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!
If you're caught in the shadow then turn around If you hear my voice, follow the sound 'Cause I'm here to guide you home
She'd had an uncle? An actual uncle, not just surrogate ones, called thus because anything else would be too complicated. A smile spread over her face, happy and sad at the same time - she would never get to know him. Bastion. Had he been anything like Ronin?
"Do you miss him? And your parents?" she asked, and came padding over to slip an arm about his back. Soft, quiet, apologetic if her questions brought up old pains.
Aoife she knew about, indeed. Seren had cried for her, when she was younger and less able to understand what it meant to be dead. When Leafchange came, she would be making lanterns for the sister, in the hopes of meeting her just once, before the end.
Satisfied to know there were no other blood ties hidden away, Seren pursed her lips and thought about all the other things she had been meaning to ask.
"Have you... ever met the Voice? Actually talked to her?" came a tentative question.
Deimos name was approved, and Seren filed it away for later should the opportunity arise to ask the General. Aurelia's name was left in the air, and Seren was admittedly undecided. "It was when the Slagveld burned," she elaborated, sure that her father already knew about that event. "The unicorn was guarding the door, and.. well... it was attacked. To make it move." Frowning, Seren looked down at her feet. Remembering her scalded palms, searing flames, the stench of singed hair.
Seren
✰ Starlight (Passive) | Starfilled night billow around her like a veil as she moves. It is more noticeable in daytime and when she make sudden movements.
"Mm...? Yeah, I miss him. He always had my back, when I was younger and not a very good soldier." Ronin grins and lowers his voice at the end of his sentence, as if that is very classified knowledge indeed. "I never got to see him again to show him I'd grown up to be a pretty good one, though. My parents, though, I don't miss all that much. They were..." He wrinkles his nose, trying to find the best way to say it. "They cared a lot about our family's reputation, and they decided a lot of things for Bastion and I. We didn't really have a choice about joining the army." That's the tip of the iceberg.
An arm moves to slip around her shoulders as she draws close, Ronin leaning in to kiss her dark hair. He doesn't expect the sudden question about the Voice, though, the Star raising his eyebrows and chewing at the inside of his cheek as he considers it. "Yes, a couple of times," he says slowly. "The first was at a shrine, a long time before things like war started being spoken about so seriously. She called me a not-man," he mutters.
"The second time was in the Temple, at a time that I'd prefer not to speak about. But that was when she gave me the scar on my chest." His free hand moves to press against the fabric of his coat, able to feel the burn of her electricity like it had only happened a day ago.
It might surprise Seren to know that he isn't actually aware of the events at the Slagveld, the Star's duties lending him more closely to Stormbreak these days, and his eyes widen a fraction as he takes it all in. "Ah," he says. "Well... Let me speak with Aurelia, and I'll also see if there are any others we might consider to bring with us. Does that sound good?"
If you're caught in the shadow then turn around If you hear my voice, follow the sound 'Cause I'm here to guide you home
Seren's thoughts rarely moved in logical patters. There might be some connection between lost family and the upstart goddess, but she would never have been able to explain what it was. She wrinkled her nose, both at the thought of controlling parents and the Voice's rudeness. While she was spared from the first (are you, girl?), the later might prove to be a bit of an issue.
"That's not very nice. Is that why Mother hates her so much? I mean... I know the Voice is supposed to be the enemy, but doesn't it seem more personal than that, to you?" Pressing a little closer to her father, glad for his arm around her even out here in the wilds where no on was likely to overhear, it felt like a dangerous topic to talk about. "Is what she's doing that bad?"
When it came to choosing other companions for their adventure, Seren was quite happy with leaving decisions to Ronin. "Yeah, that sounds good. I can talk to Deimos, if you find the rest. Thanks, dad. I'm glad you came with me." Smiling up at him, the girl didn't even want to think what she would do if he wasn't there.
Seren
✰ Starlight (Passive) | Starfilled night billow around her like a veil as she moves. It is more noticeable in daytime and when she make sudden movements.
"Mm, I did think so as well," Ronin agrees, his brows furrowed as his mind casts back to the Voice and all the problems she had caused in his time on Caido so far. Still, he shakes his head gently to his daughter, though it's not really as simple as all that. "I don't imagine it helped, but no... I feel as though that hatred goes back a lot further."
He wrinkles his nose at her question, because whilst he'd like to be firmly on one side or the other (and his allegiance certainly is, with Safrin at his back), his heart is never certain about it. "I think, mostly, it's that she's put herself on a pedestal as high as the gods," he murmurs. "And that's dangerous, when people start to follow you like that. I also know that it's because of the Voice that Safrin was trapped behind the barrier for centuries, away from Vi."
Nodding to his daughter and conjuring a smile for her, Ronin starts to walk them back away across the Sea of Glass. "Any time. Say, would you like to take a detour with me on the way home? There's something I need to see in the Cimb - your mother's orders."
If you're caught in the shadow then turn around If you hear my voice, follow the sound 'Cause I'm here to guide you home
"That's a story I would like to hear," she mumbled, only half-sure it was actually true.
"She's the reason why the Abandoned are treated so poorly, too." A displeased frown tugged at her brows at the thought. That was a tangible consequence, one she would very much like to change. A reason, if any was truly needed; at least it was something to cling to.
More than happy to drop this suddenly unpleasant topic, Seren breathed deep and huffed out a cloud of smoking breath. The Halo air did wonders for relaxation. "Oh? Well now I'm curious. Sure, I'll come.
Oh, and speaking of Mother's orders - can you maybe take me to the Greatwood, afterwards? There are some things I need to get for her..."
Happily elaborating on all the places she would have to visit and why, Seren was ready to go whenever he was.
- FIN
Seren
✰ Starlight (Passive) | Starfilled night billow around her like a veil as she moves. It is more noticeable in daytime and when she make sudden movements.
