The sky wasn’t just blue here. There were many different colors mixed together in unnatural ways. What is clear blue suddenly shifts into a striking red that melts into a purple with some beautiful blue in the middle once more, with clouds of dirty white floating past at a notable speed, like the sky is rotating about two or three times faster than back home.

  Birds flew in the sky and seemed to shine in these same dazzling colors- quite literally shine, the feathers were reflective of light, forcing Maia to lift a hand to shield her eyes. Her hood had fallen down in the tumble, blinking and adjusting to the light-

  … ah?her hand isn’t as pale anymore. In fact, it’s reached its usual coloration. Her slightly withered, paper thin flesh has gained most of the plumpness and liveliness it once had as well. She’s so taken aback by this that she just ends up dumbfoundedly staring at her hand while Homer helps her to stand by yanking her up by the shoulder and keeping her steady.

  “Aye, I noticed as well. We’ve all gotten a bit of a makeover…”Now that she looked, Homer was actually a little younger looking. Much of the bck in his hair and beard had returned, some wrinkles smoothed over. Aymanah had the least changes, young as healthy as they were, but Maia could see their feathers had a bit of a shinier sheen to them. Like they’d all been infused with a little more life.

  “Makes sense. Entering the realm of the gods is one thing, but we must’ve popped out into life’s domain. The rift is still there…”

  Homer knocks on the tree trunk they’ve all stumbled out of.

  “Although I tried pushing through it with little luck. Wonder why we could enter from our side but not from here. Being stranded here isn’t exactly my idea of a good time, even if I like not having constant back pains.”

  Maia rises and tries to push her hand against the rift, but it just feels like she’s pressing her palm against some gss… Nothing happens. She can feel the warm breeze on the other side, but something is keeping them from passing through.

  “Life’s entourage had to get through somehow, so perhaps one of them could help? We’re within his realm, and we still have to find Callistis. Maybe he opened this rift for some reason.”

  Maia pumps her fists in the air. It feels peculiar. She’d never quite realized how sluggish feeling her motions had become recently; everything felt smoother. Was this what she’d been missing? Death’s love had changed her slowly, so the changes just didn’t set in…

  … Aaah, she doesn’t have time to think about this.

  “Let’s get going, you two! We don’t want to get stuck here.”

  It really was beautiful though. Maia had come to appreciate the wider world during these travels, but this was something else entirely. It defied logic at times, a waterfall in the distance that seemed to flow up from the ke into nothingness, and the animals… Long necked beasts with brown dots all over their yellowy bodies traveling in herds- like, very long necked, maybe twice the height of Homer- eating from high up trees that seemed to reach out into the firmament.

  Of course, more of Life’s servants could be found here. Goat legged folk- not all of them youthful here. Some were much older. They were not a hint of clothing here, while in the world of mortals they usually had some sort of wrappings to hide their privates. Maia had to bashfully avert her gaze constantly, although neither Homer or Aymanah seemed to have any issues.

  Well, Aymanah tended to stare directly *at* the private parts with their usual dead fish stare, which might’ve been a problem of its own.

  They got some answers without much prompting; they could head back whenever they wanted simply by asking any of the family members they’d found so far. Opening up a small rift to the grove was a blessing granted to all of them- the rifts were aligned to the energies of the side they were opened on, so mortals could enter from the mortal side but not from the side of the godly realm. Life’s family was aligned with both dimensions, hence the back-and-forth travel.

  So they weren’t stuck here, at least. But they couldn’t linger for too long either, as one especially old looking goat-man expined, chuckling as he sat on a brightly colored rock with two small children pying at his feet.

  “This pce doesn’t quite like pure mortals. You feel good now, but stay too long and you’ll just get livelier. Eventually you’re going to explode into a big red mist from too much positive energy. Better to find what you’re looking for and leave- only those with godly patrons and their blessings can linger.”

  Maia had been pondering whether she could just start her journey anew here, find Death in her own realm… But that wouldn’t be possible, no.

  That would probably invalidate the very point anyway. She was to make a journey as a mortal, and her god was to wait for her. Anything else would betray what she’s experienced so far; and she’d be leaving Homer and Aymanah behind. She takes a gnce over to her companions; Homer is staring down at himself in a pool of water with a truly mixed expression, seemingly unable to decide whether his newly-regained youth is a good or a bad thing, worriedly feeling his side and the faded scars.

  Aymanah is Aymanah of course, as bnd faced as always, but clearly observing each and every little thing that happens from a leaf rustling to one of those long necked beasts pying with their young by striding around. Their curiosity is inspiring, and Maia pats her own cheeks twice, then thrice, and continues onward.

  Each goat legged, horned individual gives them more precise instructions until they come across a simir clearing as the one in the world of mortals, although this one has a full party going on. The part of Life’s retinue that hadn’t yet come to the mortal world had started feasting, rutting and celebrating on a whim, and the party had been so great it even drew some of the mortal world arrivals back to the bosom of their family.

