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!
Sam had intended to work in his shop for the day, preparing pages for maps by making the initial grid-lines. It was intricate work that had to be precisely measured, each square needing to be exactly the same and the lines needing to be absolutely straight...and he'd found within minutes that he was not in the right kind of mind for it. His conversation with Remi the day before, the news he'd received about an apparent strike against the Ascended, swam around and around his mind until he was seeing would-be assassins in every window or shadow.
He'd decided he needed to talk a walk somewhere quiet. Perhaps it was foolish to go somewhere remote on his own at the moment, but Sam supposed he was hoping to prove to himself that he was being dramatic: if he was, then it should be fine to go on the walk, right?
Deciding to take a new route this time, he headed up to the base areas of Apopo, the jungle surrounding it. Not intending to get very high Sam stayed at the paths by the bottom, not sure how safe it was higher up the mountain after the year prior's eruption. Eventually he came across a clearing in the trees that gave a view over Haulani with a flat rock to sit on and seeing it as a natural break, sat down to rest and observe his new home. It was certainly beautiful, but he wondered if it was about to become as dangerous as the Hollowed Grounds had sometimes felt. That prospect unpleasant indeed, Sam drew his knees up to his chest, trying to stop his mind from inviting enemies in the dark shapes of trees behind him.
We don't belong here It was a mistake imprisoning our souls
Finn doesn’t know how he has ended up at this place. He had been writing his notes up until the rain had started, the ink dribbling down the paper and forcing him to find something else to do with his time. Research, he will say if questioned. Research is what has brought him here. It sounds better than I follow the auras visible only to my eyes, and only when I wear magic spectacles.
Still, he glances up just as he steps into the clearing, blinking as if seeing the view of Haulani for the first time (because he is) and freezing at the sight of the young man on the rock. ”Oh,” he says, helpfully. ”Sorry.” Then it clicks, what he sees - the aura - and Finn fumbles to remove his glasses as if to erase the sight from his mind. ”I ought to go.”
Hearing someone approach, Sam engaged in a war in his mind; one side aggressively insisting it was an assassin come to spill his fluid across the rocks and the other trying to sensibly calm him down and insist it was probably just an innocent hiker. He hadn't yet decided which half had won when Finn appeared and he decided to smile awkwardly: maybe if it was an assassin, he would take pity when greeted with a friendly face?
It was probably rather obvious Sam didn't have much experience with violent people.
Still, the man who came into the clearing blinking, fiddling with his glasses, certainly didn't look like an assassin. "Oh-- no, no, you can stay. The view belongs to everyone after all." Sam said with a cautious smile, moving over a little and patting the rock, assuming that Finn was anxious to sit with a stranger. "Please. Don't let me being here ruin your walk."
We don't belong here It was a mistake imprisoning our souls
Finn does have experience with violent people, and this man does not seem like one at a cursory glance. But that does not change what he is, what he has done to himself, and what that means for all of them. Tucking his glasses away and keeping his eyes firmly on the view of Haulani, he wavers between stepping forward and back, caught in a web of his own making. ”It is quite the view,” he manages in a low voice, his feet finally carrying him forward, though he does not take the offered seat. Rather, Finn lingers awkwardly nearby.
The man does not know that he has already ruined his walk by being here, and Finn is not the type to let him in on it. He lets out a shuddering breath, glancing fleetingly at the... the Ascended. ”What brings you up here? Just... the view?” he asks falteringly.
Sam certainly noticed the way Finn seemed to refuse to look at him, but with the man's general nervous energy, put it down to social awkwardness: something Sam could hardly blame someone else for. Sympathetic towards the man's supposed plight he tried to not take offence when Finn didn't take the offered seat. "Yes, I love being able to see the ocean from anywhere in the town. It's beautiful." From this angle the glittering waves were even more visible than usual.
While Sam did have a lot of experience with social anxieties, he wasn't sure he'd ever had them bad enough to have to take such a desperate breath for a simple look. Pity clear on the sad smile that took over his face he spoke gently, like he was trying not to spook Finn away. "Well, I've just recently moved into town from the Grounds. I've been having a...stressful week, though, and I wanted to clear my head. There are some awful things happening in the world right now." He shook his head with a sigh. "Are you from Haulani?"
We don't belong here It was a mistake imprisoning our souls
”It is,” Finn agrees, and no amount of awkwardness in the world can change that. The view is stunning even in the rain, and the Spyglass loses himself in it for a moment, using it as a prop to steel his nerves. It’s hardly a surprise to come across one of the Ascended given the very nature of his work, but he doesn’t recall any process beyond that point. So Finn does what Finn does best; he listens, he observes, he pieces together.
”From the Grounds?” he echoes faintly, like hearing the words from far away. ”What made you decide to leave?” The view would have been enough for Finn, personally, but he doubts many others would base a decision on one thing. ”Moving can be stressful,” he says of the other man’s week, humming a dark sort of agreement about the number of awful things happening.
”No, I’m just passing through Haulani. Visiting for a few days.” He fidgets and passes a hand back through his curls, forcing himself to look properly at the Ascended. ”My name is Finn.” It’s only polite, he tells himself.
Well, at least Sam and his new friend could connect over the view they were watching, even if the man still seemed hesitant to really talk to him. Idly, Sam wondered if he was somehow coming off as intimidating, but he decided that really couldn't be the case: he'd never once intimidated anyone in his entire life.
Thankfully, Finn began to make conversation and ask questions himself, which Sam happily followed along with. "Oh, well...lots of bad memories there, I suppose. I thought it might be nice to start anew. I've been trapped in the Grounds for a lot of my life -- I was there when the barrier was, you know." Not sure how common knowledge of the barrier was, Sam glanced across at Finn to see if he looked familiar with the concept.
