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!
The Luxere must be fond of the Glade, Ronin thought - and besides, he and Vanya had promised to try and make an offering to Safrin together, back before the snows had come. Either way, since spotting one of the beautiful creatures out by the Oasis, he had been keen to bring his lady here to spy one again. And whilst they were here, they may as well make good on that offering. Convenient, too, because he hadn't realised there was an actual Shrine here.
The concentric circles were frosted with snow, the place beautifully muted by the branches overhead and the embrace of the forestland. Ronin's breath left his lips in a white cloud, and he gave Vanya's hand a warm squeeze. They were both bundled up as much as they could be, and the guildmaster made sure to walk slow so that the osprey at his side wouldn't slip and fall. She was carrying something much too precious to risk that.
"Oh, look..." Ronin held up a hand and grinned over his shoulder at her. Around the Shrine were various offerings to the gods; burned out candles, bits of harvest from Leafchange... all sorts. And one of the Luxere was nibbling at an offering before them, its antlers aglow as it raised its head.
Vanya held tightly to Ronin’s hand, following him carefully through the snow and ice. She frowned as her heart leaped at a minor slip of of her foot, fighting against the heavy sigh in her chest. She was a damned sailer, she had some of the best balance. Unless she was on ice, apparently. She swore colorfully under her breath as she regained her footing, one hand idly held over the bump that showed under her layers of clothing.
It was at the sound of Ronin’s voice that she glanced up, breath clouding into the frigid air as round eyes took in the aria of the shrine. A smile flickered over her lips as she took in the offerings, the stones, the surreal silence of it all. ”I suppose not everything is different here,” she said softly as she came to stand at Ronin’s side. ”Offerings are made to gods in every world.”
Vanya herself had little to offer. She was no artist, no craftswoman, had nothing that a goddess would have any appreciation for. All of this sea bird’s skills were suited to her ship, her Ocean. Still, in her pocket a piece of parchment and an unlit candle lay. The paper and its elegant script would be ruined quickly, she was sure, but as she had told her lover: it was what it meant that was supposed to matter. At least she hoped it did. Anything to find her family again, maybe the Ocean too...
As Vanya scanned the shrine with glimmering eyes, she stopped short at the sight of… a reindeer. With glowing antlers. She blinked at the peaceful creature as it raised its head to peer at them. A slow smile spread of her face as she stepped closer to Ronin, glancing from it and up to him. ”I didn’t think everyone meant their antlers actually glowed,” she said quietly before looking back at the animal, her hand resting over her growing life in her.
"Careful," Ronin murmured, smiling to Vanya and guiding her close to his side when they paused before the luxere. He wrapped his arm around her so he could share his warmth, one of his hands resting over hers. Kissing her curls, he returned his attention to the glowing deer.
"Speak for yourself, Van," he murmured. "I think this is the first offering I've ever made to a god in earnest." Maybe that would please Safrin in itself? Ronin too carried a candle and some parchment, having taken his lady's lead in choosing something that would be meaningful.
But first, apparently, they had a friend. "Would I lie to you?" He laughed, tilting his head to rest it against hers and spending a moment to simply admire the creature in the Shrine as it noticed them. Hoping for another morsel (and possibly the same reindeer Ronin had encountered before), it had no qualms in loping up to them, nosing Van's hair and snuffling at her collar.
Softly the world fell away in a star-whispered hush. The Luxere though appeared not to mind at all, and indeed its glowing antlers seemed to shine all the brighter for the sudden disparity of light.
"Beautiful creatures, are they not?" Safrin mused, appearing silently and leaning against a tree. With a gentle hum she pushed herself off the bark, extending a hand towards the luxere that approached her readily. It nuzzled her palm, and in her presence it seemed to radiate light.
Looking up towards Ronin, she cast him a cosmically beautiful smile, before her attention fell upon Vanya. Inhaling and extending her hands as if she meant to touch the globe of the woman's belly, a smile shot across her face like a shooting star, as starshine poured from her fingers. 'You carry the life well Vanya Hali. Vi would be so pleased."
