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!
Longheat pressed down upon the coast with a heavy hand, and Jigano wiped the sweat from his brow as he waited in the shade of the jungle, partway up the great mountain near a distinctive rock formation he'd seen from below. He'd sent a raven to the Citadel, asking Loren to meet him here for some magical training of their own, and he was glad that he'd dressed down for the day, however much it broke his heart to leave his tunic with its many-pocketed sleeves behind.
Torchline did not treat those who dressed in layers kindly, however, so while his pack contained garb more appropriate for returning to the Hollowed Grounds, today the bard was in a rare state of undress, a sleeveless undyed linen shirt with an open front belted loosely over loose, lightweight pants that tucked into thin boots. The jungle wasn't particularly kind either, he'd found, and long pants and boots that would have been foolishly hot down on the beach were much-needed protection from stinging insects and sharp-leaved plants up here. Though the breeze that cut through from the ocean was, at least, steady enough to soothe away the worst of the heat here in this clearing the jungle hadn't quite managed to reclaim from the volcanic stone.
It was fascinating stuff, and he was looking forward to studying it in more detail once he and Loren were done with their practice!
Loren strode up the mountain with a bit of a saunter. A flask dangled from one hand, and he periodically took sips from it. As always, it was a beautiful day in Torchline. He'd ditched his clothes save for a pair of shorts. Though he was sunburned, he was also slightly tanned, and he ignored the bites from the insects, knowing he'd just heal them later.
It didn't take long for him to find Jigano. Taking one last long pull from the flask, the healer tucked it into his pocket. "Jigano. I see you finally made it out to Torchline." There was something darkly amused about the words.
Rolling his neck, he gave the bard an appraising look. "Shall we?" There was a weirdly eager tone to the Launceleyn's words, and he squared off against the white-haired man.
Loren was looking decidedly better than the last time they'd spoken. Livelier, at the very least, not to mention more tanned. Jigano noted the flask but said nothing of it for the moment. For all he knew it was fruit juice or water, hydration a necessity in the heat. "Reluctantly, and kicking and screaming the whole way," he admitted back, dry humor lightening his words. "You know how averse I am to fun." He smiled wryly, aware of his tendency to take himself too seriously, but there was something about Torchline's tropical laid back atmosphere that made it easier to admit to it.
His friend was ready to go, and Jigano wasn't dressed to delay things for the sake of formalities, so he simply nodded and grinned at his friend, taking up a position in the clearing across from his opponent before reaching for his earth magic and tugging at the sparkling strands of green in his soul, sending out his will to the surrounding plants. Thick vines would snake through the grass and then attempt to strike at Loren, trying to bind his feet and pull him off balance while Jigano balanced on his toes, ready to dodge the inevitable retaliation.
Letting out a huff of laughter, Loren took a pull from his flask which was definitely not fruit juice. "Ah yes, because we all know how easy it is to make you do things you don't want to do." Smirking a bit, he tucked the flask into a pocket. "I know. All work no play." It came out in a wry drawl.
As the plants began to writhe and creep towards the Launceleyn, he raised his eyebrows. There were tendrils and vines wrapping around his limbs, the speed of the bard's magic honestly Without even bothering to move anything else, a wave of ice coursed out from the healer in every direction, hopefully killing any plants that might be trying to get close. He also sent a block of it towards the white-haired man.
"Makes Jigano a dull boy, I know, I know," Jigano grinned back, but they were playing now, moving into position and bringing their magic to bear, one against the other. Vines similar to those Remi had once trapped him in snaked out to grasp and hold, but their living might withered beneath the sudden killing frost that exploded from the summoner, shriveling living greenery to brittle and easily-broken shadows of its former glory.
Luckily Jigano was already poised to dodge, and the ice block was anything but subtle. He danced to the side, moving easily over the broken stone and waving grasses of the clearing, and grinned at his friend as he reached out with his mind to catch at the earth and stone beneath the Launceleyn man's feet, wresting it open in a small pit roughly six feet deep that might catch the other mage in its depths if he stayed still again.
