After making art here and there on twitter for Dunban/Melia content and seeing others for myself, I was eventually lead to finding this fic.

Not only was it such an enjoyable read, but I have not connected to a fic in such a long time.

To preface, I haven't read much these days normally because I had no media that I truly wanted expanded on. This was one of those rare time I made an exception and desperately wanted to see more of. And not only did you deliver, but you exceeded all expectations and wrote such a well crafted fic.

The lore is spot on and you've given us a very good glimpse of the new world after Shulk made his wish; the politics that would arise in Alcamoth, among relationships between civilizations and other things. However you also weaved such an intricate mystery inside the story that had me at the edge of my seat. The entire build up to the coup, the showdown between Melia and her brother's old fiance, and the empress herself turning into a telethia is some of the best story telling I've read in a while. The interpersonal relationships between canon characters (Tyrea and Serenity? GAY) and OC related ones too were amazing, and while I normally don't care for OCs in fics, you truly made me care for each and every one that you've put here. (I also recognized some canon ones too! Like Jarack, Miriall, Shalen) Your characterization for a lot of the canon characters also blew me away too, because Fiora was so spot on and her interactions with both Dunban and Melia were among my favorites in here. Overall, the story telling was great and you made a fic that, in general, is just a solid Melia fanfic without even regarding the pairing itself.

But of course, this is still a Dunban/Melia fic and you delivered and then some. Their inner struggles, the turmoil both of them endured, their love for each other that was impeded by responsibilities and self worth were making my heart soar. All of it was masterfully done, and the intimacy they shared alongside the build up to it was so natural and well paced that I honestly can't get over how real it felt. The climax was so satisfying after everything they've been through and I was venting to laine about just how good you are with well timed call backs. Making it end on the beach of what once was colony 2 along with having them repeat the lines of chapter 28 was legendary. Pure skill.

I do have only two small critiques; the first being the lack of proofreading that seemed to be prevalent in the fic since there were quite the amount of spelling errors. However this can easily be rectified and you've shown that your story telling skills are top class and more than make up for it. The other small gripe was how Shulk was handled. I know he had an entire game dedicated to his character, but here he felt a bit on autopilot? I expected more reactions out of him when Fiora was tortured on screen alongside him and Dunban maybe bonding over being brother in laws, but I know this fic was centralized around Dunban and Melia, so ultimately he had to be put to the side. Still, I couldn't help but notice it.

Either way, what you've done here is nothing short of a miracle to me. This pairing is already niche as is and has some people against it for silly reasons, yet I bet anyone who reads this fic would have their minds immediately changed. This is amazing. Fantastic. A gem in the xenoblade community and something I am so thankful that exists. You made something incredibly special and I don't think I'll be forgetting it anytime soon. It definitely has fueled my need to draw content for it, so hopefully that might be something I can share to you as you have shared this to me and so many others. Again, thank you. This was wonderful. I hope Dunban and Melia can find happiness in your future works, but I think I'd just enjoy anything else you'd write of them in general. I hope you have a good one.

