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!
Amun was right, of course, there is reason to be worried about them; they can’t seem to get ahead of the the Old God’s followers, they’re fractured, weak, and distracted. Morgan’s been on her mind since that conversation, the way the woman drew her in to discussion under false pretenses, wondering if she had purposefully asked inane things in order to make the Wraith look unhinged and aggressive, all in the name of ‘curiosity’; a tactic more akin to gaslighting and bullying than debating.
If so, she’d fallen for it. Props to the Captain for being able to do that, but then perhaps she’s giving the woman too much credit for simple paranoia and stupidity.
Then there’s the whole other goddess/Eirachi thing. And Sam. She has a lot on her mind.
Wessex finds her way down the cliff steps to the little grotto they’d put the shrine in. With a gentle, reverent caress of the statue, the demi-god murmurs quietly, almost ashamed to say it. “I’m worried, Lady. About us.” Perhaps needlessly, but it’s a first for the Wraith, coming to her Goddess with this kind of thing. She is a woman of action, of questions and desires and momentum. She self-soothes. This is most unusual.
i'll be your hope, i'll be your love, be everything that you need.
The Voice sensed much of what was on Wessex's mind, but as always, she'd do her brightest the respect of letting her speak for herself. Appearing in a blur of dim electricity that coalesced into her unassuming avatar, the Voice sat casually upon the shrine with eyes only for her demigod.
"Tell me what is on your mind." She prompted, skipping over formalities, the likes of which the Wraith had never really needed.
How and where to begin? Bending her head to crooked fingers, Wessex pauses for a moment before starting, filled with gratitude for being able to come and do this. “We’re so few,” she begins with a shake of her head, “that it seems impossible to be able to get ahead of the Old God’s followers. And I’m hardly the best at persuasion.” A single exasperated laugh escapes at this - they both know she’s more of a bull in a china shop than a diplomat. “I think we’re okay in Torchline right now, but Halo might be a problem. Neron’s lost the throne and I’m afraid Morgan, or someone with a similar anti-Ascended mindset will be Warden next.” Next-next. There’s no sense in talking about Weaver, it was a moot point now.
She wouldn’t be afraid to challenge said person, but it also might only heighten the narrative that the Ascended were aggressive, power-hungry, etc. “Then there’s Sam. And Nate, who is surprisingly unhappy about Ascending right now.” She begins to pace a bit, back and forth in the small area. “I don’t think I was wrong in insisting on a unanimous decision, but I could have been. We’re not terribly… cohesive. I could see the cracks growing and I think I was a part of it.” Her words to Rex and Bastien hadn’t helped, but she hadn’t been able to be as ‘neutral’ as she’d intended to be. No family agrees all the time, but...
“And… I’m not sure if I’ve done something good for Us or really fucking stupid, by making deals with the Eirachi.”
i'll be your hope, i'll be your love, be everything that you need.
Rather than laughing at this bit of blunt honesty, the Voice instead leans forwards, her fingertips pressed together in thoughtful consideration. Information about Halo receives a gentle nod from her, sparks shooting back and forth between her palms.
Nate. Sam. The decision about LongNight. Still she keeps quiet until Wessex has finished.
'With regard to our numbers...there is something we can do. It is probably better to wait until after LongNight though, given the state the Grounds will be in. But the mechanism by which the Outlanders are brought here...With the barrier down, I had thought simply to let the machine run on as it would. But perhaps it could be changed...pulling in only those with qualities suitable to ascension." Accepted, Ascended, or bust.
The news of Halo simply makes her shake her head. "Halo exists only because of the mage glass hidden there..." She muses. "Given our ability to move in the dark and the cold, I wonder if we might not...take the land, one day." Though the Voice looks thoughtful, it's clear she's merely thinking outloud. Wessex has earned that level of respect from her now.
"I have spoken with both Nate and Sam. Nate, for the time being, seems to be more understanding. As for Samuel? He has asked that I withdraw myself from him, and so I have. The longest any have gone away entirely from me is just under a year." She says with a sad sigh, her voice a patchwork of disappointment. "But it was his choice to make."
Glancing up, lightning flashing between her fingers, the Voice tilts her head. "A new deal with the Eirachi, then?" The Voice prompts, inviting Wessex to elaborate.
Feeling a tad dramatic after she says all that, Wessex turns her gaze to the sparks flying back and forth between the Goddess’s palms. She doesn’t look up at her until there’s mention of being able to potentially change the machine that brings in the Outlanders. Thinking about it for a moment, Wessex comes to think that there might be a shift coming in the Voice’s actions; the choice to do something had always been prominent, at the forefront of her arguments. To tilt the scales in her favor, now, in such a subtle way… a corner of her mouth creeps upwards and the Wraith nods.
