Iris's Shine

"Go tell Zeus to meet me above Athens tonight." Hera said to me, motioning with her hands to come closer, as if to give me a hug, "And Iris?"

"Yes?" I answered slowly walking towards her, her brown eyes warm; except I knew that they were preparing for ultimate revenge for Zeus and whatever girl he was off with now. "Do make sure that he comes alone."

"Yes Lady Hera. I will make sure that he is alone." I walked out of the shining granite and gold palace high up and Mt. Olympus and saw the familiar shine of my rainbow underneath the heavy cloud cover due to Zeus's bad mood. The rainbow's colors shone with a vivid luster. Brilliant blues, radiant reds, gorgeous greens, golden yellows and all of the other colors in-between. The beauty still dazzles me even though I had been doing this job for over a hundred years; constantly sending messages to and from the Gods and Goddesses. Especially Hera, when we first met she seemed to take a liking to me, so now I mostly brought messages from her to the other Gods.

I snatched my old and weathered wand out of thin air, letting its power seep into my bones. I could feel the ability to travel the whole world in only a few seconds leap into me, controlling how the rest of my body would act. Its beautiful pattern held a mixture of vines, the sea, the underworld, the sky, and even a couple of carved rainbows.

I hopped onto the rainbow road that would lead me to Zeus and all the people that I would ever need to send a message to. My rainbow knew the path that I would take, even If I didn't. But, one by one, my road was shortening with each delivery, each stop. Eventually, I would have to stop; my road only goes so far…

I entered a dark and stormy rain cloud (the place that my rainbow had led me) that apparently Zeus would be in, so I cautiously pushed farther into the grimy looking mist.

"I knew you would be coming." Zeus's voice drifted out from somewhere behind me, "I thought I saw Hera watching me and Clara, a nymph, earlier today above the palace. She always over acts…" his voice died out so I decided that I should say something. Still talking to the voice behind me, I said, "Well Lord Zeus, actually I came here because Lady Hera asked me to. She would like you to meet her above Athens tonight; alone." I said. I turned around to see the dark figure of a bald eagle, Zeus's bird, hovering behind me. It's piercing golden eyes shone with years of wisdom, except the occasional sparks of mischief that would flash across his frozen glare. His feathers were black with a couple of dusty grey feathers in between the layers, making for an extremely beautiful bird. His head was pure white, standing out greatly against the bright orange beak; through which Zeus's voice came tumbling out again, "Did you say Athens? Why there? That is unusual… when we meet alone, its usually above Argos… do you know why?"

"No sir." I said shaking my head, noticing that Hera had not told me why to call Zeus. Usually, to add to the pressure of doing the things that she asks, she tells me 'the reasons' that I need to hurry to get to the person on the other end of the line. I've found that most of the reasons are untrue; but she still usually tells them to me.

"Okay, tell her I'll be there. But make sure to tell me if anything seems a little fishy…" He said while slowly transforming into his God figure. Long thick golden hair sprouted from the ends of his jet black and dusty grey feathers. From his talons, arms, hands, legs, and feet grew, leaving just the mid half of the gigantic bird left to change. With one quick jerk of his body, Zeus was floating in mid-air; hair flowing gracefully behind him.

"Yes Lord Zeus." I bowed, as normal, letting my dress crinkle where I held it firmly; then made my way out of the thunderhead. As I came to the rim of the cloud, I suspected to see my rainbow surface from under the murky layer of dust and water vapor, the colors shining its attractive colors; it never did…