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!
Don't the best of them bleed it out? While the rest of them peter out
King's End was easy to travel to now, given the fact that it was officially a settled land and his compass could take him there instantly. He no longer had to flit across the land using his teleportation magic (though that was faster sometimes than even his experience with portals), which was nice. He could use his magic easily enough once within the confines of King's End, which he was now -- on a mission. Looking for Hotaru.
He had stopped at the House of Midnight and asked after her, but was told that she had gone out early that morning for a walk, stretch, or hunt -- the front desk couldn't remember, and Noah was unwilling to travel further inside the establishment to find out from someone who might have more information.
His feet touched the dewy grass and his eyes adjusted quickly to the mist-covered area, and he half-shifted his ears, nostrils stretching as he scented the air for her.
Truth or consequence, say it aloud Use that evidence, race it around
Hotaru had indeed gone for a walk, but not one without intent and curiosity behind it. Word of strange apparitions and spirits had been spreading since the turn of the season, but belief had come slowly in a region like King's End, where the veil had always seemed thinnest for a region built on the backs of graveyards and old legends. Once more reports had been confirmed it had bent hers and Sunjata's ears shortly after, and from there, well - how could a woman with the soul of a feline resist such curiosities?
She has tracked one of the unsettled spirits down in the Barrows, and has visited a few times to ascertain its patterns and to research the faded name on the stone she'd found in its depths. Normally this would be enough to sate her curiosity given it seems incapable of doing much damage even when approached, but the young man had been the last of his family line, and his relative youth had plucked a sorrowful cord in her breast that had made putting him to rest a more personal goal than anything like regional due-diligence.
The apparition flits ephemeral and aimless in the clearing in front of her as she watches it circle its gravestone, incense and flowers in her hands. They flex as she tightens her grip, spinning on her feet as the sound of other muted footsteps alerting her. Not wanting to bring someone else into the spirit's range, she follows the sound and blinks, surprised, to see Noah standing in the mist. Surprise gives way to affectionate warmth, forgetting the visual changes to herself as she approaches him like a streak of sunlight, extending her free arm to bring him closer and hopefully into an embrace. "Noah! What are you doing out this way?" Was this simply a trick of fate, or had he come looking for her? And why no letter, then?
the Valkyrie
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
Don't the best of them bleed it out? While the rest of them peter out
There was no letter because Noah wanted to test himself. While he was coming here for Hotaru and Hotaru alone, he knew the likelihood of finding her with the Flood or even wrapped in his arms was high. Noah wanted to know how he would react to that, how in control he was of himself. Arriving without giving her time to prepare (or even send Sunjata away) was the only way he could really test it.
But there was something that Noah wanted to speak to her about; something she knew well, rivaled only by Evie at this point: Deimos.
"Looking for you." He said, head cocked slightly at the contents in her hands. Surprised, Noah wanted to immediately respond protectively. His mind and bear instincts told him that the flash of moving light was a threat -- some kind of elemental that lived here in King's End coming to attack the Valkyrie. It wasn't until she pulled him in to her arms and her head pressed between his shoulder and his chest that it clicked within him. That light was her. He smiled, though awkward, and chuckled some. "Have you visited Frey recently?" He asked, unknowingly opening up the platform for her news.
Truth or consequence, say it aloud Use that evidence, race it around
It's not an unexpected answer, but she preens all the same, pleased that he came all this way just to find her of all people. Though she has faith in her loved ones, loneliness is a disease, and she had admittedly feared that her absence in Halo would lead to a slow dissolution of her bonds with the people she left behind.
Withdrawing, Hotaru's smile takes on a cheeky, vixen quality; I know something you don't know. "I have, actually," she trills on a tone like the beginning notes of a laugh. Looking up at him, she lets her eyes bleed to his stony blue shade, and her hair darkens to his particular array of dirty blond. "I've got a few new tricks up my sleeve." But the news presses like smoke up her throat, burning with the desire to tell him, and even the playfulness of sitting on a perfect secret can't appease her for long.
The playful, foxlike guile on her face softens into something vulnerable and openly happy. "They made me their demigod, actually." And if there's still awe in her tone it could surely be excused. Hotaru had been content to serve Frey in both quests and general ideals - always a woman of faith, no matter how others might be surprised by that - and she had never expected such a gift to come from the herald she loved.
the Valkyrie
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
Don't the best of them bleed it out? While the rest of them peter out
Noah straightened some when she pulled back, glacier eyes immediately held to hers. They shifted and her hair darkened to match his duller tones of blond, and the demigod smirked. "Good tricks." He said, nodding with respect. An ability such as that could really come in handy for her, he was certain, in many ways and in many situations. His smirk shifted as she went on, however.
