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!
You wake up every morning to fight the same demons that left you so tired the nights before.
Caelynn couldn't help but smile softly in return. She hadn't met someone who was this kind in a long time. Following her lead she cautiously looked around, "I'll be sure to head there. The Collegium in Stormbreak." She spoke as if she was committing the name and place to memory, looking to her left she reached out and ran her hand along the wall gently. "Careful, the flooring in the caves can have unexpected divots." She spoke as her own step landed a bit harder in a divot. She'd been expecting the floor to be closer, and when it wasn't her foot came down in a stomp rather than a regular step. "Case in point."
They continued their travels as Caelynn smiled thinking to herself, it feels like it's been forever. Listening intently to Lena she chuckled and nodded out a soft response to having an experienced person around. "If you head left you can find some of the gems, my parents used to take me there to see in the spring time. The flora tends to grow between the stones. Further to the right leads deeper into the ground, I don't ever remember going super far that way."
Walking cautiously now, conscious of the way her steps could echo against the walls she knelt down a bit checking the lower shadows in the area. She was used to her Fyrhund sight taking over on it's own, naturally shifting for the darkness without her really having to be conscious of it. Looking back at Lena she watched as she seemed to do the same. Caelynn couldn't tell if she was only looking in the darkest spots or if she was just checking the surroundings. "My favorite part has to be Mountain's Roar. Beautiful spilling waterfall, oh or Soulfire Reach. So hard to get to, only been once when I was a stupid teen." She laughed softly, "Almost died, we made it out alright though. It was beautiful, none of these small areas with gems and pretty flora could compare."
"What is your favorite part of your home? Stormbreak if your home, right? Caelynn was simply drawing a connection for the previous conversation in regard to the library and assumed. Kneeling down again she thought she saw something small move, but when she saw nothing she ignored it and stood back up.
Lena smiled at the response, content with Caelynn committing the sentiments and possibilities to memory. “Oh, thank you,” she managed as she avoided one of the said divots, eyes scrutinizing the way the floor altered and changed; unsurprising, really, given the landscape.
And she listened too, taking and heeding the advice on gems and flora, the way the paths altered into their own notations. “Hm. What do you think would be down that way?” Pointing towards the right – where the Ancient hadn’t traveled or traversed. While Lena had wandered through at some point, she also hadn’t jotted down any lines within the labyrinthine caverns, and it was as if experiencing it for the first time all over again.
“The Mountain’s Roar has been very interesting,” she murmured – though didn’t give way to why or how – between plagues and Tanau and bodies found before the war. “Have you ever met Tanau?” The kind, friendly fire seasonal god – a favorite amongst many.
As for her own favorite? Her grin widened substantially. “Where I work – the Celestine. It’s a wonderful place, with rich gardens and shrines dedicated to the Old Gods. We keep rehabilitate animals there.”
You wake up every morning to fight the same demons that left you so tired the nights before.
Caelynn shrugged in response to the acknowledgment of something so simple. Honestly, she just didn't want the responsibility of dragging Lena back out of the tunnels if she had fallen and hurt herself. Not that she wouldn't do exactly that, just that she really didn't want to have to.
Cocking her head she bit her lip, "Well, if I had to guess possibly tight pathways or territorial fauna. My parents and I were mostly down here for the stones and the flora. Caelynn sniffed softly testing the air, hoping her instincts would help her a little, but nothing came of it.
"Yes, it's beautiful, no? What have you done on your trips there?" Curiously Caelynn asked her about her trips and continued to carefully look around the area as they maneuvered. "Possibly as a small child, but I haven't gone looking for him. If I've met him it was unintentional. He is said to have a temper and I tend to anger people."
"Rehabilitate animals? You don't just put them out of their misery, or eat them if they are injured?" Caelynn was from a time and place where the cycle of life was simple. Birth, growth, life, death. In sickness or injury came a use for others. Even if the sick and injured were other people, Ancients didn't tend to have a problem using those others to satisfy their bloodlust. However, if those on death's bed were family they either gave them to another in need as an honor or were offered to Dygra for her to pass them into the next life. Both endings were perceived as honorable to Caelynn. That's what she did with Frankie. When he passed on, too sick with the unknown to have been offered to satiate another's bloodlust, she offered him to Dygra and he was taken.
Territorial fauna wouldn’t surprise her either; she’d had a fair number in the Celestine, injured, sick, marred, or otherwise. She hummed a little under her breath, acknowledging the notions and saving it to the back of her mind for further explorations and curiosities later. As for the Mountain’s Roar, though, she sighed. “A few years before the war a sickness broke out. Tanau, and many others, aided in ensuring it stopped, but near the Mountain’s Roar.” She avoided the discussion of the dead body soon found floating in it before the skirmishes, head tilting instead at the implications of Tanau. “Must be all that fire,” and she grinned, never one to say anything unkind towards deities. Not with how she was raised.
