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!
"A very good healer and a lot of luck," Ronin confessed, and Rory twirled a piece of Bakshi's mane between his fingers. It was habit, and soothing; whenever there wasn't a pony around he ended up very obviously fidgeting instead.
Luck, indeed. Of course, there had been survivors before, but usually because they had legged it before the monster got to them as well. If it actually got a hold of you, well... Rory studied Ronin for a moment. A very good healer. Isla, perhaps? But he did not ask, just let the implication sit in his mind: Ronin had been injured by the guardian. And someone had been able to put him back together.
It was impressive, to say the least. He even wanted to call it hopeful, but this change, even if it would turn out to be good, was too sudden. So he chose not to think about it for now.
"We've never seen any droppings or anything indicating it processes food, and it's always here so it's not like it can leave to forage either. I remember stories of my great-great-grandmother and some of her friends antagonizing it in shifts, just to see if it'd get tired. It didn't. It was pointless and costly in lives and limbs, so they stopped after a few days."
He sighed. Was it alive? It was obviously sentient to some degree and moved—like an animal. But it did very little except guard the Spire. It had no mate, no offspring, and nothing in the stories indicating it was anything but the same creature that had been there three hundred years ago. It reminded him a little of the Ascended. Were they alive, strictly speaking?
"Ronin," he said after a moment, trying the name out. Then he snorted. "Ronin, Remi, and Rory. Sounds like a bunch of kids being up to no good." He wasn't sure if their sense of humor worked as his, but he found it amusing, and Remi's beaming smile was enough to make him feel strange things about this unexpected apparent friendship. He wasn't really used to such a fresh optimism. "I'm sure many people have, but as far as I know, it's been a while since anyone did a concentrated effort. I bet there's records and journals in the Atheneum, if you can get in there. Maybe someone in the settlement knows more."
Ronin, at least, relaxed as Remi finally came to join them, glancing back at Rory and listening carefully as he spoke. He was glad for his friend there to take notes on all of this; they could never be sure how much information was readily available, and they could not risk making any assumptions about this thing. Speaking of which... "Your great-great-grandmother?" His eyes widened, Ronin letting out a low whistle. "That must make it almost as old as the Spire, surely?" From the little he had heard in bits and pieces, the obsidian shard had simply appeared one day. Or something.
Tearing his attention from the solemn monolith and back to Rory, he let out a warm laugh at the other man's description of them. "Well, we're already somewhere we shouldn't be, roped in by another of our group." So saying, he nudged Remi gently. "The Atheneum, you say? Luckily enough, Remi and I have a mutual friend who is something of an expert in words and books. Perhaps he will be able to tell us more."
Remi glanced upon from his notebook page—now covered in his strange but beautiful handwriting— to glance at Rory from beneath a curtain of curls. Given how young Remi was when his mother died and what a terrible man his father had been, Remi knew very little about his extended family. A melancholy sort of smile spread across his face as Rory mentioned his great-great-grandmother, and Remi wondered what it would be like to have roots that ran that deep.
Rory's comment about them being some sort of boy-gang made the alchemist laugh out loud and shake his head. It wasn't that he disagreed, it was just so perfectly absurd that he couldn't help the childish grin from spreading out across his features.
Trying to keep his expression neutral as Ronin nudged him, Remi nodded and cleared his throat slightly shooting Ronin a look that said, Sure, if we can even find him there. But then again if the Atheneum was were Loren had been holing himself away, he probably would have been studying up on pertinent information.
"So once again you are suggesting I spend less time here? The both of you?" Remi asked, looking back and forth with a mischevious look between the two men.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
It was strange, honestly—he'd never thought he'd meet anyone to who all of this information was news. Everyone in Caido had their own observations and theories, their own experiences and losses, but some things were just known by everyone, told to them as they grew up. And those who chose to not believe the full extent of these stories usually met a gruesome end. When he thought about it, they knew quite much about the monster and its habits, but nothing that put them any closer to freedom.
The idea of an entirely different life was .. daunting.
"Give or take a few greats," he said, suddenly self-conscious by Ronin's reaction. He didn't know how much truth there was to the story either. The idea of any group of warriors managing to taunt the monster for days without them all dying was.. a little too glorified, he thought. "And yeah, the way the story's told is that whenever.. whenever that-" He waved his free hand towards the looming Spire. "-happened, the monster came with it. That's one thing almost everyone agrees on."
Fortunately, none of them told him he was an idiot for his remark about their names; Remi even laughed, once more giving rise to those complicated feelings Rory loathed so. It felt strange to be capable of making such a learned and graceful man laugh, even though he seemed very easy-going.
Looking amused, Rory gave his head a slow shake. "I do," he confirmed to Remi, and while there was a lightness in his voice, there was also something grave lurking behind it in his eyes. Overestimating your ability to get away was one way to die here. His gaze lingered a second more on the Alchemist, before he turned it back to Ronin. "If anyone wrote down things from our earlier days, it's bound to be in the Aethenum, or lost to relatives of the original author." He hesitated for a moment then, once again putting his free hand against the pony's neck for comfort. "I'd.. I'd be interested in knowing if you find anything in there," he finally said, self-conscious about his request.
"Sorry, was it too subtle? Shall I make it more obvious?" Ronin grinned at Remi. "Very well - yes, I am most definitely suggesting that you spend less time here. In fact, maybe we all ought to head to the Atheneum right now. You'll get more information there than you will from that thing." He cast his gaze back at the Spire, scanning it with a soldier's eyes until he could confirm that there was no immediate danger slinking out to meet them.
