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!
It had been the rose bushes that first caught the Nightingale's attention. She had not expected to see anything so grand - even snow covered and not in bloom - within the wilds. Neither did she think to find anything so...strangely man-made. It reminded her of the labyrinth in the Hollowed Grounds in a way, though less ominous and deadly in appearance. Only the thorns upon the vines seemed to threaten her safety now.
Quietly she paced the edge of the garden, not certain she wished to enter. The last thing she needed was to get lost on this expedition. She had come in search of a suitable home for the garden Frey had quested her with building. And though the roses were certainly a sight to behold when in first bloom, the looming maze didn't seem the most welcoming spot for a garden of babies. Thorns aside, there simply wasn't space for something that would surely be on the larger side!
A shiver ran down her spine - not of cold but instinct. The midwife glanced around, looking for someone, anyone, who might be around to give her the sense of not being as alone in the garden as she had thought. Honey hued eyes caught on a figure not far off, and after a few moments of squinting they blinked in surprise. "Nate?!"
what's the drive in being alive if you don't know who you are? what's the fun in getting drunk if you can't take it too far?
Sunjata had taken a trip, of all places, to the Greatwood, one of only a few places Nate can’t follow him. It’s irritates him more than he would ever admit, a hot itch under his skin that he tries, sullenly, to work out with a walk. He’s not sure how long he’s out, but he knows he’s underdressed for the weather, except for the hat shoved over his head, his hair at an awkward length. The length of bushes comes up sooner than he expects, Nate staring up at the hedges with a frown, and jumping when he hears his name, head snapping to face the sound.
Nate puts no effort into hiding the way his lip twitches before he relaxes again, his shoulders back and his feet planted. Pemota hovers just above his shoulders, adding to the dull electrical crackle thrown across his skin. Recognition just barely softens him, an unnecessary breath puffing out around the name on his lips. “Phoebe?”
Last time he’d seen her had been... gods, he can’t even remember. So much has happened, he thinks maybe they’d been sick? But nothing is concrete. Nate takes a few hesitant steps close, enough that he doesn’t need to speak too loudly to be heard. “What are you doing out here.”
i've been wasting all my weekends contemplating if it's me or the booze that really gets wasted
Phoebe was stunned to silence for a moment, feeling a bit like she was seeing a ghost rather than an old friend in the flesh. In the electrical circuit? She wasn't sure which was more accurate for an ascended, not fully understanding the nature of their mechanical structures. "I..." the Nightingale started, blinking as her mind finally wrapped its way around his question. "I'm scouting a location for a garden." she said. A garden of babies for Frey. Suddenly the implications of this meeting hit her. Nate was an ascended and she was the demigoddess of an old god. Hooooo boy, this was going to be awkward at best, dangerous at absolute worst.
"What about you? Why aren't you in Torchline with..." again she stumbled over her words. When had things gotten so complicated? She and Nate used to get on so well, talking over all sorts of topics of health and healing while at the College. But now he seemed a practical stranger. "...with Sunjata?" she said, briefly forgetting that he was no longer governor of the place.
what's the drive in being alive if you don't know who you are? what's the fun in getting drunk if you can't take it too far?
Nate's brows lift in a slow creep towards his hair, his head tilting to the side. "A garden?" He rumbles, looking incredulously towards the thick rose bushes. "I think this place might be a bit occupied." He points out, rolling his shoulders back again. "If you follow the rover up, there's a lot of open space. A place called the Mourn, I think?"
The question she turns on him, has Nate stiffening all over again, his lips twitching and his eyes narrowing as he turns back to her. "Oh... we're not actually... living in Torchline anymore." He sighs, shuffling his feet in the snow. "Camping now, but... we're looking for somewhere more permanent. We have to be... careful about where we go now."
i've been wasting all my weekends contemplating if it's me or the booze that really gets wasted
It felt uncomfortable, not being fully truthful with Nate. He had been her friend and now...some divide that was greater than them both seemed to have come between them. "Yes. It is for Frey." she added. Her commitment to Frey wouldn't be a surprise - she had been devout long before all of this war nonsense, and the Herald had done much to help advance the College when it had been in operation. "It would seem so...I bet when the flowers bloom in Flowerbirth it is stunning to behold." she said with a small smile. "I will have to take a look at the Mourn. It is worth visiting either way just to know what is there."
