by M. M. Kin
Dates and other fruit rained against the divan and floor as she cast the shallow bowl containing them. He looked confused, which pleased her immensely, and she picked up the jug of wine.
“Stop,” Hades growled, his hands out as she jiggled the container, getting a feel of its weight as she felt the sloshing inside.
“Or what?" she challenged, raising her chin as she lifted her arm backward. His eyes narrowed, and Persephone felt his shadowy tendrils slide up her feet and legs. Before her arms could be bound, she tossed it at him with as much force as she could manage. He easily dodged the flask, but some of the wine splashed on him as it arced through the air. Immediately after that, her arms were bound, but she smirked at him.
“Are you so defenseless against me that you must resort to using your Gift when I have none of my own to use in this dark place?" she taunted. He did not respond immediately, his gaze moving around the room. She had managed to clear most of the table.
“Am I such a bad host that you must throw food at me?” he retorted.
“Go fuck yourself!” she snarled. It certainly wasn't a phrase her parents had taught her, but she had heard it – and other profanities – shouted by condemned souls after they had been sentenced. It would be directed at the Judges, Kampe, or any of the shades attending to the punishment of various ill-behaved souls.
“Oh, but I thought you were bleeding,” he retorted. Her shriek of frustration rivaled the banshee scream of the Furies, and he had to stifle a laugh.
“Let me go right now!” She twisted and struggled against her bonds, knowing it was useless but determined to not just give up.
“Only if you stop throwing things at me,” he replied. She nodded tersely.
“Now, unbind me,” she demanded in a softer but no less firm voice, chin raised and shoulders squared, appearing dignified despite her predicament. With a flick of his hand, he obeyed her command. She rubbed her arms as she glanced around at the mess she made, biting back a smile of satisfaction. It had felt good to just hurl all of these things, and use him as her target.
“If you try to make me eat another meal, I will start throwing things again!” she threatened.
“Then I will simply need to make sure you are bound during our meals,” he replied. She exploded with a hiss of frustration, flailing her arms as he gazed at her with an insolent grin.
o0o
Rather than have more food brought up in front of her, he let her leave before the shades were summoned to clean the mess. Good riddance. She had no desire for his company. That insufferable bastard, acting as if what he was doing was just fine, because he was a man! Damn them all to hell. If she could just get her hands on Zeus... or Ares... or even Hermes. Ugh!
What I need is some female company. Hekate had a rather sarcastic opinion of men. That was just what she needed. Perhaps she could convince the other goddess to help her out. Fifty days might be nothing to Hades, but she had no doubt that Mother felt each and every one of these days acutely as she searched for her missing child.
“Cloe!” she whispered. Within a moment, the shade coalesced into visibility, hovering there as it waited for her command.
“Take me to Hekate.”
The shade floated in front of her, smoothly gliding through the air as she walked down the steps in front of the Palace. She did not even look back as she wrapped her cowl more securely around her shoulders. Without the sun to warm her skin, even the mild atmosphere of the more pleasant parts of the Underworld carried a chill.
She had never been to see Hekate before, even though the Goddess of the Crossroads had visited her several times. She welcomed Hekate's company, for the first time in her life having a real peer, instead of a caretaker like the nymphs. In some ways, Hekate was like Cyane. It was Hekate who had explained to her about bleeding, and how relieved the younger goddess was to learn that it really was nothing to be afraid of, that women the world over – immortal or mortal – shared this same experience.
That came with the knowledge that bleeding meant a woman could have children. It was a rather daunting thought. She knew that some women had children before they reached her age. Auntie Ptheia had only been seventeen when she married – and at this time, Enna had still been a harsh clime – and two years later, her first child had been born into a transformed and peaceful valley. She was a wonderful wife and mother, content with her lot in life with a husband who cared for her, healthy children, and a mother-in-law that she got along with.
Children! What would a child between Hades and herself look like, or be like? What kind of Gifts might the child have? The idea intrigued her because she was curious, and frightened her because bearing and raising a child was daunting. She had gained plenty of maturity and insight in Hades, and it was that insight that also told her she wasn't ready for one. Not for a long while yet.
She was so lost in her thoughts she barely noticed the sky darkening above her head. The path from the Palace led wherever Hades wished, providing long or short routes to whatever location he might desire to go to. The wide path narrowed to a certain extent that it was not wide enough for Hades's chariot, and the sky dimmed further.
Cloe had never failed to lead her to the correct destinations, but it was getting harder to see the shade as the light dimmed. That was a tricky thing about the shades, they all but disappeared from view when it became dark.
As if sensing its mistress' need, the shade extended a tendril backward, wrapping it around her right wrist, the cool wispiness of it causing her palm to tingle a bit.
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she made out what looked like a lamp, barely illuminating the person who was holding it. She blinked as she noticed that the path had diverged into several others, spreading out like the spokes of a wheel, beyond the light.
