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!
Tal found his way to Flora's door in the usual way he found new delivery addresses: he asked for directions in the city. It took a few tries, but eventually he ended up in the right place with a pale dragon in tow and only a slight drag in his step.
Sure, the beach was unseasonably cold and that was probably really bad in the long term, but it wasn't stupid sweltering hot like it had been last year and Tal was wearing a lightweight shirt and pants rolled up to his knees to enjoy it. That was the good news!
On the other hand, he'd taken a peek at the Notice Board on his way through town and apparently the Eirachi was to blame. That was the bad news.
The courier was conflicted, but he didn't intend to let it interfere with the completion of his professional duties so he rapped his knuckles smartly on the door frame and cleared his throat.
"Delivery for Mi--uh, for Flora, from Talyson Seawright!" he called out a little awkwardly, wondering what kind of woman had been signing her letters to him with 'x'es and 'o's.
The type of woman to sign her letters with 'x'es and 'o's was also the sort to wear floor-length sheer frilly things when she was swanning about her own home. Though she'd been thinking often about Tal, it wasn't nearly as often as she'd been thinking of a certain captain, and so Flora's initial reaction to the sound of knuckles on her door was a girlish trill of glee that the courier could no doubt hear through the open windows. It was probably for the best then that Tal mentioned who he was prior to Flora opening the door so that she had time to school her expression into one that was polite rather than desperately disappointed.
'Ohmygods hey.' Smiling warmly with lipgloss shiny lips and a tangle of hair atop her head, Flora motions rapidly for Tal to come in. "It's so good to finally meet you!" She trills. "Oh, and my twin is sunbathing outside I think, so like, if a naked man walks through, you can just ignore him."
The trill was enough to straighten the courier's spine and bring his chin up, bracing instinctively for impact. It was just as well that he was already on his best behavior or else his jaw would have dropped when the door opened to reveal his client standing in.
Uh.
Something very fashionably Torchline. And pretty much unheard of in Halo.
And while he'd had doors answered by people wearing less, most of them hadn't been.
Uh.
Wow.
The blush started around his navel and started crawling up his skin beneath his clothes as he hurriedly tried to adjust his gaze up to the top of Flora's stylishly messy head. He managed a dazed smile past where he was biting his tongue and almost missed the inviting gestures. Belatedly, he hurried to step inside--
And almost tripped over the threshold at the warning of naked men in the vicinity. "I. Uh. N-no problem?" he stammered, already trying to adjust to the concept of two Floras. Well. A Flora and a Flor...on?
He was going to have to leave something extra nice at Frey's shrine after this.
Was Flora aware of her looks? Was her messy elegance at all accidental? Come on, we all know casual beauty actually takes a ton of work. 'Mmmm?' Flora purred over her shoulder, leading Tal passed the arched entranceway into an airy coastal kitchen and towards the living room. The furniture she and Enzo had picked out was decadent and not at all practical; everything was in shades of cream with perfectly placed throw pillows and blankets. 'The...?' A frown briefly creases Flora's brow before she gives her head a shake. "Oh, gods no. Enzo wouldn't be caught dead doing that sort of thing. He's my twin. It's my..." Was Mateo her little or big brother? Older or younger? "...my other one. Mateo."
Turning about dramatically, Flora flashes Tal a bright smile. "Can I get you anything? Water? Wine? I think there's some whiskey and a cocktail left over from last night..?"
Tal was slanting wide-eyed glances around the posh nest, afraid to touch anything and almost afraid to breathe for fear he'd somehow smudge the spotless throw pillows. He tip-toed in Flora's wake as she sailed through her house but was so distracted by the decor that he almost ran into her when she stopped and swung about. He clutched the box in his hands for support as her words washed over him like champagne bubbles and he swallowed hard.
"Uh. Vodka, if you have it. Whiskey's fine, otherwise," he said weakly. He didn't usually drink on the job, but this one was shaping up to need a little liquid fortification. The bemusement he felt was almost familiar, especially alongside that name she'd mentioned... what was it again...?
"Mateo?? You mean that little b-boy?" He didn't quite yelp but there was no hiding his surprise (though at least he managed to avoid the panicked glance around to see if the young botanist was hiding beneath the divan). "He's building a skyship?"
