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 nights were lasting longer now as darkness crept over the northlands and reclaimed the snowy lands from the sun. Even if they hadn't been, however, Tal would still have braved the dangerous cold of a clear, starry night to send the dogs racing out over the Tundra. Pink tongues lolled and booted paws flashed across the moonlit snow as the small team pulled the racing sled behind them, running in practiced harmony behind the red-furred lead dog.
A series of columnar rocks like jagged teeth jutted up from the snow ahead, each as tall as a house and spread out in a ragged, imperfect circle. Perhaps it was just a trick of the light, but the moon seemed to reflect more brightly off the snow in the center of that ring. As the team drew near Tal slowed them with a series of commands and the brake on the back of the sled until they drew up to a halt a little ways back from the nearest stone.
The heavily-bundled courier hopped off the sled as a glacier-pale dragon, large for a companion, dropped heavily from the sky and circled low overhead, crooning uneasily. "Yeah, I know, but it won't take long," Tal reassured her as he carefully unpacked a thick, sturdy glass bottle from a box in the sled and walked towards the ring of stones. "I'll be careful!"
The snowdrifts were piling up. It was almost at the point where Halo would be impassible for the season. Amun grunted and pulled the heavy cloak closer around himself with his gloved hands. He'd initially planned to give Snowcloak once last scouting mission, but the sight of a vaguely familiar man on a sled full of dogs caused the potter to pause.
As the other man, whom the Ascended vaguely remembered from helping out at the barracks, stepped off to head towards a strange set of icy pillars. Grunting, Amun altered course to head in the same direction. He activated his phasing upgrade to move through the snowdrifts rather than try to navigate them normally.
Taking a deep breath and then holding it, Tal walked lightly over the ice-crusted snow to the center of the ring and knelt, pulling the stopper from the bottle. He punched a whole in the crust with a mittened hand and then began to scoop loose snow, reflecting the moon's brilliant light, into the glass container.
Which of course was when the dogs started barking excitedly at the sight of a strange man drifting towards them across the tundra. Tal, growing red in the face, flinched and then hurriedly crammed the last of the snow into the bottle and jammed the stopper into place. He only just managed to make it outside the circle before he couldn't hold out any longer and he had to draw in a deep, wheezing breath as he glared at the interruption. "Who... the fuck... are you...?" He panted, leaning on his knees as he recovered.
Shooting a glance at the dogs, Amun narrowed his eyes at them. Still, his gaze was drawn back to the pillars as the other man emerged from them. The Ascended took in the semi-stranger's bedraggled appearance. "Is this some of that famous Halovian hospitality I've heard about?" Lips twitching, he slipped his hands into his pockets.
"I'm Amun." With his introduction, he inclined his head. "You're...Tal right? I think I've seen you out and about." Standing up straight, he jerked his chin at the dogsled. "Do you need some help getting back?" He stood in the snow without having left any tracks, the flurries from the sky swirling around him.
Tal just kept scowling at the reference to 'Halovian hospitality' but he was too busy getting his breath back to form a suitably awkward cutting reply. He just waved the stranger off until he was able to straighten up and look the man over properly.
"Yeah, that's me," Tal acknowledged, frowning as Amun's face didn't ring a bell. But then, he wasn't great with faces. Or names that weren't written down. Or... people, really, so he just shrugged and chalked it up to to that.
He wasn't a hunter, but under the clear, starry skies with the bright moon shining even Tal could see that there was only one set of tracks in the area: his. He narrowed his eyes at the stranger suspiciously, peering behind him to be sure that -- nope, not even a footprint.
Amun nodded when Tal confirmed his identity. As the other man asked why the potter inquired about whether or not the courier was in need of assistance, the Ascended arched an eyebrow. Activating his phasing upgrade again, he moved through the snowbanks until he was close enough to offer the other man a hand.
"I assume you're trying to return to the dogs that are baying after you? If so, I can probably get you there more quickly than you could on your own." Eyes flicking to the icy pillars for a moment, Amun cleared his throat. "If you don't mind me asking, why did you leave the road in the first place?"
"They're baying at you, man," Tal said, backing a step away and dropping his hand to his axe as his eyes widened at Amun's decidedly ghost-like movements. That was definitely not normal human behavior - at least, not living human behavior - and it was Ludo's season after all... maybe the god had missed a soul?
Tal glanced back to where he had walked lightly over the icy crust of the snow earlier, and on which he still stood, and then back at Amun with a decidedly wary expression beneath his scarf and hood. "No... no I don't think you could. Look, uh, Amun was it? There's... there's no road anywhere near here. That's... that's why I've got the sled and the... the dogs..." He gestured a little helplessly and took another careful backwards step.
"If you're lookin' for Mort's Halls, you probably want the Shrine on the Sea of Glass. Just head due west and y'can't miss it. I'd take you myself but Safrin'd probably get pissed if I showed up with one of Ludo's friends along for the ride."
Shrugging at Tal's comment about the dogs, Amun glanced over his shoulder. He eyed the animals in question before looking back at the courier. "Probably. I'm more of a cat person," the potter admitted.
"Depends on your definition of near, I guess. Regardless, I heard the dogs and figured I'd make sure no one needed help." Smiling at the other man, the Ascended rubbed his hands together. Making a conscious effort to breathe, his breath puffed out in a cloud of white.
