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!
sweet dreams till sunbeams find you, sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you
Ronin........
Her voice echoes through his bones, tugging him from sleep as one might softly pull the sheet from a slumbering body. The silence that follows trickles down his spine, wordless fingers curling in his hair to rustle him awake.
Let Remi sleep. Come to me.
Whatever he decides to toss on, Ronin will find the outside world shockingly hospitable to his midnight walk to the lighthouse. The rain has ceased and though the air is thick with salt and moisture, it is sweetly scented in a way that seems impossible. When finally he climbs to the top of the tower and opens the heavy wooden door, it will be to find Safrin seated upon her shrine with Seren on her lap. The goddess is plaiting her daughter's hair, sweetly singing her a lullaby.
but in your dreams whatever they be, dream a little dream of me
Ronin is already halfway to the lighthouse before he’s even realised he’s left and not dreaming, the Star having pulled on a pair of pants, a t-shirt torn by dragon claws and the boots that were left by the door. The breeze tousles his hair and sharpens his senses out of the blur of sleep, and he pushes open the door to the Aumakua to begin the climb.
As always, his breath catches at the sight of the lady of the stars when he sees her - even more so at Seren sitting with her. ”I should be used to you sneaking out by now,” he remarks of his daughter, before giving a bow to his goddess.
sweet dreams till sunbeams find you, sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you
"I told her to come." Safrin replies, almost apologetically as she smoothes down an unruly curl. "I didn't want to wake everyone in your house." She adds. Sleepily, Seren nods and snuggles in closer, her hands clutching at the lace of Safrin's gown like one might a blanket.
"Come and sit, Ronin." Not answering his question should have been answer enough. Nodding to the stairs next to her, Safrin gathers up Seren in her arms, laying a cheek against the sleeping girl's head.
"I'm sure you've...sensed that something is coming. Have you heard of what has transpired in a place called the Climb? South of Halo?"
but in your dreams whatever they be, dream a little dream of me
Given that Seren is easily in her teens by now, Ronin is still taken by the affection between mother and daughter, and something in him thrums with warmth at the sight of it. ”It is a rather full house, now.” He nods in agreement, stepping up to sit with them, reaching out to tuck a lock of hair behind Seren’s ear. Then Safrin continues to speak, and the Star gazes towards the windows, out into the night sky.
He nods, not really needing to say it. ”A man named Dorian came to see me. Someone else visited Remi,” he murmurs through a sigh, glancing back at the goddess. ”And Amalia has been, since. She mentioned that something had happened. A god, with something in his chest.”
sweet dreams till sunbeams find you, sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you
Safrin's eyes catch on the rigid line of the Star's jaw, and it doesn't take an overly imaginative mind (not one able to read his thoughts) to hear what is brewing behind his blue eyes. "Members of the Order." Safrin supplies with a nod. "They...were tasked after the first war to ensure that nothing like this happened again. To serve as early warning signs, to act like weathervanes." The goddess's voice is unnaturally dull, her worry evident in the way she clutches at Seren as if she is not a soon-to-be-woman, but a child of porcelain.
"The blight..the orbs that Remi and Amalia have..the spread of the Voice and the use of her portals...All of them are beacons that can no longer be ignored. Now with Tanau's reemergence in the world—that is the creature found in the Climb—I..." Trailing off, Safrin's starlit gaze lowers towards Seren, who is still asleep. Softly the goddess lifts one of her hands, her thumb brushing down her daughter's perfect cheek. "Please don't think I doubt you, Ronin, but the promises made...that Stormbreak could keep her safe..." Her head shakes, dislodging her own dark curls. "..I can't risk her. She isn't ready."