'Mmmm, I think we do.' Flora hummed, spinning as gracefully on her toes as any dancer might before flouncing off into the kitchen and leaving Tal to stay or follow. 'Oh my gods Tal, if he heard you calling him little he'd set one of his plants on you.' Flora either shouts from the kitchen, or laughs over her shoulder depending on where the courier had chosen to stay. "But yes, that's the one. He and our dad started building it ages ago, but I think they're basically done now."
After having slammed through some cupboards, Flora appeared with two champagne flutes filled with vodka. On the bottom of each glass were delicate charms of driftwood and opal. "Anyways, Mateo's friend has learned to fly skyships so they should be good to go fairly soon." Handing the glass out to Tal, Flora raised her own to her lips with a shrug. "I dunno, I keep thinking it would just be easier to ask my dad for his compass, you know? Like, yes there's the road less travelled and blah blah, but there's something to be said for efficiency, don't you think? Oh!" Pulling the glass from her lips (where her lip gloss had already captured her smile), Flora held it towards Tal.
Tal tried to swallow again and realized just how dry his throat was as Flora pirouetted away. Torn between following and possibly tripping over something fashionable and fragile on the way, he opted to remain where he was and just craned his neck to peer after the graceful girl and her artfully swirling dress.
"Well... he is little," he pointed out defensively. "He's like, what, ten?" Or... twelve or something like that. Which from Tal's own venerable mid-twenties was practically a baby. But his fingers twitched on the box he carried at hearing that the ship was almost finished, a little envy adding a tinge of green to his pale eyes for a moment.
When his hostess returned, Tal accepted a glass with all the delicacy of a man terrified he was going to break something he couldn't afford to replace. His nose wrinkled up in confusion as she continued and he realized belatedly that she meant to clink and drink. He extended his hand with only the slightest tremble in his fingers to delicately meet Flora's glass with his own before taking a rather large swallow of the raw spirits.
"A compass? Like... a thing that points north? I mean, sure, he'll need one for travelin' around," he opined a little helplessly, certain he was missing something important in the conversation but not sure what he'd stumbled into.
'No I know he is, but like... I mean, it's like when you tell someone you like their shirt even if you don't, because they just got it, you know?' Flora warbles, though the question sounded all but rhetorical.
Laughing warmly and yet somehow not laughing at Tal even as he tried to shake her glass. Maybe that's how they did it in Halo, and if you were Flora, the last thing you wanted to do was seem ignorant or make someone (knowingly) uneasy. 'Mmmmmm." Humming around a sip of vodka, the bite of the liquor immediately had points of colour blooming in Flora's cheeks (several shades darker than the light blush she'd applied earlier). 'No, no, it's one of those magical ones. You know, the ones the Order all had before the Order was gone.' Not unlike her mention of Enzo's nudity, this was said with an utter lack of fanfare as if everyone had a demigod for a parent with wonderful and useful magical items at the ready.
Tal did not know. It was a rare, warm day in Halo when Tal gave someone an insincere compliment. It was almost equally as rare that he even noticed what other people were wearing, though Flora's current outfit had certainly emblazoned itself in his awareness. He just nodded along in the hopes that he'd look knowledgeable and wise in front of the lovely young lady who was making his acquaintance.
Flora's cheeks weren't the only red ones, though Tal's blush wasn't from the booze. The heat had reached his neck now and there was a flush creeping up his throat as he focused on keeping his eyes out of trouble by admiring the fancy decor as they talked.
Until Flora dropped a little excitement into the conversation and he looked at her in... well. He hadn't stopped looking at her with surprise since she'd opened the door. "Your dad was a member of the...? Oh..." Well, Mateo had mentioned a dad in Stormbreak. "Hey, if he doesn't want it, I'd take it," the courier offered helpfully. Sure, it wouldn't happen, but he was an honest Puck. "Or better yet, why not both?" A skyship and a Compass, while he was wishing for the moon. "The Compass for work, and the ship for fun?" A boy could dream, couldn't he? "So uh. Who's your dad...s. Dads?" He amended quickly, remembering her brother's plural.
