Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
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Liam’s notions towards the bracelet, and statements thereafter, were no different from the Sword’s. The necessities for safety, protection, and shelter were the foremost notions entirely in Deimos’s mind, no matter the situation, and since the seasons leading up to and after the war, his focus had been ensuring those were met for the wintry world. Safrin’s motions ensured he’d stay the course, even if they weren’t certain what to prepare for, it had to be better than remaining complacent, or waiting for the world to listlessly pass them by.
But then again, he’d never been that kind of individual anyway.
He glanced back at the other as he spoke, nodding along in accord and agreement. “We have been in Halo. I am not certain what other lands have been working on.” They’d been given the warnings, just the same as Liam had been granted.
we exhume our enemy's bones we are battling, hungry beasts
Who was it that led you on And makes you want to hurt me so?
Liam's gaze wandered the empty crater as he considered the news Deimos had given. What he wouldn't give to have an idea of what was coming! He'd been working with those in the Greatwood who were interested in training, but they had no real fighting force, and the only defenses he knew of were the trees - and they could be cut down or burned, leaving the Greatwood defenseless. He wondered, briefly, what Stormbreak was doing to prepare. He might live in the Greatwood, but the great city had always been his home, and he missed it terribly at times.
The soldier rubbed the back of his neck with a sigh. "I live in the Greatwood," he told Deimos. "I have been working with some of our people, trying to train them. I will seek out Phoebe when I return, see if there is anything I can assist with." He hesitated. "If I learn of anything more in my travels, I will pass word along," he offered. With an unknown threat, Caido could only stand if they stood together, after all.
Who do you want to forget? Who forgot you long ago?
To hear the other man lived in the Greatwood caused an arch to the Sword’s brow, breaking over the mold of the reticent mask. He hadn’t heard of many living amidst the trees lately, save for Phoebe, and even then, it didn’t appear to be a popular choice. He figured, in a way, the Fae were probably more than content with such intervals, but at the same time, he wondered about how they’d all manage to survive. They’d always managed to surprise them though, with mighty warriors and fighters lurking amidst the boughs, and the maze of the woods themselves; perhaps they didn’t need or want for much of anything, because they didn’t find it necessary. After all, they had only been targets of the Ascended’s ire.
He couldn’t quite help his curiosity though; for he could recall Phoebe attending the meeting, but not much thereafter. “Is the Greatwood doing anything to prepare? How did it fare after the war?” He hadn’t been in quite a while, save for weird pools gathered and the alterations of the rivers’ tracks; and maybe it had endured far better than the rest of the world. “And thank you. The more who know, the better.” Wisdom, sagacity, and information had always been valuable.
we exhume our enemy's bones we are battling, hungry beasts
Who was it that led you on And makes you want to hurt me so?
Liam was many things, but a liar was not one of them; nor was he particularly adept at the political turns of phrase that might have protected his region's negligence from prying eyes. He also wasn't one to avoid a direct question, particularly from a man who he knew to be his superior in terms of rank. So no matter how much it irked him, he schooled his expression and rattled off information like the soldier he was. "I've been offering training to any citizen who wants to learn self-defense, but aside from that... there hasn't been much preparation. I've only lived there for a few seasons - I moved from Stormbreak not long ago - so I'm not sure about the effects of the war. There aren't many people in the Greatwood, though whether that is because of the war or not, I couldn't say."
It was the truth, such as it was, and Liam grimaced as he heard his report as it must sound to the Warden. He clasped his hands behind his back, looking very much like the soldier he was in the rigid set of his spine. "We... could use direction," he admitted, though it was clear that revealing their weakness went against every instinct he had. Still, with their leader having disappeared... what was he supposed to do?
Who do you want to forget? Who forgot you long ago?
