"Lost him?" Athena grinned to the huntress from behind the fountain, causing Artemis to scowl lowly as she stood up into a formal position. Athena had noticed Hermes slip out quickly and thus watched the huntress struggle to find him. It was one of the more amusing pairings, as it reminded her of the game mortal children enjoyed to play: cops and robbers. The thief was able to run and hide in the shadows of the night, using whatever means necessary to slip from the law while the cop used tradition means to find him and consistently fell short. While it certainly amused the war goddess to watch, Artemis was not equally pleased.
"Why he shuns his duty, I will never know," the huntress stated boldly, trying to regain her composure and handle over the situation. Still harboring a grudge for the venomous words Athena had for her earlier, Artemis had kept a cold demeanor towards the goddess and turned to leave without a word. She paused, however, when she heard her current enemy stepped forward, clearly ready to follow her out of Hera's garden. Turning her pale eyes over her shoulder to view her, Artemis noticed Athena's smile had faded into a worn look of seriousness. The pair seemed to have a wordless conversation as the huntress turned towards the war goddess and they stood, facing each other in the garden as the only sounds were that of rustling and wind. When Athena finally broke eye contact and turned to a bench, she let out a sigh and stepped towards it.
"I'm waning, Artemis," she admitted quietly as her hand traced the marble carving of the bench. Slowly descending on it, she let her eyes wander over Hera and Demeter's work, quietly reminding herself how beautiful this place was. Trying to stay focused, she locked contact with those pale eyes once again. "I remember the oath I swore and why, but I don't feel the same anymore."
Artemis' eyebrows pinched together as she judged Athena for a moment before her eyes turned soft. "You have doubt?" she asked in honest surprise, not used to hearing this tone from the goddess often.
"Only a fool doesn't know doubt," Athena asserted harshly, as this had been a point of contention between the two of them for centuries: Athena knew self-doubt was an essential part of overall wisdom while Artemis saw doubt as weakness. If a hunter felt a fraction of doubt before releasing the arrow, they would lose their prey and the game: doubt meant loss and loss meant weakness. The pair glared at each other for a second before the huntress stepped towards the bench.
"You made your oath for different reasons than I did," the huntress stated quietly as she placed a hand on the goddess' shoulder. Offering a slight smile as she sat next to her, Artemis' face seemed so soothing and friendly suddenly. "So I cannot pretend to know your struggle."
"Why did you?" the war goddess looked to Artemis abruptly, the question being delivered quickly and causing Artemis to blink and lean back from the goddess.
"Because young women needed someone to be on their side," the huntress answered after a few seconds, settling back into a comfortable position. Though the question had never been posed to her before, she was not against explaining herself. "There is too much violence and sickness against them without just cause. Hera tormented my mother during labor because of our father's infidelity. Mortal women everywhere are used, raped and then they are blamed for their children's existence and they live miserably. I chose this way for myself, to avoid that fate as well as to protect those less fortunate. Young girls are not taught to protect themselves and when they are taken advantage of, I am there for them."
Athena simply nodded as she turned her attention to the marble stones of the garden that created pathways through the quiet bliss. The statement sounded familiar, both the words and the tone; a strangely confident woman who made a decision out of compassion and stood her ground. In this moment, Athena realized how envious she was of Artemis – to be able to stand so firmly on a decision and not waver on it, even when to waver meant to consider its legitimacy, must be comforting. The ability to not doubt yourself may be foolish, but no one could say it wasn't blissful. Nodding once again to seemingly nothing, Athena pat the huntress' leg as she stood up and walked to her right, further into the garden.
"He went to his room," she stated loudly before she disappeared amongst the pillars and crawling vines. Artemis sat on the bench a few moments after the statement was made, her own thoughts still lingering on what had just happened before her eyes narrowed and she stood up, growling under her breath, "Could have told me that earlier."
When the huntress turned the corner towards Hermes' room, she saw the door wide open but no one lingering in it. Narrowing her eyes, she carefully leaned against the wall and followed it as if she were hunting some skittish creature that would run off at any sudden sound. Despite all her concentration, she managed to imagine Hermes with a pair of horns on his head, chewing some grass and turning to her with wide eyes when spooked. The thought immediately placed a large grin on her face. Running her hand up against the wall, she started to lean towards the doorframe when she heard a sound in his room. By instinct she pulled an arrow from behind and loaded it between her index finger and thumb on the bow. Not quite thinking through her actions, Artemis jumped into the doorway and pulled her right arm back, straining it against the string of her bow and aiming the tip of the arrow directly at Hermes' chest. The god let out a small noise, almost like a gasp but more fake, as he put up his hands in defense and smiled.