  The outright orgiastic feeling of the gathering made Maia look down shyly, but she still kept bumping through the crowds of revelers to try and find Callistis. The thought that a mortal had given everything away for this fshes in her mind- she couldn’t imagine that. This sort of excessive revelry brought about by a ck of mortality. She could see men drinking right from barrels, women eating their body weight and some more without changing.

  Was godlike durability meant for mortals to simply gorge themselves upon?

  “They know how to party, that’s for sure.”Homer somehow acquired a haunch of something or other in one hand and a tankard of some liquid in the other while she’s been looking away.“Reminds me of the cn feast that happens once every few years…”Even Aymanah is chewing on something.

  This does not make her rex, though. Maia heard a little joke from her father once; when everyone in the party goes to the tavern, someone has to stop drinking so that they can actually ride the horse straight at the head of the pack or everyone ends up going their own way.

  She’s the designated rider tonight, then.

  Eventually, Callistis does come into view among all the debauchery. He’s just as cherubic as described; even his goat legs are rather dainty, and his horns are merely nubs rather than fully curved ones. Maia could definitely understand a mortal wanting him, and even the gods. Surprisingly he’s not partaking in the feast, though… He’s beyond it, at the edge of the clearing, a small child cradled in his arms.

  Maia decides to leave her companions to the revelries (Homer had been dragged into a peculiar row dance and Aymanah was busy dogging a near deaf old geezer about what he was eating) to break past and join him instead, taking a seat opposite of him and the babe in arms.

  “Hello there,” his voice rings out, surprisingly deep. “... you are a mortal and not one of ours. Did I forget to close the rift when I came through? Oh, goodness me- well, at least I’m not the first one this has happened to, ahaha. You really ought to-”

  Maia’s hand lifts.

  “Go back before the energies make us explode into red mist? Trust me. Drilled into our heads. We’re going back once we’re done with our business here.”

  Thank goodness she had the good sense to take the wine from Homer before she left him to his own devices. The bottle is fetched from within her robes and held out, the lighting of the realm of the gods making the surface of the bottle dazzle even more than usual. Did Theodora predict this, or is this just a happy coincidence?

  “... It’s that time of the year again, isn’t it. Ahah. Every year I take the wine, and then I forget that it’s coming the next. How long has it been now? Please, pce it over to the side. I can’t really hold it nor drink right now.”

  The babe in his arms gurgles out some babble to give a good reason as to why Callistis ought to not be drinking right now, and Maia gently pces the bottle to the side.

  “Although usually she’s the one who brings the wine, or she sends someone to invite me to take it. This is the first time she’s had someone deliver the wine. How impersonal. How is my sister? I am always happy to see her, even if leaving the manor makes me feel quite forlorn due to the topics we discuss.”

  Callistis’s finger idly tickles the chin of the babe. This one was clearly born from these goat-legged celebrants, small horns sprouting from its forehead and goat-legged clumps clearly idly kicking about in the wrapping. Life’s family was only connected to each other by their love for Life, in most cases, so it made sense that some of them would bond together like so.

  “Theodora is fine, I think… We don’t know very much about her, truth be told. Sorry, we’re not nobility or native to the godsblooded capital- besides one of us, but even he’s a traveler.”

  Homer’s bellowing ugh echoes from the background just at the right time. She’s not going to turn her head to look at what he’s up to right now. Let him enjoy himself; he’s the one on the death march after all.

  “That’s good. I worry that she is giving up on me… And I am also relieved if she is. I would love to meet her face to face as a sibling coming for a visit, rather than a ball and chain around her ankle keeping her tethered to the past. But I do not believe she can let go of bringing her little Callis home until she’s buried underneath the ground…”

  The babe suddenly kicks again and is let go of, stumbling onto the grass with a giggle as it begins to toddle towards Maia.

  She reaches her hand out and then withdraws it. Seeing her fingers so full of life, seeing the bright skin, feeling so limber- it feels so alien, and she’s scared she’ll scare the babe.

  But the babe keeps coming anyway, and stumbles against her p, and climbs to sit there. And her breath hitches, and she slowly reaches that hand down and strokes through the bck hair so full of life. This sort of human contact is so alien to her. Callistis has taken the wine and popped the cork open, taking a long sip.

  And then he pces it down, leans forward, hand on his chin, angelic features full of curiosity.

  “You’re no local, and you’re no nobility. So what are you, and what has you so shaken? We’ve time.”

  Maia sighs, strokes the babe’s hair some more. Could she have this talk? She should have this talk. Because as things stand, Callistis is her only chance to talk to someone so very *alike* her before she has to make her decision.

  “I too am beloved by a god,” she begins.

  “... By death itself.”