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!
Sohalia was a long way from home, and she was both excited and nervous to be exploring a brand new area. It was thrilling, of course, to find herself somewhere new, but she also knew that this particular area was dangerous, having done her research before coming. In an effort to be prepared, she'd dressed in pants and a loose shirt, with tall leather boots on her feet and a pack of various necessities on her back. She carried a staff she'd purchased after her spar with Melita in one hand, using it as a walking stick unless it was needed for something more... violent. All in all, she felt completely out of her element.
Making things both better and worse was that she had dragged Jude along with her. She absolutely adored the young man, and he had easily been her first choice of companion, but she was also worried about protecting him. Not that he couldn't protect himself. But she'd invited him, not the other way around, so she was responsible for his welfare, wasn't she?
They met at the appointed location at the appointed time, and Soh couldn't help but throw her arms around him with a squeal. "Jude!" She pulled back, beaming at him, her arms still loosely around his neck. "How are you? How's Winifred? Thank you for coming with me today!"
if all of the days have no more light and all of our dreams are lost tonight
The war on his father's face when Jude asked to go alone to The Climb had been terrifying, amusing, and anxiety-inducing. It was further from home than he'd ever been so it was understandable even in Jude's eyes despite his desperation to go, and he thinks that might have been part of why his father had conceded in the first place. That and apparently he knew Sohalia, which was something Jude had yet to figure out how to feel about. Part of him had enjoyed having a best friend to keep secret.
Outfitted with 'proper excavating gear' as his father had put it, he arrives with a shy smile and and a tousled appearance, having gotten a little lost trying to find the appointed meeting area. Before he can get his mouth open to say hello she is throwing herself around him, and Jude hastily drops his stuff to try and catch her, which at least allows himself to hug her back without freaking out about it. Cheeks still a little pink as she pulls away, he latches onto the confidence that talking about Winifred grants him to not stutter his way through hellos. "Hi Soh! Winnie's doing great, she's getting so big so fast it's crazy." A mere kitten when they'd first found her, she was growing larger by the day - and fluffier, too. "Oh! A-And I'm good too. Excited to go digging. How is your shop doing?" The pattern and placement of each statement and question feels off to him, but he's usually frazzled for the first few minutes when in her company, and luckily it always seems to die down with time.
Soh had yet to realize that Jude was Harper's son, and it had never occurred to her that perhaps he would need to ask permission to go with her to the Climb. She didn't know exactly how old he was, just that he was around her age, and at this point, her base assumption was that everyone else had the freedom that she had to do whatever they pleased. Not that she wouldn't trade that in a heartbeat to get back her guardian or her parents. But that was neither here nor there.
When Jude caught her up in his arms, she was filled again with that warm, protected feeling that she'd first encountered in the Oerwoud, and for a moment, she forgot why she'd asked him to join her in the Burrows. But it was a short-lived moment, her excitement and verve getting the best of her, and she pulled away (with some reluctance) to help Jude pick up the items she'd made him drop. "Oh, I'm so glad she's doing well!" Soh said warmly. "I hope I can come visit her sometime soon. The shop is doing well, thank you! I've had more orders than I'd expected, so I'm trying to expand my maps to accommodate some of the special requests. Fortunately, most people seem to want maps of the more populated areas rather than the Wilds..."
She chattered on as she picked up her staff and began to lead the way further into the Burrows. "Have you ever been mining before?" she asked, touching a wall of rock here and there as though it would help her to sense the rubies and obsidian they were meant to find. "I'm hoping to find some rubies, personally, but obsidian would be pretty too. I just have no idea what I'm doing," she added, making a face. "But I'm sure we'll figure it out."
if all of the days have no more light and all of our dreams are lost tonight
Laughing quietly as she releases him and begins helping to pick up the dropped tools, Jude repositions his pack and simply languishes in the flow of her words and all the information they carry as they swell over him like waves. He has missed her in the time since they last saw each other - which realistically wasn't very long, but he finds any amount of time is too much to be away from his best friend.