Had it been Helovia, perhaps Liam would’ve had cause for concern; the Reaper and many of his constituents would’ve employed and used any opportunity to snag and revolve demolition and destruction upon an unsuspecting land. But this was Caido, and Deimos was no longer the same – he had enough to keep him occupied, and no purpose to driving onslaughts into the Greatwood. To hear of its listlessness was more of a concern and apprehension than anything else, and he felt himself stifling another sigh behind his teeth, eyes flickering downward at the hole in the ground again, as if its emptiness signified something. “That is unfortunate.” He half-wondered if Noah would be sent there next, forced to tend and lend to the trees.
Speculation ran rampant again, and he knew it wasn’t his job to save every individual in these lands, but machinations never truly died in his mind, and so his gaze landed back on Liam, the soldier with a vacant and empty land. It made it difficult and easy to guard all at once, he supposed, somewhere in his skull. Rather than mince words, for he’d never been delicate about those proceedings, his diction cut straight to the point. “Is Phoebe no longer around?”
we exhume our enemy's bones we are battling, hungry beasts
Who was it that led you on And makes you want to hurt me so?
In truth, the Greatwood had been in dire straights. Phoebe was gone, and Liam didn't know how to fill the vacuum that her leadership had left behind. But everything in him screamed not to share that with an outsider - even if, as new to the Greatwood as he was, he was very nearly an outsider himself. He studied Deimos for a moment after the Warden asked him point-blank about Phoebe, wondering if he should make some excuse. But the Greatwood's lack of military was well-known, and if Deimos had wanted to do something about it, surely he would have done so by now.
"I don't know where she is," he said finally, his voice soft, as though he could protect the secret from spreading if he was simply quiet about it. "The last I heard from her, she was going to the meeting with all the leaders and demigods. But I haven't seen her since."
Who do you want to forget? Who forgot you long ago?
The only press of his machinations now, with this suspicious absence, was how the Greatwood might be damned or due to fester under no wake of leadership. It’d done so before, and been altered, nearly gone back to the wilds themselves, and while he supposed the Fae wouldn’t mind, there were still others within. Contemplating, because this wasn’t his jurisdiction nor his business, his nose wrinkled vaguely, brow furrowing ever so slightly. “She made it to the meeting.” He recalled her there, amidst the group of them, striving to try and figure out next steps and alterations. “Perhaps she was called away on demigod business.” Logical notions, and not unheard of.
But that meant there was still the issue of no authority, and he couldn’t, wouldn’t, attempt to solve that. If anything, he’d simply put the inquiries in Liam’s ear. “Is there no one available to take her place?”
we exhume our enemy's bones we are battling, hungry beasts
Who was it that led you on And makes you want to hurt me so?
It was a relief to know that, at least, Phoebe had made it to the meeting. He had worried about his friend, who had been gone so long. As for being called away on demigod business, Liam supposed that was possible. What would he know about such things, anyway? For all he was raised in Stormbreak, he was no closer to the gods than any other mortal man. "Perhaps," he agreed, shrugging his shoulders. Regardless of the why behind her disappearance, she was still gone, leaving a vacuum in her place in terms of the Greatwood.
As for someone to take her place, well... there was Liam, but he had never been one to crave a leadership role. But other than that... "There are few of us left," he admitted slowly. "Just me and a handful of others, and the Fae." Had he thought about stepping up? Sure. Would he know where to start? Not even close. But maybe that was the mark of a good leader - not knowing, and doing it anyway.
Who do you want to forget? Who forgot you long ago?
“Similar circumstances occurred with the Grounds.” Silent, hollow, empty for a time, the survivors immersed there after the fallout of the Ascended, Sparkbird, and the war itself. “Until others stepped up,” like Dantalion, Kiada, and more, or Noah, forced to do so by his god. Machinations contorted but only so far, wondering how many more times he’d sigh within the next hour.
So he’d ask the armor-piercing inquiry, concise and quick to the point, cutting through all the other mayhaps. In the end, it probably wouldn’t matter to Halo, but in the grand scheme of Caido, where others could falter and stumble, forgotten in the clamor of chaos, there was greater risk of the stillness and complacency. “Have any of you considered taking on the role?”
we exhume our enemy's bones we are battling, hungry beasts
Who was it that led you on And makes you want to hurt me so?