Looking up with tear bright eyes, the goddess for perhaps the first time, speaks with Ronin not as his deity, but as the mother of their child. "Please let her come with me." She speaks with all the understanding of one parent asking the other to let go of a piece of them, but her concern outweighs whatever manipulant efforts she might have made in the past to charm Ronin into her life, and into her bed.
but in your dreams whatever they be, dream a little dream of me
Members of the Order. Ronin files that away in the back of his mind for safekeeping, the soldier in him knowing important information when he hears it. ”So their arrival is an indication that a storm is on its way,” he mutters, already having thought it to be true, but unable to deny it with such obvious evidence in his lap. Already he is thinking, the cogs ticking and turning, and fractals of starlight threaten to burst out of his form.
The dismal worry in Safrin’s voice draws his attention around, the Star watching her with their daughter with a sudden tightness in his chest, reminded of another mother, another child who had barely gotten the chance for one embrace. Still, there’s a part of Ronin that burns with rage at the goddess’s sudden request. One that wants to rail against her, to demand explanations. You keep her a secret, you drop her in my arms, you make me love her and then you snatch her away.
But he steadies himself - and gods if it isn’t difficult - Ronin getting to his feet and pinching at the bridge of his nose. When he turns to face Safrin, it’s with tears in his eyes and a sad smile on his face. ”I fought tooth and nail to reunite my first daughter with her mother,” he whispers. ”You really think I could ever deny you the same? Keep her safe from this. From all of it.”
sweet dreams till sunbeams find you, sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you
"More than on its way. It is already here. Brewing and building. Whatever was inside of Tanau...whatever was removed...not even Frey knows." The implication being that if it is out of the scope of the earthen herald, then that might just suggest it isn't natural.
"I know you're angry with me." Safrin says in a low voice, not looking up even as Ronin stands, not bothering to hide the tremble in her voice. For once it is she who can't bear to look at him, and so she cradles their daughter all the closer. "You ... could come with us.." She says then, a whisper of hope in her voice though she knows before she says the words what his answer will be.
but in your dreams whatever they be, dream a little dream of me
There’s more than a small implication in Safrin’s words, one that chills Ronin to the core. But if anything, it grounds him more firmly in the now, awakening something within him that’s been asleep since the Spire Demon. He is angry, and he doesn’t try to deny it, but there’s something else too - the glow that emanates from him is bright and determined, and he clenches his fists at his sides.
”And if I did that, who would stop all this?” he asks softly. He doesn’t mention Remi, only because he doesn’t think he needs to - they both know he wouldn’t leave the Alchemist for anything. Swiping the tears from his eyes and gazing at Seren, sleeping so peacefully, he lets out a long and shuddering sigh. ”You’ll make sure she doesn’t forget me?”
sweet dreams till sunbeams find you, sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you
Ronin's starlight shines upon the goddess who gave it to him, but she isn't any more beautiful for it. Instead, she seems weaker somehow, her flaws made evident by the light cast upon her by her chosen one.
"I told you that role was never the one I was grooming you for.." Safrin interjects, knowing that the words between them are just that. Words. They both know how this ends. Who leaves and who stays.
Looking up sharply, the goddess inhales as if having been struck. "Who could ever forget you?" She wonders. From the outside, someone might think her just a heartbroken girl in all of this. And indeed, she misses the boyish rogue who first appeared at her shrine. The one she loved instantly and vowed to have. But now that she did, she knew it was all wrong. Her pride and ego had fastened for him a gilded cage, and she knew, knew, if she loosened the door, he would fly away for good. So she left him caged, hating her, because at least then she could still look upon him.
"Dreams are...not normally a world I control as often as my counterparts.." Indeed, Ludo practically lived in nightmares, and Frey was ever-fond of the sorts of dreams that left wet marks on sheets or discomfort in the morning. But, with many dreams occurring beneath her stars, that realm was not barred to her. "But..."
but in your dreams whatever they be, dream a little dream of me
”But you were grooming me for something,” Ronin interjects in return, knowing that now as much as anything else. What would have become of him, had he not died at the hands of the Spire Demon? Had he not been pushed through the stars by one love, only to tumble into the arms of another, with Safrin by far the most prevalent thread throughout both?
