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!
Vai stared down at the seedlings planted in the little garden as though they might help her to understand things at little better. But for once - for the first time, perhaps - she didn't have to imagine. Ashe opened up, really and truly, and the huntress felt her eyes prickling as she listened. Wordlessly, without caring about the dirt or that they were sitting outside, she reached out an arm to hug her daughter close, pressing her lips to her dark hair and breathing in the scent of her like she might miss it otherwise.
"I'm sorry, that I couldn't keep you safe. That I wasn't there and that I couldn't make it better. And I'm glad - that I got to meet you and that you're here." Sighing, she kissed Ashe's hair again and released her, offering her a wry smile. "I know I can't change what happened with Kalt, how we first met... and I still think he's a stupid, irresponsible shit for not giving the rest of us a chance to help you. But I... I've lived too long not knowing you, and if Kalt is where your future is, I'll be there too."
03-16-2019, 11:50 PM (This post was last modified: 03-16-2019, 11:53 PM by Ashetta.)
ASHE
some people survive chaos,
and that is how they grow,
As Vai enfolded Ashe into her arms, the girl breathed out her tension and returned the embrace. She was warm and unfaltering, and there would always be something about being held by her mother that couldn't be replicated with anyone but her.
She breathed in deeply and pressed her head against her mother, and she remained there. "You would have been there if you could," she replied. "I know you would have." Her eyes prickled, but she smiled, and she even huffed a thick sort of laugh. "Thank you." It would take time, she knew. For her mother, for Kalt. She was almost wholly certain he was more shut down to vulnerability than she had been with anyone but her - he wore his arrogance like armor. Of course.. there was still more arrogance beneath the armor.
Ashe was smirking to herself at the thought, but she didn't pull away from Vai just yet. "Theea too, you'll love her. She's three and too smart for her own good." The toddler was growing too fast too quickly. She tried not to think about it too often - how much she missed of Theea's early years. Her first words, her first steps, her first foods, learning all the little things that new little people had to learn. She dread to even imagine what it would have been like if it had been fifteen years she had missed. Ashe had survived horrors no one should have to think of, but just then it was the strength of her mother that awed her. Not that Ashe was any kind of mother, as if she had any right to such a title. Some things were harder to work through.
Ashe lifted her head enough to look at her mother, quirking a brow and echoing the wry smile. "Could you help us plant a garden at the house? I think she'd like it."
"You have no idea," Vai mumbled with a quiet laugh, enjoying the warmth and simple comfort of being able to hold the child she had lost so long ago. "Things would have been much different, let me tell you."
But as nice as it was to play games of what-if, it hadn't happened. And they had to play this hand, the one they had been dealt. Her smile returned at the mention of Theea, the witch nodding and scoffing. "Just like you were, then," she said, winking as Ashe looked up at her.
She tucked a lock of dark hair behind Ashe's ear, tilting her head at the unexpected question. "A garden? I'd love to." She grinned. "When you bring her here with Kalt, she can see this one, and you can choose what you want to plant in your own. Sound good?"
Ashe scoffed in return. Just like her? She couldn't speak to that, but she knew Theea was full of fire and light, and she was damned brilliant. Stunning resilient, considering what she endured in her short years just to survive. Her speech was finally beginning to catch up too - Ashe and Kalt both had been working hard with her on it.
She smiled again at the mention of bringing the two of them by. Her mother was putting an effort forward, a real one, despite the first impressions made between them. A rocky start to be sure, but she loved them both, and she would never sacrifice one for the other. She had been so afraid before, that it would be asked of her: to choose between Kalt and her other life. It seemed so obvious now that there was no choosing. Kalt and Theea were as much her life as the others were.
Ashe nodded, but she didn't part from her mother's embrace. "I'll bring them both soon, Theea would love it," she said. "I would love it."
Silence fell, and Ashe found herself... content. She was content to stay there and listen to the birds singing and the trees swaying and Vervain's breathing for a while. The smells of churned soil and flowerbirth air and Vai's hair were a comfort she couldn't describe. The assassin remained in the arms of her mother for as long as she was willing to hold her.
