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!
Aisha nodded her agreement as she took another juicy bite. It was a project they'd been working on since flowerbirth now, and there will still things to collect, ventures to have gathered all the supplies. She'd placed herself in as many opportunities as possible to help, and there was still more to do. "Probably, did you have to gather supplies so a god could help you with it?" she asked. The woman wasn't super well versed on Torchline's history, classic or modern, for all she'd known the canals had been there forever.
"Did you live in Torchline?"
black hearted angel oh i hate when you're not around
Fall on me with open arms. Fall on me from where you are
Seren nodded. "Gather things, move buildings and shops out of the way, make sure the wildlife wasn't getting hurt... Then Mother - er, Safrin - did the rest." It had been a remarkable thing to see, but Seren mostly remembered the joy of meeting her mom again for the first time in ages. "I grew up there, for the most part. In a small settlement near the Aumakua." Memories of sunfilled days turned her expression soft with nostalgia.
"Frey is helping you here, you say... have you met them, then?" Glancing over, she couldn't help but be curious. Seren had not met any of the heralds except her mother.
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.
So Safrin had helped with Torchline's quest, Seren's mother. Aisha hadn't forgotten this little detail, that the lucky knife throwing young woman before her was the daughter of a god. It was hard to forget, and easy to recognize once you knew. There was something about her, maybe hidden in the shimmer of her icy blue eyes but ever present, that promised the power of starlight. "I've only been to Torchline a few times for short trips, but I've loved those trips," she replied, even when they were scarred by circumstance she would remember that warm sun on her skin.
Aisha nodded, turning her red apple for a new side to bite into, "Once, when we began our work for the greenhouse. I didn't get to talk personally with them, but I enjoyed their presence," she replied with a soft smile from behind another juicy bite. She pointed to Seren with a pinky, "I've met your mother too, a couple years ago." Yeesh, a couple years seemed too long didn't it.
black hearted angel oh i hate when you're not around
Fall on me with open arms. Fall on me from where you are
Seren might have disagreed, and claimed that she couldn't be more ordinary. But she was not asked, and was absorbed in the conversation between chewing on the apple. She hated to admit it, but the fruit tasted good. Damn the Grounds for having good things.
"It's a lively place," she agreed with a fond expression. "I live in Stormbreak now, with my father, but I think Torchline will always feel more like home." Pushing herself up to sit on the edge of the table behind her, Seren let her feet dangle freely. "Oh, really? What did you think? About both of them?" she asked, referring to the Heralds.
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.
Aisha gave a slight hum to the mention of home. She'd had so many different homes over the last few years, it was here in Halo that she'd felt the most right. There were some days that she cursed her friends for having come here instead of Torchline, where the sun would shine and the ocean was only a hop away. But she'd followed them here, built her life around the icy precipice of the citadel, and here's where she would stay.
But vacations were always an option. "I'm hoping to visit your father this season, I'll be making my first trip to Stormbreak," she said, "anything I should know before I do?" There was a playfulness to her gaze, she wasn't asking for anything too serious but she wouldn't say no to any tips. She turned her apple to it's last side as Seren asked about her experiences with the gods.
"Frey was a brief visit, I'd like to meet them again in the future if I could," she started, "Safrin was very kind to me, she helped cure a friend of mine of his curse." There was a bitter-sweetness to this, not because of Safrin but for the other circumstances. "She was good to me then but I've heard stories of her being not so nice to some friends of mine, that's made me not trust her entirely," Aisha wasn't one to lie to appease, even for the daughter of the goddess herself. But she did try and make it sound less like, I think your mom is manipulative than she may have meant.
black hearted angel oh i hate when you're not around
Fall on me with open arms. Fall on me from where you are
"You should definitely come find me when you arrive, so I can give you a tour," Seren mused, with eyes that glittered despite the suddenly serious expression. "Hm, what else... Don't bring any guests who are Abandoned or Ascended, of course. They won't, eh... do well in the city." There was a soft grimace. "In general, it's a nice place and there are plenty of good people. But there are fanatics too, and it's worth keeping in mind." Seren had been fortunate in her encounters thus far, but she had not spent that long in the marble city yet either.
Some of the laughter faded from her eyes as Aisha went on to elaborate on the Heralds. There was no immediate reaction to the gentle critique of her mother, merely a thoughtful pursing of lips and a soft hum. "My mother is a goddess," she said slowly, "and can't be nice to everyone. In what way did she treat them less than favorably? If you know..." It would of course be better to hear it from the source, but her curiosity had been piqued now.
