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!
Melita had never inherited her mother’s green thumb. Part of it had been lack of attention; partial only to the quick songs humming through the kitchen as the herbs dried, rather than finding out properties. Or that she’d been drawn to violence and impulse, rather than the need for patience, for watching, for growing.
So she stared down at the sapling in her hand as it had personally offended her, a modest frown emboldening her usual features of snark and feral qualities. Fangorn uttered something and began to lift bits of soil and dirt from the loam, and the Honeybee knew it would be beneficial for Torchline, especially after the entire shitshow, but she also didn’t care for being unmoored and lost and stupefied.
Sila rang encouraging words and sidled next to the vampire gourd, and the smuggler sank to her knees beside her companions, huffing with her trowel in hand as she began to dig too. “Fiiiiine,” was a grumble. It would just be sad to see the thing immediately decimated because of her piss poor capabilities.
Don't the best of them bleed it out? While the rest of them peter out
There was part of Noah that would never be amazed at how different each region of Caido was. Despite having lived in this world his entire life, unlike the outlanders, he still held a wonder within him that he hoped would never fade. He was feeling it now, that wonder, as he walked along sand rather than snow, with spear in hand ready to decimate any void-critters along his way. Alerted by something ahead, Noah paused for a moment.
"Melita?" Noah asked, pausing to use his hand to act as a visor against the sun bearing down on him. Once he was confident that the wild red hair did in fact belong to the Honeybee, Noah closed more distance between them. "What are you doing?" He asked, dropped to a crouch on the other side of her. His eyes flicked briefly to her companions, and he made sure to soften his body some as to not cause the dragon nor the gourd concern against him.
Truth or consequence, say it aloud Use that evidence, race it around
Huffing a little under the strain of not being able to battle-ax her way through the situation, Melita opted to continue digging and muttering to herself. Another’s approach didn’t go out of her attention, not with two companions close at hand, but she didn’t give the demigod much of her presence until he loomed over.
Pausing momentarily in her haphazard haste, her head inclined upwards, staring back at the Forsaken. She hadn’t seen him in quite some time, probably before the war, and so addressing him came with all the casual manner she had at her disposal. “Oh, hey Noah.” Sila crawled immediately behind her, and Fangorn waved his viney tendrils. “Planting.” Obviously. Maybe.
Shrugging her shoulders, she arched her brow in his direction before attending back to the modest hole. “What are you doing?”
Don't the best of them bleed it out? While the rest of them peter out
His softened body language did not seem to help the dragon -- though he much preferred her jumping to hide behind Melita than to outright attack him, or even pounce on his chest as Phoebe's dragon had done many, many years ago during their first meeting. To further his softened stature, Noah rested his spear next to him in the sand.
"Killing void creatures." Noah replied with the same tone, lifting a brow curiously down at the half-dug hole. "Want a hand?" Noah asked, but reached forward to scoop out some sand that threatened to fall into the hole without waiting for an answer.
Truth or consequence, say it aloud Use that evidence, race it around
Sila didn’t come out, save for a mere poking of her head around Melita’s hip, before tucking herself away. Fangorn was all the more inviting with his waving tendrils, before adhering back to the digging progress, slow but steady. Her trowel dug further and further, the dirt and sandy soil swept away under her work and efforts.
The killing of other void creatures kept her curiosity in tact though, and the Honeybee glanced his way, brow arched and impudence managed. “Sure.” She clearly wasn’t doing well, and maybe with his assistance the sapling stood a chance at surviving; the smuggler was proud, but not that asinine. “What have you been hunting?”
Don't the best of them bleed it out? While the rest of them peter out
Noah smiled softly at her agreement to his help, and then scooped more and more sand away with his hands while leaving her room to work with her trowel. Often, his eyes would flick towards the woman, but past her, looking to see if her dragon had made a reappearance. When she didn’t, Noah would then look to the gourd and then back to his digging hands.
”I got a few geckos and burned a few bundles of infected pineapples, but nothing too big yet today.” Though each and every decimation and murder of such void-touched creatures was obedience to Vi’s mandate, no matter their size or destructive capability. ”Vi said to destroy all of them. I learned that Flora had gotten infected from some kind of creature, but Rae healed her.” Noah said, almost idly, unaware that Melita had been on that expedition.
Truth or consequence, say it aloud Use that evidence, race it around
Geckos and infected pineapples made her snort; because those hadn’t been the most predacious things she’d ever heard of. But both of them digging into the earth made the process go faster, and before long there was an adequate, hollowed out sanction for the sapling to go within. Waiting for his hands to get out of the way, her eyes flickered from the demigod to the sapling, snagging at the little tree and placing it within.
From there, they could start covering it once more, dislodging dirt and soil and sand, and while Fangorn helped (in trifle amounts, given the vines), her head swung back up at Vi’s mission, and the notions from Flora. “Yeah. We were fighting an infected fyrhund. Nothing else seemed to work for healing it either,” other than Rae, obviously, sometime later. “So we should just be killing any of ‘em we see?”
Don't the best of them bleed it out? While the rest of them peter out
"Without hesitation." Noah said, nodding once, firmly and with a set jaw. "Vi was very clear when he spoke to me about killing them." One of the clearest things the god had every given him, actually. His tendency to speak in the vaguest of terms far above Noah and another other mortal sometimes left the demigod reeling -- but not this command. "The gods--" Vi, and Safrin, at least to Noah's knowledge "--are worried about this." Noah said, jutting his chin towards the distant moon-turned-island.
He let out a sigh and pushed the moist sand back into the hole, and pushed down to pack the sapling's roots, before scooping the dry sand more on top of the moist.
Truth or consequence, say it aloud Use that evidence, race it around
“Fucking should be,” and she shrugged; having heard of Safrin’s warnings passing through seasons and months ago. She had a multitude of other things on her mind, like her uncle’s latest dumbass scheme, but she wasn’t going to mention that to Noah. “Gotcha. I’ll kill what I see.” A promise of bloodshed was easy nowadays.
She scooped more of the sand back within the sapling’s newly confined area, before reaching for her little canister of water. She began pouring, allowing it to sink and seep into the elements and fixtures, before glancing upward at the Forsaken, as if he had somehow become the resident plant expert. “Think that’ll be enough?”
Don't the best of them bleed it out? While the rest of them peter out
“I think so.” Noah said, guessing as much as the Honeybee. His only experience with plants and maintaining them was in the greenhouse, and that was entirely brief. There were many other Halovians dedicated to the life of those plants and the people they fed. Noah had always been more concerned with the proteins that walked out on the tundra.
Standing, he brushed the sand off his knees and shins, and scooped up his spear again. ”Good. Encourage other people to, too. And stay safe.” His eyes flicked towards the purple-stained horizon again, narrowing in on the island before flitting back to Melita. ”If you need anything…” Noah trailed off some, implying his help would be there.
Then, he departed from her and her companions and went back to his hunting.
FIN
Truth or consequence, say it aloud Use that evidence, race it around
