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Matthew felt the familiar swoop of vertigo that signaled when he had switched from flying up into the sky of the Dreaming to flying down through the sky of the Waking. Below him he saw the black-clad figure that was his goal, and he glided downward in a graceful curve.
Lord Morpheus was talking to someone, so Matthew landed on the ground beside his feet, rather than on his shoulder. Lord Morpheus glanced down at him with the tiniest up-curve of the corner of his mouth, which passed as a warm smile from him. He extended his hand to Matthew, who quickly hopped onto it with one flap of his wings, and was lifted to Lord Morpheus’s shoulder.
Matthew finally looked at Lord Morpheus’s conversation partner who was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. But there was something-
“Sister,” Lord Morpheus was saying, “allow me to present my Raven, Matthew. Matthew, this is my sister, the Lady Death.”
The woman’s eyes were warm and her smile bright. “Hello, Matthew.”
Oh.
“I know you.” The words left Matthew’s beak before he could stop them.
Death’s smile faltered for a nanosecond and she tipped her head to the side. “You remember me?”
“Yes. I mean no. I mean sort of.”
“Sort of?” Death smiled encouragingly.
“It’s… sort of hazy.” Matthew shifted uncomfortably. “I remember you were there and you were. Um. You were kind. And then… and then I was in a different body and Lucienne was talking to me.”
“Those were the important parts,” Death said gently. “And how are you finding being a raven?”
“I like it.” Matthew glanced at Lord Morpheus. “A lot. It’s a good gig and I like flying.”
“And you’ve got shoulder privileges.” Death beamed. “It took some of your ravens decades to make it to your shoulder, didn’t it, Dream?”
“Perhaps.”
Matthew preened. He knew what ‘perhaps’ meant in the Boss’s lingo.
“Well I’m glad it’s working out.” Death looked distinctly pleased. “But I’m afraid I’ve got work to do.” She grabbed Lord Morpheus’s hand, then leaned in to kiss his cheek. “See you later, Dream. Bye, Matthew, keep up the good work!”
“Fare you well, my sister.”
“Bye! Thank you … ma’am,” Matthew finished awkwardly.
Lord Morpheus looked at him with a raised eyebrow and Matthew shrugged his wings.
Matthew gave his wings a gentle flap to keep his blood flowing: he had been perched on the tree branch for a long time. He wasn’t sure if this would work, but it was important, and he felt like he had to try. Fortunately Hob had some outing planned for Lord Morpheus in the Waking, so Matthew figured he had plenty of time.
When he decided to try to talk to Death, Matthew considered that he might kill something, a mouse for instance, in order to make contact. The fact that he liked eating mice was something that the formerly human part of his brain gingerly stepped around whenever it came up. But he wasn’t a great hunter by any stretch, he felt odd asking another raven for help with this particular errand, and he wasn’t entirely sure whether a mouse’s demise would mean that Death would show up in the form of a mouse. Plus it might be awkward, and the conversation already had plenty of potential for awkwardness, without adding blood sacrifice to the mix.
Waiting outside a hospice was, he felt, a much safer bet.
Matthew hadn’t seen her enter, but she walked out of the front door after Matthew had been waiting for a few hours. Same black pants and black tank top and black boots. It seemed the fashion sense ran in the family. Matthew took a breath, then flew down to land on the pavement in front of her.
Death pulled up short. “Matthew! Hi!”
Matthew gave a little bow.
“Oh,” Death laughed, “you don’t have to do that with me.”
“Um, thanks.” Matthew looked up at her.
“What’s up?” she asked. “Is Dream okay?”
“Yeah! Yeah, he’s fine!” Matthew said quickly. “He’s with Hob. All good. I just - um - I was hoping to talk to you? If that’s okay?”
“Of course!” She smiled. “Can you walk with me though? I should be getting to my next appointment.”
“Oh yeah, sure.”
Death started off and Matthew hopped along beside her.
“Do you want a lift?” she asked, patting her shoulder.
“Oh,” Matthew desperately hoped she wouldn’t take offense, “thanks for the offer, but I’m kind of a one shoulder type of guy.”
Death beamed at him. “I get it. So what’s on your mind?” she asked.
Matthew swallowed, steeled himself. “I wanted to ask you about Jessamy. The Raven before me.”