"Where is it you're headed? I know a few people have been going to Halo now that the Deepfrost is over." Holding out a hand to shake towards Finn, Sam smiled. "I'm Samuel."
We don't belong here It was a mistake imprisoning our souls
This all feels wrong. It shouldn’t be happening, for all that Finn knows of himself, of the Ascended, of his place in all of this. But it’s impossible not to hold a conversation with this mild-mannered stranger, who has offered nothing but polite questions and attempts at reassurance. Despite himself, Finn engages. ”I have heard it has been quite an adjustment, for those who lived within the barrier,” he says quietly, trying to erase the man’s aura from his mind. He’s just another person. Just another soul from the Grounds.
”I stay on the move, mostly. It isn’t up to me,” he explains about where he’s headed, unable to really give many details both for discretion and because he simply doesn’t know where he’s going to travel from week to week. The stranger introduces himself and Finn watches his hand for perhaps longer than is comfortable, but he does reach out to shake it. His grip is firm and warm, at odds with his demeanour, and he offers a faint smile. ”Nice to meet you, Samuel. What are you planning to do now that you’re in Torchline?”
If Sam had known how intensely Finn was judging him for being Ascended, he would have been deeply uncomfortable; as it was he was happy to make a friend, especially one that seemed as mild and polite as this one. "It has been. When I first came here..." He laughed, shaking his head. "...I was so excited to see the ocean I just ran right to it and jumped in. I'd only ever seen the Oasis in the Grounds before." That never could have prepared him for the stretching horizon of waves that was the ocean, the glistening water that went on seemingly forever.
"Oh? Do you work for someone?" He asked, wondering if perhaps Finn was some kind of courier: he wasn't sure of many other jobs that required too much travel, though Sam would be the first to admit he was not the most worldly. As for himself, he found that he was quite excited to say for the first time: "Oh, well, I'm hoping to be a Cartographer. I've been making books for many years and I wanted a new challenge...maps are certainly a different thing altogether."
We don't belong here It was a mistake imprisoning our souls
”I can well imagine why,” he says of the ocean, and for a moment Finn seems strangely at peace with the view, staring out at the heaving waves, the shoreline stretching beyond where the eye can see. Were it not for his trepidation in the face of such large bodies of water, he might have done just the same. As it stands, though, he is content to watch it from the shore. Or from here. He hums an affirmative that yes, the does work for someone, tearing his gaze away and absently turning his collar up against the chill.
”My assignments take me wherever I need to be. I... find people.” The way he says it is hesitant; it’s not a lie, but nor is it really everything. ”A cartographer, though? That sounds interesting. In a place like this too, the sailors will thank you for it.” As will any travellers - like himself.
There was a pleasant moment where they just watched the water and Sam wished he had someone with him he could lean onto, maybe hold their hand over the picturesque view: of course, he was not going to do so with Finn. A silent sigh left him as he felt a mix of sadness and inspiration from the vista before them, the sun that did filter through the leaves to his face not burning enough to take away from the sight.
"Find people? You mean...missing people?" He asked, trying his best to interpret Finn's words in the best way possible, not wanting to think he was talking to some kind of stalker.
At least his own work was pleasantly boring and legal. "It has been a challenge, but I do hope it will be useful. I've had a few offers from friends that can shift to help me get birds eye views.." Sam laughed, shook his head. "But I have not yet taken them up on it."
We don't belong here It was a mistake imprisoning our souls
The truth is, though, that Finn is some kind of stalker, though it may not be in the traditional sense. He’s a stalker with a purpose, a bloodhound sent to find those deemed most interesting to the Order’s cause. He can’t tell Sam that, of course, and nor would he; instead he smiles faintly across at the other man. ”Sort of, yes,” he says with a nod. ”They certainly don’t come to any harm when I find them, put it that way.”
Finn also finds Sam’s work more interesting than his own, tilting his head at the ingenious use of Attuned abilities. ”I imagine you would find more than one hidden location,” he remarks. ”There must be dozens of unmapped islands out on the ocean. Still, I hope you’re a patient one - I hear that sort of work takes time.”
Given that no one had mentioned harm, that Finn felt the need to especially say he didn't cause it to those he visited honestly made Sam suspect he might. A little nervous, he looked the man up and down for weapons; not seeing any he was still wary, but decided not to leap up off the rock and run away. "Um...then what does happen to them? Do I...want to know?"
It occurred to him that he could be one such person Finn was looking for, that their meeting could be more than a coincidence, but Sam tried to push that away as too fanciful to be true.
At least Finn did seem genuinely interested in Cartography, which meant he had to be at least kind of a nerd and thus not that frightening. "Oh, I used to spend weeks at a time copying out old manuscripts. I'm very patient."
We don't belong here It was a mistake imprisoning our souls
They are two awkward socialites circling each other like vultures, and Finn realises his faux pas belatedly in the way that the other man suddenly seems wary. It’s a strange feeling, wanting to backtrack, to correct, especially knowing what Sam is, but it’s almost like he can’t help himself. ”Nothing, usually. It depends on what they want to do,” he says, aware that he’s being vague to a fault now and letting out a long breath.
”I find people that may be of interest to my government,” he says then, like he’s making up for it. ”It’s up to them whether they show interest in return.”
Feeling much more at ease with what the other man does for a living, Finn shifts his weight from one foot to the other, forcing shoulders to relax. ”Then your maps should turn out excellently,” he says. ”I could use one, when you have Torchline mapped out.”
