Frankly, I wasn't thinking about doing any sort of continuation for "The Messenger" but too many fun ideas popped into my head centering around the idea of Spring Equinox partying...so here is another one-shot that kinda continues where "The Messenger" left off with Persephone!
Enjoy! And Review!
ON WITH THE STORY
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The Spring Goddess and Her Fate
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"I will see you then, my friend!"
Waving, Persephone watched as Iris raced up and out of the Underworld with a bittersweet smile, wishing the petite goddess would just whisk her away, back to a world with more light than shadows and more living than dead.
"See you then."
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Persephone stood at the black marble window overlooking the road that led from the River Styx to the palace where the shades of the mortal plane would be judged their deeds and rewarded accordingly. Iris had long since departed back to the mortal plane and the burst of color that was the messenger goddess's footpath through the worlds disappeared along with her.
For the brief moment Iris was here, Persephone did not feel the weight of the dead world clinging like a nightmare that never left with the light of a new day. Of course, there is no true light here, only the false gems and rocks that blinked as the fireflies in her meadows did when she was still young and innocent under her mother's watchful eye. Iris and her rainbow reminded the depressed goddess of what she once had and now could never fully have as her own again.
Six months…six months of this darkness before she would be free to be what her nature demands of her. But then, even that will only last for half a year before she is restrained to the duties shackled to her unwilling spirit by the god who is as every bit unyielding as the rules that govern his realm. Still, the pull of excitement that had accompanied Iris and the message she had delivered allowed Persephone to forget for a time her situation. Her mother, Demeter, was putting together a party in honor of her return to the surface world. Persephone knew that all of her old friends would be there and eager to see her, worried about her person as much as how she was adjusting to such a significant change in her life.
The young goddess smiled wanly, she could already envision the celebrations that would put Dionysus' wild parties to shame and all the smiling faces that would be so happy to see her; yet, Persephone knew her own smile would pale in comparison and her eyes would not contain the innocent joy they once had. She had spent too long a time away from all that had allowed her to keep her purity…she would never truly return to being Kore, Goddess of Spring and Youthful Innocence.
It hurt, so much.
Turning away from the dismal gray air that stifled and choked her, Persephone clutched her elbows as she hugged herself, trying to rid her skin of that clammy coldness that had grown like a fungus under a rock ever since she had been forced to cast aside her maidenhood freedom for the unbearably heavy mantle of womanhood as Queen of the Underworld.
Unbidden, salty tears began to leak from the corners of her eyes, welling too fast to blink away. Their trail over deathly pale skin left no mark and their journey ended at the quiver in her chin. Free falling for only a moment, the thickly spun cloth of her robes quickly absorbed any trace of her broken heart, leaving Persephone with no more reason to halt the tears. Her concentration was now upon her voice.
Heavy breathing was the only sound she allowed to escape and even that was so close in vibrations to sobbing that the reluctant queen hunched down upon her heels with her back to one of the darkly rich tapestry that lined the marble halls desperately trying to regain her composure. She couldn't lose it now. She had only a few weeks left before she would once more feel earth beneath her feet and the wind's breath in her tresses. She could not break down now…that would be admitting defeat.
Not now, not now, not now…
Try as she may, no matter how she hard she attempted to steel her will against the onslaught of despair and longing, Persephone could not silence her heart-felt agony at the weaving of her fate.
Knees held tightly against her chest and face pressed into the creases of her robes that slid over her legs like blankets to keep out the chill of stone, Persephone lost the fight and mourned for that loss among other woes.
I wish I was back in my meadows! I wish I was still with my mother learning the secrets of Grandmother Earth! I wish I could still romp with my companions and play until Selene lit up the nighttime sky! I wish… I wish…
Unbeknownst to the grieving child of Demeter, there was a witness to her sorrow. A witness whose heart broke at the sight of their crush so devastated and trapped far from the world above.
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Clotho, youngest of the Fates, was taking a break from spinning the Wool into Thread for her mother, Lachesis, to measure out and weave into the Tapestry of Life. Her back was beginning to ache from bending over to gather and card the Wool for her spindle and her fingers were feeling numb from all the sharp edges of the Wool that had to be twisted in order to be spun. The eternally young goddess stood up to stretch, allowing the hood of her robes to fall from her head to reveal ash-blond in the flickering light of the hearth they all worked around.
"Hmmmm!" Crack! "Oh! That felt good."
"It sounded bad though. Are you alright Daughter?"