"You can come and visit her whenever you want," he assures, grateful that Winnie is a good scapegoat for his desire to have her visit more often. Eyeing the walking stick she's using to try and determine if it's something more, he startles slightly at her renewed questions and jerks his gaze back to her face. "No, I haven't. But I got some tips from the jewelry workers before I came since they do it a lot, so I hope it will help!" He's happy to linger here and keep trying even if all they do is move dirt around all day. "They said since we don't have water or magic that we should look for discolored stone in caverns away from well-traveled roads. That they are dull and brownish red until polished." Which means harder to find for beginners, unfortunately.
"Is that a staff or a walking stick? Are you hurt?" Gentle concern colors his tone as he finally capitulates to the nagging desire to ask, hoping she hadn't twisted an ankle somehow amidst all this loose stone and soil.
"Let's go see her when we're done here, then!" Soh exclaimed, as excited by the prospect of spending more time with Jude as she was by the possibility of seeing their cat. The thought made her smile, though she wasn't sure if she could truly share custody of Winnie when she didn't house her or provide for her all that much - even if she tried to bring food and toys when she visited. "If you aren't busy, that is, and if your family wouldn't mind."
Soh listened carefully to Jude's instructions, nodding sagely as he finished speaking. "Discolored stone. Got it!" she said cheerfully. Then she giggled. "I think you came more prepared than me," she admitted sheepishly. As usual, she'd simply jumped into the deep in, assuming that they'd be able to figure out something as they went. She really needed to start thinking things through.
When Jude expressed concern, she looped an arm through his and squeezed gently, as though thanking him silently for checking on her. "It's a staff," she said. "I had a bit of a scare not too long ago - did I ever tell you about the Ceffyl Dwr?" She couldn't recall having told him, so she gave him a quick recap as they walked: how she'd been tricked by the beast's allure and nearly drowned before Deimos had saved her with his magic. "I figured I'd better learn some kind of self-defense, if I'm going to be traveling by myself, and a staff seemed like the least, er, lethal option. I can't stand the thought of killing something for it just... being itself."
They'd come to a fork in the path, and Soh considered each direction carefully. "I think this looks less traveled, don't you?" she asked, pointing left.
if all of the days have no more light and all of our dreams are lost tonight
Busy? Jude’s calendar is pretty much adventuring, Sohalia visit, school, Sohalia visit, back to the Greatwood…but she doesn’t need to know how boring he is without her intervention. “Usually I have the house to myself, it’s no problem,” he assures with a tiny, golden smile. Harper would be out on his usual rounds of council duties and Edmund had moved out into his own apartment; frankly, Winnie’s presence was a relief for his loneliness, and Sohalia’s would be a welcome addition.
Squeezing her arm back with his own as she takes it, he exhales a shaky feeling in his lungs he hadn’t noticed entering them. Jude is intimately aware of his own weaknesses, and he is both impressed by her fortitude and foresight as she explains her staff, and regretful that he had not thought to bring a similar item. “Oh…well, maybe we fit each other perfect then, cuz I didn’t think to bring anything defensive,” he laughs self-consciously, waving his pickaxe awkwardly. It would work as a weapon in a pinch, but he agrees with her sentiment about the preservation of life. “Have you met Safrin? She’s Vi’s herald, maybe you’d like her if you feel that way.” Jude has only met Safrin and Frey, and Safrin only fleetingly, but Sohalia might find kinship in the Goddess (unaware she was already Attuned, much less to who).
Happy to go along with the path she’d chosen even without seeing it, Jude angles them left - keeping her arm tucked in his - and kicks a few loose stones. “What are you going to do with the rubies if we find them?”
Even if Soh had known how "boring" Jude's life was, she would have been flattered to have been a part of it. Despite having more to do - running her shop and traveling taking up a good bit of her time - she valued her time with Jude more than anything, so she always tried to make time to visit. She was glad she'd been able to coax him out today. If there was anything better than staying home with her best friend, it was adventuring with him!
The thought to bring a staff was not, unfortunately, particularly impressive, given that she was still learning how to use it, but it was the thought that counted, right? At least she might be able to scare off anything they might encounter. That was the intent, at least, despite the fact that Soh was about as threatening as pudding.
