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!
Evie had been pleasantly surprised when Noah had written to her asking her to visit the Olson's home for the purpose of evaluating Marcus' magic. It was something she had expected the Valkyrie to accomplish for him given their closer relationship, but given her ascension to the secondary title of Academy Headmistress she decides that perhaps it is appropriate for her to step in too.
She and Deimos had told their closest confidants and family about her pregnancy, and they'd agreed to confirm the suspicions of anyone else, so her modest belly is visible but not overtly pronounced in her long-sleeve shirt and open coat as she stands on the doorstep of the Olson home and raps her knuckles against the front door.
She hasn't met Marcus yet, at least not since he had aged up. Evie has always been good with kids, but she's uncertain of his personality traits, so she tries to prepare herself for any manner of irritation or wariness befitting a suspicious child as she waits to be retrieved.
When his mother told him that Evie would be coming to their house for their testing it made Marcus relax far more than he expected it to. The idea of going to the Academy with the prospect other students looking on to his examination made him extremely nervous—so much so that he had lost sleep from the time his father told him about the testing up until his mother gave him confirmation of the date, time, and location.
So when Evie came, there were still nerves, but at least Marcus had the ability to stomach a breakfast and had slept most of the night before. Cordelia opened the door and greeted the warden and head mistress warmly, though Marcus was aware that it was not with the same greeting she brought Sah, Soleil, or any of their other friends in with. Tucking that away for later and shaking the auburn bangs out of his eyes, the young mage stood and held out his hand for the warden, eyes moving between hers and her belly and back. "Good morning, Evie." He smiled.
Evie greets Cordelia warmly, but the two are not close in a friendship sense, so she does not make herself at home the way she might have with others and holds herself more formally in the entryway as Marcus comes into the room. Her eyes skim over him quickly, taking him in visually without making it apparent that she's doing so. No sense in making him uncomfortable right from the jump. Though she finds herself - quite topically - mentally noting how Marcus is so clearly a product of his parents, and how that makes her thoughts stray for a moment regarding her own impending child.
Taking his hand, Evie shakes it firmly but not overbearingly, and it contrasts her warm smile that is practiced from years of putting anxious patients at ease. "Good morning, Marcus. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." Glancing around their immediate surroundings, her eyes return to the boy shortly. "I'd like to do this somewhere you're comfortable, but I'd prefer if it had somewhere I could sit," she admits with a wry smile, hoping to inspire a bit of lightheartedness. "Anywhere that fits the bill for both?"
”You, too.” the hunters’ son smiled nervously, the prickle of the anticipation sparking along the back of his neck as he looked up from the warden’s belly to her face again. Ease pressed forward with silken fingers as she looked down on him with blue eyes as glorious as the sky above the great expanse of the tundra. He felt the warmth in her smile spread along his arms and push away some of the hesitation he had been feeling.
”Yeah!” Marcus said breathily, turning to usher the warden into his family’s living room. It was an open, broad sort of room with a couch that directly faced the fireplace. The floor was lined with several furs as well as other sitting cushions, and in the corner was the double-sized cradle that the twins no longer used. Marcus stood between the couch and the fireplace, the hearth roaring with bright red and orange flames, and motioned for Evie to find a comfortable place to sit.
Cordelia busied herself in the kitchen, a place where she was out of the way but still within ear shot of the goings on of the evaluation. ”So, what do I have to do?” Marcus asked, arms swinging awkwardly at his side.
Evie follows in Marcus' wake, glad to see him warming up to her already. Though Abandoned sentiment is easing, and has always been largely absent in Halo, Evie knows that magic is quite a personal and vulnerable thing even without social expectations on one's shoulders. She isn't unaware of how much trust she is asking Marcus to have in a stranger, which is why she's quite honored to have been asked to do this.
Evie sits on the couch and beckons Marcus down next to her so that he will still be within reach. "Magic can be felt even by those who don't use it. Most magic, at its weakest form, is easiest to call upon when the same type of magic is present to take strength from and add to." Her hand gestures toward the fire in the hearth even though she doesn't have that particular ability in her arsenal, content to use it as part of the instruction. "For example, fire. Most can only make it stronger or weaker, they can't create it or pull a portion away from the source. The fire itself has to be present already."
Extending a hand, she gives Marcus an encouraging smile and wiggles her fingers for his own to find their way to hers. "The elements are the easiest to experiment with, but I'm going to go through all of my abilities first to see if you can feel your own magic responding. Okay?" She waits for his consent before she begins, intent on allowing him to control as much of this as he can. "We'll start with healing because I can lend you some strength that way too so you don't get tired." With that warning, she lets her healing magic extend through their connected hands, sweeping aside any lingering exhaustion or childhood scrapes and bruises, lingering and pooling in different sections of his body as her magic seeks out imperfections limb by limb at her command instead of flooding him and patching everything at once so he could feel it more clearly.
