I

The second time Hermes saw her she was on a tree, her skinny legs dangling from the branch she was perched on.

Once again, Hermes flew down to some secluded area before appearing in the form of a twelve year old. "Hi!"

"Hello," the girl replied, not looking down at him. She was gazing into the distance, looking like she's in a trance.

"How's your mother?"

This time, she looked down. "My mother had gotten much better, thank you."

"Well, that's good."

Carefully, Alina climbed down from the tree and stood in front of Hermes. There was a moment of awkward silence.

"Hi," she finally said and averted her gaze. "So… what are you doing here?"

Hermes grinned. "Well, last time I came, you gave me some food. I was wondering if I could get more." This was only the half-truth; or one-thirds of the truth. Actually, he came here because one, he wanted to; and second, he wanted to see if Apollo had actually healed Alina's mother.

Alina laughed. "Here, I'll get you some."

They entered the small stone and wood cottage and were almost overwhelmed by the smells of baking goods. Alina got an array of breads from the shelves lining the kitchen walls and put them in a large bowl, then placed them on the table.

"Is your house a bakery?" Hermes asked, his mouth filled with cake.

"No," replied Alina, nibbling on a small piece of bread, "I just like to bake."

When Hermes had downed about half of all the things she had baked (he IS a messenger who was running, or flying, around for the past few hours; he's bound to be tired and hungry), Alina began washing the dishes. After a while of watching, Hermes went over and began to help her. She seemed surprised at first, but slowly relaxed.

"Why are you here?" Alina asked again. Hermes replied with a shrug.

"Don't you have your own chores to do?" Hermes froze in the middle of drying a porcelain bowl.

"Deacon?" Alina asked uncertainly when she saw Hermes's frantic and shocked expression.

"OH MY GODS!" the young god suddenly shouted, causing the girl to jump. "I completely forgot!"

Fumbling for his sack of messages and deliveries, he pulled out his list of messages and other stuff he still has to deliver. And almost fainted at the amount. He slumped down onto a large rock and stared at the list.

"Oh gods," he moaned, "I'm so dead. If my father doesn't kill me, my siblings will. If my siblings don't kill me, my uncles will. If my uncles don't kill me, my aunts will. If my aunts don't kill me… well, somebody will!"

Alina was looking at him strangely. "Um… are you okay?"

"No…" he sighed tiredly. "I'm going to die."

"Well, I've heard," she replied sourly. Then, in a nicer tone, she said, "I can help you if you want."

"No it's fine," Hermes waved dismissively.

"No, I insist. You helped me before-,"

"And you gave me your cakes and breads so don't worry, I'll be fine." Hermes stood up and brushed himself off.

"Well, how about I say that I want to help?" Alina crossed her arms and stared at Hermes defiantly.

"Then you'll get me into even more trouble," he answered.

"But how can you get into even more trouble if no one finds out about it?"

"Because my father always finds out in the end. Always, no matter what. It's like he has superpowers or something!" Because he does; he's the god of the skies, Hermes added silently.

Alina sighed, finally giving in. "Fine. But if you die painfully, it's not my fault."

Hermes grimaced. "Don't worry. I brought that upon myself."

"I distracted you," Alina pointed out.

"You didn't know that I still have my job."

The girl pushed him. "What are we arguing for? Go do your chores, you idiot!"

"Right," Hermes took off running. But just before he disappeared in the woods, he turned and waved. Alina waved back. Then, he vanished into the forest.

δύο ευκαιρίες

This time, Hermes actually finished his 'chores' before going to visit Alina. At first, he couldn't see her, which confused him, but then he found her in the backyard, milking a cow.

"Can I drink some?" Hermes asked as he approached her, gesturing at the pail of milk.

"Absolutely not," she replied, sounding amused. "Seriously, how big is your stomach?"

"Olympic-sized."

"You little liar."

Alina stood up and wiped her hands on a rag, then hauled the pail of milk into the house. When she emerged again, she was holding a bowl of breads. The two of them sat on the large rock and chatted, watching the slow sunset.

