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 looked like a normal horse," she recalled, "But made of mist. I remember it seemed to be solid, but a part of the fog at the same time. It came up to me, just as bold as you please." She paused, deep in her reflection. It seemed silly, now, as she relayed the story. How young and naive she had been! (How young and naive she still was.) "I remember it knelt down, like it wanted me to get on, and the next thing I knew, I was half-drowned and being saved by a stranger." She smiled ruefully. "I swear it seemed nice, until it tried to kill me." And if that wasn't a summary of our young friend Sohalia, then what was?
As for where it was: "That was in the Oerwoud. It's southwest of here, towards Torchline." Despite her close brush with death, the Oerwoud remained one of Soh's favorite places in Caido.
Although Soh didn't know the story behind El's next statement, she nodded and smiled. She'd been very fortunate in her explorations, and considered herself immensely lucky in the friends she had made along the way. "Very lucky," she agreed with a laugh. "It's funny, isn't it, who you meet as you travel?" She herself had had many chance encounters that had led to lasting friendships.
The food arrived, smelling divine, and Soh joined El as they tucked in with gusto.
i reach out to my lifeline, the angels laugh in paradise
El listened with interest as Sohalia detailed her interaction with the creature. A close brush with death, indeed. It was impressive to El how Sohalia could talk about such a memory without much difficulty. They felt the need to get stronger, so they could better take care of themselves and protect people like Soh.
At Sohalia's next words, El began to think about the people they'd met so far. There weren't many, but they were interesting characters, to say the least. "Yeah, there's a lot of weird people out there. But good people, too. Sometimes they're the same." They said this with a little smile.
"Anyway, I hope to get stronger soon, so I don't need to rely on luck so much." They smirked and looked at Sohalia, thinking about their recent close encounter with danger. To them, the best way to be protected was to be prepared, to be capable. They weren't doing such a great job so far, and this occurred to them before they called over the waitress and ordered water, like they should have in the first place.
Soon they were finished with their stew and looking at the first aid kit awkwardly. "Um, do you actually know of a water pump or well nearby? I think I'm just going to rinse this," they said, gesturing to their arm.
Talking about the memory without much difficulty came naturally to Soh; after all, it seemed that it had happened a lifetime ago. She'd grown and changed so much since then. It was the reason she'd begun training, the reason why she'd started to learn how to better take care of herself, the reason she'd become determined not to need to rely on anyone else.
Of course, she still relied on her friends for plenty... just not, perhaps, in the same ways that she used to.
She took another bite of her stew as she listened to El, nodding in agreement. "I completely agree," she said. "I've been very lucky on my travels, but I've started training to be stronger." She thought of her training with Melita, her lessons with her instructor in Stormbreak, learning daggers with Tal. Not because she wanted to learn to fight, per se, but because she wanted to be able to handle herself in case of danger.
Drawn from her thoughts by El's question about water, Soh nodded. "If you're sure," she said dubiously. "There should be a well outside - maybe around the corner of the building, if I remember correctly?"
i reach out to my lifeline, the angels laugh in paradise
El could sense the confidence in Sohalia as she talked about training. They already knew she was more experienced than them; it only made sense for her to be stronger as well. She was the one to knock out the poacher, after all. They supposed they just hadn't expected it from someone who was so....amicable. Behind her friendliness, El sensed a genuine care for people and a need to be able to care for oneself. They respected it.
El watched Sohalia's dubious expression as she answered their question. They looked down at the scratches on their arm more closely. There were quite a few visible splinters, ones that likely wouldn't come out with a rinse. El was beginning to understand they needed help but unsure whether they wanted to ask for it. The scratches still stung faintly.
"Alright, what in here can I use to clean it? I know with these pincers here I can take the splinters out," they leaned over the table as they said this, opening up the box and taking out what looked to be a pair of tweezers.
Soh relaxed as El seemed to rethink their plan to simply wash off the wound with water. She didn't know much about injuries, but what basic wound care she did know included something about avoiding infection. And she was pretty sure that things could get infected easily if the wound wasn't cleared of debris and cleaned properly.
Of course, knowing that in theory and putting it into practice were two very different things.
