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!
you think i'm happy because i'm smiling,
but it's the easiest thing to do
Waiting for Alina to arrive, Juniper paced the Observatory's platform. How did one address a queen? She'd never had to ask that question before, and that was only the least of her worries now. How did one ask a queen if she'd sanctioned slaughter, and tell her it was wrong? How could Juniper convince Alina to try a diplomatic solution to the Ascended's aggression instead of killing them all?
A sick feeling in Juniper's stomach insisted that if she even tried, her loyalty would be questioned again, as it had been all her life -- that she, of all the Fae, could least afford to speak up on the behalf of outsiders. But that was her job, wasn't it? Nephele had asked her to help the Fae open up to others as well as convincing others to help the Fae. There had to be given and take there; the Fae had to bend -- or they would break.
Juniper hoped Alina had gotten her note, and would actually show up. She didn't know how much Nephele had told Alina about Juniper, about the role Nephele had extended to her ... Of course, part of her actually hoped the opposite -- if Alina didn't show up, at least Juniper wouldn't have to have such a difficult conversation with her.
if you looked a little closer,
you'd find my eyes aren't smiling too.
The note from Juniper had been a surprise asking to meet at the Observatory. Alina didn't know the other Fae that well, nor did the huntress know what this meeting was about. Still, she flew to the tower at the appointed time.
Her wings were still damaged and tattered from her brush with the sand storm, and her skin looked red, raw, and scoured. However, her head was held high, shoulder squared and back, and she held a spear in her hands. Landing, she made her way towards Juniper.
Alina nodded at the other woman. "Juniper. You asked for me?" The huntress' eyes bored into her fellow Fae, and Alina's lips were pressed into a narrow line.
you think i'm happy because i'm smiling,
but it's the easiest thing to do
Alina's disapproving expression put Juniper even more on edge -- she didn't seem in a particularly receptive mood -- but Juniper tried to hide her apprehension. Alina's bedraggled appearance surprised her, and she couldn't help blurting, "Are you all right?" with more worry than she'd intended to let on.
Then Juniper tried to get a handle on herself, to speak calmly and professionally. "Yes. I wanted to talk to you about the Ascended, and our campaign against them ... I've heard some troubling things. That a Fae killed an Ascended who wasn't involved in attacking the Mathair, and sent his dismembered body across the lands ... Is that true?"
She had more questions, of course, but Juniper figured that was a good place to start. The last thing she wanted was for Alina to think Juniper was accusing her of ... something.
if you looked a little closer,
you'd find my eyes aren't smiling too.
Narrowing her eyes at Juniper, Alina nodded just once. "I'm fine." Her grip on the spear tightened for a moment before she took a deep breath. Letting it out, she felt the tension in her body leave with it.
"I don't know." And as Fae could not lie, the other woman would know that the huntress was speaking the truth. However, Alina shrugged at the both the implied accusation and at the occurrence itself. "So what if it is true, though?" She gritted her teeth and her nostrils flared.
Raising her eyebrows, she met Juniper's gaze squarely. "Was that all you wanted to know?" Shifting, Alina planted the butt of her spear on the ground and leaned on it.
you think i'm happy because i'm smiling,
but it's the easiest thing to do
All right, so ... this wasn't going to be an easy conversation. Not that Juniper had expected it to be, but she still felt her stomach sink in disappointment at Alina's hostile stance. Nephele had described the three of them as allies, working together to protect and promote the Fae, but Alina clearly didn't share that opinion. For a moment Juniper wished she could have spoken to Nephele instead ...
"I'm concerned. Nephele asked me to help our people reach out to outsiders." Maybe knowing that fact would get Alina to open up a little more -- Juniper had assumed that Nephele had told Alina of her intended role, but perhaps it hadn't come up. "I would like to propose that we work with the other lands' leaders to bring the Ascended to justice, but outsiders will not see unbridled violence against Ascended who haven't personally harmed us as justice."
Juniper paused, thinking. If Alina hadn't known about the incident, then Juniper couldn't ask who had done it -- but Alina seemed to disapprove of Juniper's questions more than she condemned the murder. Her attitude didn't exactly shock Juniper; few Fae would mourn an Ascended, whether they were personally involved in the attack on the Mathair or not. But "not mourning" and "actively murdering" were quite different things ... weren't they?
