From being an Abandoned who had rarely left the Hollowed Grounds, to embracing the call of adventure, to dying and being reborn first as an Ascended and then as an Ancient, Maea has gone through quite the amount of changes in her life. One thing remains common, though, in her attempts to find out just where she belongs; she’s always had a craving for knowledge which has brought her to so many places and to meet so many people here in Caido. We can’t wait to see what else is in store for her!
Congratulations, Maea!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
Skinning and hosting by the epically talented Kaons, and functionality fanciness by the coding magic of Neowulf. If you ever see either of them around, make sure to show them some love!
It has been a few days since her arrival in Halo. Talyson had mentioned it what seems like lifetimes ago now, and Anju has meant to visit ever since. With Ludo's quest still fresh in her mind, and little natural game in Stormbreak beyond birds and the like, she'd decided to spend a lengthier amount of time here than the Greatwood she might have naturally gravitated towards. Old promises of mentor and trainers to strengthen her sword arm against had not been forgotten, and she still has a debt to pay.
The Greenwing is abundant in ways Anju didn't think was possible for a land like this, and Riya is already lost to its curious newness, adventuring somewhere just out of sight. Meanwhile, Anju skirts around the only large building in sight, keeping a wide berth - she has noticed that the people of Halo are much like herself in their desire to remain undisturbed.
But the sun is just beginning to peak out above the horizon, long shadows now holding color instead of blackness, and Anju marvels at the streak of fire that crosses its inky expanse as she lets her first arrow fly.
The shadow of a dragon moving across the window, painting itself over the floor, and causing Cordelia to stir was enough for Noah to adorn himself with weaponry. He grabbed his bow and his quiver, and stepped out into the crisp spring with an arrow already nocked and ready to fly. He pulled the bow up and drew, the tip of his arrow following the shadow of the dragon before the body disappeared into the sky. The hunter released the breath he had been holding and released the muscles in his shoulder. He kept the arrow nocked, but the string was no longer taught.
Stepping down from the porch of the lodge, the hunter crept along the south edge of the building. His keen eyes searched the grounds and scanned the skies. Eira stirred inside, but he kept her at bay between their bond. He needed her to stay with his wife. Taking a step around the corner, the movement of another person made Noah lift and draw his bow, the arrow releasing quickly and, whistling through the air, it collided with the already flying arrow and cracked it in half, fire igniting and sending the enemy’s assault to the ground nothing but flickering embers. Noah quickly pulled another and rapidly stepped out from the cover of the lodge, ready to release another arrow when—
”Anju?” He suddenly stopped, and then the dragon’s shadow made sense.
are you out there on the front lines or at home keeping score?
Riya, unaware of the concern she has caused, pings suddenly across Anju's awareness the moment her arrow is struck out of the sky - a burst of brightly colored alarm, followed by the wordless sensation of her sister's assurance that she is swiftly returning. But as Anju turns, drawing her bow anew, she comes up short in much the same way Noah does as recognition settles in. All is well, she comforts her sister, and lowers her bow to her hip.
"Noah. It has been a long time." He looks different in the scarcely breaking sunlight, but she would not forget him so easily. "Apologies, I tried to stay as far from your residence as possible." She had been reluctant to depart too far from the paths in the Greenwing. Even Riya's assistance would not guarantee that the Dragoon would not find herself lost in this unfamiliar landscape.
Noah slowly brought the string of his bow in to release the tension, and just as swiftly moved his arrow back to the quiver he had pulled over his shoulder. He smiled, bright and broad, as Anju recognized him and her bow lowered as well. Noah turned for just a moment back towards the large lodge before saying, ”This lodge is an open refuge to all hunters in the area.” It being a residence for his family was only part of its purpose.
Stepping towards the Dragoon to close more distance between them, and to give her a silent and subtle once over with his eyes, Noah spoke again. ”What brings you so far from Stormbreak?” He reached his hand out to grasp hers in greeting, now that they were close enough. He noticed the way her face looked harder, more serious (as if it could become so), which prompted his next question: ”How does your city fare these days?”
are you out there on the front lines or at home keeping score?
