Melena loved dancing. As the youngest daughter of the Eminent Thropp, she danced and danced with the most eligible men in Oz under opalescent chandeliers in the most extravagant gowns. Her older sister Sophelia was saddled with all the responsibility of ruling Munchkinland whilst she was free to sing and laugh and run through the fields of corn which dominated their region.
The Great Drought of Year 345 swept through their land, bringing with it desperation, despair and most worryingly of all, disease. The Sickening took with it young and old, rich and poor, unrelenting in its ferocity. Her sister Sophelia succumbed to it at once, turning from a young smart woman into a blister covered corpse within a day. The Thropps quarantined themselves in their estate until the following Spring, when the pestilence disappeared as quickly as it came.
The illness, combined with the ongoing drought, crippled Munchkinland's economy and the people were demanding a solution.
'Please, Melena, think of the family name!' her mother had pleaded.
A wealthy merchant and preacher called Frexpar had visited the Thropps not long after the plague ended. He brought gifts of gold and jewels, gifts her now impoverished family could not refuse. The family would have married off Sophelia, the older, wiser and more mature one but given she was currently rotting in the ground, Melena was offered up for marriage.
It wasn't that Melena hated Frex- he was a rather plain, polite man- but marrying him meant she was trapped in her duties as a wife and later ruler to Munchkinland. Her dreams of dancing and laughing with handsome young fellows across Oz lay dashed at her feet.
But Melena looked at her parents, saw their tired faces and agreed.
Sweet Oz, she thought, I am now stuck with the most boring man in all of Oz.
Frex was as boring as she thought he'd be. His touches never elicited the same excitement in her as previous lovers had and most importantly of all, he never had any time for her, always hurrying off to some meeting or another.
Melena resigned herself to a life of perpetual dullness until he came along. He called himself Oscar Diggs- a funny sounding name- and was a travelling salesman. He wore funny clothes and spoke with a thick, strange accent. He was as free as the wind and handsome to boot, everything Melena had ever dreamt of.
They first met when she caught him sneaking into the Thropp gardens. His exotic beauty stopped Melena from reporting him and she let him go.
However, he showed up at her doorstep the next day. He grinned roguishly at her, called her beautiful and offered him some of his 'Green Elixir'.
It will make all the pain go away, baby.
Without a second thought, she let him in.