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!
05-03-2020, 11:08 PM (This post was last modified: 05-03-2020, 11:08 PM by Wessex.)
I've embraced the torch passed to me
owned what I've been called to be
What can they do but hope to survive another season? Another year? Scatter themselves to the north and the west and train, train, train.
God, she’d train all of them by herself, every season, if she has to. If it’ll mean success. Come rain, snow, hundred degree heat, they should be able to do it all. And yet -
It’s the loss of innocence that gets her. She asked to made into a weapon, an instrument for The Voice, an unparalleled machine (if you want to get derogatory about it). The others… half of them just want to live their lives and the other half never asked to Ascend. And now here she is, trying to formulate a comprehensive plan to get them all up to speed.
If anyone can do it, it’s probably Wessex. It’s the fact that she has to, that they even have LongNight monsters at all, that is the singular thorn in her side about her Lady. It’s why she’s so prickly, so obsessed with making them disappear. And that energy, that hostility (perhaps), that need to get rid of this excess something that takes her to the lighthouse. Something to focus on. There would be light enough for someone who wasn’t Ascended to see well enough in the dusk, and dark enough that an Ascended would be comfortable.
The world was falling to darkness, and Letha had barely begun her day. She tried to keep as much attention off of herself as she could in the Inn, and that meant only exclusively going out at night a few times a week. Dusk and dawn were her primary times, but she decided tonight was a night she would stay out longer. It had been a while since she visited the lighthouse, and her love for it did not falter.
She did not expect to see anyone at the lighthouse at this time of day. She did not expect to see Wessex. Seeing the matriarch did not make her slow her approach to the lighthouse, but she did hesitate at first to give her attention to the Wraith. It was not that Letha felt like she needed to ignore her, but she was anxious that Wessex might begin to become annoyed at her presence. She was not sure, truly, how the older woman would feel about her being here now. She was showing up a lot in the path of the blonde since the season change came and Letha had decided to stay in Torchline. Letha was not trying to follow her around like a lost dog, but appearances were not working in her favor.
Finally reaching the tower, Letha placed her hand on it, as if to ground herself, before speaking. "Hello, Wessex."
if you don't love me now, you will never love me again
Worried; she’s worried, and that makes her agitated, it puts her on edge. Letha may have seen a cool and collected Wessex before, a woman who knows exactly what she’s doing and why and can clearly see ten steps beyond the current one - but the Wessex before her now is different. This one is fallible, bowing under the mantle of requests and responsibility, and pacing like a caged lion.
It’s not that she doesn’t want to see Letha, it’s that she doesn’t want Letha to see her like this. The girl seems a bit sensitive - or perhaps unsure. The Wraith isn’t sure if she’s scared her newest sister or put her off with previous (slightly nefarious) activity, but there’s something in her that wants to tell the brunette that it’s not a good time.
She won’t. Of course she won’t. Instead, Wessex pauses in her pacing and offers the other Ascended a weak smile. “Hi, Letha,” allowing her to continue the conversation.
The lighthouse was a beacon of safety for sailors, and it was becoming one for Letha, too. She adored the structure, how it stood strong despite the storms that would roll in and try their best to destroy her. "I didn't mean to interup anything--I was just visiting Aumakua." She pressed her palm into the stone surface of the sentinel structure as she spoke.
Letha did not want to seem like a child constantly standing at the skirt of its mother, tugging and pulling and whining and asking why, but the question sat on the back of Letha's tongue. "What are you up to this evening?" Her tone was neutral, though based on their last meeting in the middle of the night Letha could have added weight to her tone. She did not, however. She had no desire to build suspicion of her fellow ascended, especially one as well-versed and experienced in the world as Wessex. There were things the Wraith knew that Letha would never know.
if you don't love me now, you will never love me again
“You’re not,” Wessex immediately replies, brushing away the notion that she might ever be disturbed by one of her siblings. “If I’m being honest, I could use a distraction from my thoughts.” They simmer and ruminate, clashing and rolling around together until she’s caught in a maelstrom of over-thinking. The only blessing is that she doesn’t have the sympathetic nervous system response anymore, no physical signs of anxiety and worry to contend with - and there are tricks to deal with that.