"You caught me," he admitted slyly, clearly prepared for her arrival. She didn't immediately forfeit her arrow as she continued to stare him down, wondering what he had done in all this time. She let her eyes wander over the room before the arrow started to droop and finally she withdrew it from the bow. Now standing upright, she simply sheathed the arrow and held her bow in hand, waiting some sort of explanation. Unfortunately for her, Hermes was not one to explain his own actions, just those of others, and as he leaned down to finish tying on his left shoe, he looked to Artemis with a slight grin on his face. "Ready?"
"Always," Artemis mumbled while turning down the hallway.
Entering or leaving Olympus meant patience, something a lot of the gods did not possess in abundance. From the mountain Olympus there was a staircase that started at the tip of the mountain, most often covered by clouds for those who could see but hidden from the sight of mortals. It served both as a defense mechanism and a deterrent from trying to simply walk into Olympus. Besides the staircase, there were various other ways the gods could come and go. Hermes had the simplest manner and could take off from anywhere, flying up to Olympus or down to Earth with ease. He often carried those accompanying him since he didn't always have the patience to wait for their ride or descent. Unfortunately Artemis had never accepted his offer in the past and that didn't change now: he groaned loudly when she refused to be carried and walked towards the staircase. He walked over a bench and on top of a wall, giving himself a good point of lift off before jumping into the air and disappearing. Artemis glanced over her shoulder to see he had left and she smiled, turning towards the staircase and broke out into a run.
Artemis was somewhat surprised when she didn't see Hermes at the base of the staircase on the mountain and had only to assume he was instead at the base of the mountain. Keeping a healthy pace, she continued to run gracefully down the deep slopes without tripping, jumping over rocks or holes with ease and dodging between the trees near the bottom with the grace of a doe. As she moved out from a tree and more into open wilderness, she heard a familiar sound coming from behind. The feint flutter of wings working tirelessly to keep their owner afloat meant Hermes was on her tail. Turning to her right, she saw the god in the corner of her eyes. He blinked when he saw a grin form on her lips and within a few seconds, she had disappeared into the woods. His eyes grew wide, realizing the game and dove into the woods after her. Unfortunately he didn't have the extensive knowledge and instinct of forests that Artemis did and he nearly hit three trees before being forced to slow down. Squinting at the area around him, he curled his nose in annoyance. Her ability to hide in the forests only made him want to find her even more.
Hermes shot up through the branches and leaves, exposing himself to the fresh air high above the forest and searched for a way to trap her. At the edge of the forest, the normal exit into Greece, Hermes flew there to set up camp. Unfortunately, Artemis was already there waiting. Her grin caused the messenger god to sneer slightly as he landed in front of her.
"Took you long enough," she teased him as she walked passed him and down the path. Hermes huffed and mumbled something indistinguishable under his breath.
The pair was easily poorly matched but neither would defy Zeus' decree because of their differences. Artemis went about tracking Pan in her own way, assuming Hermes would silently follow and explained nothing. He did follow her for quite some time, letting the silence brew between them as he eyed her every move and wondered exactly how she would be any better at this than he. Whenever she picked up some dirt, the god came in closely over her shoulder to look at her hand; whenever she sniffed the air around them, he would sniff immediately after, trying to pick up whatever scent she had discovered. When she climbed high on a rock, he flew a little higher and when she pressed her ear up against a tree, he made sure there was enough room on the bark for his as well. Artemis would give him a glance every so often in an attempt to show her annoyance with him, but either he ignored the looks or they went unnoticed. Finally when she crouched down at the base of a river and placed her hand upon it and Hermes lingered over her shoulder and started to reach a hand out, it was the last straw; Artemis pulled out the hunting knife that rested on her belt and set its blade above her left shoulder, directly where Hermes' neck was. Glaring out in front of her, she sat there silently as Hermes made a small noise of surprise and pulled back.
"What the –"
"Let me do my job, Hermes," she warned in a heavy tone, pulling the knife back and setting it in the sheath. She spun around to stand and face him, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at him. "I cannot track him with you breathing down my neck and disturbing my every move."
Reaching to his neck to check for any marks, the messenger god regained composure and simply lifted an eyebrow to her. "I've searched this planet twice over. You won't find him with menial tracking tactics."
"Pan may be a god but a god of the wild and a satyr," the huntress reminded Hermes in a serious tone as she looked down to her belt, adjusting everything accordingly. "Satyrs leave their mark all over the place. They are not clean creatures."
