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!
10-16-2020, 10:11 PM (This post was last modified: 10-25-2020, 12:57 AM by Wessex.)
WESSEX
Not everyone came to be cured; she heard that there were holdouts - stupid, stupid holdouts that made her eyes roll - which didn’t entirely surprise her. Gotta make things difficult, don’t they? So with a big ‘ol grumble and a call to Loki, the Wraith teleports herself back to the Climb, landing in the Burrows and choosing the more well-trodden path that lead to Frey’s Breath.
Cute name.
It’s all she has the chance to muse about, because Loki finds herself very excited about this kind of environment; from what Wessex can tell, the dragonling feels right here. As if she belongs, in some way, the heat far more comfortable than anything in Halo. Her bonded finds this rather intriguing and allows it to distract her, so that she’s more absent mindedly walking down the tunnel than she usually does.
She’s heard the lilies are somewhere down here, that they’re white, but other than that, she’s walking in virgin territory.
No, I’ll be the stone
I’ll be the hunter, a tower that casts the shade
I lie awake and watch it all
10-17-2020, 11:40 PM (This post was last modified: 10-17-2020, 11:41 PM by Amun.)
if I ever start to think straight
Amun scowled as he made his way through the tunnels of the Burrows. Unlike the last time he was here, he was in control of his facilities. However, that just made him realize how miserable the place actually was. Worse, he'd had to go the long way through Halo, so his clothes were rumpled and dirty, stained by both snow and soot.
However, he had to go, since Oliver had sent a note cashing in one of the favors the potter owed the blacksmith. So the Ascended followed the directions he'd gotten from someone who visited the hot springs as best he could. As he trudged through the tunnels, he spotted a very familiar form up ahead. Grinning, he picked up his pace. Xessew! He projected to her.
When he realized what he'd sent, though, he stumbled to a halt. His jaw dropped and his eyes widened. Then he started cursing, furiously and, yes, incomprehensibly. "Ho rof kcuf's ekas." Pulling out the notebook he'd brought along he started sketching furiously in it with a bit of charcoal he'd kept in his pocket.
The word - if it can be called a word - that pops into her head makes her whirl around see who’s there. She hadn’t immediately guessed it was an Ascended, because what she heard was gibberish and therefore it had to be something else in her head. But no, its Amun who’s hurrying towards her. “What?” she replies aloud with a shake of her head to indicate that she doesn’t understand him.
When the next group of words come out funky as well, her eyes narrow in concern. Maybe suspicion. Something is obviously wrong. “What happened?” she asks quietly, wondering if this is just another thing to add to the list of attacks against Ascended - though if it is, it’s nothing she’s heard of or seen before and that is more than a little scary.
No, I’ll be the stone
I’ll be the hunter, a tower that casts the shade
I lie awake and watch it all
Sighing at Wessex's confused response (but mostly at the curse itself) Amun held up a hand asking for more time. Then he went back to his furious sketching. His brow was furrowed with concentration and his mouth was slightly parted.
When he finished, he flipped the journal around to show her. On one page was a crude sketch of a man on his knees, hands raised in prayer, before an altar. On the other page was a man's face with a voice bubble coming out of it, but the bubble was crossed out. He pointed at the first image, then himself, then the second picture, then his mouth. Shaking his head, he stared at her with wide eyes.
10-21-2020, 12:41 AM (This post was last modified: 10-24-2020, 09:46 PM by Wessex.)
WESSEX
That makes two of them with brows furrowed, as Wessex manages to keep herself from mild panic. With no outward damage and no way to communicate, she really just has to wait for him to… draw something? Yes, apparently it’s drawing.
When he finally turns the pad around to show her something, she says aloud, “A man at an altar? You. At an altar. A shrine.” Waiting for verification or denial, she will then turn to the next one. Which does not fully compute, as Caido doesn’t really have cartoonists, so a speech bubble is lost on her. “No… balloons? No - oh, your mouth. No talking in circles, no…” Her mouth inflates with air and then opens, which prompts a thought.
“No talking? You went to a shrine and now you can’t talk?” She’d heard that folks were being cursed, but she hadn’t seen any curses in person. If that is indeed what happened.
No, I’ll be the stone
I’ll be the hunter, a tower that casts the shade
I lie awake and watch it all
As Wessex began to work her way through the images Amun had drawn, he nodded as she got the first picture. Grinning, he sighed. However, his relief was short lived as she began to struggle with the second picture.
He lifted his free hand and touched his thumb to the rest of his fingers, hand bent at the wrist, in the symbol for talking. Then he pointed at his mouth and shook his head. However, thankfully she managed to figure it out and he gave her a thumbs up. "Sdrawkcab." He grimaced and rubbed at his throat. Tucking away the journal, he stared at her almost helplessly.
“Okay, so you can’t talk… in a normal way,” Wessex says with a short amused laugh, though she hasn’t quite figured out how it’s abnormal. “Might be the only time you stop talking.” Ah, but then she feels bad about the jest at his behalf and grimaces in an apology. “Sorry. Must be more than a little difficult.”
sdraw… kcab… bounces around in her head as she indicates that they should move forward and into the tunnel. After all they’re there for a reason. The letters float into her head and it soon clicks, with the Wraith suddenly shaking her head. “Oh. Backwards.... oof.” Well. That’s a little more amusing.
