It wasn't often the original six Olympians held a meeting without the rest, especially considering Hestia had stepped down. She was still present at every council in the center but she didn't voice her opinion - though she never really had before either. Zeus had insisted on her presence and though she saw no need to be there, she did not argue him and quietly followed the rest into his room. Hera and Demeter entered together, neither of them looking at him as they did so. He cleared his throat as they passed, not in the mood to deal with their antics. Poseidon followed in next, pointing out some blood on Zeus' arm as he passed by, followed by a quiet Hades and shy Hestia. The thunder god closed the door behind his eldest sister and turned to face them, sighing quietly. Demeter was the first to show concern over the blood on him and stepped forward, eyeing him with a worried look. Hera merely raised an eyebrow at the evidence of violence, unmoved by it as Zeus' presence meant it had been handled adequately.
"What happened?" she asked as her hand came up to her mouth, a finger resting on her lips to avoid asking further questions. Demeter was not a fighter by nature and only jumped in at Zeus' request, much like Poseidon and Hades, but the thought suddenly crossed her mind to start training again when looking upon her brother and King. Hades' mouth twisted to the side, not as concerned since his brother was not severely harmed nor did the blood look like his - but the fact that he had to join in a fight at all was disconcerting. The same thought seemed to cross everyone else's mind at the same time and the silence that settled on them was the epiphany of their worst fears: they were in a war.
"Nyx's children," Zeus sniffed as his nose crunched up, the mere name of the goddess causing him anger. Any challenge to his authority was a serious offense, something he had been paranoid over and fought his entire life. He had been the cause of his father's downfall who was betrayed by his wife, something the gods had seen before with Uranus and Gaia. Over the years, all of these older gods had quieted down and settled into a peaceful lifestyle under Zeus' rule. The idea that any of them were the cause of their sleeping and now this battle was a bad sign and an immediate threat to his throne. Hestia stared at the ground, not wanting to join in on the conversation but her eyes widened, knowing exactly what he had called her in. Zeus' blue eyes turned to her and though she refused to look up, she knew he was looking at her. "They created the Sleep with her and Gaia's aid. They put our mother to sleep in a remote cave where Artemis found her. They attacked her and consequently us. We need to know everything about them... Hestia."
She closed her eyes as the pressure of her name and their eyes falling on her. Hades turned to her, frowning at her shyness and he sighed, reaching a hand up to scratch the back of his neck. His years underneath Olympus and the Earth had left him much time to research and read. He had come to know the world before his birth very well and feeling sorry for his awkward sister, he cleared his throat and began speaking for her.
"Not all of them went into isolation after the war with the titans," he started, staring at the ground to try and recall all of their names. "Nemesis is probably one of the more active ones. She shouldn't be a problem, though -"
"She is," Zeus grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. Hades paused, his face showing the shock on his face that she would take a side. Hera raised a hand to her face, covering half of it as she closed her eyes and tried to soak this in as quickly and calmly as possible. Poseidon leaned against the desk, crossing his arms and listened without too many facial expressions. He saw no need to panic just yet.
"Hmm," Hades hummed at first, trying to think of a reason for Nemesis' choice but after a few minutes of silence, Demeter coughed and withdrew him from his thoughts. Looking up, he gave a small apologetic smile before continuing. "Many of them manifest themselves in mortals without showing. They have no interest in us… or at least didn't."
"Thanatos," Hestia whispered to her side towards her brother, shifting uncomfortably as she did so and Hades nodded to affirm her concern.
"Thanatos is the one to worry about. He's the god of death, twin of Hypnos ..." Hades paused in his sentence, his eyes widening as he realized who directly what was responsible. "Hypnos."
Zeus nodded at the epiphany, eyeing the rest of his siblings. "Yeah."
"Wait a minute," Poseidon spoke up, putting a hand out to signal them to stop talking, a thought suddenly overcoming him. "They did this to Rhea too?"
Zeus squinted at his brother, wondering exactly how he had missed that earlier and nodded. "She was the chief contact between Nyx and Gaia. Moros must have told her Gaia would turn on their agreement, so she severed their communication. Rhea's off speaking with Gaia now and after she talks to Nyx, she's coming here."
Hera scratched at her hairline while staring at the ground and she took in a deep breath, then released it into a long sigh. When she looked up again, all eyes (except Hestia's) were on her and she shrugged, shaking her head. "This doesn't mean war. We still have time to discuss things with the nebïaids -"
"And say what?" Zeus snapped, glaring at his wife as he clearly disagreed with her on this. "That we're sorry for defending Artemis and waking our mother?"
"This is Nyx and Gaia's problem, not ours!" she snapped back, pushing off the wall she was leaning on into a standing and stronger position. She was still on edge from their argument earlier and any disagreement between them brought back her personal grievances with him. "We woke Rhea up and now let them deal with their problems!"
"Unfortunately -" Poseidon interrupted, glancing between the two that seemed to be fighting about more than the current situation. "Their 'problems' are about us. We can't just let them decide this again without our input."
