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!
Alys's mouse continued to scurry around the table as she listened intently to Tal's query. It was easier, sometimes, when people gave her a specific topic to read for; she was better at general inquiries when reading for herself, but with other people, it was easier to have a direction to pursue. She shuffled the card automatically, splitting the deck in two and gently bending the stacks until they fell into one another, riffling together into one deck once more. She repeated this process a few more times, concentrating on Tal's question, until she felt the cards were ready to reveal their message.
"Like I said earlier, the cards won't tell the future, and they aren't magic," she explained as she cut the deck in two and placed the bottom half on top. "They just give messages of direction and guidance. How you apply it is up to you."
She turned over the top card, placing it on the table where it was clearly visible. The card held a depiction of a large wheel, supported by a variety of creatures and elements. To the untrained eye, it probably just looked like an interesting piece of art. To Alys, however, it held a message. She drew a second card. On it, a man carried a bundle of sticks towards a nearby village. The card was upside down - or, from Tal's point of view, right side up. Finally, a third card: a hand emerged from a cloud, cupping a coin in its palm.
Alys considered the cards thoughtfully. "Interesting," she murmured. She was silent for a moment more before drawing herself up. Pointing to the first card, she began. "The Wheel of Fortune. Life is ever-changing, full of opportunity. You could be facing a turning point in your business. What you put into it is what you will get out of it. Hard work brings positive results, but you probably already know that. This card signals the opportunity for significant change, and if you are willing to put in the work, that change could prove lucractive."
She pointed to the next card. "The Ten of Wands. It's reversed, which most people think is a bad sign, but it's not, necessarily. In this case, it looks to me like a warning. Are you the only person that makes deliveries for your courier business? It seems like you're carrying an awful lot of burden. But -" and she pointed to the final card. "That's not to dissuade you. The Ace of Pentacles. It's a card of new financial or material opportunity and abundance. Taken together? I think your business prospects are good. It'll be a lot of work, and you might need to find a way to share the burden, but if you can manage, it should be lucrative."
Tal watched her shuffle with polite confusion, still not really getting what the cards were doing in the equation, but he stayed quiet and nodded along at her instruction as if he understood what she was saying. How a card was supposed to give guidance was a mystery to him.
But the cards that Alys laid down on the table weren't the usual playing cards he'd assumed they were from a distance. They were more like miniature paintings than anything else, and she spoke about them with such authority that he squinted at each one, trying to figure out how the pictures matched up with her words.
He scowled fiercely at the cards in thought, tilting his head first one way, then the other as he studied them from every angle he could reach while staying in his chair, lifting his Goggles occasionally to check his unaided vision against the magic of the eyewear.
"It's... very interestin'," he said slowly and trying very hard to be polite when he was still confused about the cards. "What happens if y'ask the same question again an' the cards change?"
Alys was, perhaps, not the greatest at explaining the purpose of the cards. Even if she were, she truly believed that the cards gave the guidance, rather than the person interpreting them. All she really knew how to do was share their wisdom, and that was what she tried to do with Tal. She watched as he scowled, and her fingers itched to snatch her poor cards away from his gaze. They had done nothing but attempt to be helpful - and if he wasn't going to appreciate them, she would just go back to reading them on her own.
Still, she could tell that he was trying to understand, and she hid her hands beneath the table to better resist the urge to take the cards back. At his question, she wasn't sure whether to smile or to frown at him. She'd asked the same question, when she'd first started with the cards, before learning that they didn't like to be questioned. It was a bit like pestering one's parents - eventually, the cards would tire of answering, and they would either become so nonsensical as to be useless, or they would begin giving more negative answers just to prove a point. So rather than offering either a smile or a frown, she simply shrugged.
"Sometimes the deck will tell you the same thing, a different way. Sometimes it's new advice you need to hear. It depends on the deck, really. This one -" And she reached up to tap the top of the deck gently. "Is one of my more patient decks. Sometimes I try again if the message is unclear, or if I need clarification on something. I can pull another card, if you'd like?"
Tal's resting bitch face and thinking-scowl had gotten him in trouble more than once, and it wouldn't have been the first time someone had assumed the worst and stormed off while he was deep in thought or trying to wrap his head around a concept. He listened to what Alys said and his nose wrinkled in confusion as his brows drew together and left a furrow in the middle of his forehead.
"Y'said they weren't magic, but y'talk like they're a... a person. Like the deck knows things, somehow." He glanced up at Alys and tapped the table in front of one of the cards, though he was careful not to touch it directly. "So... which is it? Is it somethin' enchanted or... or what?" Not that personifying an object was entirely foreign to the courier; he'd always done it with his vehicles. First his dog sleds and now his skyboat. But the way Alys spoke about the deck having intentions and patience and knowledge was really throwing him for a loop.
