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 had a tendency to think of everyone as a friend, especially those she'd met before The Incident in Stormbreak. So it was that she entered the Deepfrost Shields Barracks, bundled in warm clothes even in the height of Longheat, unused to the chill of Halo, to find Deimos. Let's not forget that their last meeting ended with Deimos wondering just how Soh had managed to survive thus far. Let's also not forget that Soh had been more or less useless at the time. Let's just watch this meeting and see how it goes for Soh.
At least this time, Soh came armed: she wore twin daggers at her waist and held a staff in her hand. Unsure if she'd be able to find Deimos, she had come prepared to make use of the barracks for a bit of training, unwilling to stop her practice while she was away from home. She paused in the doorway, looking out over the sea of soldiers to find Deimos, who stood head and shoulders above most of them. Soh meandered closer, making sure she wasn't interrupting anything, and then said, "Hello, Deimos!" in her brightest voice, as though greeting a dear friend rather than a mere acquaintance.
it's just a spark, but it's enough to keep me going
the ocean does not apologize for its depth and the mountains do not seek forgiveness
Today’s training thresholds implemented target practice with everyone’s favored weapons – enough to galvanize the warriors into showing off their strengths, and perhaps some unassumed weaknesses. But the Sword had always maintained an openness with the public, permitting visitors to come in and out for variety of purposes – conversations with him on circumstances, striving to try a new armament, or merely practice in another climate and region. Maybe he should’ve been irritated with his own predictability and routine, but it was customary at this hour to find him amidst his people, barking orders or laughing.
Towering above the vast majority, he stood along the sidelines, narrowed eyes watching as one by one they took their places and shots. More than once he corrected a few stances, offered compliments and tutoring, and became wholly absorbed in the task – until there was an alteration in several behind the line. His gaze whipped quickly to where there was curiosity and intrigue…to find Sohalia.
Blinking rapidly, uncertain if she was a mirage or he was fatigued, he came to find that the chipper voice echoing across the grounds did belong to her – and that she was still alive. Last encounters and interactions had him believing she might not have made it into the next season, but the daggers, staff, and stance indicated she’d persisted.
Stepping away from the wall, he greeted her in his residual rumbles and tones. “Sohalia,” and with an arched brow and the most minute of pauses, continued in his inherent curiosity. “What brings you here?”
Completely and utterly oblivious to the disruption she was causing, Soh stopped before Deimos with a bright smile. Dressed in comfortable pants that would make training easier and with her hair tied up in a ponytail, she looked quite different from the naive girl he'd once met in the Oerwoud - but some things, like her sunny disposition, hadn't changed all that much. If there was a bit of a shadow behind her eyes, it was well-hidden and tucked away, shoved to the back of her mind where she could cheerfully ignore it.
"I was in the area and thought I'd stop by," she said. "I remembered that you said you were from Halo when we met before, and I wanted to say hello." And if she wanted to show him that she had grown and survived (against all odds), then that was a happy coincidence. "Oh! And I brought you some maps," she added, patting the bag at her side. "I thought you might find them interesting."
it's just a spark, but it's enough to keep me going
the ocean does not apologize for its depth and the mountains do not seek forgiveness
Though well versed in the art of stoicism and feigning indifference in a sea of traumas, Deimos didn’t know Sohalia well enough to piece together she was doing the same. Had it been Ru, Evie, Kiada, or even Noah, he might have been able to surmise key differences beyond the pale – but as it was, the indications seemed to be adapted into styles and ornamental denizens. His eyes narrowed, expecting something else altogether.
But she’d been visiting as promised, and while people very rarely stopped by to see him (outside of friends and loved ones), he tilted his head, snorted, and maintained some measure of a smile. He might’ve said something further, but then she was distracted by maps, and then he followed suit, curious as to what she might’ve drawn out in the past season.
“All right,” extending an arm towards the halls that led to the front of the building, where the parlor and visitors often nestled, and then nodding to one of his compatriots, the training persisted and continued with only a few turned heads. “You can show me in the office, if you want.”
Under normal circumstances, Sohalia would not have been one to hide her emotions away, but there were now feelings that she didn't have any desire to examine in any great detail. It was easier to tuck them away, hidden in a box in the back of her mind, where they (hopefully) wouldn't again see the light of day.
