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!
"You'll really like this," Mateo is promising Ever even as the bell above the shop door jangles on their way inside. He's done his best to keep the place clean, but of course, being a pre-teen, there's not much he can do beyond dusting and sweeping the floor. Luckily, there aren't really any customers any more to mess the place up. Just Mateo and his plants.
Which probably explains the sprinkling of soil all over the ground as they walk in; the areas in front of the large shop windows have been overtaken by the young Accepted's herbs and flowers and plants, and the terrarium now takes up much of the floor space. "Ta daaaa!" he announces, snow now mingling in with the dirt as he gestures dramatically to the terrarium. "I'm still trying to figure out what to put in here. It's supposed to keep anything alive."
You'll really like this either means he absolutely will, or that he should brace himself for whatever Mateo has in store. Will the door open to reveal a masterful painting and banquet? Will there be an abandoned tied up inside that the Taliesin boy has managed to get past the handmines and keep alive somehow? Is it a baby krakken? Will there be a blood ritual?
A touch nervously, Ever grips the strap of his bag which sits slung across his torso, pulls in a breath, and follows his friend inside.
What the boy sees, other than a chaotic mess that has his fingers twitching and his eyes darting around for a dustbroom, is...a big glass box. It's impressive even sitting empty, and as Mateo explains he's unsure what to fill it with, Ever cocks his head slightly to the side looking thoughtful. 'Anything?' He whispers, awed.
"Well. Anything you plant in it. I don't know if it'll keep people alive. Can you plant people? Anyways, it's called a terrarium. My dad brought it here for me to use." Mateo grins, and Ever's awe at the glass box only feeds his own. Pulling off his gloves and shrugging out of his coat and scarf, he plonks all of it on the old counter and busies himself lighting some lanterns and a fire to get the heat circulating.
"I've got some herbs and flowers and snow moss, and a girl gave me seeds for a vampire gourd. I was wondering if I should transfer some seedlings into the box, or if I should try growing something new," he continues, crouching down before the terrarium. "The florist doesn't have any interesting seeds now though. It's Deepfrost and everything's asleep."
Mateo asks all the questions that instantly spring to Ever's mind. Planting seemed very vague in this context. If all planting required was a bit of dirt and water, then yes, presumably you could plant people. 'nnnnn.' The boy hums approvingly, the tilt of his head toward his friend indicating he was still listening even though his eyes were focused intently on the (as of yet) empty glass structure.
Feeling the warm bloom of soon-to-be-sweat on the back of his neck, Everest glances around and realizes that while he's been in a daze, Mateo has lit a fire. That would explain why he was so warm all of a sudden. Belatedly mirroring his friend and shluffing off his warm clothes, Ever folds his things neatly and stacks them by the door. 'A girl?' Ever turns, looking unsettled. 'I met a girl who said she fought a vampire gourd.' He says with a shiver of horror. "We could always get some from the Celestine. I was just there, and lots of the exhibits from Hak Etme and the jungle don't have any snow in them at all."
Mateo is rubbing his hands together to warm them up by now, crouching before the terrarium and smiling at the rich soil within and the wonders it might soon hold. "You did? That's what she said to me too. Her name was Paige," he says, though he's still oblivious (somehow) that they have likely met the very same girl. His blue eyes grow wide with possibilities as he realises his friend is right, Mateo turning to grin up at him.
"The Celestine is a great idea! I wonder what kind of things grow in those sorts of places. Oh, I bet I could grow some sentient vines!" Already he's thinking of the books he might peek in for inspiration, but books leads to thoughts of school, and as he straightens up, Mateo seems troubled. "Ever, when are you going to leave school?" he asks. "Like... what are you going to do after it?"
"Yeah.." Ever replies a touch dreamily, still lost in his thoughts. Blinking out of it, he nods more definitely. "Yeah. She smiles and moves around a lot." He adds, and it's lucky that the boy hasn't picked up much of Tobi's jargon yet, or he might have diagnosed Paige with any number of different ailments.
Furrowing his brow and looking as serious and thoughtful as Finn ever had, Ever sucks in his bottom lip as he considers. "I would be interested to see if you could grow them. If it's possible, then why not other sentient things?" If roots were the only requirement for Mateo's terrarium, perhaps they could grow species of spriggan as well.
At first Ever's reaction is simply to blink with a slow incomprehension. When would he leave school? Why, when the bell rang, of course. Tilting his head to the side and looking ever so much like a dog who has heard a high-pitched whistle, he chews on the inside of his lip as Mateo clarifies. "Oh, I...I dunno." He replies with a frown, his shoulders slumping. "Join the Order, I guess?" It's what both of his parents did, after all. "Maybe work in the Collegium with my dad." Sounding very unsure, politeness prompts Ever to return the question. "What about you?"
"She does, yeah. She's pretty fidgety," Mateo agrees, and whilst his thoughts are still partially on the terrarium and the sorts of things they can grow using it, the matter of school has him distracted. He watches Ever's reaction as if it might give him all the answers in the world, though his response is so typically Ever that it doesn't really offer him anything by way of a direction. "Oh," he says softly, rubbing at the back of his head.