“Hello, Persephone. I have been expecting you,” Hekate beckoned for her to walk together. The two women walked down the path that Hekate chose.
“Where are we going?”
“You will see. I think you will like it,” Hekate responded. The older Goddess strode forward at a casual pace with Persephone several steps behind her.
o0o
“Do not hide back there. Come walk at my side,” she added, looking over her shoulder. Her companion hastened to her side. Persephone was happy to see her, that much was apparent, but the older goddess also sensed worry, irritation, and concealed anger seething under the red-haired goddess' calm visage.
“Did you have an altercation with Hades?” Hekate asked in a friendly tone, inviting Persephone to share her woes.
“Men are absolutely insufferable creatures!” the younger goddess spat out, “We would be better off without them!”
“Spoken like a true woman!” her companion replied with a warm laugh, though inwardly she wondered what the problem might be. What did Hades do to enrage his captive so?
“How do you deal with them when they are being so... dense?” Persephone muttered fiercely.
“Oh, that's easy. I just avoid them. Or when I have to deal with them, I just act mysterious and fuck around with them.”
“At least your sire did not give you away. Stupid jackass, Mother was right about him.”
Hekate continued walking and did not miss a beat, but she found herself turning this new bit of information over in her head. There were quite a few gods who could fit this description...
“Were you not notified of this at all before Hades brought you down here?”
“No. Nobody thought to discuss it with me, or even do the basic courtesy of informing me.”
Hekate would have done something about Persephone's situation sooner, if not for Hades's gag order. But she couldn't just sit by and let this continue. Hades wasn't a cruel man, but she knew that it was unfair that Persephone had had no say regarding her own fate. Men were rather obnoxious and hard-headed at times.
“Who is your father?”
“He is not my father. He is a sire, nothing more.”
“Very well then, sire.
” Hekate could understand that. That was all some men were, really. They took no more responsibility for their children than the animals used for siring.
“I do not wish to be known as his daughter,” she replied after several long moments.
“I would not tell anyone.”
“It is not that I do not trust you. I just... have no desire to speak his name. I do not want anyone knowing of my association with him!”
“No child should be ashamed of his or her parent,” Hekate whispered sympathetically. She saw Persephone quickly lift her hand to wipe a stray tear away from her face. She could feel the frustration from the young queen.
“Tell me what happened. Cry if you like, there is nobody else around. What did Hades do?”
“He refuses to let me go to the surface or see Mother or anything like that. And then I ask him if he will let my mother wander around looking for me indefinitely, and he does not care! He demands that I eat the food of the dead, and refuses to even consider anything else!”
Hades goes too far, Hekate thought grimly. “I take it you still refuse the food,” she replied gently. Persephone didn't look starved, but there was a certain sort of wanness around her face, and the light tan she had in the beginning was now entirely gone, leaving behind skin that was just a shade darker than snow.
It gave the Queen of the Dead an ethereal sort of beauty, but it also made her seem less... for lack of a better word, human.
“I will not let someone else be master of my fate,” the younger deity replied grimly.
“Even Fate itself?” Hekate replied dryly. Persephone scowled at the memory of her meeting with the mysterious women who spun and manipulated the threads of life and the cosmos.
“What right do they have to determine the lives of others? They killed the man who raised me, my father,” Persephone responded angrily.
Hekate had listened to a couple of Persephone's stories of Iasion while they shared stories about their parents, and he had sounded like such a nice person. Certainly a lot better than her sire. Whomever he might be, she could see none of him in Persephone's features, not even the slightest. As for her mother, there was a minimal amount of resemblance there, though like Hypnos, she noted the partial resemblance between Persephone and her grandmother. It was said that some traits skipped a generation, and this worked to the younger goddess's advantage.
“Nobody can command Fate.”
“Where did the Fates come from, anyway? Are they more of Nyx's mysterious children?” Persephone asked Hekate, the two of them wandering along the path.
“They were here before Gaea, and even before Chaos. I get the feeling that what I see, what you see, is merely an image they show us.”
“Oh good, I thought I was the only one!” Persephone replied. Hekate paused to stare at her before she nodded.
“That means that you truly belong here. With us. Your senses are more open than the ones above.”
“Just because I had that funny feeling about them does not mean that! I miss the surface world.”
“I know you did not come down here willingly.” Hekate sighed quietly. “But the Lord of the Underworld loves you. I do not deny that he has a funny way of showing it, though... I tried to talk to him about it, but he has forbidden me to help you to the surface world.”
“I know.” Persephone stared away dejectedly.
“The deities who are part of Dis are few, but we each have a place here. To be among the Olympians is an honor indeed, but it is us who will remain when they are long gone.”
“I have no desire to spend eternity in the realm of the dead.”
“Lady Persephone, have you not realized that this is much more than a place for housing souls, or to reward the good and punish the wicked?”
Persephone was silent for a moment before she made her response.
