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!
11-02-2019, 02:42 AM (This post was last modified: 11-02-2019, 07:31 PM by Loren.)
LOREN
After getting everything squared away at the Manor (which had taken far longer than the Launceleyn had anticipated for various reasons), Loren had decided to see exactly how far the mysterious mud had spread. So he’d set out, Astra by his side, to follow the brown and slimy substance out from the domiciles, to the fields and the forest and finally to the edge of the former boundary where the barrier had stood.
There, he’d halted: he really wasn’t sure whether his ban started at the Sidhe Village or if he wasn’t allowed in the Greatwood at all. Given that he was on thin ice with the Fae—and only really knew one of them individually and didn’t know how to contact her—and given that tensions were high between the Fae and the people of the Hollowed Grounds, he’d decided not to risk it. Instead, he just eyed the woods in front of him as he knelt down to inspect the muddy ground.
Even now, one side of the vegetation was markedly different, though the edge was blurring a little bit. Granted, it was hard to tell where the barrier had been under all the mud, which squelched underfoot and in his hands as he lifted it and pressed it down and prodded it. He wasn’t at all bothered by the fact that he was filthy; he simply kept rolling it around between his palms as he watched the trees and pondered whether a quick trip under the trees was worth the risk. Eventually, though, he grew bored of simply making simple shapes idly, and decided to challenge himself by making more elaborate shapes. Each time he tried, though, it collapsed, almost as if it was doing it on purpose.
Delphia had yet to venture into the Hollowed Grounds. They bothered her deeply - a place filled with death, contained too long in one spot, contaminated and twisted by it. Such concentration of dead energy over such a length of time had surely distorted the creations of Vi and Rae within, the balance of worlds unseen so heavily off kilter. There could never be as many things alive as there were things dead after all. Life was ephemeral. Death was eternal.
And yet, the place called to her. As much as she was disturbed by the sheer density of the air in the place, knowing it unbalanced and therefore alarming, she felt at home with it. Wherever death was found, his daughter was not far behind after all. Such was her purpose. So she paced the edge of the forest and the grounds, hands tucked deeply into pockets of a hooded coat, steel eyes staring off and away are planes of existence mortals merely dreamed of. As she marched, she happened upon a fellow playing the mud, and she watched quietly for a time. Her head tilted lightly, listening for his ancestors but no voices came. How strange. "Recreating childhood by making mud pies?" she asked, face expressionless but pale eyes filled with unwarranted warmth.
At the unfamiliar voice, both Astra and Loren glanced up. It belonged to an equally unfamiliar woman: she was incredibly tall, with bluish-grey eyes that contained a strangely haunted and glowing expression, long and slim limbs, and messy hair. She was more striking than his own still too thin frame and sharp features. Her comment caused him to glance back down at the mud. Even if the short amount of time he’d looked away, his latest structure had collapsed. In fact, it almost looked like it was fleeing; he blocked one stream of it, and it slunk away, before making a break for another gap until it was blocked by a strategically timed hoof from Astra.
”I never made mud pies as a child.” Nor did he have any interest in recreating his horrific childhood. Still, his voice came out friendly enough. He even gave her a small smile. ”I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Loren Launceleyn.” He took a short break from corralling the mud—Astra took over, getting into the activity with a great deal more enthusiasm than the summoner had—to show her his hands. ”I uh, would offer to shake your hand, but they’re a bit dirty at the moment.”
Then a particularly large glob of mud tried to make a break for it and the Launceleyn dove to block it. That just seemed to encourage it, and it shot directly towards the only direction currently unguarded. Which just so happened to be right in the path of the stranger.
look at how a single candle can both
defy and define the darkness
"Delphia Thanatos." she said, watching the Luxere play with the mud. A ghost of a smile curved her lips as she did so. She had never gotten so close to a Luxere, as wary as they were of all things affiliated with death. Such beautiful, joyful creatures though. Vi and Rae had quite the stroke of genius in creating such creatures. But soon enough her gaze turned back to Loren as he apologized for the state of his hands. "Mud has a way of doing that to one's hands." she said softly, the smile only visible in the warmth of her gaze.
Delphia reacted quickly as the mud shot towards her, scooping it up in a hand. "What a wonderfully misunderstood thing Rae has made. Why don't you play nice with Loren and his Luxere friend? You might like it, silly thing." she said, setting the blob of mud down. Slowly, almost begrudgingly, it glooped its way back to whence it came.
