What do you get when two ruthless assassins raise their daughter travelling through the wildest reaches of Caido? Take one look at Theea and you'll get a pretty good idea. Cheerful and tenacious in equal measure, and curious beyond all else, she began her journey on a mission to find those her mother once called family. And find them she did, soon rubbing elbows with demigods, leaders and even ghosts from the past. Her determination is resolute, her thirst for knowledge unmatched. We can't wait to see where her next adventure takes her!
Congratulations, Theea!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
OG Skinning provided by Kaons, with functionality and many custom plugins made by Neowulf!
Two vials of beautifully wrought glass had been filled with the water from blessed springs, and placed before the shrine. Maea had heard the accounts of those who had died and returned, and they had given her much to think about. For a mischievous evening she had lured sweet Sohalia on a curious adventure through the Wildwood forest, and experienced the powerful thrill and weight of responsibility that came with guiding another being to whatever end.
Now she knelt before the shrine just as early dawn lightened the sky into a steely gray, goosebumps rising from a slight chill in the air and the moisture of dewladen moss dampening her skirts. "Mort?" she prayed, softly so as not to disturb any creatures that still slept. "I have finished the tasks you gave me. If now is a good time... may we speak?"
Maea has completed her quest from Mort to revive her companion!
1. In three different threads speak to someone who has died and come back from the dead, asking about their experiences to better understand what what Shii will be going through
– love, death and robots Flora
– We just keep coming back Isla
– [SE] bad company Jack
3. Understand the nature of the will o' wisps by helping them with a task (i.e., helping to guide lost souls, playing a trick on someone, luring someone, etc)
– A whisper within a sigh Lured Sohalia to a beautiful spot in the woods
The light shifted. Not dramatically—no crack of thunder, no flare of magic—but gently, like the sky itself remembering how to breathe. The gray of dawn softened to gold where it touched the shrine, and the hush of the forest seemed to lean inward, listening.
Between one blink and the next, Mort was there.
He emerged like the memory of warmth in cold hands, barefoot on the moss, curls tousled from some unseen wind. The soft glow of his realm lingered faintly around his edges, as if the veil hadn’t quite closed behind him. His brown eyes crinkled with affection as he looked upon Maea, and he smiled the kind of smile that made even grief feel bearable.
"I was hoping you’d return," Mort said, his voice low and warm, as though not to disturb the hush she’d honoured. He stepped forward and knelt across from her, folding his long limbs with the grace of someone who belonged to every space he entered. His gaze flicked briefly to the vials, the water glinting faintly in the newborn light, and his smile deepened.
Mort’s hands rested loosely on his knees, his posture relaxed, as if they were merely two old friends meeting in a quiet moment. "Are you still certain?" he asked gently. "If I call Shii back to you...it will be their choice to return, but your life will no longer be one you live alone. Their light will be bound to yours again. As it once was."
At this point, were they not actually familiar with one another? Certainly it felt like it, and Maea relaxed in his presence as Death knelt before her. All nervousness and all the anxious tension bled away like shadows before dawn, and doubt followed with it. Calm certainty was all that remained, and a genntle flutter of excitement that her long years of living as half of a whole might finally end today.
"I am certain," she confirmed, her own hands braided loosely together upon her lap. "I've never really lived in isolation, anyway. My life belongs just as much to me as to those who care about me. I used to believe that wasn't the case, but... I understand now. I'll treasure it, and Shii's life, too if they want to live again. With all it offers, of love and grief and unexpected turns." Speaking to those who had returned from death solidified that insight, confirming what she'd realised when Ronin and Remi - and yes, Flora too - brought her back. Thalassa's hug, Hadama's meal, Talyson's rough hand awkwardly patting hers – those had been confirmation too, that no one lived in a vacuum, no matter how isolated they seemed. Or felt.
Mort listened in silence, his gaze never straying from Maea’s face. The light of dawn caught in his eyes, but it was something gentler that shone there—something eternal. At her final words, his smile returned, quiet and full of pride. He nodded once, slow and reverent. "Then it will be so."