Eyes of the palest blue they were almost white peered out from behind heavy eyelids as Clotho finished her usual break exercises towards an older woman with threads of Infinite Color clinging to her dark blue dress garment.
"Yes Mother, I am fine. Just taking a small break before I finish the latest batch of dyeing."
Lachesis smiled and nodded her relief even as her fingers never stopped pulling and twining different Threads together at intervals only she could measure. Once she was done with the current set of Threads in her care, the matron laid the combination aside and began a new one. When Lachesis had enough sets completed she would gather them and take them over to the Tapestry and weave them into their proper place.
Clotho chuckled lightly over her mother's protectiveness. It wasn't like she was battling a Titan or anything; she was just stretching out the kinks from sitting far too long. Relaxing her warmed up muscles, the white clad girl decided to help out her mother for a moment and go visit Grandmother on the other side of the massive hearth.
"May I help you for a moment Mother?"
The faintest hint of wrinkles appeared at the ends of Lachesis' robin egg blue eyes and around her mouth as she grinned.
"I would appreciate it. I'm not getting any younger you know."
Clotho laughed out loud joined by her mother only seconds after setting the cavernous temple they resided in echoing with mirth.
"Oh Mother! That was bad even for you!"
A little indignant that her clever quip was shot down in its prime, Lachesis pursed her lips trying to frown through her laughter at her cheeky offspring.
"Hey! It wasn't that bad!"
"I'm afraid it was my dear. You should already know that some talents skip a generation or two, my sense of joke delivery being one of those."
The slightly raspy voice of the eldest Fate merely set the other two laughing again. Atropos' moonless night blue eyes glinted with mischief as she fondly gazed upon her daughter and granddaughter. Wrapped in black from head to toe, Atropos shuffled closer, leaning lightly on her gnarled oak cane, towards her girls to help with the Threads that varied in length strewn about Lachesis' work station.
"Well, it's not my fault that that particular Law of Life slipped through the cracks when they were being written."
Huffing while still retaining her smile ruined the wounded effect Lachesis was going for but her family knew she was playing and merely grinned.
By this time, the trio of women had located all of the finished Threads ready for weaving and carried them over towards Atropos' seat nearest the Tapestry. An old timeworn wooden table stood before the woven Tapestry, blank of any unnatural carvings into its surface and holding only a few items. The dye mixtures for the Threads Clotho spun hoarded one end of the table – everything she needed to create the Infinite Color all the Threads were dyed in before her mother wove them into their place and Time faded the Infinite Colored Threads into their Pure Colors. In the middle of the long table stood the Hourglass that was full of the Sands of Time taken from the Heart of the Universe. Lachesis flipped the timepiece before she wove a piece of Thread and the Sand would flow through the thin neck of the glass. When the Sand stopped transferring from one head to the other (whether or not there was still Sand in the top head) the matron would release her hold on the Thread and the crone would step in. Atropos' end of the table was riddled with pieces of Thread leftover by the Hourglass and in the middle of the fabric pile sat a black pair of blades held together only by a pin and curved to allow a hand to lever them open and close. The Scissors were wielded at the time the Sands finished flowing for that particular Thread. The eldest of the Fates would tie off the Thread and cut the remainder off, adding it to the always growing pile next to her chair.
It was in the middle of the Fate's table that the goddesses set the Threads to be in easy reach for weaving.
As Lachesis and Atropos prepared to thread and tie more lives into the Tapestry, the maiden just stood at her end and watched, not needing to mix more dye for a while longer, having plenty left over at her seat. Besides, Clotho always loved watching her mother and grandmother at the Tapestry. They were so graceful and the lines that they created and ended were so unique. No line of Thread was ever woven or cut the same. The youngest goddess would have just continued to stand there until all the Thread was placed had a melodious alto voice not called out from the entrance to their temple.
"Hello! I have brought a slight repast for you all before I must return to Olympus to fix dinner. May I enter your temple?"
Clotho's hypnotized gaze tore from its mesmeric source and brightened in happiness when she recognized the owner of those words.
"Hestia is here Mother, Grandmother!"
"Well, go and greet our guest Granddaughter. Your mother and I will be over shortly."
Swirling around, causing a slight draft to lift the hem of her robes, Clotho strides from the inner sanctum of the temple and through the pillars to arrive at the entrance where one of her favorite of the older goddesses stood with an offering of food.
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Hestia, Keeper of the Hearth, peered into the Fate's temple from her position outside. Guessing that the goddesses inside were either working or sleeping, Hestia allowed her bronze eyes to wander the scenery.
