Chapter 2
This chapter is dedicated to Norrsken, who pushed me to continue with the story. If not for her, it would collect dust on a shelf for a long time. I hope you liked it and I promise not to abandon it anymore.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[A couple of days earlier]
Dionysus plucked a plump grape from a vase, raised his hand and dropped it into his mouth.
"So, do you think Phaedra is still in love with Theseus?" he asked Aphrodite.
The goddess shrugged her shoulders, "Let me see. They have been married for some four years, they have two children and Theseus visits Phaedra's bed quite often. Well, I would say, yes."
Dionysus smirked, "That is a very boring description of being in love, especially when coming from the goddess of love herself; besides, I didn't mean since their marriage."
"Oh, no?" there wasn't much interest in Aphrodite voice. "Since when, then? Courting women for a long time is not exactly Theseus style, you know. At least not recently. He just takes what he wants."
"In this case I think it was Phaedra who took what she wanted. What she wanted for a very long time."
"Hm, how long?" Aphrodite was still involved in this conversation simply because she had nothing better to do.
"I would say," and Dionysus put one of the most triumphant smiles on his lips, "some twenty years."
"What?!" Aphrodite instantaneously bolted straight from her reclining position. She searched Dionysus face for any signs of deceit but all she could see was cocksure superiority and smug indulgence.
"You are joking, right?" she said after some moments, "twenty years ago Phaedra was still a very small child, a toddler."
"Well, not a toddler. She was about six. You know, that age when children are extremely jealous of everybody around them and not in a habit of sharing. With older sisters including."
"What do you know about children," Aphrodite scoffed. "She may have been jealous of Ariadne's clothes or jewelry but definitely not her boyfriend, and anyway, nobody knew about Theseus and Ariadne until they elope. So stop playing your mind games with me."
"It's not a game and I am telling you the truth. Phaedra knew about them, I don't know how. And she was very jealous even at her six years old age. This is why she prayed to gods to make Theseus forget Ariadne and fell in love with her. But all the gods were busy somewhere else, you including, it was only me who listened. Listened and decided to grant her wish."
Aphrodite couldn't believe what she was hearing. "This is why you appeared to Theseus on Naxos and told him to leave Ariadne there? Because some six year child asked you to? You must have been out of your mind!"
"No, I wasn't. I just did what we, gods, are supposed to do – listened to a prayer of a mortal worshipper and answered it. It was quite a sacrifice on my part, by the way. I didn't like Ariadne much. Not my type."
"Not your type?! How could you do that! You left her on that island and she hang herself. Do you know how much she loved Theseus?"
"Yeah, yeah, may be. I couldn't care less. Love is not exactly my sphere of interest. But I have to admit, I didn't expect Phaedra to be so persistent. She got what she wanted in the end, I just wondering if she still thinks it was all worth it? Theseus is not what he was twenty years ago; Hippolytus, on the other hand, looks very much like his father when Phaedra first fell in love with him. But here again, Phaedra is too late."
"What do you mean, Phaedra is too late? Is she in love with somebody else?"
"I am worried about you, my dear great-great-aunt," Dionysus smiled as he leaned forward and tried to twirl a golden lock of Aphrodite's hair around his finger," you are very much not up-to-date with humans' love affairs. Anyone specific on your mind recently? Giving you hard time at being seduced? You know, all you have to do is to untie that famous girdle of yours and the guy will come obediently to your bed."
"You are disgusting!" Aphrodite indignantly stood up and tried to leave when Dionysus grabbed her hand.
"Not so fast, darling," the god of wine continued to smile, "you have to listen about Hippolytus' choice, you would never guess."
"I don't care." snapped Aphrodite, "let me go."
Dionysus released his grip, "You can go. I am off too. Have to give Artemis my regards and congratulations."
"Congratulations? On what?" Aphrodite's curiosity was picked, just as Dionysus knew it would be.
"On acquiring a new worshipper. Without even making any efforts. I know she prefers girls, but still... she may find some use for him."
"Hippolytus is in love with Artemis? Does he realize it's a death wish?"
"Well," Dionysus had to concede, "he is not exactly in love with her. He just decided to remain virgin and dedicate his chaste life to serving the goddess of hunt. I think his father womanizing has something to do with it."
"What a waste!" Aphrodite said indignantly. "He is such a nice looking guy."
"Well, I guess he took after his mother in choosing what goddess to worship. Are you going to let it slide?"
"Ah, so this is what's it all about? You want to put me against Artemis and see who wins? Don't you have your own crazy followers to entertain you?"
Dionysus stared hard at Aphrodite. He knew how to play his game well. "So, you are conceding the grounds to Artemis without a struggle? Afraid to loose? To yet another Leto sibling?"
"What do you mean, to yet another Leto sibling?"
"Oh, there are only two, remember? Artemis and Apollo. As far as I know you never managed to get into Apollo bed. Why is that so? Did he reject you? Did he…"
"Son of a bitch! Son of a low, stupid, mortal bitch!" and Aphrodite stormed out the room.
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Asklepios was glad that he managed to answer Theseus invitation and came to visit him in Athens. They didn't meet for a long time. All his close friends, they didn't see each other as often as they all wished. They weren't young anymore, they didn't have much time for adventures, they all have their kingdoms to rule, wives, children and subjects to take care of. Heracles alone was still roaming the earth forced to abide by Eurystheus wishes.