“I was thinking about our next steps,” glancing up at the middling sky, at how it will soon grow dark for a week, and how they will, hopefully, be dispersed and safely tucked away in Torchline. “Training. So we can actually learn how to work together.” The dryness in her tone betrays exactly what she thinks of the last time they all gathered in one place, the factions and the cracks she could see appearing as they grow in number and live their lives.
“What did you think?” Wessex asks, quietly, wondering what one of the newest members of the family might think about the most recent… semi-debacle.
Even though Letha's few encounters with Wessex were all but traditional, she was starting to warm up to the matriarchal lady. She still felt a need to be more formal with the woman, but perhaps that would also change with time. When Letha knew she wasn't bothering her, her shoulders relaxed some and she seemed more at ease, over all. She understood the need for a distraction from her own thoughts, as Wessex had mentioned, and she nodded at the Wraith. Letha wasn't much for conversation--or at least, not normally. Her night with Nate was an anomaly of her life. She had spent several hours talking with the tall man, and she didn't regret it, but it was just unusual for her.
Training, however, Letha could get behind. A spark lit behind blue eyes and she lifted her chin some towards Wessex. "I'd love to learn more about combat." Amun had done a training session with her after she had opened her mouth and said she wished to fight the Longnight monsters with the rest of the Ascended. It had been surprising how much Letha knew and was able to do just on muscle memory. "I was trained where I came from before here. At least, that is what Amun and I discovered."
if you don't love me now, you will never love me again
“Why don’t I show you, instead?” the Wraith asks with a slight grin, mostly because she’s far better at the physical than the verbal. Once she reveals that she’s been trained, Wessex’s perception of the girl shifts a little bit, far more intrigued. “I’d love to see what you know,” she adds, though it comes without the promise of taking it easy on her, for obvious reasons. One, it may be insulting, and two, none of their real-life foes will take it easy on them.
“How about working with your senses and balance?” she asks, wanting to start with the basics: footwork, speed, reaction times. If Letha agrees, she’ll tear a strip of cloth from the magically convenient long cloak she has, and ties it around the girl’s eyes. “We’ll start with sight first, then hearing, then balance, then speed.” All with a little challenge, of course.
If you asked Letha to list off all of what she knew of her combat training from back home, she would surely look at you like you were crazy. What she could tell you, however, was how her body reacted when she sparred with Amun. That electricity flowed through her muscles and a memory she could not actively recall moved her. It was almost animistic in a way -- the way that she reacted and responded without cognitive control over each muscle group.
She liked how it felt.
Nodding to Wessex enough to give permission, the younger woman let the Wraith take away her sight. She adjusted the cloth slightly to make sure that everything was covered. She waited a moment for Wessex to begin, but perhaps not long enough. Excitement sparked through her chest and she spread her feet out some, lowered her center of gravity, and even closed her eyes behind the covering. Although she didn't need to, she let out a deep, centering breath before she took her first step towards attack. She stepped forward quickly and spun some to the right, her right arm extending in an attempt to strike towards the Wraith's own right shoulder, while her left arm came up to block her face.
if you don't love me now, you will never love me again
Letha’s attack is unexpected and Wessex is delighted by that. The Wraith has barely put her own blindfold on before the girl’s struck out, an unnecessary exhale betraying her position (right where Wessex had left her, unsurprisingly). Then there’s a sound - light, but definite, coming towards the elder. She retreats from it - not out of fear, but because she wants to see what will happen. Maybe it’s the woosh of the air from Letha’s fists or the knowledge of what a step forward means, but Wessex drops to a squat and swings her right arm in a circular hook - not aiming to punch the other, but to maybe surprise her with a lower attack and knock her off balance.
Obviously, there was a lot that Letha didn't know. But, the instinct to strike and to protect herself would surely serve her well. Her body moved with muscle memory -- it did not look practiced and fluid and beautiful, but there was some semblance of familiarity in her bones that transcended out into the word around her. Her strike does not meet its intended target, and it makes the woman's jaw clench some. With the proximity to the Wraith, she knows when her body moves, even when she can't see it. The movement is quick and practiced, Wessex's skill most definitely outshining Letha.