"I dunno about another card. I mean, what y'said was pretty clear. I'm just... not sure how much was the cards an' how much was you bein' observant about stuff." Whatever else Alys was, she was smart, Tal had decided. Maybe she could figure out a way to explain things in a way that even he could understand why she did things the way that she had.
Tal's observation left Alys mimicking his expression: her brows snapped together as she frowned slightly. It wasn't that she was unhappy about the question, but rather that she was concentrating as she mulled things over. "It's... difficult to explain," she admitted. "The deck isn't alive, exactly, but each deck has a certain... tone, I suppose?" She paused thoughtfully. "I say it's like a personality. It's - well, it's a bit like a message from the Universe, i suppose, and the cards are the messengers. Some people look at it as a message from the gods, but I... prefer not to involve them." She didn't like the gods. Why should she, when they had abandoned people with magic?
"Anyway, I suppose it is about interpretation, but the message didn't come from me. I'm just relaying it," she said matter-of-factly. "When I do a reading, I think of the question I want answered and draw a card, or maybe more than one, depending on the question. And then I think of what the card represents and try to determine how it applies to the question. For yours, the Wheel of Fortune represents a turning point in life, change, that sort of thing. In relation to your query, it lines up with what you said - you're thinking about expanding. Then the other cards build upon that."
She pointed to each card as she spoke, turning them so that Tal could see them more easily, if he wanted to. "The Ten of Wands represents burdens. It being reversed usually means that it's some kind of internal burden, or something you're carrying yourself. So, in relation to business, I'd say that you're wearing all of the hats. You might need to get help or take a break sometimes. And then the Ace of Pentacles represents new opportunities, which seemed fairly self-explanatory for this particular question."
She sat back with a shrug. "The Universe gives me a message through the cards, I interpret it and pass it along. It's just... experience with the cards, I guess. Their personalities, I mean. The more I use a deck, the more it feels like it has a personality. This one is one of my oldest, and most reliable. I guess because I've used it so much? I don't know, I never really thought about it."
His question unleashed an unexpected torrent of words, but Tal could tell this was something Alys cared deeply about. Though her explanations would have elicited a very different response from the courier at the start of the night, now he listened with furrowed brow and intense concentration, not interrupting - though a few times it seemed like he wanted to. It was all a lot to take in, and he chewed his lip in deep thought, fingers tapping an unconscious rhythm on the wood of the table as they continued to sit and converse.
"Could I see y'do one for yourself?" he asked at last, after much hesitation. His innate skepticism was warring with a desire to believe in Alys's passion, moved by her own obvious belief in the cards. And whatever qualms he had about whether the gods were involved, or some more obscure 'universe' of some kind, he knew better than to raise them with an Abandoned. "An'... how many decks do y'have?"
Alys wasn't used to talking that much, and she took a sip from her mug as Tal mulled over her speech. Now that she was finished, she felt a bit of nervousness. She might not call Tal a friend, exactly, but he'd been kind to her, and she (rather unhappily) found that his opinion of her mattered.
After a few moments of silence, in which Alys fidgeted with her cards, turning the three laid on the table to and fro, Tal asked to see her do a reading for herself. The young woman looked at him with surprise. She hadn't been expecting that, and it was certainly a different request than she'd been expecting. She'd never had an audience when doing a reading for herself before. "I, um, guess that would be alright," she said, nervous now for an entirely different reason. Her cards had a tendency to be... blunt with her. Sharing their messages might reveal more about her than she had intended to a near-stranger. Still, he seemed genuinely interested, and she cared too much about the subject to decline.
Alys picked up the cards she'd laid out for him and shuffled them back into the deck. As she divided the cards and riffled them together, she said, "I have three decks. They all have different artistic styles, and their own personalities." She continued to shuffle as she thought. "Now, for myself, I'm curious about the outcome if I stay here in Halo for a while, so I'm going to concentrate on that while I shuffle. I think I'll start with three cards, and if I need more clarification, I can go from there."
She shuffled for another minute, focusing - or trying to - on her query. She was a little distracted, as it felt unnatural to read for herself as someone else observed. Eventually, though, she felt as though she had shuffled long enough, and she cut the deck, then laid out the top three cards. The first card depicted a figure holding a staff; the figure seemed to be fending off six other staves. "The Seven of Wands," murmured Alys. "Represents challenges." She pointed to the next card, which depicted a figure petting a lion. "Strength. Represents, well, strength, and courage." Then the final card, which depicted a figure sitting upon a throne, a set of balanced scales in their hand. This card lay upside down. "Justice, reversed. Deceit."
