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!
05-30-2022, 06:07 PM (This post was last modified: 05-30-2022, 06:15 PM by Darkeye.)
DARKEYE
Not the strongest win the battle —
After everything that had happened so far, it was time to talk to Wessex. Much of what she had said seemed very doubtful after what she had experienced and after what had happened. They provoked the attack and maybe they knew how to solve the situation with Neron.
However, caution was required in their last encounter, you could feel the tension because they were of different opinions. But the attack on Stormbreak put the General in a questionable position. He had to be polite and skillful in order not to make things worse or even risk an attack from the demigoddess because he was no match for her. Nevertheless, he wanted to ask her a few questions. Even if it should become still so uncomfortable. So he goes to her office and knocks at her door. He doesn't know if she is in or not.
Wessex is, in fact, in her office that doubles as a small apartment. The place is dark, for she doesn’t need any light to see by and fire is a unnecessary danger, so it’s easy to mistake the Barracks for empty. She starts slightly at the knock, pausing a moment to glance sharply at the door with a furrowed brow, thoroughly tempted to ignore whomever might be on the other side. But then it could be one of her kin, it could be someone who wants assistance - and she has always said she is available.
“Coming,” drifts through the heavy door and within the minute it opens. Wessex does her best to hide her disappointment at finding it’s Darkeye on the other side of the door, trying to hide it by glancing past them to see if they might just be the first. When it’s evident that he is the only one there, she wraps her face in a blanket of her best neutrality and soldiers on. “Darkeye. How can I help you?”
Darkeye hesitated at the first moment, not wanting to be rude, and already turned to go. Maybe she wasn't at home and he needed to talk to her about some things that weren't so important the last time they sat together, but this time he needed an answer. But then he heard Wessex's voice and stood still, upright and confident.
Darkeye was in was not even trying to put on a good face. He was too serious about the subject for that. He took a deep breath and looked at Wessex seriously to make it clear that this time it was about more than a few harmless questions. "I need your time if you can spare it. I have questions that I would like to ask you first. Before I take any serious steps. So if you have time to talk I would appreciate it." He says without a hint of joy in his voice. But a seriousness that almost cuts through the air like a blade. "If not, I'll come back another time."He says and crosses his feet in a soldier's salute.
Serious steps, huh? Her mask breaks with an incredulous, sudden brow raise and a sharp laugh. “I doubt you can do anything more serious than the war that’s already coming.” Holding tight to the urge to roll her eyes and shut the door in the Outlander’s face, Wessex lingers for a moment in indecision. She isn’t busy, per se, but he doesn’t know that. “One second.”
Turning back to the dark interior, the Wraith lets the door shut behind her for a moment and tries to quickly run through a pro and con list about engaging with Darkeye again, knowing what their last encounter was like. Her eyes go to a clock, and then a built in excuse to leave, and so she clenches her jaw and tightens her fists and turns back to the door. Standing in the frame, it’s clear she isn’t inviting him in, but she doesn’t yet turn him away. “What kind of questions?”
Darkeye ignores these guests he has his questions to ask at the moment. Either she takes the time or he initiates the hunt for Neron and gives his report to the world about the attack on Sotrmbrak without her opinion. Nor could she clarify so much. But he was tired of being treated like a little fish. He actually thought he had proven himself with the land shark or the work in the Spire. But apparently, that was not enough. "No I can't but I can give people a glimpse of your actions in Stormbreak Wessex and maybe you can save one of your own from a bad fate." He said seriously.
He smiles he already thought it would go something like this. "I know Neron lied and provoke a war between Halo and the great woods. It wasn't Remi like he claims. I want to know what you're going to do about him or if you're going to protect him." Then he paused for a moment. "Then the attack on Stormbreak I believed so much of what you said Wessex but what was that about it goes against everything you told me. I will soon send a report to all the major cities representing the opinions of all. I would be grateful for your view of things, that's all I want to know today," he said with a determined look. The question in his eyes now was whether only Neron was a warmonger or Wessex as well.
Again, her eyebrows raise in skepticism, if only because the threat of a bad fate seems rather vague, but the way in which he utters the threat (is it a threat yet?) is quite serious. He has her attention.
And then Wessex is visibly confused, because of course, she’s talked to Neron. He told her there’s no proof. No one had been there but himself and Morgan, and with the Glacier dead and burned… she has to challenge the accusation. “You know this? For sure? You’ve spoken to Neron? Have a confession?” The General couldn’t stand in the way of solid proof. But without it… and without a clear motivation, everything is worth challenging.
“Why would he want to start a war between Halo and the Greatwood?”