The Temple of the Fates was carved into a deep cavern near the Top of the World. The only indication that this was home to the trio of goddesses was the pair of alabaster white columns holding up the ledge of black and gray stone that hung over the entrance of the temple. To the right of the entrance was a spring that bubbled up from the core of the mountain. Its water was crisp and clear revealing a perfect reflection on its mirror-like surface. The Fate's used this well-spring water for drink and scrying into the various realms of Earth. Hestia personally drank some of this water when she was last visiting and knows it to be more delicious that any wine ever cultivated from Dionysus' vineyards. Lachesis offered her some in thanks for always coming to bring news or food from her own hearth.
There was a ring of black pine that surrounded the clearing spread out before the temple disguising the sudden cliff-drop off the top of the mountain. The clearing itself is a place of wild grasses swaying with wheat and other grain. Fruit trees bore succulent apples and peaches, their flesh so juicy that biting one releases a flood to overflow the mouth with a taste only rivaled by ambrosia. Few land animals ever found their way up the sheer cliff face of the last half of this mountain but birds were plentiful. Their plumage added a rainbow of colors and a rhapsody of music unlike anywhere else on Earth.
To Hestia's eyes, this place is more beautiful than Olympus could ever be. The tranquil atmosphere and wonderful company of the Fates did more to remove stress from the Hearth Goddess than even time spent at her own temple could. Nevertheless, Hestia knew she would miss the antics of her brothers and sisters and their children. After all, few knew that the eldest of the Olympians loved to expand her collection of gossip, shared only with those she determines to need it most. The Fates are the main recipients of her tidbits and snippets of gossip since they are somewhat removed from the world of the gods. Not by choice but by design mostly.
Also add in the fact that many of the immortals are afraid of the Fates or at least wary of them and you have the makings of very tense meetings whenever they can get away from the Tapestry to come to Olympus and visit.
Hestia knew better and she took it upon herself to be the liaison between both groups. Besides, she really liked these goddesses; they were very funny when they got going with their bad jokes and comedic family squabbles. Unlike the sometimes disastrous fights between the various families on Olympus, the Fates show their love for one another by mock fighting or arguing. Any real tension that ever finds its way between them resolves itself with tears and hugs, leaving the family of women closer than ever each time such a rare thing happens.
The sound of bare feet tapping over smooth stone floors reached Hestia's ears and drew her wandering mind back to the present and to her reason for being here.
Knowing that the hurried steps would belong to the youngest Fate, Hestia set down the covered iron pot on the top step leading to the temple and waited with open arms for her young friend to launch herself into them.
True to Hestia's assumption, Clotho hurtled her body into the Hearth Goddess's, tumbling them both into the waist high grass at the bottom of the stairs.
"Hestia!! I'm so glad to see you! Have you brought more of your delicious honeyed chicken skewers? What news from Olympus? Has Athena finally grown a pair and confessed to Aphrodite? What of…"
If Hestia had not laid a hand over Clotho's mouth, the young goddess would not have stopped her questions in her excitement at seeing someone from the world outside of her own. She, her mother, and grandmother only got to leave their temple and the Tapestry a few times a year so, as a consequence, Clotho craves the presence of others a bit more than she would otherwise.
Her few moments of flight had jarred Hestia's cloak enough it tried to fly too. Wavy auburn hair fell around her shoulders and flashed a ruddy gold in the sunlight as Hestia shook from laughter.
"Ahahaha! Slow down my friend, there is enough time to quench your thirst for knowledge of the world but first you must let me feed you and your kin."
"Hestia is right, Daughter. Besides, is that any way to greet our esteemed guest? Knocking her to the ground and bombarding her with questions before she has had a chance to relax with us?"
Lachesis and Atropos stood at the pillared entrance looking highly amused and half exasperated over Clotho's actions. The youngest goddess flushed at the light scolding as she got back onto her feet and offered Hestia a hand.
Still smiling widely, Hestia gladly grasped the helping hand and pulled herself to her feet, brushing off stray grass from her rust colored garment, before climbing the stair again to receive hugs from the other two Fates and retrieve her pot of food.
"It's not a problem at all Lachesis. I really enjoy such a greeting and only wish my young nieces and nephews would do the same as they did when they were children. But, alas, grown gods and goddesses are not supposed to say hello in this way. Even to their aunt. Sigh."
A round of warm chuckles accompanied Hestia's fake pout before the three goddesses welcomed her into their home and invited her to stay and have dinner with them.