There is little that can be done in the short time before LongNight. But after - all they need do is survive.
“I had thought to try and bring you some mage glass, but I waited too long, There are reports that the cultists that attacked the Citadel had a pendant with a big chunk of it. Maybe Neron and others can go see if there’s any left.” After all, the cultists and cannibals are probably mostly gone. There are still dragons, of course, but Halo will never truly be risk free. “And If we can get the Arcane Academy shut down, many will lose their cold resistance.” And then they might need the Ascended for certain things. Which would then prove Morgan right, but if their presence makes Halo better, more powerful and efficient, why not?
New of Sam’s departure is visibility shocking, to the point that Nate seems to fall to the background. Anger quickly follows, to see him continue to be a liability, to cause the Voice such disappointment - when she’s given him everything he’s asked for and more. It feels like a betrayal to Wessex as well, to all the effort she’s made in their relationship. “And if he doesn’t come back? Can he live on blood alone? Do you -want- ” It’s a flood of questions that she manages to stem, crossing her arms across her chest and looking down for a moment.
Of course their Lady wants him back, it was silly of her to ask. She has a much bigger heart than her demigod.
Perhaps it’s time to change the subject. “The Eirachi said her kin was suffering in another area of Caido and she would like to send assistance. In return, I could drink from her. And I negotiated a one-time safe crossing of the Ascended across Halo, if we end up at war again.” No judgment on if they did or did not, Wessex just sees it as being massively proactive. Something for her and something for everyone. “There’s a cave at the edge of the Sea of Glass, leading somewhere as hot as Halo is cold.” She's sure that the Voice knows far more about the Eirachi and her kin and the unknown parts of Caido than she does obviously, but she's not directly asking for information. Not yet.
06-01-2020, 09:44 PM (This post was last modified: 06-01-2020, 09:45 PM by the VOICE.)
i'll be your hope, i'll be your love, be everything that you need.
'Interesting...normally the cultists are quite dimwitted, but with mage glass I imagine they were quite formidable opponents..." This makes her smirk mildly, for it's a mistake Halo has made before, and seems to continue to make. As for the abandoned..."I have often wondered if it isn't worth gathering the abandoned on-side. If it is allies we need against the old gods, who better than those already cast out by them? At least we choose who we are, but the abandoned? They are a mutation by Rae allowed to run wild, and hated for what they are." The Voice shrugs. Food for thought perhaps.
The Voice looks almost...validated at Wessex's reaction, though her expression quickly turns to one of approval. That Wessex feels as she does is the appropriate response, and the goddess feels her respect for the Wraith growing. "No, he cannot. For a season or so he'll merely be sluggish. After that? He'll lose nearly all of his strength and dexterity until he is nothing more than a shell." With a soft sigh, she nods, easily able to finish the Wraith's thought. "I do. Children are want to act out, and free-will has ever been a cornerstone in our family. But it saddens me to see him choose this for himself."
Listening to this, the Voice narrows her eyes as she pulls a memory from long, long ago. "The Climb...it is the antithesis to Halo, in almost all respects. A land of rock and fire, located just south. But I had no idea the Eirachi had kin there.". Releasing the lightning in her fingers, the Voice taps her chin thoughtfully. "I wonder if the passage between Halo and the Climb was blocked during the last war...certainly that would make sense. Few venture there, save for a few miners and traders, so it would make sense that hardly anyone has noticed."
“I’ve thought that, too. There are a few I know of who aren’t fond of the Old Gods. If we could persuade them to come see you, it might change their perspectives…” It would, of course, require good rolls, which Wessex can’t help mean that the Voice would have to be sympathetic to the Abandoned, and the Wraith wouldn’t dare to tell her that. Little does she know that Weaver might have been a good ally, but that ship has unfortunately sailed.
She knows that Evie and Rory are less sold on the Old Gods. Hotaru might be persuaded, and maybe some in Torchline. Who knows. Everything is food for thought right now in her very full brain.
Brightening unexpectedly, Wessex remembers something. “I’ll pass it on to Amun.” The potter had agreed to help turn minds and paint things in a better light. “Ask him to seek out Natural Abandoneds.” They, not Outlanders, were the ones with true heavy feelings against the Old Gods. A little nudge in another direction, a little favoritism and they might be on to something.
