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!
Her voice is a fearless proclamation of protection She lives what's within her out loud
The Barrows are easier to navigate when the sky is within reach. With Sunjata’s teachings her Falcon form has become second nature to her. With it, exploration of Caido is far easier. The heat of summer is more bearable in the thin air above, but the horizon scarcely changes when you are so well removed from the earth. Eventually even she grows tired and bored of the monotony, and descends to investigate more readily.
The stairs are unexpected to say the least. The locals speak of it, so she knew it existed, but Hotaru hadn’t exactly sought it out either. Maybe that’s the right way to find it - to not desire to at all.
With such wide open fields she has the confidence to spiral down in a more dramatic way, letting the instinct of the animal-that-is-she overtake the natural human fear. Dry grass tickles the underside of her feathers as she lands, cocking her head at the stairs curiously. Talons are not the best for land investigations however, and she pulls at another thread in her soul until she is growing larger, quadrupedal, and the lioness moves forth to test the first stair with an large, inquisitive paw.
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
The hunter would have thought nothing about the falcon had it just glided on by. His own curiosity was focused on the stairs that seemingly led to nowhere. However, his interest pulled towards the creature as feathers turned to fur and talons turned to claws. Lifting a brow, he moved forward. Before Vi's touch, he would have reached out with his mind, but Noah found that rather difficult these days. Perhaps he would regain it, once his soul found the balance of magic and shifts within him.
He watched as the cougar began to ascend the stairs, and stopped his approach about ten or so feet from the other, curious attuned. He wished he knew who was beneath this skin, but he didn't. "Anything interesting so far?" He called out, voice just above his normal speaking ranges, and lifted an eyebrow towards the cougar.
are you out there on the front lines or at home keeping score?
She is not unaware of another’s presence, but it’s a distant sort of thing. The hypervigilance of a woman who has seen and weathered too much. It’s not until it’s clear that the other person’s destination is the same does she begin to pay more attention, dark tipped ears spinning to track the sound of dry grass beneath thick-soled boots without letting her eyes drift away. Sure of herself and her senses, her power that will keep her safe. In many ways that surety is influenced by her current form; predatory, lingering at the highest rungs of animalistic hierarchy.
The voice that transcends the space between would have made her falter were she not so sure-footed as a cougar. As it is she whirls, pale verdant eyes wide and pupils thin as she takes in the man at the base of the stairs. In a breath she flings herself back into her human skin, graceless and rushed. Color rises high in her cheeks as she stares down at Noah, torn apart by a collage of emotion she can’t parse. “Noah?” A name like a prayer, shaking on the edges, scared he is some strange mirage produced by the magic of the steps.
a sea of whiskey couldn't intoxicate me as much as a single drop of her
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
Familiar, heterochromed eyes met his even before she spoke. Noah stood firm, though it was obvious the breath she stole from his lungs. "Hotaru." His voice was quiet, full of disbelief and apprehension. To see the woman alive before him, shifted from predator to beauty, was not what the hunter had expected to see.
He opened his mouth to speak again, but the words caught on the edge of his tongue. His face showed obvious concern and surprise, mixed together and clashing at the peak of his forehead. "How...are you?" He finally asked, his body lifting ever so slightly as he raised one foot to plant down firmly on the bottom step. He wasn't sure if he wanted to go up to her, or if she would come down to him, or if she would fade away all together and depart from him.
There had been so much time between their last encounter, it almost felt unreal to be looking at her now.
are you out there on the front lines or at home keeping score?
She’s afraid to blink. Her eyes burn, and she can’t tell if it’s because she is forcing them to stay open or because she is swept away by the emotion of seeing him alive and unharmed. His voice saying her name somehow makes it more real even when he had spoken moments before, and yet still she is frozen motionless to the steps.
How is she? What does it matter? Because whatever spell has its hold on her is broken as he moves, edging up the steps, and the Valkyrie feels her own foot moving forward. Senses the edge of the platform without ever taking her eyes off the Sentinel, and makes it no farther. Ru throws herself off it. Never a moment’s doubt in her mind that Noah would catch her as she forces the space between them into non-existence, arms wrapping desperately around his shoulders. “Noah,” and her voice is strained and thick, unable to say anything but his name. He’s alive, firm and warm in her arms, and the weight of that edges out any other matters which pale in comparison to the importance of that.
a sea of whiskey couldn't intoxicate me as much as a single drop of her
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
Noah waited for her to answer his question, but that did not come. Anyone who was more observant and intuitive than the hunter might have been able to pick up on it, though. Relief was there enough to see, a weight lifting off of the Valkyrie's shoulders as she launched herself at the Sentinel. Noah steadied himself as he caught her in his own embrace, his feet moving off of the stairs and into the lush grass at the base once more.
He breathed out onto her blonde hair, the rush of her body's warmth coming over him. He held her for a moment, solidifying her own safety in his mind before letting her feet touch the rich ground again. "I'm here." Was all he could manage in the moment, looking down at her heterchromatic eyes. "It's okay." He lifted his hand to brush a tendril of hair from her face. "Have you been in the Greatwood all this time? Your child -- are they --" Noah stepped back from her, the memories of her fleeing the warground that was Halo flooding this mind. It had been the last time he saw her.
are you out there on the front lines or at home keeping score?