The inquiry about her occupation and the location inspired a nod, and then further explanation. “Frey sends them to the Celestine – most will be injured or sick.” Though she wouldn’t be able to detail the herald’s desires for such things, Lena could at least be proud of her Caretaker abilities. “Others outside of my line of work can likely do that – but that isn’t what the Celestine is for. If it’s possible to save them, we try.”
I will keep you, day and night, here until the day I die. I'll be living one life for the two of us.
Caelynn blushed, war, sickness, the mountain being used as a healing location. Her home being used as a healing location was wonderful to her. Not many thought of her hot and lava covered land as a wonderful and healing location. But to think that there was a major sickness, a widespread enough sickness, that called the gods to turn the mountain to heal.
"A sickness... do you know much about it? The causes and symptoms?" She was curious, she wanted it to be what Frankie had, wanted to have been able to save him. But then if she could have saved him she'd practically kill herself for not doing enough, not being enough.
The conversation regarding the longheat deity made her smile, "Probably. I only know what was said and a little of the lore about Tanau. Maybe some day meeting Tamau would be nice. I'd like to thank them for the wonderful weather." She was being honest, she did want to meet as many of the gods as possible. Dygra had always been loving and caring to her children, she figured all god would be. Though she knew that she couldn't expect that of them.
"Frey? You work for the Herald?" Blushing Caelynn bit her lip, and listened to her speak about her job and how was expected to do things. "That's got to be hard. Having to make the decision as to whether you can save them. I tried that once. Turned to shit all too quickly. I don't know that I could make the decision again."
“I’m not sure if we ever found out the cause…,” though possibilities and suspicions had certainly pinpointed directly to the Voice, given how she’d been the driving force behind the blight. Something about shards within Tanau, pieces of the Core… “But symptoms seemed to be fever, hallucinations, delirium, extreme thirst, an urge to seek out fire…” she trailed off, figuring that was more than enough description.
But portions of deities were much more favorable to discuss, and her smile grew fonder again. “I’m sure he’d like that.” She didn’t know how often people came to see him.
As for her own position in life, the Caretaker nodded, always proud and dutiful in her role. “Frey appointed me, yes.” Though she couldn’t save them all, and that went for people as well, Lena certainly always tried. “We try our best and go from there,” solidified with another nod, before glancing upwards at the walls, catching something skittering across.
02-19-2024, 09:39 PM (This post was last modified: 02-19-2024, 09:45 PM by Caelynn.)
Caelynn listened intently, crossing off every one of the symptoms other than fever. Silently she felt relieved. That relief made her feel guilty for all of those that have passed due to the illness. Those seemed like the results of eating those mushrooms she thought she put in her tea this morning. When she took the mushrooms the first time she was feverish, she had hallucinations, was a little delirious, extremely peckish -- though thirst did affect Frankie when he took them. Thought she can't say she ever sought out fire. "Weird. An illness, healed by the gods, but no cause revealed. Was it only one following or one race that was affected?" Caelynn seemed to be calmer now, asking about an illness that could have been regional seemed easier than asking why her dinner and tea were rotted, or why she'd never heard of the war.
Smiling she crouched again to look down the corridor they were walking in. "Have you ever met him? What would you bring as an offering? I often wonder if the seasonal gods ever experience or get to see what the other seasonal gods do. I wonder if he would like snow. I, personally, think I would love snow." Caelynn chuckled softly in the small area and she and Lena were walking in. Her mind drifted on visiting all the seasonal gods with gifts from the other seasons, showing them what they may have never seen before.
Caelynn smiled widely at her, "What an honor! Congratulations." Nodding along with her Caelynn blushed, "So you try anyway. I think I like that tactic." Though she knew she would not be able to do the same. Not after her failure with Frankie. Maybe she needed to change that, but why bother if she doesn't plan on getting close enough to anyone to need to save them anyway.
Watching Lena reach up the way she cocked her head, "What did you catch?"
caelynn
I will keep you, day and night, here until the day I die. I'll be living one life for the two of us.
“That was the strange thing. Everyone was affected.” She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders, at peace with the results but never quite understanding the full outcome and cause. The wariness she held for it now was only the notions of it combining into similarities with the void creatures, if this was happening again, but just in a different mannerism.
As for meeting Tanau, she shook her once more once. “Only from a distance,” no formal conversations or anything of worth, of note. “Something to do with fire would probably get his attention,” and easy to do with Ancient prowess and particulars. “Mm, but I’ve heard Ancients must be careful in cold situations.” Her brow arched, uncertain, having never had a full depth conversation over it.
With other nuances pending though, her eyes narrowed, gaze hovering over the shadow slipping along cavern and crag. “Looked like a rock slider, but…tainted, perhaps.” She wouldn’t be surprised if there was an eerie ambience to the creature, and she walked onward, intending to snag a closer look.
