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!
"I...have already wr-written some logs..." Sam agreed, wondering if he could bring together the pieces he'd already made to make a large chronicle of the Hollowed Ground. "Th...though...I've been c-considering moving away. Forever, after Deepfrost." What had once begun as a daydream was now a real plan, something that unless he found the Grounds calling his heart back home he was likely going to go through with.
Vervain had a way of speaking almost like a patient mother, a similar tone to the Voice in a way: it was calming and Sam found it helped to untangle the lines of thought in his mind. "...What if she ask...asks me to do th-things though, that I c-can't agree wi...with?"
At least she was hopeful for his future. With a small smile, he looked up to her and asked: "How do you g-grow stronger? Do you...tr-...train your magic?"
”I’d quite like to read them, if you ever compile them together,” she said of his logs, finishing off her braid and drumming her fingers lightly on her knees. ”Though if you are moving away, it could be just as interesting to chronicle your experiences in a new place. You could even have the information sent back to the Grounds, for the people who have never travelled.” All suggestions, threads pulled from his talent as a writer and a bookmaker. ”Where are you moving? Here? I imagine Torchline has never had a library.” It didn’t really seem like the sort of place.
Nibbling on her lower lip, Vai could only shrug honestly at his question about the Voice. ”Would she really disown you if you couldn’t do something for her?” she asked. ”It’s so strange, here... the gods and goddesses are so real, with actual plans and opinions... I would struggle, in your shoes. But I think you should still be able to say no, without having to necessarily give her up, or hate her.” It was complex to say the least.
”I do train my magic,” she said with a small smile. ”I’m a healer, but I can manipulate the air as well. I try to use that to guide arrows when I shoot them. Is there anything you wanted to try and improve?”
vervain
well i'll rest my eyes
and i'll let the earth breathe
"I..could...though..." Sam let out a quiet laugh, the first genuine smile he'd felt in a while. "I thi-think most people in the Gr..grounds, when they heard there wa..was sun and a b-beach here, they came." The promise of an ocean had certainly been something he'd immediately latched onto as soon as he heard about Torchline: it still held an allure that kept him coming back, though nothing had quite topped that first moment of stepping into the water. "I..wo-would want to move my ...b..bookmaking shop. Ra..rather than make a library."
If only it were so easy to say no to the Voice. She likely wouldn't physically force him to do things (not that he entirely put that past her) but she was a master at manipulation...with his past of abuse Sam struggled to always see it, but he had begun to recognise patterns of guilt trips and convenient love from his 'Mother' Goddess. "I...d-don't know if...sh..sshhe would want an Ascended if they d-didn't do what she asked."
He hadn't known Vervain's specific magic and was interested to know, always having found the abilities of the Abandoned to be fascinating. "Ca..can you show me? The arrows, I mean."
As for what he wanted to improve in himself...he looked at his hands, one gloved and one not. "...I lo..lost all my abilities, except the t-t-telekinesis this glove gi..gives me. I su-suppose I'd like to know how to de...defff-defend myself, without upgrades."
"It definitely has its appeal," Vai said, having to agree there. She'd felt the same way as she'd first stepped through the portal, after all, the huntress taken aback by soft sands and whispering waves. She imagined a lot of people had done the same as Sam, and were moving their lives and businesses to sunnier shores. "You might find a good business here, with bookmaking," she remarked. "Maps, ledgers... ships need to keep a lot of records."
Smiling sadly to him, Vai could only offer condolences where there was no real advice she could give. "Perhaps when you have moved here, settled a bit... maybe then you could have another conversation with her. Work something out. You could always work on the sidelines to fulful what she asks of you, without direct involvement...?" At that point it was more a matter of staying alive and well.
She nodded as he spoke, rising to her feet and padding over to her little setup to grab her bow and quiver. "I imagine I'll not need to wait until sunrise, given your ability to see in the dark? Or has that been affected as well?"