"Sadly, I must decline your kind offer of supper. I have to help Demeter prepare for the Spring Feast in honor of her daughter's return to the surface world. I will be busy for the next few weeks because of that and will only be able to come see you when I can sneak away from my sister's rather keen gaze."
Atropos sat back in her chair, pulled up closer to the hearth and nearer her children's, slurping up the tasty stew Hestia brought for them before clarifying a rumor that she had heard through the grapevine.
"So, Demeter's daughter really did get kidnapped by Hades then."
Hestia nodded.
"Yes. I verified the events with Persephone herself before she had to return to the Underworld for six months out of the year. Apparently, Hades had insulted Eros…badly. The boy had desired revenge and what better way than to hit Hades with the very thing he disdains so completely: love."
Lachesis inhaled sharply before letting the air out heavily.
"I can see where this is going. Poor girl."
Hestia's bronze eyes grew hard and her full mouth thinned in annoyance at the circumstances that tore her favorite niece from all that she loved.
"Hades got an arrow and Persephone got a suitor who would not take 'No' for an answer. He kidnapped her and took her forcefully to his domain. Demeter was beside herself with grief and everything on the earth began to die. Winter arrived with no mercy. Many humans and beasts perished before we managed to locate Persephone. The girl held stubborn against Hades but he was too powerful and much too cunning to allow her to escape. He did not feed her and she grew weak. That thrice damned gardener of his directed her to the pomegranate tree and told her she could have some seeds if she wished. Six seeds were all it took for Hades to lay claim to her for six months out of the year."
Hestia was pacing by this time, passing back and forth before the hearth, pausing every now and then to stoke the fire within or stir the iron pot of food still left inside. Echoes of Demeter's wailing denials over loosing her daughter in such a way, of Zeus' thunderous demands to return the girl, of Hades' unaffected intonation of his rights and Persephone's violation of the rules by eating those seeds and fleeing his realm, and the voices of the other gods and goddesses involved in the search for their missing Spring Goddess resounded in her memory and caused her heart to ache.
But it was Persephone's silent pleading eyes, dulled to an olive green, staring at her, begging for salvation from something not even Zeus seems to be able to protect her from that broke Hestia's spirit.
"Demeter tried all she could to null and void that contract but even Zeus' hands were tied and Hades would not budge an inch. Persephone would be with him for half a year and return every time after her other half was over otherwise the consequence would be the closing of the Gate to the Underworld."
The eldest Fates stared incredulously at Hestia before scowling at the havoc Hades would have caused to the mortal world all because he couldn't get his way.
"That arrogant boy! Who does he think he is to mess with the order of life for something as asinine as a girl telling him 'no' to marrying him!"
Atropos' exclamation was repeated in less kind language by her daughter. But both women quieted again to allow Hestia to continue her narrative.
The Hearth Goddess smiled mirthlessly, a cruel twist of the lips that meant happiness for neither recipient or for the giver.
"Don't worry; I gave him some very similar choice words at that particular announcement."
Lachesis and Atropos glanced at each other at that statement. Hestia is perhaps the mellowest and nicest goddess in the all the realms. That she got mad would have guaranteed absolute attention. Even from her egotistical brothers.
Hestia sighed as she wearily leaned against the stones that made up the hearth, not caring if she got her robes dirty or not.
"Sadly, not even my words could free Persephone from my brother's grasp. She is now the Queen of the Underworld when she is not the Spring Goddess."
A heavy silence descended over the small group of goddesses before Lachesis spoke up again.
"I hope Eros, at least, got an earful for his petty actions."
"HA! Did he ever!"
Sharing a grim smile with her audience, Hestia folded her arms under her breasts and chuckled darkly.
"There was barely anything left of the boy for Demeter to turn into fertilizer after Artemis and Aphrodite got through with him. Those two are Persephone's closest friends among the Olympians and they gave him the full brunt of their fury. Even Hera got a piece of him before Demeter. Eros has been gliding real low these days. Doesn't dare show his face to any of the goddesses and even some of the gods are ticked at him. I hear he's bunking down at one of his temples in the mortal realm until most of the ire aimed at him passes."
For the first time since Hestia's tale began, Clotho spoke up, her voice a wisp of air and face blank of any emotion.
"And Persephone…?"
Noticing the odd behavior of the youngest among them, Hestia answered quietly, fearing she might shatter the abnormally pale skinned girl if she spoke the truth too loudly.
