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!
12-31-2019, 06:00 PM (This post was last modified: 12-31-2019, 08:19 PM by Bastien.)
BASTIEN
(Set the morning after Fiat Lux)
Bastien had left Fiat Lux early, realising he'd left some of the stock for the Artist's Sanctuary table behind at the guildhall. His walk through the town had been pleasant, really - it had been quiet, a nice Flowerbirth day with a light breeze and a hopeful sun in the sky. He'd really felt things might be coming around...then he had returned to the festival.
He'd only arrived just as everyone was recovering from the disaster. Immediate danger was gone and healers were already seeing to the injured. Bastien had headed straight for Rexanna, seen the look in her eyes and knew something awful had just happened. He had not asked; did not want her to have to relive it right away - as soon as she could leave her Queen's duties (when the field was practically empty) he had taken her home and simply held her for a night. As much as his heart burned with curiosity, he knew what she needed was not questions, but love.
He had planned, before the disaster, to take her out to the fields on this day, as the sunset; a call back to one of their first dates. Given her returned eyes, he had thought it would be a nice thing for her to see, a good place for them to go to celebrate. Now, he still asked if she wanted to come, but the trip was offered more as solace - of course, they would avoid the site of the failed festival. He knew the fields well from painting trips, knew roads and paths that would take them up to the tree they'd first painted together under.
Walking hand in hand he said nothing, just watched the sun before them. It was up to Rexanna to speak first, to dare to explain what it was that had happened; they often existed together in silence comfortably but Bastien felt this was different, somehow. Waiting, knowing it would all need to come out for Rexanna to move on, for him to know what he had missed; it would effect them both.
sometimes we break so beautiful and you know you're not the only one
i breathe you in so sweet and powerful
There were… many old memories and wounds reopened by Fiat Lux. Ones far more personal than she wanted to divulge into right away, instead spending the rest of the day and night burrowing then down until a time where she could filter through them, sort them out, figure out where to even start. She had gotten away okay out of it, far better than the others had, and there’s a part of her that isn’t sure she wanted it that way. That if she could take the pain Remi and Ronin had felt and kept it deep within her to give them her happiness, that she would.
But Frey certainly wouldn’t be proud.
She’s thankful for Bastien’s quiet, no prodding on the subject until she’s ready, and despite having eyes once more — they’re haunted now, shadowed in a shade of jade at how tired she is. But she goes with him, while she figured out internally when to start the cleanups, if teams had already started to go through the mud and pull out whatever else was left behind.
Perhaps she should not have waited so long for a council.
She lets Bastien lead her to a very familiar place by the time she gets her thoughts in order, and she squeezes his hand gently before she looks over to him beneath her curtain of dark hair. “Bastien…” She begins, a frown crossing her lips. “Aoife is gone.”
When Rexanna finally squeezed his hand and spoke, Bastien had become lost in his own thoughts on matters. He had been thinking how he would have liked to go on a holiday; in Venice he had often whisked a friend or lover away to spend a weekend or so in Paris, perhaps Rome...in Caido there was not, at least not yet, anywhere so easy and wonderful to steal away to. Besides, with his wife now being the Queen, he supposed they could not just leave when things were tough.
"...I see." He nodded. Already knowing that many children had been injured or killed, it was not too much of a shock to hear that one he knew of was gone too; still he felt his heart bleed painfully for Ronin, who had already lost so much. Remi, who had opened his heart once more. What could one really say, to the loss of a child?
Finally, he found some words: "Do..you wish to speak of that? Of...how it happened?" Normally he did not hesitate before he spoke, but here he knew he did not want to push Rexanna to say anything she did not want to, wanted to let her lead their conversation.
sometimes we break so beautiful and you know you're not the only one
i breathe you in so sweet and powerful
There was something, some sort of heartbreaking realization as she held Aoife that reminded her of her own son, how the pain of that never quite leaves someone – how it could be bandaged up, hidden beneath layers upon layers to never be thought about again, and yet here they are. Here she was, not much earlier, holding the lifeless body of a child she had known, who had come into the world breathing, who had made it to her first year full of life and star flecked eyes. A child of Safrin.
A child with Mort now.
Her gaze slips over to Bastien then, green gaze shadowed and sorrowful as she nods. “I didn’t see it happen, but.” She frowns, looking forward. “The mud creature crashed through an ice wall and it shattered over Remi. By the time I got there, there were plenty trying to heal Remi. He had been… Impaled. And Aoife was there, already gone.” She shakes her head. “I wrapped her up, but I had to go help the others.” He was in good hands, with Amalia and Evie and Loren and whomever else. “But, Ronin was there… Briefly. He arrived and knew, and left. I wish…” She stumbles over the words before she shakes her head, her free hand coming up to brush her hair from her face.