Alright, the woman wasn’t someone the summoner had ever met or heard of before. Astra didn’t immediately go over, which wasn’t a great sign, but the luxere also wasn’t making the anxious bleating sound she made when she was afraid, so Loren figured it was safe enough. ”Nice to meet you Delphia. Oh, and this is Astra.” At the woman’s comment about mud, he let out a huff of laughter. ”It does at that” If the mud hadn’t been everywhere, he wouldn’t be out here trying to get it to stay in one spot.
When Delphia brought up Rae, the Launceleyn gave her a curious look. ”How do you know Rae made it?” However, as he watched, the blob of mud started slowly oozing its way back to him. ”Is it...is it alive somehow?” She clearly knew more about it than the summoner did. When it got close, however, he leaned forward and picked it up, bringing it to his lips so he could whisper to it (it was a stage whisper, so the woman would easily hear it). ”Don’t tell her I told you, but I think Delphia misses you.” With that, Loren turned it around—well, he hoped, it was hard to tell with mud—and set it down. Obligingly, it began slopping its way back towards Delphia.
look at how a single candle can both
defy and define the darkness
"Astra? What a fitting name. Your antlers do look like Safrin's stars." she said with a ghost of a smile at the small deer.
How did she know Rae made it? What a funny question. "Rae makes everything in nature. They are the great sculptor of the materials Vi creates, adding depth and inspiration to the gifts he sends to Mort to cherish for lifetimes." she said sagely. Such was the state of the world. Who else would make such a funny little thing of dirt and melted memory snow? "All things are alive. This just happens to be in a way you can perceive." she said.
As the mud glooped its way back towards her, she ran her fingers over it lovingly, as if she were petting a dog or cat. "Why are you trying to control it?" she asked.
It was a fitting name, for more reasons than Delphia knew. Loren smiled, though it had a bit of a sad edge to it. ”I thought so too.” Astra, for her part, flicked her ears at the woman, then trotted over to Loren for a quick head rub; now that the mud was of less interest to the luxere, she was perfectly happy to go back to her regularly scheduled affect. The summoner, of course, obliged.
As Delphia explained how she knew the mud was alive, the Launceleyn listened carefully. It was pretty basic—though she was wrong, about all creations coming from the gods, as The Voice and his own magic could attest to, though nature might’ve been the key word here—and he nodded at the end. ”You seem to know a lot about the gods.” It was rare for anyone to speak with such certainty about the heralds, let alone the higher powers. At her next comment, though, he gave her a quizzical look. ”What do you mean, everything is alive?” He glanced at a stone that the slippery and moving mud had exposed. That particular statement from her seemed patently false; although he knew more about this world than he had, thanks to Oia’i’o, the Launceleyn couldn’t begin to imagine how completely inanimate were alive.
At Delphia’s question, he paused. He hadn’t exactly been thinking about it in those terms, but he supposed it was one way of looking at it. ”Because it’s making life incredibly difficult for everyone in the Hollowed Grounds.” Like all people, he supposed he was just trying to tame nature for his own health, safety, and comfort.
look at how a single candle can both
defy and define the darkness
At his statement about her knowledge, a clear expression finally broke through. The corners of her eyes crinkled as she smiled, laughing lightly in amusement at his generous understatement. "I should hope so, as I am the child of one." she said, the amusement shining through in her voice as well.
Her eyes followed his gaze to the stone, and she nodded in acknowledgment of his confusion. "All things were first made by Caido. Then Vi and Rae began to shape the world after them. All that is created by the divine is in some way a reflection of their will and mind, and inso doing imbued with spirit - leaving endless possibilities for how they might develop over time. Sometimes these manifest as low level beings only a rare few can see and understand. Sometimes it manifests in forming attachments with a more complex soul, keeping them earthbound when it is time to go to Mort." she said, and though her expression had once again gone passive, she looked at Loren with fond eyes. "There are worlds you cannot see, existing on a plane you cannot comprehend, but that does not make them any less alive, unless you limit your mind so narrowly."
Delphia nodded in understanding though as he explained the state of the Hollowed Grounds. "I see, so a human conundrum then, trying to control that which cannot be easily understood due to convenience or hardship." she said, gently nudging the mud back towards Loren. "Even the simplest creatures like to be treated with respect, dignity, and kindness. Perhaps that will help you coax the mud out where it can coexist with you peacefully."
