Melly is incredibly curious; a hunger for knowledge and the drive to answer all the questions that crop up in her mind is all she knows. Of Sharlayan descent, Melly grew up stirring trouble by herself hidden in between book shelves with ink-stained fingers. Kept a secret for the first seven years of her life, she absorbed all the books and field notes she could; there was little else to do. Fed up and at her whit's end hiding a child, at her mother's behest, whom Melly felt no warm feelings towards, she was sent from Sharlayan to Gridania where her grandfather took her in. 

Together, they spent five short years in his estate in the grove. Melly had a natural gift for discovery, eccentric and whimsical in her ways. He taught her magic, writing, and how to sew her clothes with aether ; she taught him that it was easy to smile. The day he passed was the coldest day in the forest, deep into winter with no signs of life around. She was utterly solitary out there, but vowed to never let the silence eat at her. There is comfort in silence, and joy, too, and she intends to live happily as promised.

Now, alone after inheriting her grandfather's estate in the Twelveswood, Melly takes up her grandfather's research and dedicates herself to her own projects and curiosities. She accumulates books and tomes, buying and writing her own; she fills the estate's walls with her aether and wards the property; she has no need for uncalled visitors. They are welcome to leave a letter by the front. Lining the walls of the mansion with books, Melly finds herself living in her own library, sending for books with hawks and trained chocobos, feeding herself mostly off of her garden and delivered goods. 

There, she spends most of the next twenty years of her life. Melly begins sending out her work and texts to scholars across Eorzea for their opinions, often having their work delivered to her home to stay up to date on recent findings. The reaction is instant; they find her work to be astounding, unlike any other. Rarely, perhaps once or twice a year, she'll travel out of the Shroud to visit with these scholars. Very few have ever seen her, Melly not one for wasting her time traveling around to talk to people about her work when she can very well just send them a letter. She completes an education in Ishgard like this, doing most of her work remote and acing the in-person practical.

Soon enough, she's publishing work under her name, "Dr. M. Xander". She occasionally leaves her estate to do field research, and remains unidentifiable by most. If anyone asks her though, she'll happily talk all about her work. She's got no secrets!