”You know, yet I don’t see you doing anything about it. It’s almost like you want to be dull.” There was something gleefully teasing and still darkly amused in Loren’s voice, a far cry from the near statue he’d been last time Jigano had seen the healer.
As the earth began to crumble beneath his feet, he didn’t move. Instead, he simply gathered up all the ice he’d made and turned it into water and ordered it below his feet. While the pit formed slightly more quickly than the water filled it, it was enough that he avoided being injured, instead treading water almost serenely. At the same time, he reached out to the block of ice and transmuted it into a cloud of steam that he sent chasing after the bard.
He didn't want to risk reminding Loren of his losses if he could help it, not when the other man seemed to be turning a bend and doing better (oh, if only the bard knew), so rather than comment on his friend's improvement he simply ran with it, keeping the banter up as they lashed out at each other with magical might, secure in knowing that at least they could heal each other if things went wrong. "Oh, it's not so bad. Being dull makes me less of a target. Why, I haven't been smited once by a god since I started keeping my head down," he declared, impressed and amused at Loren's serene treading of his water.
This time it wasn't vines but roots that twisted through the water to try and grab the summoner and still his kicking feet that were keeping him afloat. Steamy as the jungle already was, though, he missed the cloud of it that came wafting towards him until it was almost too late, and then all he had time to do was take a deep breath and brace himself for what was to come as it engulfed him - similar to what he'd seen Maea try to do to Hotaru, he suspected.
Smirking a bit, Loren had to focus on keeping himself afloat. However, that didn't stop him from throwing a quip back at Jigano. "I tried the whole dull thing for a while, but unlike you the gods didn't seem to like it. And I haven't been smote with my new approach yet." Beneath the teasing words, there was something dark and not at all humorless.
As roots started to twine their way around the healer's body and pulled it hard enough to cause pain (and to prevent Loren from swimming, causing him to sink a bit), he raised his eyebrows. "Maybe some other time." With that, he froze the water around him. The chill was instantaneous, and his chin was partially trapped in the ice, but given how hot the jungle was it was almost a relief. As steam engulfed the bard, the Launceleyn kept the cloud around the white-haired man's body.
"There's no keeping them happy, is there?" Jigano mused, and there was less humor in that statement than truth. "And what is your new approach?" There was an edge to the summoner that was becoming apparent the longer they talked and the more they sparred, and it made the bard a little more cautious as some of his earlier relief that Loren seemed to be doing better was shifting back towards concern for his friend.
He hadn't intended to hurt his friend, just to capture him and truss him up like a turkey - not that it would stop Loren's ability to cast his magic, anymore than it had stopped Ronin in the Temple. Still, this was supposed to be training, not real fighting, and he didn't want to injure the other man. It would seem he still had some work to do on learning to control his powers, though, a constant work in progress and precisely what this day was for.
He hadn't expected Loren to freeze himself in place, but it certainly halted the ability of the roots to do any further mischief. On the other hand, the steam around him was certainly a warning that he'd be a fool to ignore and he narrowed his eyes at the summoner's patience. He didn't quite grin, but there was a flicker of mischief in his eyes as he reached for his earth magic again and melded it with his creation to try and drop a dome of volcanic stone over the chasm to break Loren's line of sight and let him roll away from the steam cloud.
Loren let out a huff of laughter. Shaking his head at Jigano, the healer smirked a little. "Not really. So I'm not really trying anymore." There was still that dark amusement in his voice.
Raising his eyebrows at the bard's question, the Launceleyn's smirk turned into a full blown wicked grin. "Are you sure you want to know the answer to that question?" Tone and expression challenging, he tilted his head to one side.
