What do you get when two ruthless assassins raise their daughter travelling through the wildest reaches of Caido? Take one look at Theea and you'll get a pretty good idea. Cheerful and tenacious in equal measure, and curious beyond all else, she began her journey on a mission to find those her mother once called family. And find them she did, soon rubbing elbows with demigods, leaders and even ghosts from the past. Her determination is resolute, her thirst for knowledge unmatched. We can't wait to see where her next adventure takes her!
Congratulations, Theea!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
OG Skinning provided by Kaons, with functionality and many custom plugins made by Neowulf!
One balmy spring evening, Maea reclined against the railing and gazed out across the river. Behind her the Bodega was filling up with people. After a long day of work and hunting for flowers, residents and visitors alike congregated among the vendors and food stalls as lanterns kindled one by one among the trees above. A scent of food drifted past her on a light breeze. One might be forgiven for thinking that Longheat had already arrived on a night like this. Only the nip of chill in the air suggested otherwise, easily chased off by braziers and cozy blankets to spread over the knees, and with mulled drinks to heat you from within. Music coiled lazily through murmured conversation, a flute that lilted and trilled along on a topline that switched between heartbreak and wicked mischief - telling some tale, perhaps, that Maea did know the meaning of. If anyone was singing they couldn't be heard from this distance, yet she hummed along anyway.
Waiting for Flora to join her, the ancient couldn't help but reflect on the strangeness of the season's events. If someone would have told her before Longnight that she'd be inviting the queen out for a night on the town (such as it was in the Sidhe Village) Maea would have laughed them in the face. Yet here she was, fidgeting with the written reply to a hasty letter, and despite the way her stomach flipped and unflipped, she almost looked forward to seeing her again. Perhaps, when seated in peace and quiet, they might actually be able to speak properly, and figure out whether they were as different as they seemed.
Maea
// I threw stones at the stars but the whole sky fell //
Sunlit Shadows (mastered) | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered
Deadly Recall | Can recall 1, or 2, or 3 of her feathers to her hand, within a range of 30ft. Recalled daggers do 1/2 damage when recalled.
Rescue (Mastered) | Remi can bring a fellow Old God demigod to his side in a time of crisis for three concurrent posts. One use per thread. If the summoned demigod also has mastered this ability, they can remain until the end of the thread.
The sound of laughter announced her before her footsteps did.
It trickled ahead of her like light off water, warm and easy, followed by the soft clack of heels against the old stone path leading toward the Bodega’s edge. Flora arrived in a blur of movement and colour: curls pinned half-up with golden clips shaped like sunbursts, a silk jacket the hue of ripe apricots cinched at the waist, and a skirt that fluttered around her legs like petals in the breeze. She looked every bit the queen, but more relaxed than usual; if there was a strange energy riding beneath her skin, a too-stillness behind her eyes, it didn’t show. Not really. Not if you weren’t looking for it.
"Maea," Flora called out, her grin already in place as she stepped onto the terrace. "You are officially the most surprising pen pal I've ever had."
We need love, But all we want is danger We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
Could an encounter be more different? The sense of a whirlwind approaching was much the same as last time they met near water, but the queen's laughter was so much more preferable to the hiss of breath filtering through teeth in preparation for a tongue-lashing. Turning to greet Flora with a faint smile, Maea raised a pale brow in dry humor.
"Because I write to you at all?" she suggested, keenly aware that they weren't exactly what you would call friends. "I'm glad the shock didn't prevent you from coming. Feels like we're overdue for a real talk - and that's not even why I asked to see you."
Unsure how to greet the vibrant young woman - with a handshake? a hug? the awkward wave of a hand she would be inclined to offer, or something else altogether? - she settled for offering an arm before showing the way to a popular outdoor bar overlooking the water. There was a bit of a crowd before they could make the orders, which was just as well because the selection of drinks from hot to cold, spicy or sweet, with or without alcohol was nothing if not impressive.
Dressed in a knitted dress of a midnight blue with a fold-down collar and an accent of embroidered chamomile cascading over one shoulder, Maea had put her hair up in a braided crown around her head. Already restless fingers had tugged loose wisps of hair from its confines, and with the black coat hung loose over the shoulders she looked unusually relaxed, lit from within by a liveliness in her expression that was altogether new - or at least, to Flora it would be.
