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!
A small child wandered into one of the many open-walled restaurants that dotted Torchline's streets. A thatch roof overhead covered the area in shade from the hot sun. Tables were scattered around, with torches lining the area along the edge of the street. A simple brass chandelier hung overhead. A scattering of people sat at the tables, eating, drinking, and chatting.
Trinket walked in holding a small porcelain doll against her chest. She looked this way and that, the doll mimicking her every motion, its head turning left, then right, in time with her own movements. Two pairs of glassy black eyes considered all of the people. Such curious people. They gathered here in one place, then sat so far apart from each other. Together yet alone.
Boring.
Two pairs of black eyes fell on a small wooden tub, filled with dirty dishes and tableware. A boy was clearing dirty dishes from the tables and placing them in the tub. A few forks, spoons, and knives were poking out from the top of the stacks.
Trinket and the doll tilted their heads, studying the tableware. A thought arose. A curious thought.
Standing right in the entryway, without moving, she reached out her mind to command the objects to move. The tableware clattered and clacked, the shapes bending and twisting around each other. The twisted metal formed into a shape not unlike a spider, which crawled out of the tub on legs made of knives and spoons. It scurried across the floor, the metal legs making a clatter-clink-clatter as the spider crawled under the tables. It wove between the legs of chairs and patrons alike, until it chose one at random, and began crawling up the patron's leg...
Sah had taken a Skyship to Torchline to pass on the fruits of commission to a client. The individual had wanted the tusks of an ursur to craft a spear or some other thing. Hopefully they would find a way to counterbalance the sheer weight of the tusks. Otherwise, that would certainly turn out to be a decorative weapon.
After receiving his pay, Sah had ended up at a restaurant to take a quick break before jumping onto the next Skyship. It was then that he felt something on his leg. Glancing down, he only startled slightly to see a spider made of silverware. It brought back the memories of the chandelier spider from seasons past, and that of the massive spiders in Halo that he and Noah had investigated recently.
But unlike those spiders, this one seemed merely curious. And it was far smaller. Carefully, Sah reached down and picked up the metallic spider and gently placed it on the seat next to him so no one would step on it. "What are you doing here?" He had no idea if the creature was alive, or some kind of artifact or device.
Trinket watched the unexpected reaction from the strange man. She had expected perhaps a scream, or at least a startle. But he was surprisingly calm. Curious.
She stepped closer, studying the man's face. He looked...familiar. Which made no sense, as she had never met him before. She hadn't met much of anyone, really. Her doll was her only friend.
Even more curious now, she stepped over on bare feet, still holding her doll against her chest. She stopped several paces away. She tilted her head to the side, watching as the man questioned her creation.
She couldn't make it talk. But she could make it respond, after a fashion.
How would the man react? She was curious.
At her command, the spider braced its silverware legs, then leaped up, flashing a pair of forks right towards the man's face.
Sah registered an approaching presence but before he could turn, the spider leapt at him. This time, he did startle but his magic reacted instinctually. In a blink there was a cutlery spider floating and twisting in the air in front of his face. The Abandoned blinked, brow furrowing. "Really?" Sah tsked at the spider as if scolding it.
Flicking his hand with an annoyed sigh, he sent the spider sailing. It flew out the opening of the restaurant and into the street, prompting a scream from the passerby it landed in front of. Sah just barely managed to hide his snort of laughter behind his drink. "Oops." He whispered to no one.
The tiniest hint of a smirk touched Trinket's lips as she watched the strange man throw her spider at another passerby. She hadn't gotten a scream from the man, but she had gotten a scream nonetheless. And the man had helped.
Quite curious.
Trinket stepped closer, her bare feet silent whispers on the wooden floorboards. She stopped right in front of the man's table. Her black glassy eyes studied him from top to bottom. Her doll mimicked the motion, looking him up and down. Finally, both pairs of eyes turned to the man's face.
Familiar. Somehow familiar. Curious, indeed.
She spoke in a soft voice, holding the doll against her chest. "Why did you throw it?"
Sah raised a brow as the strange child approached him alone and simply regarded him for a moment. When he got closer his brow furrowed. Both she and the doll she held looked oddly familiar, but he couldn't place just where or when he'd seen them. The Abandoned was about to address her before Trinket beat him to it.
The question surprised him, and he glanced at the spider in the street before turning to meet the girl's gaze. "The spider is yours? Ah, sorry." With a wave of his hand, the spider was carried back on invisible hands and placed back on the table, still in one piece. "Here." If an adult had been behind the prank, the Abandoned's reaction would have been far different. But Sah was a father and his patience for children was far greater than that towards adults.
Sah then answered her question. "I threw it because it jumped at me, and I didn't like that." Sah stated simply. It had acted aggressively and annoyed him. That was why. But he kept his explanations simple because of young the child appeared.
"Are you alone?" Sah asked worriedly, before adding as he briefly glanced at the doll, "Besides having your friend that is."
Trinket stared at the man for a long, silent moment, her head tilted to the side. When he placed the metallic spider on the table, she didn't even glance at it. She simply released it from her command, and the pieces fell back apart, leaving a pile of mangled silverware on the table.
"I'm not alone," she finally said. "You're here. Lots of people are here."
She didn't move a muscle, but the doll's porcelain head swiveled from side to side for a moment, scanning the crowded restaurant. Then it turned its black glassy eyes towards the stranger.