Content to have Tal admire her things as much as her (this house was an extension of who she was if you thought about it, so his appreciation of it was every bit an appreciation of her), Flora bobbed her head before frowning and suddenly shifting the direction of her head-shakes. "No, no, sorry. My dad's husband was a member of the Order. But then he took it over, and then dissolved it or something. " Then, potentially realizing where the confusion came from, Flora beams in Tal's direction. "Oh! So I guess I should have mentioned that Mateo and I are only half-siblings. Same dad, different...well, I have a mom, and he...I don't know, half came out of Ludo or whatever." Flora rolls her eyes and gives Tal a look implying the two of them were in on some joke. "He likes to tell everyone that he's a literal dream come true." Ha!
Grinning at what she took to be boldness on Tal's part, Flora waggles her perfectly sculpted eyebrows in his direction. "Now you're thinking! Can you fly a skyship?" Her aqua eyes widen, wondering if this courier could perhaps also serve as a ..? chauffeur..?
"Mmm, so my dad is Remi Taliesin and my mom is Hotaru Kaito. That's why Enzo and I are called Kaliesin. Get it?"
Thankfully all of Tal's practice at being Halovian had given him a good head for geneology, so it only took him a few hard-thinking seconds to figure out that he 'man who took over the Order and dissolved it' could only be Ronin. The Ronin. Leader of Stormbreak, favored of Safrin, husband of--
Wait, half siblings? Pale eyes were drawn back to Flora's face as dark brows started to draw together in alarm, but her description of Mateo surprised a snort of laughter from the courier and he gave a rueful nod. "Yeah, he did say somethin' like that, actually. I thought it sounded pretty weird but..." He shrugged a little helplessly. Kids say the damnedest things, right?
Turned out, some of them were even true.
He was very much not immune to Flora's charms and her approval of his plan put his previous thoughts on hold while he straightened up a little under her regard. "Welll... not yet, but that's why I was hopin' you could introduce me t'someone who could teach me." It was a work in progress, but if Mateo was... then Ronin was...
And Flora was--
Ding Ding Ding! Finally putting two and nine together at the same time Flora revealed her parentage, the mention of Remi served even better than a bucket of cold water down Tal's spine. His blush crawled back down to hide inside his navel even as he tossed back the rest of the champagne glass full of vodka and swallowed hard. But it was the other name that had him blurting out: "Wait, you're Ru's ki--daughter?? But you... an' she... how old is she? An' how old are you?"
"Oh, sure! Everest Hart is the one you want to find. He lives in Stormbreak, but he's sort of..." Flora grimaces, inclining her head back and forth to communicate some sentiment that would likely be lost on Tal. "I mean, he's a super nice kid, but he's a bit awkward." She continues with a shrug. "Mateo told me that his family moved him to Halo for a season, and instead of doing anything, he just...researched skyships."
Tilting her head slightly to the side as Tal downed his vodka, his question had a playful but cautious smile spreading across her lips. "Gods, rude Tal!" She admonished, raising one of her shoulders and sniffing with feigned offence. In actuality Flora was like...seven? maybe? but that didn't really mean anything. Not really. "How old do I look?" She asked, intentionally drenching her words in honeyed warmth as she twirled on the spot.
Everest Hart? Tal perked up at having another name to chase down, but at hearing that it was another kid he deflated a little. Still, if the books were in Halo and he could get a hold of them, maybe he could research skyship flying himself? It was worth a try.
"Well, uh, thanks. Maybe I'll run into him someday." Everest wasn't the only awkward one, as it turned out.
Flora not only didn't answer his question, she turned the flirting up to eleven with a coquettish twirl. But hearing that she was Remi's daughter had quite thoroughly killed the courier's interest, on account of he still wanted to live. Her question still sent alarm bells ringing up and down his nervous system as he swallowed past the vodka burn in his throat and looked desperately around for a distraction--
There was none.
"Oh, uh. I'd say probably, um..." A look of faint panic glazed the courier's eyes as he clutched the champagne glass for sheer life. "Sssss...six...teeeeeen?"
"Aww, you're so sweet!" Flora was at that delicate age where being perceived as too young was in fact, not a compliment. However, given that she didn't really know how old she was either, 16 didn't strike her as being insultingly low. They called it sweet 16 for a reason, didn't they?
But...what was the reason?
"Want more?" Dipping her aqua eyes towards Tal's glass, Flora offered him a sunny smile, more than happy to keep playing hostess. "You must get around a lot, huh?" She wondered, reaching for his glass regardless of what his answer had been.
