Bronze is a common enough alloy, a combination of copper and tin. Durable, defiant, and deadly in the right hands. For Mia Larsdottir, it was a bronze dagger that pierced her heart, cutting her life short at the age of twenty-one.
As the first of the Amalgamated, she had never expected to reach any of the milestones her peers traditionally followed. She did not expect to be married, and she never let herself dream of being a mother. She thought, perhaps, that she might be allowed to carve a quiet little place for herself, somewhere with room for cats.
But a bronze dagger stole that dream from her.
Her killer was never brought to justice, though there were rumours about who they were. Her father, being the chief suspect, ashamed as he was to bring the first of the unnatural Amalgamated into the world. He denied it, of course, but he never held a funeral for her. Instead, her body was left in the forest, where nature might put her at peace.