There are many roles one can play in life, to be a victim of circumstance, a passive observer, a determined mover, and a shaker. But of all the roles Elisha has seen, she identifies most closely with being a Survivor.
Willam and Elisha d'Meloni were born to the toll of the midnight bells on an otherwise uneventful spring day. It is said they came out clutching hands, as if already afraid of losing the other. They needn't have been concerned though, with Liam the heir and Alia the spare their parents had no real expectations for them, save that they didn't embarrass the family name, the house was in decline enough already without anyone speeding up its descent.
Having a twin is almost like having a readymade playmate. There is an indescribable bond and whatever one does the other will inevitably follow regardless of their own wishes. So it was almost constantly the sound of wood thumping on wood could be heard about the estate, while Willam often preferred to learn at their eldest brother's side all Elisha had to do was pout her pretty little lips and her twin would indulge her.
With Alia set on becoming an alchemist the house had lost its spare, so when the twins turned six it was obvious one would have to fill her role, and Willam was the obvious choice. Elisha, the rambunctious scamp that she was, was separated from her twin and sent to Hellmouth, her parents clearly hoping time as a page might help her grow into her birthright as a Lady.
But without her twin by her side, Elisha might as well have been half a person. It was good in a way, the twins bond and emotional reliance on one another was unhealthy and it forced them to grow into their own people, but in Elisha's case it caused her to close off to the idea of forming other friendships, and she vented her anger at the separation into what combat training she was allowed. If there was one thing they could not take from her it was her body and she would hone it into the finest weapon she could. She didn't, however, completely shut off socially, she was human and a social creature. She mostly wrote to Willam of course, but also to Alia, sure going to the college was her choice, but if the girl felt even a quarter of the isolation that Elisha herself did then the girl felt for her.
As fate would have it, Elisha had a cousin who was knighted into the service of the d'Korbina Horned Knights, so rather than going home like most children, she remained in Hellmouth and squired underneath Anton d'Meloni. By now the anger and pain had subsided and Elisha was blossoming into a woman. Though she still opted not to engage much socially, she proved to have a knack for observing and learning from the sidelines and all those years pouring her stubborn heartbreak into training had paid off in the finest of the physique. This and her natural energy and enthusiasm for the duties of a squire led her to earn her spurs around her nineteenth birthday. To celebrate, she opted to return home and share the good news with her family in person.
Many think the entire d'Meloni house to have been slaughtered during that fateful day the barbarians invaded her home. But death would have been a mercy. Instead, Elisha fought to her last breath, and so did Willam, and Liam, and their parents. But they were naught but a small house with few soldiers and they were overrun. Elisha wasn't there to see her twin or her brother, mother, or father die. But perhaps that is how she retained her sanity. If nothing else, its certainly how she retained her life, as the savages thought her just a knight, and knights made useful slaves.
As far as the world knows or cares, Elisha died that day, and perhaps in many ways, she has. Forced to kill her own people or face death herself, forced to live on little food and doing harsh labor. Her body tells so many stories her lips and mind are incapable of processing, if only for the sake of what remains of Elisha's sanity. But she survives, she waits, she plots, and one day she will escape these confines and show these barbarians a fury she has nurtured all these years for them.