"I suppose I also want to know how you plan to deal with the Ascended moving forward." Juniper took a deep breath. "I stand with you, Alina, and with our people. If we intend to go to war with the Ascended ... then I will take up arms. But I have to know what we're going to do. And, in the moment before that war begins, I do think there may be better options."
if you looked a little closer,
you'd find my eyes aren't smiling too.
At the mention of Nephele and what their fellow Fae had asked Juniper to do, Alina shrugged. "A noble goal."
She found herself gritting her teeth. "But I doubt you'll succeed, especially seeing as those leaders now include the very woman who led the attack that killed our people and desecrated our sacred land. The other rulers had ample chances to do something about her, and they simply left her to accumulate power. And the people of her land let her retake a position of authority after she abdicated it." By the end of the response, she was scowling and her fingers had grown white-knuckled on her weapon.
The other woman's question earned her a raised eyebrow from the huntress. "What I've always done." She picked up her spear and twirled it. "Defend the Greatwood against threats. If the Ascended come here again without permission, I'll kill them or die trying. Other than that, I have no plans." Narrowing her eyes, she regarded Juniper, watching the diplomat for her reaction to the huntress' answer.
you think i'm happy because i'm smiling,
but it's the easiest thing to do
Juniper's own eyebrows drew together as Alina spoke. Her scowl wasn't nearly as intimidating as Alina's, and after a moment she tried to force it to smooth out, speaking with ironic understatement: "That will make things difficult."
She hadn't gotten all the news from other lands -- which meant she'd been somewhat failing at her job, Juniper realized -- but she had heard something about Wessex becoming queen of the Grounds again. It was, indeed, a problem.
"But that will only give her more resources to throw at us should it come to open war," Juniper said, mostly to herself. "We have to try to undermine her ... I have to try to undermine her."
She turned her attention back to Alina, looking at the huntress -- at her queen -- with new understanding. Juniper imagined Alina must feel rather embattled, trying to hold the Greatwood with Wessex's Grounds looming over them from the south. "I, too, will defend the Greatwood with my life if necessary. Though I wouldn't mind going on the offensive either ... but with words instead of weapons, for now. I wanted to try to speak to the leaders of the other lands, to try to convince them to hold the Ascended accountable for their attacks on us -- I'll leave the Wraith out of it for now, because I can imagine what answer I'd get from her. But I don't want to do something like that, to make claims and promises in the Fae's name, without your permission. May I speak for us?"
if you looked a little closer,
you'd find my eyes aren't smiling too.
Alina nodded at Jupiter's assessment. As the huntress did, her brow eased somewhat, and her scowl morphed into a more neutral expression. "That it will."
Looking up at the sky, she sighed. "I'm aware we would likely lose in an open war. Which is why I said I would stay here and defend the Greatwood, where we are strongest."
Glancing at the diplomat, Alina raised her eyebrows. "I'm curious. What do you plan to say to these leaders that will get them to act against the Ascended now when they wouldn't for over a year." She pressed her lips together. "I have my doubts whether your words will sway them when others' pleas have not."
Eyes narrowing at the other woman's words, the huntress frowned. "Why do you need my permission? I'm not your chieftain. Do as you please." She shrugged.
you think i'm happy because i'm smiling,
but it's the easiest thing to do
Juniper nodded slowly, a bit reluctantly, at Alina's description of their chances. If it came to open war with the Ascended ... "If war comes to the Greatwood, we will lose much, even if we do manage to drive them away. And we cannot bring open war to the Ascended without running afoul of the others they live among. We are isolated, and they have allies ..."
And it was Juniper's job to fix that -- an intimidating prospect. Alina was right to ask how she expected to get the outsiders' help when they had proven perfectly willing to sit by -- or even to support the Ascended -- so far. Taking a deep breath, Juniper spoke slowly, trying to think. "I expect that appealing to their sense of justice or morality will have ... limited utility. Seeking out supporters of the Old Gods might serve us better. In fact, it might not hurt to ask the gods themselves for assistance ... Nephele said that she had spoken to Ludo."