“Mm.” Death’s voice was quiet. “She was Dream’s Raven for a long time, but I can’t say I knew her well. He tends to keep you lot to himself.”
That wasn’t surprising, but Matthew still wasn’t quite sure how he felt about it. He filed it away and pressed on. “I actually wanted to ask about her death.”
“Okay…” Death sounded wary.
“It’s just… Lucienne told me that when the Corinthian was killed in the Waking, he re-formed in the Dreaming. And - and Lord Morpheus’s Ravens are dreams, and dreams can’t die, right?”
Death stopped walking and let out a slow breath. Matthew idly wondered if she actually needed to breathe.
“Dream knows far more than I do about how the rules work for his realm and his creations. We mostly stay out of each other’s affairs.”
“Yeah, and that’s worked out really great for your whole family,” Matthew deadpanned.
Death’s eyebrows shot up and she turned to face him. “Excuse me?”
Matthew’s beak fell open as he realized that he had just mouthed off to Death. THE Death!
“Sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean -“
But then her expression broke into a broad grin and she laughed. “Okay, fair enough.”
Matthew let himself breathe again.
Death leaned her back against a tree, propping the sole of one foot up against the trunk. She stuck her hands into her pockets. “But I’m still not sure I have any answers for you.”
“Well, even if you don’t know how dreams work, you know how death works,” Matthew said. “So why didn’t Jessamy go back to the Dreaming when she was murdered?”
“You said the Corinthian was renewed in the Dreaming?”
Matthew nodded.
“That was after Dream escaped, right?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
Death nodded and took a breath. “I’m pretty sure Jessamy couldn’t go back to the Dreaming because Dream wasn’t there,” Death said quietly. “He was cut off from the Dreaming so it couldn’t function to renew her. She wasn’t the only dream who died while he was imprisoned.”
“But she was the most important to him. And she died trying to save him.”
Death inclined her head in acknowledgment.
“So now that he’s back and the Dreaming is working again, could it renew her?”
Death sighed. “Matthew, she’s been dead for decades.”
“Sure, but she was a dream, it’s not like she has a corpse rotting in the ground. And lots of people exist in the Dreaming after they die, even if you don’t count me.”
“She is in the place appointed for her.”
“She’s not though,” Matthew insisted, opening his wings a little, “she’s in whatever shitty place she ended up because things were fucked when she was murdered trying to save your brother. The place appointed for her was the Dreaming. And now that it’s fixed, she should be able to come back.”
“Are you seriously asking me to bring Jessamy back from the dead?” Death crossed her arms over her chest.
“No. She’ll still be dead, I’m just asking you to let her be dead in the Dreaming. Like I am.” Matthew swallowed, pushing away the thought that he was arguing with Death.
“I can't just do that,” she said firmly.
Matthew bobbed his head. “I- I understand that you can’t just do that. But… what happened to Jessamy hurt Lord Morpheus. He’s better than he was but it still hurts him. I don’t know that bringing her back to the Dreaming will fix that hurt. In fact it probably won’t. But I’d bet you a pretty penny that it would help. Please.”
Death sighed and her shoulders slumped a little. “I do worry about him,” she said softly.
“Me too,” Matthew said, taking a step closer. “I wouldn’t be asking otherwise.”
Death blew out a long breath and straightened up, pushing off from the tree. “She has to want to come.”
“I didn’t know her, but she was his Raven. She’ll want to come.” There was no doubt in Matthew’s mind.
Death took another deep breath. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
She snapped her fingers and a doorway of white light appeared in front of them. Matthew wondered, as he hopped after her, whether he should feel more nervous about following Death into the light. But he reminded himself that it had worked out pretty well the last time.
Matthew had expected labyrinthine pathways, or at least a road, but instead they stepped into a blank white void, and there, laying down with her eyes closed peacefully, was Jessamy. Matthew supposed that Death got to take shortcuts. Jessamy was smaller than him, with a band of white feathers around her torso, and while he had never seen her before he was certain he would know her anywhere.
Death stroked a finger over Jessamy’s head. “Hi, sweetheart.”
Jessamy opened her eyes and blinked at Death, then her beak opened and she got quickly to her feet. “My lady! Hello!”
