Rosewater and Hellfire Part 2

"Who are you?"

"I am...a lover of music."

She laughs like spring, and he feels his heart beat again. "But who are you? I can't see your face."

"I do not want to scare you."

She had tried to peer over the cliff to look down at him, but he had faded into the shadows. This was one of the entrances to the Underworld, so much like on Olympus itself the shadows obeyed his commands. She saw naught a trace of him, but that only heightened her curiosity. Now she sat at the edge of the cliff, next to the asphodel she sang back to life, and dangled her feet over the edge as if into a pleasant lake.

"You are not a mortal, then," she muses. "Are you a monster, that would seek to harm me?"

"No, no I am divine like you."

Her exclamation of delight startles him. "Then you most certainly won't hurt me, and you can show yourself. Please."

"After another song?"

"You drive a hard bargain. But fine, I'll sing."

She sings of the seasons, their beauty and camaraderie, the joy in each one matching the joy in her voice. As she weaves magic in the air with her song, he sighs, letting himself fade from the shadows until he is clearly a dark shape leaning against the rocks.


Katara is, of course, leaning over the edge as she sings. She is a cheat when it suits her, and here there's no real loser. Plus, it means the voice can hear her better.

She knew he wouldn't hurt her. The emotion in his voice thickened his first plea, but with more conversation she was sure she recognized the voice. This is the man who has happily hunted her through her dreams. She does not let victory seep into her voice when she finally sees his face.

He is pale, she can tell that much even with shadows over half his face. He looks tall, even looking down, with broad shoulders and a pointed chin. She likes his face.

He looks up, and she's caught, the song halting suddenly.

His eyes are gold, darkened by shadows and what is quite possibly desire. His eyes are gold with a fierce intensity that matches his strong jaw. His hair is dark, almost fading into the shadows, and the almost-scruffy cut softens the transition from his pale face to the dark wall.

Katara really likes his face.

"Hello."

He swallows, as if he's terrified of her, a springtime goddess. He's sweet.


It's her.

Her brown hair hangs down as she looks at him, and he knows in his dreams he's pressed his face into those locks and breathed in the scent drifting towards him now. Her eyes are bluer than he thought possible, innocent in their mischief. His hands twitch to cup her face in his so he can memorize every line, but he stays where he is, glued to the world beneath her adorable feet.

"Hello," he replies, and his heart keeps beating.


Katara still dreams of running, but now rather fancies getting caught - kisses to her neck, sweet nothings whispered in her ear.

It's more chaste than she expected her whirlwind secret affair to be.

She still doesn't know which god he is, though it would be easy to figure out. Instead, she'll wait for him to reveal it. He probably thinks she's more important than he is, and will be disappointed when she learns his name. That couldn't be possible, but she can't find a diplomatic way to say it, so she lets him steer the conversations. They discuss flowers at length, him providing ideas for her to try - new colors, new blossoms - while she instructs him in the care of asphodel, his favorite.

It never occurs to Katara to share this with someone. They can't punish her, since they meet in their dreams, mostly, and it's harmless anyway.

This is why when she dances home after one of their rare meetings by the cliff-side, she's surprised Kya is instinctively horrified to see her daughter.

Katara had wanted him to plait her hair, to join her on the upper part of the cliff and weave his flowers into her tresses. She wants to see his whole face in sunlight at once, not just halves - one obscured by shadows or her own hair.

He chuckled. "Alright, then, settle and I'll join you."

She sat cross-legged facing the cliff so he couldn't climb up and sneak, only for his presence to suddenly loom behind her.

"You used my shadow! Cheater."

"I'm just protecting your innocence," he replied lightly, fingers in her hair.

"Yes, because when I see you face I will be so overcome with ecstasy that there will be no possible way to call me a maiden any longer."

His hands stilled briefly before they began again in earnest. She thought he murmured, "not that kind of innocence." But he finished the braid, happily, weaving in more flowers with every twist of his hands. He pressed a kiss to the nape of her neck, and she twisted around to press a kiss to his lips, eyes shut tight. Her hands drift to cup his face but he stills them on his neck.

So when Kya plucks a flower from behind Katara's ear, asking "where did you get these," the young goddess tamps down a blush and replies, "at the edge of a cliff. They're really beautiful, aren't they? I just had to wear them."

"Don't go back there, it's not safe. And take those flowers out quickly. Zeus has agreed to hear your petition, and he hates asphodel."

Arranging the blossoms on her vanity, Katara muses over the fact that her mother knew the name of a flower Katara had never seen before.

She puts those thoughts from her mind and twists her hair into a conservative bun, dressing in garments best suited for healing. She looks professional, serious, when she stands in Olympus for the first time in a long time, and before the throne. Zeus's smile is predatory, a shark running a school of fish to borrow Poseidon's griping to her mother.

"And why do you wish to take on herbal medicines in addition to your current duties?"

"Because, my lord Zeus, I will never turn my back on people who need me. Giving Aesculapius more freedom to develop more complex solutions for more complex problems will bring better good into the world. In addition, my skills in developing new flowers easily lends itself to the creation and cultivation of more herbal cures. I know the mortals will be grateful for their improved health as well as your wisdom in delegation of divine duties."

Zeus's smile grows. "Then I see no reason why you shouldn't develop those very skills. I will set aside a space here on Olympus for your training. I look forward to seeing how you grow." He raises an eyebrow. "Will you need traditional space for a consort in your living quarters?"

Katara tries not to be shocked at the assumption she will live on Olympus for her training, and wonders how her mother will react. She calmly replies, "I will not, but thank you for the offer." A warning bell inside her begins to chime when a satisfied look crosses his face. "I will inform my mother of your decision then."

"Do."

Kya is not pleased. She immediately sends a lesser nymph to clean out her permanent rooms on Olympus. "I will not leave you alone here, not when your friends' duties carry them away from you frequently."

Katara is glad of it. When she's not speaking with her mentor or mother, or catching up with friends, when she's alone, she feels watched. Her dreams are different now. She no longer seems able to reach her nameless lover. Instead, she's running again, but running in fear. She is hunted, and whatever is chasing her grows more excited as she eludes him, as her fear grows and as the chase continues.

She wakes up wanting to cry out for the man who loves asphodel, but without his name she just wakes breathless.

Herah begins to spend time with her as well, ostensibly to talk varieties of tea but she quickly learns he, too, is trying to keep the malicious shadow from her. She mentions going to Zeus about it, but Herah shakes his old head. "He is Lord of the Skies, of thunder and lightning. He can do nothing about shadows."

She questions that, but not enough to go against Zeus's elder brother. The factions and battle lines left over from the war against the Titans are still clear, it seems.

She doesn't think Olympus will ever be free of them.

She starts to believe she'll escape unharmed, until her training is almost finished and Suki wakes her up in the middle of the night.

"Hey, psst. We're going on a quick adventure. For old time's sake."

"Where?"

"You'll see. It's a surprise."

"Okay, let me tell my mom-"

"No time. The secret will expire if we don't go now. Besides, if everything goes right, we'll be back before she notices you're gone."

Because she trusts Suki, Katara rises and follows the clever goddess of war - follows her to Hell.