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!
Sleep was something he could not provide for either of them. There was too much work to be done, and these early days of recovery were important for saving lives and salvage both, before things washed too far out to sea.
But he could provide food - he was still a chef, after all - and here in the Court the damage had been comparably minor. The building still stood, and though the waves had washed high enough to flood, they had not been strong enough to destroy. They had turned the main building into a shelter, and the garden had become something of a command post.
There was not silence around them - not with the constant stream of people gathering healing water to distribute - but Hadama had requested some space around the place on the other side of the fountain where the Merfolk tunnel and pool provided his own access to the room. Privacy, at least as much as they could get while still remaining available for the next emergency.
"Eat," he urged his co-ruler, pushing a plate towards her. A thin, flat bread was wrapped around rice and fish and bell peppers, still warm from the fire beside the pool that he was painstakingly attempting to cook over.
The Tidepool Bar had gone the way of the Hanged Man, so he made do with what he could find.
"How are you, Flora?" He was concerned about her, and he watched her with weary, worried eyes. "And how are your fathers?"
"Ugh, I feel like if I do I'll just throw it up." The girl complained, and though it was perhaps a predictable response, the queen did reach for a pair of chopsticks with which she began to chase a piece of pepper around her plate. Maybe she could trick herself into wanting the food if she stared at it long enough.
Sitting cross-legged and hunched forward if only to try and encourage the illusion that she and Hadama were meeting privately, the Doubletake rested her chin in one hand as she glanced wearily at the king. "You eat." She sassed affectionately, more than aware that Hadama had probably made sure to force food down already.
"I'm whatever. Terrified, exhausted, furious." She answered with a huff, before stabbing a bit of fish with the end of one chopstick. "They're...weird. After Remi went to the island, they both kinda realized how useless they are against whatever this is. Apparently star magic doesn't do anything, which means Ronin is out, and Remi said he wasn't even fast enough to hit the woman on the island, much take the dragon that showed up."
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you
She might have protested, but as long as she didn't ignore the plate entirely Hadama seemed content to let her poke at her food without further comment. At her sass, however, the edges of his eyes crinkled faintly in the ghost of a tired smile and he tilted his head in acknowledgment. "Yes, your majesty," he rumbled obediently, reaching for the small pan and adding a little more rice and peppers. He had already eaten, but if his nibbling could inspire the Doubletake's appetite he was willing to force a little more down. It would not hurt, and he might be grateful for it later.
Exhausting, to be back on war footing in the scope of the environmental upheaval that had struck them. Eat and sleep when one could, for there was no guarantee how long it would be until the next meal or nap could be stolen.
Whatever encompassed a great deal, and he nodded weary agreement as he used the wooden spoon to push the rice around the pan to heat it without burning it. His nose let him know when it needed stirring, for his eyes rested on his co-ruler.
And if his heart clenched at hearing that star magic could not harm the voidborn, he showed it only in how his eyes closed tight for a long breath, drawn through his nose and then slowly released as he silently prayed once more for Safrin's recovery.
"If Remi is not fast enough, I do not know if any mortal or demigod is," the mermanta admitted, grim at the confirmation of the Lullaby's letter. "But I am glad that they survived." And that they were close enough to give Flora their support as the world's currents shifted beneath all of their flukes yet again.
His own tail moved in the shadows beneath him, a restless slice of flesh and fins through the star-touched water, a rare outward display of his unsettled mind. "I am... worried," he admitted heavily, with his usual penchant for understatement. "This woman Remi described. Aside from her abilities she seemed... human. Outwardly, at least." The picture had not given her any obvious void-touched characteristics at least. No tentacles or glowing purple eyes or shadowed halo. "She could swim the canals of Haulani and we would not know the danger."
"He isn't the fastest out there, but...Yeah. Normally what he is, is good enough." Flora agrees, before nodding distantly. Her fathers would always survive, immortal as they were. At least, naively, that's what she believed. "Knowing them, they'll come up with something though." There's an insincere amount of hope in her voice, meant just as much for her own ears as Hadama's.
Nudging her rice and pepper mash around her plate, the Doubletake gave up on the happy face she'd been trying to make and stabbed at another pepper instead. Glancing up at Hadama only for a moment—his political equal now or not, even Flora could appreciate the gravity of the king leveling with her—Flora nods. "Dad said that Sunjata mentioned having seen the woman in King's End. And that she was...I dunno, just really normal."
Pausing, Flora frowned down at her plate before glancing up.
"Actually, he said she arrived during LongNight...and that she was looking for Koa. Do you know him? One of the dragoons?"
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you
He took the correction with a nod, having never had reason to see any demigod other than Noah in combat, though he had found Remi and Ronin's mythic underwater shifts thoroughly awe-inspiring. "Mmh. The more working to overcome this, the better," he agreed, lacking Flora's close, personal knowledge of the two men but offering his quiet faith to her own shaky hope.
Another shake of the pan and then Hadama pulled it off the fire. He considered the rice and peppers thoughtfully, inhaling the aroma, then nodded and shifted the pan to the side to spend a few minutes cooling. With his hands free it was harder to hide his concerns, and easier to lower his defenses and share them with Flora. The news she shared in return was far from reassuring, but it was well worth knowing.