As for the glove, Vai tilted her head with obvious curiosity. "Well," she said, "while I wouldn't shoot arrows at you, there's a few ways you could practice with that. Even someone throwing a couple of pebbles your way would be a good start."
vervain
well i'll rest my eyes
and i'll let the earth breathe
Sam had never considered himself a cartographer, but the idea appealed: making carefully intricate maps, adding in compass roses and graph lines, getting to study the routes and shores the sailors travelled..it was a dream, to be sure, one he'd love to pursue if he thought he actually had much time to do it anymore. The smile on his face spoke enough of what he thought of the idea.
"I d-don't know if she'd let me, but..." He sighed and nodded with a shrug. "Eventually, I m-might try and wo...work something out with her. Maybe." There would be several people disappointed in him; it was never as simple as choosing The Voice or anything else.
It wasn't until Vervain asked that Sam realised he couldn't see as well as he'd once been able to. With the bright Torchline nights and unclouded skies giving access to the moon, he'd always been able to see enough to get ahead, but when he looked to the corners behind rocks, he found that there was only blackness. "I...c-can't see in the dark. But...if you d-do it in front of me, I think I'll b-be able to see in the mm...mmmmm...mmoonlight."
It was nice to see a smile not tinged with so much sadness, and Vervain’s answering grin said it all. ”If you don’t ask, you don’t get. We aren’t all fighters, and if you can serve the Voice well enough through your writing and mapmaking, perhaps that will be enough for you to live in peace. There’s far too much fighting going on as it is.” And wasn’t that the damned truth.
She should have realised that he wouldn’t be able to see as well, the huntress nodding and moving out into the pool of moonlight. ”Alright. So when I practice my air magic, I’ll try to aim the arrow a little better with it. Like this...” She gestured to a tree across the other side of the pool, nocking an arrow into her bow and drawing back the string.
Purposely aiming a little off, Vai conjured a breeze to buffet against it - and when she let the arrow loose, the magic corrected its path and it landed in the tree trunk with a thunk. ”See what I mean?”
vervain
well i'll rest my eyes
and i'll let the earth breathe
"I don't...kn-know if she'd co..consider that ser..ssserving her." Sam said quietly, frowning as he tried to wonder if the Voice would let him take on a more...soft role, one where he could possibly have enough deniability for the more controversial of her actions when confronted by friends. It wasn't impossible, but he didn't know if he'd be able to handle his own guilt; it was that and not shame from peers that had driven him to leave, after all.
Vervain moved silently into the moonlight and Sam smiled, appreciating her graceful accommodation to his needs. Enraptured he watched her shot, the way it curved in air and met it's target. Clapping his hands together in appreciation for the trick, he yearned once again for the abilities that the Abandoned possessed.
"That was a-amazing!" He grinned, leaning back on his hands to stand up and fetch the arrow for her, handing it back to Vervain once he had tugged it out of the tree. "Th...thank you. Fo-for talking to me. And sh...showing me that."
”Well, given that you don’t think you would serve her best as a fighter or a soldier, I’m sure she would give you a little leeway.” Then again, maybe Vai was just being naive. Who was she to say that a goddess would react one way or another? She could very well have been wrong.
Still, those thoughts left her head so she could shoot her arrow, and she grinned as she watched Sam go to fetch it for her. ”Thank you,” she said. ”It was nice to talk to you, too. If you ever want to practice, just let me know, okay? And good luck, moving here.”
vervain
well i'll rest my eyes
and i'll let the earth breathe
"Mmm..." Sam noncommittally hummed, thinking that leeway was not something The Voice was particularly known for (nor any of the Gods, to be fair). Still, Vervain had ignited some hope in him, that if the worst came to the worst and he did have to return to the Voice, he might get to work out the relationship so it was more how he wanted to serve.
The arrow given back, he gave her a smile: weaker than it might have been once, but genuine; thankful for her kindness and her patience. "Th-thank you. I'll sss...see you later."
