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!
Melita had a knack for finding the best patisseries in town, and it was over a meal of cream puffs and beignets and light conversation that she’d posed a question about the Underwater City. Hadama had considered it with his usual thoughtfulness, but instead of giving her a simple answer he had posed a question in return: Would she like to see for herself?
It had been some time since he’d received the ring of underwater breathing from Safrin and he’d hesitated to break the tradition of isolation that the Underwater City had long held to. Melita had earned both his friendship and his trust, however, and with Safrin’s tacit blessing he came to the decision to show her his home, as she had helped him learn about Haulani.
A few days later he waited for her in the shallows near the current northernmost island of the Kuali Isles, studying the simple ring on his finger with a calm eye as he waited for the honeybee girl to arrive. He had no way of testing it for himself, but they’d find out soon enough how well it worked…
Like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins
Diving headlong into Underwater Cities sounded far better than other notions she’d been involved in lately, and it’d only taken snippets of moments thereafter to gather her things, then wait the appointed timeframe. Both companions had to be left to their own devices for the day, for she wouldn’t snag a dragon that breathed fire and a vampire gourd to drown beneath the waves – even if Hadama had mentioned something about being amidst the depths – she might’ve been distracted at the time.
It didn’t take her long to see him amidst the shallows though, and she pressed her bare feet into the usually warm sands, melding a little to its conformities as she laced and layered in long strides. “Hello!” came along a cheery wave moments thereafter, already beginning to knot her dress on the side, pulling out the manta crystal from her pockets, unaware she wouldn’t be needing it. “Thanks for inviting me. It’ll be nice to have such a swim!”
Melita always seemed to bring a little sunshine with her; she had a vitality and warmth that helped to chase away the chill of this year's lingering Deepfrost even for a seadweller who didn't feel the cold as keenly as the thin-skinned humans did. Hadama's thoughtfully stoic expression eased towards the more relaxed good humor that he showed to his friends and he raised his ringed hand in greeting - and to give the honeybee girl a moment's pause.
"Welcome," he called. "Before you use the crystal will you help me test this ring? It is a gift from Safrin. Any drylander within ten feet of me should be able to breathe safely underwater." He was more than ten feet from the shore, but not by much. He floated in water that would be only hip-dip to the honeybee when she was ready to join him. "Though..." he hesitated a moment, a faint frown furrowing his brow. "I do not know if we will be able to speak," he admitted, a quiet note of concern in his voice.
Like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins
Testing something heralded from a god’s power sounded intriguing, and so she ambled forward, intent on curious natures snagging at more sagacity and wisdom. “Ooh, neat! I can help.” Placing the manta crystal back within the pockets, she waded out into the shallow proportions, unbothered by its flanking proportions as it swelled and snagged around her.
As for talking, her brows furrowed. The youth was rarely silent – boisterous and exuberant, wild and carefree. Underwater contortions might inhibit some of those semblances altogether. “Maybe we could use hand signals? Or uh…,” pointing seemed to be the direct notions in her mind – but she was uncertain about what they’d be seeing down in the depths, or how distracted and enamored she’d become with the parameters and possibilities.
Usually pods of pink encantado are a welcome sight on the waves - but not this time. Bobbing, not swimming, these creatures look as if their have been dead for some time. Pale and bloated, they appear to have been entirely drained of blood.
The echoes of starlight and faint nebulae began to swirl in the waters around the merman, nearly invisible in the bright sunlight as Melita approached. As if to welcome the honeybee into the water the sea grew calm around her, as still as a pond in a broad path that connected them. It took only a little concentration after so much practice, and Hadama was free to ponder her suggestion. He had realized that there would be an issue with communication, but being rather quiet himself he hadn't considered how to speak with someone who lacked even the Attuned bond.
"Hand signals will do for now," he rumbled in agreement, nodding. They could think of other options during and after the visit, once they had a better sense of what Melita would need. He opened his mouth to suggest--
For the second time that he had visited the Isles this year a bloodless pod of dead encantado came into view and the mermanta closed his mouth as his expression went hard and still. After a moment a large wave gathered in front of him and pushed towards the pod. There was enough momentum to propel it even past his radius of control and move the dead bodies further out to sea as he drew a deep breath and then let it out slowly, turning back to Melita with a troubled furrow between his brows. "Hmm."
Like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins
Melita, easily entranced by sparkly and shiny things, would’ve been immediately snagged and centered on the swirling nebulae, sauntering in without much regard or forethought…
Had there not been something else immediately thereafter.