What the fuck was going on? First, there’d been Oia’i’o, the child of Rae. The first natural born demi-god the summoner had ever met. Then there’d been her twin, Kai: shocking, yes, but twins he could deal with. The summoner was a twin himself, after all. Other than Ronin, those two were the only demi-gods the Launceleyn knew of in the entirety of Caido. And now there was a fourth, and he felt himself growing a bit confused; the barrier had been down for a while now, so there had to be another explanation for their influx. ”Wait, really? Which one?” He’d have prayed that it was one of the minor ones, if the subject at hand hadn’t been, well, the gods. That seemed blasphemous.
Still, the presence of another child of one of the major gods would surely herald something. And in Caido, omens were almost never good.
He listened carefully to her explanation about life and the gods. It tracked with his understanding of them, though the mention of Caido caused him to frown. ”Caido...created the world?” That was new to the Launceleyn. He’d thought it was just the name of the world, not an actual being in and of itself. Shaking his head, he felt his pedantic defenses coming up at the last comment Delphia made. ”If I can’t perceive them, then they’re not real to me.” It was an old philosophic debate: seeing was believing, and the world was as they perceived it because they didn’t know anything else. He was simplifying, but he really didn’t want to want to get in long back in forth. He’d been there with Oia’i’o already.
Again, he wasn’t trying to debate a demi-god. However, Delphia seemed to feel quite strongly that Loren’s actions were wrong, somehow. Giving her a curious look, the summoner bit his lip. ”It’s mud. Can it even feel pain or discomfort, or anything at all?” His eyes narrowed. ”And aren’t you human? At least in part?” Still, he scooped up the mud and petted it. ”Sorry buddy. Didn’t mean to frighten you. Wanna keep playing?” He set it down and the mud made a break for for Astra, who blocked it, so it glomped towards Delphia once more. Weirdly enough, it seemed more eager now. Maybe it was just eager to make its escape.
look at how a single candle can both
defy and define the darkness
"My father is Mort." Delphia said with ease, great fondness, and with complete disregard to how off putting that might be to those who had a more "normal" view of Death and it's place in the world. But she continued to nod as Loren asked after the oldest of the gods. "The world is named for its creator, Caido." she said, patient enough to answer questions that could have easily been found in any number of books. Surely the Hollowed Grounds had books? What a terrible existence if they did not.
"Ah, I see. So you choose the narrow frame of reference. It is a comfortable lens for most." she said. Though the words themselves might seem chiding, her tone and expression lacked it entirely. She wouldn't and couldn't blame anyone for not believing in the things they saw. A human mind could only understand so much, and some were not nearly as open as others to changes in their perception of reality.
Her head tilted at Loren's question, confused by it. "Does it matter if it can or can't? Do only those things that can feel deserve dignity?" she asked, curious as to his thoughts on the matter. Her gaze dropped to the lump of animated mud as he asked if she were human, and she fell silent for a moment. "Yes, my mother was human. And I do struggle with the same impulses of humanity from time to time. I work very hard though to exist in the world in a way that would make my father proud." she said, glancing back up at him. Briefly she smiled, before it fell from her lips and only remained in her steely eyes. "It isn't a bad thing to be human and to do human things though. It is how you are, and all that Vi and Rae create are perfect as they are." she said, gently coaxing the mud back towards Loren when it reached her.
Well, shit. Now they just needed a demi-god child of Vi to complete the trifecta. While Delphia hadn’t displayed any spectacular powers—not like Oia’i’o or Kai had, at least, with their ability to manipulate the environment around them—Loren had no reason to doubt that the strange woman was the child of Mort. After all, lying about that sort of thing was probably a quick way to get smited. Smote? Whatever. His mind was wandering as he tried to process this information.
In fact, it was so overwhelming that he chuckled briefly. ”I see. Is there a reason the children of the higher powers are congregating on the Hollowed Grounds?” One was a fluke, two was a twin, but a third couldn’t be a coincidence. And if there was something behind this, the summoner wanted to be prepared. However, nothing could prepare him for hearing that there was a power above even Vi, Rae, and Mort. ”Caido created everything then?” He was parroting Delphia’s comments, but frankly this was a lot, especially on a brain that was already overwhelmed with new information.
Sighing, he rubbed his temples. ”I didn’t choose this frame of reference. It’s the only one I am capable of perceiving so I have to assume it’s true.” That didn’t make it right, it just was what it was. As for the mud itself, the Launceleyn glanced at the blob as it slid across the ground. ”If it can’t feel, it still might be worthy of dignity. But if it makes life more difficult for me, I won’t feel bad if I try to get it to leave me alone.” Sure, maybe that made him selfish and not as good as the demi-gods, who seemed to coexist peacefully with nature. But he wasn’t a demi-god, and his frame of reference was apparently far different from theirs.