Maea
// I threw stones at the stars but the whole sky fell //
Sunlit Shadows (mastered) | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered
Deadly Recall | Can recall 1, or 2, or 3 of her feathers to her hand, within a range of 30ft. Recalled daggers do 1/2 damage when recalled.
Rescue (Mastered) | Remi can bring a fellow Old God demigod to his side in a time of crisis for three concurrent posts. One use per thread. If the summoned demigod also has mastered this ability, they can remain until the end of the thread.
Flora doesn’t take Maea’s arm right away, but she also doesn’t brush her off. She lets the gesture hang politely between them, acknowledging it with a small quirk of her mouth before sliding her arm through. Her movements are fluid, practiced, more grace than warmth, but then, it isn't like one letter and rose makes the pair best friends.
"Oh? Ulterior motives, huh? Colour me intrigued." Her tone is calm, almost detached. Not cruel, but unconcerned, like she’s speaking from just a little ways outside herself. A side effect of everything that’s happened. Of what she’s become.
She adjusts the drape of her jacket with her free hand as they walk, fingers flicking at the lapel like she’s brushing off imaginary dust—or attention she doesn't want. Her jewelry catches the lanternlight: thin gold bangles stacked on her wrist, the glint of rings she never takes off.
As they near the bar, Flora scans the crowd with idle disinterest, slipping through it like water parting around a rock. If she notices Maea’s attempt at dressing up, she doesn’t say anything—though her gaze does skim briefly across the embroidery with a flicker of acknowledgment that never quite lands. "Place has improved since I was here last," she notes, nodding toward the drink menu as they take their place in line. Her weight shifts slightly onto one hip, releasing Maea's arm in order to loosely cross hers over her chest as she scans the options with an absent look.
Only then does she glance sidelong at Maea, expression unreadable. One brow lifts, just enough to be felt. "Soooooo." Her voice is smooth. "If this isn’t an ambush or a guilt trip—what… is it?"
We need love, But all we want is danger We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
Given that she didn't know Flora well - or at all, really - the aloofness didn't register as anything strange to Maea. Glad simply to be free of snark or sharp jabs, she hummed in agreement as she took in the bustling marketplace. "The influx of travelers has done much for the area," she mused, "and while some of the fae grumble, I think they secretly enjoy the attention. At least, I hope they do." It would make it easier to make the transition from a secluded area in the wilderness back to a region ruled in its own right.
That wasn't what she wanted to talk to Flora about though, at least not this evening. Laughing quietly at the query, Maea shook her head as she sidled up along the bar, her turn to order coming up little by little. "A request, actually, that you're perfectly welcome to deny. I suspect you don't know this, but I had a companion once - a will-o-wisp - that died many years ago. I never thought it would be possible, but... Mort has granted me a quest to attempt reviving them. Though... I need to speak to those who have made that same transition." Turning her gaze subtly towards the Doubletake, there was nothing but respect and sincerity in her tone; and a bright thread of hope that she fought to keep suppressed, so that the request wouldn't turn into pleading. "If I may... could I ask you about... about how you died? I knew, from the broadcast..." that it had happened at all, yet precious little about why, or what happened afterward.
Maea
// I threw stones at the stars but the whole sky fell //
Sunlit Shadows (mastered) | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered
Deadly Recall | Can recall 1, or 2, or 3 of her feathers to her hand, within a range of 30ft. Recalled daggers do 1/2 damage when recalled.
Rescue (Mastered) | Remi can bring a fellow Old God demigod to his side in a time of crisis for three concurrent posts. One use per thread. If the summoned demigod also has mastered this ability, they can remain until the end of the thread.
Flora hums under her breath, gaze drifting over the flickering lanterns and woven treetops as Maea muses about the fae. "They’ve always hated outsiders," she remarks, tone more observational than judgmental. "Even when the world’s on fire, I bet there’s still some old moss-covered committee clinging to the belief that outlanders and outsiders are the bigger threat." She tilts her head, eyes scanning the crowd again, then shrugs one shoulder.
