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!
04-22-2020, 10:24 PM (This post was last modified: 04-22-2020, 10:37 PM by Rance.)
R
It wasn’t the right season for remembering the dead. There was no snow on the ground, nor ice hanging from the branches, dry leaves still clinging in their place. It’s the season of endings, of gathering life close and tucking it away before the enforced sleep of the cold months. Harvests are being brought in, barns prepared for the long housing and feeding of beasts, wood and supplies being stock-piled so that people could survive without having to track outdoors too often.
Of course, like everything else on Caido, the preparations often came with twists Rance wouldn’t have anticipated. Walls of houses weren’t just patched to keep out the chill, they were re-enforced to keep out something much stronger than a stiff breeze. And while he hasn’t seen anyone boarding up windows, yet, as the Festival of Lights approached, whispers were becoming action. Snow and ice weren’t the only concerns come winter – come Deepfrost.
As some began to prepare for the physical dangers ahead, many more were preparing for the time of remembrance and celebration that truly marked the season still in progress. Even from his outside perspective, it was hard to miss the talk of lanterns and the Festival, not only the major one being held in Torchline, but the small, personal gatherings people were holding with friends and family. As strange as it felt to be honoring the dead with no snow on the ground, Rance found himself preparing to join in as well. He made lanterns with varying success, talked about the past, about the world he’d left behind.
But, for one night… he wanted to remember in his way, too.
Sitting atop the flattest roof he’d been able to find, he wedged a stumpy candle against the chimney. It wasn’t nearly as intricate as a true memory candle would be. There were no words painted on it to honor the Ghost Queen, nor was it scented with traditional spices, but it was bright blue. His sister’s favorite color.
He lit the candle with flint from the small pouch he’d been able to carry in raven form and sat properly beside the candle, arms wrapped around his knees. Leaning back against the chimney, he looked up at unfamiliar stars. May the Queen keep you, little sister. I hope you’ll find only joy in her kingdom.
“At least one of us should,” he murmured into the night, voice rough. His chest ached and he knew, this time, it wasn’t just for Morgana. It was for himself, for what he’d lost by falling through a portal. His friends, family, gods, traditions….
He tried to keep his thoughts on his sister, to remember her, but it was hard when he was alone. He hugged his knees a little tighter and breathed.
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
After his visit to the Temple, Korbin lingered for a while. Took shelter within his avian form, for a respite against the hiccups that still plagued him. The world was silent around him, and that too felt like a plague. Cutting him off, leaving him to brood in his own thoughts... something he usually tried to avoid.
He took to drifting between buildings, through the sky, until the sun set and night overtook day. It was too late to return to Halo now; better wait for dawn before he returned across the Tundra.
The raven had been searching for a place to roost overnight, when a single solitary light caught his attention. It was too small and too high up to belong to a window, and it drew him in. Curiosity was a plague for ravens as well as for cats, and his was ever dragging him into trouble.
On midnight wings he quietly flew closer. Circled above it for a time, while trying to penetrate the darkness with eyes that weren't really suited for the task. There was a man there, sitting on a rooftop - he could make out that much. Intrigued, Korbin came down to settle on the chimney.
It seemed as good a place as any to rest his wings.
Rance was tuned to the sound of wings, of feathers rustling, of talons scraping lightly on brick. Like the sound of footsteps to someone else, it was the sound that meant he probably had company. The corner of his mouth twitched, distantly amused that a bird would arrive while he was remembering his sister, but he didn’t look up yet. No need to scare his visitor away. He did tilt his head a bit to the side in a distinctly animalistic gesture before murmuring, “Evenin’, friend. Hope I’m not intrudin’ on your roost. I’ll be on my way before too long.“
He didn’t expect a response, nor did he wait for one. There was a small chance the visitor was another Attuned, but he wasn’t going to worry about it. He tilted his head down again, gaze on the candle. “You would have been amazed at the birds here, Morgana. The colors would have had your fingers twitchin’. Gods, I can’t imagine what you would have done if you’d seen that fuckin’ monster I met near the ocean. Probably have tried to hug it. Then asked for one of its feathers for the nest.”