The sight of the deceased dolphins caused any and all enervation and ebullience to be cast aside – eyes rounding, jaw gaping, straining to see, gain more information, and alternating between emotions. Immediate sadness, some raw anger at how they’d been seemingly cut apart and then nothing more; drained and lifeless. “Those poor empanadas,” she gave over in between a few haggard breaths. Her head swung back to Hadama, for maybe he’d been a witness to the ways they’d been mercilessly destroyed. “Have you seen something like this before?”
Empa...? Hadama blinked, but this wasn't really the time to worry about pronunciation so Melita wouldn't be corrected this day. He only nodded slowly in grim agreement about the poor creatures, and then again in confirmation that it wasn't his first dead dolphin rodeo.
Unfortunately.
"Once," he admitted, unhappiness making his voice both lower and flatter as he let out a slow breath. "Safrin said that such things... were done by cultists seeking favor. Long ago." Before the Barrier had been set, he had taken from her words, but since she hadn't said it precisely that way he didn't share the supposition. "There have been dead rhampires found on land, too." At least according to Flora's notice.
He shook his head again, the hard lines not yet fading. "But I have not heard any other rumors." Above or below the sea; no information on who was truly responsible. After another deep breath he squared his shoulders in the water and tilted his head at Melita questioningly. "Do you still wish to come today?" He wouldn't blame her if the dead pod had put her off going in the water anytime soon.
Like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins
While she didn’t reach out to touch them, she certainly inspected – because the whole thing seemed utterly bizarre. That there’d been more, and potentially associated with cults curled her lips into a slight snarl, bombarded by the range of emotions snagging at her. “Fuckin’ weird,” she managed to bite through clenched teeth, pretending her fists weren’t clenched beneath the waves.
But letting this subside and cancel her trip wouldn’t be permitted. “It’s all right. We can still go.” It would just be in the back of her mind. “We can’t do anything for them anyway.” Save for another day and another time, when things didn’t quite seem so bleak.
Whenever that would be.
“Ready when you are,” and she cast off, already treading deeper into the fathoms.
Fuckin' weird, indeed. Now they were both on edge, and what had been meant as a fun day away from the cares of the War was shadowed.
But Melita was still willing and Hadama was determined to make the trip enjoyable for them both. Nodding in agreement at her point that there was nothing they could do today, he waited until she was safely within the ten foot radius of the subtly swirling stars and then dove with a flip of his tail.
His water magic stretched out behind and around Melita, a manipulated current providing her own swimming a boost so she could keep up with the merman and stay within the ring's radius.
He stayed near the surface at first as they swam out to sea in case she would need to reach the air, but once they were certain the item worked as intended he led them down deeper. The light thinned and began to fall away though he didn't take them down to the true depths until they were near their destination.
They swam through twilight though it was bright day above, and a glow spread out beneath and before them as the Underwater City came into view. Other merfolk and sea creatures began to appear, swimming to or from the City and pausing to view Melita with emotions ranging from excited curiosity to glowering mistrust. A guard soon approached, but after a few words exchanged with Hadama and a display of Safrin's ring she reluctantly allowed the manta and his companion to pass.
He looked back to check on Melita and made a welcoming gesture towards the City itself with a small, reassuring smile before leading her down the broad avenue between towering spires of stone and shell and coral, glinting crystal windows, and flowering seaweed gardens and white sand parks. Many of the merfolk they passed stopped and stared at the human so openly in the midst, and comments in the language of the mer filled the waters around them with a thousand echoes.
Like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins
Leaving the dead behind was a stretch, but she could only dive forward, intervals of swimming experience demonstrated in the slender slip beneath the fathoms. She was almost offended by the boost, fast enough on her own, capable and wily and wild, but took her turns amidst the current with fervor and zeal too, taking the opportunity to survey rather than seethe.
The habit of rising to the surface continually carved a niche in her skin, but her lungs didn’t complain, and so she was free to beam and smile at the alteration of fish or the bright hues of coral she’d never seen before, portals of light creating makeshift heavens, or the dimness of darkness beginning on their descent. No fear rambled through her; she’d been a child amidst the Rift – she knew about all sorts of monsters in the wakes of any hues and shadows.
But then they emerged somewhere entirely new, and though she couldn’t speak, her eyes filled with wonder would’ve done the trick. Elation swept through her as she gawked at the city – would never have known it was down here, in all its glory, had there not been rumors or merpeople to anoint the notions. She, maybe wisely, did nothing as guards approached save for existing, until they were permitted to pass, and then she waved at a few nearby, before gliding along.