So when El asked what to use to clean it, Soh took the opportunity to scoot closer so that they could look at the box together. The tweezers that El had found were pretty self-explanatory, in Soh's opinion, but she dug around in the box some more, looking for cleaning supplies. She found some little packets of antiseptic gauze, which she pulled out with a hum of thought. "I think if we remove the splinters and clean it with this, that should help prevent infection," she said. "Then we can wrap it up in a bandage, and that should be good."
i reach out to my lifeline, the angels laugh in paradise
El saw the way Sohalia relaxed, then came closer to help, and was pleased to note that there wasn't any disdain or condescension in her expression. Without realizing, El had been expecting it, bracing for it with tension in their gut. They nodded to Soh after listening to her instructions, then took the tweezers in their hand to begin removing the splinters.
It was painstaking work; Eleftheria's hand was shaking slightly with fatigue, and they couldn't see very well at the angle they were working. After eating a hearty meal of stew and ale, their body was remembering just how tired they'd been as they stumbled into Meadowreach. They removed two splinters, then set the tweezers down to close their eyes for a few seconds and just breathe. Gods be damned, they were tired. After a couple of moments, they picked up the tweezers and started again.
Removing splinters was almost as difficult to watch as it was to do, and Soh sat with her hands in her lap, itching to take the tweezers from El so that she could help. Despite her age, there was something almost maternal in Soh, and the drive to take care of her new friend was strong. She'd never really been faced with such a situation before - she supposed that, in all her travels, she had been lucky never to be seriously injured or to have a friend who was - so she wasn't sure how to act. Regardless, it felt strange to simply sit and watch.
When El put the tweezers down and closed their eyes, Soh hesitated, not wanting to interrupt if they were simply taking a break. But then her instincts took over and she gently asked, "Do you want some help?" There were far fewer splinters now, but Soh could at least pick those out before trying to clean and bandage the wound.
i reach out to my lifeline, the angels laugh in paradise
El's eyes opened as Sohalia asked if they wanted help, and they only hesitated for a moment before nodding yes in response. If they hadn't been so exhausted, they might have declined, or perhaps just hesitated longer, but at this point, they were too tired to care.
So they leaned back in their chair to get comfortable, then rested their elbow on the table, trying to give Sohalia good access to their arm. As they waited, a bit of nerves began to crawl around their stomach. They hadn't been cared for like this by someone else in a long time, and it made them nervous, apparently. Thinking about the past made them remember something, and they took their arm off the table for a moment to rummage around in their bag.
"When you're done, let me know. I have these to put on under the bandage." From their satchel they had removed a couple of stalks of green herb, which currently rested in their open hand. They closed their hand around the soft leaves and moved their injured arm onto the table again.
There was only a moment's hesitation before El agreed, and Soh relaxed a little in her seat, pleased to be able to be of assistance. She took the tweezers and reached for El's arm, gently resting her pinky on their skin to steady her hand. She was just about to begin when they moved, startling Soh, who withdrew her hands quickly in case El had changed their mind. Instead, she was surprised when her new friend reached into a bag and pulled out an herb. "Oooo," said Soh, intrigued. "What kind of herb is that?" Maybe it was something to add to her journal!
Remembering the task at hand, Soh again reached out, steadying El's arm with one gentle hand. She began to carefully pick at the splinters, trying to be as soft and tender as possible. She didn't want to cause El any pain, but removing splinters was never a fun time. She continued on until she didn't see any more wood embedded in their arm, then set the splinters down and reached for the antiseptic. "This may sting," she warned El in a quiet voice. "Would you prefer to do it?" She held out the damp gauze to them, a question in her gaze.
i reach out to my lifeline, the angels laugh in paradise
El smiled a little at Sohalia's enthusiasm. She seemed very curious about all things, and El could relate to that, at least.
"It's just calendula. We call it Mother's Grace back home. It's good for fighting infection." They raised the herb to their nose to smell it, then offered it to Soh to do the same. The scent was herbaceous and clean, hard to describe, but it reminded El of home and their grandmother. It was used many a time when El was a child and would get various scrapes on their skin from running around outside.
As Soh carefully picked splinters out of El's arm, they took the opportunity to rest their eyes a bit. El could barely feel the splinters coming out; she was so delicate with those tweezers. In no time, Sohalia had finished and was asking El if they wanted to use the antiseptic. They appreciated her asking, but ultimately did not want to have to deal with the injury anymore. Shaking their head, they said, "Go ahead, you do it."
