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!
10-10-2020, 03:43 PM (This post was last modified: 10-10-2020, 03:43 PM by Arialla.)
Arialla
Kneeling before the shrine, Arialla tried to steady her breathing -- a bit ragged after climbing the lighthouse's stairs -- and steady her mind. She couldn't help feel quite anxious about speaking with Safrin again, especially given the amount of time she'd allowed to lapse before returning. Safrin had told her to come back after LongNight ... Well, it sure was after LongNight.
It wasn't that she didn't want to speak to the goddess. But last time she'd spoken to Safrin, she'd had so little idea of what she was asking for, beyond a way home that she couldn't have -- and was coming to accept she would never have. She'd wanted a clearer idea of what she sought before she returned to Safrin, so she'd put it off and put it off ...
And she still didn't have that idea, still didn't know how she wanted her future to unfold. But fate had handed her a perfect offering in the mirror she'd found while cleaning up the beach in Torchline; it felt like a sign, ordering her to stop procrastinating and return to Safrin.
With a deep breath, Arialla placed the ornate, gilded mirror she'd found on the beach on the shrine. Since digging it up, she'd cleaned it, polished it, and gotten the glass repaired. Whatever else she might blush for, Arialla felt confident in her offering.
"Lady Safrin ... I've returned," she said quietly, hoping that her prayers would reach the goddess. Should she apologize immediately, or say nothing about the time passed and hope Safrin wouldn't bring it up? Probably better to seize the initiative. "I apologize for taking so long -- I didn't want to call upon you again without a better idea of what to ask. But ... I still feel lost in Caido, so I must once again request your guidance."
The glass of the mirror will swirl and blur with starlit imprints. Rippling not unlike the surface of water, the reflection will darken to reveal cosmic eternity, rather than the sweet face of the woman who placed it on the shrine.
"What a lovely and thoughtful thing to bring." The goddess hums from where she suddenly sits upon the window sill. Offering the young woman a radiant smile, Safrin softly shakes her head to suggest that no apology is needed. "This is a large world, one you're not used to. But I am proud of you for trying to find your way on your own." While the goddess values boldness and the ability to rely on oneself, she's never been a fan of those who relentlessly try and make it on their own as if they have something to prove.
Safrin's presence, and her praise, made Arialla feel warm, and she blushed. While she knew better than to get too comfortable with a goddess, she was starting to truly appreciate how much more caring Safrin seemed than the gods she knew. Even her beloved Apollo had always been more distant, and potentially fickle. He wouldn't have forgiven her for not returning at the appointed time, or praised her for navigating this new world.
"Thank you." Arialla paused, putting her thoughts together. "I am getting more comfortable here, and I have ... accepted that I won't be going home."
It hurt to say that out loud, but it was true. While she still had the occasional thought about finding a way home, she'd chosen to ignore them, to make herself focus on building a life here.
"You're probably already aware of this, but the Loreseekers have collapsed, with Jigano gone and Samuel ... otherwise occupied." Arialla's sorrow over the guild's fate -- and Samuel's -- entered her voice. "So that is no longer an option, unless ... someone else takes up the reins."
The thought had entered Arialla's mind, barely, that she could be that person -- but she considered it unlikely. She wasn't particularly studious, or particularly adventurous, or otherwise particularly skilled. Her only qualification for the role was that she was there. And, maybe, interested.
"The Caido Aid Society is starting out in Torchline," Arialla added, somewhat more enthusiastically. "I think they'll -- we'll -- be able to do a lot of good."
Arialla rubbed her chin, considering. "And then there are the souls of the Ascended, as we discussed last time -- I spoke to Amalia about them, but only briefly, and never did track down Delphia. With all of that in mind, I suppose I'm here to ask what path you would see me take ..."
She paused, because it seemed a bit foolish, almost selfish, to call down Safrin solely for life advice. So she continued: "I would still serve you, if you'll have me. Against the Voice, yes, but also for you, and for Caido. I've asked you to counsel me, give me knowledge, a way home, revenge, but -- what can I do for you?"
Arialla didn't know if Safrin would want to give her a divine mission, but she felt it was important to offer Safrin something beyond endless petty questions.
"Perhaps not...but...I hope in time you will think of this place as your home." Safrin sweetly offers with a nod of her head, understanding what a disruption to one's sense of self and order it must be to be torn away from everything known.
Nodding as the Loreseekers are mentioned and Sam's lack of attention to them, the goddess can only shrug softly. "That is the trouble with mortals. Their attentions are so slow...their eyes too blind to the world before them." She offered Jigano everything after all, power and knowledge, and he'd turned away, fled into some unreality where he couldn't be found again.
Listening as Arialla outlined the other options available to her, potential starting points to paths she might follow, Safrin leans against the inner curve of the window with a smile playing on her lips. "But of course I will have you." She coos indulgently. "Why shouldn't I want someone as clever and wondrous as you are?" Despite all the stars in Safrin's sky, all those who worship her, she sounds as if she truly means it. With her attention focused solely on Arialla, she hums a thoughtful note as she considers.
"Well...How do you see your life playing out? Do you wish to find yourself in an organization, helping others? Beneath the stars, following directives from me? Living a life of adventure? There are many things I might have you do, and I'd not send you down a path prematurely."
"I hope I will someday too," Arialla said, sincerely. Maybe that would ease the ache in her heart. "Thank you."