Theseus greeted him with open arms. They spent a couple of first days reminiscing about their past, exchanging news about their other buddies, hunting and feasting. Asklepios regretted that he didn't bring his own wife and children to Athens. His boys were the same age as Theseus sons by Phaedra and they could have fun playing together. Though there was some difference in age between his own wife Epiona and Phaedra, he was sure they would find things in common to discuss.
But the tolls of kingship didn't allow Theseus to abandon his duties for a long time because one of his friends came for visit, so the king delegated the task of entertaining his guest to his eldest son Hippolytus. The young man was thrilled at the prospect and intended to do his best to show Asklepios around.
It was an early autumn morning when Hippolytus came to Asklepios room to take him for the hunt in a nearby forest. Asklepios was already waiting, expecting to spend yet another day outdoors, the luxury he couldn't afford a lot lately being forced to spend a lot of time indoors, caring for the sick people who came to him from everywhere.
"If we are lucky," said Hippolytus excitedly, "we may be able to track and kill that lion that was bothering neighboring villages for some time now. Come with me, I prepared a sacrifice to Artemis to grant us luck."
"My sister will have to wait," said Apollo suddenly appearing in a middle of the room. "Hippolytus, leave us. I have to talk to my son."
The young man stood there, transfixed, for some moments, staring at the god. Sure, he knew who was Asklepios father, he just didn't expect him to show up that casually in the middle of the room.
"Please, just go now," Asklepios said to him. "I will catch up with you later. Go, give your libations to Artemis, I am sure my aunt will excuse me." Hippolytus was able to collect his wits and left the room.
"What it is now?" with certain irritation asked Asklepios.
"Not much joy at seeing your father," rather matter-of-factly started Apollo.
"I am not in a habit of spending time on useless pleasantries, you should know that by now. What it is about?"
"Can't I just come and visit my son?"
"No, you are not in a habit of just come and visit your son. I know that much by now. What do you want?"
"I don't like you being so rude."
"Then kill me. This is how you usually solve the problem, isn't it? Kill me or leave me alone."
Apollo sighed. His relationship with Asklepios was never easy and with years it deteriorated even further and further. Asklepios never forgave Apollo the killing of his mother whom he never had chance to know. Spending his childhood and youth with centaur Chiron did nothing to foster the love either. Then for a couple of years Asklepios accompanied Heracles in his travels; the hero's dislike of Apollo almost rivaled that of Hera. The fact that everybody assumed that Asklepios healing abilities were solely due to the fact that he was Apollo's favorite son didn't help their relationship either.
Apollo couldn't quite explain his exceptional love for Asklepios. Out of all the children he ever had, he loved Asklepios the most. And Asklepios hated him, sometimes with rage, sometimes with disdain; he never gave him the smallest chance to explain himself and Apollo could do absolutely nothing either about Asklepios hatred or his own love for his son.
"There is somebody else who now is quite in a mood to kill you, and he will, if you don't stop resurrecting mortals."
"And who that might be, father?" scornfully asked Asklepios.
"Your great uncle Hades. He is quite upset as you can imagine."
"And you will stand aside and let him kill your favorite child? So like you."
Apollo eyed his son with desperate resignation. He didn't want to force his argument but he didn't know how to get to him any other way.
"I am not going to let anyone kill you. However, you either swear to me not to resurrect any more people or I take away your ability to heal anybody. What will it be?"
"You have no right!" angrily shouted Asklepios. "Despite what everybody says you didn't give me the ability to heal. You have no right to take it away, you have absolutely no right!"
"I never said that I gave you ability to heal. Everybody making their own assumptions. I promised Zeus there wouldn't be any more resurrections. And you are going to help me to keep this promise. One way or another. You got to choose."
"I hate you!"
"Stop behaving like a small child. No more resurrections. Right?"
Asklepios didn't answer. He knew he lost his battle.
"No more resurrections." He whispered.
Apollo left.
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"Not quite a loving reunion between father and son," quietly stated Theseus entering the room.
"We never had loving reunions," answered Asklepios. "And we'll never have."
"You can't hate your father so much, my friend," said Theseus. "Many of us have immortal parents. None of us are loved by them more than you. It's not fare to him."
"It's not fare to me either. I didn't choose him as my father."
"No, you didn't. But your mother did and she paid dearly for that. But you can't let it to destroy you. Since your mother death…
"Since my mother murder," stubbornly corrected Asklepios.
"Yes, I know that. Everything that Apollo did was in your best interests. I wish my father, be it Aegeus or Poseidon, was there for me. And, believe me, Heracles wishes for the same. Apart from the unfortunate incident with your mother, I don't understand why you hate him so much."
"Unfortunate incident? How can you say that! He killed my mother in a cold blood. Just because that stupid bird told him she was spending time with somebody else. As if he was faithful to her!"
"You can't apply the same measure to a god and to a mortal."
"She wasn't a mortal, she was a titan. They are both my parents. I can apply the same measure to them. I can and I will."
"I am very sorry, Asklepios," sincerely said Theseus, "I know it's a very sore topic of conversation for you. But at least in this case, you have to listen to your father. I am sure he gave his promise to Zeus because he also had no choice. This is the order of things, mortals are born, live and die. You can't disrupt that order. No one can. Even the gods. Please tell me that you are going to keep the promise that you gave your father. You will keep it whatever it takes."
"I will keep my promise just let's not discuss my father anymore."
"I can do that," smiled Theseus. "Now, off you go, my son is waiting for you. Just try not to get him hurt. He is very intent on winning that chariot race in the forthcoming celebrations. I hate to see him disappointed."
