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!
The air changed first, and Boreal took a big whuff of it in to clear her nostrils. Tal noticed it a few moments later, and something in him began to ease as the humidity caressed his heat-dry skin. Melita's indications of comfort and relaxation of her guard might have surprised him if he hadn't felt an intangible sense of safety about the place, and he gave her an unexpected grin as she revealed the hot springs in all their glory.
"Hey, guess mebbe you know what you're doin'." He raised his eyes to the ceiling, rubbing at the back of his neck awkwardly. "So uh. Thanks, Mel." Charming as ever, he wouldn't quite look at her while he said it, waiting for her to start making her own preparations before he took a deep breath and hobbled over to set his own pack and weapons beside hers. Boreal nosed him carefully, then went to flop down near Fangorn and extend her blunt muzzle towards him once more, puffing little clouds of smoke from her nostrils. The tip of her tail twitched playfully as she watched him.
Tal made his wincing way over to the water and eased himself down on the ground near the edge to roll the cuffs of his trousers up. "Memories? Huh..."That required some heavier thought, and he tucked it away for later. Sliding his feet into the hot water - and sighing in relief after the initial shock of it had passed - he glanced over to the girl and his brows went up. "What do you mean?"
Eating fire is your ambition to swallow the flame down
She rolled her eyes at the statement, but didn’t take his bait, opting to swing her feet in the pool, and watch the ripples, the bubbles, move under her childish orchestrations. “Yeah yeah, you’re welcome,” and she waved him off, enjoying and relishing the relieving properties.
Fangorn made room for the dragon, swinging his vines around, but still dutifully guarded the pack of weaponry and bags, amusement distorted as he grabbed hold of a nearby rock and tossed it – waiting to see what the corresponding companion would do.
Melita, half-hoping he’d ask more about Ludo and not the upcoming hell-spiral, sighed, stretching out her arm to place her fingers along the surface of the water. “Like, years ago, when so many of us were portalled in, it wasn’t like…this. All the tension. All the attacks. All the…hatred.” Or perhaps she’d just been ignorant to it – too many other beleaguering things sauntering in, distracting notions she hadn’t thought or believed to be curated by the Voice or Ascended. Her thoughts meandered, as they often did – to LongNight, to the Fae, to the blight, and to everything thereafter. “Maybe it’s just been building and I hadn’t noticed.”
to be lit up from within, vein by vein to be the sun
Tal closed his eyes and sighed happily as the warm, bubbling waters soothed the ache in his ankle. Frey's Breath, huh? Too bad they didn't have a place like this in Halo.
He stubbornly did not think about Hotaru's spa.
Boreal watched the prehensile vine with reptilian fascination as it grabbed and then tossed the rock. Intrigued by the round fellow, she batted another small rock towards him and into reach of his writhing greenery, curious to see how he'd respond.
The humans were having a less fun conversation, and Tal blinked as he realized Melita was an Outlander. "Um. I dunno, either." He looked away, over the surface of the bubbling water. "When it was just the cannibals and the cultists, it was a lot easier. Now..." He sighed, not liking the shape the world had taken but not knowing how to change it. "What d'you think you'll do?" Much as he hated to admit it, she seemed more worldly. More tuned in than he had been until he'd found Morgan's mangled body and it had all become a lot more immediate.
Eating fire is your ambition to swallow the flame down
Dipping her fingers below the surface, so that her hand splayed beneath the drifting roll of bubbles and foam, she grew far more quiet – the restlessness dulling to a muted roar in the back of her mind. Fangorn, fully occupied by the proceedings, picked up the rock again, and juggled it from one vine to another, until it seemed to move around and around to each with shocking, and ridiculous, accuracy.
Cannibals and cultists pinpointed the courier to Halo, and she wrinkled her nose at the aspects of either subject, eventually peeling her digits away from the water, and drifting both hands behind her, leaning back in casual stretch of limbs. “Nothing about it is easy,” she murmured. “One of my uncles is an Ascended.” The favorite one. “And a demigod of the Voice.” She sighed, gilded gaze going upwards, following after runes and lines in stone, maybe seeking out a stray lily, but none of the answers were written up there either. “But I promised Ludo my loyalty. And so I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it,” which might’ve been sooner rather than later – the outcome written in the pledges and bonds of her capricious nature. She didn’t turn and glance his way, mired in her own rancor. “What about you?”
to be lit up from within, vein by vein to be the sun
Boreal tilted her head at Fangorn's antics, making a rumbling chirrup of curiosity as she tried to follow the rock on its dizzying spin around the little gourd. A swipe of her tail cleared grit and pebbles from the ground nearby as she curled and uncurled it in an echo of Fangorn's more prehensile vines.
