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Character of the Season
From Attuned to Ascended to Ancient, Kiada Njovu-Reyes has been reborn several times throughout her short life, but her fighting spirit has never once been diminished. With beauty, grace and a quick wit, Kiada is the whole package wrapped in an infectious smile. Recent endeavours have found her in the heart of the Hollowed Grounds, aiding the region and bettering it for her new Ancient kin, and whatever she does next, we know it's sure to pack a punch.
Congratulations, Kiada!
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!
"Thanks for coming out here with me," Ronin says with a smile over his shoulder to Flora as he crunches across the trail in thick boots. After the whole void beach thing and the Feverlands thing, it's nice to be in a place that feels crisp and clean with the snow, he feels. And given that he'd taken them on a detour through the House of Midnight, it's the least he can do to make up for it by showing Flora the Dreaming Well.
(Yes, yes, he knows her mother and probably-soon-to-be-stepfather own the place, but she's still visiting a brothel with a paternal figure, and it's weird enough for Ronin without even considering the young woman at his side). "They say there's a spirit that lives in this well," he continues as they step into the grove where the snow-covered wellhouse sits. "If you throw a shiny pebble into it, the spirit will bless you with a good night's sleep."
Whether I'm gonna curse you out or Take you back to my house
For her part, Flora is neither awkward nor uncomfortable about having visited a brothel with Ronin, but instead fills any gaps in their conversation with her plans about hosting a contest to see what eligible candidates there were to take her dead-brother's virginity. He wasn't getting any younger (or older, to be fair), and given Remi's magic Flora couldn't see a single reason why Enzo shouldn't be allowed to have a bit of fun on the days he was brought back from Mort's halls.
"Given how basically every hill and tree around here is haunted, I can't say I'm surprised.' Flora huffs before peering doubtfully down into the well. Unable to see the bottom, she calls out a loud HellOoOooOOoo, the sound of which is devoured by the darkness rather than echoing back to her.
"Speaking of dreams, have you thought any more about mine?"
"Okay, but this is a well," Ronin says with a playful roll of his eyes, as if it makes it more special because it's not just another hill or a tree, but a more interesting structure. Approaching after Flora and grinning to see her call down into the circle of stone, the Knight crouches and brushes away some snow until he can reveal some shiny pebbles that litter the edge of the wellhouse.
"Here," he offers, passing one up to the Doubletake and straightening back up.
Sobering considerably at the mention of her dream, Ronin frowns and flips his stone into the Dreaming Well before speaking. "If Deimos has had it as well, it feels like much more than a dream," he mutters. "It sounds as though this is what might be waiting at the centre of that island, and it was sent very much as a warning."
Whether I'm gonna curse you out or Take you back to my house
"Welllll." Flora sasses playfully, rolling her eyes right back. Glancing over her shoulder, she accepts one of the newly upturned stone with a fair amount of skepticism. "You really think that's smart, now that Dad can't just turn up in your dreams and save you if things go wrong?" Wrinkling her nose, the Doubletake decides to stick with whatever her subconscious might have in store for her and pockets the stone. Maybe she'll carve a little smile on it and put it in Ronin's christmas stocking sock drawer one day.
"Yeah. There were a few others that I saw too I think? But I don't remember." Flora explains with a shrug. It had been a dream, and not one that she'd taken seriously at the time. "But maybe Deimos knows who they were. I said I'd mention it to you and Dad and Hadama, so...it's on you now." It being whatever follow up might be required.
"Sooooooooooo does that mean you're finally going to let Dad go?"
"A few nightmares are the least of our concerns these days," Ronin points out, promptly dropping his stone into the Dreaming Well and cocking his head to hear the splash - which, of course, never comes. Some people might see that as ominous, but Ronin the stubborn ever optimistic doesn't comment on it. "And I'll have you know, I did most of the saving when it came to dreams and your father."
But enough about his troubling and occasionally prophetic dreams, and back to Flora's. Ronin nods gently and is already planning to pick things up with Deimos - and Remi, of course - as soon as possible. As the Doubletake continues, though, he can't help but let out a groan. "I was never stopping him from going - I was just stopping him from going by himself and being an idiot about it," he says.
"...But yes, to answer your question. Now, I suppose, we'll have to go to that island."
