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!
Morgan had asked for Neron to be summoned to her office, something she would not usually do; to bring too much attention to their relationship or his secret appointment was against her normal desires, but she was in such shock she didn't consider it (Besides, she would reflect later, it seemed that the truth had gotten out in one way or another already).
She didn't know what she was feeling other than surprise; was she still angry? Despairing? Fearful? Confused, certainly. There were matters of business to discuss with Neron, but it would be a lie to say his summons was just for the practical.
As the door opened, Morgan looked up and met his eyes; the second it shut she blurted out, needing to share the event: "Deimos is no longer our General." Loosely waving a hand to gesture he should sit, she ran the other backwards through her hair. "In fact, he is no longer on the council whatsoever."
liars and lovers combine tonight, we're gonna make a scene
It is either something very good or very bad to bring Neron to the Council Hall. Having been opening up the Kraai for the evening's business, he leaves a couple of the other barhands in charge and heads out, wasting little time to get to Morgan's office. His lips are already parting to ask what has happened when, on the click of a latch, she's blurting it out.
Neron's steely eyes widen a fraction, the Hailstorm sweeping forward to take the offered seat. Good riddance or thank fuck for that or why did it take this long dances on his tongue, but of course that is a terrible way to begin things.
"I see," he says instead, settling back in his seat. "Was this his decision, or yours?" he asks, glancing up at the Warden as if to invite her to explain further.
Neron's relative calm (though she did catch the widening of his eyes) was soothing enough to set Morgan back into her professional mindset. Clearing her throat, she frowned as she tried to order events in her head well enough to explain them back to Neron, when she was still reeling from everything Deimos had said herself.
"He came in here about an hour ago and told me that he had set fire to a building in Torchline, with his magic. That he had done it for Hotaru, because of..." Morgan applied heavy quote mark fingers for the next sentence: "What Sunjata had done to her." She really had no idea what that could be. "I suspect that was his main motivation, but he then tried to excuse himself by asserting there is a Spy Ring run out of that building, and that there's one in the Kraai." Here she paused and raised an eyebrow, sure Neron would have something to say about that.
Pinching her nose between her thumb and finger, she leaned down on the desk. "He acted violently against another leader. Had this been genuinely about the Spy Ring, I would have wanted him to speak to me before taking such action. This kind of...petty, childish impulsiveness is not what I look for in my councilmen. I...am shocked, honestly, because Deimos has always seemed so grounded." The only thing she could imagine was that he had to be in love with Hotaru, or somehow in debt to her; why else would he throw away his whole life?
"I had no choice but to remove him. ...I hope I did the right thing." Normally she would not voice the doubt, but Neron knew there was a person beneath the ice cold stare.
liars and lovers combine tonight, we're gonna make a scene
It's story time, but nothing can quite prepare Neron for the tale that is about to unravel as Morgan begins. Deimos - the brick wall of a general with about as many emotions as the stones of this building - setting fire to one of Torchline's buildings because of a woman? Neron can't help it - he snorts out a laugh, clearly not believing it but having no choice but to accept what Deimos has said and the decisions Morgan has had to make.
The remarks about the 'spy ring' do make him grin, though, and he tilts his head up at her. "There is," he agrees. "Both in Torchline and in the Kraai. How else does a Spymaster operate?" He shrugs his shoulders to her, having assumed she would have suspected as much. He didn't tell her to give her precisely this kind of plausible deniability.
Sitting forward, his elbows on his knees, he lets out a sigh with a breath he doesn't need. "I think you did the right thing... but I do think you should be wary for any of our buildings being set on fire in the near future, if you catch my drift."
Morgan didn't begrudge Neron his laugh; she'd had her own shocked reaction. It really did seem like it had come out of nowhere, that they had all extremely misjudged the General and the kind of man he was. This kind of impulsive act was one she might pin on the shoulders of Loren, not Deimos, who had always seemed so resolute, so solid.
"I'm well aware these things exist. In a way, they are necessary for the operation of a City - Deimos' excuse is weak because it is just that. An excuse." She sighed, leaning back from her desk and looking over at the cabinet where she kept all the documents she needed, Halo's secrets, rules, behind-the-scenes. "I suppose if he had come with a report, we could have checked for Torchline spies within the Kraai. Are you aware of any? I thought just your own operated within."