"Of course we do!" she said as she grinned up at him. They did fit together perfectly, and had ever since they'd first met. When she counted her blessings, she always counted that day twice. She hadn't been expecting her experimentation with a blushberry to bring about a friend with whom she could bare her soul, but then, these things are never truly expected in life.
"I haven't met any of the heralds, actually," admitted Soh with a tinge of wistfulness in her voice. "Maybe one day. I've heard a lot about Frey, but not as much about Safrin, and hardly anything about Ludo." It wasn't that she didn't want to meet them; she simply didn't think that she was worthy of it.
Keeping her arm tucked into Jude's, Soh followed down the path she'd chosen. She kept an eye on the cavern walls as they walked and talked, looking for anything that might look different or out of place, unsure exactly what she was looking for. "I'd love to make a necklace, maybe some matching earrings," she said hopefully. "What about you?"
if all of the days have no more light and all of our dreams are lost tonight
05-11-2023, 04:30 AM (This post was last modified: 05-11-2023, 04:30 AM by Jude.)
I have found it is both a blessing and a curse
The thought certainly counted to Jude, who was ever more impressed by his best friend's adaptability. Her grin is equally infectious, always poking and prodding his own into existence past the normal small smiles and faint dimples that normally grace his face. "Well, maybe if you grow a little more we'll be perfectly fit," he ventures to tease, a tiny spark of mischief hiding in the corner of his smile that he'd never given into before. He can't help it - Sohalia makes him feel more like the seventeen year old, nearly-adult he should be instead of the ill-fitting shell of a boy grown up too fast he feels his family sees him as.
"When you're ready maybe we can go together? There's nothing to say we can't. I've met Frey, and seen Safrin - both were really nice." They can hold each other's hands and be nervous together, and Jude is certain neither of them will judge the sweaty palms that will surely transpire from meeting literal gods. In contrast, Jude doesn't break out into nervous sweats anymore when he and Sohalia are physically close, which makes navigating the Climb a lot easier.
"I think a necklace would be really pretty on you," he compliments softly, ears a little pink and eyes riveted to the rocks around them under pretense of investigating possible deposits. "I was thinking maybe a bracelet? Or earrings. Dad said I can get tmy ears pierced now if I want." Jude is very comfortable with dressing and presenting fluidly despite being comfortably a boy, and Harper had never so much as blinked at the request. "Hey, what about there?" He points with his pickaxe to a cluster around hip height, tucked into a half-shadowed recess that looks faintly rust-red.
Soh stuck her tongue out at him playfully. "I think I fit just fine, thank you," she told him loftily, thinking of how easily she fit against his side and blushing only a little at her boldness. She'd never been one for physical touch, having had very little of it in her life, and she hadn't realized just how touch-starved she was before Jude. Now that he had broken through that barrier, it was like Soh was making up for lost time, and took every opportunity to snuggle close to her best friend.
It always gave her a little thrill to coax a true grin from Jude, to see the spark of mischief in his eyes. He'd had a hard childhood, she knew, and he'd had to grow up too fast. But she didn't see him as a child. He was basically her age, after all, and she was living on her own, owned her own business, and traveled the world at her leisure. If she could do it, so too could he.
"Going together would be wonderful," she mused. It would certainly be a lot less scary if she had her best friend to lean on. She'd heard only good things about Frey, and she was certainly drawn to them more so than the other heralds, with their nature aspect and all. But even if she went to see Safrin or Ludo, she'd appreciate the company. "Honestly, I just don't know what I'd say to them. I don't really have anything to ask for. I guess I could just say hello, but that seems..." She wasn't sure what it seemed like. A waste of their time, perhaps?
"Thank you," she said shyly, her own cheeks a little pink at the compliment. At Jude's ideas, Soh perked up. "We could do matching earrings!" she said, and grinned up at her friend. She was only half teasing, the thought of sharing something that they'd found together in such a way bringing warmth to the young woman. "But either way, a bracelet or earrings, they would look good on you, too."