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
A large beak clapped in quiet greeting when the raven saw he had been noticed. The man was moving his lips, saying something, but Korbin wasn't very good at reading speech like that. Some words were easy, but the general message often wound up as garbled nonsense.
"Evening," he offered up anyway, just for the heck of it. Didn't think he would be heard, but it felt better to at least pretend there was a mutual conversation going on.
Less lonely.
In the dark, he observed the simple blue candle, the ruddy glow of its small flame, and wondered what the purpose of it was. Some ritual? Nothing he was familiar with.
He didn’t recognize the return greeting until after he’d finished ‘talking’ to the memory of his sister. His eyes widened and his smile slipped as he swiftly replayed the simple echo. If it had been an audible sound, he might have assumed the bird was one of those that could mimic the voices of others. But the reply had been to his mind, like those from the hunt he’d been on at the beginning of the season.
Rance’s head whipped up as he pushed to one knee, twisting to look up at the ‘bird’. Black feathers masked its species pretty well, but the shape of the beak was familiar, even in the dim light and writ smaller than he was used to. “Are you…?” In a flutter of his own feathers, Rance shifted and a raven stood on the roof where once a red-haired human had knelt. He blinked up at the stranger, beak slightly agape and continued, “Are you attuned, too?” If not, he’d feel a little foolish, but it was better than continuing to ignore someone who could obviously understand him.
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
The response was unexpected. As was the sudden shift of the guy, from man into... Korbin blinked, stunned. Just stared for a moment, at the other raven. Dark feathers ruffled, settled, ruffled again... then he leaped down from the chimney to join the other bird in the candle light.
"Obviously," he replied, with a lofty arrogance meant to tease. Couldn't help but snark when there was a chance to do so... but really, he was too busy processing this small miracle to put any heart into it.
Possibly, Korbin's raven was slightly smaller. There was a subtle difference in the shape of his beak, and his wingspan wasn't exactly as wide. And his tail feathers were longer. But those were small things, hardly worth noting, and as he looked at what felt like a mirror of himself, Korbin's insides bubbled and roiled with a joy he hadn't felt in... gods, years?
Unable to restrain himself, he made a playful lunge at the other raven, tried to nip and tug at those shorter tail-feathers and then jump out of the way, wings flapping. There was a sense of wonder and curiosity flowing from him through the bond, and he didn't even bother shielding them away.
The last thing Rance had expected when he left to memorialize his sister on an autumn -- Leaf Change -- night was to encounter another raven shifter. And even knowing that this wasn't one of his people, of his old flock or another, the instant recognition would have stolen his breath had he still been in human form. Smaller, yes, but still very much a raven.
For a moment, he feared that he had been mistaken. The raven was unmistakably surprised, feathers ruffling as he stared down at Rance. But then he hopped down and spoke again, with the sort of tone that was at one proud and teasing. Had he been human, the Outlander would have laughed. Instead, a chuckling rattle escaped his beak and ruffling his neck feathers. He bobbed his head, a sort of wordless I know you, I see you! as his own relieved and surprised happiness leaked across the attuned bond.
The playful lunge was unexpected, but far from unfamiliar for one who'd grown up around ravens. He had his wings half spread by the time beak tugged at his feathers, head turning to watch the act. He hoped around, wings flapping only enough to spin him before he landed on the roof again. He clacked his beak and bounced to once side, mock-pecking, but never actually getting close enough to touch.
Rance knew he probably should have said something, that this wasn't just another raven, but it was so hard to remember that when everything in him was singing someone like me!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
Some things just didn't need words to be understood. Oh, the link helped, that bond that helped emotions to carry across, it clarified and explained, but... Korbin didn't really need it. He understood anyway, and was shocked at how large a piece it was that suddenly clicked into place.
Someone like him.
He'd never known another raven. They existed in Halo, but were pets. Messengers. Utilitarian animals - oh, he'd felt kinship with them too, but this was different. Altogether strange and familiar at the same time, like looking into a mirror. The playful sparring, mock-lunges and leaps away with wings half spread, it was like a dance he'd always known but never had a partner for.