(HI I DON'T WRITE COMMENTS/REVIEWS A LOT SO FORGIVE ME IF THIS IS RAMBLY, TLDR I AM OBSSESSED WITH THIS FIC AND NOW THAT ITS OVER I FEEL LIKE A PART OF ME IS FOREVER CHANGED SO THANK YOU SM 33)
*deep breath* hi! so, i've been deep in dunban/melia hell for about 3ish years? i don't exactly remember when it started but it's been one of those ships that i get really obsessed over for a period when I'm deep in a xenoblade mood and eternally cry about because it's criminally underlooked. so obviously with DE dropping this week, i'm happening to talk about the ship on twitter (as ya do) and Laine/Shinialene happened to find me and reccomended this fic and HOH BOY I WAS NOT PREPARED FOR BINGE READING THIS IN TWO DAYS
it started off with me being so engrossed with how you approached alcamoth and the entia after zanza's defeat, how shulk's wish reverted them back to their original forms yet with memories or at least bits and pieces of the horrors of their former existences as telethia and how that would understandably cause issues between the homs entia, you've got melia pushing herself behind this mask and doing all she thinks is right for her people while it's Not Going As Planned and then dunban just happens to pull up and IT BEGINS...
can i just say, i have sO many screenshots on my phone (most of which was sent to Laine coupled with a LOT of feverish keysmashing and screaming) of just beautifully crafted paragraphs and dialogue and character interactions, it's a literal gift you have and i love it so much. everything about this story feels so natural, so in tune with the original xenoblade yet so personal and it was as if you looked over every possible way to make this story comes out as perfect as it has. dunban and melia's relationship is just SO incredibly written, unforced, not rushed, not overpowered, LIKE ITS A SHIP FIC BUT IT'S NOT ALL THERE IS TO IT AND I LOVVEEEE IT
the ocs you added to the story, Serenity being my top tier favorite, precious girl i love her so much, have just found their ways into my head and i think i'm going to cry when I reach alcamoth in DE and realize that Serenity, James, Elrich, Songya, Kliefer are just... not there... *sobs*
my GOD you have a knack with villains, Camar being deplorably evil yet it isn't just needless evil, it's a twisted, arrogant ideology that is fitted excellently within the world that you've built up between the entia and the homs entia. (also was VERY appriciated that dunban AND melia worked together to knock the bastard out)
Nae'ell is such a conflicted case for me considering i sympathize with her motives and reasons despite hating them? does that make sense? and god knows i screamed like a bitch when miriall died ;w;
and like the best villain of all: anxiety and fcking emotions.
you're a damn good tease, incredible, as someone who LIVE for snark and banter and flirting, you have earned my undying respect. the dunban/melia banter was PERFECT and just the hover of sexual tension in the air left me on the edge of my seat (more like giggling stupidly at 2 am in my bed while i kick my feet around)
i just love how you characterized them, dunban being so worried about his purpose and responsibility which causes him to leave after everything's done and over at the cost of poor melia's feelings (this poor girl, please give her love for the next fic she's been through So Fcking Much)
sPEAKING OF CHARACTERS OUTSIDE OF THE OCS I MEAN (i love them all dearly) THE CHARACTERIZATION OF FIORA, SHULK, TYREA, REYN, RIKI WAS SO CANON I LOVE IT SO MUCH SFBKSDJFSDJK
and i love the friendship being fiora and melia here so much since im so tired of the fandom pitting them against one another
the sibling banter being fiora and dunban and melia and tyrea is downright hilarious in the best ways, im in love with it and i can't wait to read more of your fics

like it's an indescribable feeling i have, having never been so fully engrossed in a piece of fiction in my entire life, having finished it and now feeling like i have nothing and everything all at once

i love this, every word, period, comma, piece of dialogue, chapter title. thank you 3

I just finished reading this story last night after binge-reading it for three days since my friend highly recommended it, and after giving it some thought I decided to leave this review to tell you how much I appreciated your work with this beautifully, well-crafted fic as a whole... Holy heck reading this was honestly an amazingly, beautiful, and enjoyable emotional rollercoaster... The feels and emotions were so real and my heart just... I want to let you know how much I appreciate your attention to detail throughout this fic, from how descriptive the imagery was, and how well you've captured the character's dynamics and personalities!

Reading this story has honestly made me so nostalgic for how much I love the Xenobalde 1 cast as well as the dynamic between Dunban and Melia... I sincerely enjoyed the banter and discussion among the cast of characters, whether if it was the cast members, or the ones including your OCs (Serenity! James! And Elrich! I love them!) or charas that didn't get much spotlight (i.e. Tyrea)! Seeing how accurate the portrayal of the character's personalities honestly made my heart weep at how beautifully captured it was, it really took me back and reminded me why I love Xenoblade so much! You were truly able to expand on a game with great character dynamics and I will forever be grateful for how in-character everyone was... I could totally hear everyone's lines in their voices and it was really entertaining to read!

The Dunban and Melia scenes... Some of the angst and situations that Dunban and Melia went through were painful for my heart, I felt so bad that they couldn't see eye to eye sometimes (since Melia unfortunately has a hard time with self-expression and it makes me sad)... And through these situations, it stayed in character so well and I cannot thank you enough for making their relationship and dynamic wonders to watch... I was internally screaming at Melia for not being able to come forward with her feelings, but it was so in character that I was able to get so immersed in the fic's entirety XD.

