To Covid-20- OK, first of all, take that username and sod off. This year has sucked. Second of all, thank you for the review! ^_^

To 8Ball3- Orphaned children, she's the goddess of orphaned children *evil hands*

To An-Unnamed-Goose- Aww, thank you! ^_^ Also, really fascinating and sometimes quite funny finding this obscure deities, I do recommend! XD


The light blinked on. Louisa startled and ducked. She dropped her book, hand on her watch.

"No need." Orbona smiled. "Only me." Lumps of ice fell into her stomach, her hands shook. "Wh-?" The goddess reached for her, hesitant, worried. "What is it?" Louisa managed to shake her head. Only me. That's what that little grey bush creature had said, before it called all of its six-armed friends to toss them into the Labyrinth.

Orbona sat beside her. They were in the upstairs flat, in the study. As a goddess, the flat was kind of unnecessary, but she loved it. The study was small, as cramped with books as the shop. A desk sat against one wall, laden with papers and quills. A window seat piled with cushions and framed by thick dark curtains sat opposite. The wooden flooring was mostly obscured by a large, patterned rug, well worn in places from her thoughtful pacing.

Louisa had squashed herself on the window seat, almost hidden in the cushions, sans the tops of her head. She had been reading, the curtains pushed open to let the moonlight in. Last Orbona had seen her was after dinner and a bath, tucked into a bed in the spare room. She was not surprised in the slightest to find the child had not remained there.

The goddess tucked an arm around the girl, listening to her wheeze, saw tears on her cheeks. Orbona began to hum, running her hand over Louisa's hair. Their shadows fell onto the rug, a pale halo of moonlight around them. Branches of a tree outside creaked in a night breeze. Louisa wiped at her face frantically with both hands, sniffling. She squeaked incoherently. After sifting through it a couple of times, Orbona realised it was an apology. "No, no, my child, you have nothing to be sorry for."

Louisa listened to her humming, something soft and lightly upbeat. She closed her eyes, letting it flow over her. Her wheezing began to ease, though her hands still shook. Orbona tipped her head forward to see her face. "What brought you in here?" She nodded at the dropped book. Louisa groggily turned to locate it, blinking. Yes, that was right. She had been reading. Or, trying to at least.

"P- Princess 'n' the Fr- Frog."

"Oh!" Orbona grinned. "And what do you think?"

"I…" Louisa's thoughts floundered. She closed her eyes, needing to settle her mind. Only Me's sloppy grin flashed at her, her foot jolted at the thought of the earthborn's hand holding her by the ankle. Remembering what little she read took some considerable effort- nothing of the book's doing, but her brain, unwilling to pull her away from that day.

She saw her hand move, as if detached from her body, shakily picking the book up. She stared at the page she had been on, the princess just finding the frog, having dropped her ball in the pond. "I… um…" She struggled for the words, the ones on the page just as problematic.

"Yes, I understand." Orbona nodded. "Most demigods struggle with reading. Your brain is essentially programmed for another language." She waved her hand over the book. The sentences swirled into spirals and then unfolded back into the original format. Except now…

"I can read it!" Louisa breathed in surprise.

"Yep!" Orbona smiled. "It's Latin." Amazed, Louisa pulled the book closer, reading over the sentences again. What had taken her a good part of an hour, she now read in minutes. "Is that better?" Louisa nodded, turning the page. "Good. Because it's your turn to read to me."


Orbona gave Louisa some jobs the following morning. Nothing strenuous, nothing demigodly. After breakfast of beans on toast, she was given a price gun and had to tag books with little white stickers. And then there were colour-coded stickers for genres as well- Louisa rewarded herself with a red one- and a bit of dusting. Although, with all the surfaces and book piles, the dusting was going to take her a while. Even longer as she could only really reach the bottom three shelves.

"You're a good little worker, Louisa. I may splurge later."

"Biscuits?"

"Maybe shortbread? Do you like shortbread?" Louisa shrugged. "You will like shortbread." Orbona decided. "Everybody likes shortbread." Louisa nodded and started in the little hallway. She heard the bell tinkle, footsteps on the wooden floor.

"Morning!" A lady called.

"Oh, good morning! Isn't the weather nice today?"

"Yep!" There was a scuffle and a series of thuds, followed by a child complaining. "Oh, sweetheart, what did I say?" Orbona laughed. Louisa saw her shadow move around the desk. She stayed in the hallway, dusting what she could reach.

"Sorry." The child said, a boy. Louisa's hand shook. She bit the inside of her cheek, glaring at her fingers, the duster crumpling under her grasp.

"You should see the amount of books I knock down." Orbona assured. There was the soft thumps of books being restacked and then the goddess's shadow moved again, back behind her desk. "So, what can I do for you?"

"Well, with the weather so nice, we're heading down to Montauk, aren't we?"

"Yes!" The boy grinned. "Got a cabin!"

"Oh, how lovely!" Orbona beamed. "Looking for some holiday reads then?"

"Yes please." The other woman said. "And have you got something that might keep this one still for five minutes?"

"I know what he needs. Young man, have you heard of Doctor Seuss?"

"No, ma'am." The boy replied.

"Well, you're about to. And you're going to love his work. Let's see, let's see. Where did I put them?"

"You have lots of books, lady."

"I do have lots of books."

"You read them all?"

"I have indeed." Orbona smiled. The boy audibly gasped. "You see, in my line of work, books are everything. And there's always something to find in a bookshop. Ah, here we are. Green Eggs and Ham! A classic."

"Thank you, lady!"

"And for you, my dear? What are we looking for? Romance? Comedy?"

"Murder?"

"Ooh, a woman after my own heart."

"I do love a good mystery."

"Mom writes her own stories!" The boy proudly declared.

"Is that so? Well, if you would be so kind, I would love to read them."

"Oh, well…" The other woman sounded a bit flustered, a little happy. "They're just… something I've been working on, they're no big deal-"

"Nonsense! If you've poured your heart and soul into your work, if you've enjoyed creating it, then it means everything. I've just thought of one that you'll like. Over here, over here, excuse me, young man." There was movement, books being moved. "Aha!" Orbona laughed triumphantly. "I read this one recently, very clever."

"'The Echo Man'." The other woman read. "Oh, Richard Montanari, I've read some of his stuff!"

"Then you'll enjoy this one just as much!"

"Thank you."

The woman paid, chatted for a little while. The boy raved about their cabin on Montauk, listed the common chores of clearing out spiders and sand. It didn't sound like fun, but the way he spoke, it was as though it was his favourite thing on the planet.

Then they were gone, calling out goodbyes and their thanks. The bell tinkled as they left.

Louisa looked at her hand. The shaking was minimal now, although she hadn't got much dusting done.

"Louisa?"

"H-here." She croaked. Orbona came around the corner and smiled upon seeing her.

"I'm popping out for ten minutes. Want to come?" Louisa shook her head. The goddess didn't seem to mind, still smiling. "Well, I won't be long. If anyone comes in, just tell them I've gone for some biscuits, OK?" Louisa nodded. "Good girl." She pointed at a shelf behind Louisa, her smile turning cheeky. "Missed a spot."


:3