As the rock dropped down toward him, Loren's eyes finally widened in a bit of alarm. However, it became apparent that it was just to contain him and not hurt him. Obviously he lost control of his steam, and it floated away without his magic. He took a deep breath.
Then he pushed out with all the water he could create, with as much force as he could muster. His goal was to break open the dome, and send both the wave and the chunks of rock out to blast the clearing.
There was certainly a very tempting aspect to that approach, of leaving the gods to their own devices. He'd dug himself in too deep to walk away now, though, and despite Safrin's disdain he still had Ludo's patience and favor, and he treasured that more than he feared the star-eyed goddess's wrath. Loren's question, though, likely boded ill for the answer... though seeing Loren smirking and grinning wickedly while trapped in an ice-filled hole in the ground was certainly a look that was both unsettling and humorous. "I do - but first..." First they had a spar to finish!
And it was going so well, too. Loren was happily(?) caught in the icy hole and the dome freed Jigano from the steam cloud. He began to draw his earth magic to him to secure the dome until he could figure out a way to deal with the ice, but he had been, perhaps, a little overly-optimistic about how much time he had before Loren retaliated.
The dome shattered as the pressure within it became too much to contain, especially since Jigano wasn't making an effort to maintain it once it had dropped into place. Water and earth exploded out, catching the bard off guard with the sudden violence of the flying debris. For a moment he saw double, memories of Fiat Lux overlaid on the mountain jungle, and he stumbled back, battered by the water even as he instinctively deflected the earth. The wave washed him to the edge of a clearing where he struck hard against a tree trunk and slid to the ground at its base, dazed and struggling to focus enough to pull the strings of his Healing magic into order to fix the head injury that had already begun to throb at the base of his skull from the impact.
It took a bit for Loren to locate Jigano after the dome exploded. When the healer finally spotted the bard, the Launceleyn frowned to see the white-haired man crumpled at the foot of a tree. Unfreezing the ice, Loren shook his way free of the vines and swam to the edge of the pit.
Levering himself out, he healed the aches and pains and chills he'd sustained during the bout as he hurried over to Jigano. Kneeling, the healer held out a hand, but kept his hand hovering just above the bard's shoulder. "Need some help with that?" The Launceleyn's eyes and voice weren't that concerned, though he'd obviously heal the white-haired man if he said he needed help.
By the time Loren had freed himself and made his way over to the tree, Jigano had managed to Heal just enough to make focusing on his magic practical again, enough to heal the rest. He blinked cleared eyes up at the summoner and smiled wryly, reaching up to take Loren's hand if his friend would help him up. "I think I got most of it. Good thing I've got magical healing or all these head wounds recently would be doing a number on me." He looked down ruefully at his soaked clothes, though the cool water was actually pretty pleasant in the heat. It was just the squelching that was awkward.
"So, this new approach that you looked so wicked about? What are you doing now, Grand Healer?" He used the title lightly, a gentle teasing between friends, but there was a little worry in his eyes, too. He reached out with his earth and creation magic to construct a pair of simple wooden chairs they could lounge in if they wanted to, to dry off in the sunshine of the clearing while staying off the now-wet ground. "Glad as I am to see you smiling again, it's... rather a big change since the last time I saw you," he said, as delicately as he could.
Loren would indeed help Jigano up, though the healer very much doubted the bard actually needed the Launceleyn's paltry physical strength. "Yes. We are certainly blessed." There was a wry tone to his words, and underneath was just the barest hints of bitterness.
As the white-haired man looked down at his clothes, Loren did the same. Waving a hand, he lifted the water out of the cloth, though left enough (and chilled it a bit) so sitting in the jungle wouldn't be too oppressive. Flouncing into the chair, he took out his flask again. Shrugging at Jigano's question, the healer took a long pull. "All things you'd disapprove of, I'm sure."
He glanced at the bard. "Last chance to walk away none the wiser." Smirking, the Launceleyn tilted his head to one side as he waited for the white-haired man's response.
