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!
Walk me home in the dead of night, 'Cause I can't be alone with all that's on my mind
The sky above was a gorgeous display of colours that seemed to swirl all the more brightly for the cold. The midnight air smelled sweet and crisp, and with Ronin's hand in his Remi's shoulders shouldn't have been as bunched as they were, nor should his lips have been set in a frown since they'd left the houseboat. But here he was, hardly saying a word at all, merely plodding through the snow at his husband's side. Through the attuned bond Ronin no doubt will have been able to judge for himself how well the meeting between Remedy and Lullaby went. If the way Remi kept opening and closing his mouth was any indication, he was almost ready to talk about it, but perhaps not quite.
In his pockets he had a few rocks with flecks of something shiny in them that he'd pulled haphazardly from the Stonesong. If pressed, he would say that the FleCks MaDe HIm ThINk of SAFriNs StArs, but really, he'd carelessly selected them if only to complete this ridiculous pilgrimage of shrines.
So say you'll stay with me tonight. 'Cause there is so much wrong going on outside
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Remi has stones from the Stonesong, and Ronin has fallen antlers from an unlucky luxere, painstakingly carved with constellations and vines, representing the marriage of his time in the Greatwood with his lady of the stars. He walks quietly alongside his husband, their fingers entwined and fresh fallen snow crunching under their feet. He can feel the tension rolling off Remi, and though he itches with questions, he also knows better than to pry after all this time.
So they approach the shrine and Ronin gives Remi's hand a gentle squeeze, nuzzling deeper into his scarf and gazing up at the (for once) clear skies. "We picked a good night for this," he remarks, obviously meaning the stars that are able to shine down upon them.
Walk me home in the dead of night, 'Cause I can't be alone with all that's on my mind
"mmmmmmmm." Remi hums in agreement, though his voice is toneless. Without much thought he reaches into his pocket, sprinkling the stones onto the altar without worry for how many ended up staying and how many bounced off. 'Like meteors." He mumbles as if perhaps his carelessness requires some justification that he doesn't find himself struck down by Safrin. Nodding dismally that Ronin might offer his antlers, Remi turns his back on the shrine, arms folded across his chest. Glaring up into the heavens, he itches roughly behind one of his ears before letting his hand fall heavily back toward his pocket.
"I should have brought Oria." He says in a monotone voice. "Maybe that would have helped."
So say you'll stay with me tonight. 'Cause there is so much wrong going on outside
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Like meteors," Ronin confirms with a lopsided smile, as if his agreement might just make it so. He - of course - spends a much more delicate time in placing his antlers, ensuring they are just so and murmuring a quick prayer to Safrin while he's at it, before finally straightening up. Smiling up at the stars, only when Remi speaks again does Ronin turn away.
Sidling up behind the Lullaby in case he doesn't want to look at him directly, Ronin lets his fingers brush along the other man's shoulders, giving them a gentle squeeze. "Would it have helped with the shrine or with talking about what happened?" he wonders. "Because I don't mind standing like this, if you think it'd be easier to say it. Or we don't have to talk about it at all."
Walk me home in the dead of night, 'Cause I can't be alone with all that's on my mind
"Oh, no." Distractedly, Remi turns, blinking at the Huntsman as if just realizing that he was properly here, and that Remi wasn't off in his own world no matter how much it might have felt like it. "I meant with Isla." He says on an exhale that hovers as a cloud of white frost in front of his lips.
"I know I say the wrong things sometimes. That I think and do the wrong things. But gods, with her it's like...like walking on concrete and thinking you're so surefooted, only to find one of the stones has been replaced with perfectly replicated glass." Scrubbing his fingertips over his eyes, Remi gives Ronin a weary sort of look. "Sometimes I think I know her so well, and that she knows me. And then...sometimes she talks to me like I could be anyone at all, and it all sounds so rational even though I know it isn't, and..."
Precisely none of this was making sense he was sure, and so eventually Remi just sighs and falls quiet, shrugging his shoulders with defeat.
So say you'll stay with me tonight. 'Cause there is so much wrong going on outside
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Ah, I see," Ronin says. He doesn't, really, but he understands the sentiment of it. "Oria might have helped... but then again, maybe she wouldn't have." It's not a very helpful statement, but the Huntsman is learning (slowly, granted) that he doesn't have to fix every problem that Remi has. So instead he merely hears him out, stepping forward to slip his arms around him to hold him close.
"It sounds exhausting," he says, smiling sadly. "I guess it's not like you two are living in each other's pockets any more. And with both of you in the position that you are... well, it's hard to speak to each other as just people, not with the weight of the Greatwood and the Grounds on your shoulders."
Walk me home in the dead of night, 'Cause I can't be alone with all that's on my mind
Despite his grumbles to the contrary, Remi accepts the arms slipped around him, laying his cheek against Ronin's shoulder and huffing childishly. "I swear she has become more emotional since being an ascended." He says, perhaps unfairly, but in the moment it's how it strikes him. "I did think she would say no and was ready for that. Ready for her to even send letters to all the ascended about what it was I was trying to do, but gods it was just so...so...dramatic." Pulling in a breath and exhaling it in the hopes that it might carry out some of his frustration (it didn't), Remi lifts his head to give his husband an imploring look.
"I don't know anymore. I think I've lost perspective on so many things, but...Given that this barricade will just keep them in place without even hurting them, I suppose...I didn't think it would be so big a deal. Not with their murder-barrier and soon-to-be-spire-weapon."