When Maea begins to explain the reason she called her here, Flora doesn’t interrupt. Doesn’t smile. Her eyes stay fixed ahead until the word reviving lands, and then they flick sidelong with subtle interest—not quite softening, but engaging. At the mention of a will-o-wisp, she blinks once, slow and feline. "No, I didn’t know you had one," she says with a small shake of her head.
But as Maea continues, asking the question Flora’s gotten too used to dodging, the queen exhales through her nose and holds up a finger. "Hang on, I'm absolutely going to need a drink first." Eyeing the line with a soft sigh, the queen combs a finger through a single curl. "It happened here in the Greatwood, actually," she says, quieter now. "Almost right after I’d helped cleanse it. Rae had let me channel them to purge the Mathair, to keep the void from spreading that far. Which should’ve been a win, right? Save the goddess tree, protect the Greatwood... check, check, check."
She leans one elbow on the bar, twisting a ring around her finger and staring daggers into the patrons ahead of them in line, willing them to suddenly give up alcohol and leave altogether.
We need love, But all we want is danger We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
Content to wait however long for her answers, Maea's attention was one of soft focus. If she was excited to even be getting any, she tucked it way back and simply listened instead. Step by step they were ushered along the queue, until efficient bartenders with charming smiles and practiced hands were ready to take their orders.
"Sounds like a win to me," Maea agreed. "That's not something most people would have done. Or could have, even. Some might go so far as call such a feat heroic." Even the most grudging of fae would have to admit as much, after their homeland had been saved by the outsiders they were so opposed to.
Placing an order for something hot and spicy that she wouldn't recall the name of once she turned away, Maea sidled off so Flora could choose her poison. Turning her back to the counter and leaning back on her elbows, she let her gaze drift absently over the crowd. "I gather the Family didn't agree...?"
Maea
// I threw stones at the stars but the whole sky fell //
Sunlit Shadows (mastered) | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered
Deadly Recall | Can recall 1, or 2, or 3 of her feathers to her hand, within a range of 30ft. Recalled daggers do 1/2 damage when recalled.
Rescue (Mastered) | Remi can bring a fellow Old God demigod to his side in a time of crisis for three concurrent posts. One use per thread. If the summoned demigod also has mastered this ability, they can remain until the end of the thread.
Flora’s lips twitch into a not-quite smile at Maea’s word choice, but she doesn’t correct her. Doesn’t agree either. She just lets the compliment hang in the air like incense smoke—sweet, unacknowledged, and faintly disorienting. "Heroic," she echoes, the word rolling off her tongue like it’s in a language she doesn’t quite trust anymore, before shaking her head. "This place used to be my home. It was where I was born."
When it’s her turn, she slides up to the bar with the ease of someone used to commanding attention—bright jewelry clinking, her hand already raised in a slight wave before the bartender can fully make eye contact. "Something citrusy, with a burn," she tells him, then adds, almost as an afterthought, "And if it could come with some deeply satisfying vengeance, that’d be great."
As the bartender nods and moves, Flora leans on her elbows beside Maea, facing the crowd now. From a distance, she could be mistaken for perfectly at ease—weight balanced evenly, head tilted thoughtfully, gold catching the light at her ears and wrists. But up close, there’s too much tension in her fingers where they twist her ring around and around. Her eyes are too still. Too bright. "You gather right," she says finally, voice light but far from soft before some violet flush in the back of her mind softens her shoulders.
"Really it was my fault, though. Obviously the Family weren't going to be happy with me undoing all their hard work, so what was I expecting? And Pierce wasn't actually meant to kill me, just send a warning. It wasn't his fault that Jack was with me at the time, or that the rapier he used can just...deal killing blows."
She pauses as her drink arrives, curling her fingers around the glass. It’s bright yellow, sharp-smelling, a halo in liquid form. "Having Jack die in my arms was the worst part." That was certainly true, violet-overlay or not. Finally, she lifts the glass and takes a slow sip, eyes narrowing as the burn hits the back of her throat. When she sets it down again, her fingers tap the rim, rhythmic and restless.
"Anyway. What was it you needed to know?"