Deimos extended an arm towards a nearby hallway, and Sohalia followed with a spring in her step. It was Deimos who had given her the idea to make maps, so she felt she owed him something of the rather successful business she had been building. "I actually have to thank you," she chattered as she followed him down the hall. "I've been traveling and compiling maps, and now I sell them in Stormbreak. I would never have thought of it if not for you."
Once they had arrived in the office, Soh began to search her bag for the journal she always kept there. This was actually the third or fourth such notebook - she went through them quickly - but she'd been sure to copy her more complex maps down in detail before leaving home. She pulled out the journal and flipped until she found the one she was looking for. It was of the Oerwoud, and included, among other images and notations, a sketch of the Ceffyl Dwr and a clear warning to travelers to avoid it.
it's just a spark, but it's enough to keep me going
the ocean does not apologize for its depth and the mountains do not seek forgiveness
He'd forgotten about the chatter, and never one to fill the void with idle conversation or dialogue, he strolled down the hall with vague nods and inclinations, trying to piece together all the remnants quickly. As he crouched near the hearth, tending to the fire with a single motion and thought, he turned back to her, angling and jutting his jawline towards the long table, his desk, and the various other assortments of chairs. Along the walls were his own created maps, though most of Halo, with broadened surfaces of terrain and a variety of tacks stuck into them for his own purposes, musings, and upcoming projects. Shelves were lined with organized folders and tomes, all strictly for training, weaponry, and various other related diagrams.
Figuring she’d want to use the table to unfurl the charts and plots, he inclined towards that direction. “You are welcome,” he uttered eventually, uncertain about it entirely – but it seemed to have kept her alive.
Glancing at the work she’d already compiled, he recognized the Oerwoud instantly, snorting at the water horse along the side. “It made an impression.”
Deimos's office was somehow exactly as she'd pictured, with Halovian maps adorning the walls, organized folders and books upon myriad shelves, a neat desk and a long table with a variety of chairs. At his invitation, Soh made her way to the long table and pulled out a larger selection of maps than she usually traveled with, which she spread out proudly on the table and stepped back for Deimos to take a closer look, should he choose to do so.
He had made an impression - one that had lingered far beyond the confines of the Oerwoud. Should he flip through the maps laid on the table, he would find maps of the Greatwood, the Oerwoud, Stormbreak, and parts and pieces of Torchline, King's End, and the Climb. Each was annotated in great detail with sketches and notes around the margins, with major landmarks and rivers clearly marked. "It did," she agreed solemnly. He'd saved her life, that day; if that didn't make an impression, then what would?
it's just a spark, but it's enough to keep me going
the ocean does not apologize for its depth and the mountains do not seek forgiveness
Nosey, inquiring, and curious to a fault, with Sohalia’s silent permission, he began to gaze and meander through the maps. Fingers brushed over Greatwood trees and dormant eaves, Oerwoud designations and animals, King’s End, the Climb…and ultimately ending in Stormbreak. His brows furrowed, pressing together, uncertain about his impressions about the land stretched and scrawled out before him. From all the stories, the world that banned Abandoned hadn’t seemed so stark or grey – but there it was, laid out, stone after stone, with sprawling gardens and grottos, cliffs and long-lost seas. “I have never seen it before,” he mentioned, after taking too long on its ramparts.
But then he gave half a smile, as if trying to erase some level of discomfort, before extending his praise. “These are well done. You are talented.”
As Deimos meandered his way through the maps, Soh watched him carefully for any indication of his thoughts and opinions on her work. Despite having only met him once, his opinion - indeed, the opinion of anyone she met - mattered a great deal to her. This was, perhaps, more so the case with Deimos given their limited history, but either way, she was disappointed to find that he maintained a stoic air as he searched the maps.
Then something shifted: his brows furrowed, and his fingertips lingered on the paper, and when Soh looked down, she saw Stormbreak spread before him. "That's right," she said, realization dawning. "You have magic, so you can't..." She trailed off, a frown marring her pretty face. "I wish there was a way to change things." Truth be told, she didn't fully understand why Abandoned had been barred from the city to begin with.
