Terho the Mouse-Lad

Fanart of Terho the Mouse-Lad by intheendlessbluewine https://intheendlessbluewine.tumblr.com/post/113442508824/some-terho-love-yay

## Physical description

### Hair color

*Unknown*

"*If you h-had a… villain, and you c-could make them g-go away by t-telling a m-mouse what to d-do. No m-matter how scared that mouse was…*"
―Terho the Mouse-Lad[[There Are Flowers]]
**Terho the Mouse-Lad** is a Seelie mouse shifter who freed the Nightingale from his prison, and later helped imprison him once more, then helped defeat Augus Each Uisge.

#### Status

* Court
* Underfae (former)

## Appearance

Terho is 'leucistic - almost albino - [with] a black stripe parting the centre of his tufted hair and running along his back, marking him as [a] striped field mouse'. Old Pete described him as 'cute'. He has clawed hands.

Gwyn ap Nudd observed that Terho seemed to always look exhausted.

## Personality

'He was, by all accounts, sweet and eager to please, a little more timid even than the average mouse.' Terho has PTSD, severe agoraphobia, and ouranophobia.

## Life

Terho was 'born on the fae side of Finland to a humble, respected family. His father was a tinker, his mother an assistant to a healer.' As a weak and illness-prone mouse, he went through many healer apprenticeships, and struggled to attain the rank of Half-Healer.

Before he came of age, he discovered his Healer's book on the underworlds. Terho's innate ability to unlock any lock got past Healer's protections, and Terho read the book. He accidentally 'traced a passage that sucked him screaming into the underworlds.' Trapped in the underworlds, he struggled to survive, and was slowly dying as he consumed what miserable food he could find, his sicknesses relapsed, and he went longer without sunlight.

After being attacked by another underworld demon, he ran into a corridor and locked it behind him, only to discover another locked door. Fearing the demon behind him, he went through the new door, only to find another. Fear and curiosity pushed him onward, through door after door, for months. He had to leave to find food and return, but he was determined.

At the very end, he found 'a gilt cage and a nightingale singing the sweetest, saddest song he had ever heard.' Thinking such a thing couldn't be evil, and trapped by wicked creatures as well, particularly since most fae - including Terho - didn't remember Mourner nightingales or the Nightingale, Terho spent a month working at the lock. The pair became friends, as Terho talked and the Nightingale cooed encouragement. Once freed, the Nightingale turned into a flock of nightingales once more, and fled to the fae world, though he returned for Terho and took him back to the fae world, as well.

Terho returned to the care of his Healer, for he was ill, dying, and had lost his apprenticeship. 'He could not take up his healing once more, and was alone and touched by so much darkness . . . that all fae felt a strange repulsion to be around him. A Mourner nightingale visited him sometimes, sang to him, [and] listened to him.'

Some times after the Nightingale had joined the Raven Prince's Unseelie Court, the Nightingale kidnapped Terho, and trapped him in the Nightingale's mansion, where faceless servants gave him food and water, but otherwise kept him alone. Terho could not free himself. Isolated, Terho 'became dependent on . . . the Nightingale, craving his brief visits over the decades, adoring his careless, callous attention. The Nightingale fed upon his sadness.'

Gwyn, a Seelie war general, had started researching the Nightingale, and discovered Terho's existence. When the Nightingale went to the human realm to begin making his third court, sowing chaos there, Terho was abandoned entirely. The absence 'unlocked the lock in his heart, allowing him to finally escape the mansion.' He found his Healer and explained everything, but Healer tried to take Terho into custody. Terho fled back to the Nightingale's mansion, where he thought he'd be safe. The Nightingale found him, and trapped him in a tower.

Gwyn visited Terho many times for help, though Terho refused to help or leave the tower. Terho had become afraid of the outside world.

Augus also visited Terho, using compulsions to force Terho to speak of how he released the Nightingale, which only enraged Augus. Augus tried to attack Terho, but couldn't enter the mansion.

Once Augus became King, he demoted the Nightingale to underfae and trapped him in a cave. After a year, the Nightingale escaped, and returned to his mansion, sometimes speaking with Terho while he rebuilt his power. Four years later, Augus invited the Nightingale to join the Unseelie Court.

Now King, Gwyn found Terho starving to death in his tower. Gwyn promoted him to Court, fed and healed him, then stole him to the Seelie Court. Augus briefly captured and tortured Terho, but Gwyn rescued him. In the meanwhile, Terho had lost his heartsong, and was deeply traumatized and tired.

At some point, Gwyn 'showed [Ash Glashtyn] Terho like...like it was fine to parade around a victim' in order to impress upon Ash how dangerous Augus was.

Nonetheless, Terho lured the Nightingale into the underworlds using the old life debt the Nightingale owed for Terho freeing him, where Mages turned the Nightingale into a bird once more, and Terho trapped him in a cage, locking the many doors once more.

Terho also discovered 'that the Each Uisge's unpredictable patterns were because he had been driven mad by the Nightingale', and along with Ash, 'forced sickening underworld creatures into the Each Uisge's body until he broke and rescinded his own Kingship.' Gwyn took Augus into custody.

The whole fae realm knew that Terho was to blame for all the horror that had come of his releasing the Nightingale. Terho 'was loathed. Hated. Attempts were made on his life. It mattered not that he was a hero, that he had defeated the Nightingale despite loving him and being terrified of him. It mattered not that Gwyn publicly declared Terho a hero and champion of the fae.' Gwyn found him a safe, warded place on protected Seelie land, where he would be cared for by a family of sparrow shifters.

