"I'm sorry what?"
Even with her face covered I know Isa rolled her eyes at Garrett. "Seriously?"
I laughed and shook my head. "Let me explain."
Marcus waved a hand and the Major sent out a wave of calm. When everything settled, I started, pulling the information from Isa's head once again.
"Historically referred to as an auf, a changeling is a human-like creature found in folklore and folk religion throughout Europe. A changeling was believed to be a faery child that had been left in place of a human child stolen by the faeries."
"Think Hercules, circa Panic and Pain fucking up with the initial removal of god-like strength." Isa piped up from her hiding spot against my chest.
"Exactly." I agreed. "There are a few traits that make identifying changelings a bit easier, i.e. not growing in size like a normal child or notable physical characteristics. They may also display intelligence beyond their years as well as uncanny insight."
"Somehow knowing Isabella isn't human is the least shocking part of that statement and you know it." The Major pointed out.
"Let's start with who they are before we go into how they made a fire faery nymph." Garrett said eyeing me.
"I'm just taking it from her head." I repeated holding my hands up.
"Please can we just finish this?" Isa murmured.
"Hades then." I started. "Known in Greek religion and myth as the God of the Dead and the King of the Underworld, Hades is the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea, although he was the last to be regurgitated by his father.
"He and his brothers, Zeus and Poseidon, defeated their father's generation of gods, the Titans, and claimed rulership over the cosmos. Hades received the underworld, Zeus the sky, and Poseidon the sea, with the solid earth, long the province of Gaia, available to all three concurrently."
"Despite modern connotations of death as evil, Hades was more altruistically inclined in mythology." Garrett picked up. "Often portrayed as passive rather than evil, his role was often maintaining relative balance. That said, he was also depicted as cold and stern, and he held all of his subjects equally accountable to his laws. Any other individual aspects of his personality are not given, as Greeks refrained from giving him much thought to avoid attracting his attention."
"Hades ruled the dead, assisted by others over whom he had complete authority. The House of Hades was described as full of "guests," though he rarely left the Underworld. He cared little about what happened in the world above, as his primary attention was ensuring none of his subjects ever left his domain." Alistair added. "He strictly forbade his subjects to leave his domain and would become quite enraged when anyone tried to leave, or if someone tried to steal the souls from his realm. His wrath was equally terrible for anyone who tried to cheat death or otherwise crossed him."
Isa's soft melodic voice drifted over us from her hiding spot as she added to the story.
"Daughter of Zeus and Demeter, Persephone did not willingly submit to Hades but was abducted by him while picking flowers. In protest of his act, Demeter cast a curse on the land and there was a great famine; though, one by one, the gods came to request she lift it, lest mankind perish and cause the gods to be deprived of their receiving gifts and sacrifices, Demeter asserted that the earth would remain barren until she saw her daughter again. Zeus then sends for his son, Hermes, and instructs him to go down to the Underworld in hopes that he may be able to convince Hades to allow Persephone to return to Earth, so that Demeter might see Persephone and cause the famine to stop.
"Tricked into eating a pomegranate seed to eat before leaving, Persephone is reunited with her mother and she discovers that eating the seed ties to Hades and the Underworld, much to the dismay of Demeter. Zeus, however, had previously proposed a compromise, to which all parties had agreed: of the year, Persephone would spend one third with her husband. It is during this time, when Persephone is down in the Underworld with her husband, that winter falls upon the earth, "an aspect of sadness and mourning.""
"Okay and Thetis?" Marcus asked.
I will never understand how she keeps track of all this information.
I played with her hair as Isa started yet another story for the night.
"Though she mainly appears as a sea nymph and goddess of water, Thetis is a figure of Greek mythology with varying mythological roles. Daughter of Nereus and Doris, and a granddaughter of Tethys with whom she shares some characteristics, Thetis is possibly one of the earliest deities worshipped in Archaic Greece. In the Trojan War cycle of myth, the wedding of Thetis and the Greek hero Peleus is one of the precipitating events in the war which also led to the birth of their child Achilles."
She paused for a breath and continued smoothly.
"Courted by both Zeus and Poseidon, she was married off to the mortal Peleus because of fears of the prophecy as told by Prometheus that her son would become greater than his father and thus Thetis is revealed as a figure of cosmic capacity, handily capable of unsettling the divine order."
The more I hear about her true origin the more it makes sense.
I laughed loudly at the Major's thought feeling his amusement.
"If anyone can fuck with the powers that be it would be Isabella." Alistair shrugged.
"Anyone gonna explain how the two come together to make a faery?" Ang asked with a smile.
"Zeus had received a prophecy that Thetis's son would become greater than his father, as Zeus had dethroned his father to lead the succeeding pantheon. In order to ensure a mortal father for her eventual offspring, Zeus and his brother Poseidon planned for her to marry a human, Peleus, son of Aeacus, but she refused him." I explain. "Proteus, an early sea-god, advised Peleus to find the sea nymph when she was asleep and bind her tightly to keep her from escaping by changing forms. She did shift shapes, becoming flame, water, a raging lioness, and a serpent. Peleus held fast. Subdued, she then consented to marry him. Thetis is the mother of Achilles by Peleus, who became king of the Myrmidons."
"I don't think we really need to go into the story of Achilles and the Trojan War for this, yeah?" Isa asked, finally facing everyone.
After a murmured agreement, she skipped to the end.
"After Achilles uses his new armor to defeat Hector in battle, he keeps Hector's body to mutilate and humiliate. However, after nine days, the gods call Thetis to Olympus and tell her that she must go to Achilles and pass him a message, that the gods are angry that Hector's body has not been returned. She does as she is bid, and convinces Achilles to return the body for ransom, thus avoiding the wrath of the gods."
"Why am I not surprised?" I said with a deep sigh as I registered Garrett's wildly excited thoughts.
That's not even the most shocking part of her origin.
A/N: Another chapter is done! Hopefully this version is better and easier to keep up with.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Review please!