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!
Clinging to the ruin of your broken home, too lost and hurting to carry your load You know we all need someone to hold
Harper concedes the point with a faint smile. He'll do what he can by way of letting Jude know, but he can't force their son to do anything, and he's exactly that age where things slip the mind with regularity. At least he understands. Harper wouldn't mind Jude being home more often. Lately, he's been waiting for the news that Jude wants to move to Stormbreak and into the home of the girlfriend he's had for less than a year.
Safrin spare his heart.
Of all things, Harper isn't anticipating this meeting to have initially been about Flora, and he doesn't miss the manipulative little way that Phoebe denotes her as her niece. Sitting back in his chair, muscled arms cross over his chest immediately, closing himself off and raising an eyebrow. "No." Simple as that.
"Firstly, certainly not because she asked you asked it of me." He will not be swayed by personal attachment or favors. That's firmly Flora's territory. "Secondly, I did not disparage her. I countered the information she willingly put forth in her claim to leadership. If she didn't want it to be debated, she shouldn't have provided it." Shaking his head firmly, Harper snorts. "She equally threatened me with her familial ties and contacts, or did she leave that out?" He's admittedly hurt that Phoebe clearly believed Flora at face value despite the young woman's renowned dramatics. Surely he was the only one who misspoke or misstepped in that entire shit show.
Phoebe sighed. Of course this couldn't have been easy. She took a sip of her drink as she listened to Harper's side of things. Flora hadn't outrightly said these things to her, but she wasn't surprised by them. The Nightingale crossed her legs, watching Harper closely.
"I did admonish Flora for baiting you." she said to make clear that she wasn't just defending the girl. Flora had asked for torment and received it. She could be upset by it, but it was of her own making.
"But that doesn't change the fact that you stooped to that level. And she is a prominent figure in your community. Being on her bad side is bad for you as a leader. You need her support, or at least acceptance." She tilted her head as she watched his reaction to her words. "Sometimes we have to apologize for things because it is the right thing to do, not because we want to."
Clinging to the ruin of your broken home, too lost and hurting to carry your load You know we all need someone to hold
Though he doesn't let his expression so much as twitch, Harper tilts his head slightly in appreciation for her defense of him, even if she'd clearly still sought to tell him to apologize.
"I did not stoop at all. I contested her leadership claims because she put them out there to all of the region. That is not stooping." Reclining and looking at her from across the table with a neutral if slightly guarded expression, one eyebrow rises. "In fact, what should I have done instead? Not refuted them at all? She was the one to instigate a debate in the first place when we both could have stated our cases and been done with it." He'd been the one to go second, and hadn't asked any questions of Flora. She'd been the one to open her mouth next - something he is beginning to think is a theme with her.
"And frankly I don't need her support. If she ousts me somehow or someday, so be it. She is an owner of a business like any other, and certainly not all of them voted for me." Until Flora has more political power other than her family, Harper will not treat her as someone to curry favor with. "If I apologize to her, she will know it's because you told me to. How is that any better than spoiling a child? She will know her crying and complaining to someone she sees as a higher power works, and it will only undermine my position. Do you consider that an acceptable loss?" Because Harper surely doesn't.
Phoebe sighed as Harper continued to argue, and she pinched the bridge of her nose as he went on. Then she took a large sip of her drink. In their stubborness, Harper and Flora were cut from the same cloth.
"Can you at least apologize for hurting her feelings? Surely that wasn't your intent." she said, grasping at straws. "I just want some semblance of peace between you two as I am caught in the middle." she said with a sigh, sipping her drink again. Harper might be guarded, but she meant no one harm in this conversation. She just wanted to create some reconciliation. In an attempt to lift the conversation, she said with a small smile. "Do you two need a mediated conversation to come to terms?" she said.
Clinging to the ruin of your broken home, too lost and hurting to carry your load You know we all need someone to hold
One shoulder shrugs slightly. "No, it was not my intent. But she would still know I did so because you told me to - even if that wouldn't encourage her, it wouldn't come off as sincere either." At least not in his eyes, if someone were to do the same to him in reverse. Harper wouldn't mind apologizing if it wasn't all so gnarled, a powerstruggle he didn't want to be part of and certainly doesn't want to continue having - with a nineteen-year-old at that.
Though he does raise an eyebrow, and then sighs. "Why should you have to be between this at all? It was political. Your involvement is entirely as her adopted aunt." And Harper thinks that only makes it worse, especially given Flora's constant threats of utilizing demigods - which Phoebe is. "If it was mediated, it couldn't be you." That would only feed Flora's power delusions in his opinion, and Harper doesn't want Phoebe to be involved in this in the first place. It stands too much of a risk of straining their own fragile new friendship, something Harper finds too precious to risk.
The Nightingale sighed. Harper and Flora were actually quite alike in their stubbornness. No wonder they had such a disdain for each other. Harper would not move and Flora would not be happy and frankly she didn't want to be in the middle of this any more than Harper wanted her to. Why an apology to simply put to rest a conflict was so hard to give she would never know.
"Alright, alright. You win." she said, lifting her hands in defeat. "Can't say I didn't try." She lifted her glass to her lips and took a large drink. Both were being quite childish in her opinion, but that hardly mattered. "I just hope you don't resent me for it." All she wanted was peace between the important people in her life, and hopefully he saw that.
Clinging to the ruin of your broken home, too lost and hurting to carry your load You know we all need someone to hold
She's perhaps accurate in her estimations of their similarities, though Harper would not be in the headspace for such comparisons right here and now if he were to hear them. Aside from finding her aggravating, Harper has no true ill-will for Flora, which is why he's so firm in not giving her unearned or unnecessary quarter.
{ay}"I'm not trying to make it harder on you," he murmurs, "I apologize that I am." Because he won't change his mind. Still, he smiles wanly and extends a hand to take up hers, something more solid than before when he'd merely touched the back of it. It might blur a few lines still, but Harper is so very tired these days. "I don't resent you for it. I promise." Taking in a deep breath, he refocuses on the menu in front of him before shooting her a smile from under his lashes. "Now, how about we actually eat?"
Phoebe was glad that Harper was both apologetic and quick to let go of the disagreement. She had simply been trying to mend bridges, but some were burned beyond repair. Such was the case with Flora and Harper it seemed, and much as she tried the Nightingale was no miracle worker.
At his change in tone, she grinned. It seemed their tenuous friendship remained in tact thanks to good humor and reasonable attitudes. She glanced at the menu herself briefly before looking back up at him. It was comforting to see a smile on his face. "Yes, I think that sounds like a fantastic idea." she said with a grin.
And so they ordered and carried on with lighter, more friendly conversation. It was a nice reprieve from the responsibilities of parenthood and leadership. Just two friends, enjoying the day together. How pleasant.