Tal swished his feet slowly through the water, relaxing as the combination of warmth and soothing waters took away some of the pain. As Mel leaned back he leaned forward to cup some of the water into his palms, looking down into what the still waters reflected before they slowly leaked from his fingers.
"A demigod, huh?" Surprise at such an unexpectedly powerful family member moreso than the other revelation, but the question turned back on him and he sighed. He dipped his hands into the water again and splashed some of it on his face before shaking the excess off the tips of his shaggy dark hair. "That's... somethin' I'm still workin' out, I guess," he admitted reluctantly. "The Ascended haven't done Halo many favors. Frey has, though. And one of my sisters is Attuned." He scowled up at the ceiling. "Mostly I just want the chance to punch Neron in his stupid smug face. An' I'm more likely to get that by helpin' out the Old Gods." Some wars were, admittedly, smaller than others.
When you see something out of the corner of your eye, turn to look, and see nothing at all, what should you conclude? That you were having a hallucination? Or that your peripheral vision is perhaps not to be trusted. Ask yourself, are you tired? Drunk? Under the influence of something? Is the lighting good? Are there lots of moving shadows about? Are there reasons you have to think that your mind is playing tricks on you?
Because...well, because it would be absurd to think that out of the corner of your eye you had just seen a house. A house with a figure slamming its hands against one of the upper windows with enough force to shatter it, and then...
Eating fire is your ambition to swallow the flame down
What could’ve been a far more dazzling and dizzying display of juggling antics soon went awry – one slip of his vines in a less than measured stance, and the rock went flying, rather pathetically, into the pool. There was a vague sense of befuddlement along the pumpkin’s face, before obvious disappointment – eyes downcast and body, for little there was, visibly sullen.
Melita made no mention about her other uncle also being a demigod, and how she inexplicably had only become a little shit, but that was besides the point. Tal seemed like he had to figure his own messes out too, though her brow furrowed at the name randomly mentioned – missing it from her catalog of memories. Perhaps it’d been because of her adventures in Torchline, rather than the cold mountains. “Why? What’d he do?” For Melita had always been for punching smug people. Or kicking them directly in the balls.
Glancing sideways though, something caught in the corner of her eye and her gilded stare narrowed for a moment – figures moving in her periphery, a domicile with something entangled and captured within. It could’ve been the fog, the mystical semblance of Frey’s Breath rolling along her senses. Trying to make sense of the notion proved all the more difficult though, for there were no houses in the Climb.
to be lit up from within, vein by vein to be the sun
Boreal snorted in dismay as the rock went flying and plopped into the water. A low croon emerged from the big dragonling as she dropped her head to rest on her foreclaws, giving Fangorn the saddest eyes at his disappointment.
"Hm? Neron?" Drawn from the sweet daydream of driving his admittedly not very impressive fist right into the ex-Warden's nose, Tal gave a rueful snort (sounding a lot like his dragon). "Fucker showed up a few years back and got Lady Deepfrost to build him a fancy Palace and set him up as Warden of Halo. Except then he turned around and betrayed her, so she sent her cultists to attack the Citadel." His jaw clenched for a moment but then smoothed over as he stared into the frothy waters between his knees. "He didn't die, but a lot of other good people did. My dad was one of the Shields defending the gate that nigh--."
He broke off, blinking, and reached up to rub his eyes, looking sharply around the cavern. "Uh..." What the hail had that vision been? "Did you s--nn. Never mind." Maybe it was something in the water? "Anyways, guess he cheated on the Pale Lady with the Voice, so now he's an Ascended." Cue the return of the scowl.
Eating fire is your ambition to swallow the flame down
Melita, feeling the expanse of concern from her companion, twisted around to survey him. Patting and scratching the top of his head, and tilting her own vaguely at the dragon for trying to cheer him up, she snagged at another pebble nearby, placing it easily into a rogue vine.
Even with this distraction, this whole Neron character seemed like a douche. Nestling her thoughts together while Fangorn visibly bloomed and blossomed, her gilded eyes darted back to Tal, on a raised brow, splashing her feet in the pool again. “Huh. Sounds like a real dick.” And then the other semblances came running, and she heard the undertones of lost parts of families, gaze going downward, to rest along the pools. “Sorry to hear that.” Always prompted by the notions of revenge, even if her voice had grown quieter, the honeybee purposefully agitated and rattled. “Have you thought about getting him back somehow?”
to be lit up from within, vein by vein to be the sun
Boreal raised her head as a new rock was procured, and crooned again, this time encouragingly, at the funny little gourd. Tal twisted to watch the interaction curiously, his scowl fading as he realized how curious his dragon was about the bouncing, juggling, multi-talented Fangorn.
