"How now, sister?"
Hestia looked up from her place at the hearth to see her brother lounging easily against the doorway. It would have been a formidable sight for most to have seen the tall dark Lord of the Underworld looming above you. But Hestia welcomed him with open arms.
"Hades! I was not expecting you!" she exclaimed as he moved smoothly into the room as Hestia gestured to a nearby chaise.
"No one was expecting me; I made this visit rather suddenly," he explained. Hestia's eyes grew wide with concern and her brow furrowed. She quickly scanned her older brother from top to bottom.
"Is everything alright? Are you ill? You seem to be over-working yourself…"
Hades let out a bark-like laugh. "This coming from she who attends the eternal flame!"
Hestia smiled and looked downward. "I am simply looking out for your well-being, brother. We see you so little here."
Hades stretched himself out on the chair, "The Dead do not stop dying for your convenience; they require my presence constantly. Surely there is no one here that could understand the importance of duty better than you, dear Hestia."
"No, I suppose not," she agreed. "How long will you be here?"
"A while longer but not for long. I-"
"I knew it! I knew you were here!"
Hades and Hestia looked up to find Hera, queen of the gods standing in the doorway, a triumphant smile on her face.
Hades rose smoothly and bent his knee in front of her. "My queen," he murmured as he kissed her hand.
"You mock me, brother, but I know not why," she pouted as she saw his smirk.
"I would never dream of it, dear sister," he said, putting on an expression of mock horror as Hestia giggled in the background.
"Alright," Hera conceded to her older brother. "Come, you must have a glass of wine with us and we shall catch up!" Hades rose, smiled and said smoothly, "How could I possibly reject such an offer."
Hera snapped her fingers at her attendants to bring food and to rearrange the chairs so that she and her siblings could talk at leisure.
Once settled, Hades began, "Tell me then, sisters. Have you been well since I saw you last?"
"Quite well," Hestia began
"Oh! I swear that I shall tear my hair out if I must endure the presence of Aphrodite any longer!" Hera shrilled.
"And so it begins…" Hestia said undertone.
"Oh," Hades prompted, a smile playing at his lips. He stifled a laugh as he saw Hestia purse her lips as well. "Do tell, sister."
"She walks around as if she herself were queen! Her every step oozes with seduction…" Hera raged.
"To be fair, she is the goddess of Love…" Hestia interjected.
"I cannot bear her! The most fair, indeed! She flaunts herself and her dreadful brat of a son here at court! I would send her away except that Zeus would not allow it. But I do not see cause that we should have her here in the first place! She came from nowhere and she belongs to no one!" Hera said bitterly and indulged herself in a large sip of wine.
"Is she not married to your son, sister?" Hades asked, raising his eyebrow. Hera laughed bitterly. "And that is supposed to make me like her?
Hephaestus is good and kind and for some reason loves her with all his heart. But does she see this? Not at all! She is an overreaching little gripe with no regard for the holy bond between man and wife. She has no interest in anyone but herself!"
"Come now, sister," Hestia urged. "That is not entirely accurate. She was most kind to the young Persephone the other evening…"
"One act of kindness does not cure a lifetime of sinful existence," Hera said. "Though now that you mention it, I have to wonder why she did so. That woman has no interest for anyone with whom she cannot get into bed. Though I suppose it might just be that she has some sympathy for the girl, as Kore is young and beautiful…"
"That is for certain," Hades muttered under breath.
"Shame we do not see her more," Hestia added. "I thought that she seemed quite sweet and so talented! She has such a sweet voice and is a skilled dancer. But Demeter is ever so protective of her, I wonder that she even let her come to Olympus at all!"
"Well good riddance for it!" Hera exclaimed. "The less I see of her the better! There are quite enough lecherous young beauties around here without her in the mix as well."
Hestia took a sip of her wine and looked thoughtfully into the distance. "The daughter of Demeter, I suspect she will marry well! I heard that Apollo was quite struck by her beauty."
"Everyone was struck by her beauty," Hera said acidly. "Whether she marries well or not is thankfully not my problem, but Demeter's," she said, gesturing with her goblet.
Hades cleared his throat and rose from his chair, "I am afraid, sisters, that I must take my leave now."
"So soon!" Hera whimpered.
Hades touched his hand to his sister's cheek. "There is work to be done in the Lower Worlds, dear Hera."
"You must see us more often, brother," Hestia added.
"I shall certainly try," he promised as he swept out of the room.
After leaving Olympus, Hades could not help but be thankful that Persephone had not had much time to be on Olympus and to come to cherish it. To ask her to be his queen would rip her away from the Upper World, a cruel fate for most but a less cruel fate for those who do not know it well, those who would not know what they are missing.
He had Zeus' permission and he had not learned anything untoward from his sisters about his lovely bride to be. All that remained now was how to set everything into motion.
Author's note: I have returned! I haven't written in a while since I'm first and foremost a college student but I also wasn't entirely sure how I wanted to present this story or where I wanted to go with it. I've come to the consensus that I want to do some more character development and in this chapter that manifested itself with showing Hades as he interacts with his two younger sisters and basically letting him not have to be a forbidding Lord for a little bit. Let me know your thoughts, if you like this if you didn't like this...I want to know!