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.
Aisha found it was easy to forget that the abandoned were scorned, hated by the gods like the Voice's children. She quirked a brow at the mention of them not doing well in the city, "What would happen to them?" she asked with a curious tilt of her head.
Aisha nodded to Seren's reply, Safrin not being nice to everyone was perhaps not the best way to put it. "I have friends who are ascended, if that explains it well enough," she answered with a dry humor and purse of her lips. "Her long night 'protections' in the Hollowed Grounds a couple years back ended up getting a friend killed," she hadn't been close with the previous queen of the grounds, but she'd known her and her husband, their child. Aisha couldn't find a good enough reason for it, her opinion of the old goddess had been jaded since.
"I understand that she's in the middle of this war, just like all the other gods. But it's still hard not to want to assign blame," she replied, keeping her tone level, understanding but not soft. The apple was given one last turn before she placed the core of it on the counter she leaned against.
black hearted angel oh i hate when you're not around
Fall on me with open arms. Fall on me from where you are
The apple soured in her mouth. Carefully setting the half-eaten fruit aside, Seren made herself chew carefully and swallow down the last bite. She knew of the incident Aisha referred to. In broad strokes, at least. An Ascended dying... it must be the Penumbra she was speaking of. Possibly.
"I am sorry, about your friend," she replied slowly, and looked up at Aisha with genuine sadness in her gaze. "I... know it might not matter much, in the grand scheme of things, but I do not hate the Ascended. Or the Voice." It was true that she was biased against them in general, but none she had actually met were bad people. "My mother... Safrin does, though. I do not know exactly why. But it is a sentiment that is not likely to fade or change, and... it will lead to extreme measures. As we have seen." There was no apology in her tone as the spoke, just as there had been no softness in Aisha. That the topic in general troubled her was apparent, but... Safrin's daughter was not making excuses for her goddess. Or distancing herself from the Lady of Stars.
"I want to hope that this war will not happen. I want to think it will be swift and over soon if it still does come. But I fear that would be too naive, even for me. And I fear it will be impossible for me to stay on the sidelines... considering who my parents are. Who I am."
Raking dark hair away from her face, Seren sighed and tried to smile at Aisha, but her lips trembled and the cheerful facade could not entirely hide the trepidation she felt at the prospect. She was not violent, and wanted to hurt no one. "Do you think we can still be friends? Despite ... everything?"
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.
Aisha listened, carefully watching the woman's face as she explained her stance in all of this. The last bite was sour for her too, it creased her lips with displeasure as she swallowed the thoughts of war. It all came back to this, to the god's war and who's side she chose. If she could Aisha would spit it all out and deny anyone her loyalty, and yet everyday she was being pushed and pulled away and towards some end that she would never choose of her own accord. Neutrality was dead, especially for someone like the starchild. And for that, Aisha pitied her.
She hid her darker expressions in favor of a faint smile as Seren finished, "Friendship is hard these days huh?" she replied with a humph. "I don't think I'll ever be able to meet a friend on the battlefield and attempt to cut them down, no matter what they choose. I hope my friends would feel the same," she said, brows furrowed despite the kinder draw of her lips, "I would love to be your friend, we are friends Seren. Your loyalty to the god's doesn't change that for me."
black hearted angel oh i hate when you're not around
Fall on me with open arms. Fall on me from where you are
Hazy images flitted across her inner vision. Of faces she'd seen, people she had met. Wessex, Letha, Samuel, Nate. What would she do, if the day came when they stood face to face, with weapons in hand? The very thought churned in her stomach, a roiling nausea of indecision overlaying a cool, calm whisper that suggested to the starchild that she would do whatever was necessary. Seren did not want to hear it, and shook her head sharply as if the image could be dispelled from her mind.
"I hope I never have to find out," she said fiercely. Aisha's assurance helped to soothe her, and her smile grew steadier for it. Seren held out her hand towards the woman, offering... what? A bargain? Support? Maybe she was simply begging more reassurance for herself.
"Thank you. I want to be your friend too. I am your friend. So don't hesitate to tell me I'm being an idiot, if I ever start to look that way to you."
As for the question she had left unanswered... The expression on the girl's face grew somber again. "Those of races unwelcome in Stormbreak will be turned to stone, should they try to enter the city. If there is anything I would want to fight for, it would be to ensure that such cruel defenses are destroyed. The Abandoned and Ascended are discriminated against because of the Voice's conflict with the Old Gods. If that conflict can be settled... then maybe a day can come where anyone can walk freely through the capitol."
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.