The smile that breaks across his face has her own small one cresting in response, relaxing across her shoulders. "I'm glad I wasn't given any misinformation then," she admits with a bit of relief, in a way she wouldn't to any random stranger. Though Halo has been rather receptive of her visitation, she is aware of her status as a foreigner, and just how easy it would be to mess up and create a personal or - Gods forbid - diplomatic problem.
Holstering her own bow, Anju closes her half of the distance to clasp his hand, squeezing firmly and lingering there. What he sees in her face is true, and what she sees in his is strain and fatigue that prompts a similar concern - though he manages to voice his first. "A quest from Ludo for my bow. I inherited it from a soldier who died beneath my command in the war - I need to practice with it more to do it the justice it deserves." And Stormbreak does not have plentiful game to hunt as Ludo had commanded her to. "So I came to find Deimos and more game to track." While killing a squirrel in the Plaza would have fulfilled that portion of the quest, it felt a little disingenuous.
As for Stormbreak, well. Anju sighs softly. Noah had once been one of theirs for a time, though only as a Demigod. She wouldn't feel comfortable betraying the weakness of her nation to anyone else - but surely he will understand. "Not well. I...I did everything I could during the war. But we are still without a leader or even a council, and as such are rather aimless. Lost. As far as I know the entirety of the Order is gone, as are most of the Dragoons. We are a floating island most have forgotten by now." And it seems a fair punishment, for how Stormbreak had forced all those different from them away from their borders. Anju has tried to keep the peace, to advocate and coordinate, but it all seems to be for naught.
There was enough history and enough tradition in Stormbreak to keep the city moving, unlike the Hollowed Grounds. The war had affected and broken a great deal, and even without a leader Stormbreak could still function by becoming a hedgehog and rolling in on itself. Still, it made Noah frown. "I'm sorry its been so hard." He didn't have much more to say than that -- his heart lived in Halo, and his next mission was to assist the Grounds. While he wanted Vi to say Stormbreak could use him (for it would be so much easier, in truth), the god had not. "Have you thought of stepping in to Ronin's old position?" To lead the dragoons, that was. Reform, restructure -- strengthen.
Noah stepped to the side some to get a better look at her bow. He nodded slightly as he listened to her. Instead of telling her where she could find the Sword, however, he offered himself up. "I have been using a bow to hunt game on this tundra since I could stand." If it was an exaggeration, it was only barely.
are you out there on the front lines or at home keeping score?
His sympathy is a comfort, as she is not one for flowery words. The sentiment alone is what gives her the sense of kinship that she has so missed. "Thank you." This journey alone has seen fit to remind her that while she feels quite isolated in Stormbreak, there are friends and supporters on the mainland who would always lend their hands and ears if she simply knew to ask.
"I have, unofficially. Without a leader, titles are relatively meaningless." She has stepped into as many roles as possible to keep their city afloat, which has left her rather exhausted. This trip has been the first time in a year that she has had any time to herself.
His experience makes her refocus, and she tilts her chin slightly at her bow. "I would be honored if you could give me pointers on my form. I hope to do this weapon justice." A blade had always felt more at home in her hands, but Lizbeth's death would see Anju pick up a far different weapon now.
"Of course. Let's start by showing me what you already know." It would be better that way, so that Anju wouldn't have to endure Noah's long, drowning lecture in the basics. If she already had an understanding of the weapon and its abilities, then Noah could teach her to refine it. Taking his own bow from across his back, Noah gestured for Anju to follow him.
Just past where they were, beneath an arctic grass covered knoll, there were three targets. They were not pristine, but they stood steady enough for the woman to practice. There were many holes from arrows as well as some burn marks -- all indications of Noah's many hours of practice on the targets. His wife was prone to kicking him out of the house these days, after all.
are you out there on the front lines or at home keeping score?
Following trustingly in Noah's wake, the Dragoon takes a moment to once again admire the pending sunrise and how different it looks in Halo versus the floating city of her birth. The frost and mist disperses the colors into a far more vibrant and far-reaching mosaic of vibrancy that it makes it difficult to focus on anything else.