It was not an urgent enough issue to act without consent from a leader, to immediately resort to violence and vandalism; Deimos had to know that.
Neron's warning was something that had not yet occurred to her. Perhaps it should have, but she was still reeling from the loss of a good councilman and friend, the bizarre intensity of the whole event. A frown settling on her features, she nodded. "I did not bar him from Halo. I did not wish to - in an ideal world, I would have kept him as our General too, but the insult to Torchline would be immense. I cannot risk a war, and a council member of ours setting fire to their property would be a perfect spark."
liars and lovers combine tonight, we're gonna make a scene
Neron can't really say anything to that - because she's absolutely right - and so he merely offers a gentle nod of agreement. Torchline spies, though? He smirks. "Absolutely not," he says with confidence. "It goes somewhat off the record, but I am a member of Sunjata's guild - the Devil's Advocates. It creates the closest thing to an alliance that we have with Torchline, which is another reason for our ex-general's excuse holding little water with me."
Neither a trusted councilman nor a friend, Neron is not reeling from Deimos's departure other than with quiet shock at his stupidity. "Be wary," he cautions nonetheless. "You didn't expect him to set fire to one of Sunjata's buildings, after all. There's no telling what is going through his head." Sighing, he looks up at her. "We have enough sparks in the air that promise was as it is," he remarks. "How are you, though?"
Well, Neron was always full of surprises; Morgan stared at him for a moment, but she supposed if he wanted to efficiently spy upon the happenings of other regions he would need to have himself woven into their systems, their hierarchies. "The Devil's Advocates. And what do they do, in this guild? Is it just a spy ring?" Deimos had seemed certain it was, though the name suggested something more.
She was usually cautious anyway, though it would take some adjustments to consider Deimos a potential enemy. "You are right. It just seems so out of character. I would have expected such a thing from Loren, or perhaps Noah if he had reason enough. Men I know to be passionate enough that their reason may sometimes fall to the side. Deimos, though..." Shaking her head, all she could do was shrug. She'd clearly been wrong.
Asked how she was, Morgan allowed a wry smile on her lips as she huffed out a laugh. "Shocked, a little sad. I will recover. I gather you are not weeping at the prospect of our General's departure?" She was well aware Neron had never seemed to entirely approve of the man, though the reasons for it were vague.
liars and lovers combine tonight, we're gonna make a scene
"A spy ring, an information broker, things like that. I wanted to be a part of it so I could control what they know about Halo and what they don't know." And in return, he gets occasional snippets from other areas, and there is always a place for him to get comfortable should he choose to visit the Grounds or Torchline. "It has been remarkably quiet as of late, so I wouldn't even really understand Deimos's reasoning behind going after it." But then Neron has already decided that the 'spy ring' is a poorly arranged excuse for actions that are entirely personal to the ex-General.
He offers her a solemn smile at her thoughts on the man in question, Neron shaking his head. "Still waters often run deep," he points out - the two of them are good examples of that much. "I had just assumed that Deimos flowed more in Halo's direction than Torchline's." They had both been wrong. As for how he is feeling? His smile turns admittedly a little more crooked. "I found him to be a stern slab of a man," he admits, "and I have had more animated conversations with the ice on the Kraai's windows."
Morgan nodded, happy to hear Neron was doing his work well and infiltrating systems she hadn't even heard of, gathering information and making deals with their allies; this was the kind of initiative she wanted, not the kind that ended up with arson and broken treaties. "I see. I wish he'd have just been honest with me. It would have been less galling." Did the General think her stupid?
Even in the most dire of situations, Neron made her laugh; covering her mouth with her hand, Morgan tempered her smile down with a shake of her head. "You could just as easily say I am a stern woman, but I suppose my feminine wiles made that palatable to you?" Sarcasm aside, there was actually something she wanted to talk to him about beyond Deimos; Morgan stood and glancing up to make sure the door was shut, went to lean against the front of her desk, much closer to Neron and with one of her legs brushing against his own.