Darkeye shakes his head. "No, I didn't, but I was with Remi on the day and at the hour it was supposed to have happened," he says. "I am the alibi for Remi, as much as I don't like to say that. I can't imagine that he would be in two places at the same time. If he is, of course, his testimony is different. I will talk to Neron about it. But the evidence points to a bad deception. Remi wouldn't have left a corpse behind, I think he's that smart. This performance in Halo doesn't suit him. These are points that speak very much against his statement that it should have been Remi. As for the war. If that had been the case, Remi would have taken an untrustworthy position in all the other cities. You would have one front less. Which would be tactical to your advantage." He said and hoped that she understood why he had come to her. Because when you saw it from this angle, it almost seemed as if she had ordered it. But he had no evidence for it and did not want to accuse her of it. But Neron was the only one who really happened and therefore he had to question him. If Neron did that and tried to make it look that way, Remi as well as Noah would try to take him prisoner or worse. It was a warning he came with, not an attack.
It was strange that Wessex only jumped on this topic and didn't try to justify Stormbreak. Did she know something? Normally she always defended herself directly. However, he was too early for such thoughts. He cleared his throat. "About Stormbreak, do you have anything to say, or do you think my report is sufficient without your testimony?" He said, hoping to get another statement from her point of view since hers is probably the most important.
Listening to Darkeye’s reasoning makes her want to laugh and scream in turn, but with neither option truly an option at the moment while on this merry-go-round, she settles for leaning against the doorframe and crossing her arms across her chest. “I’m tackling one problem at a time. Neron first, Stormbreak next.” Wessex is quite deliberate in that way, and wants there to be no mistaking anything or talking in circles.
“You know the exact day and hour Morgan was killed? Perhaps you did it. It was my understanding that she was found savaged and frozen in Whitebrim. Are you also an expert on dead, frozen bodies?” She knows that Outlanders come in all shapes and sizes, with all types of previous experiences, but it didn’t seem like Darkeye had the kind of medical knowledge that, say, Nate or Isla did.
“And I happen to know that Remi is quite capable of being in two places at once.” The details and distance are a bit much to calculate, but it isn’t a lie. He can use Ronin's abilities, she's seen it.
She sighs and shakes her head. “And what you’ve failed to take into consideration is that Neron and Morgan loved each other and Morgan was an important ally. She kept Halo neutral, which benefited us far more than any fumbling attempt at starting a war between Halo and the Greatwood. Morgan’s death was a great loss for the Ascended, and Neron, though he might be a selfish prick every now and then, is a team player.” Frowning, the General pauses before adding a final something to consider. “From what I saw of Neron’s healing injuries, he was also badly hurt. If it really wasn’t Remi, then perhaps Neron hit his head and was mistaken about some other Halovian creature. Or a vengeful spirit. Abandoned aren’t exactly well liked by the Gods.”
Now she finally allows herself to chuckle. "But to say that he's deliberately lying to incite a war is a malicious assumption. Not very neutral of you, Darkeye."
06-15-2022, 09:14 PM (This post was last modified: 06-17-2022, 05:54 PM by Darkeye.)
DARKEYE
Not the strongest win the battle —
Darkeye shook his head again. "If I had, there would be no body and no evidence, Wessex, but I am no longer able. It is said to have been a large creature with feathers and claws. In my old life, I was able to transform into such a creature. I suspect a mantikor or a griffin. I'm trying to warn you here and help Wessex, they're going to hunt Neron. If you don't want to take this seriously, then I will talk to Neron himself and see if he is telling the truth. It is possible that I made a mistake in time, the ice could have changed all that. I thought you were someone who cared about his people, but you don't make good arguments. I'm not saying this as a simple accusation, I want to help here. One of your people was killed. I'm trying to find the truth behind it. " He was about to turn and leave. The general who proved to be Voice's true hand in his eyes. Just the cold, calculating one.
Now he stood up, ready for a blow from her. "This was exactly why it was so easy for him to get so close to her. People who love you can hurt you the most. It's just a question of where was he during the attack? Why wasn't he at her funeral? You're going to want to get him, Noah's going to want to ask him questions. I don't know what's wrong, but something is wrong here, and I know something is wrong." He was very much in thought, hoping that somehow it all made sense.
It’s true, she is the cold, calculating hand of the Voice, just the kind of leader she’d always said she’d be. Protecting her people. Making the hard decisions. Their doors had always been open to anyone who wanted to live in the Grounds and work with the Ascended. And one by one, her allies had disappeared, in Caido’s peculiar fashion. Her heart yearns for Henry and Aurelia, Morgan and Juniper and Lillianne. Alas, she must keep moving forward without them. Ascended and Grounders first. If that’s what made her cold and calculating, then so be it, she’d argue that Ronin and Remi are exactly the same way, just held to different standards.