Still, her remark brings out a sad, lopsided smile, Ronin shrugging his shoulders. ”I have,” he says. He’s forgotten himself, between the blight and royalty, between Aoife and LongNight.
Ronin glances up at the sudden notion of dreams, instinctively rubbing at the Aries constellation on his forearm. ”But...?” he echoes, not knowing where she’s going with this. Not sure he wants to know, but staying there nonetheless.
sweet dreams till sunbeams find you, sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you
Her lips twitch sadly in recognition of this fact. Yes. She has been. But...she is a greedy and selfish thing. Safrin would whisk Ronin away into the heavens to keep him safe, fuck whatever his future should hold. But he'd hate her even more for it. And of course, there was the Alchemist to deal with.
"No, I don't think that's true." Safrin points out, enigmatic gaze finally meeting his as she softly shakes her head. "The man you think you have forgotten is the only one capable of that." She says, nodding to how it is not just her own light that fills the shrine, but his as well.
"The dreamworld exists...between life and death. It isn't the sort of place you find yourself while your mind shuffles about your wants and desires and the happenings of your day. This is the place you go when your body succumbs to what death might be like and your mind is free to truly travel." Holding out her palm a softly glowing ball of light appears. It is a dark and twisting purple with flecks of pure starlight pulsing within. It looks like it holds a galactic storm, all dark energy and possibility. "To give you this ability though...the world of dreams is not always what it seems. It will take you to a place Seren can visit you...Aoife and Vanya too...but it isn't so easy as all that. Many have lost themselves in dreams, preferring a world of their own making to reality."
but in your dreams whatever they be, dream a little dream of me
What she says surprises him, and Ronin surprises himself by feeling infinitely comforted by it. He smiles gently to Safrin, nodding his acceptance of her point and pulsing all the more brightly for it, rubbing at the back of his neck. ”Then perhaps I should work harder to remember him,” he mutters, thinking for a long few moments before sinking back down to sit with her. To sit with Seren, sleeping as sweetly as any dreamer.
And dreams are what Safrin speaks of now, the goddess lit up by the ball of galactic light that shines darkly between them. Ronin’s breath catches in his throat, because she must know what it is she’s offering - Vanya, Aoife, Seren - and the Star turns tear filled eyes once again to the window, away from the gorgeous prisms of light she offers. ”Were you able to...?” He doesn’t manage to finish the sentence, not quite. Was she able to get Vanya down from the sky?
08-24-2020, 06:46 PM (This post was last modified: 08-24-2020, 06:47 PM by Safrin.)
sweet dreams till sunbeams find you, sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you
That he shines brighter does not comfort the goddess, however. "You know where to look, when you need your way back to him." She says softly. Desperately she wishes it would be to the stars and to her that his blue eyes would roam when he needed reassurance and grounding. But she knew instead it would be to those who already pulled the light from him: Remi, Sunjata, his friends and those he loved.
Carefully now...to tell Ronin that all was well would be to invite chaos. Though it wouldn't be easy to find Aoife and Vanya in the world of dreams (infinite vista that it was), he'd manage it one day. And then? When he learned the truth? "Ludo has...added to our arrangement. Its terms are steep, though I will meet them." Safrin replies slowly, pulling Seren all the closer to her. "Like the fae, Ludo is tricky with its wording. I should have been more careful."
but in your dreams whatever they be, dream a little dream of me
”I looked to you, once.” No mind reader is Ronin, but he can tell what Safrin means in the things she does not say. ”I still do, at times.” Not often, it’s true, but the girl in the arms of the goddess has accomplished exactly what Safrin might have had in mind. They were bonded, closer even than when she had put him in the stars, closer than blood.
Still, as she speaks regarding his task at LongNight, at Ludo’s moving the goalposts, the light in Ronin flares brightly - then it winks out entirely. ”I see,” he whispers, eyes dropping to stare at the ground. There’s... nothing more for it, then. ”I’m sorry, I... you were telling me something important. About the dreamworld. About not... not going too far?”