He found his fingers drumming a beat as he considered the rest of what Delphia told him. ”Why not make your mother proud as well?” That seemed callous, to only care about one parent. Granted, Loren had barely known his mother, and his father had been cruel. For a long time, the summoner had still tried to make his family proud. No more though, and not just because they were gone.
However, Delphia’s comment about it not being bad to be a human stood in stark contrast to her comment about only pleasing her immortal father. ”But you don’t want to be human? And what about when those creations are in conflict with each other?” As the glob of mud finally reached him, the Launceleyn didn’t bother to touch it again. Instead, he made some water in the shape of a tiny dog, and had it chase the mud. For its part, the mud seemed bewildered if not displeased by this development, allowing it to be herded back to Delphia.
look at how a single candle can both
defy and define the darkness
”I cannot speak for any but myself.” Delphia said to qualify first. What Oia and Kai did at the behest of Rae was no concern of hers, and vice versa. If she could assist, she would gladly, but it was not a priority either. ”But for 300 years the dead were held by Ludo in this place. It is…suffused with the energy of the dead in addition to those who lost their way or could not otherwise reach Ludo with ease. I am here to help these beings move on to Mort, and to soothe and cleanse the overabundance of death here, to restore balance between life, nature, and death.” A glorified trash collector, a human cousin had teased her once, cleaning up after Mort and Ludo. But she never saw it that way. It was beautiful to see balance restored, and an honor to be part of the process.
”Yes, Caido created the world. The gods act within Caido’s creation.” she confirmed, nodding.
She smirked a bit, a low chuckle escaping her lips. ”A great many people choose to believe in things they cannot perceive. Perhaps you should consider giving your mind more freedom – it can be taxing to live within a confined mindset I would think.” she said, shrugging a bit. It was up to him in the end, but she thought that limiting oneself in such a way when life was so short was unnecessary. ”Have you considered that you might be making life more difficult for it?” she asked softly, reaching out to pet the little pile of mud as it was chased back towards her. Her eyes briefly followed the water dog scampering across the grass, but soon enough she looked back to the blob of mud, not nearly so impressed by the magic as others might be. ”You have seen that speaking to it kindly can make it behave. Perhaps asking it nicely to leave you alone is all you need to do?”
Her eyes flicked up to meet his as he asked about her mother. For a moment she didn’t move, taken off guard by the question, but her expression melted into a warm smile and light laugh. ”My mother has been proud of me since the day I was conceived. She knew I was meant to exist in a limbo between divine and human, and she encouraged my focus on my divine purpose and empathy towards my fellow human. She still does.” she said softly, knowing that even in Mort’s realm, her mother smiled on her fondly, heart swelling with pride even on her worst days.
”I do not wish to be what I am not, and I am not wholly human, nor am I wholly divine. I accept that I will never fully be able to live up to the expectations of either, but will do my best to embrace both. It is…a bit like living in a constant state of contradiction.” she said with a light laugh, unable to explain it better than that. ”Conflict between the creations is bound to happen. Some rely on the others for survival. Others try to coexist on limited resources.” she said, shrugging again. This was more nature talk, and a bit outside her realm of expertise. ”But even in conflict there is beauty. In struggle, there is grace. All that makes life so difficult is what makes it so perfect. But in that way, I am my father’s daughter, for I love all of life wholeheartedly, as Mort loves Vi unconditionally.”
Delphia had seemed perfectly happy speaking for the mud, earlier, but Loren wisely kept his mouth shut as she talked about her own assignment. However, he frowned, slightly; as far as the Launceleyn knew, Ludo’s only job was to escort souls to Mort. ”What are you going to do to find lost souls that a god cannot? And what overabundance of death?” As far as the summoner knew, the Hollowed Grounds (both the people and the environment) were no less violent than the rest of Caido. Or at least the Fae seemed to be a warlike people, from everything he’d heard and experienced.
”So where is Caido?” If the Hollowed Grounds were so out of balance, surely the highest god of them all must want to do something about it. However, as far as Loren knew, no one had ever spoken to the god of all the world. In fact, very few had even spoken to the higher old gods, although it seemed their children were well familiar with them.
