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!
Getting in touch with Wessex, the Wraith, had been easier than Arialla expected. At home she never would have thought to reach out to a demigod, but in Caido it seemed to be no big deal. All she'd had to do was send a quick note asking if she could train with Wessex -- a few Grounders had recommended that as the first step in her attempts to grow stronger, more capable of effecting change in Caido, whatever end she decided to put that strength towards. A couple notes later and they'd set up this meeting, one which Arialla regarded with a certain apprehension. She knew Wessex was Ascended, one of their leaders, and normally that would have kept her far away, but when she'd thought about it -- if Arialla had to fight Ascended in the future, it might not hurt to have learned a few tricks from one of their own.
Waiting for Wessex to arrive at the appointed spot, she'd picked up a palm frond and was messing with it, half-pretending it was a sword, as if she were a child again. Of course, she had no idea what she was doing. Combat had never been part of Arialla's life before, and she didn't love the idea that it might become part of it now, but she wanted to be able to defend herself and act for herself without relying on others. And, in a world with LongNight monsters and gods knew what else, that meant knowing to fight.
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
“Arialla?” the older woman asks, eyeing shorter redhead who’d been waiting for her at the appointed place and time. If the other answers in the affirmative, she’ll go on to offer a brief, tight smile and introduce herself. “Hi. I’m Wessex.”
It’s been awhile since anyone has asked her to train them - but then it’s been awhile since she’s shown her face for any length of time in the Hollowed Ground. It’s nice to know that her reputation still precedes or - or perhaps Deimos is just busy with LongNight. Either way, she can make the time, especially as it’s only the first day of the dark week.
She’ll never need to limber up, so the Wraith simply discharges herself of her weapons, laying them out nearby. The Ascended moves with a smooth, preternatural grace, not quite as silent as she can be when it’s appropriate, but far quieter than most people. She looks like a fighter; well-defined muscles that will never lose their tone, hard and lean rather than bulky, a faded tattoo wrapped around a bicep. Eyes drift up and down before she speaks, but when she does, it remains in that all-business manner. “So. What are you wanting to learn and are you willing to owe me a favor for it?”
Wessex's appearance was instantly intimidating, though Arialla tried not to show it. It would be quite obnoxious of her to call Wessex here and then chicken out -- and learning from the best was probably a good thing.
"That's me." Arialla found Wessex's next question a bit more challenging to answer. She didn't really know what she needed to learn, besides how to defend herself -- but that wasn't the hard part. Owing Wessex a favor ... Arialla had a feeling that might come back to bite her, given their differing theological opinions. Though she could hardly imagine that she would ever make enough of an impact to come into true conflict with Wessex, whom she understood as one of the Ascended's leaders and heroes. "I need to learn to defend myself, to deal with any problems that arise. If something happens -- monsters or cannibals or whatever Caido holds -- I don't want to be helpless. And yes, I am."
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
“Good,” she responds with a slightly more genuine smile. “And don’t worry, this type of thing doesn’t require a big favor.” She’s just taking a card out of Torchline’s book, since the girl isn’t a friend - or even a friend of a friend. They might have gotten something for free, but alas. A woman’s gotta make a living somehow.
“Well let’s start with something easy, just to see how you move.” And she already has an idea in mind. Stealing over to a large, decorative vase with lots of greenery spilling out of it, Wessex helps herself to two palm fronds after testing that neither of them have any pre-existing damage. The kind she selects are the elongated, more spiky kind, entirely unconducive to moving air and keeping someone cool. She hands one to Arialla, safe in the knowledge that she likely couldn’t do any damage to her pupil, or her to anything in the area.
“Okay. Your move.” Stepping back, Wessex settles into a kind of en garde stance, ready to try and either dodge or block whatever’s coming.
Arialla nodded with a bit of a rueful smile. Good, so she wouldn't be on the hook for too much. She wasn't sure what she could possibly do for the Wraith anyway, but she'd prefer to keep her debts small, if possible. (If only she'd realized that she could have argued. But she was already getting used to the Torcher system of favors, and accepted it as a matter of course.)
The selection of palm fronds surprised Arialla a bit -- she couldn't help raising an eyebrow -- but she had to assume Wessex knew best, so she didn't question it. Instead, she took the frond handed to her and raised it, holding the base in both hands, the way she'd always assumed a sword was held. The motion reminded her of playing soldiers as a child, though it had never been her preferred game. And that was about all the experience she had with a sword.
"All right," she said, a bit nervous but determined. She stepped forward and swung the frond at Wessex in a wide horizontal arc.
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
As Arialla takes the frond and grasps it in both hands, Wessex shakes her head a bit. “Hold it one-handed, in your dominant hand. You don’t need two hands unless the weapon is big and heavy, and we don’t have a lot of those here.” She would hope the girl is the kind to stick to small and average sized weapons - they’ll be much easier for her to hold. Extending her own frond as an example, she waves her left hand. “And now I have this hand free to keep my balance, to strike at another place, to grab something… whatever.”
Don’t handicap yourself before the battle even starts, is what the Wraith is trying to say, more or less.
She simultaneously steps back to keep her core out of the ‘blade’s’ reach, and brings her own frond up to block its arc, stopping it about ⅔ of the way across. From there, she applies pressure at her wrist and tries to press Arialla’s frond down in an arc, tip pointing towards the ground at one point, and then back the way it came. This would theoretically leave each one of them with a side that’s wide open.