Whether I'm gonna curse you out or Take you back to my house
"And yet here you are, tossing stones at a spirit and hoping it'll bring you good dreams." Flora counters wryly, before rolling her eyes in theatrical disbelief. "Sure, sure, White Knight. And I bet it wasn't orchestrated to be that way at all. " From demi's of life and death to being monster and hero, Flora had absolutely no doubt that her fathers' strange dichotomy was the sort of thing they played up in their dreams all the time. Or did, anyway.
"He's going to be so excited." With a loud enough snort of amusement to have a small white cloud leaving her lips, Flora turns her back on the well and instead regards the endlessly white hills around them. "Now that you can just...bring people back from the dead though, it doesn't seem so bad. Especially seeing as this can't really kill either of you." Or... "Can it?"
"Excuse me, I was trying to show my daughter that King's End is more than just a brothel and a cobbled together marketplace," Ronin says haughtily, lifting his chin and smirking down at Flora. "And I could regale you of the details, but you'd probably just get bored." Either way, whilst Ronin hasn't missed the dream magic he once shared with his husband, he can't deny that there was something satisfying about being able to carve the world to their will.
Huffing out a sigh and turning to walk back onto the trail between the white topped hills, Ronin nods. "I know," he complains, of Remi's excitement. "And I can't bring people back just... always. There are limits to it, I've learned. Luckily, in this instance I'm hoping they won't matter too much. I'm hoping no one dies at all, actually."
He gives her last point a bit of consideration, at least, before gently shaking his head. "Not any more, no. Worst that will happen is we're knocked out for a bit." A bit being months, but it's better than forever.
Whether I'm gonna curse you out or Take you back to my house
"I mean..." Flora raises an eyebrow, her lips tugging down into an adorable pout. "Not really." With a laugh, the queen widens her eyes dramatically. "The only good parts are the marketplace and King's End, how about that?" Even if the well could grant wishes, so what? A good bottle of Remi's gin could basically do the same, and Flora didn't have to come all the way out into the middle of nowhere to get it.
"Mm, or grossed out." Flora agrees before plodding along in Ronin's footprints.
"Oh? Well, you'd best save one for me, because you can bet if you let me die, I'll haunt your every step." So saying, the Doubletake steps on the back of one of Ronin's heels before laughing brightly and leaping up to wrap her arms around his shoulders so he could give her a piggyback ride.
"Ah, well, that's good. I didn't know if things changed when you both...you know, traded up."
Ronin opens his mouth to argue before promptly closing it again, realising he hasn't actually got much of an argument worth making. The only other thing worth visiting in King's End at the moment is the refuge, and there's not really much appeal to oh hey, this place will strip you of all of your powers, whatever they may be! so... yeah. A wishing well.
"If you're grossed out, I'm doing my job right," Ronin decides with a smug smile, one that vanishes as he stumbles, and then staggers, to find Flora accosting him and then leaping on his back. "One of these days you'll be the death of me," he counters, wheezing before managing to adjust enough to carry her on his back through the snow.
"Mm, I think things are the same for your father. But for me... well, let's just say I can just enjoy shooting stars as a spectacle again." Instead of a harbinger of his death. "Do you want to stop back at the House of Midnight to warm up before we head back?"
Whether I'm gonna curse you out or Take you back to my house
"Ewwwwwww." Flora complains loudly, before humming a note of mischief against Ronin's cheek. "Ronin Taliesin, the White Knight, whose Achilles heel (or the Caido equivalent) is the responsibility of parenting." Then, pausing for a moment, Flora huffs in the Knight's ear not unlike the way Sugar often did. "Unless that was a fat joke, in which case I will channel Safrin right now to beat you up."
As for the conditions of her fathers' immortality, Flora could only raise her eyebrows and shrug at his vagueness. Maybe she really could bring about his death now, and he just didn't want her to know.
"Oooh, yes. I can ask Mom what she thinks about hosting try-outs for Enzo there. I think it makes sense, with all the rooms and things, don't you?"
"It wasn't a fat joke at you, it was an old joke at me," Ronin assures her with a grin, cringeing away just as he might have done if Sugar had been the one to blow in his ear. Demigod or not, he's waiting for the day when he or Remi lift something only for the immortal words I think I just put my back out leave their lips.
Unaware that he's been vague enough to pique Flora's interest, the Knight focuses more on plodding his way through the snow and back towards the House of Midnight - a task made easier, at least, by the fact that he's walking in his own footprints from earlier. And he focuses even harder at the mention of Hotaru, or try outs for Enzo.
"Right, okay..." Wrinkling his nose and promptly shaking his head, the rest of the journey back will be made with every attempt on Ronin's part to change the subject.