We need love, But all we want is danger We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
That was certainly news to Maea, and she said as much. "I had no idea. I thought you were always in Torchline..." Come to think of it, she didn't even know who Flora's mother was. Whatever must have occurred for Remi to approach a woman at all, when he'd been with Ronin for so many years at this point? Questions were crowding in, none of them her business at all - nor did it really matter. At least it explained why Flora would have risked so much for another region; more, she thought, than even Vi's Roses warranted.
Jack's name was vaguely familiar, though she couldn't quite place it. "Who is he?" she asked, accepting her drink when it was passed along. Lazy coils of steam rose into the air and scattered in the draft of milling bodies. A careless sip revealed it to be both hot and well-spiced, leaving a burn on her tongue and a pleasant glow in her throat as it went down.
"I was told to learn about your experience in coming back to life," she explained simply. "What you felt, how you adjusted... as my Shii will need to go through all that, too." Her own experiences were only that, after all, and her eagerness to retrieve her soul-bonded blinded her to possible pitfalls or sides to revival that she had not - could not - understand on her own. "If you want to talk about it. If you don't, I understand. It is... not an easy topic, even between close friends."
Maea
// I threw stones at the stars but the whole sky fell //
Sunlit Shadows (mastered) | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered
Deadly Recall | Can recall 1, or 2, or 3 of her feathers to her hand, within a range of 30ft. Recalled daggers do 1/2 damage when recalled.
Rescue (Mastered) | Remi can bring a fellow Old God demigod to his side in a time of crisis for three concurrent posts. One use per thread. If the summoned demigod also has mastered this ability, they can remain until the end of the thread.
"Nope, born here. Grew up in the woods," Flora explains, shrugging one shoulder. "I lived mostly with my nonna and my twin in the Wildwood." Back then Ronin had hated the mere presence of she and Enzo and so the pair had to be kept far away from him. "I moved to Torchline just a little bit before the war," she explains, her gaze far off, considering something in her mindseye before the conversation adjusts itself.
There's a moment of raw clarity as Maea mentions Jack, a reminder of just how tightly her personal and public lives are intertwined, and how little of her story is truly her own anymore, despite how many pieces of it were known by others. "Jack," she starts, the name rolling off her tongue with a mix of fondness and pain. "He's my..." Boyfriend certainly didn't seem like the right word, especially since she hadn't heard from him for days now, the thought of which has scarlet colouring the queen's cheeks. She sips her drink again, the liquid a slow burn down her throat, mirroring the ache of old wounds reopened. "..we're together. He was the one who brought me to the Greatwood actually, as a birthday thing."
Flora shifts slightly, the movement subtle but filled with intent as she sets her glass down with a gentle clink. "As for coming back," she continues, turning to face Maea more directly, her expression sobering. "I mean I'm sure I don't have to tell you." Maea had died at least once that Flora knew of; twice if she thought hard enough about it. "There’s a... a coldness that lingers. Like shadows clinging to your skin long after the light has gone."
She pauses, her gaze drifting over the bustling crowd, not really seeing them. "And it isn't even that..it's like, everyone says oh no, I'm so sorry or like, ohmygods, that's crazy, but none of them can ever understand? What it feels like to die?"
We need love, But all we want is danger We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
Folding away the name and the relation and tucking it alongside other names of people to possibly ask this delicate question to, Maea hummed in acknowledgement. The more she learned of Flora's life, the less she understood about her. What had seemed so simple, about a self-absorbed and haughty woman who didn't hesitate to bully others for the fun of it, grew increasingly complex. Maybe she was all those things, but she was also bold, and brave, and the kind of selfless that would fight for her homeland, and suffer through the consequences even as she moved forward. One grueling step at a time. Maea thought that she might have preferred not to know all those things. Resenting someone was easy in comparison to whatever this was; comfortable, because she didn't have to understand any of the motives that drove the young queen. So, so terribly young; what had Maea ever accomplished at that age? Before anything even began, before outlanders and the Voice and the monumental night when the Sparkbird landed on the Temple square, so very long ago.
