#she's did the same thing to mel and rell that menelik did to her ta'fik and her brother

[mollysunder]

The funniest thing about Ambessa in her book is that by the end she's so excited by the idea of what Rell and Mel could accomplish together as mages and leaders of the clan, and yet everything Ambessa does poisons the well between those two. Ambessa showing such clear favor to Rell over Mel, clearly upset Mel in a way that was obvious to everyone who knew her. Even people who weren't directly involved in the daily Medarda drama, like Rudo, could see what a slap in the face it was to Mel.

Meanwhile you've got Ambessa grooming Rell for a leadership and exposing her to the brutality of the battlefield (that even her parents who put her in the gladiator pits didn't want), all the while she's incredibly ambiguous about Rell's place in the Medarda Clan. Sure Ambessa said she told Rell she'd adopt her, but she never explicitly said how Rell was supposed to help "lead this family to glory". And that's because Ambessa didn't actually know who she wanted as heir, she'd cycled between Rell as the leader, Rell as Mel's #2 (like her and Rictus), and Rell and Mel as co-leaders.

The big punchline for it all is that while Ambessa's inner monologue goes on and on about how powerful those two would be together, Mel and Rell's respective POV chapters are clearly indicating the conflict those two are headed for. For example, when Ambessa was taunted by Gintara that no one would (or could, a dig at her kids) avenge Ambessa's death, Rell privately tells her she would. That statement nearly made Ambessa cry, but we all know that Mel KILLED AMBESSA!!!

This family is cursed.