there is anyone who thinks similarly to me.
[ And with hounds at her back, can she find them before trouble finds her? ]
I do not fear not seeing a new dawn rise for my homeland. I am mortal and it is inevitable. But I would need to go home first. [ There’s a pause between this text and the next. ] And I will need to stop my mother.
[ And likely kill her. ]