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!
Even in Longheat, things out on the Tundra are bitter. Still, there's no snow in the skies and the ground crunches beneath their boots, so the going might be faster than otherwise expected. Neron arrives at the shores of the Sea of Glass with a sled in tow, filled with tools for chipping away the ice and space to drag their spoils back with them. Why they need ice is beyond him, especially why they need ice from here. But gods are strange and Neron can appreciate that if nothing else, so he presses onwards.
"I think here ought to be fine, though if people wish to go further out onto the ice, I doubt there will be much danger. The Sea of Glass doesn't melt, from my experience." Perpetually frozen, Neron wonders occasionally what might be beneath the ice, lurking and sleeping and waiting. A perfect thought when they'll be carving away some of that ice shortly. Oh well.
This is the RQ thread for collecting ice from the Sea of Glass! Two more Halovians are needed!
05-22-2021, 02:17 PM (This post was last modified: 05-22-2021, 02:19 PM by Aino.)
AINO
Well, this was out of character, was it not? For her to go off on iMpORtaNT miSsiOnS with people she didn't know, leaving her family... It was almost rebellious.
Except, the trip to this area was one she did often, and it came with definite rewards. A greenhouse... Aino still had trouble grasping what it would look like in the end, but if it would help produce food she was all in.
"Not that I've seen, either," the blonde woman chimed in. "Some do ice-fishing in that bay over there, though, so the ice might be less stable. Old holes, and such." The former Warden might regocnize her as a soldier from back in the days when he still ruled, but she wore no weapons now, and her overcoat was worn, stained with fishoil and old scales. Yet as she jumped off the sled with an ice-pick in hand, it was with practiced ease and grace, and the piercing blue gaze remained vigilant as she looked over the area, and pointed to a place in the distance where the coastline curved away beyond some hills.
Come and conquer, drop your bombs Cross my borders and kill the calm
I will not be told where to stand
I will not be told what to say
Morgan had no idea why Frey required ice either, but she wasn't about to question it - if the God could take some ice, ash and foundations and make them a working magical greenhouse, she was more than happy to provide those things. The Sea of Glass was one of her favourite places anyway, it's large shining expanse somewhere she oft returned to when she needed to think.
Walking alongside Neron (all business, no evidence of their attachment on show), she nodded. "I think we will be fine. Many people have taken ice from here." To keep food cool, for structures, for weapons, sometimes; Halovians made do with what they had and this was a prime resource.
Beginning to unstrap a pickaxe from her back, Morgan looked out over the frozen lake, the bitter wind hitting her face, then turned to Aino - someone she wasn't familiar with, but anyone helping with the God's request was more than welcome. "That's a good idea. Let's walk over."
Nodding between Warden and (ex?) soldier - because yes, Neron does vaguely recognise Aino even if he's unsure where from - the Ascended gestures for them to head over to the bay. He's happy to tug the sled along behind them, though he carries no pickaxe of his own; always one to favour magic, he'll choose to manipulate the ice with mind alone. When they arrive, he sets the sled at the shore of the Sea of Glass, testing the ice with a boot before stepping out onto it.
"Alright - if we split up, we should be able to collect it quite quickly," he murmurs, before glancing to Morgan and forcing himself to hide the smile that wants to creep across his lips. "Did Frey specify how much we needed to get?" he asks, before nodding at Aino and setting off further so he can find an old fishing hole to use as a starting point.
Not one to stick out of the crowd, Aino never expected or required recognition to do her job. She had been a run of the mill soldier, and today she was a chip of the block ice-collector. That her suggestion was approved of was gratifying, to be sure, but even if it had been rejected she would not have complained. Just like the other two, she was all business - though without the need for keeping up a facade - as she followed them towards the bay, and she only paused to hear the answer to the question of how much ice was to be collected before setting to work.
"Is this the last part of the quest?" she asked conversationally over the scrape and clank of cutting through the ice. "Been lookin' forward to seein' this greenhouse since the talk of it began."
Come and conquer, drop your bombs Cross my borders and kill the calm
I will not be told where to stand
I will not be told what to say
She shook her head when it came to the amount. "Let's get as much as we can reasonably carry. If they require more, we'll have to come back." The Gods loved to be vague and quite often loved to be picky, and there really wasn't much one could do other than try and work around it.
"It is." Morgan confirmed to Aino, smiling as she tapped the pickaxe along the ice, trying to identify a weak spot. "I hope it'll live up to everyone's expectations. The weather barrier did well over Deepfrost, I was told." She wished she'd been able to see it, but ah well, there was always next Deepfrost; Morgan hoped to see Halo grow and improve tenfold over the next years.
Weak spot identified, she raised her arms to make an indent. While she could use her water magic (and she did perhaps place a crack in the ice before swinging down), sometimes it was nice to enjoy the physicality of a task done with ones hands.
"It would be quite something, for the people of Halo to be able to enjoy fruits and vegetables from all across Caido. Along with the weather barrier I've no doubt that this will become quite an attractive place for people to live," Neron murmurs as he settles beside an old fishing hole. Unlike Morgan, he never relishes the physicality of working with his hands. Neron is a sissy powerful battlemage and he always will be, Ascended or otherwise.
So it's with delicate pulses of magic that he begins to carve out his sheet of ice, only using the tools to lever it out of its frozen prison so he can slide it across the Sea of Glass to the waiting sled. "Do you think you will ask the gods for anything else for Halo?" he asks Morgan, wondering what else might be of use to the Citadel and its people.