And all of their scenes, whether if it was spicy or fluffy, was so well written and I was like... oh my gosh it felt so rewarding for Dunban and Melia to have that intimacy and trust between each other, especially considering all they've been through in the whole plot... (Thank you for blessed build up!)

On that note, all of the arcs and plotlines were super intriguing and I was always looking forward to seeing the next chapters since they kept me hanging on the edge! Going back to the whole attention to detail thing I mentioned earlier, I loved how realistic and in-depth the setup of the story was. Even if it took awhile that's completely fine because gosh. The payout was so worth it since we got an immersive experience with how Melia constantly faced struggles in her uphill battle toward restoring Alcomoth and the lifestyles of the High Entia. I was absolutely fuming at Camar and Nae'ell for all of their work against Melia but hh... I was so invested in all of the conflicts that arise from their scheming, and I honestly live for these types of stories that don't have an "everything always goes right!" vibe.

And gosh. The telethia chapters were really painful for me but. Gosh it was so dramatic and I couldn't help but get so invested into it as a whole... And I love how you set the plot points up so that it could be feasible for Melia to have that transformation and those side effects, your attention to detail and ability to make these kinds of plot points... so good! And the repercussions from after her transformation too... it hurts... :( I still love the details nevertheless.

The whole Dunban having to leave Melia prospect made me really sad in anticipation of knowing it had to happen too... and the emotional wounds from the content really hit home, the way the conflict escalated and how their relationship evolved was just.. UGH it really hit the feels home but it was so well written and it was worth it... They stayed so in-character too for what made sense for their personalities too and I know I've said this a lot but i REALLY love how well you're able to keep them in character since it just ups the enjoyment of the fic up to the nines.

There was such a nice balance between all of the different types of aspects to the plot (fluff, angst, politic drama, friendly banter/interactions, etc) and I thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of it! Serenity and Tyrea are totally a thing hehe and I just. I love how many aspects this fic was able to explore, in regards to both a plotline and character dynamics perspective. It was a really great expansion upon Xenoblade 1's contents and I love it so much...

Your writing just made me even more proud of Melia for continuing to persevere, stand forward, and the plotlines you've concocted were just so good for developing Melia and Dunban as characters... And for a little thing about tiny details and Dunban/Melia (again), can I just say how much I love the callbacks/parallels between Chapters 28 and Chapter 49 with the dialog? All of the tiny details and callbacks to previously mentioned aspects in the story or things that have happened in canon (Reynbow) were so great and I really adored them, they made me feel so many soft emotions! I really loved how many emotions I felt for Melia and Dunban and their struggles, it was so realistic and the setup and payout were so worth...

With that being said, thank you so much for writing this story when you did! I hope this review conveys how much I enjoyed this fic, there's honestly so many good things about this fic that it's so hard to put into words but I did my best XD. I'll definitely be checking out Scions of Mira too when I find time to read again, and I'll be sure to leave a review when I manage to catch up with the current update!

To close, I just want to let you know that I think you're an incredibly skilled writer who really knows how to capture the great aspects from already established canon and then expand on it to make a really intriguing story with lots of emotion and excitement. A truly beautiful and inspiring fic for a beautiful game!

Thanks again for writing this fic! I hope you'll have a wonderful day~

- Lizz

Wait hold on, random detail I know and also your not going to see this, but they have such a thing as g-rated in their world?

Amazing work

"Her first impulse was to decline. What had her father said? Friends were luxuries. And that the only ones you could trust were family. Yet her she was, alone, with no family to confide in." I FELT THAT ;(

Tyrea And Serenity Are Totally An Item. That Is All For Now.

The last chapter kind of ruined this whole fic, in my opinion.

I’m only on chapter 12 but I had to just write a quick review before continuing! This is one of the best fanfics I’ve ever read. You capture the characters so beautifully, and clearly know the game inside out. I always felt sorry for both Dunban and Meliathey both always seemed kinda alone. Can’t wait to see what happens next (although I must try and stop reading this at work, I’m getting nothing done!).

mMmMMMMMMMmm

This is my favorite chapter so far
AhhhHHhH This is really good!

Holy sHIT 49 chapters?
As a fic writer myself this is super insane and such an accomplishment!
I'm loving this story so far, so thank you so much for putting the work in and writing this!