"I have been...considering, and I've only been thinking about this since Deimos was in here, so it may yet be an immature thought I decide against, but..." She took in a breath and looked at him, brow a little down and fingers curled against the edge of the desk. "I was thinking that we might make our relationship public. Not that we have to make an announcement from the rooftops, but no longer make it secret - it...seems that some people may suspect already anyway, and Sunjata has managed to be married to an Ascended yet carry on a substantially successful relationship with Safrin. Perhaps neutrality would still be possible."
liars and lovers combine tonight, we're gonna make a scene
"Mm, I think we both wish he had been a little more honest. Or at the very least a little less reckless," Neron muses, settling in his seat and doing his best not to dwell on what had happened too much. There wasn't any changing it now, after all. "Do you need me to keep tabs on him?" he asks suddenly, and though it might seem over the top, as he glances up at the Warden there is no doubt that Neron is serious.
Then she laughs, of course, and his expression automatically softens. "Your feminine wiles, the fact that I find you captivating and Deimos a bore - take your pick." He shrugs, following her with his eyes as she moves to check the door. And when Morgan comes to lean against the desk, closer than might be considered professional, he's very much aware that the conversation is about to take a turn.
Still, even the Hailstorm doesn't expect what she says next, his steel eyes widening a fraction, though there's nothing in his expression to suggest he's upset with her idea. "Well," he murmurs. "If you do decide to go ahead and tell people, I think it would be a perfect example of the Old Gods and the New working together." He shrugs, reaching out to let his fingers brush across the leg pressed against his own. "I wouldn't even make an announcement. We could just... go about our business like normal."
"...I wish I could say no, but maybe it's for the best. He must not suspect it at all, though." Morgan trusted Neron to do his job well, but she couldn't help the caution; things with Deimos were already fractured - she was sure if the ex-General found out he was being spied on, any future chances of a relationship between them was dashed.
There was always a little joy in being able to surprise Neron, see that widening of his eyes; the Spymaster always seemed to be so on top of everything. "Yes. Of course, it's not just that you're Ascended; you were our old Warden, and one that most people do not regard well after your exit." Morgan didn't soften her words - he knew it and so did she. "But I'd like to think by now I've proven myself capable enough and good enough at my work to be trusted. That I know what I'm doing."
She laughed. "I am not suggesting in any way we make an announcement. The vanity of that would be enough to kill me alone. No - just that if someone asks, maybe we don't...deny." Morgan shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose it is something to consider. It would be, at the very least, a way of showing people that Ascended and others can get along - although, I'm hardly in the God's good graces myself, as an Abandoned."
liars and lovers combine tonight, we're gonna make a scene
"Leave it to me," Neron murmurs, wisely saying nothing more on the subject and giving her knee a gentle squeeze. He would keep tabs on the ex-general, his comings and goings, his conversations where possible. Discretion is a given, but he'll be careful to treat this one as a personal task - the discussion will never leave the Warden's office in the Council Hall.
Morgan is never one to soften her words, and it's something that the Hailstorm appreciates and likes about her most. A cat-like smile tugs at his lips, Neron giving a somewhat self-deprecating shrug at her points. "Touche," he murmurs. "And I like to think that in the time since my stepping down from being Warden, I have done enough for the Citadel to prove that my intentions aren't nefarious." Mostly, anyway.
Nodding in agreement, he doesn't really have anything to add or object to in her reasoning, his smile softening at he looks back up at her. "Then that's what we'll do," he decides, rising to his feet and tucking his hands back in his pockets. "I suppose if nothing else, Deimos and his terrible decisions at least gave us one good thing."
With a curt nod, Morgan tried to push it out of her mind and into the part that said someone else's job. She really had to find more people she trusted, ones that wouldn't commit sudden arson; the ability to delegate effectively could make the difference between a great and a poor leader.
She tilted her head from side to side as to whether he'd proven himself to the people; she didn't really know. Some of them would determinedly keep the grudge, she was sure, but his time in the Kraai could have softened perceptions towards him - it was hard to stay mad at the man providing the drinks.
Hand on his shoulder, she let go with a soft squeeze. "We have yet to see if it's a good thing, but...I hope it will be." That said, they both had work to do; they would meet personally later. The Warden bid farewell to her Spymaster and looked forward to seeing her boyfriend that evening.
