Disclaimer: I don't own the Riordanverse.

Little Protogenoi's Tales

Chapter 1: A visit with hope

Betas: None so far, you're welcome to apply

In a burst of flame, a young girl of eight or nine with mousy brown hair, warm cozy red eyes and dressed in a simple brown dress appeared alongside a girl a year or two younger with hip-length dark hair, grey eyes who was wearing an elaborate black and white gothic lolita dress. They had materialized in a room decorated in the style of a Victorian drawing room.

"Hestia, Ophis, welcome to my home!" A ten year old elfin girl with blonde hair in a bob cut and wearing a pinafore dress greeted the new arrivals.

"Greetings, Elpis." Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, returned cheerfully. "Say hello, little sister."

"Hello." Ophis, the young protogenoi of Time and Space, replied more shyly as she hid a little behind her older sister.

"Come, take a seat. I've set out the tea and snacks already." Elpis, the spirit of hope, said as she led her two guests over to a table by a window that overlooked a tranquil lake - something that should be impossible inside the pithos of hope - where the aforementioned food and drink was waiting.

The window caught Ophis' eye however, and the brunette divinity cautiously walked over to take a closer look.

"That's caught your eye, eh? Little Ophis." Elpis asked amusedly.

Blushing prettily at having let her curiosity overcome her manners, Ophis offered her apologies. "Sorry, Elpis, it's just that this is such a great piece of spatial manipulation and-"

"That's your domain. So you were fascinated. Totally understandable." Elpis said reassuringly. Hestia too was smiling at her sister encouragingly.

"Come and have some tea, Ophis, we can have Elpis give us a tour later." Hestia suggested. "If that's alright with you, Elpis, of course."

"No problem, Hesita." The spirit said with a happy nod.

The trio of young looking female immortals sat down for some tea and soon they were enjoying a relaxing conversation as they did so.

"So you really prefer that your home is a pithos?" Ophis curiously. "Wouldn't it be more convenient if it was a more regular shape?"

"Like a box?" Hestia prodded as she chewed on a cookie.

"A box?" Elpis scoffed. "This isn't ghostbusters, I ain't sitting in a box for eternity!"

Ophis just blinked her eyes in confusion, not fully getting the reference. "I don't get it."

Elpis was aghast. "You don't know about the Ghostbusters!?"

Ophis wilted a little under the spirit's vehemence, and Hestia hastily intervened. "Relax Elpis, we can just explain it to her."

A quick explanation and a new round of tea and snacks later, Elpis was finishing off with, "-so of course I don't want to seem like this is my prison. I'm here by choice and I don't want anyone to ever forget that. Besides, I've already got all my interior decor exactly how I like it. There's no way I'm changing everything! And that's what I'll have to do if my pithos changed into a box."

Ophis nodded, still intimidated in the face of Elpis' attitude. That and the fact she was getting bored, forced her to quickly turn a set of puppy dog eyes on her sister.

"Hestia, can I go explore now?"

The two older immortals exchanged a look, before the goddess smiled and replied. "Of course, Ophis. Elpis?"

"Certainly." The spirit said as she conjured another instance of herself which offered her hand to the youngest of the three divinities. "Follow me, Ophis."

As she departed, Ophis could hear the original Elpis comment to Hestia that, "Your sister's a shy little thing isn't she?"

She was just out of earshot when Hestia replied, "She's still getting used to things. She'll get the hang of it soon and open up."

Ophis couldn't agree more. She may have fought and killed Titans, and even battled the Fates themselves. But meeting new people, especially new divinities, unsettled her. The last time she met someone like that, she had become a prisoner and tool of her father and his Titan relatives. It was only natural, despite all her power, for her to be wary.

Though as the tour progressed, Elpis showed herself to be a friendly host that offered interesting insights into her wondrous home. It was full of spatial distortions that made it much bigger inside than it was on the outside and which made even the oddest and smallest spaces fit for any purpose that the spirit could come up with. For the primordial of Time and Space studying these manipulations was absolutely fascinating. They gave her so many new ideas.

An hour later a happy Ophis returned to the drawing room to find her sister and the original Elpis waiting for her. As she crossed into the room, the Elpis she was following shot her a smile and vanished.

"I'm glad you enjoyed the tour, Ophis." The spirit observed sincerely.

"Thanks. You have a great house." Ophis offered honestly.

Elpis just smiled.

"I'm glad you like it, Ophis, but it's time to go." Hestia said as she offered her hand. Ophis pouted but nevertheless took her sister's hand.

The two daughters of Kronos were about to teleport away when Elpis offered some parting words.

"Ophis, before you go let me give you a piece of advice. As a wise mortal, Tony DeLiso, once said, 'Keep your best wishes, close to your heart and watch what happens.'"

Ophis nodded with a smile even as the flames of Hestia's powers engulfed her and took the two sisters away.

In her now empty drawing room, Elpis sighed. "It's a pity that she'll not remember that advice when she needs it most. Things will go so much more easily if she did."

And here's the first short story in a collection that I aim to use to bridge The Search for Home with its possible sequel, The Rise of a New Power (tentative title). I hope this was a fun read and piqued your interest in both this story and in the sequel.

See you in future chapters of this story and in the sequel as well.