Vernal Equinox
It was this day, this one day out of the entire year, which Demeter both feared and anticipated.
It had been six months since she had last seen her daughter. Six months to the day. And that meant that her time in darkness was through until fall came again. Long ago, Demeter had contracted an agreement with her brother that Persephone would not be required to spend even a day longer than six months in his nightmarish realm. True to his word, Hades always returned the girl on the vernal equinox.
She was always eager to snatch her daughter back from the depths, naturally. Persephone was always seemingly unaffected by the amount of time she had to spend without sunlight, but Demeter continued to pray that a year would come when her daughter could no longer stand to go underground. The pomegranate seeds that she had eaten bound her to Hades, but surely if she argued long enough with Zeus, the contract could be broken?
Even if it could, Demeter thought bitterly, Persephone would return to her consort willingly.
It had been the biggest surprise to learn, several years earlier, that her daughter actually loved the man who had kidnapped her and forced her to marry him. Demeter thought that she had raised her better than that—that men like Hades were not worthy of her love. But Persephone insisted that Hades was not the man that Demeter thought he was. She said he was kind and thoughtful, and he took great care to make sure she was happy. She said he was a tender lover and that he put her own pleasures before his own. Such talk made Demeter's lip curl in disgust, for it was her biggest fear that Persephone would one day return to her and her belly would be swollen with child.
It had been many, many years since their wedding, and after the first few years had passed, Demeter had tried to convince herself that Hades was incapable of creating life within her daughter's womb. After all, he was the lord of the dead. It was not within his power to foster anything living. But Demeter's fear lived on; that one day he would discover some dark magic that would enable them to have children. Surely if they did, they would be monsters, far more fearsome than Circe's demonic creation, Scylla.
She felt the cold earth shift and shudder beneath her feet, and caught her breath as she watched it split apart before her eyes. Though Hades was not a theatrical god by any means, he always managed to make quite an entrance.
A great chasm rent the ground, and the darkness came spilling out. The gate of the underworld rose before her, and Demeter shuddered, hearing the calls and pleas of the dead even from where she was standing. With one final shudder, the doors opened, and Demeter felt the icy chill of death wrap its arms around her, grasping for the life it could not take. A second later, the dark form of Hades appeared, and behind him the smaller, pale-faced figure of Persephone.
The girl's eyes flitted to her mother, and Demeter was arrested by her expression. Persephone's eyes were her most expressive feature, and they were clearly screaming don't make me leave. It irritated Demeter. I am your mother, the woman who raised you and loved you with every fiber of my heart, who swore to keep you safe from men. I tore the earth apart to find you when you were taken from me. I was prepared to sacrifice anything to get you back. And you are always loathe to leave that place of darkness and misery; I feel as though I have to pry you from the arms of your captor!
Demeter cleared the thoughts from her head and opened her arms to her daughter. "Persephone, it is time for you to return to me, my lovely girl." Her smile was radiant.
The Queen returned her mother's smile slowly. "Yes. But let me say goodbye."
She turned to Hades, meeting his pale, icy eyes with her own blue ones. The look on the god's face could not be described as anything other than tender, as he drew her close with one arm. He bent his head to her ear, whispering words that were only meant for Persephone, but that the wind carried to Demeter anyway.
"I love you."
Persephone smiled, cupping his face in her hands so that she could kiss it, near his mouth. She would not put on a great display of affection for her husband, not in front of Demeter. Their love was a private one.
For a long while—what seemed like ages to the harvest goddess—they simply stood there, holding hands. Neither one of them spoke, but Demeter knew that words were not required in their conversation. Finally, Persephone stepped away, into the light. The black gown that she wore while she was underground, the garb of the Underworld Queen, blew away like dust, and she was Kore again, the sun-kissed girl that Demeter loved. She was shrouded in white and glowed like the sun.
Persephone's final act was to remove the bejeweled crown that rested on her dark head, the symbol of her office. Gently she handed it to her husband, who cradled it carefully before tucking it away into the depths of his robes. With one last look at her, he disappeared through the gate, which lowered itself back into the earth. The ground closed up as if it had never been split apart.
For a moment, Persephone simply stood and stared at the place where Hades had been, her back turned to Demeter. But finally she turned around, and there was a most brilliant smile on her face.
"I am home, Mother," she said, and embraced Demeter.
Beneath their feet, flowers began to bloom from the wintery earth. Relieved, Demeter hugged her fiercely, stroking the long fall of her hair. She had her Kore again, and the world would rejoice that it was spring once more.