"I guess I just didn't know how long we were supposed to stay at school for. I mean what age," he clarifies quickly. "I don't know what I want to do yet. I like it here in Stormbreak. I think maybe I want to get a place like this, and make a lab? My dad used to have one of those. But I have a skyboat too... I wonder if I could live on that, and travel...?"
'She held my hand.' Ever adds gravely, swallowing hard and not wanting to talk any more about Paige than was necessary.
Frowning, the boy's coming at this problem from very different angles, Ever tilts his head all the more. "Don't you like school?" He wonders, absolutely being the sort who would be a lifetime student if such a thing were possible. "Travel?" Ever repeats, blinking, and already feeling panicky for his friend's well-being. "Where would you go? For how long? Would you come back? Would you go alone? What if something happened?" It made sense that Ever, whose parents typically stayed put, was thinking of doing the same while Mateo, whose parents travelled and moved about every other season it seemed, was thinking of doing that as well. But none of that occurred to the Hart-boy, who had turned completely away from the terrarium and was now regarding Mateo with wide blue eyes.
"OoOoOo. Does she like you?" Mateo asks without being able to help himself, his dimples showing briefly before the reality of leaving school and growing up and all that entails comes crashing down before him. And honestly, Ever does anything but help, the boy swallowing hard and kicking at a bit of soil on the ground. "Non lo so, Ever! Voglio viaggiare, ma mi piace anche la scuola!" It comes out garbled and making zero sense, of course, and the boy resists the urge to knock something off one of the shelves.
"I just... I did not know how long we were expected to be at school. Some of the dragoons look really young. I was not sure ho wlong I had to decide..." Puffing out his cheeks and folding his arms across his chest, he manages a quick smile back at his friend. "At least you know what you're doing, mm?"
Ever opens his mouth, closes it, gulps, tries to figure out if he's having a stroke or a panic attack, forgets to breathe, and then sits heavily down on one of the chairs as if Mateo has just told him he only has a week to live. "Like-like me, you mean?" He asks warily, feeling suddenly like he needed to pee and also very badly wanting to curl up into a ball.
His friend's outburst, musical and nonsensical to his ears, draws his gaze up from the floor. He thinks he heard his name, and a word that sounded like school, but other than that, he has no idea what Mateo is on about. "Well...I think...Isn't it up to your parents?" He wonders, not sounding convinced. Certainly if he wanted to leave school it would be up to Tobi and Finn, but something tells him that that isn't the case for Mateo. "I do know what I"m doing, yes." Ever agrees, seemingly not at all bothered that his inclinations and dreams weren't taken into consideration.
If only Mateo was in any state to continue to tease his friend, or otherwise reassure him. Unfortunately, with his future suddenly feeling as though it's very much on the line, whether or not Paige like-likes Ever will have to wait. (Or maybe he can ask her himself, or whatever). The news that it was supposed to be up to his parents should have been reassuring, but Mateo doesn't look particularly comforted, and he plops into a chair after the other boy.
"I figured they would want me to work it out," he mumbles. "Maybe I should ask them." Letting out a sigh that's big and long enough that Mateo looks like he's deflating in his seat, he slouches back and closes his eyes. "Thanks for listening," he mumbles. "So are you going to see Paige again? And hold her hand?"
"How are you supposed to work it out if you don't have all the information?" Ever wonders, now sounding mildly horrified. Would he ever have to make a decision without having all the relevant data or facts? Gods, he hoped not. "Sorry, you seem upset." The Hart boy observes. "I didn't mean to make you upset."
The mention of Paige and hand holding, has Ever's cheeks burning and his head abruptly shaking back and forth. "I don't know. She just...appeared, and then held my hand, and..." well the thread isn't over yet so, Ever trails off, blinking hard, his gaze somewhere near Mateo's knee.
"D'you think you'll ever be an attuned?" He asks suddenly, realizing how nice it would be to just silently share his thoughts with his friend.
"I have no idea," Mateo says with a soft laugh, though he's at least over himself enough to be able to laugh at it again, and he shuffles to sit up in his seat. "I guess I can stay at school at least until I figure it out," he muses, rising to his feet to stretch and pottering about so he can get together some snacks for them to munch on while they chat. "Oh, don't worry about that. You didn't make me upset, Ever," he says, returning with some hunks of bread and cheese.
"Maybe her hands were just cold," he ventures, like that might be one of many explanations. He's just shoved some cheese into his mouth when the Hart boy hits him with another question, and it's with puffed out cheeks that he considers it. "Never really crossed my mind," he admits. "I kinda like having all my fingers."
"Do you really want to be a dragoon?" Ever asks, his mind already envisioning a future where Mateo is constantly battered and bruised, guarding the gates against violent abandoned and falling asleep alone every night.
Watching as Mateo returned with some food, the younger boy takes a moment to recognize just how different in maturity they were. It left him feeling both sad and inadequate, and he vowed to try and do better so that Mateo wasn't always the one thinking of things first.
"Oh. Do you think so?" This idea seems to relax Ever considerably, who sighs bonelessly as he reaches for some of the bread. "You get to keep your fingers." Ever points out with a frown, waggling the digits on one hand as evidence, before using them to pry off a hunk of cheese.
