She was broken.
Rayla knew she was broken for a long time.
It hadn't even happened all at once.
Through the years more and more incidents piled on, each of them making many, many cracks.
The first crack appeared when she was little, she could barely make any friends her own age, many of them thinking she was weird for not girly enough.
Three more cracks appeared parents left her for the dragon guard and how in the end, they chose their duty that they willingly sighed up for over her, leaving her feeling like she wasn't enough.
Another crack appeared as despite her young age, only Runaan and Ethari seemed to believe she was capable while many others looked down on her and not taking her seriously.
Multiple cracks appeared when she reveived the news that the dragon king and prince had been killed, with her parents nowhere to be found.
She got twice as many cracks when she realised they had ran, not just from their duty but from the chance to ever see her again.
Another crack appeared at seeing Runaan's angry disappointment when the soldiers, including the one Rayla was supposed to kill almost found them.
Many more cracks came later that night, at the castle when, rather then trusting her, Runaan decided to fight.
A small crack appeared every time she kept it a secret to Callum and Ezran about their father.
Those small cracks connected in larger ones when both of them learned the truth.
She got more cracks open returning to the Silvergrove with Callum, only to find that she'd been ghosted, banished by her own people.
Those cracks doubled upon learning Ethari had ghosted her too.
Those crack doubled, no tripled when she found that Runaan's lotus had sank, along with the other assassins. She'd gotten them all killed.
As she spend more and more time with Callum, she started to feel as if the cracks were healing themselves.
A few more healed when Callum revealed that her parent's hadn't abandoned their post.
After they made peace between Xadia and the human kingdoms, she didn't get any new cracks for a long time.
Until they rebuild the moonhenge and she went to the other side, looking for either her parents or Runaan, only to find Viren, though he wasn't dead.
Callum risked his life to save her, listened to her as she told him what she saw and promised to help her.
Loved her.
Yet, she couldn't risk putting him in more danger and loosing him too so instead she made him loose her by leaving.
She left him and all the others behind, not looking back.
This formed more cracks than ever before until finally, she broke.
Through Rayla's life, many things around her cause cracks but in the end, she herself was what broke her.