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!
are those real stars that hang in the sky? or are they man-made, a trick of the light?
It’s his first time going through a portal, going anywhere aside from the Greatwood. And it was exciting and terrifying and he’s freaking out but in as nonchalant a way as he can. He’s brought a little bag of clothes and things, hoping it doesn’t take long to find his mother out in the unknown of Torchline.
He doesn’t even know what to expect, as he clutches the letter Vervain had sent him detailing to meet her here. He doesn’t even know where he’s about to pop out as he slips through the portal, dropping directly into some place bright and the sound of water nearby, and a hell of a lot of people and holy shit they’re gathering and swimming and the water here is just… What is that? A giant river of some sort? He can’t even see the other end!
Too blinded and bewildered, he stumbles forward a bit, bi-toned eyes scanning the water as his boots hit and scuff against the wood of the dock, feeling the wind ruffle through his dark hair.
She had sent the letter ahead so that he would know she was coming for him. And she had specified - more than once - for him not to go walking into the portal by himself, but to wait for her at the Mathair until she came through. And yet, sure enough Vervain was walking headlong into her son coming out of the other side of said portal. Her apology stuttered on her lips when she realised who she had bumped into, and an expression of both delight and fury somehow settled onto her face.
”You’re so stubborn,” she breathed, reaching out to seize him in a hug. ”But I missed you anyway. Saves me a trip I suppose.” Turning, she nodded out at the stretch of Torchline. ”What do you think? Bit different to the woods, right?”
are those real stars that hang in the sky? or are they man-made, a trick of the light?
Oh he read the letter, read the fact that she wanted him to wait at the portal so they could go through it together. But honestly? When had that ever stopped him? He was confident he could do it on his own, and if he took a wrong step well… He hadn’t, and arrived right on the Port. Problem solved, right? Right. Still, it’s surprisingly busy out here — so unused to the amount of people milling about.
He’s too bewildered by the ocean to really pay much attention anyway, trying to understand how it’s possible a river could get this fucking big.
He doesn’t notice either when he bumps into someone, not at first. He’s prepared to just brush on past like he does to the trees of the Greatwood. But then he hears her voice and his head snaps toward her, bi-toned eyes bright and crinkling a small amount as he grins at her and almost drops his bag as he wraps her in a tight hug. “It was really easy, mom!” He protests, trying to embody the image of strong and not needing any help, before it fades and his head ducks a small amount. “I didn’t know rivers could get this big? And there’s so many people? What do they do? No, wait, what are they doing?” He squints over his shoulder to a shop where someone’s trading something for what appears to be fabric of some sort.
”It always is, until something goes wrong,” Vai remarked about it being easy, the huntress grinning and turning to sling an arm around him to guide him away from the portal where people might yet step out or run in. A grin spread across her face and she glanced out at the sea. ”That’s more than a river,” she told him. ”That is the Arclight Ocean. It goes on for miles and miles, Felix. I don’t even know what’s on the other side.”
Continuing to lead them towards the shore, Vai turned her attention now towards the people, chuckling to her son. ”Working, fishing, trading,” she said. ”It’s just like the Greatwood, but bigger. And with a lot less trees. Oh, and no snow.”
are those real stars that hang in the sky? or are they man-made, a trick of the light?
“But something didn’t.” He protests again, an arrogant grin sent his mother’s way before she’s slinging her arm around her and he slings his own over her shoulders, shifting the bag to the other side. His gaze finds the ocean again, brows furrowing as she explains. “An… Ocean?” He questions while he squints at it. “Maybe we could find out!” He chimes, grinning with the idea, thinking it was a perfectly reasonable thing to do.
It wasn’t, but he doesn’t know that.
But she’s guiding them toward the shore, and he follows easily in step with his mother, head tilting slightly bearlike as he watches the people. “How do you hide, then? When you’re hunting?” He asks, clearly confused by this revelation. “No snow??” He whines, though he should’ve figured it out. Especially, seeing as, there’s no snow to be seen. It’s not even cold, it’s surprisingly warm from what he’s used to. “What about our snowball fights?” He asks, curiously looking at the sand now with confusion.
”Maybe we could,” Vai agreed with her son, her voice equally as bright, though that was probably more to do with being reunited with Felix than it was to do with actually crossing the ocean to see the other side. They moved along the boardwalk until they reached the shoreline, the huntress pausing on the sand so they could look down the stretch of the beach. ”There isn’t much to hunt, but where you do want to hide and prowl... that’s where you’ll want to go.” She pointed towards the dense foliage that met the sand in the distance.
Nudging him at the snow comment, Vai kicked a bit of sand about and stepped further onto the beach. ”Sand castles and water fights?” she suggested, before nodding up - up and up and up - to where the distant lighthouse could be seen overlooking the sea. ”And that is very close to where we are staying. In case you get lost.” With his nose, he wouldn’t. But better to be safe.
vervain
well i'll rest my eyes
and i'll let the earth breathe
are those real stars that hang in the sky? or are they man-made, a trick of the light?
The prospect of being able to do that, of venturing across the ocean is huge to him, having no idea what to even expect. Did the same kind of fish linger beneath the rippling waves? Were there more that went unseen, unknown? He can’t tell, not yet anyway. But he follows where she points to the dense jungle, the trees looking all sorts of wrong to him as he figures out the idea that that’s where people hunted.
Hmmm, strange. But okay.
He huffs out a small sound as she nudges him, moving slightly as he watches her kick at the sand. He replicated the gesture, finding it to be somewhat grainy instead of the dirt he was used to back home. “Sure!” He agrees, grinning to her despite not knowing what a castle looks like. The idea is understandable enough, perhaps he could just attempt to replicate their home? But then he’s squinting again into the distance to the lighthouse, before he looks back at her. “Okay, mom.” He rumbles with some lighthearted snark.