Laughing brightly, Noah pulled her in for another hug again and held her tight against his chest. "That's great, Ru, really." He said through his bright laugh. Warmth filled him that resonated joy, and his pride for her pulsed over the attuned bond and filled every ounce of his mind. His hands grasped her shoulders and he held her at arms length. "What have they asked of you?" He wondered aloud, glacier eyes once again locked on hers that now mirrored back at him.
Noah had forgotten about the spirit in the distance, who had little of his attention in the beginning anyways.
Truth or consequence, say it aloud Use that evidence, race it around
Hotaru winks in response, aware that this power will likely be the one she uses most. It feels as natural as breathing, and brings her back to roots she had thought long shriveled and forgotten, from days when she was more thief and informant than queen and leader. Whether this power will be utilized in such ways is unclear given the generally stable political climate of Caido, but who knew what the future held?
He hugs her firmly, and Hotaru goes laughing and bright into his hold, squeezing back just as hard. She can feel his pride all around and within her. Each emotion feels a little different from each person; from Noah, it feels like a thick fur coat around her entire body, warm and heavy in the pleasant sort of way. "Thank you," she murmurs into his chest, righting her hair with an easy flick of her fingers as it bleeds back to her normal shade with the distraction of her attention.
"Nothing, truly. Frey's expectations have always followed upholding or spreading their ideals; self-gratification, sexual liberation, chasing the things you want." Of course they prefer things of a sexual nature, but even the pursuit of strength and renown fell into line with Frey's ideals so long as you wanted it badly enough for yourself. "I like to think their domain helps the balance by reminding people to live while they have the time. It's not an official command, but that is my current goal." Her smile is warm and satisfied. Hotaru may be lacking a true blue 'mission', but she has cultivated a few of her own in their place. Gesturing behind herself with the hand still full of offerings, her smile turns wry. "I was actually out here working on putting a spirit to rest for that exact reason. It has been disrupting the local citizens, and I'm sure it's not happy to be lingering here either." Hotaru knows Mort's grace firsthand, and she would hate to be parted from it after tasting it fully.
the Valkyrie
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
Don't the best of them bleed it out? While the rest of them peter out
Noah nodded with understanding, having been a follower of Frey himself before being chosen by the deity of life. He had chosen Frey originally for their hands-off nature, because all Noah knew of the gods then was that they had blessed him and had the potential to continue to give him what he wanted. While he never would have been able to verbalize that at the time, he knew now that’s how his heart had felt and his mind had thought. He had a whole different understanding, now, on the other side of things. He thought that Hotaru would do well as a Frey demigod, with her ambitious nature and her free willed spirit. It made him smile more broadly, then, settling in to more than acceptance but sheer joyous approval for her new status.
She indicated the spirit, and pulled Noah’s attention back to it. Lifting glacier eyes from her returned heterochromia, he eyed it warily and his jaw feathered. ”What was your plan? I will help.” He declared softly, knowing Hotaru was used to him at her side in all manner of things. They had fought together, built together, protected, loved and lost together, and their distance now would not stop that. Not today, anyway, when there was clear work to be done with the spirit lingering in the barrows.
Truth or consequence, say it aloud Use that evidence, race it around
His happiness for her is something to luxuriate in, something she'd wanted when she informed everyone of her move to King's End and her reunion with Sunjata but had known she wouldn't receive. It's different now - and Deimos had still been worried when he had found out, bless his heart - but it feels good to feel it now if not before.
Even the edge of concern and preparation in his face and tone can't fully dull the shine of her affection, even as it shifts her attention back to the meandering spirit. Though she had intended to do it alone, Noah is ever welcome at her side, a trusted companion in any venture. "He's the last of his family line. He's mildly volatile, but only to people near the roads, not his gravesite." She had tested that already, which is why she has returned now armed with proper materials. "I think he just wants to be remembered. I was going to light some incense, lay some flowers, and clean his gravestone." Perhaps dodge a few paltry throws of whatever refuse was laying around in the field, but she believes them both to be capable of that.
the Valkyrie
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
Don't the best of them bleed it out? While the rest of them peter out
”Okay, let’s do it.” Noah said, eyes still on the spirit that floated about with some sort of intentions that Noah wasn’t entirely sure he could pinpoint. Noah waited for Hotaru to lead the way, but when she did he stayed in stride with her. He reached for some of the tools she had gathered and began by crouching before his gravesite and carefully chipping moss off of the gravestone.
As they worked, Noah cleared his throat a little and spoke. ”I have to admit, Ru,” He started, ”that I am a bit jealous of this situation. With this new standing in life will eventually come immortality — and you’ll get to use it to stand in the arms of the one you love forever.” And Noah would not. Cordelia, eventually, would die. The fact gripped at his heart and he propped his forearms on his knees for a second. He jutted his chin towards the spectral man. ”That will be me. But with a living, beating heart.”