“You came with accusations, not warnings,” she replies simply. “I know exactly what you’re telling me, and you’re not listening to what I’m telling you: you have no evidence. Even less of a motive, beyond you always hurt the ones you love.” Scoffing, the Wraith shrugs. What he’s presented her is circumstantial, at best. “None of that seems like you actually want to help, other than telling me about a rumor. So, truly, thank you for that.” She really would warn Neron, but something tells Wessex that Halo would have their sights set on other things, with only half a year left between now and the beginning of the war.
Then again, Wessex has been wrong before.
“I don’t care about what you think of me. I don’t answer to you. I answer to the Voice, my family, and the Grounders. If you want to live here, with us, that would change things. Now, you have questions about the Stormbreak incident?”
Darkeye had to smile because of this statement. "Circumstantial evidence leads to fact and truth. At this point you are right, Wessex, I have no evidence, but I am good at finding it. The motive I gave you Wessex one front less is in my eyes a huge motive. But they are still rumors. We won't agree on love because it's a very tricky subject." Says Darkeye with a slight shrug on his shoulder. Then his gaze became first again. "I'm trying to do my part here. Only I'm not doing it for you but for all the inhabitants of Caido. That is neutrality Wessex I cannot afford your view of things. Because this way ends lonely." he grabs his beard and tries to think of better words. But now he gives a fuck. like she did to him.
Darkeye now looks more serious. "I've lived in the Grounds since I came to this world, Wessex, and I've already told you in our last conversation, but I'm happy to help you refresh your memories. I can't declare myself a resident of any city or I can't be neutral anymore. I hunted land sharks with Azrael, Nikolai, and Ophila and tried to make the area around the Grounds safer so that what happened to Bastien would hopefully not happen again. I helped with the tower where you were also involved in the construction work secured. I have agreed with Isla that I can build my forge here. Even though I am not a Grounders I will still defend it, if it is right in my eyes. I will take care of the shit you did in Stormbreak and try to give people a different view of the Grounders. But in your ignorance, you don't want to see that. It's fine that you don't want to see it, but I don't think I need to hear that kind of crap from a general who can't control her own people." with no emotion in his voice he said all this but inside he was angry like hell. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down a bit, but that just had to come out. "As far as Stormbreak is concerned, I have a general idea. I only have one question because I see how busy you are. Do you have anything to say about that, general?" He said, thinking he wouldn't hear much except a snort and her slamming the door. Because in his eyes, she didn't handle criticism well. That it could be similar to himself did not occur to him at that moment.
06-20-2022, 12:03 AM (This post was last modified: 06-20-2022, 12:05 AM by Wessex.)
WESSEX
the wraith
“Or,” she posits, holding a finger up, “Are you imposing yourself without asking if what you’re doing is what Caido’s people want? What is your goal? We have a world-wide war coming.” She gestures beyond Darkeye to the world beyond the Barracks and this ongoing argument. “There are two more relics to find, training and fortifying to be done, quests to complete… We have two seasons left and even if you do find proof of whatever or whoever did it, do you think we’re going to stop everything for, what, a trial?”
Her truth is that she cannot comprehend why he can’t see the bigger picture. “You call me ignorant,” she says with a shake of her head, “but you have no sense of the world’s priorities right now and no understanding of the Ascended dynamic. You can take your notion of who and what I should be and shove it.” That’s where she should have slammed the door in his face, but the idea that he has any idea about Stormbreak is absolutely laughable, if he’s only spoken to Ronin, which is what she assumes.
“They came for the Order,” she snaps. “Whose goal, as everyone knew, was to destroy the Ascended. And this is what The Order did to deserve it.” Holding up a hand to stay any questions for the moment, Wessex summons a kitsune and has it show Darkeye the things she’d seen: Sam’s body, obviously burned by sunlight, the sound of Mabel’s voice and as she was confined, embellishing only a little to tell a more complete story - that Gideon had killed Evelyn and then taken Mabel prisoner. The Ascended bodies in boxes, and then Cian and Gideon strapping a woman to a kind of cart, rolling it into a field, and a dragon descending to light it on fire.
“The Order was a group that supported murderers and the Tower was a symbol of their power. I told Ronin the Tower was going to come down and to get the patients out. I would have let him evacuate them all, because I was initially there to ensure innocents didn't get hurt. He chose to attack instead of getting people out.” So in the Wraith's eyes, the Huntsman is just as at fault as she is. And she knows that no one will ever see it that way - but inaction can be just as destructive as action.
