This oneshot may seem pointless, but I've started to get curious about what's going on in Quebec now that Khione is a confirmed big baddie. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own The Heroes of Olympus series.
The Wind of Change
Zethes and Cal's nervousness was radiating off of them like heatwaves from a fire. It was an unusual simile for the goddess of snow to make.
"Relax boys," she said. "I'm home."
"I'm not ready to call this place your home anymore," Zethes said darkly.
"Please," Khione said waving her hand. She wasn't used to listening to him and it wasn't now that she was going to start. Being back in Québec was relaxing her a bit, but she was still irritated with demigod kind.
Zethes didn't respond.
"Well it doesn't matter what you think," she said. "This is Daddy's house."
"And we all know Daddy Waddy loooves you so much. You're his special wittle snowflake."
"Shut up," Khione said waving her hand. Zethes' tongue stuck out of his mouth, frozen into place as if he'd just licked a metal pole.
"Stop that!" Cal said defensively.
"AH! OH AH!" Zethes roared in outrage.
"Or what?" Khione laughed. It felt good to be home.
"Or I hit you!" Cal said.
"Please: your hand wouldn't get within a foot of me," Khione said. She twisted her hand and Zethes choked as she released him. "Just take me to see Daddy. I've missed him."
"I'm sure he hasn't," Zethes grumbled in his beard. But, as per usual, her brothers had no other option after all, and so they led her to the throne room. The big doors opened and the familiarity of the place -the white floor, the ice guards, the icicles dangling from the ceiling and the layer of frost that covered everything- made Khione smile.
Her father sat in the throne, reading a gold scroll in his equally familiar suit- crisp and white as the first snow.
"Father-" Cal said nervously as they entered. The cold hit her skin and relaxed all the muscles in Khione's body.
"She's back," Zethes said.
Boreas got to his feet, a strange light illuminating his eyes. The scroll disappeared from his hand and he came forwards.
"Khione…" He said.
"It's good to see you too, Daddy." She said opening her arms.
He didn't move.
"Zethes, Cal, that's enough for today. Leave us, please." Daddy said.
"Sure," Cal muttered before they left. The doors shut behind them like the last page of a book.
Khione looked at him beaming. "How are you? Father, you look unwell."
"I was very well until a few moments ago," he said.
Khione's mood suddenly sank.
"Aren't you happy to see me, Daddy?"
Her father shot her a look. "Happy? Happy? After what you've done?" He asked.
She couldn't find words in any language- not French like Daddy was speaking, not English, not Greek, not Latin... She was speechless. For the very first time she was speechless.
"Khione, the news everywhere. The Olympian tabloids are making it big. Zeus sent his guards here to check on the palace and look for anything suspicious and I don't even blame him for it. After what you did to Hera? I think we're lucky that the guards aren't posted here 24/7! I think Zeus is being generous! Generous! Zeus!"
"You don't like her either," Khione countered. As far as she was concerned the old cow had gotten what she'd deserved.
"There's a difference between not liking a goddess and turning against Olympus because of it." Boreas said.
The ice in the room started melting.
"You nearly had the son of Zeus destroyed. You deliberately took on the son of Hephaestus. You tried to put natural enemies against each other already although you know fully well what happened last time the Greeks and the Romans went, and that's the least of your misdoings. Do you have any idea what you could have done if you had by some slip of luck succeeded?"
Her father was yelling. A puddle formed around Khione's feet. She waved her hand and it solidified again.
"Daddy, I did it for the minor gods…" She said.
"No Khione. The minor gods have been doing significantly better- and we will keep getting better and better in a world that isn't destroyed. You did it for you."
Khione stood, petrified as a statue.
Boreas started pacing. The ice under his feet split and the cracks snaked across the throne room, racing under Khione's own two feet even.
"I have let you get away with too much," he said. "It is my fault you had the arrogance and the nerve..."
"The arrogance and the nerve for what?" Khione asked.
"To come back here," Boreas said. "To come back and even try to call my palace your home."
There was no colour in Khione's face, but if there would have been it'd have drained right out.
"I…" Khione choked. "But Daddy. What other home would I have? You're my father, the two idiots with the wings are my brothers, I..."
"Hasn't Gaia offered you lodging?" Boreas said with the biggest look of disdain on his face.
She shivered. "It's not like that!"
"What do you mean 'it's not like that'? You joined forces with an enemy of the gods- our biggest enemy. You made her your ally and swore over to her. I have tolerated a lot from you, my daughter. But I do not tolerate betrayal and lies."
Khione blinked.
"You're kicking me out."
"Indeed I am."
Khione didn't know what to say.
"I trust that I won't have to call your brothers so they can show you the way out," Boreas said.
"Father…" She said quietly. "Why? I'm your daughter. Your princess. You called me that when I was little…"
"And now you are grown and you have made your choices and picked a path to follow," Boreas said. "I am sorry Khione. I have not brought on this wind of change. You have. You did this to yourself."
For a second Khione felt like she was falling- but not from a cliff. Falling inside herself. Sinking... sinking... She didn't have anything to catch onto, until her anger flared.
"Then you better wait and see what I'll do to you," Khione growled, bearing teeth.
The train of her white dress and the mane of her black hair spun with her as Khione stormed out of the throne room, causing icicles to fall and break against the throne room's floor on her way out.
Boreas crumpled into his throne and put his head in his hands.
"Oh, daughter…" He whispered softly. "You don't realise just what you've already done to me…"