“I wish they didn’t have to know what that felt like. I wish I could have done something more.” She frowns, looking back to him. “I need to start the council… If only to try and prevent more of these.” She squeezes his hand again, thoughts scattered. She hopes she’s made sense as she lays out what she’d seen.
Mud creatures, ice walls...the disasters of Caido were unpredictable to a terrifying degree. At least in Venice there had been signs of floods, earthquakes, ways to know if a revolution was coming; it seemed here, in this world, anything could snatch away life without a single second of warning. "Impaled, my God...was he saved?" Perhaps it was rude to focus on Remi in this, but he knew the Alchemist far more than his child.
That Rexanna would connect the events with her own past was inevitable; Bastien had had the thought already, that she had held far too many dying children in her lifetime, but he had not dared to say it, in case somehow she had not realised, had avoided the extra pain the realisation would cause. "He would have known anyway. Perhaps in some ways it is better for him to have seen - now he will not wonder." A bitter consolation, but Bastien felt he'd rather know the details of such an event than be left to guess.
"What...will your council do to prevent such a catastrophe?" He asked, confused but trying to keep his voice gentle. "Even if we had a rule and order, this was entirely unexpected. Unknown of. It sounds like it happened so quickly even a militia could not have fought it off and you cannot govern against a monster." Perhaps he was being condescending; he sighed and shook his head. "You...do not need to wear this as a responsibility. It isn't your job to fix it; no one can."
sometimes we break so beautiful and you know you're not the only one
i breathe you in so sweet and powerful
She nods, uncertain of the full outcomes. “Last I saw him, Loren was healing him.” She replies softly, contemplatively, sorrowful despite the attempts they had all made. But she had left before she had time to actually survey what had happened, had moved onto scanning the piles of mud and helping pull those from the wreck, from the pits.
The mention of Ronin, however, causes her gaze to drift a bit further over to him – green and haunted, shadowed, sad. For Ronin, for Remi, for Aoife, for all of them who had lost someone when she was just so thankful that Bastien had returned home, had been okay throughout it all. And she nods in response at first, unable to figure out what to say – perhaps that’s best.
The council, however, could be useful in defenses, in preparation, ensuring that those that are able bodied would be willing to help take measures to their safety. But… He’s right. He’s right that nothing could have stopped it other than perhaps more people paying attention before it had gotten there – they hadn’t, and those that did fight it hadn’t been quick enough. But they’d at least tried, and she gives them the credit for that alone. “You’re right.” She admits, softly, squeezing his hand and leaning closer to him. “After LongNight, I guess I just expected things to be fine until the next one.” She frowns.
At least healing him meant Remi was likely not dead, or at least Bastien hoped so. The Alchemist had always seemed quite hardy, able to withstand whatever it was the world threw at him - which was rather a lot. Surprised at just how deeply he felt about the young man's life Bastien resolved to speak to him more often, invite him over. After all, Remi had been his first friend in the Hollowed Grounds, a smile and a helping hand when he had had none.
Rexanna was quiet about Ronin, about the benefits of such an experience; Bastien did not push. He did not know all the details of Rexanna's childrens deaths...and did not care to know, unless she had to share them for her own peace of mind. Such things clogged up the brain with sorrow and it was not his place to know.
For all of her planning and wisdom, her almost childish statement that she'd expected everything to be fine drew a sad smile from Bastien. He kissed her head as she leaned closer. "When is anything fine here? I don't think we've ever gone a season without some disaster. It is like people say: it is a curse to live in exciting times." There was something to say about all the hardship they'd been through, at least; those that survived were strong and close, bonded by something tested with fire and force.
Stones crunching beneath their feet on the bits of path that dotted around the fields, for a while Bastien did not say anything. Just hoped the gentle sway of the grass in the wind might heal Rexanna, if only a little. When he did speak again, it was a question resulting of a long train of thought. "...Do you think Safrin will revive Aoife? After all, she is fond of Ronin, is she not?"
sometimes we break so beautiful and you know you're not the only one
i breathe you in so sweet and powerful
She leans into the kiss placed upon her brow, leaning into him and just so incredibly grateful that he’s here and he’s okay – that the words he says tries to balm her, but she’s still shaken, still unsure and confused, nodding along almost numbly to his comment. Nothing was fine, each time there was something different, something bigger. LongNight monsters, blighted vampire gourds, a living goddess of a tree. “It’s so… Difficult.” She adds at the end, to live in exciting times. It was a curse, she was certain of that.