Turning his head, Mort lifted a hand—not with flourish, but with the ease of someone simply drawing back a curtain. And in the space beside him, the air shimmered. Light spilled through in a narrow seam, golden and flickering like the flame of a lantern glimpsed through fog.
It wasn’t a door. It wasn’t even a gate. It was just enough. Through that small, trembling breach, something moved.
The light came first—delicate, pulsing, familiar. Then the shape: small, glowing, impossibly soft as it drifted into the clearing. Shii’s form shimmered like memory made manifest, their glow dim in the early light but no less alive for it. They hesitated at the threshold, dancing in the air for the space of a heartbeat.
Then, with a soundless surge, the will-o-wisp darted forward—toward Maea.
Mort watched, his hands folding loosely in his lap once more. His voice, when it came, was almost a whisper. "Welcome them home."
Maea has brought her companion back from the dead!
Between one moment and the next, everything changed. From time she reawakened on a Leafchange evening, Maea had carried an absence within. A jagged wound that never healed, like a part of her identity had vanished alongside the wisp. Sucking away laughter and fulfillment and draining joy from any situation, it had left her wondering about the point of life, of love, of anything and everything that she tried and failed to fill that void with.
Now, as that small light crossed the threshold, it began to fill up. Like a desert wind filling a footprint with sand, gently as the light of dawn bleached the night away from the shadows, Shii's gentle presence smoothed out the broken and jagged pieces in her. As it came darting towards her, Maea opened her arms wide to receive them. "Shii! You came back! Welcome home – " Zooming around her in dizzying spirals, their joy was one and the same. When the ancient held out her hands, Shii landed upon the palms and flickered subtly, barely audible whispers sighing sweetly as the girl leaned her brow against it. It was the softest touch; like a subtle warmth, or a breath against the skin - and it was enough. More than enough.
"Thank you," she murmured, halfway between laughter and tears as she tilted her head to gaze at Mort. "Can I hug you? This is... I don't have the words." Gratitude was too small a word for what filled her in this moment. Possibly it was love, pure and simple - and it changed everything.
Mort chuckled, soft and delighted, the sound like sunlight dancing on a still pond. His arms opened without hesitation, his boyish grin spreading wide across his face as he stepped forward. "Of course you can," he said, as if she’d asked something as simple as sharing breath, as if it had never occurred to him to say no.
And then he wrapped her up in golden warmth.
His embrace was gentle but steady, like the hush of twilight or the deep, grounding calm before sleep. Maea would feel it not just in her bones but in every frayed edge of her soul—reassurance, pride, love, and the quiet peace of being seen. The god of death did not glow, not exactly, but there was something luminous about the way the light clung to him now, gilding the edges of the clearing as if the world itself was grateful.
"You’ve earned this joy, Maea," he murmured against her temple, voice low and bright. "Every part of it."
He lingered just long enough to make the moment feel eternal before pulling back slightly, hands resting briefly on her shoulders, eyes warm with affection as they flicked toward the softly flickering wisp beside her. "Enjoy one another, mm?"
Stumbling to her feet and into his waiting arms, to embrace Mort was like reconnecting with every lost or half-forgotten family member she'd ever had. Tears welled up and overflowed, dampening her cheeks - and for once she simply let them flow, for they were a sign of a deep healing taking place. Afterwards she could never quite recall how long that embrace lasted - whether an instant or a lifetime - but in that moment, while it lasted, Maea was reminded of what it felt like to be okay. Not haunted, nor lonely, not searching or needing. Just... present, alive, and fully supported by every foundation she could ever wish for.
"Yes," she promised, as Mort withdrew and his hands on her shoulders leeched warmth and strength into her spine. "Always." Shii promised too, and came drifting over to whisper sweet secrets to Death for the duration of his stay. And when he left them, and the golden glow of his presence was replaced by the warmth of a swiftly rising sun, the pair lingered before the shrine in absolute contentment, savoring the simple joy of being together again.
