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!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
Maybe he was forgiven. Maybe he would prefer not to be. Maybe, the problem was that there were so many things Korbin couldn't forgive himself for, that the idea of receiving it from others became uncomfortable.
He could easily have kept going like that, just flying blindly to nowhere. But Loren descended rather than follow, and asked to hunt; Korbin banked and veered off into a circle, considering. He had no equipment along for any real hunt worth its name, and he doubted Loren did either. But even with only some string and a dagger it wasn't impossible to snare a ningo or hare at least...
"Alright. If you want to." He sounded distracted but not really adverse.
The raven tucked its wings and plunged downwards, banked again and navigated with acrobatic dexterity through the sweeping branches of the trees, until he found a branch to settle down on. Adjusting a few ruffled feathers in his wing, the bird blinked and looked towards the other.
"What kind of game do you want?" he asked, leaving it for Loren to decide.
Thankfully, Korbin agreed to Loren's suggestion, although the hunter didn't sound super enthusiastic about it. That was okay, since the healer found he could be excited for the both of them. Finding a break in the trees, he landed at the base of the tree the other man had settled in.
Then the Launceleyn shifted into a honey badger. Something small. This form wasn't up for big game, as much as he wanted to chase anything and everything that crossed his path. Already, he was snuffling at the air, and pawing at the snow, trying to catch the scent of something. You'd know what we can find out here better than I can. All he needed was a direction, really, and he could do the rest.
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
No, he wasn't very enthused by hunting. Korbin never quite understood the thrill of it, except perhaps the part where it let him fly for hours on end and still feel useful. But he was in an accommodating mood, felt the urge to try and be better. So the raven just blinked and offered a pulse of acquiescence before dropping from the branch again, to sweep on shadowed wings over the silent forest's snowcovered floor.
Not being able to hear anything was a bit of a disadvantage here. He was relegated to use his eyes and scent to search for signs of life. Tracks in the snow, scuffmarks on branches and under shrubs, droppings... Wildlife was scarce even in the woods though. Some squirrels. Hares. Ningos. Lemmings, further down towards the Tundra. Korbin noted the presence of Luxere tracks to remember for later, and when he spotted a set of Ursur tracks, he sent a pulse of warning to Loren.
"Better stay clear of that one," he remarked, though without any great concern.
He pointed the Healer to a set of hare tracks instead, and signs of ningo presence as well. He'd leave it up to Loren to decide which one to go with.
Noting the tracks that Korbin warned Loren to stay away from (Ursur, he idenfied, and sent a pulse of agreement to the hunter), the healer glanced between the other two trails. Although the Ningo was tempting, it was ultimately the trail of the hare he chose. He'd already hunted Ningo, and he wanted at least a bit of a challenge.
Picking up speed gradually, he was soon moving at a decent clip. Now that he had the scent and the trail, he followed the tracks and the signs easily enough. However, in his eagerness, he overshot it. Circling back, he found himself having trouble picking it back up. I lost it. He let out a little frustrated snarl.
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
Korbin had the advantage of an aerial view, and was able to quickly direct Loren back onto the trail of the hare. He flew on ahead, to see where it lead, and found a burrow that delved into the snow, deep down to the layer between ground and ice where the temperature would be steady - almost warm - and permit the creatures to live and raise young.
The raven found a perch in a nearby tree and set to watching the burrow intently, gaze fixed on the entrance. If there was even the slightest bit of movement, he would be on the hare in an instant.
If pressed to, he might admit that it was a nice reprieve, to focus on something rather than keep stewing over his own emotions.
Thankfully, Korbin redirected Loren, and he picked up the trail once again. As the raven flew ahead, the honey badger trotted eagerly along the track left by the hare. Eventually, the healer caught up to the hunter, although it took the Launceleyn a bit to spot the other man perched high above.
Soon enough, Loren focused his attention on the burrow. He was on it in a flash, claws easily tossing the snow and ice aside. However, he hadn't counted on the snow trying to crawl back into place.
Snarling, he batted the snow aside, trying to reach the earth below. Eventually, he did, and starting digging down into the burrow proper. When another patch of snow decided to snap back into place, he whirled and swatted at it.
Which is exactly when the hare decided to make a break for it. Although he spun to try and capture it, his jaws closed just short. Hopefully Korbin would see and swoop down to save the day.
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
He remained where he was while waiting for the badger to catch up. Possibly he was a bit startled by the ferocity with which it began to burrow into the den once it appeared. Practically leaping headfirst down the hole, clawing, digging, snarling. But the raven immediately saw the advantage to this, and readied itself, wings half lifting, body tensing in anticipation.
There came a flash of movement as the hare shot out from the destroyed burrow, running frantically across the snow. In a flurry of black feathers the raven was after it, wings beating hard to keep up. The cruel beak pecked at the animal, pecked again, and again, relentlessly digging it into the panicked hare, drawing blood.
The creature made a desperate turned to try and escape, but stumbled and fell. Immediately Korbin landed on it and kept up his gruesome hacking until the hare lay dead, blood scattered across the snow in stark crimson.
