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!
Saiden still was unfamiliar with the new layout of Rae's Fingers, so he got turned around more than a few times on his way to the drop off point. Worse, it was hot as balls in Longheat and the package he was carrying was heavy. So he was sweating buckets, even though he was dressed in a pair of short shorts and nothing else. Well, that plus a cutlass, because going unarmed in Torchline was just asking for trouble.
Finally he arrived where the contact was supposed to meet him. However, there was no sign of anyone else. Growling, he set the bag down. "Ludo's rags," he cursed, crossing his arms and tapping his foot. "They better be here soon."
Honestly, he’d thought it hadn’t been a big package he had to deliver. But upon arrival, it turns out it was far more parts than anticipated, the twine used to wrap them all together in a nice bunch having come undone – hence his thought process of making a net for future runs – but for the time being the most he can do is try to juggle it, a house cat summoned to push along the rogue box that had fallen off.
That and it’s been awhile since he’d been to the Fingers as well, the new layout woefully unfamiliar.
The face he sees isn’t unfamiliar, though, part of the Ark crew. He comes to a stop, sweat beaded up along his skin, soaking through his shirt, but he goes to set the box down in the crevices of shadows on the inside of the Fingers, so that he might be able to retie it better than the person before him had. “Aye, sorry ‘bout it.” Milo mumbles as he fidgets with a few knots, the cat pushing the last box over once Milo gets it untied.
The face that presented itself to Saiden was entirely unfamiliar. Peering at the younger man, the cook frowned. "Don't be sorry. just be on time next time, ye?" He kept his arms crossed, arching an eyebrow at the stranger.
Glancing at the cat, he smirked slightly. "You bring yer kitty on all yer runs?" Chuckling as he saw the other man struggling with the knots, he shook his head. "And didn't anyone e'er teach ye how to tie a proper knot?" Still laughing, he lowered his arms as he bent down to pick up his own bag.
Although he lifted it, he didn't hand it over just yet. All he'd been given was a name, and he wasn't going to hand off the goods without confirmation. Jack would have the Hali's hide if he did. "I don't know ye."
A snort leaves Milo, a shake of his head as he works the many knots on the package. “Ye, tell that to the fucker that tied these t’shit.” He rumbles, a bit of frustration making its way out of him. He manages to untie the twine, moving to align the box on top of it and retie the knots, ignoring Saiden’s comment about tying knots. He could, he came from a family of fishermen. Whoever had done this before certainly couldn’t, and he’d already been in a rush to begin with.
But he finishes it, leaving it there and dismissing the cat to focus more properly on Saiden. “Milo.” He offers, a red brow raised as he waits for Saiden to reveal his name too for certainty’s sake. He wasn’t in the mood to have Zeph on his ass about giving it to the wrong person, after all. “’n no, I can make ‘em. The cat, that is.” And one day it might work out better once he’d practiced with it more – bigger creatures that could take more of a haul.
Narrowing his eyes at the other man, Saiden pushed off the wall. "Wait. Are ye tellin' me ye didn't check the goods before ye brought them here?" Scowling, he shook his head and muttered, "By Safrin's starry bottom, they told me this would be an easy job."
As the cat disappeared, he cocked his head to the side and chuckled again. Nodding at the stranger's name, which confirmed him as the cook's contact, he scratched his balls (over the shorts, a small blessing for the younger man), which were mighty itchy from all the sweat. "Neat trick, that. Got anything else up yer sleeves?" Still holding on to his own package, the Hali grinned at Milo.
“I checked ‘em. The knots broke halfway through.” He raises a brow to Saiden then, pushing up from the boxes and letting all amusement fade from his face. He’d done what he was supposed to. He was a little late but aside from that it’d all gone accordingly.
But then they’re about to hand off the packages, and Milo ends up folding his arms across his chest, sweaty and sticky in comparison to the walk over. After a moment of thinking, he shakes his head as if to answer no to the question, but he does summon a bat and guides it to fly into the back of Saiden’s shoulders, purely for amusement and the chastising. “Y’gonna give it t’me or what?” Arms still folded, he waits to see what happens next.
Walking over towards the boxes, Saiden eyed them. Shrugging at Milo's comment, the cook rubbed his head. "Alright. Want me to talk to yer contact, teach them a few things?" He winked at his fellow smuggler.
As the bat flew to the Hali's shoulder, he laughed as it tickled his bare skin. It took him a second to respond to the other man's question. "Why? Ye in a hurry all of a sudden?" Smirking, Saiden handed over his bag, taking the box in exchange. Undoing the knots with a practiced hand, he peered inside for a moment and grinned. Shutting it again, he did up the twine again, much more securely than before.
Then he looked around at the tunnels branching off. "You don't happen to know where tha nearest exit is, do ya?" He sighed and scratched his chest.