Her head tilted at the new information, or seemingly knew. Then she remembered the leadership change - it made sense that Sunjata and Nate would have left. "Because of the war or because of something Sunjata did?" she asked, a bit dryly on the latter half of the sentence. It was difficult not to assume that Sunjata had managed to do something so damning that he had been run out of town.
Biting her lip briefly, she turned a questioning look on to her former friend and colleague. "Nate...if you don't mind me asking...what is she like? The Voice?" she asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
what's the drive in being alive if you don't know who you are? what's the fun in getting drunk if you can't take it too far?
Nate doesn’t bother to hide the way the Heralds name makes him stiffen, the little bit of ease in his face vanishing in an instant. It’s not a surprise, no, but that doesn’t mean he wants to be reminded of it either. “Why not look somewhere more temperate, if it’s for him? I’m sure Torchline would work. Or maybe somewhere in the Oerwoud?” Anywhere but here. Nate shifts his weight from foot to foot, gaze flicking around like he half expects an ambush, now that he’s been reminded of Phoebe’s allegiances.
Phoebes accusation has him stilling again, bright, unblinking eyes looking over his once colleague. “Because of the war. We only have so much time left together before the Old Gods start trying to destroy me and mine. We thought it might be nice to enjoy it, without people fucking with us at every turn.” There’s more venom in his voice than he means, though it’s not aimed at Phoebe, not really.
“She’s...” Nate’s brows furrow, a sigh heaving out of him. “She’s everything. She’s warm, and caring, and she wants us to grow and be our best. She wants us to be free. I would...” He stops himself suddenly, suspicion blooming on his features as he looks across at Phoebe. “Why?”
i've been wasting all my weekends contemplating if it's me or the booze that really gets wasted
"The Oerwoud is an idea..." she said, not having considered it before as a place for her garden. If Rae liked it so, certainly Frey would as well.
His blunt reply to her words left her stunned for a moment. "Oh." she mumbled, unsure really how to follow up with that. Sunjata and his aptitude for poor choices and general idiocy had struck her as a far more likely reason to be travelling than anything like the war. "I see...I-I suppose that does have a lot of people travelling around. Though...I suppose you always have the Hollowed Grounds, right?" she said. Wessex still ruled there so it seemed likely that it would be a safe haven for the pair. "Or Halo even?" After Noah's explanation of the politics there, it seemed a safe harbor for Ascended.
"I've never met her." Phoebe said simply. Despite being on the opposite side of the war as him, she had never been much one for ulterior motives. Lying just wasn't her strong suit. "And I never had a chance to hear about her from someone who follows her. I'm...people like me around exactly liked amongst those circles." she said.
what's the drive in being alive if you don't know who you are? what's the fun in getting drunk if you can't take it too far?
A breathless, humourless chuckle leaves Nate, his head shaking. "Yeah, the Grounds are great. Who doesn't love living right next door to the Old Gods' specialist little boys, huh?" Pemota settles more firmly around his shoulders, keeping him from leaning in more, from making himself angrier. "And Halo, fuck, it already got taken over once. We're not going to go sit around and wait for the second time in the fuckin' snow." At least everywhere else, winter wasn't a constant presence. "Besides..." All at once, his expression softens, and his shoulders drop. "Sunny hates Halo. We wouldn't stay there." There weren't many places for them, not with the world how it was now.
Nate just barely keeps his face straight, his head tipping to the side. "That makes sense. I mean, you are out to kill us all." He shakes his head and laughs again, tongue dipping out to wet his lips, and his gaze settling somewhere over Phoebe's shoulder. "Why do you wanna know about her now?" He'd ascended while he was still at the College. There had been chances to sate her curiosity.
i've been wasting all my weekends contemplating if it's me or the booze that really gets wasted
Phoebe sighed. It was going to be one of those sorts of conversations apparently. "Well...it seems no matter what I say I'm bound to trip over myself, hm?" she said, shaking her head a bit. And such futile conversations weren't one she was interested in pursuing. There were no options for them to live anywhere, all of her questions had some motive for her side of things - which perhaps wasn't entirely untrue, but had more to do with her own curiosity than anything else.
Pressing her lips in a thin line, honeyed eyes fell to the snow covered ground, if only briefly, while she considered her words. "Because now I'm supposed to wish an old friend ill just because he follows a goddess who has served him well, just as Frey has served me." she said. Because now it mattered. She hadn't cared to ask before because tension was just tension, and friendships could survive such pressures. But whole wars? She wasn't sure it was possible, and the venom with which he spoke, subtle as it was, made clear he was of that mind too. "I won't bother you any longer." she said before turning and walking away.