But in the name of history, they were all there in the end – each one of them. And what a legacy that was, with so much death and destruction, she begins to wonder if her name will be among the next fight, the next after that, eventually resulting in a death of sorts out of her control. But she doesn’t know, doesn’t dwell too far down that painful past, doesn’t follow the tether down and down and down.
They continue to walk, however, and she squeezes his hand gently and softly, letting the wind brush by her face and the grasses tickle at her deadened senses against her calves. “She is fond of Ronin.” Rexanna muses slightly, before she looks to the tree that Bastien had brought her to paint on their first date, the tree that they had made their vows beneath, before she heaves a quiet sigh of unneeded air. “I imagine it… Takes a lot to revive someone. The fact that Ronin came back was a shock to everyone, as Safrin’s Fallen Star.” She bites down on her lip briefly. “But for Aoife… I’m not sure if she would, or if she could yet again.” A sad thought, how she yearns for Remi – to hug and hold, to share the burden that is their pain.
Bastien pulled away from Rexanna with one last stroke of her hair, wishing against reality that he could somehow whisk them away from the conflict they'd found themselves in. Though, he knew this life was how they'd found each other, how they'd continue to grow - that the pain was all a part of it, as much as it ripped at his chest to see Rexanna despondent.
He almost smiled, as he thought how universal the problem was. If only things could be easier.
Stopping under the tree, he listened to her words with a sad frown, looking off over the fields. "I suppose...though one would think if she were willing to extend her mercies to Ronin, she would do the same for his child...not that I understand the workings of the Gods." Bastien crossed his arms, shook his head. "A loss of a child; I cannot imagine. Forgive me for saying it, but I feel you are only still going past it for your amazing strength of character...I do not know that Remi has the same." He was worried for the Alchemist. Ronin he was fond of too, but the man had used up some of his goodwill with Bastien when he'd attacked the temple (something that would make a fantastic story, one day, but for the moment stung).
sometimes we break so beautiful and you know you're not the only one
i breathe you in so sweet and powerful
She nods to Bastien’s musings, wondering if perhaps that it took more than just a wave of Safrin’s hand to make it happen. She’d never met the goddess, had tried to once with Deimos, but that was long ago – before she was Ascended, before things for her had changed. Before Ronin had returned. “I’m not sure I understand them either.” She offers, giving him a small half smile as she looks up to meet his ochre gaze with her own greens.
The shake of his head, however, has her gaze lingering on the strong panes of his face when he speaks next. The mention of Remi, the mention of what it could do to someone. “I think… The circumstances are different.” She frowns, looking out over the fields as well, tilting her head as she contemplates it. “There’s a difference I think from what happened to me and what happened there. Perhaps it wasn’t as hard for me because he was born and already gone? I can’t imagine… To have seen them breathe and grow and become something – to watch learn how to walk, and then suddenly they’re gone.” She frowns, gaze drifting back to Bastien as she reaches for him to hug and hold onto tightly, far clingier than normal because of the topic.
“That and… Well, Aoife was the piece of Ronin that Remi had after Ronin died. And now that’s gone too.” She sighs, completely unnecessary, frowning.
01-07-2020, 11:30 AM (This post was last modified: 01-07-2020, 11:31 AM by Bastien.)
BASTIEN
There had been no shortage of difficult topics for conversation between Rexanna and Bastien, their relationship and the place they lived had required them; this felt especially dire, though - he watched her eyes drift over the fields, wincing at the phrase 'born and gone'. How cruel life was. Hearing those words he had wanted to hold her anyway; he took her into his arms and stroked her back, wishing he could step into the past and take away the pain of that loss for her.
"I wonder, if they return to us, how they shall be then." Troubled, Bastien could see in his mind all kinds of disastrous consequences; the curse of an artistic, imaginative mind. "If Ronin's rage was this potent now, I cannot imagine it later...that is what scares me, with these Demi Gods. They have human beliefs, human emotions, yet power greater than humans should...it could lead to things far worse than a ruined temple." He did not know of Amalia's injuries, or he would have used that example. Before long, people would get hurt.
