Party – Part 10
Sigyn found herself giggling and snickering with pride at her own deviousness and with glee at the thought of the chaos she was about to cause. She had twice caught Loki doing the same thing and now she understood why. It was fun being smarter than everybody else.
The challenge was, as far as she could see, was making Hermes want to take off his sandals, willingly and without suspicion of mischief, because there was no way she could force him to take them off. But there was a way.
She had transformed herself into a bouncy castle. It was the kind with turrets and a slide leading down into a ball pit and inflatable Krylorian warriors wobbling about on the inside. Sanguine Sigyn did not do things by halves, presentation was important.
The children, of course, flocked to her, like bees around a flower.
[Don't forget to take your shoes off,] Sigyn told them, and so they did just that, leaving their shoes and boots in an untidy and jumbled pile by the entrance to the castle. [Make sure you remember where you put them,] Sigyn advised them. [You wouldn't want to lose them, would you?}
She had chosen her location well.
Above them Hermes was just chillin', doing his thing with swoops and twirls and loop-the-loops, the wings on his sandals flashing as they caught the disco lights.
Sigyn called out to Hermes. [Come and play!]
'No thanks, it looks like it for kids.'
[Don't be boring. Isn't he boring, children?]
'Boring! Boring!' the kids chanted, bouncing up high.
Under that kind of pressure Hermes felt he had no choice but to relent. And it did look kind of fun.
'Very well. Maybe for five minutes.'
He tried to swoop down, straight into the middle of the castle, but Sigyn stopped him.
[Hey, hey, shoes off! It's a rule! Be a good example.]
'Sorry.'
[Just leave them on the floor with the others.]
Sigyn was so excited to see Hermes slipped off his winged sandals that she almost burst, which would not have been good for the people bouncing around on her. They fluttered a little way above the others, but still low enough for a certain child to be able to reach them.
Little Di had been thoroughly bribed with the promise of sweets and wishes granted – Loki would have to create a pony for her later, but Sigyn was sure he would not mind – and was now hiding under the dessert table and watching and waiting for the right opportunity.
She was a careful child and a thoughtful child and so was far too cautious to simply dart out at the moment Hermes removed his prized sandals in the way a more impulsive child might have done. Instead she waited a little longer for Hermes to become truly distracted.
She watched as he jumped and leapt and boing'ed up and down with all the children, looking a little uncomfortable at first, but then slowly getting caught up in the children's happiness and games. She waited until he was sitting in the ball pool being buried by the children and then she slid out on her tummy and crawled to the pile of shoes.
The girl had never seen such a beautiful pair of sandals before. They were as light as air and when she gently tossed one upwards it floated back down onto her upturned palm like a feather. They could only have been made by the great sky god Zeus. Di looked carefully around to make sure that no one was watching and then quickly dashed back to the cover of the dessert table.