The Gilded Sea was far behind her, and the world beyond stretched on and on like the promise of forever. Melody Dayspring Medeiros was a year old today, and entirely alone in the world.

By her own choice, no less! She did not regret it. Even now the prickling burn of betrayal tainted all her thoughts of home. Staying had not been an option, despite promises that things would be different now. That she wouldn't have to live in the shame of secrecy. Shame was all she could feel now, though; shame and hurt and so much desperate longing for a childhood that never could have been.

So she picked the first place she came across and howled at the border, feeling reckless and defiant when in truth she was neither. Melody was only lost, and looking for a guiding light.

Melody was immediately shy to be greeted by a girl so beautiful, and so close to her own age! The pale and gilded tones of her called to mind home, and in spite of everything that was a comfort to her. She straightened a little, trying to mirror the confident energy without quite matching it.

My name is Melody, She started, and realized she wasn't sure how to ask to stay with them. It was kind of weird, wasn't it? Just walking up to a stranger's doorstep and asking to be let in. But that was how it worked, she was pretty sure. I just left home, and I'm looking for somewhere to stay. Hmmm... I mean, I'm looking to join! Better.

It was a warmer welcome than she'd expected, but Melody wasn't about to question it. Everything has a place; that appealed to her, more than she would have realized. A place of her own, a purpose, something more than being reduced to someone else's hidden shame. She knew it would hurt her father to know that she thought of it that way; that he would tell her he was proud of her, always. But actions spoke more loudly than words, and his actions were that of a man shamed by his choices. Or a coward... but she could not think of him that way.

I'm not too sure, Melody confessed. But I'd like to learn. Back home I was the main tracker for our hunts. I could do that here, but I want something more, too. A purpose. There was an open-ended quality to her words, a suggestion that perhaps the pharaoh could provide this. She had said that everything had a place. Maybe she would know what Melody's could be.

This girl-queen, this pharaoh, she was unlike anyone Melody had ever met before. She found herself drawn in, holding her breath during that small pause when the pharaoh's eyes widened and she realized how blue they were. Was she even a wolf, or something else? Something more.

Higher things? Her voice was hushed as she followed. I'm afraid I don't know what a sesh is, or who Ra is. Melody had been raised to question all religion, but she had always been curious. She had always wanted to know what it might be like to feel as if you held the truth of the universe in your palm, to feel that safety of knowing what you should and should not do.

Enraptured. That was what she felt. When the pharaoh bade her look, all Melody could do was obey. She took in the vast red palace, a grand sight, more magic than she had ever dared to hope she would see in this life. She sucked in a small sharp breath. Melody Medeiros had made up her mind.

I'd like to stay, She told the pharaoh quietly. Melody was uncertain if she wanted to be a sesh, but she could find out in time. And these gods... they intrigued her. Perhaps only because she knew that her father would not want her here, in this. He would call it a cult. He would be angry.

And that was just a little satisfying to know.