Maidenless No Longer (Elden Ring)

Chapter 12: Melina

A/N: Melina gets hers, damn it! No more will the Tarnished constantly be distracted by other things! Once and for all, she's going to get him back on task, by any means necessary!

-x-X-x-

She's seen enough. Well and truly. The Tarnished she's chosen as her Champion, for as capable as he's proven to be so far, is a complete lech! Melina is still bodiless at the moment, but she feels as though her cheeks are burning with the strength of a thousand suns! What even is this?!

At least with the warrior woman, there had been something of an excuse. Her Tarnished had been... jumped, for lack of a better word. He had been on task and had just completed the first true step in their advance towards the foot of the Erdtree by managing to take Godrick's Great Rune for himself. Twas more than any other Tarnished could have said to have done in quite some time, was it not?

And so, it was no surprise to Melina, once she'd had time to think on it, that Nepheli Loux had taken the opportunity, in the heat of the battle's aftermath, to claim some small part of her champion's glory for herself. Indeed, the female warrior had been smitten with Melina's Tarnished, and how could she truly expect anything less from a wench so... lacking in Grace.

As well, the way her Tarnished had accepted Nepheli into his arms and embraced her was... admirable in a way. Twas always nice, to throw a dog a bone so to speak, hm? And so, Melina had set it aside. She had... overcome her own moment of jealousy and concern and allowed the act to pass her by. Certainly, twas not as if her Tarnished had had any further issue after the fact.

No, rather... he'd made his way to Roundtable Hold at last, and while he'd met up with several of the women he'd interacted with and saved in Limgrave, as well as a new face in the form of the Deathbed Companion, he had not done anything untoward with any of them. Not even with said Deathbed Companion, though Melina would have to keep a close eye on that one. Twas obvious to her gaze, if not to her Tarnished's, that Fia had gotten quite a lot of vitality from his... hug.

Nor had he engaged in further coital acts with the warrior known as Nepheli Loux. No, while they'd spoken briefly, she had simply given him a token that might just help him in the battles ahead, a talisman scavenged from Stormveil Castle, and then continued on her way.

And so, Melina's Tarnished had made his way into Liurnia by the Lakes and begun the next leg of his journey to the foot of the Erdtree. All seemed to be going well enough. In fact, Melina had been quite thrilled at the end result of her Tarnished stopping and getting distracted by yet another damsel in distress. The girl from Volcano Manor, 'Rya'... Melina cared not for her true nature. Inhuman though she might be, she had no designs of harm or hinder towards Melina's Tarnished.

As a matter of fact, when her Tarnished had returned the girl's necklace, Rya had been most helpful indeed, by explaining an alternate path up onto Altus Plateau. Why, the Tarnished did not even need to continue scrounging about for the missing halves of the Dectus Medallion! No, he could instead bypass the Grand Lift of Dectus entirely and make his way to Leyndell even faster than Melina had anticipated.

... He did not, of course. Instead, though Melina KNEW he had heard the information from the girl's lips, he'd continued on his journey deeper into Liurnia by the Lakes, and instead of going further North, he had made his way into the Academy of Raya Lucaria.

Melina knew she could not begrudge her Tarnished his distractions. Their pact was one sided in its nature, and he was making progress on her request, regardless of her personal feelings on some of his... priorities. But still, she couldn't help but wonder what he was up to, as he'd ascended to the highest spires of Raya Lucaria, and made his way to the Grand Library where Queen Rennala of the Full Moon had been confined by her own students.