Still, there is work to be done, and Anju could kick herself for having been so close to real targets without having known. With a wry grin, she stands abreast with Noah so he can best see her form and abilities. As a Dragoon, she has intermediate experience with every weapon in the armory, but she is certainly no master of the bow. Her form is solid from years of gaining musculature, but her grip on the bow's frame is clearly too hard-handed, accustomed to a sword. She exhales just before releasing the arrows as she was trained; the release of her fingers is snappy at least, and the arrow lands well within the rings though a few inches shy of a bullseye. Turning to Noah, she awaits his input silently, a dedicated pupil.
Noah's face fell into a soft stoicism as he watched Anju. His features were not glacial as they tended to be, but instead resembled the freshly fallen snow that covered the knolls and hills of King's End in Deepfrost. All sorts could be hidden beneath the white blanket, and one could never guess the multitude, just now as Noah's thoughts were surely millions but unreadable, most not yet discovered or surfaced to the sun.
Anju was not nearly as new to archery as Maeve had been when he taught her. Not that a state of novice wasn't something he couldn't work with, but there was a level of finesse that Anju could easily achieve in this session that Maeve couldn't have in their time. Taking his own bow and slinging it across his back, Noah stepped up to Anju a little closer.
Silently he gestured for her to nock another arrow and bring the weapon up again. "When you use a sword or a spear, it lengthens your arm and becomes an extension of your body. When it comes to the bow and arrow, the arrow becomes the extension of your body. Draw." Once she did, Noah lifted one hand to cover the hand that held the shaft of the bow and the other he used to just indicate to her fingers that pulled back the string. "Try only drawing back with two fingers, and let the arrow loose more smoothly."
are you out there on the front lines or at home keeping score?
When he gestures to, Anju draws once more. The weight of the bow and the string in her fingertips is a strain on her arm given how well-made and high-poundage the weapon is, but it's nothing Anju's well-trained musculature cannot handle as she pulls to a full draw and holds for long moments as Noah adjusts her form and speaks quietly in the early sunrise.
A diligent pupil, Anju does not bother adjusting her stance for the sake of something like nodding, and merely immediately implements the adjustments Noah had mentioned. It's true that she is accustomed to a weapon lengthening her arm, being an extension of her instead of something close to the chest and relatively stationary. She tries to think of it that way while simultaneously adjusting her grip to two fingers and exhaling slowly as she aligns the crosshairs once more on the target. Releasing more smoothly seems illogical at first, but as she does it the movement already feels more right - and this time, the arrow sinks into the first inner ring of the target. "Already a big difference in how it feels," she murmurs, mostly to herself but unbothered if Noah hears her. Anju turns a smile his way. "Thank you."
"All of the power of the bow comes from you." Noah said, taking a step back from Anju to demonstrate. He opened up his chest with a breath and tapped it with his hands. Even in the covering of his coat, it was still apparent that his muscles were well worked. "This is where the strength is, and the power runs through your core." His hands moved then to his belly, and he tapped it open handed as well. "Keep this tight and controlled with your breathing. Whereas the power with close range weapons really comes from your shoulders and back, this is all from here."
He stepped in to Anju again and wordlessly gestured for her to nock another arrow. Where he should perhaps have hesitated a little, he didn't. This was a moment of teaching and most of his reservations would be lost to that idea. Thus, his hand moved to Anju's belly and he pressed slightly in, then his other hand went up to her shoulder that held her bow. He used both hands to straighten her posture some, and his hand stayed on her abdomen to help remind her to keep those muscles controlled. "Now shoot."
are you out there on the front lines or at home keeping score?
Anju is equally unbothered by the educational touch, instead focusing on the instruction itself with dark, furrowed brows and an attentive expression. When he gestures once more for her to draw her arrow, she pauses and runs over his words a few more times before nodding to herself and doing exactly that. This time, with his advice in mind, her stance is far stronger and centered more in her core. Exactly as he'd intended.
Already she can feel the difference though it will take some more focus on training her core for it to be a familiar sensation. With Noah close behind, hand on her stomach, Anju releases the string of the bow on an exhale and watches as the arrow sinks into the outer edge of the bullseye circle. Grinning, she turns over her shoulder towards Noah. "Thank you, Noah. You've helped immeasurably." With this, she can make Ludo and Lizbeth proud.