Rubbing her fingers over the brow, she huffed a weak semblance of a laugh, shaking her head. "I know what it was like for me, to come back and find that everything I'd ever wanted or strived for was out of reach," she replied, gaze turning distant upon recalling those cold, lonely days. "But... that's my experience. Even though I can relate... in the end, you and I are very different people. I suspect the way you felt and what you did is very different from me." Taking a sip of her drink, Maea ran her tongue over the teeth, tasting something bitter that likely had nothing to do with the spices. "For one, you didn't turn your back on everything and give up, right...?"
Maea
// I threw stones at the stars but the whole sky fell //
Sunlit Shadows (mastered) | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered
Deadly Recall | Can recall 1, or 2, or 3 of her feathers to her hand, within a range of 30ft. Recalled daggers do 1/2 damage when recalled.
Rescue (Mastered) | Remi can bring a fellow Old God demigod to his side in a time of crisis for three concurrent posts. One use per thread. If the summoned demigod also has mastered this ability, they can remain until the end of the thread.
Flora turns to Maea, her expression softening slightly. "No, I get that." She might have remained queen post-death, and her boyfriend (or whatever he was) might have told her that he loved her for the first time because of it (arguably both good things), but the world was still falling apart around her, and she'd been forced to the sidelines.
Flora's eyes follow the flow of the crowd, but her mind is anchored in the conversation, absorbing Maea's perspective with a quiet intensity that rarely surfaces so openly. "Give up?" she echoes softly, the words tinged with a blend of amusement and melancholy. "I mean...for a while, I guess you could call what I did giving up." She admits before taking another sip of her drink, the sharpness of the citrus mingling with the burn of the spices, mirroring the complexity of her thoughts. "I couldn't sleep for weeks. I was terrified to go anywhere, especially the Greatwood. And...I mean, I didn't do shit against the Family or the Void, just like I was told, so.."
Was it giving up? Someone like Jack would have said it was just bein' smart, but gods, who knew anymore.
"But all of that probably has more to do with being murdered than just dying.." Flora admits after a moment, blinking herself back into the moment and focusing on Maea.
We need love, But all we want is danger We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
She supposed there might be a difference, between dying a violent death and drifting off in your sleep. "Remi might know," she mused, recalling what she had seen of the Lullaby's work. "I've only gone out in the middle of a fight – whether or not you call Melita's arrows murder or not, there was nothing peaceful about it." And Maea didn't know how to feel about it, wasn't sure what to ask even if the Honeybee was willing to talk.
Trying to take her fingers through the hair only to remember it was done up, Maea glanced at Flora. "What kept you going, in the end? You're here now, working hard, or so it looks to me. What gets you out of bed in the morning, after everything?" That felt like the crucial part. Being brought back meant little if you kept longing for death. Her own motivations had everything to do with gratitude, with guilt, with responsibility of making the most of a chance that could have gone to another.
Maea
// I threw stones at the stars but the whole sky fell //
Sunlit Shadows (mastered) | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered
Deadly Recall | Can recall 1, or 2, or 3 of her feathers to her hand, within a range of 30ft. Recalled daggers do 1/2 damage when recalled.
Rescue (Mastered) | Remi can bring a fellow Old God demigod to his side in a time of crisis for three concurrent posts. One use per thread. If the summoned demigod also has mastered this ability, they can remain until the end of the thread.
No doubt Remi would know, and yet ever since the Bastion had pulled his little stunt between she and Jack, Flora had keep their interactions brief. Not even bringing her back from the dead fully eased her bitterness about the fight he'd gotten into with her boyfriend. "From where I was standing, those arrows weren't what did you in," Flora points out with a slow shrug. Her tone was light, even if she didn't acknowledge that it had or hadn't been Melita, seeing no need to backtrack over recently smoothed ground with the ancient.
The question has Flora laughing with a brightness that even she finds surprising. "Bitterness? Stupidity? Stubbornness?" Rolling her eyes in a self-depricating manner, the queen shakes her head. "I'm sure you'd get a different answer depending on who you ask, but I think it's one of those things where...y'know, cause everyone is against this, stubbornness gets called resolve and recklessness gets called bravery."
Really, the way that Flora and Maea went about doing what they thought was right and trying to make up for past wrongs wasn't so terribly different. Flora just had a better PR team.
We need love, But all we want is danger We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