Though it wasn’t Delphia’s fault, the summoner was getting a bit tired of being evaluated and found wanting by demi-gods. After all, they’d got along just fine without them before now: Ronin was barely a presence, and Kai, Oia’i’o, and Delphia hadn't done much of anything and yet all seemed convinced that they were superior. Maybe that was true, maybe the rest of them were beneath the demi-gods, but the Launceleyn didn’t need to like it. Plus, he'd been told time and time again that it took time and effort to prove himself. As far as he was concerned, that applied to children of divine beings as well. ”My mind is flexible enough for me, thank you. And I know the gods exist. That doesn’t mean I have to have faith or believe in them, not when they seem to have little faith in me and my kind.” Yeah, maybe he wasn’t as over the whole Abandoned thing as he’d thought.
As the child of Mort asked Loren if he’d thought that he was causing problems for the mud, he raised his eyebrows. ”How?” As far as he could perceive, he couldn’t make life difficult for something that didn’t feel or think. ”Why should I? I’m a creation of the gods as well. I thought I could do no wrong in their eyes.” Unlike Oia’i’o, who presented information about the world dispassionately, or Kai, who did so with a great deal of enthusiasm and curiosity, Delphia seemed to be at least a little bit judgmental with her smirks and her chuckles and her criticism of the Launceleyn’s way of life. Still, his voice and his questions came out politely enough. Maybe he was becoming desensitized to shocks from demi-gods.
Her explanation of her mother was interesting. ”That’s good.” Granted, Loren thought Delphia’s mother was still alive, having not quite grasped that the demi-god spoke to spirits. How could he, based on the lack of evidenced she’d provided? As she talked about embracing her humanity, Loren smiled. It slipped away as she talked about finding beauty in all things, and of the conflict inherent in nature. ”How are you embracing your human half?” She had her task from her father, that much was true. However, the summoner didn’t see how she was planning to get down to earth. Still, his tone was filled with a simple and genuine curiosity.
look at how a single candle can both
defy and define the darkness
”Many hands make light work.” she said simply, shrugging a bit at his question. Just because Ludo was the godly soul guide did not mean they were everywhere all at once, or that they did not have other things they needed to attend to that she could not. As far as his second question, she pondered for a moment how best to explain. ”It is not that there is more death than usual, but that the souls of the dead were stuck in the same place for so long. It isn’t the natural balance. People die and their souls are ferried to Mort. For them to simply sit and wait and gather in such numbers in one place…well…one could say there were more dead things residing inside the barrier than living things at any one time. That is not how it should be. It is why Mort’s realm is separate from the realm in which Vi creates.” she explained patiently.
And as for Caido, she frowned a bit, looking up towards the sky. ”I don’t know. No one has heard from Caido in a long time as far as I am aware.” she said softly. Whether Mort knew the exact location and state of Caido was not something he had shared with her, nor was it something she was particularly concerned with. Caido had entrusted Mort, Vi, and Rae with the world Caido created, that was enough for her.
As polite as he was, she could still tell by the words that he wasn’t pleased. Her head tilted slightly as she considered him briefly. ”My apologies, I didn’t intend to insult or criticize you.” she said earnestly, looking at him with fondness. ”You have your reasons to view the world as you do. Though it pains me to know your heart is bruised by your treatment, I can only hope, if given the opportunity, that you will open your mind to the possibility of the good that the gods do in the world.” she said, smiling a little at him. ”But it is hard, when it feels as though they are against you. I won’t fault you that.” Nor would she pander to the idea that the gods somehow needed his faith and belief, for they did not. The relationship he felt with them began and ended with him, and though she could hope it would grow, she could not and would not demand it of him.
She shrugged a bit at his questions. ”It isn’t about doing right or wrong in the eyes of the gods, merely offering an opportunity for a different perspective. Most creatures would not consider their impact on the world around them, seeking only their benefit, safety, and well-being. Humans have the unique capacity to question themselves. It is one of my favorite things about humanity.” she said softly.
Her head tilted again, fingers gently gliding over the top of the animated mud gloop. ”I am not certain I can give a straightforward answer. Things with humans are rarely so. But…” she paused, looking back up at him with that warm, loving gaze. ”I empathize with humans much more than the divine do. I feel the internal conflict. I want for purpose beyond mere survival. I place sentimental value on things that have no real use.” she said, shrugging a bit. ”I love. Being able to love, even just a little bit, is one of the most human traits there is compared to everything else in Caido.”