She continues on in silence, not as naturally predisposed to conversation as he is, and not wanting to be rude, either.
Now. Where are those damn lilies?
No, I’ll be the stone
I’ll be the hunter, a tower that casts the shade
I lie awake and watch it all
Giving Wessex another thumbs-up when she confirmed the issue with the curse, Amun quickly shifted to flipping her off when she made the quip about him talking too much. Glowering at her, he just shook his head at her when she apologized. He wasn't ready to forgive her, though he did drop his hand.
Nodding at her revelation, he sighed. Following her deeper into the Burrows, he kept his eyes peeled for any sign of the damned flowers, but nothing jumped out at him.
Drumming his thumb against his journal, he frowned. He gestured all around them, trying to take in the tunnels. Then he pointed at himself before holding up two fingers.
Then he slammed his palm into his forehead and shook his head. Slipping his hand into his pocket, he coated the palm with the patch he had. Holding it out for her, he shifted it to look like the gems he'd discovered in his previous visit to the Climb. He indicated the ground. "Ereh erofeb."
Wessex isn’t so absorbed in the search that she doesn’t hear Amun’s tapping on his journal. It draws her attention with a glance, making her stop when he goes into further charades. Knowing now that he’s trying to tell her something very specific, she clenches her jaw and does her best to interpret aloud. “Tunnel - this tunnel? You. Two. Tunnels to you.” She shakes her head. No, that doesn’t make any sense.
Then he takes out the gems and since Wessex hasn’t been to that particular cavern, she just looks at them and shrugs. “They’re pretty.” And finally, finally he tires speaking and the Wraith repeats the sounds back to him. “Eereeh rofeeb… here.. Before. Here before? You’ve been here before?”
Okay. Maybe her brain isn’t working correctly. “Yeah, me too. At a waterfall, though, not a fancy gemstone place. That is what you meant, yeah?”
No, I’ll be the stone
I’ll be the hunter, a tower that casts the shade
I lie awake and watch it all
Amun found himself whining as his charades failed to get his meaning across. Frowning, he just gestured helplessly with his free hand as Wessex tried to interpret him. Shaking his head at her, he raised one hand to his temple and massaged it. Although he couldn't get headaches, he nevertheless felt like one was coming on.
When she managed to actually figure it out by sounding out his words he cheered wordlessly. Nodding, when she asked if that's what he meant, he gave her a thumbs up for good measure.
Hesitating for just a moment, he asked, "Erehw?" hoping she'd be able to sound that out as well rather than him attempting further nonverbal communication. He also sketched a quick waterfall on a fresh page to clarify what he was asking.
As they walked, he kept his eyes peeled for any sign of the lilies they'd come seeking. However, he couldn't see any, and he groaned. Shrugging, he shot the Wraith a look, wondering if she had any better luck.
Communicating is difficult sometimes under normal circumstances, but this? This is doubly so and when Amun makes the universal ‘headache’ sign, Wessex has to agree. This kind of half-charades, half-phonetics, half-drawing is the stuff of comedies, not the Very Important Search for a Lily. It’s just another challenge… just another challenge. This, word, however, is much harder. She struggles.
“Rehew?” she repeats back again, staying to the ‘w’ sound for awhile. “wehhher? Where?” Looking up from the ground to her Advisor, she silently asks if that’s the word he’s looking for. Regardless of whether it is or isn’t, her brow still furrows a bit. “Oh, the waterfall. In another tunnel. Is that where the jewels were found too?” A pause. “In another tunnel, I mean.”
After he answers, she continues on through the tunnel until they come to the hot springs, where she stops, unsure if the steam will hurt them or not. “Best not to go any further,” she says with a sigh as they come up empty. “Want a lift back to the surface?”
No, I’ll be the stone
I’ll be the hunter, a tower that casts the shade
I lie awake and watch it all
Amun made a circling motion with one hand as Wessex worked through his latest attempt to communicate, trying to encourage her to keep going. When she figured it out again he gave her two thumbs up and grinned. Nodding along to her explanation, he gave her another thumbs up when she asked where he'd found the gems.
As they emerged into the cave holding the hot springs, he peered around at it. Grimacing, he held out his hand for her to take. Waving his other hand in the air vaguely, he waited for her to teleport them out of there, fully agreeing with her assessment.
Well, that was it, wasn’t it? They’d tried, they’d done their duty, and knowing little about this lilies, Wessex is ready to draw the conclusion that they just don’t appear to Ascended, regardless of whether or not that’s true. It’s a little disappointing, but the Queen and her advisor can now say she’s made every attempt to help in every way possible, to find a cure for this damn sickness. That’s the problem with being a minority in a racist society, you can’t just do the thing, you have to show that you’ve done everything.
And even then, they still won’t be happy with it, will they?
She takes one last look around, peering into the steam from the hot springs before turning back to Amun and taking his hand. Hopefully he knows what to expect when teleporting, because she doesn’t offer any warning before taking them back to the Crust, and then the Sea of Glass.
{Fin}
No, I’ll be the stone
I’ll be the hunter, a tower that casts the shade
I lie awake and watch it all
