Melna, I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since you came into Skeleton Crew. You're not a normal Glup Shitto for me. Usually I become obsessed, hyperfocusing on theories and artwork and fanfics and finding hot takes on Tumblr and whatever little scraps I can get about a minor character.
You were different, Melna. I didn't follow my usual path with you. You just set yourself up with a little space in my mind and settled in. Weeks after you debuted, I found myself thinking about you. Your little action of kindness is something that resonated back with Fern in the finale. You were the first one she spoke of to Fara: The first kind person who tried to help the kids.
I think about this moment constantly, Melna. How did you get to that scene, dancing for a living at a club in a pirate hub? What path brought you there? Are your parents worried about you? Are they even there anymore? Did the Empire take them? Did they leave you behind? Was it a cruel galaxy that put you in this place or a series of choices you made yourself? Do you have regrets?
Your fear was so palpable when you spotted two little girls somewhere they shouldn't be. It moved your feet. You left your post. You lost work. You didn't care. That single choice made you immortal in my mind. That endeared you to us.
Did you see yourself in KB and Fern? Were you once like them, innocent and on the precipice of falling into a harsh reality? Did you see a potential future where they could have become you? Did no one step in for you the way you did for them? Your drive so strong to protect them, taking away from your horrors, shielding them from cruelty. Did you cheer watching the Onyx Cinder escape the port, knowing there was a chance for the girls? A chance that their life could be different from yours? Do you regret not going with them?
Do you wonder about the girls now? On long nights when life continues to be hard, work tough, people mean, do you think about KB and Fern? Do you hope they made it home? Do you dream of following them? Do you look out for news or any shred of information that says they're safe? You never even learned their names. Do you look for their faces?
Did they inspire you to leave Port Borgo? To start over? To strike out for a new life? Or are you still there? Stuck. Alone. Holding onto a single memory of the time you stepped in to protect two young women who needed you.
Melna, do you know you're a hero? That your kindness was your power. You're not a Jedi or some great pilot in the Rebellion. You're a normal person who could have ignored these children. You could have looked away. You could have made it someone else's problem.
But you didn't. You're the one who saved them. It was a small action. A single scene. Even Fern and KB didn't know to trust you, but you didn't care. You saved them. You impacted Fern. You, along with every normal person who just did a little action or had a single episode on them, became threads in a grand tapestry of hope.
The world needs all kinds of heroes. We don't have to go out with capes and superpowers. Sometimes a hero is a dancer at a pirate club who saw two little girls in trouble and went to make sure they were okay. The little things truly do add up.
We might not save the world, but we can save each other.
Just like Melna.