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 had taken longer to return to Torchline than anticipated with his ability to teleport greatly reduced. Hadama had sent a raven ahead with a letter for Flora to let her know that his return would be closer to a week.
And that they should meet as soon as they could afterwards.
He sent a second note when he arrived home once more and had dealt with the needs of the mer court, inviting her to brunch at a cafe they had helped to rebuild at the Docks, one set beside a canal so that it could cater to both human and mer clientele.
He floated in his customary place in the water, elbows resting on the warm stone of the canal edge beside a low table with a waiting pillow for seating a human diner. He held a slender stemmed glass in one hand, sipping occasionally from the sparkling golden-orange liquid while a second glass was already waiting at the table for the Queen, whenever she arrived.
Fashionably late (read: Spice hadn't woken her up on time and honestly, the dragon basically only had one job), Flora arrived to the cafe looking effortlessly beautiful. It was her most recognizable trait as a daughter of Hotaru's, though now that her mother had become a demigoddess, her beauty was something the Doubletake would only be able to dream of matching now.
"Heya! Sorry I'm late."
Sliding into her seat and immediately picking up the steam of her own glass, Flora gave the liquid inside a slow swirl. "What's this?" She wondered, before taking a sip before Hadama would have had time to answer. "Mmmmmmmmmmm. Delish."
The mermanta Tidebreaker had set aside plenty of time for their meeting, and he was content to watch the people going by and sip his drink in the sunshine. There was trouble on the horizon, but it was screened by the building for the moment and it was important to grab what peace they could while it was within their grasp.
Flora arrived like a Flowerbirth morning, lovely and full of light, and Hadama's eyes twinkled bright with fond amusement as he inclined his head in acceptance of her apology. "A 'sunrise mimosa'," he replied in answer as Flora swirled the peek of red grenadine at the bottom into the prosecco and pineapple-orange juice, darkening its color and enriching its flavor profile. His smile flickered briefly white against his brown skin before the waitress appeared with a bright chirp to slide menus in front of them.
Hadama slid his back with a murmur of: "Eggs benedict" before turning his full attention to the Doubletake. "Any news?" he asked her, taking another sip of his own mimosa as he settled in to listen to the state of the region, and any other tea that Flora had to spill on this fine Leafchange morning day.
"Honeycomb yoghurt please." Flora trilled as their server appeared. Once her order had been taken she settled back into her chair, drawing her drink close to her chest so that she could sip away to her heart's content without constantly having to reach for it.
"Just the usual. Things seem to be coming back together pretty well I think. I might actually be able to start work on getting the Hanged Man up and running now that the bulk of the cleanup has been taken care of." Aside from the random ghosts haunting around, everything seemed more or less the same.
Except..
"On a personal note, though I guess it effects Torchline too, Remi isn't Ludo's demigod anymore." She lets the news hang, wanting Hadama to incorrectly assume that meant he was no longer anyone's demigod. "Now he's Mort's." She adds after long enough pause, bouncing her eyebrows and hiding her grin behind the rim of her glass.
It was good to hear that no new disasters had arisen in his unexpectedly lengthy absence, and he lifted his glass in a silent toast of relief to the welcome news. Of course, Flora waited until he was taking another sip of his drink before she dropped the little update on Remi, and the Tidebreaker was forced to pause mid-swallow. He had fought several difficult battles in his life, but the current effort to not choke on his drink was one of the hardest.
His innate stoicism won in the end and he managed to finish without incident, though he set his drink down with unnecessary care as he looked back to Flora with a silent question in his eyes. One that she thankfully answered without further prompting, and he relaxed back into the water with a soft breath of relief and a genuine smile for the Doubletake. "Then I will send him my congratulations," he rumbled, tilting his head at her in acknowledgment of the point she had scored.
"Hmm. Have you been to see Safrin since her return?" he asked, since the subject of gods had arisen.