LongNight... King's End... His brow started to furrow, but at the mention of Koa he blinked, shaken from his sober contemplation. "Ah... indeed," he said slowly, though a faint crease remained between his brows. "A very earnest young man." Well-meaning, though his political acumen was...
Still a work in progress.
"Hmm. Did Sunjata find out why?" Of all the people on Caido, why would this woman who could take down a demigod be looking for a promising but inexperienced young dragoon?
"Maybe instead of training all our citizens, we should just make the demigods go get stronger or get better magic." Flora says a touch petulantly, though perhaps not without good reason. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen either of her fathers do any actual training, nor when they'd last visited their respective deities. Maybe Ronin had a pass on that one, but Remi certainly did not.
Snorting under her breath, Flora can only grin in response to Hadama's description of Koa. She'd describe him quite differently, but then, perhaps just now wasn't the place nor time.
"Not that I know of. Just that she showed up and stayed at the House of Midnight and otherwise seemed pretty ordinary."
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you
"I do not know of a way to make a demigod do anything," Hadama admitted, but he tilted his head to the side as her words reminded him of another purpose they would need to fulfill in this season of rebuilding and battening down hatches. Before his slow approach could wend together the words they had slipped into a different current, and it did his heart good to see his co-ruler grin, however briefly and for reasons he could not imagine.
They were of an age, though. Perhaps Flora and Koa were friends?
But then why was this...Dahlia? so interested in the young man?
His brow furrowed as Sunjata-via-Flora was unable to answer that unsettling question, but after a few moments of turning it over in his head he set it aside and looked back at the Doubletake.
"There is nothing we can do about it now," he decided. "You had mentioned training our citizens... We could continue training the soldiers. Or we could focus on upgrading while we rebuild." He reached for his pan and a pair of chopsticks, selecting a piece of pepper with care. "Last year we harvested Tumsea shells for luck... but I would not risk our people wandering the beaches unnecessarily right now." Not with so much rebuilding to do, nor with so many new void creatures in the land and water.
"I do." Grinning mischievously, the girl waggled her eyebrows. "I'll mention it to them. All it'll take is telling Ronin he's starting to develop a dad bod and I can promise he'll start training." Remi would be a harder sell, but if Ronin was exercising, no doubt the Lullaby would follow suit.
"nnnn." Rubbing above one eyebrow where a headache was itching to form, the Doubletake sighed before popping another bit of pepper into her mouth. "I think soldiers? We're already doing a bunch to get things up and running and we're too low in our regional score for it to matter much, plus we'll get bonuses from the PQ+ completions. Maybe we could station the soldiers along the coastline nearest to the island? Based on what my dad's said they don't seem to really be stealthy over there, but at least having some notice would be good."
Quite what they'd do if it was announced that a giant void dragon was heading their way, Flora had no idea. Run to activate their shield, she supposed.
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you
Mischief was a welcome relief from the work around them, and the edges of the mermanta's lips twitched up in a smile in return. Telling the Supernova that he had a 'dad bod' was nothing Hadama might ever dare to do, but he tilted his head to the side, eyes twinkling as he imagined the look on Ronin's face upon hearing such a statement. "I am looking forward to hearing that report," he murmured, trusting that Flora would indeed take note of the reactions of her fathers.
And hopefully share them with him later.
But they could not rely entirely upon the demigods. They could only be in so many places at once, and Torchline's coast was long and its islands many. Hadama considered Flora's suggestions as he ate the pepper in his chopsticks, and followed it with a bite of rice. "Mm. It will be easier to plan upgrades in while building back, rather than after the work is done," he said slowly. "But right now I agree that we need soldiers to keep the voidborn out of Haulani until our quest is done." He paused, then looked back to Flora with a tilt to his head. "Given what we are facing, I would train our current soldiers to become stronger." Rather than making another batch of weaker ones, who might go down quickly in a fight.
Grinning, Flora bobs her eyebrows. "You'll be the first to know." She promises, sounding conspiratorial despite the fact that it was the sort of information she'd just as happily shout from the rooftops if only to make Ronin blush.
"I'm not too full of myself to try and pretend I know anything about soldier training, so if that's what you think is best, I'm all for it." Given that Flora's method of protection was almost exclusively call-in-reinforcements, having well-schooled soldiers at the ready instead of a gaggle of untrained civilians absolutely seemed a smart call.
"If you can get started on that, I can go and tell the resident demi-gods to step it up. Stormbreak also promised aid, so I'll see what Sohalia can do in terms of sending more soldiers or resources to help finish our quest faster."
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you
He had no tea to sip, but Hadama's lips curved into a small, pleased smile at the promise and he took extra care in innocently selecting his next bite. It was good to have something fun to look forward to, and the anticipation refreshed him as little else had in recent days.
It made it easier to consider their military endeavors, and the force that they currently had at their disposal. Their soldiers were a matter of some pride, given how quickly their training had progressed. But when their new neighbors across the pond were sending demigods running, a simple policing force did not feel quite up to the job. More training, and more specialized, might keep them alive to fight another day when the time came to test their mettle.
"Yes, Queen Flora," he intoned with suitable gravitas, but the teasing twinkle remained in his eye as he half-bowed with chopsticks still in hand. "I will contact the Monster Hunter's Guild for help as well. They may be able to keep the infected creatures back and buy us time." And his friend Evie's husband was their guild leader. Between he and Flora they could probably count on most of Caido to help in one way or another.