Laughing at his easy agreement - and his sass - Vai urged them onwards, walking across the beach and glancing at the footsteps that they left in the sand. ”Listen, Torchline might not seem as big as the Greatwood, but there’s a lot more people and a lot more trouble to get into.” Immediately she wasn’t sure whether or not she should have mentioned that - wherever there was trouble, there was guaranteed to be a Felix eventually.
”From what I’ve heard, LongNight is a little more rowdy here as well. So it’s even more important to know where home is.” Bouncing her eyebrows at him for good measure (just to make sure the lesson had sunk in), she began to head in the direction of the lighthouse she’d indicated. ”We are staying with Remi. You ready to meet him, finally?”
are those real stars that hang in the sky? or are they man-made, a trick of the light?
Of course, he perks up at the mention of trouble, unable to keep the amused grin from crossing his face with that tidbit of information. Yeah, he’d certainly end up there one way or another, stuck in the middle of all the trouble he could muster – and not for lack of seeking it out, but simply just… Happening. A coincidence – at least that’s what he’d tell Vervain.
But they’re walking, and he’s glancing back over to his mother as she mentions LongNight here being different from what he could remember the Greatwood being like. Rowdy, more people… All signs seem to point towards parties, and something about that excites the idea of it in his mind. It dies, quickly, set on the backburner as she mentions Remi though and his grin grows a bit wider. “Uh, yes?” He laughs, picking up his pace a bit. “Don’t even have to ask.” He grins back to her.
She thought that the mention of Remi would get his attention. Grinning mischievously to her son, she beckoned for him to follow her across the beach so they could begin the climb up to the lighthouse. ”I’m only going to say this once, so listen good.” She glanced over her shoulder at Felix. ”This is Remi’s house, and his husband Ronin is going away for LongNight. So once the sun sets it’s probably best to stay out of his way. Mind your manners and don’t break anything.”
Waggling a finger for good measure, Vai figured that would be enough of a telling from her. Meeting Remi would be the rest of the warning; the Alchemist was a different creature now even to the one she had told Felix about in her stories. But... well, her son was about to find that out for himself.
They moved quickly, and a salty breeze whipped across the cliff side as they moved past the lighthouse towards the cluster of houses nearby. ”That’s where we are staying.” She nodded to the Governor’s cottage. ”Go ahead, go knock the door.”
are those real stars that hang in the sky? or are they man-made, a trick of the light?
Usually his mother’s stern tongue would cause him to brush it off, to take the important tidbits and conveniently forget the rest. But this time, he doesn’t, not as she speaks of Remi and the whole ordeal with being here. And maybe it’s because of the stories he’s heard of Remi, of the Alchemist and his excitement, that reins in the wild nature’s tendencies he has. But he listens, head nodding agreeably with that same grin. “Got it!” Does he? Hard to tell.
But they’re nearing the lighthouse and the cluster of homes and already there’s a bit of his childish anxieties reaching up for him, as he steps into the porch and stares at the door with a somewhat intense look. She tells him to knock, and he slings his bag over his shoulder, straightens his shirt, and lets his dual toned eyes focus on it. And then he knocks, heartbeat thundering with anticipation and wait.
What good are hands if there's nothing that they hold
The Alchemist had absolutely been expecting this visit, but still he plastered on a look of surprise as he swept open the large door. When he'd become a physically intimidating figure, he had no idea. But as he crossed his arms casually over his chest causing the muscles there to flex subtly, the scars across his throat clear as he raised his chin, the Alchemist looked not at all like the sopping wet curly-haired man Vai had once rescued from the forests of Northaven.
Quickly Remi's look of stern surprise broke upon seeing Felix, who was literally the spitting image of Devrum. "Gods." He whispered, sea-glass stare turning towards Vai. He'd not know the bear as a young man, but looking at Felix he thought he had a pretty good idea of what he might have looked like.
"Well." Remi said, exhaling with a grin. "I hope he got your brain, seeing as he got Dev's looks."
And what good are hearts if you bury them all alone?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Vai tried and failed to hide the glee on her face as she stood by and watched Felix knock at the door. It wasn’t so much that she had been looking forward to them meeting - but truly, she had - more so it was that Remi had become something of a legend or a fairytale to her son, and this was probably more important to him than he was letting on. As he opened the door it would be to Felix and Vai’s broad smile, and she laughed to him as he noted the very strong resemblance to Devrum as well.
”Oh, he’s a smart one,” she assured him, grinning and stepping up to clap Felix on the shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. ”Thank you, for having us over for LongNight. I think Torchline might be just what we needed.”
are those real stars that hang in the sky? or are they man-made, a trick of the light?
As much as Vai’s grin is broad, Felix’s is huge when Remi answers the door. And he’s not at all how Felix imagined him from the stories told, far too built, far too… Different, changed, lived. The slight whisper meets Felix and already he’s sucking in a sharp breath. “Hi Remi!” He chimes, only breaking his attention away when Vervain’s hand lands on his shoulder, and he steps aside a small amount for his mother.
He’s heard he looks like his father more than once, but it hits something different to hear a stranger to him say it as well. And with Vai’s confirmation that he’s indeed smart, his chest puffing out in all the teenage arrogance despite his ignorance on… Well, almost everything. “Your house is really nice.” He offers, stepping inside once Remi allows them inside, shifting his bag as he glances around.
His attention lands back on Remi, however, with that same similar smile along his face – the equivalent of someone meeting an idol of sorts. A legend, a story made real with the lines that spanned Remi’s face. “I've heard a lot about you, it's good to meet you.” It's an awkward sentence, as if he doesn't know what to do, but he doesn’t know what else to say as he hovers beside his mother.
