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!
12-13-2021, 07:36 PM (This post was last modified: 12-13-2021, 07:36 PM by Alea.)
Alea
would you like to play a game?
Carrying a bunch of recently-picked flowers in both hands, Alea wandered the pathways of the Fae's graveyard quietly, humming a solemn tune to herself. Her Ludo puppet perched in her hair, watching her perform what she imagined to be the offices of a priest of Ludo: "tending" the graves by placing flowers on them, rather at random, and talking to them. She hadn't known any of the Fae interred here, but she often made up stories about them. This one had been a peerless warrior, this one a weaver of beautiful tapestries, this one a hunter like a fox. Sometimes Alea would pause to brush snow or other detritus off a gravestone, making sure the dead Fae's names were clearly visible, though she tended to mispronounce them when she read them off.
No Fae had yet caught her at this activity, though she tried to remember to come by at least once a season. She didn't know what the Fae would think of her visiting their graveyard; from the legends she'd always heard of the Fae as an unfriendly people, she didn't think they'd like it, so she tended to take off if she sensed anyone nearby. But today she was utterly absorbed in telling a particularly mossy gravestone its life story and took no notice of anybody approaching.
After Sah's recent conversations with Deimos, Noah, and Hotaru, he was feeling melancholy. This war hadn't even begun, and it was already taking from him, already killing parts of him. Sah knew from experience that you never came out of a war unscathed, but this was the first time that he'd felt the damage beforehand to such a degree.
The stress and circling thoughts were what had driven the Abandoned to the Greatwood. He loved the wildness of this region and figured wandering it might be a soothing means of getting his thoughts in order. The darkness of Ludo's forest had called to him in particular and following his gut, Sah now found himself meandering through the shadowed woods. Lilly walked beside him; the wolf's nose turned to the wind in curiosity.
It was as they were coming to a bend in their unmarked path that Sah paused. There was a cemetery and moving through graves was a child. The Outlander and his companion watched her tend to the ancient stones for a moment before Sah decided to approach. His protective instincts were prodding him forward. How could he just ignore a child all alone in the forest?
"What are you doing out here alone, pup?" Sah questioned as he emerged from the trees, head tilted slightly in curiosity and concern. Lilly gave a small yip in greeting, tail wagging reassuringly.
At the sound of Sah's voice, Alea froze, like a wild animal counting on her camouflage to keep her safe. Unfortunately, Alea didn't have any camouflage in this form. Realizing this, she turned at once to Sah, dropping her flowers, her stance wary. She didn't like that he'd snuck up on her, as she saw it, and she didn't like being caught in her human form, without her owl's talons.
At his question, though -- and its friendly tone -- she tilted her head in contemplation. As gregarious as she had been with the gravestones, it took her a moment to find words for an actual person. Finally she answered, "I'm tending the graves. For Ludo."
12-16-2021, 01:21 AM (This post was last modified: 12-17-2021, 03:59 AM by Sah.)
yet my blood renders me a King
The expression on the child's face and the look in her eyes was startlingly familiar and it made Sah soften with understanding. It seemed he wasn't the only feral one in Caido. That made things easier. Relaxing his posture to seem as non-threatening as possible, he made a soft rumbling noise in the back of his throat. It sounded a bit off in a human body, but it was the same vocalization he'd often made to soothe pups back home.
Making a small gesture with his hand, the fallen flowers floated up from the ground and hovered right in front of Alea's hands. "Sorry I snuck up on you pup." Not wanting to startle her further by getting closer before she was comfortable, Sah sat down on the grass as he spoke. "Ludo is lucky to have your help." Indeed, the supposedly abandoned graveyard looked well cared for, well loved. Surely the herald of Death would approve.
"I'm Sah, and this is Lilly." The wolf who had curled up beside her bonded on the grass wagged her tail once more. Sah tilted his head slightly with open curiosity, a trait the two seemed to share. "Do you have a name pup?" The child seemed alone and unused to conversation. Sah wouldn't be surprised if she lacked a name.
Mollified by Sah's apology -- and the compliment -- Alea took her flowers back. She considered them for a moment, re-ordering them and brushing dirt and the remnants of Deepfrost snow off the petals. Then she returned her attention to Sah. She wasn't sure what his gestures and noises meant, but he didn't seem threatening. Mostly she thought that Sah didn't act or move like other adults she'd observed, though she wasn't sure whether that was a good or bad thing.
