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!
Dread weighs in the pit of her stomach, making each step up the stairs seem harder to take, the effort to climb causing her calves to ache in a way that hasn't happened before. She's never felt this nervous to visit her herald. Not since the first time when she was unsure she'd receive an answer. The Nightshade feels she's failed.
Failed her goddess, her people, her family... After all that Safrin has done for her.
She reaches the top of the stairs, acid burning the back of her throat as her eyes sting, already unsure of where to begin. Doing the only thing that she knows to, Maeve sets about cleaning the shrine, sweeping away stray leaves and sand with her hand before she places fresh candles in place of those that have melted down to the base of their wicks. Lighting the new ones carefully before laying out her offerings, a string of black pearls and drop earrings to match as well as a carefully curated bouquet of moonlight flowers, Maeve sits back on her heels.
"Safrin... I need you, please." She manages the first few words, voice steadier than she expects before the start of a sob rises in her throat, the weight of it all tumbling over her, crashing into her like a monsoon wave as she's pulled under the swell of emotion. Her head drops, the crown that sits atop so delicately balance falling to the stone steps with a clatter, sending sharp shadows high onto the walls at it highlights the anguish clearly twisting her features.
Like the whisper of rain just before it pours or the last pulse of sunlight before dusk swallows away the light, Safrin is there in the silence and stillness through which Maeve's grief reverberates. Wrapping her around the Nightshade's shoulders, the goddess smooths her fingers through Maeve's tangles of dark hair as she whispers calming coos.
"Now, now." A sort of cosmic stillness will flow through Maeve in all the places she presses herself against Safrin. Though it doesn't stop the internal fires burning, it spaces them out, like burning stars pushed wide in the vastness of space. "Everything is alright."
Like a child scooped into their mother’s arms after a too hard tumble, Maeve can’t help the way she curls into the goddess, head falling into the crook of her neck and shoulder as she’s wracked by her sobs. The stillness Safrin brings does wonders for the distraught Nightshade and she’s able to draw a shuddering breath followed by another, fingers catching in the starlit lace of Safrin’s dress as she holds tightly to her. ”I can’t do it anymore. It’s too much. I’ve failed you…” And that’s what hurts the most. Her goddess would have raised her so much higher. Brought her to the stars. Given her all the power in the world, but Maeve had fallen short and it was showing in each little fracture that ran through her now.
”I don’t know what to do anymore. Where to go… Edmund is gone and I fear he’s been turned by Dygra if the ancient I spoke to is to be believed. Torchline is healing, but my mind isn’t on my people. Ever since the war…” It didn’t need to be finished. Safrin knew of the struggles. She knew what they faced leading up to and on that mountain. The physical scars might have been healed, but the mental and emotional damage still remained. The queen was barely treading water.
Safrin's arms encompass the Nightshade just as surely as midnight surrounds Torchline's sands each night, and she holds her just as close. "You haven't. Not at all." The goddess whispers as she trails her fingertips up and down Maeve's back.
"A true queen can not only recognize when her attention has wandered but act on it. Your family should always come first." Pausing, Safrin smiles wryly. "Had I wanted someone who would put the crown before anything else as Torchline's leader, I would have picked someone else. It is your passion and dedication that made you the brightest star for Torchline, and it is that same passion and dedication that now pulls you away."
The next breath drawn by the Nightshade is even, sobs sputtering out into quiet, hitching breaths instead. Lifting her head from the crook of Safrin's neck, she meets the goddess's eyes, seeing the truth swirling within the galaxies there. "Thank you for understanding, Safrin... I'm still sorry I couldn't give more of myself. That I let my attention be drawn elsewhere." It still felt like a personal failure even if the sting had been lessened by her words.
Wiping at her eyes, Maeve straightens with another deep breath, attempting to ground herself in the moment as she holds her gaze. "I don't know what to do next. I feel... lost without a cause to focus on." She murmurs, lips pursing in deep thought as a wrinkle forms between her brow. Edmund was her current concern, of course. Not that she knew what to do about that. "What would you do? If it was your son?"
"You gave all I needed you to." Safrin replies, sweeping one hand away from Maeve's hair so that she might wipe away the former queen's tears from her cheek.
As the conversation turns to Edmund, the goddess straightens ever so slightly. Not out of upset for Maeve, but moreso because motherhood was a touchy subject where Safrin was concerned. Even so...perhaps the Nightshade had earned this side of her goddess. "You have seen how I treat my children." She begins, her voice soft. "Kamaria...Seren...you knew of both, but they are not the only children I have had over the years. None ever lived to adulthood." Quickly, the goddess interjects. "Though not because they died, merely because I chose to bring them into the heavens, where it was safe, and where I could watch over them more fully."
Safrin's smile, then, is sad and sweet; weighted down by the dissonance of being nearly omnipotent in her own area, and needing to be a parent to someone mortal. "If you were me, I would sweep Edmund somewhere far away. Burn Dygra out of his soul and let him heal from whatever poisons she placed into him. But were I you..." That was, if Safrin was forced to parent as a mortal would? Softly, she shakes her head.
03-01-2023, 08:28 PM (This post was last modified: 03-01-2023, 08:29 PM by Maeve.)
Maeve
It was a new light to see Safrin in, but Maeve knew her as a mother. It was what had helped to grow their bond. Their love for their children. Yet, Maeve was not a goddess. She didn't have the ability to place her son in the stars where he would be safe from all harm. The Nightshade, was for all intents and purposes, simply a woman. Strong, capable, but mortal. If she were a goddess like Safrin, the former queen doesn't doubt that she would do the same, removing the poison from her son that had twisted him away from the starlight of their goddess.
Mind racing, Maeve lets out a heavy breath, a weight settling in the pit of her stomach. "I can't lose him and him being away from home risks him further... I'll bring him home and love him. He's my son and despite what she's done to him that hasn't changed." That was a mother's love, after all. Able to look past mistakes and flaws, supporting their children despite the choices that they made, and the beliefs they held.
"Thank you, Safrin. For everything." She pulls back, grasping her goddess's hands and giving them a squeeze, adoration in her eyes. With her mind made up and one last reassurance from Safrin, the Nightshade returns home, a plan already forming in her swirling thoughts.