Aino snorted with some amusement, and nodded. "Maybe it worked too well. Overheard some elders complain of how all the young ones 'kept running around in the dark, and did no one care about traditions and family anymore?' While strolling down the streets themselves to find others to gossip with, mind." The traditionalists might mutter, but more and better food would improve life for so many that no one did more than talk.
With no water magic to fall back on, physical labor was the soldier's only option. Used to the process of drilling holes for ice-fishing herself, the task of cutting through ice was second nature by this point. Neron's question made Aino glance over at the Warden, curious to hear what the woman might say.
Come and conquer, drop your bombs Cross my borders and kill the calm
I will not be told where to stand
I will not be told what to say
Morgan was well aware of the opinions of some of the elders in Halo; some of them had made up the large councils, when that had been the way the Citadel had been run, and disapproved of her forthright methods and blunt words. In her opinion, they'd all bickered and never gotten anything done. "Those young people are what keeps the Citadel alive. It was in danger of decaying into old age and neglect." Prior to Neron, really; while she still hadn't liked his administration, he had kickstarted a lot of the systems she had continued.
As for what she'd ask for next... "Well. As always, I would put a vote to the people. Personally though, I think a road and a protected building to the portal in the Fangs would be valuable. I also..." Morgan hesitated, glancing over at Aino, but it would be public knowledge soon enough; might as well say it. "Intend to ask the Voice for this. If I am honest about Halo being a neutral Kingdom in this dispute, I should show a willingness to work with any God."
Sliding his ice along the Sea of Glass to the sled easily enough, Neron manipulates it onto the back of the thing using a mix of magic and sheer luck. "Mm, I do agree with you both - it would be good, though, to keep them sweet by maintaining a few of the old traditions, don't you think? It also keeps Halo's culture alive, and makes sure we have something to offer anyone thinking of living here."
Turning back to the other two and moving the sled closer that it might be easier for them to place their own slabs of ice upon it, it's with surprised eyes that he glances back at Morgan. "I imagine she will be delighted to help you with it," he murmurs. What's more, with the portal open even in the harshest of seasons, the Voice's shrine would be accessible as well.
The Warden's hesitation directed at her was met with an arched brow, and a lopsided smile forgave any doubts the woman might have. Aino was a stranger; both her ability to keep her mouth shut and her allegiances were unknowns.
As it happened, she was neither a tattle-tail nor a religious fanatic.
"I won't care either way," she said with a non-committal shrug. The gods held little importance to her; they could squabble without her. "But if you mean what you say about neutrality, then it might be a good idea to ensure that the portal ain't the only way to comfortably reach the outside world." Not that they needed it; with the greenhouse, and that ningo farm, Halo was more than ready to face isolation again.
Bending her knees to lift a chunk of ice onto the sled, Aino turned back to keep chopping at the frozen sea. Clouds kept rushing across the sky, and every once in a while she turned her nose to the wind and sniffed. Always on guard against a turn in the weather.
Come and conquer, drop your bombs Cross my borders and kill the calm
I will not be told where to stand
I will not be told what to say
"They're fine enough as long as I keep the structure and traditions intact; I have no intention of ruining those things. I love this place too and would not want to change it into anywhere else. The Palace was unpopular among them because of how gaudy it was--" There was, perhaps, a pointed glance towards Neron. "-So I was sure when designing the Council Hall to keep in touch with the surrounding architecture." Hopefully the greenhouse would be muted; obviously made of glass it would shine in the cold sun, but Morgan hoped Frey would be able to make it marry the buildings surrounding it.
As for Aino's suggestion, it certainly wasn't bad, but... "What would you suggest as an alternative?" There were already paths, but they cut through dangerous mountains and extreme weather. The sea that wasn't just ice was far out from the Citadel and any ship journeys would take a long time - there was a reason Halo had been isolated from the rest of the world.
"I will have you know that I was not responsible for the design of the Palace," Neron reminds them both with a half-playful roll of his eyes. He hadn't exactly been given the chance to sit down with the Eirachi and offer his pointers on blueprints for the place. It was thrown up by the ice goddess and he had been placed inside it as Warden, end of story.
Helping to lift and move more slabs of ice as they are turfed out from the Sea of Glass, soon enough their sled is nicely stacked with it. "Do you think this will be enough?" he asks, glancing back to the two women.
As for alternative routes into Halo... "Maps show that Torchline is quite close to the Climb, and we can get there if we go across the Sea of Glass," he says. "I wonder if there might be a way to get to the islands through that area. Extreme weather aside, as you say..."
She chuckled under breath as the former Warden defended himself against the atrocious architechture. Aino thought the look of the Palace rather matched the air of the man, but even though her slight smirk suggested as much, she said nothing. Maybe he wasn't as vain as he looked; she didn't know Neron enough to judge.
"Looks good to me," Aino said as she deposited the last of her harvested ice on the sled. Her glance at Morgan deferred the final decision to the leader; it was not a soldier's call to make.
As for elaborating on her suggestion, Neron said it well enough, and she nudged her chin in his direction to indicate as much. "There's that other place to the south too, whatever it was called. Plenty of markets for trade, if only there were roads. Bet them warm regions would pay well for ice, if it could get there before melting. But they don't all use the portal, right?" It annoyed her slightly how accustomed she had become to thinking like a merchant. The soldier in her was fading, and Aino regretted it.
Come and conquer, drop your bombs Cross my borders and kill the calm