Like any child, Alea was impressed by a cute animal, and she smiled at Lilly. "Ludo calls me Alea."
She looked Sah up and down again, never maintaining eye contact for long. "What are you doing out here alone? You're not Fae."
Noticing that Alea was more comfortable with Lilly then him, Sah was content so stay where he was. Lilly however gently made her way over until she was just a few feet in front of the child. Giving another soft woof and tail wag, the wolf made a clear request for pets.
Meanwhile Sah regarded the child with a an easy, if not playful grin. "Neither are you." Letting out a warm chuckle he answered her question, "I like the woods. Life's been stressful so I thought I'd come out here to think and relax away from people. And I'm not alone. I brought Lilly." When her name was stated, the wolf gave another yip. Through the bond she sent Sah a rush of warm affection.
Though one thing still bothered the Outlander, and his tone grew concerned once more, "Why are you alone?"
Touche, Alea might have said, if she had any idea what that word meant. Instead she simply nodded as Sah spoke, and came a little closer to give Lilly the requested pets, though she kept looking at Sah -- without making eye contact -- while she did so, only glancing down briefly at Lilly. She liked Lilly, but she still wasn't sure about Sah yet.
She accepted Sah's explanation for his presence, since she liked the woods too. But: "What do you mean, 'stressful'? Why do you want to get away from people?"
As for Sah's question, she again echoed his own words: "I'm not alone. I have Ludo." She gestured at the crude puppet ensconced in her hair, little more than a couple sticks and a scrap of black cloth.
Sah's lips twitched as Alea accepted Lilly's company and his companion sent him waves of encouragement and determination. Seemed like they were on the same page as usual. The Abandoned did his best to keep his posture relaxed and made no effort to force eye contact. He really didn't want to scare her further.
Alea's question however gave him pause. "Ah... well." He had to think for a moment. How to define it? "When you're scared or in an unfamiliar situation, you feel like either running or fighting, right? Your heart starts pounding and you start sweating? You start looking for exits and such? That's stress."
Sah paused to let that sink in and to collect his thoughts. "The thing about stress is, you can feel it even when there's no real danger. If you are somewhere you don't want to be or someone is talking to you and saying mean things, you might feel stress. I've been stressed too much lately and needed a break, so I came out here where I won't run into too many people and am less likely to feel stressed. I came here to relax. That's what I mean." The Outlander tilted his head slightly, brow furrowed. "Does that make sense? I'm not sure I'm explaining it well."
When prompted, Sah's eyes went to the small doll and he smiled softly, "I see. That's good." It was certainly good that the pup at least had a deity looking out for her. But if it was just Ludo, he couldn't help but feel concerned. Sah hummed as he determined how to raise his concerns. "Ludo is busy a lot, right? Who makes sure you get enough food and are safe at night? Do you have someone?" If Alea said no, Sah wasn't sure what he'd do. There was no way he was leaving her behind if she was truly alone.
12-31-2021, 10:47 PM (This post was last modified: 12-31-2021, 10:48 PM by Alea.)
Alea
would you like to play a game?
Alea listened to Sah's words, but she didn't really understand them. She couldn't relate to the idea of wanting a break from people because she couldn't relate to being around people in the first place; she had little experience of insults and harsh words, either. "People say mean things to you? And it makes you want to run away?" After a pause, something occurred to Alea, and she pulled back a little, crouching. "Are they here? Are you hiding?"
As for Sah's question, it mostly went over Alea's head. She repeated, "I have Ludo," adding, "And I hunt." She stopped herself before mentioning that she had a nest, because then he might want to know where it was, and life as an owl had taught her that being found -- being noticed -- was bad.
Sah can tell that he's lost the child somewhat. "Ah, no. It makes some people want to run away. I'm the kind that ends up wanting to fight. But fighting isn't always the answer, so I try to instead leave and go calm down." Hopefully that would clarify some of it.
Alea's alarm however has Sah putting his hands up in a soothing gesture, "Breath, no one else is here. We're both safe." Sah flops over into the grass, grinning mischievously, at the child "And I'm not hiding, I'm relaxing." Lilly gives a small wag of warning before she's leaping onto her bonded and sending him flat on his back and knocking all the wind from his lungs.