When Jude pointed to a cluster of rocks with his pickaxe, Soh squealed in excitement and dropped his arm to rush forward, squinting at the seam. "It looks reddish to me!" she exclaimed. "What do we do now?"
if all of the days have no more light and all of our dreams are lost tonight
Grinning, he pulls her a little off-balance with their connected arms to bump their sides together playfully. "Yeah, maybe you're right." While his entire family is rather physically affectionate, Maeve disappearing and Edmund moving out has left him rather touch starved as well. Perhaps they really are perfectly fit.
"Maybe we can turn our earrings into communication devices?" That way no amount of distance could truly separate them. "Or you can ask for a companion! Or maybe a healing amulet or something?" With a demigod for a mother and two Safrin-beloved parents, Jude has seen just about every magical item under the sun since the time he could open his eyes. "I get it though, it seems rude to call them away just to chat." It sometimes seems equally rude to Jude to only call them down to ask for things, but there was no escaping a faux pas sometimes.
Hurrying after her as she drops his arm and goes bouncing down the path, Jude bends to inspect the seam at her side like two puppies vying to look out the same window. "Okay so the lady told me we have to use the pickaxe on the dirt surrounding it, and it should pop free on its own. Wanna try first?" He extends the handle to her with a smile, wanting to give her the experience first.
As Jude pulled her slightly off-balance, Soh let out a playful squeal and fell a little harder than necessary to his side, intending to return the favor, but keeping their arms linked so that she could pull him back. "Oh, that's brilliant!!" she cried, practically bounding in place. "Communication devices would be absolutely incredible. I'd never take them off!" She said it without thinking, and then flushed a little, perhaps mildly embarrassed to admit just how much her best friend meant to her lest he thing her wildly needy and co-dependent.
"Someone told me once that companions choose you," Soh said hastily, to call attention away from herself. "I didn't realize you could ask the gods for one." Soh had wanted a companion for ages, ever since she'd left the Hollowed Grounds, thinking that by finding a companion, she would never again be alone. But now she had friends, and she no longer felt as lonely as she had back then.
As they approached the seam of what Soh hoped were rubies, she examined the rock intently with Jude beside her. Sure enough, the rock was a rusty, reddish color that honestly looked entirely unappealing - but if they could dig it out and polish it, she knew that the stones they would end up with would be beautiful. They would probably go well with the dress she'd made for the Flowerbirth Ball, now that she thought of it. If only she had an occasion to wear it again!
Soh set aside her staff and took the proffered pickaxe daintily, measuring its weight in her hand. She wasn't honestly sure if she could aim well enough to chip away at only the rock surrounding the potential rubies, but she was certainly happy to give it a try. Checking to make sure Jude was standing well away so that she didn't hit him on accident, Soh adjusted her grip on the pickaxe, eyed the wall where the rubies were, and swung the pickaxe at the wall.
Unfortunately for her, the pickaxe bounced off the wall with hardly a chip in the rock, and her hands stung from the force with which she'd hit the stone. She peered over her shoulder at Jude, bemused and perhaps a little embarrassed. "I'm afraid to hurt the rubies," she admitted by way of explanation. "Do you want to try?"
if all of the days have no more light and all of our dreams are lost tonight
The favor is definitely returned considering they're of a similar build, and Jude stumbles with a laugh, allowing Sohalia to reel him back in by their connected arms to get his feet back under him. If she's embarrassed, she doesn't need to be - Jude's cheeks go a bit pink, but his grin is in full force. "Me neither! We wouldn't have to worry about skyship waits to tell each other all the important news." Because he would still aim to see her in person as much as possible, but the communication devices would make talking so much easier.
Whether sympathetic or oblivious, Jude goes along with her distraction easily. "Oh, sure you can! My dad has talked about doing it for ages, but he never does. Makes it easier to bond with things like dragons and seer cats." Venturing into dragon territory just for the small chance of finding an abandoned hatchling wasn't something Jude could see any sane person doing.