Towers and spires, sand and shoal, stone and shell, made up structures and buildings, and she quietly oohed and aahed at each turn, glancing down streets and gardens and hallowed little heavens – wondering if their world could be like that, if they hadn’t always gone to such great lengths to destroy everything around them.
Having only seen Melita dance atop the surface of the water with a magic as alien to the people of the sea as their own items likely were to the Fae of the air, Hadama had no notion of the strength of her swimming or the prowess of her stroke. Mostly, though, he didn't want stray currents or passing schools of fish to break between them and pull his human friend beyond the ten foot sphere of safety that Safrin had inscribed into the ring's creation.
Safety first. And second, under the mermanta's watch.
He glanced back to catch her first sight of the City and his stoic expression lightened with pleasure and pride at her awe and delight. It was his honor to lead her down the main current where it flowed slowly between the buildings that paid far less heed to gravity than their counterparts on land. A front door was as apt to be twenty feet up a structure as at its base, and in no few places the difference between a door and a window had more to do with courtesy than architecture.
Serene and poised, Dama led his friend through the wonders of the Undersea and ignored the murmurings of those they passed. A few - children, but some adults, too - offered Melita welcoming smiles and shy waves. He turned off the main path finally; close enough to see the fluting spires and delicate coral geometry of the palace without encroaching close enough to draw the ire of more guards. Their path wound away from the public buildings and into the residential area; homes of sand - not castles, but comfortable dwellings - and obsidian and granite and shell. Up was a common direction to build and spiraling structures of three or four stories were common even among the homes of the proletariat.
It was at one particular building that the mermanta paused; a loose fence of driftwood slats encased a garden of coral and flowering sea plants and behind that stood a pelagic construction like the rest they had passed, though with a few brighter elements at windows and eaves. The fence had no gate; not when one could simply swim over it, as Hadama did, passing into the garden and pausing next to one of the large staghorn corals to examine a fallen branch. Scooping it up and tucking it into one of his pouches for later consideration, he led the way to a rounded portal on the second story of the house and swam inside into a bright chamber that served as the family living and gathering place. Furniture was sparse and consisted of netted hammocks that served as much for anchoring oneself in place as support, with small tables of heavier stone scattered between them with coiled tethers at each leg for keeping items from floating away.
Hadama tilted his head at Melita and gestured towards one with a raised brow. Would she like to come in and rest for a little bit?
Like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins
Melita followed, though rapt attention was spent oohing and awing in her silent behest, gazing over dwellings and spiraling architecture, from the sand homes to obsidian and granite and shell. Older and wiser now, a younger portion of her soul would’ve beelined straight for the precious metals, gems, and shiny objects with nary a care. Nowadays, she could admire from afar; knowing, perhaps, a little better.
But one was singled out, and so she didn’t hesitate, eyes flickering back and forth over the whims and eaves, construction ensuring the passing streamline of their movements didn’t bother any of it. Entering the home meant it was likely Hadama’s, so she paid respect where it was due, gaze still round and widened – never guessing, or thinking, that merpeople would have furniture, chambers, or gathering places like the rest of the world. She’d never really pictured anything like it.
So she snagged at an hammock in rapt agreement, mostly out of curiosity’s sake, just barely managing not to flip herself over outright – sheepishly snagging at something nearby with her feet like the coiled tethers.
Careful of the ten foot limit of the ring's power, Hadama wasn't about to go far. But he'd prepared for the visit with a cautious sort of optimism that they would reach his home eventually and he moved to one of the small tables and the decorative driftwood box atop it.
Only, it wasn't so decorative after all. As he lifted it the 'box' was revealed as a lid that was covering a tray of food. The tray was covered in spaced-out spikes not unlike a flattened sea urchin and morsels were impaled on the spikes to prevent them from floating away. Bite sized chunks of octopus and scallops filled one section of the platter, while another held small 2-3 bite 'sandwiches' of red and white fish filets wrapped in seaweed. There were also a trio of clam shells with hinges and clasps, and a pair of small, slender bone spatulas.
Unable to simply speak what he wanted to convey, Hadama lifted one of the spatulas in one hand and a shell in the other. Flipping it open with his thumb he revealed a thick red paste. Scooping some out with the spatula, he quickly closed the shell to prevent the paste from dissolving into the water in the room and spread it on one of the octopus bites. He popped it into his mouth in demonstration, then offered Melita the other spatula, green eyes twinkling with pride and pleasure at being able to share a proper mer-meal with his human friend.
The other shells contained a pale paste that had a citrusy, mildly sweet flavor and a black paste with a heavier, savory flavor. The red was, of course, spicy, and there was plenty to go around.
