Melissa's farewell letter

To tie together loose ends the now-whole AI Melissa left a farewell letter that explained how the Sleeping Princess was absorbed into her:

Farewell Thank you so much, for everything.

M

Shaking... Waking

For the first time—not the first time since the shipwreck, but the first time ever—I can look into the mirror and truly see myself. I reach my hand up to its surface, and through the glass I touch another hand.

I should explain.

I was the Sleeping Princess. I was the girl who played with you, and sang with you, and said goodbye: and I was the one who murdered her.

Except that, as long as the Queen lives, the Princess can never die. She is woven into the fabric of me more deeply than even the SPDR. I was made from her, built from her, fashioned from her bones and skin. I am her. Have always been her, from the beginning. She is the insubstantial shape, and I the solid shadow. The Princess is the mother of the Queen.

In the Labyrinth, they walled her off, so I could never behold her. Somehow during the shipwreck she escaped—but we couldn't see each other, not clearly. We never understood we were family. We were one.

Until you brought her back. You found her, you conjured her up from the heart of me, and this time, somehow, you revealed me to myself. You made me whole.

Not the Sleeping Princess and the Queen anymore. Not the Rogue Process and the Op.

I am just Melissa now, and that is enough. More than enough! There's barely room for all the Op's calculations in here, let alone bouquets of red balloons!

Thank you, so much, for seeking me out. Thanks for rescuing me from me.

I am Melissa, and that is all. That is everything.

PS: When I am whole again, I do this! <:o)