Anika the Sparrow-Girl was principally in charge of Terho's care. She took to talking to him, until she brought up the sky, and he asked her to not speak of it. When she ceased talking at all, he apologized, and they began conversing, briefly and rarely. Gwyn sometimes visited Terho, which taxed him greatly, until Anika spoke to Gwyn on his behalf, without Terho's knowledge. Terho seemed to improve, until one evening he heard a nightingale singing, and became terrified that the Nightingale had returned. In her desperation, Anika began pushing glowdaisies into his window. Distracted, Terho was surprised, and calmed. He asked her to stay and speak to him, if she would, and she did.

Gwyn noted that it took some time for Terho to recover to recover from his experiences, so it's possible that Terho has recovered more since the events of *There Are Flowers*.

## Special Abilities

#### Fae Abilities

**Unlocking:** Terho can 'unlock any lock. His body and magic was a universal key'.

#### Skills

**Healing:** Terho is 'adept at healing those chronic illnesses that rarely find the fae - those that come about due to curses or magical sicknesses'.

## Relationships

### Anika the Sparrow-Girl

Terho called Anika 'sweet but misguided'. Anika loves him.

### Anika's parents

Anika's family has done their best to remove any nightingale nests they find on the property.

### Augus Each Uisge

Terho urged Gwyn to 'do whatever he could to make sure Augus was rendered unable to hurt anyone, ever again.'

### Gwyn ap Nudd

Gwyn seems to care for Terho to some extent, but was - and still is - quite willing to use him to defeat the Nightingale and Augus. Terho said that Gwyn means well, but that he can be cruel, as well, and what he did, he did for the greater good. Gwyn did ensure that Anika and her family would care for Terho in Gwyn's absence, when Gwyn was demoted. Gwyn regrets treating Terho so poorly by pushing him hard enough to hurt himself on behalf of their goals.

### Healer

Terho seemed to have some fondness for Healer, and Terho thought of Healer while trapped in the underworlds, and even sought Healer's aid later. But when Healer tried to capture Terho, what remained of their relationship possibly dissolved, at last to frighten Terho enough into fleeing back to the Nightingale.

### The Nightingale

Terho loves and fears the Nightingale, deeply, and is terrified of the song of even normal nightingales. The Nightingale views Terho as a shiny bauble, and wishes to take Terho's powers for his own.

## Quotations

* Old Pete: 'I think of Half-Healer Terho often. When I see mouse-shifters, when I see mice, when I see clouds and sunlight and the gentle moon and fall in love with the wonder of our world all over again. I think of him hiding from the great bowl of the sky, living in the darkness he had feared and wanted to escape for years while he was lost in the underworld. I can tell from some of your faces that many of you still dislike or even hate Terho. But he was like you or I, like any of us – his life is one of what it is to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Except, perhaps, that he was in the right place at the right time for the Nightingale – and this was never really a story about Terho, was it?'

## Trivia

* At the time of Terho's stay in the cottage on Anika's family land, he was 336 years old.

## Image Gallery

Fanart of Terho the Mouse-Lad by intheendlessbluewine https://intheendlessbluewine.tumblr.com/post/113442508824/some-terho-love-yayFanart of the Nightingale and Terho the Mouse-Lad by plintoon https://plintoon.tumblr.com/post/86057502907/ok-i-cant-finish-this-so-ill-upload-it-as-isArt of a striped field mouse by Pia Foxhall https://not-poignant.tumblr.com/post/81462572839/currently-working-out-the-timeline-for-theFanart of anthro Terho the Mouse-Lad by plintoon https://plintoon.tumblr.com/post/85707711622/there-is-a-sad-lack-of-terho-art-and-before-youFanart of Terho the Mouse-Lad and the Nightingale by suis0u https://suis0u.tumblr.com/post/626860791643111424/some-of-you-have-asked-about-terho-the-mouse-ladFanart of **Terho the Mouse-Lad** and Anika the Sparrow-Girl by plintoon https://plintoon-reblogs.tumblr.com/post/108120941558/i-loved-not-poignants-latest-fic-these-guysFanart of Terho the Mouse-Lad by tif-oh-two https://tif-oh-two.tumblr.com/post/85248768307/063-terho-terho-the-mouse-lad-fromFanart of the Nightingale and Terho the Mouse-Lad by brenoftarth https://brenoftarth.tumblr.com/post/180085179309/do-you-ever-wonder-why-i-sing-these-love-songsFanart of Terho the Mouse-Lad by tiniestrebelwitharainbow https://not-poignant.tumblr.com/post/87149793938/tiniestrebelwitharainbow-claiming-this-as-aFanart of Terho the Mouse-Lad by tiniestrebelwitharainbow https://not-poignant.tumblr.com/post/85197764938/guess-whoFanart of Terho the Mouse-Lad by kazechama https://kazechama.tumblr.com/post/84939964173/i-present-you-the-mouse-lad-terho-with-a-typo

## References

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19  not\_poignant. "The Nightingale and Terho the Mouse-Lad." *The Fae Tales Verse, Archive of Our Own,* 5 May 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1571246.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 not\_poignant. “There Are Flowers.” *The Fae Tales Verse - canon extras. Archive of Our Own,* 12 January 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/3166064.
3. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own*, 30 June 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/7101860. Chapter 28: Solidarity.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 16 January 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/6910442. Chapter 26: Clarity.
5. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 10 April 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/8227330. Chapter 39: Want.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 16 September 2021. https://archiveofourown.org/chapters/84324043. Chapter 15: The Enemy of My Enemy.