Pouting, having wanted to force the always-composed king into a spit take, Flora forces herself to be satisfied with the choked expression on his dark face. Grinning proudly, the Doubletake nods. "Yeah, he's all protection now so if you ever need a bodyguard, he's your man." She says a touch indifferently. He'd always been that to her anyway.
"Yeah, like almost right when she came back." Not right-right when she'd come back, but pretty close. "She didn't look great, but.." She'd been alive, and that was sort of the thing. "I asked for a ring to make me luckier, and she also gave me this—" Removing one of the many rings that she wore, Flora set down a large signet ring. It glittered like sunlight on the table, inscribed with the outline of a sea panther. "If I throw it, a sea panther comes out. It's pretty cool, actually. I haven't used it much because I feel like I'm going to lose it if I don't have a metal detector on me." She adds with a laugh.
Somehow using Remi as a mere bodyguard seemed like a waste of the demigod's talents, but Hadama couldn't deny the appeal. Emerald eyes warmed as he considered the turn of events and what it meant for Torchline and Caido. And himself, for that matter. He would appreciate a stronger and more experienced demigod's advice so near at hand.
Webbed fingers rested on the sun-warmed stone beside the canal as he listened to Flora's experience with their goddess, steely brows lifting briefly in surprise at how swiftly the Doubletake had moved before he leaned forward to examine the signet ring. "It is beautiful," he murmured, his smith-trained eye admiring the perfection of the craftsmanship and delicate beauty of the design. "It suits you. Hmm." He tilted his head to the side in thought, contemplating the problem the use of it posed. "Perhaps a thin chain attached to it so you can reel it back...?" Not unlike a fishing line, but fancier.
Her own question brought his gaze up again and he shifted to rest his elbows on the canal, rising a little higher out of the water. Emerald eyes sparkled with that quiet mischief that belied the solemn tone of his voice. "I saw her recently, while I was in Halo." He paused, reaching for his glass again though not drinking from it just yet. "She had an idea for our next improvement to Torchline." When they finished Rae's quest, hopefully soon.
He paused again, admiring the color of his drink. "And she gave me a pair of pants."Sip.
"Thank you." Flora trilled brightly, having thought the same. She was quite fond of jewellery, but that most of her trinkets could also pack a punch? Well, she wasn't called the Doubletake for nothin'. "Yeah maybe...I dunno, maybe I'll just ask her for a way to magic it back." Leaning on the gods for what she needed had always come second nature to Flora, and thus far her connections hadn't failed her.
'Ew, why Halo.' Pulling a face, Flora drained her glass. The taste of the tropical beverage warmed in ways that even thoughts of the icy tundra couldn't chase away. "But for real, why Halo?" Torchline was still fairly fucked after all. Gasp, maybe Hadama had a little mer friend in their frigid waters??
'Oh yeah? What's that?' Flora wonders, before tilting her head. "I don't get it."
Having the ring recall as swiftly as her knives would certainly be convenient, and it would be far easier than the fussiness of a chain or line. Hadama tilted his head in acknowledgment of her decision, content in Flora's place in the gods' regard as an Accepted - not to mention as the daughter of two demigods who could put in a good word for her.
"Mmh. The shrine on the Sea of Glass is quite beautiful. And it was not difficult when I could aquaport there." Now it required a bit more planning ahead and catching of an airship between regions... but he was getting ahead of himself. "I needed to speak to Deimos on a personal matter, so it was convenient."
Flora drained her glass as the waitress returned with their food, setting the dishes onto the low table and whisking the now-empty glass away for a new one. Hadama did not answer his Queen's question right away, instead setting his own glass down so he could pull himself out of the canal. As he did so his tail smoothly split and shifted into a pair of legs clad in black leather trousers hand-stitched with silver stars. In broad daylight he settled onto a cushion across from Flora and calmly reached for his fork. "She suggested shielding Torchline from Starfall's view." He paused, a slow, joyful smile spreading across his usually-serene features, teeth flashing white against his dark skin. "And she has taken me into her service."