"She is…coping…her time to be above ground since this whole fiasco began is approaching and Demeter is determined to welcome her with the biggest celebration ever seen. All the Olympian goddesses are attending along with a few of the gods: Apollo, Hermes, and Dionysus, just to name a few."
Clotho just nodded as she gently set aside her half empty food bowl and rose. Without any more words, the maiden just disappeared from sight into the dark halls of the temple leaving behind two confused matrons and one sad grandmother.
"I'm sorry. Should I have not told her this?"
Lachesis laid a gentle hand on top of Hestia's when the Hearth Goddess turned to pick up Clotho's bowl, soothing her distress as well as providing comfort.
"Persephone is the only other to visit us regularly. She and Clotho are very close friends and I imagine my daughter is distraught that her friend is hurting and she cannot do anything about it."
Atropos got up on creaking joints and collected all the food bowls to clean out at the spring, leaving Hestia to visit with Lachesis; but not before parting with a curious statement.
"That is not the only reason why Clotho is angry."
Food bowls in one hand and her cane in the other, the crone made her way towards the only water source on the mountain. When she arrived out into the sun, she was not surprised to find Clotho on her hands and knees starring into the spring with an intense concentration. Moving slowly so as to not disturb her granddaughter overly much, Atropos knelt by Clotho's side and set the bowls upon a flat stone jutting up from the earth next to the pond.
"You know you can't change what has already happened."
The image of a sobbing Persephone wavered for a moment as Clotho's concentration rippled but it soon solidified once again as she renewed her vigil over her long-time crush, ignoring her grandmother's words even as she felt their truth settle in her bones.
Neither Fate moved until Persephone had cried herself out and found the strength to move from the Judging Hall where she met with Iris a short time ago to her room. At the firm click of Persephone's room door resting in its frame, Clotho let go of the image. The pond water smoothed out to its normal colorless hue once more as the maiden sat back onto her bottom in the tall grass. She refused to look at her grandmother's dark figure even through the stalks of flora that surrounded them.
"I know…it just, it burns to see her like that…so unhappy…"
Still not meeting the crone's dark blue eyes, Clotho began to cry.
"What can I do? I have to do something for Persephone, Grandmother! She is the only one who doesn't see me as a 'Fate', only as Clotho, a young goddess like her. I must help her somehow! I, I – I care so much about her and it's hurting!"
Enfolding the sobbing young woman in her arms, Atropos gently rocked her back and forth while musing on how she was correct in her assumption of Clotho's feelings for the only other goddess to visit them regularly and wondering what she could advise her granddaughter to do without damaging the flow of fate.
"Love hurts my child, even as it heals. We cannot change what has happened but you can take action in the present to give this girl comfort."
Taking the lowered chin in her arthritic hand, Atropos raised Clotho's wet face and bestowed a kiss on her reddened cheeks before murmuring her final thoughts on the situation and possible steps her granddaughter could take.
"Sometimes, all it takes is to let the one you cherish most know it. That alone can be a cathartic release of negative emotions for both sides. Go to the party Demeter is hosting, meet with Persephone, rejoice in the fact that you are together again, and then give her your feelings – asking for nothing in return except what she will freely grant you."
Clotho took a moment to let her grandmother's words wash over her and fill her with hope. Just because Persephone was no longer completely the free spirit she once was did not mean that she and Clotho could not get together every once in a while to meet and talk like they used to. Even if all the Spring Goddess could ever feel for her goes no further than friendship, it was more than Clotho had with any other deity outside her family. And if, by some twist of fate, Persephone returned the depth of her emotions…well, that would make any meetings that much more special.
Atropos saw the glow of determination and decision spark in the pale blue eyes of her granddaughter and smiled. Clotho would be alright no matter the outcome of the anticipated party; she had made a decision and would not regret her upcoming choices.
"Thank you, Grandmother. I suppose it's a little too early to worry about what I'm going to wear to the party…smile."
Her voice was soft but full of conviction. Clotho was feeling so much better now that there was something she could accomplish.
A cackle accompanied the eldest Fate's answer. "Nonsense. It is never too early for a young lady to begin getting ready for a party. And I know just the set of robes to have you wear. Your lovely goddess will not know what hit her the moment you step into her line of vision."
Sharing wicked grins, the two goddesses set about washing the dishes and laying them on top of the flat rock to dry, one scheming up the perfect outfit to help her granddaughter catch Persephone's eye; the other, daydreaming of the encounter long overdue and hopeful of the results.
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Woot! Got the second installment done!
Hope you are all loving this as much as I am!
Read and Review please!
ToaR