Bastien did not envy Rexanna's position as Queen whatsoever; she would have to make decisions about all of these matters in time, he was sure. "I think...to try and ease the pain of the people still remaining, I may task our guild with making a memorial space. It helps, I believe, to give people a place to be...Ronin and Remi were not the only ones who lost a child, not to mention a mother, sister, brother..." That so much loss had happened so suddenly was a blow worse than most Caido had delivered; truthfully Bastien felt helpless in the face of it.
sometimes we break so beautiful and you know you're not the only one
i breathe you in so sweet and powerful
She lets him take her into his arms, embracing him tightly back as he does her, rubbing her face gently against the panes of his chest. She can hear his voice rumble beneath the fabric of the clothes he wears, and she closes her eyes as she tries to think about what it could mean. “I’m not sure.” She muses with him, a small frown crossing her face. “Likely not even close to the same, though.” She lifts her head to glance up at him from beneath the moonlight, beneath the branches of the trees they had been married at.
The thought of it all, well, he was right to be worried she imagines. Especially when it was just one of Ronin versus the Spire, the destruction it had caused, the destruction he alone had wrought. And all she can do is gnaw on her lower lip, nodding along with him in understanding, and her own general frustrations at not being able to stop it should there ever be a chance to. But in a way… She also doesn’t blame Ronin for the grief, for the force of it.
How she had once wished to tear apart the skies because of it. How she never had the chance to.
She focuses on him again at the mention of trying to ease the pain. A memorial space, something that everyone could focus on and share a piece of what loved one they’d lost. She nods to that too, looking back out over the fields. “I think that would be really nice.” She murmurs softly, head tilting thoughtfully. “What are you thinking of doing for it?” Names? Pictures?
"There is...a possibility, however small, that they may return refreshed and with their grief settled." Bastien did not think it very likely, knowing Safrin and knowing what Ronin had done, but in the meantime when they did not know, it was no help to anyone to despair about what their friends might be like when they returned.
His concerns about the Demi Gods were the kinds of concerns that could not really be answered, not even by a Queen; he did not begrudge Rexanna's silence on the matter. Perhaps, he thought, the Gods would see the attack on their temple and have the same worries, take down some of the abilities of the mortals they had blessed. As much as he yearned to be a Demi-God, he did not believe divine power was necessarily meant for human shoulders.
Really, he just wanted to be one for the aesthetic clout.
Rexanna asked him of the memorial and he looked up over the fields, imagining it. "I will have it in a quiet street in the domiciles...there is a lot of space untaken. I was thinking it might be best for me to have as little to do with it as possible, actually, just to help set it up and organise - after all, I did not lose anyone in the disaster." Bastien was definitely not innocent of ever being tasteless, but he knew when his own emotions were relatively unimportant. "I think I will let the people who come to make it help me run the project."
Swaying Rexanna gently in his arms, he wondered if they had had the child they'd discussed, if they would have lost them. What it would feel like - was it possible to summon the emotions through just imagination? "..It makes me nervous to have a child, even though, as I told you, I know I want to try...that they could be lost. It is the same reason I was anxious to marry you, really. I love you so deeply, Rexanna, if anything were to happen..." Bastien took a deep, shaking breath and shook his head, stroking her hair with impossibly gentle fingers.
sometimes we break so beautiful and you know you're not the only one
i breathe you in so sweet and powerful
There’s another light frown that crosses her face at the thought of it – if they had gone somewhere else during that time, would it make things better or worse? To have left and disappeared without any of their belongings other than the clothes upon their backs. Would they ever make it back? Would Safrin ever allow for such a thing? She doesn’t know the answer to all these hypothetical questions, and she can feel her mind swirling and shuttering just trying to contemplate it all.
So she stops, focusing on the memorial in an effort of keeping her mind in a bit of ease. And at the mention of him remaining mostly out of it, aside from being there to talk to – well, she thinks that’s a lovely idea all the same. At the mention of not losing anyone, however, she squeezes his arm lightly and smiles softly – having surprisingly made it through the encounter completely unscathed somehow.
“You’d be free to give them prompts too should they need it, to talk about it.” She hums thoughtfully, looking back out over the fields and the grasses that wave quietly in the dark light. Bastien sways her then, and she moves with him ever so gently, clinging to him as if he’s a rock and she can feel herself lost in a rushing river, awaiting for it to disperse her among the depths.
She only looks up when he comments about children, her face still pressed against his chest. But when he shakes his head, a deep breath leaving him at his admission, her hand slides up and cups at his stubbled cheek with a soft smile of understanding – the same lingering in her gaze. “I agree.” She begins, giving his cheek a small squeeze. “I love you too Bastien. And I think.. Perhaps we should come back to it later once things even out.” She offers him a gentler smile at that. It could be months, it could be years. She has no way of knowing.