His praise was well-received and, with a shy smile, Soh said, "Thank you. I'm glad you like them."
it's just a spark, but it's enough to keep me going
the ocean does not apologize for its depth and the mountains do not seek forgiveness
His brow arching, he left Stormbreak behind, opting to peer more at the animals assorted on the sides of Torchline, recognizing multitudes he’d seen in his own ventures. The reminder from Sohalia hadn’t been necessary – but he nodded just the same. “We would be willing to discuss things with them,” in terms of assistance, of breaking down all those facets, walls, ramparts, and old-fashioned beliefs. “But without a leader of their own…,” he shrugged, dropping the notions. He figured the cartographer would be able to take those measures for what they were worth, and fill in the lines.
The Sword wasn’t one to praise without an individual truly earning it, so he smiled in return, nodding at her sentiments. “Have you been successful with them?” Presuming others would require them just as much as the rest of the world – travelers, adventurers, explorers alike.
Soh pursed her lips in thought. She wasn't particularly politically-minded, but she had noticed the lack of leadership in Stormbreak. It was a little hard to misss. She'd recently tried to start a movement to make the streets safer by installing street lamps and the like - and she'd had to take it upon herself to make it happen. She still wasn't entirely sure that what she and her friends had done would have met with the approval of the city, but it wasn't like there had been anyone to tell them 'no.' It sounded to her like those within Stormbreak were not the only ones who had noticed a distinct lack of leadership, and that irked her in a way she couldn't quite describe.
But their attention soon turned back to her maps, and Soh let go of the thoughts wiggling in the back of her mind for the time being. "I have," she said proudly. "I have some clients who collect them as art, others who want them for their own exploration. I had a ship captain approach me recently about some waterproof maps for his ship." It was a lucrative business; she was able to charge more for her maps what with their annotation and detail, and she'd done quite well for herself in the brief time she'd been selling.
it's just a spark, but it's enough to keep me going
the ocean does not apologize for its depth and the mountains do not seek forgiveness
When nothing more was said on the Stormbreak subject, Deimos gave naught either. For a man who bore no shame about what he was, it was still discomforting to witness the apprehension looming in the eyes of Abandoned brethren; those who were still hesitant to live in their own skin. But in order to designate change, other motions had to be set forth, and he had no control over the situation, other than to persist in unfurling his incantations across the world – show, proclaim, and devote.
The maps were another subject matter entirely though, and he studied the parameters of the Oerwoud’s too as she talked, shifting pages back and forth to pick up on aspects he’d missed on his initial inspection. “Very enterprising,” and he smirked at the notions – pleased to see the youth had continued to excel in her talents, rather than fumbling along. “No other monsters met, then?”
On the subject of monsters, there was plenty that Sohalia could say. While she had yet to meet another Ceffyl Dwr, there were monsters that lurked within the borders of her own city, and she had not been immune to that fact. The pride slipped away as she hesitated, looking studiously at her maps, and then said, "No." It was a strangely short answer for an otherwise talkative girl, and, lest she appear rude, she added, "I've been fortunate." It wasn't even a lie; she had been lucky not to have been hurt worse, and to have had people to help her when she needed it.
"I have been training," she offered, holding up her staff. "I found a teacher in Stormbreak." And it had been grueling work, too, difficult at first, but something that she had grown to love over time. Whiel she was not the strongest nor the most skilled staff-wielder or knife-fighter, it gave her peace of mind to know at least the basics, and to be learning them well. She'd even managed to - almost - keep up with Melita when they'd sparred recently. The memory brought a small smile to her face.
it's just a spark, but it's enough to keep me going
the ocean does not apologize for its depth and the mountains do not seek forgiveness
People could be monsters – he’d seen it before, perhaps been one himself. There were creatures that took their rapacious ends to calamity and back, that tasted infernal glory on the tips of their tongues and never wavered from the taste. There were cretins who stole and snagged and ensnared until they invoked war. There were demonic presences in the blood of an adversary as they made their choices. And his eyes narrowed, briefly, as she gave a curt and short response, the vaguest pulse of warmth against his chest amidst his pendant. Not a lie, but not a truth either.
Letting Sohalia have her claims, because it wasn’t any of his business, his gaze went to the staff. A suitable weapon for her; he couldn’t envision the youth utilizing serrated edges, but he’d been wrong before. But maybe he was surprised she’d taken up the notions at all – time had altered enough that she’d gained experience, instruction, and tutelage. “Good,” delivered on a small smile. He’d rather see her snag at even the bare minimum, some modicum of knowledge to protect herself. “Have you found it beneficial?”