As Rory spoke up once more Ronin gave him his full attention - regardless of whether or not it was rumour or hearsay, it came from a source much closer to the truth than he ever would be. Having just been thrown onto this rock, the ex-captain didn't have much of a clue at all, and any potential details were precious to him. He nodded to the other man, smiling to him reassuringly. "Of course," he said. "Anything we find is important to all of us. Where can we find you? Or if you'd prefer, that Temple in the Sanctuary seems to be a pretty good meeting place."
As both men very clearly indicated that they were not joking about his time spent staring at the spire, the alchemist could only sigh with and roll his eyes good-naturedly. "So you say." Remi said with a dismissive shrug, grinning at his friend but still unsure whether or not he'd actually follow orders. Though it was certainly in Remi's nature to be quite obedient and submissive, as of late he'd found that it felt rather good to act as he thought he should, rather than how the world thought he should. Then again, in this matter specifically both Ronin and Rory had more evidence to go off of. Perhaps he should listen.
For some reason the thought of having Rory and Loren in the same room made the alchemist feel quite uncertain. Perhaps it was simply because in all encounters with the kind-eyed natural his people had treated him quite abrasively and no doubt Loren would do the same. Perhaps it was something else. Either way, Remi thought perhaps a meeting at a later date would serve them all better.
"I know Isla and I were going to run a few experiments. Perhaps we could meet at the Temple in a week or so? See if we've found anything to share and discuss?"
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Rory watched in silent amusement as Ronin put things more clearly for Remi, and while there was a lightness to the exchange—even in Remi's response, rolling his eyes while seeming to shrug it off—Rory figured it was genuine care. It was strange to watch two old friends, with their own habits and security in their interactions. It made him feel even more like the stranger, when it was them who had come to this place, and not the other way around.
He figured the difference was unity. While he'd heard the talk go around town that not everyone was from this Northaven, they all shared something: they had been deposited here. The Naturals had, perhaps, had unity when the calamity had first happened, but they had lost it. They weren't in this together in any way. They all just happened to live here and happened to have no way out.
"I live on the border between the fields and the woodlands, near the Outskirts. Just look for goats," he responded to Ronin's question, thinking it was probably safe to tell them where he lived. And if they showed up when his sister was home and he wasn't, well, perhaps she'd thank him for the opportunity to meet two handsome men. Maybe it'd take her mind off things. Or maybe she'd just take it out on him later. Depended on her mood, really.
The idea that Ronin had included him in the suggestion to head for the Atheneum felt both weird and good—honestly, what about being included by people who seem important and good doesn't make you, too, feel good? Yet he looked for a way out of it in his mind. Rory wasn't great with the written language, and he'd hate to come there and then confess that he was useless.
Fortunately, Remi saved him. "That sounds like a good idea," Rory agreed rather brightly.
"So I say," Ronin agreed with a grin, seeming relaxed at least now that they seemed to have both a goal in mind and a person who had lived here for long enough to put any potential rumours to rest before they went following a cold trail. Just look for goats might be one of the stranger directions that the ex-captain had received, it was certainly clear enough. Ronin nodded to Rory, already beginning to put a few steps between him and that blasted Spire. The sooner he was away from it again the better, even if he had snuck out here to spy on the thing himself.
It did sound like a good idea, Ronin smiling to Remi. "Ever the practical one," he said. "Alright, we'll call it two weeks. In the meantime, should we find anything we'll come and find you at the outskirts, Rory? Thank you, by the way, for all of your help. It might not seem like much but... even learning about this place helps."
"Better than the repeatedly stabbed one." Remi shot back with a grin, remembering their first meeting together (and not the baywatch part of it either). Following with no more antics to indicate his displeasure, Remi listened as Ronin spoke to his/their new friend. It made Remi's heart feel a good deal lighter that this interaction had gone better than the one with Elyna. There was a kindness in Rory that Remi somehow wanted to defend. An injustice that Elyna had committed by being so immediately hostile, and though he couldn't blame Ronin for his initial reaction either, teh former-captain's assertiveness had made Remi wanted to stand protectively before their new blue-eyed friend, even though he seemed more than able to take care of himself.
"Goats." Remi said with a crooked smile in Rory's direction. Even if he didn't need the man, plotting out the landscape with regard to what animals were located where sounded a bit intriguing. Perhaps if he found himself with nothing to do he'd seek out Rory's goats simply to know exactly where they were. And where the man who owned them was.
"Well since my afternoon of sketching has been so rudely interrupted, I had better get back." Offering both Ronin and Rory a smile, Remi closed his book with an exaggerated snap and set off for his shop.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Oh, ha." Ronin rolled his eyes playfully, rubbing at his side where he recalled quite clearly being nicked with a blade on the day he and Remi had first met. Luckily he hadn't run into the same misfortune any other time he and the alchemist had been together, though lurking about the Spire was probably just asking for trouble. So, flashing the other man a grin at the claim of rudely interrupting him, he shrugged his shoulders and clapped Remi on the back. "Rather you be interrupted than dead," he pointed out, raising his hand to bid him farewell as he set off.
As Remi headed away from the Spire and back towards the Settlement, Ronin turned to Rory and gave another small bow. "It looks as though we managed to stop his curiosity from getting him in over his head for now. Or at least we may have redirected it towards books rather than monsters. Until we meet next, Rory." Wasting no further time, Ronin would also head off, back towards the Sanctuary where he could pretend not to be paranoid about the monster prowling so close by.