He gave a fervent nod at Melita's succinct summary of Neron's finer qualities, his earlier pique fading as his ankle stopped hurting so much and their conversation flowed more comfortably. Her condolences brought an awkward shrug to the courier's shoulders as he looked away again, but it was an old pain and he didn't linger over it. "Yeah... thanks."
Besides, her next question was a lot more interesting, and Tal shot her a wicked glance. "Fuckin' right, I have. He was banished for awhile, but then he came back..." He grimaced at the complete batshittery that decision had been. "He was called the Hailstorm for a reason, though. If I'm gonna pick a fight with him, I want to make sure I can survive it." It was good to have concrete goals, and he shook off his frown as he tilted his head at Mel. "What about you? Ever get back at someone who screwed you over?"
Eating fire is your ambition to swallow the flame down
This time, Fangorn was far more careful with his rock. There was an invitation in his movements, gingerly passing the pebble back and forth in the vines, before extending it outward to the dragon. A gentle nudge along the rim of the pool, to encourage some variation of play.
She rolled her eyes at the title though. “Well, get yourself some things and then strengthen up.” Not a dig, but a single glance over at him again saw only lean bean components – clearly unimpressed.
His inquiry made her demeanor alter though. “Yeah. A couple times,” and there was a very snide, proud grin marked on her features as she gazed up at the void around them, leaning back, splashing her feet once or twice to endorse further amusements. “Once I kicked a certain fool right in the balls.” She immediately started laughing, which could’ve sounded like a vicious storm or an outright cackle, except it wove around in notes of melody that she couldn’t quite coax any other time. “And you can always just shoot them with something,” gesturing with a thumb towards her quiver of elemental designs.
to be lit up from within, vein by vein to be the sun
Boreal's tail thumped once on the stone and she snorted a puff of smoke in pleasure. A large paw carefully batted the makeshift ball back towards the gourd - careful not to send it towards the pool - with the same gentle strength she used when playing with the team's pups.
Tal rolled his eyes right back, huffing an annoyed sigh. "If it was that easy, I would have done it on my own already. But... I dunno. The General's back. An' he's got some good training ideas. So I'm workin' on it." He scowled, hating that she was right and even more that he couldn't even argue about it without looking like a fool.
A skinny fool in need of some weight training and maybe a protein shake or two.
Tales of vengeance had him perking back up, however - at least until the dirty details came to light. He winced in sympathy for the certain fool but... "Yeah, that'll do it," he admitted, not without looking a little green about his own gills. "Hm. I can throw axes. Maybe learn how to chuck a javelin or somethin'," he mused, eyeing her quiver curiously. "How'd you get it to be so magical?"
Eating fire is your ambition to swallow the flame down
Fangorn’s vines gave an excited pulse at the prospects of further play, and several more gathered their ideal manner of strength, before flicking at the stone again. Intentions had been for the dragon to intercept it before anything else occurred, hastening the back and forth ritual with an eerie, but quite amicable all the same, grin.
She shrugged her shoulders again, completely unbothered by his irritation and vexation. If he had a problem, it was up to him to fix it. “There ya go. Train. Get stronger. Beat his ass.” In that order. Maybe he’d get a chance with the war coming up, or some other parallel lines, considering the amount of trials and tribulations that hung around Caido.
The intrigue and interest in her quiver had one hand going over to it avariciously, an instinctive back off posture, though she’d give him the details in acquiring it, for the weaponry was a source of pride and conviction. “Remi made me the quiver ages ago for fire arrows,” one finger tapped lightly on the particular armament – it pulsed and radiated a vicious flame. “And then I asked Ludo for the lightning and ice ones.” The courier could readily do the same for himself.
to be lit up from within, vein by vein to be the sun
A puff of smoke accompanied the dragon's amusement at the game. It was her first time playing with a ball that played back, and she stretched out to enjoy the game of 'catch' with their new rock; large paws served as ample blocks against the stone rolling too far, even if she lacked Fangorn's dexterous precision.
"Yeah, well. I'll let you know how it goes," Tal huffed, still annoyed at the fire-haired girl but also confused at how she seemed to treat him with equal parts impatient exasperation and encouragement. Not knowing how to respond to that from someone who wasn't his sisters, he settled for changing the subject.
It was his turn to snort as she made a protective gesture towards her gear. Fancy though it was, it wasn't going to do him any good. "Alright, Ludo I get. But who's Remi?" While he asked the question he straightened his leg experimentally out of the water, flexing his ankle carefully and raising his brows in surprise when he realized the pain was almost gone.