I want to say congratulations for completing this, you should be very proud, thanks so much. One of the greatest Xenoblade fics written yet and hopefully it will inspire many more.

You are seriously talented and skilled as a writer, it seemed flawless and so engaging throughout the whole story. You were also faithful to the original game and I savoured every interaction and dialogue between the main characters. Specifically, one of the most memorable parts for me was when Dunban and Tyrea teamed up and subsequently broke out of jail, snuck around Alcamoth and then kicked ass. Of course whenever any of the original party were together they were awesome and did steal the show (not that your OCs weren't great), and I wish you had included them a bit more.

Politics was obviously a major part of this story, both as a part of the main plot as well as in unsubtle ideologies. I really loved it at first as you were very well versed. You managed to capture the grand regality while also bringing it down to Melia's personal level. But as the story went on you pushed certain things too far to create cringy moments and went a bit ooc. I hate to say that but it is the only real criticism I can give.

Another one of the best moments was when Melia started reading Dunban's letters. This lead to the ending of course, which was absolutely beautiful and perfect.

Anyways I want to say again how much I loved reading this and I can't thank you enough. I followed from the beginning and it honestly helped me a lot over the past year. Travelling and going without internet for long streaches, checking here for a new chapter to save was always one of the things I would do when I got the chance. Thanks again and looking forward to any new fics.

ITS 9AM AND I HAVE TO LEAVE FOR SCHOOL IN LIKE 20 MINUTES (I really hope I can manage to write everything I want to say in this time, if not I might just cut it and continue it in a PM or something) AND IM JUST SITTING HERE CRYING AT THE FRONT OF MY COMPUTER OH MY GOD. I'M ACTUALLY SOBBING HOLY HELL THAT WAS BEAUTIFUL. IT WAS... JUST.. AHHHH I LOVE THIS STORY SO MUCH WORDS CANNOT EVEN DESCRIBE IT. THEY REALLY CAN'T. I can't even be sad, even if I am crying, but I'm crying out of mostly happiness. AND THE FACT THAT YOU'RE GOING TO BE WRITING MORE STORIES WITH THESE TWO MAKES ME EVEN MORE HAPPY BECAUSE I CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF THEM TOO AND I LOVED *LOVED* THIS STORY SO WHATEVER YOU HAVE PLANNED I'M SURE I'M GONNA BE LOVING AS WELL, I'M REALLY EXCITED NOW! BLESS YOU FOR EXISTING AND WRITING THESE STORIES I SWEAR.

Thank you for the shout out, too, it totally didn't make me cry even more, what are you even talking about. I started reviewing this story just cause I felt like it had a lot of potential (AND I WAS RIGHT, besides it's Dunban/Melia. Come on, I can't not love any story that involves them.) and no one else really reviewed and since my love for the story had grown each chapter it felt almost wrong to not review, even if I am not a fan of reviewing usually. (mostly cause like.. I always have to go all out? I'm sure you've noticed. I just can't write a sentence or two and consider that good enough.) I am really glad that my effort wasn't wasted, I think if I were to add up the time I spent writing each of these reviews it'd be quite.. a hefty amount. Haha.

Man, one of the things I wanted to ask in this review was as to what your future plans are but it seems like now it is not necessary AND I AM VERY VERY EXCITED FOR THE SAID PLANS! Seriously, you've easily become one of my favorite writers ever and to know that you'll be writing more, and for Xenoblade (and involving Dunban/Melia ahaha) no less is just like, the best thing I could ever hear. I'm glad that now after a year of following this story I won't have to stop looking forward to the emails about your stories being updated, that I almost drop everything upon seeing that little notification just to start reading asap! It's almost become something that I hope I'll never have to stop looking forward to, because having spent an entire year following this story has been a lot of fun, and one of the reasons I was so sad about this story ending is because it would mean that there wouldn't be anything more to follow. But now I have your future stories to look forward to, which I'll definitely be carrying over my rambly to hell reviews to. There's absolutely no doubt about that ;)

ANYWAY ENOUGH ABOUT THIS STORY AS A WHOLE AND MORE ABOUT THE CHAPTER IN DETAIL... Except I now I have been writing this for 15 minutes and I really gotta go soon. A part of me wanted to wait until I'm done with school to read it but that would mean suffering through 7 hours of anticipation and I don't think I would have made it. And I really didn't want to wait to review later either because, Christ, I was in tears and whatever I'd written hours later wouldn't be as emotional as it is right now.