'Yeah, but cold." One of the reasons they all lived in Torchline was for the climate, surely. "Oh." Well, that was fair enough then.
As Hadama pulled himself from the water, Flora recalled the way she'd felt when she was a much younger woman, seeing him for the first time. She'd been awestruck then, trying to play it cool at Maeve's side while internally fan-girling at the sight of the mermanta. Now her expression was much the same, and for almost the same reasons. "Wh—" Firmly ignoring the bit about shielding Torchline from view, instead the Doubletake leaned forward to swat her co-leader on the shoulder.
"Well why didn't you say so!" She trilled, looking both annoyed and wildly pleased before her expression melted into something amused and vaguely chastizing. "It makes you sound like you're a whore when you say it like that, just FYI." Flora mutters, raising her eyebrows before grinning.
"But in all seriousness, holy shit. I ...uh...I mean, I knew you were loyal to her, but damn. I would have never thought."
He was duly swatted, though it did nothing to dim his smile. Not even her education in his misleading use of language could dull the twinkle in his eye. If anything it only intensified it as he drank in her reaction with even more satisfaction than his mimosa. "An ancient and honored profession in Torchline," he acknowledged with a tilt of his head. "Though there are other demigods better suited for it." He sliced into his egg and muffin, checking the doneness of his yolk while the grin lingered. "Mmh. But I would not want to mislead anyone."
A trickle of gold escaped the egg to mix with the hollandaise and he used the edge of the fork to cut a bite-sized triangle from the food. "Indeed... I was surprised, too, when I was given the choice. And... it was not as easy as I expected," he admitted frankly. To no longer be Mer...
But the decision was made, and he had no regrets. He looked from the signet ring to Flora with that pleased smile still lingering though some of his solemnity was back. "Does this mean that you have you chosen her as well?"
"Wait, you aren't like...pregnant, are you? Or is she?" Flora's eyebrows raise, nearly disappearing into her bangs. 100% of Safrin's demigods had walked away with a child, after all.
Chasing a chunk of honeycomb around her bowl with her spoon, the Doubletake could only shrug. "Yeah, Safrin's a tricky one. Like, if you're fully on board with what she wants, it seems really good, but.." Well, who could ever be fully on board with the whims of a goddess? As for her allegiance, Flora glanced down at her ring with admiration. "For the most part, yeah. I know what she's done to my dad, both of them now, and how things get really bad if you fuck her off, but..' With a Cheshire grin, the Dobuletake wrapped her lips around her spoon with a hum of satisfaction.
"..I dunno that I could ever be a demi. That level of responsibility seems craaaaaaaaaaay."
"Mmh. I am not a seahorse mer," he assured Flora with a straight face and utter serenity. "And I did not ask if she was currently with eggs." He paused, tilting his head thoughtfully. "Or however gods handle it." Evie had told him that humans did live births, not unlike manta rays, but it was hard to imagine a god undergoing such a time-consuming and messy process.
He made inroads on his eggs while he listened to his co-ruler solemnly. He inclined his head in both acknowledgment and agreement with her opinion, but as her grin widened his own flashed briefly in return.
"Mmh. Strong words coming from the Queen of Torchline," he teased. "But it is a good point. We should consider our responsibilities for the season."though it was pretty much over whoops. "I recommend continuing to train our soldiers against the Void threat."
"You aren't even a mer anymore." The queen trills back, not that anatomy mattered when it came to the gods, as they were both aware.
"No, but that's my point. I know almost all of the other demis have led at some point, but like.." Pulling a face, Flora shakes her head. "I'd rather just whole-ass one thing, than half-ass two things, y'know?" Wise words, Ron Swanson.
Helping herself to more of her breakfast, the Doubletake hummed her agreement around her spoon once more. "Yeah, probs." She concurred with a nod. "If I work on the Hanged Man next season, d'you wanna work on the fountain? I feel like now that we're through the worst of it," hopefully "-that we can focus on that sort of thing?"