The wolf eyes her bonded with concern, giving him a rush of information through the bond. Because she was closer to Alea, the wolf was able to gain a wealth of information. The child didn't have any other people's scents on her, at least not strongly. And Lilly felt that the child was too skinny.
Alea's next words only gave further weight to the wolf's concerns. Sitting back up, Sah eyes the child with worried eyes. "Ludo is busy a lot, right?" The child must be alone. Sah felt a rush of protective instinct that was only amplified by Lilly's own. "Would you like to go hunting now? It's easier with help." Lilly gave a small yip that made Sah chuckle, "Lilly says she's hungry." The Abandoned got the feeling that Alea would turn down hunting unless it was for the wolf.
Sah wanted to make sure that at least for today, the child was fed. And in that time, he could come up with some other plan. He wasn't leaving her behind, not if he could help it.
Alea considered Sah's words carefully. She knew that sometimes running away and hiding was better than fighting, because you could get hurt when you fought. But she wasn't sure why Sah would leave if no one was chasing him. The concept of "calm down" wasn't really in her vocabulary.
Neither was "relaxing." She looked at Sah skeptically. "So you're here to ... play?" Playing was something Alea did understand; even a child as feral as she was still played -- all the time, actually. She even made a game out of hunting and feeding herself.
And if Sah wanted to join that game ... Alea thought about it, looking Sah up and down. He was a lot bigger than her. "I don't think a mouse would make much of a meal for us to share." Then Alea turned her gaze to Lilly. "But Lilly's just a baby, right? We could help her hunt."
Sah chuckled slightly, "Yes. I'm here to play, hunt, and spend time just running through the woods." If that was how the child needed to conceptualize it, then so be it. It was still correct. The Outlander was here for all of those things, even if some of the basis behind it was beyond the child's comprehension at the moment.
Lilly yipped, nudging Alea gently. Sah snickered and glanced at Alea. "Lilly is actually fully grown. She's just small." The wolf turned around and yipped at her bonded, making him laugh and hold his hands up in surrender. "It's true, Lilly! You're tiny." The wolf growled in a clearly playful manner before leaping onto Sah and knocking him onto his back.
The wolf sat down on his chest wagging happily, making no move to get up. Sah sighed before turning back to Alea. "But yes, we can certainly all hunt together. With the three of us, we can likely take down a deer or something similar. If there's meat left over, I can show you how to prep it so that it'll last you a week or so without going bad." Curing, drying, freezing. There were multiple ways to save meat. Given where they were, drying the meat into jerky would likely be the best option for the child.
If Sah could teach her a few more skills to help her survive, he'd feel much more secure in her safety. But he still needed to determine how to help the child further. There was no way he'd just walk away now that he'd met her and seen her situation.
Alea nodded. Playing and hunting she could understand, though she tended to fly through the woods rather than running. Then Lilly jumped on Sah, and Alea laughed loudly, a bright sound in the quiet forest. She found Sah and Lilly's play-fighting hilarious.
As her laughter faded away, though, Alea frowned a little. "How can she be an adult? She's so small!" For a moment Alea contemplated the question; then she came up with an answer: "She must be like the Fae. They're grown-ups, even though they're small."
Alea's eyes widened as Sah spoke. "I've never taken down a deer. They're big!" She hesitated. "But if you think we can do it ... " In truth, she wasn't sure what to make of Sah's proposal. Not only had she never hunted something so large, but she'd never preserved meat to eat later, either. As an owl, she usually just tore into mice and rats raw.
A thrill of victory was shared through Sah and Lilly's bond. Both former and current wolf were pleased to have made the pup laugh. Alea's assumption was pretty accurate, and the Outlander nodded. "Maybe. She's from the Wildwood after all. It might also be because my companion." He paused, not sure if the pup had heard that term before. "Lilly is my pup, my family. We're bounded down to our souls and can share emotions with each other. I've heard being a companion can make creatures grow less than they normally would." Said wolf gave a yip of agreement and another wag of her tail.
Sah smiled softly at Alea, hoping to encourage her and alleviate her worries. "We can do it. I take down caribou and moose all the time back in Halo. I'll keep you safe while we hunt." Preserving meat was a useful skill to have. Even back in his world, his pack had buried meat in the coldest parts of the mountains in caches for later. As a human he now had multiple ways to store food, ways he hoped Alea could learn from him so she could better take care of herself.
