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!
Deimos’ encouragement prompted a sideways nod and a half-smile from the hunter. He knew that relationships all had their ups and downs, fights and make-ups, disputes…all of it was part of melding yourself to another human being with all of their flaws, wants, desires, goals, and values. Noah sighed, shaking his head as he looked down and moved a few training obstacles.
”I hadn’t yet told Cordelia that the twins were abandoned. I discussed Sah helping them in the future with magic training, and then Cordelia found out through Sah.” Noah didn’t lift his eyes back to the Sword. He didn’t need his friend to tell him he was an idiot, because he already knew. He knew he had done the wrong thing, made the wrong choice in an attempt to protect his wife in the delicate mental state she found herself in, but it had not ended well for them. But Noah had owned up to it, attoned for his transgressions, and they were mending the broken trust.
”Have there been any new, or weird, flora or fauna here? Talyson, Alys and I encountered some tangle weed in the Grounds that really affected Tal and Alys negatively. Tal the most.” Noah said, tilting his head some with sympathy for the courier and the hallucinogenic attack he endured.
Deimos could calculate all the endeavors in the world, and he still wouldn’t have figured in Noah’s answer. He promptly grimaced, not even bothering to hide it, because the error was monumental in judgment. And deeper still, was the decision itself – pondering if Noah felt shame in the notions, when so many of his friends, the Sword included, were Abandoned. So instead of further demeaning the man, he ventured into origins of choices. “Why did you keep that from her?”
The alteration in conversation prospered another sigh, because he had a wealth of information on the topic, reeling in amongst the letters on his desk, notices placed on boards, and new knowledge spread across guild journals. “Alys let me know. I have been in touch with leaders and acquired details on quite a few alterations in plant life, and weather patterns.” He moved another dummy, stared at the necessary repairs, and then made a mental note for another opportunity. “Evie and I encountered one changed Frostbloom. I would not advise touching it.”
we exhume our enemy's bones we are battling, hungry beasts
It was not that Noah held any shame for his children. There was no shame in holding magic -- no shame in being an abandoned. But there was stigma. It was harder, generally, for the abandoned to get on in the world, though. Less likely to be looked on favorably by a god because of their nature and the long, arduous history of their people, Noah knew that his children were born on a lower rung.
But he also knew that there were those around them who loved them too much to let them stay there.
Deimos himself, right in front of Noah, was an example of those touched with Caido's view of misfortune standing in the divine delight of the gods. If he wanted to, Noah knew Safrin would take him for her own. That was something he earned. He knew that the warden, the Sword, wouldn't let other abandoned stay in a shadow of stigma only because of their birth.
Noah sighed and his brows lifted, chin shaking slightly with the memories of his own thoughts and reasons cropping up to the forefront of his mind. "Cordelia wasn't herself after the war, and I believed I was protecting her from all the realities that came with her children being born abandoned." The realities that Halovians knew well, with their population of abandoned over the years. "I told myself I would tell her when she was ready. But it wasn't for me to decide, and I know that now."
Lifting his eyes to the Sword when he went on about the flora, Noah nodded. "Vi would see them all eradicated. Any flora and fauna that is of this nature." His meeting with the god had been a whirlwind of many facets, but it had given Noah more than he knew he needed.
Deimos never cared if anyone else loathed or detested him for how he’d been born. He carried the magic in his veins like honor and conviction, contorted them for the sake of humanity time and time again, saved, sheltered, created, coiled – and strived to do the same for anyone else in similar wakes. There was no shame, no embarrassment, no humiliation, and even amidst the gods, after trial and error and faith, had managed to store some amount of justice. He presumed he and Evie’s future children would likely be in the same regard – Abandoned, and could be proud of such origins because there was nothing to be repentant for. He’d see to it that each individual in Halo was treated just the same. If anything, it was a refuge, a sanctuary, a shelter, for those to find their way.
So he waited for Noah’s reaction, wondering if there was an undercurrent he’d never detected, or something else, something more binding away at foolish decisions. Cordelia’s experiences in the war had lent something of a backlash, and while Deimos could understand the protection and armor the Forsaken had yearned to create, keeping his wife in the dark hadn’t been the correct angle. Especially after telling others first and foremost. The Sword’s eyes lingered downward for a moment, before his hands began to maneuver another effigy, feeling a call of restlessness again. “As long as you learn from that mistake,” and he winked, a slight wrinkle to his nose.
The other news left his brow furrowed though, and a long, unwinding breath unraveled from his lungs. “All right. You may want to write to all the leaders and let them know. I can tell Evie.” His mind already began drumming out methodical notes and figures, contemplating next steps and actions. “I can likely bring out guild members and take care of some.” Perhaps with the change of the season, once they saw if anything else altered.
we exhume our enemy's bones we are battling, hungry beasts
Noah laughed at Deimos’ wink, ”You don’t have to tell me twice.” Although Vi had. Vi had told him twice and brought him to submission. Noah knew a different level of surrendering to another now, and it translated directly even to his relationship with his wife.
”Ill do that, and I’ll go with on the expedition.” It had been a while since Noah had gone on a mission for the guild, and it would be much needed for him both personally and as he moved on what he promised Vi. ”How have politics been with the regions lately? I fear we may need each other now more than ever. When I asked for what Vi knew of these happenings — the flora and fauna and the meteorites that landed in Kings End — he admitted there was much he didn’t know. He does, however, suspect that whatever crash landed is out there, somewhere in Caido. That’s why the craters are empty.”
Hoping the statement was true, the Sword snorted and immediately began repairing the unwinding, undone threads in the target, content with motion amidst the plotting and planning. Nodding at the insinuation of both actions, and committing them to the back of his mind, his brow arched at the notions of politics. A long sigh unfurled, expression drawn to clear reticence. “Things still remain fairly neutral, though Stormbreak needs to rein in a certain Dragoon. I have heard the Greatwood no longer has a leader, and that Torchline has gained Flora alongside Hadama after Harper left.” A bizarre series of events that he really could only justify on the Stormbreak end; the rest seemed to be unraveling bit by bit.
That Vi didn’t have a clear indication on proceedings worried the Warden, and his brows furrowed once more. “So it is not something that merely disappeared.” Or fell apart, or anything else. His jaw clenched, gaze narrowing dangerously as he stared at the effigy, then continued contorting and creating more strands and filaments for the once gaping wound and stuffing. “We do not even know what to search for.” Unless it was within the weather, the plants, and everything else; proving to be an even more irritating onslaught.
we exhume our enemy's bones we are battling, hungry beasts
The demigod was glad to hear that at least as far as kingdoms went, things were quiet. While he knew Deimos couldn’t speak for other regions as unique structures within themselves, it was the cross-world relations he was looking for anyway. The sun, changing above them and turning time as they reset the training grounds, began to beckon Noah home to his waiting wife.
The dragoon, however, made Noah’s brows raise. ”Youll have to tell me more about that, when I come back.” Noah said. It was interesting that Flora had risen to power, but given her mothers own ambitions it wasn’t too much of a stretch for him to reach a sensible conclusion on it. Noah nodded along, the same disappointed understanding present in Deimos’ statement reflected in his own facial expression. ”We do not. But at least we know that these new floras are not from the gods.”