Caelynn blushed and shook her head, ”It sounds horrid. That had to be difficult to be around and try to deal with.”continuing down their path Caelynn couldn’t help but run her hand along the walls of the cave and smile at the familiar warmth. It felt like forever since she’d been in the caves exploring.
Thinking about Tanau make Caelynn think about Diegra and how she hadn’t spoken to her since Frankie’s death. ”Yeah, the cold makes my and my families bones hurt and stiff. I know others who have said the same. I’ve heard it makes us immovable and can kill us. That doesn’t stop me from wishing I could some day feel the snow and play in it.” Caelynn chuckled softly, ”The descriptions I’ve heard make it sound beautiful.”
Caelynn watched along the space with Lena hoping to see this tainted aspect she mentioned. Rock sliders always looked and felt like rock to her she never much paid attention to them. ”Tainted? Show me?” She of course would wait until one was caught, but she herself wouldn’t attempt, not without knowing what Lena meant. She might be dumb but she wasn’t stupid.
caelynn
I will keep you, day and night, here until the day I die. I'll be living one life for the two of us.
“It wasn’t ideal,” she managed to give a light laugh, perhaps to break over the heralding footfalls of despair, and times before where they were just as confused, just as rattled. The affliction had somehow spread here and now too – though Lena was without the vital information, much like multitudes within Caido. Instead of running her hands along the wall as Caelynn did, in all her familiarity, the Caretaker’s gaze was a constant, unwavering thing – taking in every sight, every sound.
Notions of the cold had her frowning slightly, but only just; the Ancients had their prowess over fire and infernos; it made sense that the cold would be antagonistic towards them. “Hm. Is it something instant?” Lena could only think of those once horrid handmines within Stormbreak, content to helped and aided in breaking them apart, contorting their empty holes into flowers and blooms. “Maybe it’s something you could take up to Dygra?” If she ever journeyed to see the herald.
But rock sliders had caught her attention, and her brow furrowed, hand pointing, finger extending and following the gliding, Stygian beacon. “Do you see its scales?” Different from the regular portion of its species; caught and weathered in void energy.
Caelynn chuckled along with her and thought about the illness her best friend had passed on from just four Deepfrosts ago. What felt like two sleeps to Caelynn, was four Deepfrosts worth of life, and however many years and seasons she was asleep. Caelynn merely touched the walls to feel the familiar warmth and slight wetness they held. Careful with her nails, she was sure to remain quiet.
Listening to Lena's question Caelynn had to think hard. "To be honest, I am not sure. I have only heard how it effects us, not how quickly. I met a few ancients who had lost hands or the lower part of their leg to the cold, so I know it is something that we can survive up to certain temperatures. One described their pain as quick, another as slow and antagonizing as they began to harden. So I cannot say for certain without meeting more people or experiencing it myself. At the mention of asking Dygra, Caelynn nodded, "Some day. It has been a while since I'....."
Lena cut her off but she wasn't worried about being cut off, not when she was seeing a rock slider with weird scales. "What in the world? I knew I'd seen something different about that crow earlier." Caelynn crouched and got ready, knowing that these beasts were long and strong. She had learned from her parents death, you don't turn your back when you find a beast in the caves. There are two options: capture and kill. "Should we try to catch it? Will touching it with bare hands harm us?" She didn't want to let it get away, she wanted to bring the thing out to the better light of the sun and examine it. She'd caught them before, hell she'd eaten many. "Does it need to be alive?" She knew the answer was yes being that Lena was probably going to run tests on the animal, but she readied to slip a small dagger from her sheets on her thigh. It was a dagger she used to cut and study flora, nothing huge, but enough to help her and wound the serpent if needed.
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Creature Information -- Rock Slider (common): an enormous, toothless serpent (no less than three full-sized humans in length), with small, flightless-wings where one would presume its ears to be. This creature hunts along rocky mountain paths where it lies, well-camouflaged, before ambushing large prey. It has no venom, instead coiling its length around the victim and strangling it.
caelynn
I will keep you, day and night, here until the day I die. I'll be living one life for the two of us.
Lena wouldn’t be amidst the people who encouraged experimenting with near-death notions. Instead, she was the one who exercised caution, compassion, and thought, not leaping into semblances of impulses based on whims. “I wouldn’t advise doing any of that on your own,” she nudged, with a small smile. “Maybe everyone’s experiences are different.” She could imagine some components being much of the same, but time differentials altering from person to person, Ancient to Ancient. But she didn’t know enough on the subject at all – so she shrugged her shoulders, altering her attention to the creature instead.
The Caretaker had no weapons, and no intention of using any. Instead, she frowned, mouth creasing into a firm line. "From what I've heard, touching any of the void creatures could result in side effects.” Her eyes followed its movements – tracking, pondering over possibilities. "There are some who want to run experiments on them,” hadn’t Maea’s letters and interest informed such a need? “We could always scare it away too.” Possibly; though by the way it was watching them, she wasn’t certain of that.