Shimmering chest heaving from the exertion and the thrill of the kill, the raven looked up and hissed soundlessly at the badger. In that instant, the boy was quite gone, lost within the raging wild instincts. Just a clever bird ready to fend off its meal from any opportunists.
Loren had given chase as soon as the hare slipped through his grasp. When Korbin swooped down for the kill, the healer skidded to a halt. Growling at the other predator, the hunter, who had stolen the Launceleyn's kill, it took a moment for rational thought to reassert itself over the adrenaline from the chase.
When it did, he did his best to relax, turning aside slightly and trying to make his posture less hostile. Nice save. There was a slightly sheepish edge to his thoughts, and he approached the other man slowly and carefully, much like Loren would any animal near its kill. What should we do with it? He personally wasn't opposed to devouring it on the spot, but he'd defer to Korbin's judgment here.
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
It took some time for the thought to fully penetrate down to the reasoning part of this magicked being. Boy turned bird. Turned feral. There was still the urge to run the badger off, but the easing off, the lessening of the threat, settled enough of the natural hostility that Korbin came back to his senses. Somewhat, at least.
The raven looked down at the mangled body of the hare. The pelt was quite ruined - this was why Weaver had forbade him from hunting as a bird - and there wasn't enough meat on it to warrant carrying all the way back to the Citadel.
"Eat," he replied simply, and there was that wild overtone to his thoughts still. Only half thinking, as he returned to begin tearing at the limp body. To open it, before it froze.
It was always a bit of a risk... the loosing of oneself. Unless you had something clear to return to.
Loren couldn't help the feeling of savage excitement from flooding through his link to Korbin. However, as the hunter began tearing at the rabbit, the healer remained right where he was. It took almost all his willpower not to dash in to take the corpse, and he wanted to know that he wouldn't try to get into a fight with the other man.
Only when the Launceleyn felt that he was in control, not the animal, did he allow himself to approach. He did it slowly, and cautiously, making sure to remain in full sight of Korbin at all times. When Loren was close enough, he bit down and tore off some of the meat that had been exposed, chewing it happily.
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
There was some glaring, a good deal of puffed feathers and ominous hissing from the raven as the badger stole closer. But in the end, it tolerated the dinner companion. There was more food than the bird could comfortably eat anyway, and it was not adverse to sharing when there was a surplus.
When he had sated his hunger, the raven backed off and left what was left to the badger. Flying up onto a branch, he began to clean off the gore and blood from beak and talons, and settled in to preen, patiently realigning all the feathers gone askew during the hunt and the meal.
It was comfortable in this form. After a while, all the problems of every day life began to melt away. Sometimes, he could even forget that there was such a thing as a grumpy boy with the problems of the world weighing on his shoulders.
Only the memory of a pretty girl with fire in her eyes kept him from giving in to it completely.
Thankfully, they managed to share the food without incident. As Korbin flew up to clean himself off, Loren attacked the rest of the corpse with relish, devouring the meat that was left. When he was finished, he licked his paws and his mouth clean, not minding the taste of hot (though rapidly cooling) blood in the slightest.
With that, he padded over to the base of the tree that the hunter was perched in. The healer settled down, content to simply stay there for a while. He might have even napped a little.
He couldn't say how long had passed, but the sun certainly had moved across the sky a bit, before he finally rose. Thanks for sharing. There was an easy contentment in his mind. He began padding forward, trying to find a gap in the canopy he could shift and fly out of.
All these trees around him struck him with an idea. How much lumber do we need to get us through Deepfrost? He glanced up at the raven, very curious to hear the answer.
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
He didn't doze, but the simple preening was meditative in its own way, and the raven was quite calmed by it. By the time Loren spoke up again, he was all but done, and his plumage shimmered an irridescent blue-black with hints of green in the dappled sunlight as he shifted.
"More," he replied. Then, realizing this was less than informative, and a good deal more clipped than Loren quite deserved, he inhaled. Tried again, reluctantly prying his thoughts back from the calm to address the issues at hand. "With the additional numbers from the Grounds, I would guess at..." He thought, then offered a number of wagon loads that seemed reasonable. "Most families bring in what they need themselves, but there's always a need to ration by the end of season anyway."
And with the construction of so many new projects this Leafchange - bars, spa's and whatnot - there was a growing demand for cut lumber.
Not minding the initial response from Korbin, Loren finally found a spot to escape the woods. Although he shifted into a goose, he didn't take off just yet. Instead, he ruffled his feathers up against the cold as he considered the information the hunter had provided. I know most people are likely not pleased to be taking in people from the Hollowed Ground. The healer tried to keep his annoyance about that out of the bond but he wasn't sure how successful he was.
In the interest of keeping the peace and keeping people warm, do you think you can collect enough lumber for the season before the snows come in earnest? You can take as many supplies and people from the Palace to make it happen. Only then did the goose take a running start and take to the air, aiming for the gap in the trees above him.