Darkeye smiled and pointed to the symbol on his chest and spear as well as the book he kept writing. "I serve Kor the god of war. My profession is war. I am a war priest. But first, the point is to make it clear I am not doing this for you. I am doing this for myself and my beliefs and I hope that it will open some people's eyes to the fact that you are not as bad as I have heard so many times. So I know who I can slay without hesitation or who deserves a chance and just because some stupid oracle said that war is coming, some people can still decide against it." He said with a conviction that could but not at all dissuade him from doing so. For her, it may seem ridiculous, but that's how Voice seemed to him. He cleared his throat. "I train with a lot of people here. Because I don't make a difference who someone is or what god they worship. I try to see the person and what they do. If it turns out that he killed Morgan I think you will solve the problem yourself because she was part of your family. I don't think there's any excuse for that, but you'd have to prove it first. I don't know if you want to trust him that long. That's up to you." Darkeye would do it right now if he had certainty. "As for your relics, I would like to help if you allow me, Wessex. I would also be happy to help with your training or tasks. But you have to ask me because if I do it alone I don't know if you would like it. I hereby offer you my help." He said with a slight bow.
"I know what a general should be like. But it may be that in this world it can be different that is possible but you only see yours and not the whole picture. I've been trying to understand everything since I came here, and if you ask clear questions, you rarely get clear answers. That's why I travel so much. I understood Bastien well and Maea as well, but I still have a hard time understanding you. Then explain it to me Wessex and I will listen to you." He stood and put his spear aside.
Darkeye tried to stay calm and memorize as much as he could of what he saw, trying to find the details that Amun also talked about and trying to see connections. There was some that fit. But he had to be sure. But the man he wanted to ask was already dead. There was no reason to doubt this story, only a fanatic could come up with such ideas.
He took a few breaths and raised his hand briefly, not wanting to be rude, and immediately explained what he meant. "Give me a moment, Wessex, I need to process what I have seen."He puffed again and took out his book again and read what Amun had said. "I heard similar things from Amun, but he had to retreat, he was not an eyewitness. Thank you for the clarity of your statement, I will include it in my report to Caido. However, two points bother me Wessex. The first is why didn't you prepare the attack better, it seems so radical. The second point is, why didn't you just take an upper part? So the sign would have been clearer to see in my eyes and less hurt. I have spoken with those affected. They have lost people who were not part of the order. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and Gideon is dead. The leader of the order is no more, there are still known members who are still alive. I know it's still a question, but I would be grateful for any help," he said, sincerely and concerned.
Darkeye’s experience in his world is so different from anyone else’s in Caido that she finds it difficult to relate to - his age, his history, his dogmatic determination to continue to serve a God that does not exist here, and never will. Most of her arguments and points seem futile in the face of that, so she might as well use what she can and try to disregard the rest. A non-commital huh huffs out about the slaying bit, thinking that should he try to slay any Ascended, he would eventually find himself face to face with her again. Only that time there wouldn’t be words. Just actions.
And as for Morgan and Neron? She finds herself unwilling to make any additional points, merely settling into a new position agains the frame of the door. Morgan was an ally. Neron was family. “Neron has trusted me with his life more than once. He’s leapt into battle at my side, knowing death was a possibility, and I trust him implicitly.” End of story for the Wraith. Her loyalty to her family is one of the few things that is not complicated. In most of her calculations, they come first.
“Why do you need to understand me?” She asks, cocking her head to one side. “I don’t want to be studied.” Her lips twist and tighten briefly, before she looks out over Darkeye’s head at looming, empty space of the Barracks. “Nothing in all my fourty-four years has come close to anything we’re seeing now. For most of my life, my world was just the Hollowed Grounds. So there’s no road map for this. No one except the Voice to guide me, all our knowledge was lost or forgotten. I’m flying by the seat of my pants and there are going to be contradictions and complications along the way, because I don’t have an actual army, in case you haven’t noticed. Just the family.” And how can she send them in to battle with a mind only for strategy, when each of her soldiers is beloved?
Shaking her head, she drifts off for a moment and then resurfaces when he asks about the Tower. With a shrug, Wessex can genuinely say she has no fucking clue. “It was born out of emotion. And I got tired of saying no. Tired of watching Ronin and Remi do what they want without consequence and having to hold back. So - fuck it. Let’s go and I’d try to keep the civilians safe. Turned out to be the wrong call.” To say the least. But that was how it felt at the time and there’s nothing she can do about it now. As for what he thinks would have been a clearer sign, she rolls her eyes. “No. All of it, so it couldn’t easily be rebuilt. I wanted them to feel the way my people have felt since we learned about the Order. Fearful. Threatened. Stormbreak supported them and allowed them to exist. They picked their side by allowing that group to exist.”