Deimos was a Warden of Halo. If anyone would understand the pressures of leadership, it would be him. And even though Liam had been prepared to be a simple soldier his entire life, perhaps that was no longer how he could best serve the Greatwood. How he could best serve Caido. For it was more than a single region's problem to be leaderless and wild - it was a weak link through which all the world might fall, given the chance.
So Liam sighed, running a hand through his hair and rubbing the back of his neck as he looked out over the crater. "I've considered it," he admitted. Not that he was sure where to start, and that admission stuck in his throat. "Even if just until Phoebe returns." If she returned. That was the big question.
Who do you want to forget? Who forgot you long ago?
Deimos didn’t envy the role of leadership on anyone, but he also had broad shoulders and a tight-knit drive towards responsibilities that he’d never quite been able to shake from his spine. He wouldn’t pressure anyone to take on segments they didn’t want, but the inquiries were still laden there, maneuvering pieces just the same.
And it seemed they hadn’t been without some forethought of their own, given Liam’s response. He paused momentarily, taking bits and pieces away in machinations and perceptions, eyes glancing elsewhere, rummaging over rock and ruin and emptiness. “Depends on what you are willing to take on, and if you have the support.” If the Greatwood was struggling as much as Liam let on, perhaps none of that was there, and the forest would wind up in the same stead, listless and strangled.
we exhume our enemy's bones we are battling, hungry beasts
Who was it that led you on And makes you want to hurt me so?
A drive towards responsibility was something that Deimos and Liam shared, though the latter had more of a drive to serve than to lead. He'd always been trained as a soldier, a nameless face in a crowd that would step up to protect those in need. He'd never wanted leadership, never aimed particularly high in the chain of command.
But then, he'd never imagined himself in the Greatwood, either.
Still, he wasn't sure of anything - how long Phoebe would be gone, how she would feel about him usurping her position, how he would fare as the Guardian of the Greatwood or how he would even get there in the first place. "I'm afraid there isn't much in the way of support," he said shrewdly. "But I can assure you, I will do my best to protect what is there." It was the most he could promise at the moment.
Who do you want to forget? Who forgot you long ago?
Had the Sword been able to continue his life as a simple soldier or General, that would’ve been ideal; instead, he’d opted for ensuring Halo prospered, taking on more responsibilities and duties simultaneously. And if his world thrived, then he figured his time had been well spent, and any suffering gathered was quietly placed behind his brow or under his ribs. They were safe and whole and protected for as long as he remained.
But the Greatwood was much as he suspected and expected; listless, empty, hidden and tucked away as the Fae likely preferred. Perhaps they’d need to decide upon leadership at all, or quietly drift off into the wilds, taken over again by the gnarled trees and the labyrinthine brambles. “Of course,” he offered in response, uncertain how much could be upheld when no one else wanted to do the same. “But I would weigh out your options carefully.”
we exhume our enemy's bones we are battling, hungry beasts
Who was it that led you on And makes you want to hurt me so?
"I will," Liam responded, his gaze roaming over the open crater. It was with a strange mixture of frustration and resignation that he considered his mission - and found it to be a resounding failure. He would go back to the Greatwood with more questions than answers, and with no one to share his findings with, no one to discuss next steps with... what would become of the Greatwood now?
Not for the first time, he considered going back to Stormbreak. The great forest wasn't home, not really, and however much his memories might pain him, there was every possibility that he would do more good in Stormbreak than in the Greatwood. Didn't he owe that to his home region, to Caido, to be everything that he possibly could? But, by that same vein, leading the Greatwood into recovery could prove to be just as valuable.
"Thank you for taking the time to speak with me," he said. "If I find anything out, I will send word to you. If there's nothing else, I'll return to the Greartwood - see what we can do to prepare."
Who do you want to forget? Who forgot you long ago?