Nodding, Arialla took one hand off of the palm frond, trying to copy Wessex's grip as closely as she could. She wasn't sure what to do with her other hand for now, so she let it hang at her side, adjusting her arm's position a couple times to try to find a comfortable way to hold it. Now that she was thinking about it, she felt strangely conscious of her free arm ... Shaking her head, she tried to focus. Surely she should be more concerned about where her weapon went than her empty hand.
Arialla was hardly surprised when Wessex knocked aside her attack with ease -- she hadn't expected to be able to hit the Wraith. She offered some resistance as Wessex pushed the frond down, but didn't go all-out trying to stop her -- she imagined that whatever Wessex meant to demonstrate with the movement would probably be part of the lesson. Of course, Arialla probably couldn't have stopped Wessex even if she had really tried, but for now, she didn't want to break the palm fronds, either.
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
Watching to see what Arialla does with her ‘extra’ arm now, Wessex continues to move at a slower speed, giving the girl the opportunity to block this next attack, if she has the inclination to and sees the opening that the Wraith is taking advantage of.
Trying to maintain her own frond’s pressure on top of Arialla’s (and therefore distracted), Wessex steps in with her left foot and makes to punch Arialla in the stomach with her left fist. If she isn’t stopped in some way, she won’t actually make contact, but the threat should be obvious. If she’s honest, she’s just going through some routine motions and trying to hit all the basics. Nothing complicated here.
Arialla did manage to spot Wessex's punch coming, and she automatically focused on it, instinctively jumping back. She got out of the way of Wessex's punch, but realized too late that, with her frond moving with her, she'd left the Wraith's weapon completely free for another attack. Quickly, she tried to raise her palm frond to what she imagined was a defensive position.
She felt a little adrift, unsure whether she should be asking questions or simply observing Wessex's movements -- unsure why Wessex moved the way she did, what elements Arialla herself should be focusing on and copying. If Wessex hadn't verbally corrected her again, did that mean she was doing well?
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
Arialla jumps back and out of range, which is a smart thing to do, but still remains on the defense. Not a bad strategy for a beginner, Wessex will admit, but she won’t have it said that her pupils (or pupils-to-be) are mere beginners. Under other circumstances she might begin to wonder how Melita is doing with her staff training but that - ah, that only brings pain to the Wraith.
“Good.” the demigod says simply, as she moves slowly into another move with her palm frond. “ Remember that sometimes the best defense is being able to get away. If you’re ever in a shitty situation by yourself, there’s no shame in running. The goal is to live and fight another day.” In fact she, herself, had often run in the beginning, using knowledge of ins and outs and abandoned basements and trees to her advantage during the days of her youth. Twirling her wrist under and back, she brings the frond up in an arc, aiming to come down right above Arialla’s head, hopefully forcing her to either block it with a classic move, or duck and dodge.
Arialla nodded. Hearing the Wraith herself say that it was all right to avoid danger rather comforted her. While she didn't want to be helpless, she didn't want to bite off more than she could chew and get herself killed, either. Presumably she'd know when she really had to stand and fight -- that, or she would misjudge it and die, she supposed.
But she struggled to decide whether to dodge or deflect Wessex's blow in the instant before it landed, ducking away and raising her own frond at the same time. She got out of the way, but her block was clumsy, leaving her open to any number of follow-up attacks.
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
That it was clumsy matters not to Wessex, only that Arialla had tried and managed. Her standards are not so high for first-timers that she be perceived as a cruel taskmistress. As the palm fronds aren’t heavy, there’s no damage done, the Wraith’s own ‘weapon’ intentionally bouncing off the girl’s raised frond and coming back down, this time on the other side - presumably because she’d ducked. The block is an easy one, Wessex thinks, as she crosses her weapon-bearing arm in front of her and makes as if to slice through Arialla’s stomach with the edge of the leaves.
They’re almost done, the Wraith thinks, though she hasn’t really tested the girls’ footwork yet. One step at a time, and perhaps it’s best not to overwhelm those who haven’t grown up with the need to fight - or so she assumes is the Outlander’s case.
Again Arialla both stepped back and raised her frond to block the attack -- an insurance policy of sorts, trying to put her body out of Wessex's way even if the Wraith managed to get around her block. She well might; it was still clumsy, though Arialla was starting to get more comfortable moving around and waving the weapon now. Of course, in a real fight, a palm frond wouldn't do a thing ...
But, as Wessex had said, Arialla's best hope in a real fight right now would be to dodge attacks until she managed to run away. She should start by practicing getting attacked and only then move on to attacking, she supposed.
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
Arialla’s reaction is more fluid, she thinks, almost as if she’s gotten the hang of moving and blocking at the same time. It was a small, but important step in training the body to think about multiple things. Unfortunately, it looks like she may have forgotten another important part of fighting, which is to always be aware of your surroundings. Wessex, this time, does not continue to advance. Instead, she stops and pulls back, dropping her frond to a low ready at her side. “Stop for a second. Take a look around you. What’s dangerous now?”
Arialla might find that she’d scooted back so much that she’s nearing the edge of the ‘safe’ working area. Behind her might lie any number of things considering they’d never really established where they are - a low, large log, some rocks half-hidden by the sand, a hawker’s cart - any of which would put her in danger if the fight were real.
