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!
It isn't often that anyone would see Safrin's demigod leaving an offering for Ludo, of all deities. (And by not often it's rarer than a blue moon, in fact). But here we are this afternoon; Ronin appoaches the shrine at the docks with a basket of sweet pastries and a stuffed plush cat for the trickster god, setting both down carefully and touching the statue with reverent fingers.
It's inching towards evening, fingers of pink beginning to work through the sky, and the high tide sets the water to slapping against the pier. Ronin has his reasons for being here, of course, namely his husband - because for all Ludo has and hasn't done for Remi, ultimately it proved to be the key in the Bastion's ascent to Mort's side. And the Nova will never stop being grateful for that.
And so, sinking down and letting one bare foot dangle in the water, Ronin sits in quiet company of the shrine, happy to reflect in silence for a while.
People were stupid. Who leaves a basket of pastries that close to the water? It's just asking for an opportunistic thief to take their chances. And there were so many; just one couldn't hurt. The mershark continued to swim past when they first spotted the treats, not wanting to alert the fool on the docks.
Diving deeper to remain hidden, they circle back around until they are just beneath the dock. With a flick of their tail, they shoot upwards, breaching the surface with a splash. A quick hand jerks out to grab a pastry, already snapping back to dive into the water. Kaiden prizes their speed, and there's no way some random idiot on the docks will be fast enough to stop them, right?
Said idiot on the docks reacts so quickly, in fact, that he doesn't even know he's done it until his hand is lancing beneath the water to try and snag at the wrist holding said stolen pastry. Surprising himself more than anyone, if Ronin is successful he'll still find himself half in the water as a result of the action, his expression falling somewhere between shocked and annoyed.
"Um," he says, opting to keep hold of the thief rather than haul himself back dockside. "That's a shrine." He doesn't know much, but he knows that on the whole people tend to be at least somewhat respectful of shrines. Or at least they don't actively steal from one dedicated to the trickster herald. "To Ludo," he adds helpfully.
Kaiden bristles as their wrist is caught, "Let go!" They attempt to free themselves to no avail, huffing in annoyance and simply scowling as the man speaks. At least, the man seems to have gotten wet during his transgression. The mention of a shrine has the mer twisting and peering over their shoulder to study the statue.
After a moment, Kaiden glances up at the man, "Whaleshit. I don't see a name on it." Do shrines even have names on them? The mer doesn't know; they'd never visited one. At the very least, if Ludo's name is on the statue, Kaiden doesn't see it. Tilting their chin up, they add, "What kind of shrine doesn't even say what god it's for?" However, the idea of possibly angering Ludo does make a shiver go up their spine.
"You first," Ronin retorts, nodding at the pastry still held hostage in the hand he's caught. And as the Mer continues, the Nova is left looking a little bewildered, following the stranger's eyes up to the statue and the offerings left all around it. "First time up here?" he asks, as if they might be stupid. "I figured everyone this side of the islands knew what it was."
Using his other hand - gripping one of the dock posts - to haul himself back onto the deck, he ferries the Mer along with him provided he doesn't put up a fight. "I've never seen a shrine that did have a name on it," he adds, expression softening despite himself. "Either way, you should probably be glad I caught you. Ludo isn't the forgiving sort." He doesn't know it personally, per say, but it's personal-adjacent, thanks to Remi.
Kaiden glares, "Well I'm sorry that it's my first time seeing a shrine." But the stranger makes a compelling argument, so Kaiden lets out a huff before relinquishing their prize, "Fine." Not pouting, they look everywhere but at the man before mumbling, "Thanks." The word is clearly painful but in the face of nearly angering a god, it's necessary.
A determined look suddenly crosses their face, "Be right back." They dive down and, a few minutes later, reappear with a nice-sized fish. Smacking it onto the shrine beside the pastries, they square their shoulders, "Sorry, Ludo. Here." Hesitantly backing away from the shrine they look back at the man, "Is that good?" The entire thing feels horrifically awkward and the mer mostly just wants to go hide in some kelp now.
"You're welcome," Ronin says, and whilst at one point he might have said it sunnily, now he's more interested in returning the stolen pastry back amongst its sweet brethren to complete his offering. By which point the Mer is being right back, and no sooner does the Nova look up when a fish is being thrown at the shrine - despite himself, he barks out a laugh.
"You know what, I think Ludo would appreciate it," he admits. "More than a lot of the other gods, anyway. I think it quite likes toys and sweet things, though, for the record." Maybe the fish is sweet though, who is Ronin to know? Regardless, he reaches out to make sure the fish doesn't flop back away into the water and nods at the stranger.
The man gives his approval and Kaiden relaxes slightly, "Good."They don't know if they'll ever leave an offering again, but they do note the herald's preferences in the back of their mind. The mer gives a small nod of thanks for securing the fish before side-eying the shrine for a moment. "The gods are weird. I've never met any, but everything I hear is so mixed." Mostly rumors instead of firsthand accounts, but there were enough discrepancies to make their head spin.
"Kaiden. Don't forget it." If they're going to be polite enough to introduce themselves, the least Ronin could do is remember it so they don't have to repeat it.
"I'll do my best not to," Ronin says of Kaiden and their name. Given how few Mer he meets on a regular basis, he likes to think he'll recall the grumpy shrine-thief if ever they should come across each other a second time. "You're probably wise to keep it that way," he adds, of Kaiden not meeting any of the gods. "All of them are pretty mixed, depending on the day."
At one point he'd have been a little kinder, perhaps, but not even his own herald is spared his opinions these days. "Ludo can be tricky. It's pretty chaotic, from what I've seen. Safrin is a vain bitch... pretty manipulative, if I'm honest. I wouldn't approach her for anything given the choice. I don't know much of Frey, though."
Kaiden nods sagely, "I thought so." Tricky, manipulative, and unknown, it was all just too dangerous to deal with. Certainly, more trouble than they were worth. The mer suddenly caught onto what the man had said, "Wait, so you've actually met Ludo and Safrin? My con...condolences." It takes a second try to pronounce the word but the mershark happily swishes their tail, proud of the accomplishment. See, who needs books and studying? They were too smart for that.
Maybe Hadama would try to change their mind, but for now, only food and occasionally training mattered. Everything else was unnecessary. Simple distractions from what was actually important.
Ronin would concur if he knew Kaiden's thoughts on the gods - at least at this point in time, anyway. Tilting his head down at the mer-shark, he scoffs out a laugh at their condolences, inclining his head to readily accept them. "I wish I had only met them," he mutters. "I am Safrin's demigod, for my sins." And gods but he has plenty of those in his back pocket these days, too.
"Even if you don't ever plan to pray at shrines, it's probably a good idea to know where they are, right? So you don't accidentally steal from them," he continues, reaching out to gently pat the bronze statue they're having a conversation in front of. "And now you know about this one, so that's not so bad."