Truth or consequence, say it aloud Use that evidence, race it around
Hotaru leads the way on quiet feet, and her features bleed and shift to represent as close to family as she could mimic from stories and half-remembered lineage, hoping it will lend credence to her offerings and strengthen the idea that he hasn't been forgotten. A cousin, perhaps, or a niece. As Noah begins cleaning the grave itself, Hotaru begins pulling weeds from the base of it and sets down the bunch of flowers she'd brought, her ears tuning to Noah's voice immediately as he opens up.
She takes a long moment to think of her response, expression far-away and wistful. "I understand why you might be jealous," she murmurs, lighting the incense and snubbing out the fire so the embers burn and the smoke twists but nothing else leaps forth. "I can't say I'm not lucky. But Sunjata was not the man I believed to be my true love. I lost him - and our children with him - when our home burned. When the Voice brought me here, but not them." Her voice is soft and melodic, still Ru even when the rest of her looks so different. "I don't want to diminish what you have with Cordelia. Or even what I had with my first love, or with Sunjata. But I truly believe you can love someone entirely, lose them, and still love again." Even people who were assuredly soulmates. And she hadn't believed that before. Not until years of life in Caido had opened her heart again.
"And even if you cannot love another, would she want you to be like him?" Her eyes cast aside to the spirit, who paces around them in errant circles as if wanting to be angry but finding no material for it yet. "Wandering aimless and hurting until the clause for your immortality is met?" If so, that is not love either. And while she dislike Cordelia greatly, she won't assume such dark things of the woman. "I suspect Vi would not want his chosen to live such a half-life either; would surely bring you to Mort's realm rather than see you suffer." She doesn't mention that he could always choose to end it on his own terms, given it's a rather morbid idea when time hasn't forced his hand. Such were the dark benefits of knowing their own loopholes for eternal life.
the Valkyrie
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
Don't the best of them bleed it out? While the rest of them peter out
There was no malice, no hatred, no vitriol in her words. Only wisdom, pain, understanding. Noah wanted to nod, to agree, but he wasn;t sure he could. ...I truly believe you can love someone entirely, lose them, and still love again. Was a wonderful sentiment that, while Hotaru might be living it, Noah wasn't sure he could. He wasn't sure he could give of himself so wholly to someone else if he were to ever lose Cordelia. He had pieces of him that were fractured before -- love torn away from him, spit back in his face, replaced, forgotten -- but those loves were nothing compared even to one moment with the wife he held so dear.
"I believe Vi would remind me of my calling." Noah said, without much conviction or emotion. Truth be told, he didn't know the deity deeply enough to answer either way. While Vi was full of compassion and love as the god of life, Noah also knew him to be a stronghold to his word and a champion to the world at large. For Vi, Cordelia was not the the end for Noah. He knew that much, at least, in the very depth of himself. While the deity had told him to be a good husband and a good father, he had also called him to more. He had called him to Caido. Also -- if anyone knew about suffering in the wake of a love unable to be touched at its fullest, felt in its completeness, it was Vi.
Noah scrubbed at the headstone until it was clean again. Time, weather, and the moss had been unforgiving and relentless. The name was no longer clear, the dates worn away at the edges, but there was still one word that was remarkably readable among the rest of the blurred stone: husband.
Truth or consequence, say it aloud Use that evidence, race it around
04-24-2024, 12:12 AM (This post was last modified: 04-24-2024, 12:13 AM by Hotaru.)
eyes on fire, you are the unforecasted storm
Hotaru hums, intentionally vague in her tone. "Perhaps. But I'm inclined to believe that Vi knows humans, of all things, are not best suited for immortality. That's why we all have our backdoors to death." Creatures with less consciousness might find no issue with eternal life, but humans? "Vi created you; as a man, and as a demigod. I don't think he would go against your nature, when he shaped you with it. Not if he is anything like Mort." And though Mort has her dedication more than anyone, she can't claim to know Vi beyond the parallels of the lovers that they are. Maybe she's wrong - it wouldn't be the first time. She is not Vi's demigod after all.
As Noah's hands reveal the last word on the stone, Hotaru's heart aches. Love is her Achilles heel, and as the spirit swoops in at last, seemingly determined to hurl the flowers on the grave into her face, her magic reaches out. "Peace," she commands, the tone deeper and resonating with magic as her eyes find the gossamer reminders of his. The spirit stops immediately, the vague features of its face turned toward Hotaru. "Your wife is waiting for you. We will ensure you're remembered here. Now go to her." She infuses her last words with as much command as she can, as much magic as is at her fingertips, and she knows she isn't imagining it when the spirit's frame goes lax as if unburdened at last before dissipating in wisps, highlighted by the sun's rays peering through its once-corporeal form. Hotaru watches him go in silence, still holding the guise of what his family had looked like, heart full of conflicting emotion. Her hand reaches for Noah's in the quiet of the man's passing, reflective.
the Valkyrie
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