It was difficult for Hermes not to show his offense at her statement; this was his own son they were talking about and nearly all other Olympians were able to find their children without problem. Granted, it didn't occur to Hermes that he had many children and all of various natures, so it was no immediate slander from the others that he could not find them all. But nonetheless, his eyes narrowed and his mouth twisted in subdued anger. "So where is he then?"
"Close," she stated quietly as she turned to her left. Artemis' nose twitched and she quietly began to sniff, apparently aware of something new. Not bothering to explain to Hermes, she near silently jogged to the left near an open cave. As she put her hand on a tree trunk, she leaned towards it and whispered; the nymph that occupied the tree sprung forward and shook her head, apparently unwilling to answer the huntress. Artemis put a finger up on her lips, indicating that she didn't intend to speak but then pointed to the cave. The dark brown eyes of the nymph briefly glanced to the opening and slightly nodded before stepping backwards and disappearing into the tree once again. Hermes stepped forward to ask a question but Artemis spun around and put her hand out, glaring at him venomously. You're loud she mouthed to him and pushed her hand out again, trying to emphasize that he not move. Though he was decently offended and took the time to glare at her, he did as she asked and stood still. She leaned forward and started slinking towards the cave, pulling out an arrow and pulling it into place in her bow. She glanced all around the entrance to the cave to double check for any unwanted visitors before disappearing into the darkness of the cave. Hermes pinched his lips together, less worried for Artemis than bothered he had to sit around outside and wait.
In the pure darkness, Artemis was rather blind, which was rather uncomfortable. Used to using her eyes to hunt, she had to get used to her other senses. Her sniffs seemed to echo in the cave and her hand pressed against the cold and wet walls. She could smell Pan's scent growing stronger as she stepped further into the cave but the confusion was over whelming; Pan was meant to be in the forest, amongst the nymphs of the rivers and trees. Suddenly on her fifteenth step into the cave, she heard rustling a few feet in front of her. She pulled the arrow and the noise of the bowstring tightening caused the rustling to stop. The huntress slowed her breathing down, trying not to make any noise to give away her position. She moved the tip of her arrow to the right, squinting into the darkness and within a few seconds she let the arrow fly. It slammed into the shoulder of the culprit who cried out as he slammed into the wall of the cave. Artemis immediately squatted down to avoid any retaliation and she scooted forward to feel a body on the ground. She gasped slightly, running her hand over the bottom half of the body; the fur gave away Pan's identity.
"Leave him!" the male cried before he made another cry of pain. It sounded as if he had taken the arrow and pulled it out of his shoulder. The blinded huntress huffed as she attempted to pull Pan towards her but his dead weight made it impossible for her to gain leverage. As her enemy's feet heavily pounded towards her, she was well warned in time to jump over Pan's body and pull another arrow. Drawing it into position, the noise of the string made the culprit pause again.
"Wait," he called out to her and clearly was not moving to attack. In her mind, she pictured him putting his hands up in the air, which he actually did not do. "Artemis, please. Let's talk about this."
"Who are you?" she demanded loudly while keeping her arrow at the ready.
"Hypnos," the male replied quietly.
"The titan?" the huntress asked, not bothering to hide her shock.
"The titans are children of Gaia," he replied calmly but laced with annoyance, obviously offended to be lumped in with such a group. "I am a nebïaids, child of Nyx."
Artemis' eyes squinted in skepticism as his words as she had never heard of the term before. She could only assume it was self-entitled or otherwise unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Either way, the elder deities had long ago disappeared from Olympus' view and hardly interfered in the world of mortals.
"The one you're looking for is unharmed. He's just sleeping," Hypnos explained very calmly, something inherent in his nature rather than his caution of the arrow.
"That's a form of harm," Artemis snorted as she felt eternal sleep was akin to death for them – or at least the closest they would ever come to it. "Wake him."
"I –" the nebïaid started and paused immediately, turning to look briefly at the wild god. As his mother was the titan of the darkness, he had been blessed with low light vision, allowing him to see Artemis' every move in the dark. Unfortunately this advantage had been blown by his clumsiness and her sharp ears; she still had the arrow drawn and she glared directly at him, something he found slightly chilling with the knowledge that she couldn't actually see him. He took in a short breath before sighing. "You really should leave. You don't have much time."
Pulling the arrow a little tighter, Artemis was insulted at his calm demeanor and the gall to tell her what to do. She sneered slightly before responding, "Time for what?"
"My siblings are coming," he replied coldly. "And they aren't afraid to fight."