“Sorry I’m late,” Hope boomed from above, their starry figure not quite taking form well, but nevertheless clearly waving happily at Tim.

Behind the podium, the three sisters peeked out, and breathed a collective sigh of relief. Meanwhile, the High Councilman stared at the being, glaring at it.

“Who are you, and what are you doing in my courtroom?” the weasly man hissed.

“I’m Hope, and I technically built this place. I don’t like what you’ve done with it,” Hope replied, “I think you’ve been rude enough to my friends, so I think I’m going to strip you of your powers and take them back for now.”

“Y..you can’t–” The High Councilman said as he ran out of breath, collapsing on his knees and panting.

“What’s wrong with him?” Tim asked Hope.

“He is not meant to survive this long, and has only done so, it appears, on a trick he pulled on the descendants of the Titans, er, I think you called them Olympians? Whatever the case may be, he is now mortal again, and all mortals…”

“Die,” Martha ended, grinning at the withering man.

“I…I will get you from the underworld,” he hissed, as his comrades in the background crumbled to dust.

“You will not,” Hope replied, “I have made sure of that. Enjoy oblivion.”

He gasped, as if to cry out in protest, but then wheezed and decayed into ashes and dust.

“So,” Martha spoke, “that’s over.”

“Indeed,” Atropos spoke from the back, hobbling up front, Lachesis and Clotho helping her.

“Atropos…” Martha started.

“Quiet, dear sister,” Atropos hushed, “my time is nearly out, and it is high time I bless you as the goddess of willpower.”

Martha embraced her gently, Atropos frailly patting her back. The two stayed embraced for a moment, before Martha stepped back again, looking at her with tear-filled eyes.

“It’s been a long journey, I know,” Atropos replied, looking up at her mentee, “but with Hope’s permission, I shall return, as a mortal, and then enjoy a life in the Underworld for a while longer. Perhaps you can visit me, even, when I am reborn.”

“You do not merely have my permission,” Hope replied, “I will ensure it is so.”

“But, can’t you do something about her death?” Martha cried.

“Death is a part of this world for everything, even I,” Hope replied, “but do not fear, for that is what makes life worth living.”

Atropos then suddenly fell into Martha’s arms, and began to dissolve too. But Martha saw, that what remained was not mere gray dust, but the little sparkles of light she saw every day in her work. And she knew that things would be okay.

The next few months were very busy. Trying to fix the mortals’ perceptions of the divine after everyone who was meant to die had not done so for a good day or two was difficult, but with a little convincing and a few hat tricks, it was possible. It did involve a lot of going on talk shows by several of the gods and goddesses, which, Martha was unsure why they hadn’t done that before, but she figured bureaucracy was as big a reason as any with the outgoing “administration”.

It turned out that the Fountain Rivers did find someone to replace their dear sister, who they mourned dearly, and once again all four rivers flowed from the Fountain of Youth. Persimmon’s Tea House opened in the Underworld, with Persimmon delighted to find her teaset could be moved down with her, with a little coaxing Hades.

Tim and Martha, meanwhile, moved into a copy of Atropos’ house, always reserving a space at the dinner table for her. With Clotho’s help, they had found her reincarnated, but seeing as she was now a newborn baby, they elected to stay away from conversing too much. Still, the child’s parents did find a few divine gives from mysterious sources, labeled merely “to our dear sister”.

And it turned out, Cass did have a reason for appearing so well as Martha’s soulmate. Hope explained to them that Tim was her soulmate, but that their ‘scent’ had rubbed off so well on Cass that the attraction just seemed natural. An interesting reason to be sure, and while Martha found it interesting, to be honest, she was about done with the whole ‘leaving matters up to destiny’ thing.

Clotho did go back to running marathons, as she always had, and tried to get Lachesis to go along as well, though Lachesis found herself walking most of the way, or talking herself out of breath with another runner most of the way through. Still, it was good to keep the body active, along with the mind.

Martha’s father had passed away, and while she went to visit him, she found he was the life of the party in the Underworld, especially loving to hear other people’s stories about their lives in antiquity. She had heard rumors that Hades had asked Proserpina to make him the Court Historian, but those were just rumors.

And so it came to pass, that somehow, through all these bends and loops, that the Heavens and the Earth somehow found peace they had not known in centuries after an unlikely truck accident a few years prior.