I sat in the tub. I hugged my knees closer to my chest, the water was high enough that I covered my chest. Cool enough to release the day's heat from my body. Slowly, it unwound my body.

The nymph used oils on my hair and skin, making the bath smell wonderful. It felt wonderful.

And yet, I was still unhappy.

Of course, I knew why.

I felt more trapped than ever, feeling the walls closing in on me, slowly. I had been feeling it lately, more so with Apollo. He seemed so care-free, worry-free, free.

Free.

He could leave the vale when he wanted. He traveled across the world every day, looking down on the mortals, watching their day to day.

And here I was. Trapped.

I needed to be freed.

"Your hair is so beautiful, Persephone." The nymph, Eiluned, sighed. "So golden and light, it's not dark like your mother's."

I often mused what my father looked like. My hair was long, wavy and golden, and rested just below my elbows and always trailed far behind me when I ran in the vale. My eyes were the shade of blue found in the sky right before a thunderstorm. I was also slightly taller and leaner than my mother.

She was slightly shorter than me with dark, unruly curly hair. Her eyes were as green as the meadows that surrounded us and her skin hinted an slight olive tone. Mine was slightly darker from all the sun I would bathe in.

I looked nothing like my mother.

"Eiluned."

I turned to the door of the room and found my mother walking in.

"Please leave us, I will tend to my daughter."

The nymph bowed graciously and left.

My mother smiled at me and sat in a small chair next to my tub. "Your hair is so beautiful, my daughter."

I continued staring out the window as I had before she came to the room. I watched the sun's final rays reach across the sky. They were swallowed by the impending night, the purple of the sky had always been a favorite hue of mine. "Thank you, Mother."

I instantly reached to the window sill next to me. I held the small bud in my hand and a small flower blossomed instantaneously.

I loved our cottage. There was life of all sorts there. Animal and plant.

I felt the familiar tug in my hair of my mother combing through the knots. She began to hum.

I sighed. I would always be her little girl, no matter how old I would be.

She would treat me as little. Always.

I wonder what my father would say.

"What's my father like?" I had asked the familiar question many times when I was younger. She'd laugh and pat my head. We don't need him, my love, she would say. At last, I gave up, knowing she wouldn't tell me anything else.

"Why do you ask, darling?"

I shrugged, taking a small strand of hair between my fingers and pulling gently. "Curious."

"Curiousity isn't a good thing, Persephone. Remember Pandora?"

I sighed, frustrated, suddenly angry. "Why won't you tell me about him?"

She laughed softly. "We don't need him, my love. We have each other."

I turned around forcefully, feeling brave. I couldn't stay mouse-like forever. "Why can't I know about my father?"

"He was not a good man."

"What kind of man was he?"

I could see anger in my mother's eyes. "Enough, Persephone. I'm tired of this subject."

I stood in the tub. "I'm not! I want to know about my father!"

She stood, too. My height was greater than hers since I was in the tub. I looked down at her. I had never stood up to her before in my life and yet there I was.

I was afraid of her, of course. But I couldn't show her. I had to stand up for myself.

Just this once.

If only for a second.

"What is this insolence, Persephone?" She was incredibly angry, I could tell. Yet, there was a small hint of surprise in her voice.

Good.

"How dare you act this way!"

I put my foot down forcefully. "Zeus! I'm not a child!"

Then silence. I watched her. Her eyes turned from dark green pools of anger then slowly to realization. Her face dropped slightly and slowly, she spoke again. "Who have you been speaking to?"

I blanched, slightly taken aback. Gods, how did she know? Then I realized that I had uttered a name I only recently learned.

Zeus, king of the gods. Apollo would use his names whenever he cursed. "Gods" was his favorite but "Zeus", he rarely used. When I asked him why he would say that name, he told me that he often said his name when he was angry. Zeus was the king of the gods, ruler of all.

Even of me. That was a revelation that surprised me. There was a king of the gods, mightier than all the rest.

My mother had never mentioned him before. I only learned about Apollo because I had asked about the sun.

The ground shook when she spoke, her immense godly power reverberating throughout the house. "Who have you been speaking to?"

I shook my head. "N-No one, Mother."

"Tell me who! Hermes, Poseidon, Hades?!"

I cowered under her glare. Her voice grew louder with every name she mentioned. "No one, Mother. I don't know who you're talking about."

"You are lying to me!"

Her voice boomed around us, the potted plants in the window sill shook and fell to the floor. Gods, I had never seen her so angry. There was a loud rushing noise all around me, filling my ears. I couldn't hear anything else. I slipped and fell in the tub, water splashed all around me. "Mother, stop! Please!"

Everything stopped. The room stopped shaking and everything was quiet again.

Everything except my breathing. I was hyperventilating.

My mother looked down at me in the tub. "Persephone, I have been too lenient on you for far too long. I must be keeping a stricter eye on you."

I shook my head. "No Mother, I-"

"Do not lie to me again, Persephone."

I shook my head. "I won't, Mother."

Her expression changed. No longer was she the fearing god she was minutes before, she was not the mother I've loved all my life. Her cheeks glowed crimson and she smiled. "Now, sit up. Let's get your hair untangled."

I sat up and slowly turned to give her my back. "Remember how we would do this when you were a child."

I hugged my knees to my chest. "Yes, Mother."