Henrietta

Upon opening the doors, Henrietta looked beyond, and was struck dumb.

The first thing she felt was an instinctual familiarity with the place, almost as if she had seen it in a dream. Then, as she took in the sights - the dead trees, the gravestone, the cathedral in the distance with that coiling spiral, that accursed grinning moon - she remembered the lessons of Maria, and it came to her.

The Boneyard. The place where the dead went to be judged.

Dropping to her knees, Henrietta began to laugh in a low and humorless tone, almost completely ignoring Vesper and Bellas.

"So... this is it. I have to say, at least the process of getting here was painless. Is this your way of telling me off for not paying you the proper dues, Pharasma? Couldn't stand one of your own going into Shelyn's service instead of yours? I mean, it's not like I was trying to forget you. How could I?"

Opening her hand, she found that Maria's holy symbol had somehow made its way into her palm, and she closed her fist around it again. Her eyes closed, and tears formed at the edges of her eyes.

"You know, it's funny... I shouldn't be so broken over this. And yet, I am. What do I do, Eternal Rose? How do I deal with being dead?"

Spoiler: And then, she heard voices ring out.
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"Oh, you aren't dead. Not yet, at any rate. We may be able to help you rectify your present circumstances, actually," said a disembodied voice. "Oh, excuse me. We forgot to make ourselves visible before speaking. I do so apologize." Materializing out of thin air was a looming black skeleton wrapped in the wings of a giant black raven. A vulture-like mask of polished ceramic gazed balefully from where its skull should be. Without a gesture, a wickedly curved scythe appeared in its elongated fingers. Upon the shoulder of the skeleton sat a strange songbird wearing a plaster mask.

"Thoot, put that away. It won't be needed." The voice seemed to come from the raven.

In a blink, the scythe was gone.

"Oh, isn’t this a meeting of obvious fortuitousness! Here you are, and here we are. My name is Umble, and my silent companion here is named Thoot. We mean you no harm, despite the strange harmaments you seem to have already suffered. Yes, yes, this is the land of the dead, and no, you aren’t dead yourselves. You seem to be something of a special case—you seem a touch too vitalitinous for this place."

The bird peered closely at the party, cocking her head to one side. "Ah, there is a wonderment! Your hearts have something lodged inside them. Something that’s brought you here, but kept you from doing so in the orthodoxiumous fashion. I cannot help but ruminate: what has caused your strange condition?"

Spoiler: Umble and Thoot
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Blinking, Henrietta looked up at the two beings - psychopomps of some kind, clearly, given where they were. Slipping the holy symbol back into her pocket, she stood up and addressed them.

"You tell us. We woke up not half an hour ago inside that tomb behind us, made our way out, and ran straight into you two. And... wait, we're still alive? How... And..." She stopped to think for a moment, considering the last thing they'd said. "There's something lodged in our hearts? Can you see what it is?" She looked back to the others, her gaze lingering on Coty and Vesper in particular. "Can you?"