"Why did you scare that person?" she asked, referring to the passerby who had been spooked by the spider. "You didn't like it jumping at you, then you did the same to someone else. Why?"
Sah raised his brow once more as the spider fell apart. Interesting.
He eyed Trinket with a curious expression as he spoke, "It's more of a figure of speech, a phrase. There are other people here but are you accompanied by someone? As in, staying with you in particular as you're walking around? Besides your doll." It wasn't the easiest concept to explain but the Abandoned did his best. He included the doll again because at this point he truly wasn't sure if it was a toy or a sentient being.
The innocent question pulled a chuckle from the Wild Thunder, "I tossed it so it wouldn't jump at me again. But I didn't focus on where I was throwing it. The fact that it scared someone else was an accident, and not my main intention. " His lips twitched into a mischievous grin, "Doesn't mean that I didn't find it funny though."
Trinket showed no signs of humor or emotion at the declaration of the "funny" act. She just studied the man in silence, considering his words. He liked it ask questions, or so it seemed. So did she.
Questions were always more interesting.
"Why do you want to know if I'm alone?" she asked.
She set the doll on the table, next to the pile of mangled silverware. It remained sitting upright, despite its rag-like body having no means of supporting the weight of its porcelain head. Even in this new position, the doll's head was turned towards the stranger, its dark eyes staring at him, as if it, too, were waiting for the answer to the question.
Sah then realized how suspicious it might be for a man to be asking if a child is alone. "Oh!" Running a hand against the back of his neck sheepishly, the Abandoned explained. "I'm concerned. I've got two kids around your age and if they were wandering off alone, I'd be worried if they were ok or not. If they were safe." Hopefully that would clear the air.
This kid seemed far too young to be alone and unaccompanied. At least, not in the busy streets of Torchline. Granted, a local kid was probably fine, but Sah had a hunch that this little girl wasn't a local. She didn't have the presence of a Torcher. There was an easy confidence that many in Torchline. For some it was fake, others true to the bone. But they all seemed to have it, perhaps as a defense mechanism for their rowdy region.
"Why wouldn't I be safe?" she asked. "Is someone here going to try to kill me?"
She made no motion at all. But the doll's head turned this way and that, as if searching for the would-be assassin among the crowd. Apparently seeing no threat, it turned its glassy-eyed gaze back to the man at the table.
The restaurant was busy all around them. People came and went. Bussers came by to clear plates. Waitresses brought people their food and drinks. But Trinket stood perfectly still throughout it all, even as people wove around her when she blocked their path. She showed no signs of concern over being in the way, not did she seem to hear when someone said "Excuse me." She simply stood, and waited, her attention entirely focused on the man as she awaited the answer to her question.
The question was turned on him and Sah's concern grew. "Most people are fine, but it only takes one with ill intentions to hurt you. And most times you'll have no idea until it's happening. If you're alone, you have to be careful. Whether that means becoming powerful or having an ally with you." He leveled a serious look at the kid, "You're too little to have enough power. So, you should keep strong allies nearby."He didn't know if anyone in particular was after the child, and he doubted it. But the kid needed to have some sense of self-preservation.
Trinket might not have noticed the stranger, but Sah did. As always, he kept an eye on them given that they had entered his space. If they made a move, the Abandoned was more than capable of defending himself and his young conversation partner.
"Strong allies." Trinket pondered this for a long, silent moment. Then she gave the tiniest nod. "I have an ally."
She held her doll straight out with both hands. The doll remained motionless, its black eyes continuing to gaze into Sah's.
Meanwhile, the rest of Trinket's attention wavered, as she desired once again to find a way to make the restaurant more interesting. Without looking up or taking her eyes from Sah's, she gave a command to one of the wooden chandeliers overhead: sway.
The small chandelier started swaying back and forth on its rope. It could have just been the wind. But the movement was enough to make the candles on the chandelier drip, their hot wax spilling down onto the floor and tables below. A woman yelped when some wax dripped onto her arm--not so hot as to burn her, but certainly enough to give her a start. Trinket didn't watch the minor bit of chaos the chandelier caused, not directly. She kept her gaze on Sah. But in the back of her mind she was cataloguing everything, noting each person's reaction, the tone of the woman's shriek, the way the nearby customers looked warily up at the chandelier.
When they were sitting and eating, these people had been boring. But now they were starting to become interesting.
Sah tilted his head, "You do?" As the doll was held out, he let out an 'ah'. "Good." The doll was clearly more than a mere toy. Who knew what it was capable of. Then he got a taste of what Trinket was instead.
The Abandoned's eyes snapped up to the ceiling at the commotion. Given the lack of a reaction from the child, it was clear she was behind it. Sah let out a sigh, waving a hand and using both his air and telekinesis magic to stabilize the chandelier. The people all seemed to let out a sigh of relief.
Raising a brow, he tilted his head once more, "Why did you do that?" He glanced at the ceiling again before briefly adding, "And how?" That wasn't telekinesis or air. This brat was far too young to be able to wield those elements at the level necessary for such things. The child's attention on him was unnerving, even if the Abandoned made no indication of it. Feeling a spark of mischief, he commanded the air swirl around her gently, making her hair flutter, "It wasn't magic like this, so how?" He repeated.