“This is not a terrible place. But I miss the surface world. I saw so little of it in my life, and now I wish to see the rest of it. Hades spoke of places outside of Hellas. It is not fair, he gets to see these places and I am stuck down here!” She stuck out her lower lip in a pout.
“I honestly thought that Hades might be better than his brothers regarding that sort of thing,” Hekate commented dryly. Hades was no misogynist, but he certainly had his quirks, and once he made a decision, nothing would move him from it. His wrath when Hekate brought up the subject of Persephone's imprisonment evidenced that well enough.
“We are almost there!” she added, giving the other goddess a much-needed distraction from the subject as she pointed in the distance. Previously, the darkness had been stark, like a bottomless pit. But now several stars hung above their heads, and more glittered in front of them as the resemblance to the night sky on the surface world became more apparent.
o0o
Last time Persephone had looked at the ground, it was dark gray, but now as she took note of her surroundings, she could not help but be reminded of the Fates' own abode. There were no stars twinkling in the ground, but the surface had taken on an almost velvety feeling, having slight give under her feet as if she was walking on thick grass.
There were several smoky swirls scattered sparsely through the sky, glittering with stardust and stellar vapors, resembling the Milky Way. This cosmic canvas was studded with the shining stars of entire galaxies. Around them, the silence was vast.
Hekate led her on further, walking down a path that was no longer visible.
“How do you know which path to choose, where to go?” the younger deity asked, recalling the identical paths diverging from a single point. “Do you create these paths?” It seemed logical, given that Hekate was the Goddess of the Crossroads.
“Yes and no. All parts of Dis, and the universe itself are connected by paths, literal and figurative. I simply made my own representation of the links between each realm and area. Each of us has our own way of traversing these paths in this world, and on the surface realm as well. Of course, I would be glad to teach you how to make your own. You can imagine it any way you like and create your own network. But we will work on that later since we are now at our destination."
“Greetings, sister Goddesses.” Nyx's voice greeted them.
“Hello, Nyx. We thought it would be nice to have a visit." Hekate replied. In front of her, Persephone could almost swear that she saw the darkness rippling before Nyx's dusky face emerged from it.
“But of course. Come, make yourself comfortable.” Nyx's voice was deep and smooth and soft, rolling over Persephone and causing her to shiver slightly. The allure of night...
“Now it is just us three women. Persephone tires of the antics of menfolk. Something we can all understand, hmm?” Hekate smiled, showing her dimples as she winked at Persephone before turning back to Nyx.
“I would be honored to acquaint myself with you further,” the youngest Goddess stated eagerly. She had not seen Nyx since the banquet. A human certainly would have taken notice of the time that passed, but to such a deity as Nyx, that was a mere blink of an eye in the grand scheme of things. Time really was different here.
“As would I, youngest sister.”
“Sister? I am sorry, but I am unsure of what you mean by that.”
“You are now one of us, a deity of Dis.” Persephone had to resist a retort of denial, and nibbled her lower lip as Nyx spoke, “We of Khthonios are a family of our own, with stronger bonds than that of the many who reside above; you are now part of my fold. And you are my twin's great-granddaughter, which also ties us by blood.”
Persephone was the granddaughter of Kronos and Rhea through her own parents, and Kronos and Rhea were born of Gaea, the original Hellenic Earth-Goddess, and Ouranos, the Sky. But the overwhelming majority of these gods remained above, many of them living among the mortals. As far as Persephone was concerned, these gods of the other world were far-removed from their Olympian brethren. She hadn't considered her relationship with them. But Nyx and Gaea, twin sisters? To her, it seemed like the difference between day and night, whic
h in this case was quite almost literal, when she thought about it.
And here she was in the Underworld, plucked from her parent's world for a greater destiny here – or so the Fates had said – and wondered at the circumstances. Hades had the same parents as his siblings, yet he had left the world above and was happy about it. So had Hekate. This place really wasn't Hell. She could not help but recall Hades's hurt when she would defy him or swear at him.
“Really? I had never contemplated that. So we are all related... in one way or another.” The Titans were cousins to the Olympians and in some cases, even brother or sister, or parent. But nobody on the surface seemed to know that even these mighty surface gods might be in some way related to the gods of Dis.
“Relations are different down here. Hades is more closely tied to us than them, as you will be. But do not worry about any of that. Things will happen in due time. Now tell me, Persephone... how is life down here? Are you happy with your Lord?”
“Life here is... interesting." That much was the truth. She was never bored, and found herself mentally stimulated, pondering things she had never thought of before and learning things she had never contemplated. And she liked that. She genuinely enjoyed the locales of the Underworld she had already seen and was eager to explore further, one step at a time.
“Interesting? That's all you have to say?” Nyx sounded almost teasing.
“Yes,” Persephone replied quietly, not wanting to get into the specifics.
“There is no need to speak of men here,” Hekate interjected as she sensed her companion's discomfort. “I am of the opinion that she would rather hear one of your stories. Perhaps you could tell her the one of how you and Gaea came to Hellas.”