Alys studied the cards, her brow furrowed. "If I stay in Halo, I'll face challenges. That much is clear. It seems that those challenges will have to do with some kind of action I need to take - perhaps I'll be thinking too much rather than actually doing something. I wonder if that's referring to my magic?" she mused. Then she glanced at Tal, flushing red as she realized she was rambling aloud. "Strength - that has to do with determination and power, stamina and endurance. It seems that I'll be working hard on something while I'm here, if I choose to stay. I'll overcome the challenges presented by the Seven of Wands.
"But Justice, reversed - I'm being dishonest with myself in some way." Alys took a breath, and a sip from her mug. "I think this reading is talking about my magic. I will face challenges with it, but will be able to overcome those challenges as long as I'm honest with myself."
She didn't seem excited to show him, but she didn't seem to be offended, either, and Tal bobbed his head in awkward gratitude for her willingness to go ahead with a reading that he could see from the outside. The cards fairly flew between her hands, shuffled and ruffled and thoroughly mixed as she answered his other query.
He took a breath in preparation for asking a follow up, but then Alys was ready to begin and Tal filled his mouth with a quick drink from his mug instead, watching and listening in silence aside from the rhythmic tapping of his fingers softly on the wood of the table. The cards were laid, their initial meanings were explained, and then the interpretation of how they related to her question began and Tal's brow furrowed with concentration.
"I get the first card," he said slowly. "Halo's always got challenges. The weather. The land. An' just... bein' an outsider here. How can y'tell it's got t'do with your magic?" There was genuine confusion in his question as he tried to follow her reasoning in choosing that path among all others to follow for the interpretations of the other two cards.
He stopped his tapping to point at the middle card. "So, the lion card - Strength - does it guarantee that you'll overcome the challenges? Like, a promise from the go--uh, Universe?" A concept he wasn't entirely comfortable with, but he made an effort. "An' the last card... how d'you know it doesn't mean someone else'll lie to you if you stay?" he asked curiously, fascinated now in spite of his earlier skepticism.
Tal's response to her reading was not exactly what Alys had expected, but she welcomed the questions. It was almost... nice, having an outside opinion on the cards. It made her think about things in ways she didn't expect.
Halo being a challenge was, as Tal pointed out, not a surprise. Whether it be the land, the weather, or the people, Alys agreed with her companion. As for how she could tell that her reading was in reference to her magic... well, that was harder to explain. "Hmm, it's... a gut feeling, I suppose," she mused aloud. "Strength taken with the Seven of Wands certainly seems to indicate overcoming challenges and, like you said, there are plenty of those in Halo - or anywhere new, I suppose. But the most challenges I've been facing lately are with my magic, so that's how I'd interpret the cards. How they apply to my life right now."
She fidgeted with the cards before her, aligning them perfectly with one another. She ignored his near-mistake; others were more comfortable with the gods than she was, after all, and it was a valid question, no matter how it was phrased. "No, it's not a guarantee. The future isn't predetermined. We all have agency in how we live our lives. This reading is as things stand right now. I could decide tomorrow to leave Halo, or to stop using my magic, or I could meet someone new that changes my trajectory." She shrugged. "It's all up to us on how we interpret the cards and then what we do to act on their guidance."
She considered Justice with a frown as Tal asked his final question. She appreciated his interest, and found that explaining herself was actually more enjoyable than she'd expected. She usually had very little in common with others, so being able to share something that she was truly passionate about was a pleasant surprise. "Usually, reversed cards - that is, when they come out upside down - indicate some kind of internal struggle. It could mean that someone else will lie to me, but in relation to what's been going on in my life, it seems more likely that I'm lying to myself. It's another reason why I think it's about my magic." She flushed. "I've never been really good at it, and I've never thought of it as very useful. But maybe this card -" and she tapped Justice with a finger "- is telling me that I should reconsider.
"And sometimes things are clearer in hindsight. It's why I keep a journal. I go back and look at old readings to see how they played out. That way I can learn from any mistakes I made, and give better readings in the future."
Tal could respect gut feelings. When he'd been taking the dogs across the Tundra before the War it had often been the difference between a safe path and a slow death on the ice. Now that he traveled mostly in his skyboat those gut instincts steered him clear of dangerous downdrafts and saw him safely anchored before a storm wind could grab the Peregrine and run with her. The cards seemed as familiar to Alys as every board of his boat was to the courier, and he nodded in satisfaction at her answer.