She didn't try to dispute Safrin's critique of mortals -- it didn't really surprise her that a goddess would feel that way, nor did she take it personally. Of course gods saw mortals as slow and blind; they existed on another plane of existence. A fish might as well be offended if a human commented on its inability to breathe air, or a human feel like the birds laughed at them for not flying.
But then as Safrin spoke, Arialla found her cheeks burning and knew she'd turned red, even as she smiled, almost raising a hand to cover her mouth in pleased embarrassment before realizing how pointless it was to try to hide her reaction from Safrin. "I -- thank you. Thank you."
She took a long moment to consider Safrin's questions -- and to recover from her compliment. That compliment had only encouraged Arialla's devotion, making her answer a little clearer. "I think ... I would serve you, before anything else. The Loreseekers may need a leader, but I don't see myself as that leader -- books and rote knowledge have never been my strength. And while I would like to keep up with the Wren Society, the Caido Aid Society, I don't think they require all of me, or even my primary loyalty. I didn't used to think of myself as the adventurous type, but here ... The idea does have its appeal, if that is what you wish of me."
Her laughter is like a spring fountain, bubbly and effervescent. One of her eyes closes in a sultry wink to see the accepted so flustered, and it only endears the girl more to Safrin's heart. Those who preen beneath compliments might share Safrin's vanity, but the goddess is fickle when she feels outshined.
"What I wish for you," The goddess begins, reaching out the palms of her hands to softly cup Arialla's cheeks. "-is to see you blossom. There is so much more in you than you're ever aware of. And if you let me, if you trust me, I can help show you all of that. " Her thumbs softly stroke the girl's skin as her galactic gaze scan her face. The would-be adventurer is free to say no, free to pull away and chose another path, though it's clear from Safrin's slow smile that the goddess is earnest in her offer.
Oh, that wink made Arialla's skin burn; she also let out a little disbelieving laugh. Was the goddess ... flirting with her? No. No way. Maybe not the best idea to laugh at her, either -- not that Arialla had really been laughing at Safrin per se: more at herself, and her own flustered confusion. But too late; the sound had already escaped her.
As Safrin spoke, however, Arialla grew more solemn. So much more in you than you're ever aware of ... If you trust me ... That sounded like Safrin intended something serious, something perhaps irreversible -- it reminded Arialla a little of the language Apollo had used when offering to transform her body. While Arialla didn't want to insult Safrin by appearing hesitant, she did have to think for a little bit. Did she trust Safrin?
Considering -- or perhaps because of -- her time as a priestess, Arialla had a rather cynical view of gods. She didn't trust Safrin the way she would a mortal woman, a mother or best friend: trust to have compassion, to forgive mistakes, to have empathy. However, did she believe Safrin meant her harm? No, not at all. She believed everything Safrin had told her about wanting her as a follower, and while she might have been a little more cautious were she speaking to, say, Ludo -- she believed that Safrin would reward and protect her followers.
So Arialla raised her eyes to meet Safrin's -- she'd never moved her face out of the goddess's hands, thought the close contact made her blood rush, her heart pound -- and said, a bit shyly, "I would like that. What dp you have in mind?"
The goddess beams at the girl, not at all put off by her disbelieving puff of laughter. Instead her thumbs softly stroke the girl's cheek. "All I ever require is that you speak the truth. Of me, of this world, of your heart." The goddess's eyes, shimmering with galactic depths beneath long and shimmering lashes, crinkle at the edges as her smile widens.
Beneath Safrin's fingers, Arialla will feel her skull begin to collapse. It isn't painful, nor entirely unpleasant, though certainly, it is strange. Her bones grow hollow, her eyes trained as they are upon Safrin, will begin to see the most intense details on the goddess's starlit face than ever she's experienced before. However before the girl might study Safrin's lashes or irises more carefully, she'll shrink down, and down, and down. She's quite large for what she is now, but no longer is she human.
Kneeling to the ground, her gown fluttering around her, Safrin speaks directly into Arialla's mind now. Freedom. Flight. Grace. Keen-sight. These are the gifts I give to you.
Arialla has been made into an ATTUNED. Her first shift is a golden eagle! <3
12-15-2020, 05:03 PM (This post was last modified: 12-15-2020, 05:04 PM by Arialla.)
Arialla
Safrin's words made Arialla smile: a beautiful sentiment, and one she would live up to if she could. And then Arialla's body was changing -- not as foreign an experience to her as one might think, but this was a far greater change than anything Apollo had gifted her. Her eyes widened in confusion; without Safrin's presence, she would have been terrified, but she forced herself to take a deep breath and trust in the goddess. And then she had wings.
Oh, gods. Oh, goddess. Arialla lifted her wings, spread them, made an experimental flap. It felt surprisingly natural -- she would have expected to feel clumsy and awkward in her new body, to take ages to get accustomed to it, but no, her body knew how to move even if she did not know it well yet. Closing her wings, she made a decorous bow to Safrin; if she'd had lips, she would have been beaming. This wasn't what she'd expected when the goddess had asked for her trust, but gods, she'd take it.
Thank you, she thought at Safrin. Thank you!
A thought occurred to her, and she looked to the edge of the lighthouse. She could fly. And this seemed like the perfect place for it ...
You may indeed, my golden beauty. Safrin replies. She still has lips with which to smile, and she beams at the newest attuned who seems eager to explore her new form. Flying will not come naturally at first, but remember: there is now another presence inside of you. This eagle will be with you always. Let its mind guide you, and you will find yourself soaring in no time.
So saying the goddess moves toward the window of the lighthouse, opening it that Arialla might fit herself through and explore the skies on her own.