"So…" Alina chewed on a loaf of bread thoughtfully, "tell me about your family."

"Huh?" Hermes didn't really expect that one.

"Your family, idiot." Alina seemed to like to call Hermes 'stupid' and 'idiot'. For most mortals, they would've been blasted to pieces already, but Alina was a friend. She cheered him up.

"Right," Hermes gulped down a bite of pastry. "My family is extremely complicated. My father had many affairs with other women and so brought a bunch of children back to his home to his real wife."

Alina raised an eyebrow. "She must be really angry."

"She is," he agreed. "Almost killed a few of those women in her rage."

Alina laughed, her voice sounding like the sweet chimes of bells. "You're kidding."

"No." Hermes's expression was completely serious. "My stepmother is murderous. Extremely scary, that woman is."

"Stepmother?" Alina cocked her head to one side. "You mean your mother was one of the people that your father had affairs with?"

"Um… Yeah."

She grinned. "Your stepmother must really hate you."

"But I'm useful," Hermes wriggled his eyebrows. "I do my job. She can't really try to kick me out the house since that will just make her life harder."

"You make her sound like an evil witch or something!"

Oh, she is, Hermes thought, but instead, for the safety of everybody, especially himself, he said, "Eh, she's not that bad."

They continued chatting…

Under the almost-setting sun, Alina's hair looked like its woven from pure gold, the bronze seems dark red and the red looks like streaks of fire. Her skin had turned golden and her eyes had turned a bluish, brownish green, looking like the stream near her house which they call the 'Jade River' because the seaweed in the water gives it a greenish tinge.

For a moment, there was silence. Even the birds seemed to stop singing and the crickets stopped chirping. And then, the silence was broken by the sound of clattering hooves and carriage wheels, their axles squeaking as they turned.

Alina jumped up, her eyes wide with excitement. "Come on, Deacon!"

"What?" Hermes chased after her to the front of the house where a carriage stopped. A man stepped out, one of the scariest looking mortals Hermes had ever seen. This man was large and muscular, barely fitting in the carriage, no doubt, and had a strict expression on his face. He has balding, copper red hair and brown eyes that glared coldly at basically everything.

However, despite his terrifying appearance, Alina ran towards him with her arms outstretched. "Father!"

The scowl on the man's face suddenly disappeared and was replaced by a wide grin. "Alina, my little Golden Princess!" he shouted, swinging her around.

A movement behind Hermes caused him to turn.

A woman came out of the house, and immediately, Hermes recognized her as Alina's mother. She was beautiful, with golden hair streaked with bronze, a young, petite face, and dark blue eyes. It was hard to believe she was on the verge of dying a week or two ago because of a fever when she looked so healthy right now.

"Caitlin!" the big man, Alina's father put down his daughter and pulled the woman into a hug, kissing her on both cheeks. "I missed you!"

"Of course you did," Alina's mother, Caitlin, replied, smiling.

And then, the two adults noticed Hermes, standing just behind Alina. Their smiles froze and slipped off their faces and their eyes turned cold. "Who are you?" they asked simultaneously.

Now, Hermes had seen his share of scary things. Zeus had been mad at him before, Hera had been mad at him before, the whole Olympian council had been mad at him before, he had been to the Underworld, and Aphrodite had given him a makeover before (because of a dare), but being glared down by two, overprotective parents currently seem scarier than all of these. So Hermes just stood there stupidly, unable to speak.

However, Alina seems completely unaffected by her parents' sudden change of personality. Either that or she hasn't noticed it yet.

"This is Deacon!" she said, taking Hermes's hand and making him wave. "I met him about two weeks ago. He helped me carry a bucket of water to mother's room. He helped you heal!" she added brightly to her mother. Her parents' expressions softened, much to Hermes's relief.

"Did he now?" Alina's mother sounded amused.

"No-," Hermes was about to say when Alina cut him off.