As for Sam, well, he doesn’t deserve to be bright. “I don’t understand him,” she confesses quietly. “I’d always thought him a bit of a liability; gullible and unable to say no, unable to think things through and see the consequences of his actions.” Her hands clench a little at her sides, determined not to go on a rant about the insipid man. “But this is -” Unexpected. Unwarranted. Just plain idiotic. And dangerous to the rest of them, if she has any idea about exactly who he’ll run to. If he ends up as a shell, it’ll be exactly what he deserves.
“I’m sorry.” She finally concludes, meaning it. There’s a kernel of doubt that gnaws at her, wondering if she might have prevented it - but it’s only that, a kernel. It will not longer long, especially once she hears what he's been saying. And it’s time to stop talking about him - he’s doubly dead to her now.
“I wonder if people have trapped it, somehow.” What could make a spirit like that suffer other than some sort of entrapment or no one to worship them?? “Are there other seasonal spirits? Gods? elsewhere?”
i'll be your hope, i'll be your love, be everything that you need.
'Indeed...It has never been my intention to leave you all ally-less, and if...opening ties with the abandoned is a way for you all to negotiate your every day lives...perhaps it is worth considering." Nodding at the mention of Amun—the Potter having shown himself to be willing and able in many things—the Voice smiles approvingly at this show of delegation.
Her smile souring, the Voice can only nod. "Sam...has always found it being hard, to be in the minority." His desire to please is what had brought them together, him seeking her out to offer him purpose. And when she suggested he find it on his own? He simply sought it out from someone else. 'You've nothing to apologize for.' The Voice says with a light shake of her head, absolving Wessex of any lingering guilt she might have had. A light for the rest of the Voice's bright ones though the demigoddess may be, still they are all responsible for themselves; just as Sam once chose ascension, so too has he now chosen this.
"It's possible, though i'm not sure what that creature could offer them. Then again, humans find uses for almost anything they seem valuable." The Voice replied with a shrug. "And there are, yes. Four that I know of, though I've not heard of them for some time. They were instrumental in the creation of the world, acting almost like the heralds when it came to elemental and seasonal tasks."
“The best way would be to secretly shut a couple of individuals up,” Wessex jests dryly, even going so far as to chuckle a bit, but preferring to stop short of actually bringing up who she’s thinking of or what would shut them up. Without knowing how the world is developing around her (it’s surprising that no one’s told her anything yet, but perhaps with her constant motion, she just keeps missing them).
She has one final question regarding her brother, and the Wraith hesitates briefly before asking it. “Do you think he could be… dangerous to the rest of us if he tries to return to the Old Gods? Before he becomes a shell?” Is she fishing for a reason to have something to do to him? Absolutely. But like a good demigod, she won’t harm her brother without some sense of tacit approval. And in that, she would defer to her Goddess’s wisdom, to her greater vision and affection for her children. At the very least, her absolution of guilt is accepted and she pushes the thoughts from her mind immediately.
Besides, she’s already come to the conclusion that the young twins will be infinitely more helpful to their causes than Sam. He’s no great loss.
Four spirits, yes that makes sense, of course. Shrugging lightly, Wessex continues lightly. “Guess I’ll find out. Anything else I might need to know before heading out?” Not just for her, but for the group she’ll take on the journey. If all goes well, she might be able to curry favor with this new spirit, and so on and so forth. If she plays her cards and strengths right.
i'll be your hope, i'll be your love, be everything that you need.
Wessex doesn't need to voice the implications of her words in order for the Voice to follow her joke to its conclusion. "Best in the short term, perhaps." She acknowledges, her fingers spreading slightly in a gesture of not uncertainty, but perhaps just indecision.
"To return to them?" The Voice repeats, looking surprised for perhaps the first time in Wessex's presence. Softly she stares at her brightest, wondering if she's missed something subtle in the question. "He is not the first who has tried. Many children rebel, and though I offer everything I have to all of you, there are always some who are unsatisfied. Who choose to turn their insecurities into weapons aimed at me." Again, her expression is saddened. "I'm not sure what he could do to become dangerous. He knows no secrets, has no weapons in his arsenal. Perhaps his kin will find themselves more vengeful on his behalf, but such is their irrationality. Guided and blinded by their emotions." Still, the Voice isn't blind to Wessex's unease. "Watch him, when you can. Don't let it distract from the larger things you have on your plate but...I trust your instincts." There is much the demigoddess doesn't know, but that doesn't mean there isn't something to what her gut tells her.
"Not for now, but come back to me when all this is over. I...believe we are all ready for our next chapter to begin." And, because what use is there to being a demigod if you're aren't privy to certain information before the rest, before she departs the Voice reaches out to press her fingers against Wessex's temples, flashing images directly into her brain before disappearing.