The older woman's curved arm latches onto Letha's hip and nearly throws her away with the strength of it. Useless, needless breath is pulled from her lungs as she tries to regain her balance, arms and legs flailing. She falls almost completely to the ground, but her own scrambling kept her from toppling over onto her back. The muscles in her back tightened and she jumped towards Wessex, when she thought she was close she struck out again with her fist, but quickly retreated to the opposite side she had come from.
if you don't love me now, you will never love me again
While certainly not invincible, the Wraith is aptly named and would have been surprised if Letha had anticipated her move. She’s surprised at the strength of the strike, listening to the sounds of surprise and and then the dull thuds of one - or two? - hands hitting the ground. Scrabbling, something… Wessex stays tense, poised on the balls of her feet, more like an animal than a person.
She’s unsure if Letha is standing again or is lower, like she is, so Wessex eases herself to the ground, quietly and slowly. There’s the sound of a jump and the toes of one of Letha’s feet land on her fingers - it’s not painful (one of the small perks she’ll be eternally grateful for), but it allows Wessex to pinpoint the girl and try to push her over, lunging at Letha’s lower legs from the left side.
Wessex was quicker than Amun, that was for sure. Perhaps, however, Letha was too handicapped without her sight. She might not have thought this would be easy, but she didn't expect to be tumbled over so easily. The dark haired woman was too slow to react, and the Wraith's attack was swift and strong. With a gasp, she is knocked to the side. This time she was not as quickly to scramble back up to her feet.
Her shoulder connected with the ground and she grunted. Quickly, she coiled her legs up towards her torso before kicking out at the Wraith. She didn't have time to feel if her attack was successful before she was trying to get back to her feet. There was no question that the older Ascended overpowered her in all categories--strength, speed, agility, training--but there was something inside Letha that did not let her back down.
But she was discovering that, because of the life she lived before Caido, without her hearing, that she depended too much on her other senses. As she moved to her feet and steadied herself, she felt her sensors finish a quick scan. Nothing permanently damaged.
if you don't love me now, you will never love me again
She is not trying to hurt Letha - no, not hurt - damage her sister. Alas, where she might have issued an immediate apology, she holds her silence, thinking that the very point of this little scuffle is to practice listening and being quiet. After. She’ll apologize if she was too rough afterwards. It’s cliche, but sometimes the Wraith is no longer a good estimate of her own strength.
Seeing as she’s thrown most of weight towards Letha’s lower legs, she doesn’t have much time to escape a kicking type of retaliation. They hit her in her upper arm as she’s trying to push her own upper body back, but it does little damage. Returning to a crouching position, the warrior readies herself on the balls of her feet again, hands out and in an arc to try and feel the movement of air that precedes an attack - but there’s nothing.
If she had thought ahead this is where she might try and throw something at Letha, instead Wessex opts for something a little different - a fake out. Rising into more of a squat, the Ascended swings her right arm wildly in a diagonal through the air in front of her, exhaling a little huh to try and make Letha move or make some noise that might otherwise give her position away.
Letha does not take any of this personal. She is emotionally detached from this spar--from any spar. This is practice, this is strength training and information gathering. Even if the Wraith did hurt--damage--her, Letha knew it was all a part of the way of things. She knew this deep in her soul--and the memory of it spreads over her. Of her grandmother, finally the familiar woman appearing behind her eyes. Ktulu looked at Letha and helped train the girl. She can't hear anything. Her mother would have said. I'm aware. Ktulu would have answered. Her grandmother trained her hard, and she was sure if her--either--of her grandfathers had their way she would have trained even harder.
She felt her feet connect with Wessex, though she wasn't sure what part. The vibrations spark up her legs and a rolling wave of satisfaction breaks her thoughts. But Letha was back on her feet too quickly to let the satisfaction completely take over. She tried to listen for Wessex, but she was still getting used to trying to focus this sense, and it still failed her despite her new body's perfection.
The Wraith's fake out attempt works. Letha was caught by the woman's swinging arm, having moved out of the way of the other arm that had struck the air prior. She let out a little oof, and quickly backpedaled without arming her own attack.
if you don't love me now, you will never love me again