So, I'll just point out the one typo I saw: "Fiora had coached toher fiancée and friend" (Missing space between to and her) and I'm gonna go wash my face now, cause I'm still all teary eyed, and in a few hours I'll PM you about my thoughts on this absolutely beautiful ending because as much as I'd love to continue rambling on here about it I do not have the time, sadly :( Look forward to... my pm? See, to end this off, I'm not gonna be the one looking for a new chapter anymore (though I am looking forward to the new stories!) but you are :P

Seriously though, thank you so much for writing this. This story was just amazing. I can't say enough good things about it, cause it's like, all of my favorite things put together in a very well-done package and it was so fun to read. It was a great experience to follow it all from (almost) the very beginning and I'm very excited for what you'll be writing next to see it "develop" just as this story did!

I swear to god, I've been sitting here staring at my phone screen with the keyboard open for at least 2 minutes now trying to think of what to say. This conflict IS HURTING ME, hahaha.

I just gotta say, it's very interesting to see that Melia's whole Telethia transformation incident has impacted her health that much. Since it really hadn't been the focus in the last few chapters and now it was talked about so much it was like, woah, so much information at once! Random somewhat off topic thing - I actually had a thought about this at some point, - do all of Melia's health complications maybe impact her overall lifespan too? (cause you know, would sort of fix the whole long High Entian lifespan problem. (insert sarcastic face here because the filter always messes it up) I dunno, I just thought that would be really clever, but, obviously, I don't know if it really is the case.)

It was nice to see James and Elrich, too! I loved how Elrich was talking about the "things people are saying", i definitely didn't expect him to know a bit of gossip but I loved it.

And of course, the usual ending that made me lose my mind. I really, really enjoyed the (brutally?) honest and "putting it out there" conversation between Dunban and Melia at the end, it was so intense and yet beautiful in a way too. I gotta say though, at some points I did think "oh God some of this is, in a way, a bit clichéd" but then again, at the same time it was very well done, (besides, it's good to have some cliche in there right :P I think the only reason I thought that is because at least for me, this ship is like, I dunno, compared to some other romances I've read, completely different because the dynamic is just something you don't see very often, in my opinion - and that's exactly why I love it so much. Though I think I just need to get over that sometime and let some cliche flow in as well for a nice balance of both the "different than usual" and "like most things".) and the intensity MAN. THE INTENSITY. AHHHH. I'm so excited for the next (last ;_;) chapter.

Shoot. One last chapter. ONE. I can't believe it's that close to the end. It's not even over yet and I can feel the sadness wash over me. Is there going to be an epilogue at least?! I gotta warn ya though, on the last chapter you're getting a huge wall of text of thanks because I have already thought out what I want to say at the end of this story (besides my impressions of the ending of course) and I have been thinking about it for at least a month now. It'll be pretty long. Probably. Not gonna spoil it just yet though :P Well, now that I spent half of my free period at school writing this review, I gotta get going. I'm very excited for the next chapter.

I mean, damn, I knew this would a chapter full of feels, BUT DAMN. A bit on the shorter side, length wise, but still very, very meaningful.

I sort of expected that during his travels he'd probably write a lot about what he's encountered and so, but the fact that they were all letters to Melia.. Oh my god. The EMOTIONS are KILLING ME. Why must you do this to me. :'( (I mean that in the best way possible though, please keep killing me with this sort of stuff I love it)

Just wanna mention that this line: "Lastly, the man stated how beautiful the flower was, delicate and elegant, just as she was. And how he would never love anyone else as he loved her." was probably my favorite. I mean I was like super happy back when Dunban had told her about the flower in the first place (it's just so damn perfect) and this just adds to that whole meaning so much more. I just love how in general he had saved all of these details of his trip just for her, by writing those letters and not mentioning them to anyone else. God, I love this pairing way too much. And you do such a nice job writing them. Now they just need to figure their shit out and live happily ever after already, damn it.

On a bit of a different note, just noticed that the story has 100 reviews now! I wonder how many of them are mine, lmao. A part of me is disappointed I didn't get to be the 100th reviewer, but that's okay :P