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!
"But... I thought the architect just died? How was she three hundred years old?" A blunt and indelicate question, from a bluntly indelicate young man. Tal snuck a glance away from the stone totally icy architecture at Finn - slightly up, since the other man had a few inches on him - and the scowl threatened to return as he realized that tragic fact.
At the Eirachi's name Tal went rigid and shot quick glances around at the icy walls before glaring at Finn. "Yeah, I do speak of her, and you shouldn't. Fuckin' Neron caused us enough problems, bringin' her down on us." The scowl fell fully into place at full force at the mention of the former Warden. "Halo is her land. Y'don't need to be at a Shrine for her to show up if you say her name." He crossed his arms, hiding the anxious tapping of his fingers against his ribs. "I haven't met her, an' you better hope you never do, either. An' if you do? You don't go back on any deal you make with her."
Luckily for Tal, Finn can also be blunt and indelicate, and he takes the question with all the objectivity expected from a researcher. "Her role is one that has been passed down through the generations," he explains. "She may not have constructed the original Tower, but she would have helped to shape parts of it to her tastes. And she had most of the knowledge about it." And now they would need to start from scratch again.
That isn't Finn's problem right now, though, given that he has given up Stormbreak for Halo. Speaking of which, the superstition is not lost on him, and he bows his head a little to the other man. "My apologies - I wasn't aware that her name held such weight. I will keep your warnings in mind, and ensure my family know them as well."
Tal wrinkled his nose in thought, but gave it up as a bad deal when he realized he didn't know much about architecture or architects. He settled for an awkward couple of bobs of his head in something that was akin to sympathy and let the conversation move on to--
Oh. Well, someone needed to set the new guy straight. One Neron was bad enough.
"Yeah, well... good. Thanks." Tal rubbed his hand against his thigh awkwardly as Finn took his warning with such grace, though his scowl deepened for a moment. Finally he sighed. "So, uh... what was it that you did, back in Stormbreak?" He could definitely salve over his sharp tone with some small talk. Much smooth. Very suave.
A sudden bout of mist begins to swirl rather charmingly around your heels. It’s gone nearly as quickly as it came, followed by the indistinct sound of faraway laughter.
Finn hears Tal's questions, but he doesn't really hear them, not with the sudden mist that floods around their heels through the Palace. Swallowing hard, the echoing laughter reminds him of darker places in his memories. Things left forgotten, things experienced but not really, and a pair of seaglass eyes that could well be responsible for such an event.
"The Spyglass," he says abruptly. "It was a research position that is now defunct, given the Order's collapse. I am sorry, but I must go." Clearly the mist is enough to rattle Finn right out of the conversation, and he brushes away and past Tal without so much as glancing over his shoulder.
Tal bit back the instinctive yelp as he looked sharply around for the source of the laughter. Seeing only suspicious mist that had no place inside, he had already started to edge away before Finn strode off at a healthier pace and the courier was quick to follow. "Hey, wait up!"
He gave the other man a wounded look of I told you so as he caught up - and he kept throwing glances over his shoulder, just in case the mist tried to follow. "I heard about the Order... What kind of things were you researchin' for them?" Five minutes ago he couldn't wait to find a way out of the conversation. But that didn't mean he wanted it to end on the other man's terms!
Finn is well on his way to being out of here in terms of the Palace, and he's much too focused on locating the exit to even notice the reproachful look shot his way from Tal. This had been a stupid idea, he tells himself - what was he thinking? Of course Remi or any other spooky going on had a hand in the place. Time to go back to the Kraai, pack all of his things and unpack them again, or maybe alphabetise the cutlery behind the bar.
"Hm?" Oh, the other man is still there. "Demigods, to begin with," he explains, pushing open the doors and exiting into the bright, cold air. Only when he's outside the perimeter of the immediate building does he feel himself begin to relax. "Later, though, I researched relics."
If there was a direction Tal knew better than almost anyone, it was out of the Palace, and he quickly caught up to Finn and trotted along beside him as he asked his question. The ex-Spyglass wasn't the only one to perk up under the brilliant blue Leafchange sky, and Tal exhaled a quiet breath of relief to be out in the open again.
"Huh. Heavy stuff." Tal was impressed in spite of himself. "I kinda heard about the relics from rumors an' stuff, but what makes 'em so important, anyways?" A large red malamute-like dog came trotting up from where she'd been waiting outside the palace doors, pressing her nose into Tal's hand and demanding scratches with a wagging tail. A pale dragon the colors of sea-ice in the sun, as large as a wolfhound but built like a mastiff, came ambling after her, grumbling an impatient greeting.
Finn is busy taking a series of deep breaths and enjoying the fresh taste of the air when Tal speaks again, bringing his attention around to the other man. "There isn't too much in my line of work that constituted light," he agrees quietly. "The relics are meant to be powerful weapons from the gods. I believe they will help in the war. It is why so many are looking for them - from both sides."
Another long exhale, and Finn steps instinctively to the side as the large canine comes ambling up to them - and a dragon follows after. "Oh, hello," he says to both creatures, instinctively polite to all even when it makes things inevitably awkward. "I did not realise I was keeping you." This to Tal, rather than the animals.
"Is there a list or somethin'?" Tal asked, curious in spite of himself. "I heard about one bein' under the Sea of Glass here. Wished I could have seen it..." Seen the Sea broken open and unfrozen water beneath the ice that felt eternal, moreso than the relic. But the relics sounded interesting, too.
The hound wagged her fluffy tail at Finn, cocking her head at him in the curious way of dogs. The dragon simply blinked an enigmatic reptilian green gaze at the man, breath steaming silently in the Leafchange chill. "This is Bell," Tal introduced, relaxing a little; Finn's greeting to the animals had earned him a point in the courier's book. "She's my lead dog. Best one in Snowcloak," he boasted, scruffling her ears affectionately. "And that's Boreal. Best dragon in all of Halo," he added with a grin as the dragon slanted him a lazy glare. "I already made my delivery so we're not in a hurry anymore."
"There was a list," Finn says, sounding numb rather than disappointed. "I kept one in my office with the rest of my research. Unfortunately that was all destroyed with the Tower, as well as my personal effects and the home I shared with my family." He shrugs as if to say that's that, I guess, because what else is there to say?
Both canine and dragon receive a smile as polite as any that Finn would give to a person, and he inclines his head to both. "Pleased to meet you," he says. "What a lucky man you are, Tal, to have the best of everything." Were it not for his (painfully obvious) social awkwardness, this could well be interpreted as sarcasm. Alas, it is just Finn being Finn.
"I will be heading back to the Kraai. I think I have had enough Palace for one day."
Tal opened his mouth to ask more, then closed it again at the resigned shrug and the reminder that this man had just lost everything to the opening volley of war no one was ready for. "O...oh," was all he said, looking awkwardly away. "Right."
Which just made the following words even more uncomfortable, and he scowled guiltily into the distance, silently berating himself. "Yeah, well... guess I am." Bell nosed his hand again, nudging the fingers that had stopped their scratching, and he belatedly started up again.
"Don't blame you. Look I... um. Sorry. About... all that. Safe travels." The courier managed a sickly smile before backing away and then turning to walk quickly in another direction, dog and dragon trotting at his heels and looking entirely used to fast, uncomfortable exits by their master.
