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!
There was another flash of disappointment, though this one Rance stifled quickly. Most people were born human on Caido, he knew that. Of course Korbin would be no different if he was a native of this world. "Yeah, I get it. Should've worded that differently. Still gettin' used to the way people's other forms are talked about here." Not just that they were casually talked about at all, but that the attuned he'd met so far didn't identify with their animal forms. Didn't even necessarily understand the language that came with that body, though Korbin was obviously an acceptation to that. "Jigano, with the Loreseekers, can become a raven. White, though, and it wasn't his first shift." Not a fault on Jigano, of course. If anything, it was to his favor that 'raven' was the first form he chose that wasn't his own.
Rance seemed to perk up at the invitation, head raising. "I'd like to come by for a visit some day. I used to fly or walk to every town around the Forest back home. Knew most of the wild ravens that nested there. It'd only be right to meet the ones here, too." Some of the good humor from their introduction was back, revived by the very possibility of something familiar.
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
"Wait, so you were born a raven?" he asked, when the full implication dawned on him. It took Korbin for quite the loop, his thoughts forced to readjust to a whole set of new ideas.
"Jigano, huh. Can't say the name ring any bells. I'll keep it in mind if I run across him." He said it, not knowing he'd already met the man twice.
Stepping around to regard the candle, the deep blue color of his eyes shimmered to life in the light it cast. "You'd be welcome," Korbin assured. "Might have to wait until Flowerbirth though... The portal will be closed during Deepfrost. Weather makes the Tundra impossible to cross; it's just to keep people safe."
It would effectively isolate them all for the duration of the season, but Korbin couldn't say he minded. It was a time to spend with family, on quiet chores and on music..
And then he felt the pang of pain when he again realized that he may never be able to play again.
Korbin's confusion reminded Rance of the last time he'd told someone about what he was -- what he had been, before Caido. If he's had lips, it would have curled in annoyance. Not at Korbin, but at the situation that made him constantly rearrange his perception of himself and the truths he had to tell other people. This annoyance showed itself in a ruffling of his neck feathers as he replied, "Fuck, I forgot how confusin' that sounds. My family wasn't... human, on my world, but not wild ravens, either. I had the ability to change back and forth, from birth. So, like the attuned here, only I didn't... become this way." He croaked in further annoyance, then purposely flattened his feathers out. "Don't mean that as an insult or anythin'. I'm damned glad to meet another raven, no matter if you had feathers as a babe or not." But he was also well aware that, should Korbin want to take it that way, he could take it as an implication that the attuned were inferior. Then again, Rance's tone was relieved by the end.
Talking about other ravens nearby was easier than talking about the ones he'd left behind. And giving Korbin information about others like he and Rance was one small thing Rance could offer. He didn't know how well known the Loreseekers were or not amongst people not living in the Grounds, so he just bobbed his head in response to Korbin's reply.
He turned to follow the other raven's movement, ever aware of the candle, not just because feathers were incredibly flammable, but because a part of him was still thinking of his sister, especially with the mention of his family so recent. His head tilted at the color of Korbin's eyes, rare enough to mark him a bit of a magical creature. "Lucky to have met you tonight, then." Which is when the pain and regret ached along the bond. Rance carefully took a step toward Korbin, blinking and tilting his head the other way. "Flowerbirth's, what, just a couple months away, right?"
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
He listened, quite without an opinion in either direction. The part that snagged his imagination was the image of a small raven chick hatching from an egg, which was quite different from his own birth. But... was there really any difference in shifting from human to bird, or from bird to human?
"I'm not insulted," he replied, with quiet amusement rippling beneath the surface of his thoughts. "I don't think you need to be so uptight about it... the only ones who will get huffy on you is probably the magic users. I know a few that take offense to us Attuned flaunting our shifts. Mostly the religious ones tho... There's not a lot of those where I come from."
He felt the emotions streaming down the link from the other raven, but Korbin didn't know what they were about. Trying his best to just keep them away from his own mind, his dark eyes just blinked in quiet agreement. It was rare these days for him to come across someone who didn't irk him, and it was a nice reprieve.
"You'll be staying here for Deepfrost, then?" he asked. "Not join those who come to Halo?" Possibly this was one person he wouldn't mind having around the Citadel.
Rance was prepared for the other raven to think him bragging about his heritage, as if he were better than Korbin because he had a few more years experience with his wings. Really though, why had he thought it would matter? He was proud of what he was and Korbin obviously was, too. The amusement erased any worry from Rance's mind and humor tickled his own thoughts a moment later when the mention was made of those who would be offended. "The really zealous sorts will get upset by most anythin' that inconveniently doesn't benefit them." One of the many reasons he'd avoided much to do with worshiping the gods. Too many of the 'pious' hunting down those that didn't fit their narrow views.
"I might've, if the path there wasn't goin' to be closed soon," Rance replied with a some regret. "Didn't have a reason to consider it until now. But I was planning to help out here for as long as it was safe before bailin'." In all honesty, the warmth of the seaside beach still held quite appealing, even if Rance had always enjoyed the snow of deep winter. The games he would play with his siblings, the refreshing wonder of flying through a cold, clear sky....
"What are you doin' down here, if your home's in the mountains?"
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
Quiet agreement followed with the quiet click of the beak. People could find reasons to be angry about anything, Korbin knew it well. He was one of them, happily riding prejudice and preconceived notions whenever it suited him so he could keep flapping his mouth and vent the ires as they flared up. It was habit forming and a bad habit he was sinking deeper into as of late... something that worried himself as much as those around him.
But right now his head was clear, his mood brightened, and it was not so difficult to admit he was disappointed when Rance said he wouldn't be going north for the cold season.