Standing back and politely watching as Sohalia took the pickaxe, Jude smothers his smile at her tentative nature so that he wouldn't hurt her feelings if she happened to glance at him. Her embarrassment is a good motivator when the strike is unsuccessful - killing any remnants of amusement to make room for distracting her away from it. Holding out his hand for the tool, Jude gives her an encouraging smile. "Sure, I'll try. Though I've got arms like overboiled noodles," he jokes, hoping to put a smile back on her face as he gets into position. It's true that he's not much built for strength though which makes doing his own swing a daunting prospect. Still, his best friend is counting on him! So Jude tries not to think about hurting the rubies, and tries to aim decently while using all of his might to bring the pickaxe down.
A good chunk is taken out, all of it dirt it appears, and Jude barely bites back a sigh of relief. His hands sting, but the success is worth it. "Should we try pulling on the rubies between hits?" That way they'd both have jobs to do, and he wouldn't feel so self-conscious with her watching him. It makes him feel rather sympathetic for her having done it first.
Soh was a fairly patient person, but even she had to admit that skyship waits were the worst when it came to seeing Jude or hearing his most recent news. If they had communication devices - even better, pretty, ruby-encrusted communication devices - why, she'd never take hers off! She could see it now, a daily discussion to share how things were going at the shop, a new restaurant she wanted to take him to, hearing about his day, checking on Winnie - all the things that currently had to wait for visits or letters. It was an absolutely brilliant idea, and she was entirely on board. "Then it's settled. We'll go together, when we find our rubies and make the most wonderful earrings out of them!"
Besides, as much as she might wish for a companion, she couldn't imagine that having one would be better than being about to talk about anything with her best friend at any time. She would much rather ask a deity for help with the latter. "I didn't think about where dragon companions come from," she mused aloud, tilting her head in thought. She couldn't really see someone braving a dragon's nest for an egg, after all, and she wasn't sure where a dragon would even come from if not from their home. Maybe the gods found parentless dragons and matched them up with people in need of companionship. That would be sweet, if it were the case.
With a ruby seam found and Sohalia's attempt at mining behind them, she handed over the pickaxe with a sheepish grin at Jude's comment about his arms. She took a few steps back, clasping her hands behind her back and rocking back on her heels as Jude took his first swing - and cheering as a clump broke away from the wall. "Brilliant!" she cried, hurrying forward again to peer at the wall. She felt around the ruby gingerly. Jude's strike had crumbled away dirt and rock along what seemed to be an edge to the seam, and she could feel that some dirt had come loose from behind the ruby as well. Still, it was nowhere near close to coming out of the wall, so she stood and backed up again. "That was great!" she said excitedly. "I think if we can just go around the ruby, we should be able to pry it loose."
if all of the days have no more light and all of our dreams are lost tonight
It's a good thing it's settled, because Harper had started jokingly bemoaning the amount of paper they'd been going through writing letters between visits, and Jude isn't keen on buying more with his paltry earnings. "Who do you think we should ask?" He has met Frey and seen Safrin, but he doesn't have much of a preference for any of the heralds yet on a personal level. While they talk about nearly everything, this topic is one he realizes they've somehow missed. Does she have a preference?
With this - and dragon babies - on his mind, it's a relief to have success in their mining efforts to distract him lest his brain start feeling like it's full of bees with all the competing thoughts stuffed inside it. With arms ringing he lowers the pickax and basks in Sohalia's cheer of success, smile coming to the fore immediately as it always does when he hears her happiness. "Maybe I can chip at it instead of swinging it then?" Moving his hands up towards the head of the axe, he shuffles closer to inspect the gap he'd made to determine it can be done. "Stand back a bit anyway, okay?" He won't be swinging with all his might, but he would rather gouge out his own eyes than accidentally hurt her.
Up close now, he begins chipping away at the surrounding rock, tongue peeking between his teeth with concentration as he diligently loosens the chunk of ruby from its surroundings. Until, with little fanfare, it pops free - startling Jude, who can only watch it hit the ground between his feet with a dull 'thud'. "Oh! We did it!"