"I prayed to every deity there is, but none of them healed mother. Then, he came and prayed for her, and the very next day, she began getting better!"

"It's nothing really," Hermes spoke up. "I just prayed to Apollo, since he's the god of healing, basically. That's all."

Alina shrugged. "But it worked, so you helped."

Mrs. Bronte smiled. "Well, then, children, let's go inside to talk. Your father is very tired from his journey." And she led everyone into the wood and stone cottage.

As usual, the inside of the house smells like a bakery and the shelves were lined with breads and cakes. Alina and her mother began cooking placing foods onto the table while Mr. Bronte and Hermes sat down, Hermes a little more cautiously, as if he's afraid there would be a sharp pin on the stool.

"So," Alina's father said, looking at Hermes, "tell me about yourself."

"Huh?" Okay, not a very good first impression, Hermes mentally sighed, then said, "Well, I have a lot of siblings, most of them older than me, and most of them you wouldn't want to meet."

"I mean you," Mr. Bronte gestured at him. "What do you like, what are you good at, stuff like that."

"Oh. Um, well, I'm mainly like a messenger, you could say. I'm the one running back and forth between the fractures of my family delivering things. That's why I'm fast, and busy, and usually very tired."

'Well, that's basically the truth,' he thought.

"And hungry," Alina added. Hermes scowled at her, though she didn't see him since her back was turned.

"I can see why your parents named you 'Deacon'," Alina's father mused. "It's means 'messenger', after all. What is your full name?"

Hermes gulped. "Um… full name… Deacon Methodius?" He had just randomly chosen a surname. It basically means 'companion traveler'.

"You don't sound so sure." Alina's father raised an eyebrow.

"Don't worry," Alina piped up. "He's usually like that, not sure about anything."

Once again, Hermes scowled at her back.

"Right." Mr. Bronte nodded slowly. There was a moment of awkward silence as Alina's parents looked thoughtful and Hermes fidgeted, wishing that he had left earlier and thinking how Zeus is going to kill him if he spent too much time here.

Suddenly, a grin broke out on Alina's father's face. "So, young Deacon, when are you going to marry my daughter?"

"What?" Hermes spluttered.

"Father!" Alina whined, turning red. "It's not going to happen. We're the same age. When I turn fourteen, I'll be married off to some thirty year old man, wouldn't I?"

"Not necessarily," Alina's mother pointed out. "I was sixteen when I married Nicholas, and he was only twenty-four!"

"Still!" Alina said. "Eight years older!"

"Whoa, people, calm down!" Alina's father exclaimed. "I was joking, okay?"

Hermes breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed, just ever so slightly. This conversation was getting awkward. He glanced out of the window. It was getting dark. Eagerly to leave, Hermes said, "Mr. Bronte, Mrs. Bronte, it is getting dark. I have to leave."

The Bronte family glanced out at the window as well. "Right," Alina cheerfully passed him a small bag of baked goods and the four of them went outside to send Hermes off, which was really nice of them.

"One last thing," Alina's dad said, his large figure casting a shadow over all the others, "don't you dare hurt my daughter in any way, or else I'll… be mad at you, and you won't like that."

Compared to Zeus's threats of using him as target practice, this threat was extremely lame. But even so, Hermes nodded, pretended to be scared and said, "Wouldn't dream of it."

Alina laughed. "Don't mind him, Deacon. Hurry home before night completely falls, will you?"

Then, just before Hermes turned away, Alina kissed his cheek lightly. "Don't get lost," she murmured playfully, while her parents cooed. Hermes turned red, feeling both shocked and flustered. Is that girl crazy? Right in front of her parents?!

"Are you sure that was right?" Alina's mother asked teasingly. "You only met two weeks ago!"

"And you're only twelve!" Alina's father added cheerfully.

Alina just smiled and pushed Hermes gently. "You better go." Then, she handed him a lantern (which he didn't need, of course) and pushed him again.

Hermes nodded. "Goodbye," he waved at the family of three before turning around and disappearing into the shadows of the forest.