His eyebrow shot up as Tal began talking about the gods. "Can't say I'm opposed to pissing off Safrin, but I'm definitely not one of Ludo's friends. Far from it. And I'm not interested in or planning on heading to Mort's Halls, either." Barking out a laugh, Amun shook his head. "Look, if you really don't want my help, just say the word and I'll be on my way. But I can get you back to your sled much faster than you can get there on your own." Once again, he held out his hand.
The dogs had quieted as they saw that their master was talking to the stranger without a fuss, but they still watched with alert eyes, moving restlessly within the confines of their harness lines. "No, I'm good," Tal assured the ghost, who had starting misting like the earlier laughing spirits of the season.
Or breathing? Honestly, fifty-fifty at this point, since there were still no tracks to indicate how Amun had arrived.
"Thanks, uh, for the offer though." He didn't want to risk pissing off any spirits, just in case! But the dogs were only a short distance away, and Tal was confident in his ability sprint lightly over the thickly-crusted snow if he had to. Sometimes there were perks to being so scrawny!
But then Amun spoke so casually of offending the gods that Tal's brows rose to his hatline and he paused his cautious retreat to eye the other man curiously. "You're not afraid of the gods getting mad at you? Isn't that... kinda dangerous? I mean, I get not bein' friends with Ludo. He gave me nightmares after I played his game," Tal admitted with a scowl. "But Safrin seems pretty nice."
Amun just shrugged a shoulder as Tal one more refused the potter's help. Smiling, the potter lowered his hands and slipped them under the folds of his cloak. "Suit yourself." He turned slightly so he could watch the courier make his way to the dog sled. As the Ascended did, the snow crunched under his feet. "No need to thank me."
As the conversation about the gods went on, though, he pressed his lips together. "I got those nightmares too," he confessed. "As for Safrin, seems is the key word when it comes to her." Grimacing, he looked down at his feet. "Her light blinds you to the shadows she casts. It's an illusion of purity."
Tal had paused his retreat when curiosity had caught him and he stayed to talk with the stranger, but he didn't mind walking slowly back to the dogs while they talked. Now that he had his bottled snow he wasn't in any hurry - except to figure out whether the maybe-ghost was kindly or malicious.
Not that he could do anything either way, unless Amun wasn't a ghost after all. The crunch of snow under the man's feet was oddly reassuring, but didn't solve the earlier mystery even a little bit.
Tal's look was a little more sympathetic at hearing that Amun had been caught up in Ludo's nightmares, but his description of Safrin had the courier's brow furrowing in confusion. "What do you mean, about her havin' shadows?" His voice was uncertain as he looked down at the bottle in his hand. "What'd she do to you?"
As Tal began heading back to the dog sled, Amun activated his phasing upgrade. He glided alongside the courier. However, when the other man asked for clarification on what the potter meant about Safrin, he came to a stop. "I mean that she's vain, picks favorites, and only intervenes when it suits her, not when it could actually do the most good." He took a deep breath.
"You've heard of her chosen champion, right? Ronin Taliesin, the Huntsman?" Grimacing, the Ascended shook his head. "Well he used to be known as the Fallen Star. And then the Dark Star." Growling a bit, he pressed his lips together.
Meeting Tal's gaze, Amun began to speak in a quiet voice. "The Huntsman had a daughter, once. She was killed in a freak accident, and he went mad with grief. Started attacking the Temple in the Hollowed Ground, which was the seat of government and contained an infirmary." Pausing to let that sink in, he sighed.
"A group of us went to try and stop him and talk him down. That included Amalia Chandrakant, the Archangel, another one of Safrin's favored ones. Amalia actually used to be known as the Shield of Safrin." Hesitating, he looked down. "Ronin wouldn't be reasoned with, and kept destroying the Temple. We finally tried to fight him when it became clear he wouldn't stop. Just to weaken and knock him out, not actually to kill him."
Rocking back and forth a bit, he reached up to brush the snow from his face. "Only after all of us, including Ronin, were close to death, and the Temple close to toppling, did Safrin appear. She froze us all, but Ronin managed to do something. It angered Safrin, who took him away." He grimaced and when he went on it was in a snarl. "She left the rest of us, including Amalia, to rot. The Temple fell. Somehow, we managed to get out, but Amalia was paralyzed from the waist down. And Ronin got away without any consequences." Shaking his head, he stared at Tal.
Tal was looking decidedly green around the gills - more or less; it was hard to tell beneath his bundled layers - by the time Amun finished. "Holy fuckin' shit, man. That's a lot to take in. I don't even know where to start..." He stood there processing for a few long minutes as Boreal circled overhead, rumbling her concern for her bonded's mental turmoil.
"Were there... a lot of people in the Infirmary when the place came down?" he asked at last, brow furrowed and expression troubled. "How... how many people did She-- how many people died because She didn't..." He trailed off uncomfortably, not wanting to finish when Safrin had been so kind and gracious to him.
But still asking the question, because he had to know.
Nodding at Tal's response, Amun didn't add anything further. The story was indeed a lot to process so he gave the courier the time and space necessary to work through it
When the other man asked about who was in the Infirmary that day, the potter grimaced. "I don't know," he admitted. "It took place during a festival, so everyone who could was there. Afterwards, I was on the edge of death and injured, so I wasn't that coherent. But I can't imagine it was empty."
Pressing his lips together, he glanced up at the sky. "You know what else is funny?" He hummed a low note. "She's the herald of life. Yet her chosen champion is the Huntsman. How do you think he got that name? Doesn't seem like the type of person to respect all life, does he?" He glanced over at Tal.
