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!
Noah "Mistakes don't discount what is true." Noah said, simply. While the Firebrand might feel as though what he has done takes away this as his home, or might feel less welcome in this place, the fact remained: this was his home. Noah picked up his lantern and stood from the table. He moved towards his office and set it on his desk, where he knew it would be safe until the festival. He came back towards the table where he left Loren, and rested his hands on the back of a chair, facing the man. "I don't think you're a bad man, Loren. Even if you've made mistakes and done bad things." Noah didn't know the extent of his history, but he believed in grace. He even believed it for the Firebrand's brother, and Noah knew he had willingly sacrificed a child (or meant to). "But if there's repentance to be made for the mistakes you've made, I hope it makes this place feel more like home to you."
Loren snorted at Noah's response. "That's not it." Waving a hand in the air, the healer sighed. "I mean, yes, I've made plenty of mistakes. More than my fair share." Running the same hand through his hair, leaving a few streaks of paint behind, he tapped his foot against the ground.
"I just...some people just seem to belong, you know? Are accepted right away? And I've never...I don't know how to do that. Never figured out how to...fit in." Shrugging again, he returned his attention to his lantern. Painting some spots of white onto the black, he started to fold and pinch it, making it into a specific shape.
All the while, the monkeys toiled alongside him. In addition to the scythe he'd already made, numerous projects were taking shape, in the double digits.
A wave of both embarrassment and relief flooded over Noah at Loren's response. The hunter was not sure how he could feel both of those things at the same time, but he did. He chuckled some, in a nervous response, but he felt his shoulders lighten. "I get that," Noah stated, moving to clean up where he had worked. "Since the portals opened, people have just been exploring. It seems to be something so natural to them, moving about through the portals. I can't do it so easily. I've barely explored the rest of Caido open to me. I would rather just stay here. There's something...uneasy about it in my gut. I don't know what it is or why, but when I think of it in comparison to how others travel so easily it makes me feel almost like an outcast, in a way." Maybe Noah was just built to be a homebody, with the small thrills that Halo had to offer.
Shrugging, Loren's lips twitched. "I'm the opposite." Taking the black and white paper, he added glue to it and attached it to the lantern. Once placed, it was apparent that it was the head of a dog, sort of. On top of the yellow base, it looks close enough to a canopic jar to pass muster. That was for Abasi.
Eyes tightening for a moment and lips pressed together, he added a candle before explaining what he meant to Noah. "I have no trouble exploring new lands, throwing myself into danger regardless of the consequences. It's...building a home that I've always struggled with. So you might feel like an outcast, but I envy you." Taking another lantern frame that a monkey handed the Firebrand, he began to wrap white paper with trailing bits to it around the metal.
Noah hummed a hmm in an understanding tone, nodding along with what the healer said. "Perhaps we're just destined to be outcasts." He attempted to lighten the mood that he had brought down with his assumptions with these words. He watched as the healer put some more touches on his lantern. It seemed that Loren was either more artistic than Noah, or he was more patient. Either way, the Firebrand's lantern was substantially more decorated than Noah's. Noah was a generally simple man anyway, and did not live his life with many adornments. Weaver had been the same, and even though his lantern did not depict his knowledge of her like Loren's did, he believed it to still be a good likeness to what he had known her soul to be.
Snorting at Noah's comment, Loren shook his head. "Great. What a destiny." He toasted the hunter with an invisible glass. "To being outcasts, I guess." Sighing, the healer dropped his hand back to the table and stared at the lanterns he'd already made.
Finishing Maea's, he set it aside. While he'd been working, the monkeys had finished two, one in the shape of a lightning bolt and the other in the shape of a sword. He snagged more wires and began to twist it even as his creatures did the same. "I don't mean to keep you." Keeping his gaze trained downward, he didn't look up to see the other man's reaction. Instead, the Firebrand just kept working.
While Loren might not be able to laugh about it at the moment, Noah could. The hunter chuckled, and finished cleaning his area. He took his extra, unused supplies and stuffed them back in his bag. He was sure that Delphine would be missing them. "Thank you for the company." He said, giving the healer a genuine smile. The Firebrand was starting to grow on the hunter. Noah looked about the rest of the hall for a moment before turning towards Loren to wave his good-bye to the healer. Noah took his bag and set it in his office. Noah turned and shifted, and from his office he trotted away as a lynx, headed toward home.