Death smiled warmly. “I have someone here who wants to talk to you.” She stepped aside so Jessamy could see Matthew.
Before Matthew could speak, Jessamy gasped.
“Oh! You’re his Raven! He got free? Is he alright?!”
“He’s alright,” Matthew said gently, stepping forward. “He’s doing pretty good, actually. He escaped a while ago and got his tools back and rebuilt the Dreaming.”
Jessamy seemed to sag with relief. “Oh, thank goodness!” She paused and shook her head, then looked up at him again. “I am so relieved. Thank you for telling me - ah, what is your name?”
Matthew bobbed his head. “I’m Matthew, and it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.”
“From… from Lord Morpheus?” Jessamy took a hesitant step towards him.
“Yeah. He misses you a lot. That’s - uh, why I’m here actually.”
Jessamy cocked her head to the side.
“When you were killed you came here instead of going back to the Dreaming because Lord Morpheus was cut off from the realm and it didn’t function right without him. But now that he’s back and has rebuilt it -” Matthew glanced at Death “- Lady Death was kind enough to say you could return.”
Death put her hands on her hips and gave him a wry smile. “You left out the part where you insisted and guilt-tripped me, Matthew.”
Matthew shrugged his wings. “I wanted you to have the credit.”
“I - I can go home?” Jessamy looked from one to another.
Death’s smile warmed and she went down on one knee. “Yes, sweetheart, you can go home if that’s what you want.”
“Oh!” Jessamy hopped towards Death. “Oh, please, my lady! More than anything!”
“You won’t be able to leave,” Death cautioned. “No more flying between realms. You’re still dead, but you can be dead in the Dreaming.”
“I understand!” Jessamy said quickly. “An eternity at home in the Dreaming is all I could ever ask for!”
“Right then.” Death stroked Jessamy’s head again, then stood and snapped her fingers.
Another doorway opened and Matthew could see Lord Morpheus’s throne room on the other side. Lord Morpheus was sitting on the stairs talking to Lucienne when the door caught Lord Morpheus’s attention and he stood with a frown.
“Off you go,” Death said. “Tell Dream I said hello.”
“You’re not coming?” Matthew asked.
“Nah,” she said, scrunching up her nose, “got work to do, and we try not to drop in on each other unannounced. You go enjoy the reunion.”
Jessamy turned and bowed low to Death. “Thank you, my lady. You have my neverending gratitude.”
Death smiled. “You two just take care of my brother.”
Matthew dipped his head. “Thank you, my lady. We will.”
With that, Matthew and Jessamy stepped through the door.
As they crossed the threshold Lord Morpheus stopped in his tracks, and his jaw dropped in a silent gasp.
“Jessamy,” he whispered, then turned to Matthew. “Matthew, what is this?”
“It’s me, my lord,” Jessamy said, stepping forward. “Lady Death permitted me to return.”
Lord Morpheus’s breath hitched and he ran forward as Jessamy flew into his arms. He caught her in a hug and dropped to his knees, burying his nose in the feathers of her back.
Matthew watched them, feeling warm from beak to tail feathers.
Lucienne stepped up beside him. “Is that really…” she asked in an undertone.
“Jessamy,” Matthew told her, proudly. “Real, sacrificed-herself-trying-to-save-him, Jessamy.”
“How?” Lucienne asked.
“I had a chat with Death,” Matthew said, his nonchalant tone undermined slightly by his preening. “Pointed out that if the Boss wasn’t locked up when Jessamy was killed, she would have just come back here when she died. So now that the place is fixed up, she should get to come back.”
“Oh, Matthew, well done!”
Lord Morpheus, who had been speaking quietly to Jessamy, looked up, his eyes shining with tears. “Matthew, Jessamy says this was your doing?”
“It was Lady Death, Boss. And she says hi. But I made the suggestion.”
Lord Morpheus held out his hand to Matthew, who flew to it and was brought into an embrace along with Jessamy. He pressed his head against Lord Morpheus’s chest.
“Thank you, Matthew. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Boss.”
He felt a beak combing the feathers at his neck.
“If I had an eternity to choose, I could not find someone better suited for the job of Raven,” Jessamy said.
Matthew was grateful that he couldn’t blush. “Yeah, well, it’ll be nice to have another Raven around the place.”