His fingers wrapped around his mug as he leaned forward to look at the cards more closely, studying them in more detail as Alys explained further. He couldn't hide the nod of relief as she spoke of the future and free will, and some of the confusion finally lifted from his expression as he moved on to the last card. The realization of what 'reversed' usually meant drew a soft 'ah' from the courier, but he looked up at his tablemate again as she flushed and he cocked his head to the side like one of his hounds.
For once his filter kicked in and stopped him from blurting out a smug 'told you so,' but his grin lifted the furrows from his brow in a brief flash of sunlight before the journal was mentioned and he nodded slowly, sobering again. "I was wonderin' how often they were right," he admitted. "An'... how d'you know which deck to use for which question?"
Though Alys didn't realize it, a great deal of her predictions and advice came from her own gut feelings rather than from the cards themselves. Perhaps it was true enough that the cards held meaning, but how to apply it... well, that was all her. But she wasn't in a place to be ready to hear that. It was easier to be a messenger than it was to be the originator of the messages, after all. She could always blame the Universe for things that went wrong.
At Tal's suggestion that the cards could be wrong, Alys drew herself up, affronted. "The cards aren't usually wrong," she insisted. Then she deflated. "But the interpretation... well, I'm only human." She blushed further at the admission. She wanted others to trust her readings, and they wouldn't do that if they knew she got it wrong sometimes. Tal was probably regretting her earlier message for him already.
"I learn their preferences," she explained with regard to which deck to use when. "Like I said, they have personalities. I have one deck that gives clearer answers when I'm reading for myself. It just... feels like it prefers working with my internal struggles than with other peoples' energy. This one is patient, so it's nice to use if I'm working with someone new. It's also my oldest deck, so I know it best. It's a bit like talking with an old friend, as opposed to someone you just met."
Tal didn't have time to do more than wrinkle his nose at Alys's flare of offense before she settled back and he slowly dropped his own instinctive prickling. "Sure, an' I didn't know. S'why I was wonderin', is all," he said as soothingly as he could. "No offense meant by it."
He rubbed at the back of his neck awkwardly, trying to distract them both with a different question and he was relieved when Alys accepted the shift back towards more neutral ground. True, what she said didn't make as much sense to him once she went into details but at least she seemed happier explaining about the different personalities and preferences of the decks. "What about the third deck?" he asked, curious in spite of himself. "What kinda personality does it have?"
When Tal apologized, Alys settled, feeling a bit bad for having snapped at him. She made a face. "Sorry," she mumbled. "I just - I've done readings for people before, but nobody's ever been this interested in my decks. It's... different." It wasn't a bad kind of different; if anything, Alys appreciated it. It was a welcome change from the dirty looks she'd started to get used to when she pulled out her cards, or the way some people looked down on her for using them. As though their intuition was somehow superior, without the help that the cards provided!
As they talked about her different decks, she reached into the purse she kept tied to her belt and pulled out two small packages wrapped in silk. She unwrapped them carefully and set the other decks on the table between her and Tal. She pointed to one with more fantastical, natural imagery. "This is the one I was talking about, the one that gives clearer answers for myself." Then she pointed to the third deck, which had darker imagery and an almost eerie air to it. "This one is the third deck. It's my newest deck, so I'm still learning about it and how it performs. So far, it's been helpful for... self-awareness, I guess? It's very blunt, I'll say that. It tells me things that I don't want to hear, sometimes, but that's okay. It's just things about myself that I need to face, one way or another. I haven't used it to read for someone else yet, though."
She hesitated, fidgeted with the decks for a moment, and took a deep breath. "You can - look at them, if you want." It was a big deal, to allow someone else to handle her precious decks, but at some point in their conversation, Tal had earned her trust.
Now they were both apologizing and Tal winced and rubbed his hands on his pants, feeling more awkward than ever. "Don't worry 'bout it," he mumbled before reaching for his mug and draining it in a single hard gulp.
He was a little surprised when he set the mug down and saw that she had pulled out the other decks. they'd sounded so personal that he hadn't expected to actually see them. He couldn't help but peer curiously at the top of the fantastical one, intrigued by the art, but there was something about the third deck that felt... unwelcoming.
He glanced up at her when she made her offer, double-checking to see if she meant it before he reached hesitantly across the table. His hand hovered for a moment over the second deck, but then he picked up the first one - the one they'd done his own reading with - and began to flip through it curiously. "I like the art," he admitted voice gruff with shyness as he paused every couple of cards to admire one or another in particular. "Did you paint 'em yourself?"