"Some other time then," he replied lightly, even as he fought off the sentiment. "I came looking for information. Someone told me about the storms that's been blocking the passage south... Seems the opening of that portal into Halo has cut us off from the normal trade routes, and won't let up until all the regions of Caido are linked by portals.
"It's damn annoying... feels like The Voice has Halo gripped by the throat."
Korbin never thought anything about the New God, good or bad, but his impression was swayed negatively the more he thought about the effects she had on his homeland.
Rance would have frowned at Korbin's revelation had he a mouth. Instead, he resettled his wings, feathers flat to his neck. "Shit, that's rough. I haven't heard a lot about this 'Voice', but what I have heard hasn't been good." He couldn't quite sympathize when it came to annoying acts of gods, but there was no denying that they were pretty damn active on Caido. Active and dangerous interested in the mortals they oversaw. "I know she was the reason the Grounds was in a bubble for a few hundred years. Is she a goddess of storms?" That in itself wasn't bad, there tales he kept hearing about the monsters she'd created were more than enough to make him put her firmly in the category of 'things to avoid FOREVER'.
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
The smaller raven croaked in grim agreement. He wasn't usually one to care about what the gods did or why, but everything he'd seen so far of The Voice went contrary to everything he appreciated. Meaning, non-interference and being left alone.
"You'd be forgiven for thinking it," he muttered. "Can just hope she doesn't care to meddle anymore in Halo and leave us alone... Still. I don't like this predicament one bit. It's gonna take some thinking to figure out what to do about it."
Not something that was really up to him, but... since he didn't like the current situation, he was not exactly about to just sit idly by either.
"Ah well, it's a worry for later," he sighed, trying to brush off the worries. "What are you doing here?" Korbin gazed between Rance and the candle, the rooftop in the dark; more than a little curious.
"Not having the gods meddle in our lives is the least any of us can hope for," Rance replied in a wry tone. No matter which 'side' those gods were on. He'd taken it for granted back home, where the gods only moved in grand, devastating, infrequent gestures. On Caido, it seemed like every conversation was peppered with the acts of one god or another.
He accepted the shift in the conversation gratefully. He followed Korbin's gaze back to the candle, still flickering and melting onto the roof below it. Still inexperienced with the attuned bond, old sorrow leaked across as he replied, "A poor man's version of your Festival of Lights. Back home, we held all night candle vigils for our dead, and for the god who watches over them." The impression of a quiet smile came across with his words, fondness and old memories. "It's the wrong season for it, we had them closer to mid-win-- mid-Deepfrost. But I thought my sister'd be okay if I lit her candle early."
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
Korbin could only agree, quiet and fervent. If the gods never took interest in Halo or its people again it would be too soon. Of course, since that's what he wished for, it likely would not be the case.
He felt the wave of sorrow flush through the bond, and couldn't help but recoil slightly from the all too familiar feeling. It rekindled his own grief, and an echo of it reverberated back before the younger bird could entirely suppress it.
"Sounds nicer than our public spectacles," he croaked hoarsely, more shaken by the onslaught of feeling than he wanted to admit. "I can't even remember when I made a lantern last... Gods know I have too many to make anyway." Gazing between the single candle and the lone raven, he felt the loneliness of it like a whisper echoing in an empty room. One where there should have been many, alone when there should have been others to share in the wake.
Rance hadn't expected to feel his sorrow reflected back and his feathers ruffled in surprise -- then flattened and faint embarrassment. While he might not be conscious of every emotion he was transmitting, his few experiences with other attuned had taught him that it happened and that he needed to pay attention. He tried to put a lid on his end of the bond while Korbin replied, though to what success only time would tell.
That control was tested when the younger raven asked to stay. To keep him company or just out of his ow desire to not be alone? No matter which one, Rance felt a little bit of his loneliness -- mostly unacknowledged, though almost always present since arriving on Caido -- ease. "Yeah, that'd be nice. Usually I went home to my family for this, but well." He gave an avian shrug. "I did make a lantern for her. For the 'public spectacle', as you put it. But the person who taught me about them said the whole ceremony's not for everyone. What with the dead possibly comin' back to say hello." Distaste leaked through, regardless of his attempts to be conscious of what he was sending.
It was momentary, though, as he added, "Maybe the vigil'd be an easier way to go. To mourn with some damned privacy. If you or those you lost would appreciate that." There was no judgement, just an absent thought and a quiet suggestion.
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
Korbin waited quietly for a response, listening to the feelings that fluctuated and faded in the bond. He was good at keeping himself on a leash, of holding in and ignoring what passed from others. But sometimes he acknowledged that it made him cut off, and lonelier than he needed to be. It just felt so exposing, to keep flooding others with his thoughts and feelings. Like being caught with the pants down, or like a child selfishly begging for attention and comfort.
It felt better to save them for the people that mattered. The moments when it wouldn't hurt anyone.
"I'd prefer it. Doubt my family would mind either way." Granted permission to stay, Korbin settled in next to Rance, not so close as to be awkward, but companionably present all the same. He had no candle to light, but the single flame that slolwy consumed the blue wax seemed to express all he wanted to say all the same.
"May they burn brightly," he offered softly - a quiet prayer full of wistful longing for everything he could never have again.
"May they burn brightly," Rance echoed. It might not have been a traditional sentiment as he knew it, but it felt right. The spirits of the dead, shining in their realm, souls like stars.
It felt almost normal -- for whatever value 'normal' was, anymore -- to share his candle with someone, far more used to watching the night by candle light than by whatever a swarm of lit lanterns was likely to look like. And while he hadn't intended to spend the vigil in an avian body, it felt right to do so now that another raven was there. He settled down as Korbin did, enjoying the quiet of the night a little more now that he wasn't alone.