'Curious' was basically Soh's middle name at this point. She'd long since determined that she was an explorer above all else, and learning new things was part of the territory. So it was that when El mentioned calendula and listed off its properties, her fingers itched for her journal to jot down notes. "Did you find it in King's End?" she asked, looking at the herb as though to commit it to memory (which is pretty accurate, honestly). "Or did you bring it from home?" Perhaps it would be worth a trip back to the Grounds at some point. She did want to map all of Caido, after all.
The smell of the herb was clean, but difficult to describe, and Soh pondered it as she gently set the plant back on the table and turned her attention back to the splinters in El's arm. When she'd finished, El indicated that she could move forward with cleaning the wound, which she did with the same delicate precision she'd used with the tweezers, trying to be as careful as possible while still getting the wound clean. Once she'd finished that, she looked at the leaves. "Does the calendula just go on as it is, or does it need to be made into a poultice?" she asked, not wanting to do the wrong thing.
i reach out to my lifeline, the angels laugh in paradise
"No, I brought it from home," El replied, pleased to be able to answer Soh's question. They understood better than anyone how frustrating it can be to have unanswered questions. "It likes to live in moist environments, like swamps or bogs. You can also cultivate it on your own, though. It's a pretty hardy plant." Warmth filled them as they recalled the calendula plant that used to grow on the homestead. It was one of the few that could survive the harsh weather of the Grounds back when the barrier was still up.
"It needs to be made into a poultice, but that's easy enough." El said this as they reached over for the herb, tore the leaves off the stalks and put them in their mouth to chew. The taste was bitter, but they were used to it and had actually grown to enjoy it a little. After the leaves were crushed enough, El removed the mixture from their mouth and rolled it in their fingers a bit to get it drier. When they were satisfied with the texture, they applied it liberally to the injury on their arm. It stuck to the skin quite well, but they knew it needed more protection.
They picked up the roll of bandage and unrolled some of it, tearing a piece off with their teeth. Then as they tried to begin wrapping it, they realized that with one hand it would be a pretty difficult job. They offered the strip of bandage to Sohalia with a sheepish little smile, silently asking again for her help.
The herb, it seemed, had come from the Hollowed Grounds. Soh paused for a moment as she considered this. She hadn't been back to the Grounds since Auden had died, and she hadn't really intended to go back any time soon. Still, there was plenty of uncharted land she had yet to explore, and plenty of flora and fauna that she could clearly stand to learn about. Perhaps she should go back soon, if only for the sake of her business.
If she could get rid of the ghosts she still carried. That was going to be the tricky part.
"I wonder if I could grow it in Stormbreak?" she murmured, picking up a leaf and twirling it thoughtfully between her fingers. She kept myriad plants in the apartment over her shop: mostly flowering plants, but a few herbs and medicinal ones as well. Maybe she could ask Mateo about it when she returned home. She was sure that he would know of the plant, even if he didn't have any in stock.
Soh did her best not to wrinkle her nose as El began to chew on one of the leaves, concerned with how sanitary such an action was for preventing infection. Still, they must know what they were doing, and Soh watched with interest as they rolled the poultice in their fingers before applying it to the wound. When El held out the bandage, Soh was happy to oblige, and she carefully rolled the bandage around El's arm before tying it off - just tight enough, but not so tight that it would cause a problem for her new friend.
"There we go," Soh said, satisfied. She began to pack up the remnants of the first aid kit. "I think you should be all set. But if it starts to get red or swollen, be sure to see a healer, all right?"
i reach out to my lifeline, the angels laugh in paradise
El was oblivious to Sohalia's concern as their exhaustion was finally starting to settle in. Their muscles felt heavy as they remembered that they had been traveling nonstop for who knew how long before running into this girl.
They nodded at Sohalia's words and said, "Thank you," once more, even though it didn't feel like enough. There weren't enough words Eleftheria could say that could express the gratitude they were feeling at making a new connection with such a kind person.
"I want to repay you, somehow. I don't know what I could do for you, but I would be willing to do most things. Maybe I could help track down that poacher? Actually, that might not be the best idea..." El was well aware that their skills in fighting and tracking were not the best.
"Anyway, I hope to see you again soon, perhaps around the Refuge. Let me know if you think of any favors. In the meantime, I'm in your debt." They really needed rest more than anything at the moment, so they stood to inquire about renting a room. Before leaving, they put a hand on Sohalia's shoulder and gave her a warm, genuine smile, the first of its kind they had shown to her. Then, they walked away, looking forward to sleeping in a soft bed for the first time in a while.