So say you'll stay with me tonight. 'Cause there is so much wrong going on outside
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Maybe she has," Ronin murmurs with a small smile, pressing a kiss against the other man's collar, since his neck is obscured by his coat. "That lack of physical sensation and all... might have made her emotions all the more potent. Not that he has ever known Isla well enough to say if she was emotional before coming an Ascended. He glances down as Remi looks up, reaching out to let a warm thumb brush across his cheek.
"I wonder if it's because you were asking her to... I don't know... contribute to it? Like if she helped to make it happen, she's agreeing to it all." He shrugs his shoulders, before letting out a gentle sigh. "Honestly, though, maybe the Grounds are just stressful and she took it out on you. Either way, I'm sorry. I hate seeing things like this get under your skin, even if I understand it."
Walk me home in the dead of night, 'Cause I can't be alone with all that's on my mind
'Well she already has, in a sense.' Remi argues stubbornly. "She said the ascended would respect the Greatwood boundaries. This is just...reinforcing that. Non-violently."
Listening, the alchemist realizes what is happening even while it does, and despite his anger he finds himself smiling, and then laughing. "Gods I love you." He whispers, leaning in to press a kiss against the Huntsman's lips that he can't quite feel thanks to the chill. "But this time, I really do want your advice." He says with a small grin.
"Neron as far as I know is the only ascended...Wessex and Nate the only demigods." (So, 3/4 correct.) "I could just take what I needed. Easily, I think. At this point, do the ramifications even matter? If I cannot even get one of my best friend's onside, what point is there in trying to bribe the others? We are against them, and they against us." If Isla couldn't see reason, or more precisely, if he couldn't make his proposal seem reasonable to her, there was no hope for the others.
So why even bother with the niceties of it all?
So say you'll stay with me tonight. 'Cause there is so much wrong going on outside
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"I love you too," Ronin says, though his smile suggests that he has no idea why they're exchanging love at this particular moment. Luckily, Remi clarifies soon enough, and the Huntsman chuckles against the kiss and holds him a bit closer, as if he can help to warm him up while they exchange ideas. "Okay, well..." He lets out a long sigh, leaning his cheek against Remi's curls and gazing out through the shaded trees of the Greatwood.
"I think maybe it's time to answer a question that we probably should have thought about a long time ago..." His smile is sad, but he knows what they say now will make all the difference in the decisions they make from here on out. "What is more important? Keeping everyone happy, or protecting the Greatwood? And what happens if you decide not to go after the Ascended to get this done?"
Walk me home in the dead of night, 'Cause I can't be alone with all that's on my mind
Remi searches his husband's face, trying not to lose himself in the familiar flush of desire but instead see and hear only the wisdom he knows his husband is more than capable of. Biting at the inside of his lip, the alchemist forces himself to keep quiet despite how immediately he feels an answer rise to his tongue. "There is no everyone to keep happy. Just you and our family, and then the Greatwood." He replies simply. Remi had always promised Isla the truth and forewarning of anything he might do, but he'd never promised to hold back if and when it became necessary.
"What do you mean go after them?" He asks, stuffing his hands into Ronin's coat pockets to draw the other man near. "Regardless of what happens with the war, the ascended have been the only group to ever pose a risk to the Greatwood."
So say you'll stay with me tonight. 'Cause there is so much wrong going on outside
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Ronin can only smile as the other man gazes up at him, and as Remi's hands sneak into his pockets, he reaches out to tuck his curls behind his ear. "Then whether or not Isla is your friend, you've already done everything you can be expected to do for her." It's sad, and the Huntsman doesn't pretend that it's an easy thing to admit to, let alone to stick to, but it's nonetheless true. "I just meant... what happens if you don't go after Wessex and Nate and Neron for their fluid? If you did, would they take that as an act of aggression?"
Moving closer and letting his forehead rest against Remi's, he sighs softly. "I understand that protecting our family and the Greatwood is our priority... but sometimes we need to back off to protect it the most. Or at least... appear to back off. Storming to Halo and bleeding an Ascended out isn't going to earn the Greatwood any good attention, you know?"
Walk me home in the dead of night, 'Cause I can't be alone with all that's on my mind
"So I should fail both Ludo and the Greatwood then? So as not to upset the balance?" Remi wonders, steeling his jaw for a moment and finding similarly that all of his muscles had bunched and contracted. "There are ways they wouldn't know it was me. Lots of reasons an ascended might find themselves attacked with a few cuts." He reasons with a shrug.
Pulling away from Ronin if only so that he could properly fidget and stew in the frustration overcoming him, Remi pulls in a deep breath and exhales noisily at the stars. "What is the point of being strong then. Someone is going to throw the first stone. Why not have it be this." He wonders icily, in this moment very much wanting to do more than throw stones.
"I don't know what to do, Ronin." Remi whispers in a tense, shaky voice. "If I do this, the Greatwood will be safe from the ascended. And if any dare attack ours outside of the Woods, I could kill them." His fingers tremble as he swallows down a sudden rise of bile in the back of his throat.
So say you'll stay with me tonight. 'Cause there is so much wrong going on outside
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Now you're thinking strategically," Ronin remarks, smiling softly to Remi, though the relief is shortlived. The Lullaby pulls away and Ronin pauses to listen, turning up his collar against the cold as he realises how chilly it has become, standing still all the way up in the Observatory. Silently, he reaches out to clasp Remi's hands between his own, as if he can steady them against their trembling.
"It's like you said. The Hollowed Grounds have already made their defences against the Order and against the Old Gods to keep itself safe. And you have been very polite in letting Isla - the Overseer of the Grounds - know about what you're planning to do to protect the Greatwood in turn." He tilts his head. "If she weren't the Overseer... it wouldn't even have been a problem," he points out.
"And I know you could kill them, Remi. I could, too. But is that more important than living our lives and enjoying our family?"