“If ya got the time, sure.” Milo replies, though the wink is met with a shrug of his own. He’s more put off by the way the bat hadn’t caused more of a reaction other than laughter, and he dismisses the creature with a small internal bit of annoyance. As for being in a hurry, well… He wasn’t really, but Saiden didn’t need to know that.
He eyes the bag still in Saiden’s possession briefly before his attention is drawn back to the smuggler’s face. “Las’ time I was here was ‘fore Apopo blew.” His head cocks to the side as he explains that small tidbit, before a bit of a memory hits and he straightens up, moving to step past Saiden and stare through the tunnels. “Where’re ya goin’?” He asks, casting a glance back toward Saiden before looking to the writing on the walls and trying to remember where Raza had said the tunnels had switched.
Grinning, Saiden nodded. "Give me a name and a location and I'll have a few words with 'em." He cracked his neck in anticipation of the little chat.
Scowling at the mention of Apopo, he met Milo's gaze. "Nasty business, that. It wasn't fun trying to herd you lot. Thank Ludo the governor and 'is friend had the good sense to divert the flow." The cook chuckled. "And thank all the gods they cleared the lava monsters outta 'ere."
Following his fellow smuggler's gaze, the Hali studied the markings as well. "Eh, to the port probably. Should drop this off before I run any more errands." He patted the box he held.
“I’ll letcha know.” He offers, moving further into the tunnels and glancing back at Saiden, meeting the cook’s gaze with an equally unhumorous look reflected in his honeyed gaze. “Not sure Ludo had ‘nythin’ t’do with it.” He raises a brow toward Saiden. He’s never met the herald, nor any of them with his status as an Abandoned. It’s not like it bothered him any, but he tried not to put too much weight into it.
“T’the port. A’ight.” He slips further into the center of the room again, reading the wording on the walls, figuring out which goes where before he picks the one that he imagines leads toward the Port based off of the writing, and moves toward it, picking up the bag Saiden had brought now that the trade was made, and moves to dip into the ankle high water he finds along the path. “’s this way.”
Nodding at Milo's words about the person who couldn't tie knots, Saiden narrowed his eyes at his fellow smuggler at his next statement. "Why not? The gov'ner 's Ludo's disciple or whatever, ain't 'e?" The cook waved a hand in the air. "The Lullaby an' all that." Laughing, he shrugged.
Cocking his head to the side, he studied the other man. "Have ye even met it?" The Hali arched an eyebrow again.
Gesturing for Milo to lead the way, Saiden fell in at his fellow smuggler's side, the water not bothering the cook in the slightest.. "Lead the way. An' if yer thinkin' of leadin' me into a trap, I'd advise against it." He grinned, though it was mostly to show off his teeth.
Ludo’s disciple? Milo shrugs lightly in his confusion, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he begins to walk down the tunnel, keeping the bag close to himself. “Nah ‘ve nev’r met it. Gods don’t tend ‘t answer ‘m prayers.” So he’d stopped praying a long time ago, having found there to be little to no point in it after. Maybe now that he’s older he should try again, but the curiosity lingers within him as he glances sidelong to Saiden. “You’ver met it?” He asks instead.
The walk down the tunnel brings a bit of darkness, however, and Milo realizes that if he shakes his head to Saiden’s answer, it likely wouldn’t be seen. Likewise, he’s not entirely sure why the cook grins back at him such a toothy grin, but he turns his attention away from Saiden anyway. “Why would I do that? We’re ‘n this togeth’r, yeh? ‘Sides, Zeph might have ‘m ass if I even wanted to.” A bit of honesty with that, another shrug, hands tied from anyone in the Ark.
Nodding at Milo's question, Saiden smiled. "Aye, a few times." Tension eased out of him as the memories washed over him. "They came when I prayed, once. An' last year, they let me reunite with me sister." The smile faltered for a moment as he recounted that. "More recently, a crewmate called them down for help in a pinch."
Shrugging, he scratched the back of his head with his free hand as he hitched the box up further. "I dunno. Yer young, likely looking to make a name for yerself. Mostly I've learned to be careful in this work." He felt his eyes flick towards his fellow smuggler. "What's it like workin' for Zeph? I don't know 'im that well."
He raises a brow at the mention of a few times, wondering what had made Saiden so special in comparison to him, though he doesn’t voice it. He focuses instead on the fact Saiden had met Ludo at all, what had occurred during those times. “Hmm.” He begins, reaching up to brush a few stray red hairs from his face. “’s it nice, then? I kinda figured I’d be more’ve a Frey guy.” He wasn’t into the whole… Afterlife deal just yet, not when he had so much to live for.
The mention of why he wouldn’t go and trap Saiden though is met with a puff of air slipping past his lips. “Been doin’ this since I was ten, though.” He’s done it for a while all things considered. Zeph was more like a father than he had anticipated, despite having his biological father regularly in his life. “Zeph’s good. A hard ass, but he’s good.”