"I'm not saying we do nothing," Hera sighed, closing her eyes to try and collect her thoughts again and clear her anger with Zeus out - for the moment. "But running into battle isn't always an option. We need to take a diplomatic stance for as long as we can."
"Diplomatic?" Demeter questioned, looking at her sister with shock as she pointed to Zeus' arm. "They attacked first!"
"Well," Poseidon smirked. "It was Artemis. We don't know that for sure."
"Regardless," Hades interrupted before any joke could be made or offense taken. "We can't take back what happened but we can readjust how we handle things from here on out. The last thing we want and need is a war with Nyx."
His words had an effect on the rest of them, causing a silence to settle in the room. Zeus was not happy with it but didn't immediately disagree; his lips twisted as he thought of something to say against it, but all he could do was get mad that they had the arrogance to attack one of them and then not leave when he showed up. Hera nodded in silence, at least glad someone had agreed with her on principle if not entirely. Her main concern was sacrificing her family to a war again, not prepared to lose everything again and more permanently. Demeter was surprisingly more eager to fight, siding with Zeus on taking offense. Not only did they put them to sleep, like troublesome little children, but attacked them when they attempted to discover the source of it all. The harvest goddess crossed her arms and stared at the ground, glaring at a mental image of their faces. Poseidon shrugged off Hades' words, certainly agreeing with them but had no further suggestion for where to go from here. Hestia shifted in the silence and, surprisingly, lifted her gaze to Zeus, eyeing the bloodstains and resisted the temptation to run for water to clean him up.
As the oldest of the six, Hestia had come to learn a lot on her own. Before any of her siblings had been born, she had to fend for herself in many ways. She was swallowed first by their father, a horrific event that she thankfully did not remember. As an immortal, being swallowed was not a death sentence but it was possibly one of the worst fates that could befall them. Hestia's first memory was of the blackness of her father's stomach and hearing him screaming at her mother. They were arguing about his paranoia and eating their children, which she protested fiercely, calling him irrational and heartless. Hestia learned early of her father's lack of compassion and the love her mother had for them by listening quietly. Every night after her father had fallen asleep, her mother would lay her head on Cronus' stomach and talk to Hestia, telling her everything was going to be fine. Hestia began to learn a lot through these stolen moments in the night between her and her mother. Despite being subjected daily to whatever he consumed for the day and hearing the deafening demands that filled her strange excuse for a room, she began to find joy in her life when night fell and her mother's soft voice spoke to her.
The time she spent alone was the main reason she had turned out so quiet and shy; she would never understand the strength she had to endure her horrific early years. Her nurturing nature was kicked in when Hades joined her in the depths of their father's stomach and she began to take care of him, telling him of their mother, her kindness and that she would get them out of there one day. She would hold him at night when their father went to sleep and their mother began telling stories again, describing the outside world and how beautiful it was going to be when they came out.
As their father continued devouring his own children whole, they grew inside just the same and his stomach began to grow. Hestia had learned how to create fire through her mother's advice and sneaky nature - she had snuck kindle into Cronus' meals. Their father would often complain of being too hot and he was almost always answered by Rhea who told him he was paranoid. eHeBy the time Hera was swallowed, the world inside of Cronus was as comfortable as possible. Fires lit the world around them, showing what materials they had and the disgusting nature of the inside of his stomach. Demeter, Poseidon and Hera grew up under the wing of Hestia and Hades, the quiet pseudo parents that told them stories and created meals out of previously eaten food. It was understandable to the rest that the oldest pair was still quiet and withdrawn, even when introduced to a vibrant and beautiful world. But what the rest also came to realize was the pure knowledge Hestia had absorbed in her years alone; she had nothing else around her but the sound of their father's voice until her siblings arrived, and so she heard names, decrees, fights and more. She knew who Nyx was before she ever stepped out of her father and she knew exactly what her children could do. She was, in essence, one of the most powerful Olympians in her strength and knowledge but without the drive to do anything about it.
"Nyx controls the night," Hestia quietly started, her shoulder hunching over and her eyes averting as they started to look at her. "She travels in darkness and can be anywhere it is. She rarely intervenes because she prefers to watch. She is very powerful... even father feared her."
The unfortunate words were exactly what Zeus had been looking for when he asked her here and he sighed quietly, nodding his head as he turned away from his sister. For the rest, it sounded hauntingly like she had been telling them a story to keep them occupied, the way the words had fallen out. Hades looked down at her, frowning slightly as the memories came crawling back to him. Hera's shoulders shifted as an uncomfortable shiver trickled down her spine. Zeus looked up to the endless ceiling, asking himself what he had gotten into before turning back to Hestia.
"Can she heal them?" he asked somewhat rhetorically, just wanting to hear the answer to affirm what he saw. The eldest sister pinched her lips together and nodded her head.
"Let us hope then," Hera said suddenly, glancing from Hestia to Zeus. "That mother is a better diplomat than you are."