"Good Morning, Mother. Why did you have Hermes send for me? You know where I live." Eros didn't like having been interrupted while having breakfast with his wife.

"I'm thinking about leaving Hephaestus."

This didn't exactly surprise Eros, considering how Hephaestus had publicly humiliated her not too long ago. Talking about this in Hephaestus's home, however, was another matter. He wasn't in the mood for getting in a trap himself. "Where is Hephaestus, by the way?"

"I don't know. He was out of the house by the time I woke up this morning." It had been strange to see his chair empty, his paper still rolled up on the table, and no ambrosia bowls anywhere in sight. She didn't want to mention the note Hephaestus had left saying that he was with his mother, Hera, though for all she knew, he was having this same conversation with her.

"So he's not here?" Eros peered around the room.

"No. Now, I'm thinking about getting Zeus to… separate us, but I need your opinion on how exactly to convince him that – "

"Wait, you want me to advise you on how to divorce him? I'm sorry, but I can't." He hated it when she roped him into her little designs.

"What do you mean you can't? You're my son! This is what family is for! And besides, it's not like I'd be divorcing your father. Why should this make you upset?" She was not going to take his attitude this morning.

"I'm also the god of love, and I, unlike you, take that task very seriously."

How dare he imply that she doesn't take love seriously – it was precisely her respect for love, whatever it is, that made her want to leave him in first place. "But Hephaestus and I aren't in love! How could you possibly object to our divorce?"

"You may not be in love with him, but I know for a fact that he is in love with you."

"You don't know anything." Aphrodite turned her face away from him, hoping her expression wasn't showing how upset she still was from the night before. She'd been struggling to keep her composure enough as it was, she didn't need to visibly break down entirely.

"I see him on a regular basis, mother. We talk every time I pick up the arrows he's made for me. And from what he's said, I probably talk with him more than you do."

"I don't know what mean, but I live with him. I'm the one married to him, not you. How dare you think you're an expert on my marriage simply because you have conversations with him every once in a while."

"Well, excuse me for sharing my opinion. I just thought that's why you'd sent for me to see you this morning."

Ever since he'd met Psyche, Aphrodite felt that Eros had been more flippant with her. She didn't like the influence this woman had on him – especially when it stood in the way of getting what she wanted. However, she also knew her son, and on top of everything, she was curious as to what Hephaestus had been saying to him, so she gestured for Eros to join her in the drawing room, and she seated herself on the couch. She decided to take a less blunt course of action.

"What sort of conversations are you having with my husband?"

Eros smiled. "Many kinds - for instance the other day, we spoke about the weather on earth, and how dismal it has been recently. He wondered if Hera had anything to do with it, seeing as she's also the goddess of the sky, but I told him about how upset Zephyros has been since the death of – "

"That is not what I meant and you know it." Perhaps being blunt was the best approach after all, she thought.

Eros sat down in Hephaestus's chair. Aphrodite wondered whether he had done so deliberately.

"He asks me for advice," continued Eros.

"What…"

"He thinks that since love is one of my specialties, and since I know you all too well, I'm a good person to ask for advice on how to deal with you." He smiled again – he knew she'd like that last bit.

Aphrodite did not appreciate Eros's tone, nor did she like what he was saying. "How to deal with me? You're making this up!"

"I am not. I wish I were – there are certain things a person doesn't need to hear about his mother." Eros chuckled. This was so much fun.

"He's asking you for… for…" She couldn't get the words out, she was so mortified.

"No, not like that – besides, how could I give him advice on something that clearly isn't happening? " Aphrodite's face turned red – from anger or embarrassment, Eros couldn't tell. "No, he asks me about smaller things."

"Such as?" she growled.

Eros leaned toward her, his elbows on his knees. "Such as how to get you to speak to him - He says that when he tries to have a conversation with you, you give him these vague answers like you'd rather he hadn't said anything at all. I tell him that this doesn't sound like you – if anything, you are all too direct with me. Telling me what to do, where to go… Frankly I wouldn't mind a vague, disinterested answer from you myself from time to time."

Aphrodite turned pale. How could Hephaestus do this? His telling her son about their relationship was almost more humiliating than his dragging her and Ares into the middle of Mount Olympus for all to see. And if he could speak to her son about these things, why couldn't he speak to her? She and Hephaestus had been sitting together in relative silence for hours last night, and… Well… She didn't want to think about that right now.

"And there's your business with Ares, but you know all about that."

"What does he say about Ares?" she asked- her voice hollow.

Eros felt they were now reaching a territory where it wasn't his place to say anything and that the subject had suddenly stopped being funny. "Just that he knows when you go over there, even though you don't tell him. It really bothers him."

"Does it now… I wonder if it would bother him so much if he were the only one who knew." She had a hard time picturing a Hephaestus that cared as much for her as Eros claimed, and there was a large part of her that didn't want to try. Doing so, she felt, would only make the reality of her situation all the more painful.

"It's not just because people know," added Eros. He didn't want to elaborate.

Aphrodite knew what Eros was trying to say, but it couldn't be possible. She didn't know what to think. "I can't believe you. You don't know what it's like living here. If your Psyche made you feel so lonely that you couldn't stand it anymore, and then humiliated you when… Why am I defending myself to you? I am your mother. I am telling you that I don't want to be married to this man anymore. It is your job as my son to support me."

"My job? What are you – "

"Yes, your job. I would support you."

"Of course you would; you hate Psyche." Eros laughed.

"I would support you even if I'd shot that golden arrow into you myself."

Eros could tell that his mother was serious. She would go about leaving Hephaestus whether he chose to help her or not, and she would never forgive him if he refused. Besides, she did have a point. He did love her, even if he thought she was making a bad decision. He took a deep breath. "If you want to leave him, you'll need to convince Zeus that Hephaestus wants to leave you as well. If Zeus gets any idea that this could make Hephaestus upset again, he'll say no. And considering how much Hera hates you, I have to say, I don't really think any of this is a good idea. If she finds a way to convince Zeus that she and Hephaestus have reconciled, you better believe she'll fight to keep you in your marriage just out of spite."

Eros had a point, thought Aphrodite. Everyone on Mount Olympus was afraid of the creations Hephaestus could make in his forge, and they all knew that, if he so chose, he could easily entrap or overpower anyone he wished. Zeus would never risk angering Hephaestus. In all likelihood, he might even refuse to listen to her, choosing instead to divorce them only on Hephaestus's request. She would have to go about this carefully. "I figured I would need to make Zeus think that it was his own idea."

"Then I suggest going through Hera. Don't ask me how, but Zeus owes her so much, I could see him wanting to do her a favor." Eros thought for a moment about how his mother could always twist him into doing something he thought was ethically wrong, and he hoped that this was the last time it would happen. He respected Hephaestus, and almost, in an odd way, considered him a friend. All of this felt so sordid. "But mother, please consider talking to Hephaestus first. I don't think he knows what he's doing to you."

Aphrodite was too busy trying to think of how she could ever get Hera to agree with her on anything, let alone divorcing her son, to listen to Eros's last remark. "Thank you, Eros. I'm sure you'd like to be getting back to your wife now. I know our visit must have disturbed your morning together."

"As if that would upset you," Eros muttered under his breath. "Have a nice day, mother."

As Eros left, he wanted nothing more than to take a bath. What an awful start to a day, he thought.

Aphrodite, on the other hand, thought her day was looking up, and she began to get ready for a visit to her mother-in- law's.