Vanya smiled crookedly up at Ronin before she turned her attention back to the reindeer. He was warm against the bitter cold in the air as he held her to him, and she leaned her head against his shoulder the same moment he rested his over her hair. ”Everywhere I’ve been, and I never thought I’d see something like this,” she admit. She had seen magicians all over Northwind create and conjure fantastical things, but this was real and simply.. A part of this world.
The luxere noticed them then, and the osprey pulled in a breath as it loped towards them, but the animal slowed just as it reached the pair. Vanya held out her hand for its investigation, but it bypassed her open palm entirely, sniffing at her hair and nuzzling her collar. Vanya let out a breathy laugh at the tickle of its nose. ”I’d have brought you treats if I knew you’d be here,” she said softly, and she tentatively stroked her fingers over the glowing curve of one of its antlers. Just as she touched the antler, Vanya was left in awe, for the world gave way into starlight and quiet and… Safrin .
She knew the moment she set eyes upon the goddess, there was no mistaking the shine in the beings eyes, the feeling in Vanya’s chest - this was Ronin’s patron goddess. She pressed closely to his side as one hand fell over her stomach and their child within, eyes wide. The brilliant smile from the goddess coaxed one in return from the woman, and she glanced up at Ronin before looking back.
”Thank you,” she breathed, and she could think of nothing else would convey her gratitude for not just those words, but for what she promised Ronin. She glanced down at the growing life she carried, and she smiled softly. ”Ronin brought me here to make an offering.” She reached her hand into her pocket then, pulling out the piece of paper - the candle seemed a moot point now. She turned her eyes upwards at the goddess, and she wondered if her siblings would ever believe this happened. If she ever found them. ”It isn’t much of anything,” she said quietly, and she stretched her arm out with the paper. ”Just a song of the sea I knew when I was young.”
Ronin tensed, at first, as the light faded from the shrine, and he instinctively held Vanya closer to him, eyes flashing about to try and find the danger. Then she spoke, the guildmaster relaxing instantly, a warm smile blooming to life on his lips. They'd not even had a chance to give their offerings and Safrin was here, Ronin glancing around to watch as the luxere approached her and its antlers twinkled and shone all the brighter.
Her smile near blinded him, Ronin's hand drifting to rest over Vanya's. He pressed a kiss against her dark locks, before glancing back to Safrin. Vi - he recognised that name as one of the old(?) Old Gods, feeling surprisingly warmed to know that this was who Safrin seemed to represent. "I brought a sketch, but it's a pale comparison to the real thing," he murmured, offering a respectful nod to the goddess since he was unwilling to let his lady go.
"Vanya would... ask you something, though I'm not sure if you will be able to answer. About her family."
01-22-2019, 06:23 PM (This post was last modified: 01-22-2019, 06:24 PM by Safrin.)
Safrin's expression was a beatific O of polite surprise, her painted lips parting slightly before pressing back together once more in a smile. "There is much in this world I would think of as nothing," the goddess mused gently. Extending a hand, her finger tips reached for the paper. As they brushed it, the paper dissolved into a thousand points of starshine that rolled and frothed like the ocean upon which Vanya had grown up. "...but this is not one of them."
A song rejoiced through the air, a crescendo of a multitude of voices singing with the harmony of the sea. It swirled and danced like rain during a summer storm, as if the elemental to which Vanya had always prayed now conducted an orchestra of the forest just for her. In response, the Luxure sighed, three of four more of them appearing. They crowded around Vanya sensing her purity and the life within her.
Looking adoringly towards Ronin, the goddess smiled. "You have become quite the creator, sugar. Of life as well as art." She chimed brightly, before the smile on her lips suffered for his words, the cosmic depths of her gaze growing somewhat more grave.
"You wish to know of the Hali's?" Safrin asked, a flickering of moon-bright shadow dappling her cheeks for a moment as she listened, needing and wanting the woman to confirm this for herself.