"I'm Korbin," he offered, still jubilant and full of glee, when the silence just wasn't enough anymore. He needed to know more, understand how this could be.
"Rance. Hi." Could one be breathless when the speech was mind to mind? Rance settled his wings and straightened up, curiosity in every line of his body and the tilt of his head. There had been plenty of crows, he'd heard complaints about them from more than one farmer, but ravens had been strangely scarce. "Fuck, sorry, I... I didn't think there were any ravens around here. Especially not.. well...." He gestured with his beak between them, still awkward about naming what they were, despite having burst out with it only a moment before. The habit of hiding was far too ingrained for it to be easy.
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
"Hi," he responded dumbly, too busy containing his excitement to think of something more clever to say. He strained to look the other bird over in the dim light, hungrily noting every difference and similarity like it was the first time he'd seen a bird.
"Another Attuned? Me neither. I live in Halo," he explained easily, and waved away the apology with an off hand gesture of a wing. "Never really came here before... You a Natural?"
Somehow Korbin didn't think so - with the way the other shied from the term he used with ease - but he felt the need to make sure. Didn't want to jump to conclusions.
The question of whether he was a native or not had Rance ducking his head down a bit, neck feathers ruffling. He been warned that some people were prejudice against Outlanders and the idea that Korbin might be one of those people was a worry he wouldn't have even considered before that moment. He shifted on his feet, trying to look as if the brief concern wasn't still there. "No, I, ah... fell through a portal last season. Figured this place just didn't have ravens." He tilted his head to the side. "I haven't been to Halo, yet. Is it far?"
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
Korbin was prejudiced indeed when it came to Outlanders and outsiders both. But they pertained more to their presence and tendency to take over his homeland than any true resentment, and ever since he found Chulane wandering the Fangs without a clue, his stance had eased a bit.
"I see. Rough time?" he just sent, fairly neutral all things considered.
At the question on whether it was far to Halo, he actually had to pause and consider. Recalling a faded old map he had seen once, he eventually dipped his head in a yes motion. "It's on the other side of the continent. Far to fly... but also only a step through that damn portal."
No hiding his displesure about the existence of that though; it was alive and well.
"There are plenty of ravens in Halo," he said, as an afterthought. "None like me though. Us. Damn, that's weird to think..."
The only 'us' he'd known is with his sister. Korbin really wished he could share this with her too.
"No more rough than anyone else, I'm sure." It wasn't a humble statement, he couldn't imagine it could be easy for anyone who was torn from one world and thrust into another.
Korbin's distaste for the portals was palpable and, really, who could blame him? After all, weren't the Outlanders invaders, no matter if it was intentional or not? It would be like a human inserting themselves into the business of the fae just because they'd learned that elves were real and didn't want to go back to living with humans now that they knew.
Learning that Halo was more than a quick flight away, though, had Rance's head dipping a bit, disappointed. Korbin's final comment hard him chuckling a bit, a rattling that wouldn't hear, though a black beak opened for it. "I know of another, but raven wasn't the form he was born with, so.... not quite like us." The feathers of his throat crest fluffed with pride. Had someone asked, he would never have called one shift better than another, but that wouldn't mean he was any less proud of what he was. "Damn, though, maybe that's why I haven't seen many, if that's where they're common."
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
Korbin couldn't really relate. The only new arrival he'd really met was Chuy, and that had been... fairly tame. At least the initial explanation. Loren claimed the guy took things well. Perhaps there was more to the process of acclimatizing than hearing a few truths and get a roof over your head.
"Oh? Who's that? Not to disappoint or anything, but... I was young when attuning, sure, but this isn't how I was born," he said. Feeling a need to clarify, since this guy seemed to have something misunderstood.
Studying the other raven in the faint candle-light, Korbin wondered at the disappointment he'd sensed, when revealing how far away Halo truly was. He was quiet for a while, then offered; "You could always come have a look? Maybe you'll be more at home there too."
Korbin was, that's for sure. The cold winds, the permafrost, the white expanses and the towering mountains; it was a wild land, a fierce and ruthless wilderness. But he belonged to it. Knew it in his bones.