Which brought Juniper to Alina's last question -- a query that made Juniper's eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "Aren't you? Nephele told me that you are our queen now -- Ludo's choice. I doubt the other lands will listen to me without the will of our people behind me. If I have to promise them something, threaten them ... Obviously I cannot lie."
if you looked a little closer,
you'd find my eyes aren't smiling too.
Alina scowled at Juniper. "We are stronger here than anywhere else. Hopefully stronger than them." However, the huntress looked down and away from the diplomat. Alina's fingers grew tight on the spear she held.
Nodding at the other Fae's words, the huntress met her gaze again. "I had spoken to Safrin, long ago, for this very reason. But I...never fulfilled the task she set before me." She gritted her teeth. "As for allies, there are stories of an old group. An organization dedicated to combatting the Voice and her designs. The Order." Shrugging, her wings fluttered behind her though her feet stayed planted on the ground.
"You have my permission." With that, she lifted her weapon up. "But just because the gods say something doesn't make it so. We've never had a queen, and we choose our own leaders." She looked at the point of her spear as she spoke.
you think i'm happy because i'm smiling,
but it's the easiest thing to do
Juniper nodded, suppressing the urge to attempt to reassure Alina. She didn't think the huntress would take it well, and besides -- she couldn't lie. They were strongest in the Greatwood ... and it might not be strong enough.
"What was your task?" Juniper asked. "Maybe we could still complete it. Safrin's aid would be invaluable."
The Order ... Juniper had never heard the name before, but if there was an alliance to be had there, she would make it. "Do you know anything else about the Order? How I might contact them? If they oppose the Voice, they would make good allies for us."
Another solemn nod. "We do, but I wouldn't go against Ludo's choice lightly. And we need a leader, someone to rally behind -- I need authority behind me if our people are going to keep to any bargain I make. They won't trust me, not on my own."
Given Juniper's history, she wasn't sure that the Fae would listen to her even if Alina backed her. Their general dislike of her might just end up dragging Alina down too ... But she'd warned Nephele of that possibility, and Nephele had still asked her for help, so Juniper had to accept that they'd take that chance.
"If Wessex leads the Grounds, and I hear the governor of Torchline is stepping down ... then I should go to Halo first."
if you looked a little closer,
you'd find my eyes aren't smiling too.
Sighing, Alina ran her hands along the haft of her spear. She didn't respond to Juniper right away. Instead, the huntress looked at the shrine that was housed in the Observatory.
"I was supposed to collect a body part from every race, hair or blood, that sort of thing, along with a branch from a Wicker Woman and clippings from the wings of a Fae." She gritted her teeth. "I need something from an Accepted and an Ascended and the branch, still."
Shaking her head at the diplomat's questions about the Order, Alina sighed. Shrugging at the comment about Ludo, she tapped the butt of her spear against the ground a few times. "You have my blessing, what little help that gives you." She narrowed her eyes at the other woman.
"It's cold. Dress appropriately." Hesitating, the huntress added, "I heard a rumor that the Warden was also seeking the Order. Perhaps she has knowledge of them."
you think i'm happy because i'm smiling,
but it's the easiest thing to do
"Hm ..." Juniper followed Alina's gaze to the shrine. Her lips twisted in a rather morbid smile. "If only whoever killed that Ascended had known of your quest -- they could have given us a hand. Literally. I can't imagine it will be impossible to find an Accepted's hair or blood; I can look for someone to donate some. The Wicker Woman shouldn't be impossible either, though it may be a bit of a challenge."
Juniper nodded, with a more sincere smile. "I'd heard about the cold. I'll ask her, then, when I speak to her about the Ascended."
She wondered what the Warden of Halo would be like ...
if you looked a little closer,
you'd find my eyes aren't smiling too.
Shrugging at Juniper's words, Alina sighed. "It's been a long time. I'm not sure how Safrin will feel about fulfilling such an old request." Her jaw clenched as she gritted her teeth. Once again, her fingers grew white knuckled on her spear.
"Even if we get the rest of the items, we still need something from an Ascended." Brow furrowing, she scowled. "And they aren't likely to just hand it over." She groaned. "Pun not intended."
Nodding, the huntress lifted from the ground. Hovering, she narrowed her eyes at Juniper. "Did you need anything else from me?" Alina waited for the other woman's response. However, the huntress' gaze had already strayed past Juniper to the exit.
