"There is more to being a woman than looking like one"
It was no secret that Persephone was treated like a child well into adulthood. Marrying Hades had given her a false sense of security, a false belief that she had finally entered womanhood. The longer Persephone spent in Olympus, the longer she spent around other women. And the longer she spent around other women, the more those old insecurities resurfaced. Hera didn't have to question Persephone's ability as a queen, it was implied.
Time seemed to pass slowly. Persephone counted the seconds. She longed to retreat back to her home. She would much rather deal with disrespectful nymph servants with a strong loyalty to Demeter than deal with a temperamental, murderous queen. She had assumed that Hera would want to dismiss Persephone and move on with her day.
Unfortunately, she was wrong.
Hera smirked while Persephone squirmed awkwardly in her seat. She seemed to find pleasure in the younger goddess' discomfort. Persephone knew she should act confident, but the woman was infamous for torturing her husband's bastards and Persephone found that terrifying. Eventually Hera seemed to grow tired of her game. She graciously rose from her chair and smoothed down the nonexistent wrinkles in her chiton.
"Follow me" Hera commanded while gracefully exiting the garden.
"W-what" Persephone replied while stumbling out of her chair and running to catch up.
"Did your mother not train you to listen Kore. I said follow me"
"Why?" Persephone replied while attempting to not become angry at the queen. "Train? What am I an animal" she thought.
"For a tour"
That response made Persephone stop dead in her tracks. "A tour?" She had never heard of Hera giving anyone a tour of anything. Ordering Iris to give the tour, sure, but give the tour herself?
"Yes Kore, are you not aware of queenly decorum?" Hera replied in a tone one would use when speaking to a child.
"Y-n-well" Persephone didn't know how to respond. "Queenly decorum?" Persephone didn't want to appear as less a queen than Hera but similarly didn't want to lie.
"It is my duty as a queen to welcome the visiting queen with a tour of the palace." Hera explained much to Persephone's annoyance "I gave a tour to that nymph and now you."
"That nymph," Persephone thought. Amphitrite was much more than "that nymph" but Persephone decided to hold her tongue and silently follow.
Zeus and Hera's palace was made of pure white marble with a light brown wooden door. The wooden door was preceded by a stone staircase surrounded by bright green grass lined with white and pink daisies. A nymph with blonde hair, honey eyes and a simple white gown bowed respectfully and opened the doors to the palace.
The inside of the palace was white, eerily white. The walls and floors were made of the same pure white marble as the exterior. The extravagant crystalline chandeliers added prestige to the palace but no color, no personality.
"Thinking of your palace" Hera remarked with an air of superiority.
Persephone nearly giggled. Hera confused her shock for intrigue. In truth, Persephone could not stand the lack of color.
Her palace walls were obsidian black, but there were accents of rubies, emeralds and sapphires. As Persephone ascended the grand staircase, she ran her finger along the rose gold accents on the railings, the only color in the cold palace. Even the flowers, though beautiful, were white roses. There was no personality in the cold, lifeless palace that gave Hera a strong sense of superiority.
"W-where are we going?" Persephone asked.
"To the sunroom" Hera replied in that all too quick and familiar tone that screamed 'did you really ask that'. The rooms connected to the agonizingly long hallway were interesting. The doors on the left were pure white with silver handles while the doors on the right were painted rose gold with decadent gold handles.
"What are these rooms?" Persephone asked, unable to hide her natural curiosity. Hera stopped walking at the question and turned around.
"The nurseries are on the right and the servant quarters are on the left. Would you like a look inside Kore? I do not expect you to know how they look considering.."
Considering Persephone was childless.
Considering the underworld servants were ghosts.
Hera might have stopped at "considering" but Persephone could fill in the blanks. She wanted to comment that Hera's familiarity with nurseries came more from raising her husband's bastards but decided instead to bite her tongue and continue the long trek down the hallway to the sunroom.
The sunroom was beautiful.
The orange and yellow stained glass roof brought a colorful glow to the white marble floors. Wooden benches, surrounded by small cypress trees and topped with white cushions, lined the walls. Kore turned to the door and to her surprise, the nymph attendant was gone.
There was a tall, imposing god in her place. His emerald green eyes, which should be calm, held aggression and anger. He was attractive like most gods, but his demeanor was slightly terrifying. Ares.
"L-L-Lord Ares" Persephone said while bowing respectfully.
"Kore" Ares replied with a subtle head nod and minimal eye contact. Persephone oddly did not mind the lack of decorum but could not stand the use of that name.
Persephone then realized that Ares was not the only other person in the room. It seemed Hera had summoned five of her children to the sunroom.
There was a god standing along in the far left corner. To Persephone, his kind eyes and comforting aura compensated for his twisted limbs and lack of symmetrical facial features. They had never formally met, but his reputation preceded him.
"Lord Hephaestus, It is a pleasure to meet you" Persephone greeted.
"Lady Persephone" he greeted.
His greeting brought a smile to Persephone's face. It felt like an eternity since someone acknowledged her with respect.
"Ahem"
Persephone turned to find a beautiful goddess standing behind her. The woman was of shorter stature with long brown hair, beautiful chestnut eyes and childlike features.
"Hebe" Persephone addressed respectfully.
"Lady Hebe" Hebe corrected.
Persephone was stunned by the correction. The two women had never used formal titles as they were close in age and friends. The formality and cold greeting hurt. Regardless, Persephone politely nodded and turned to find two women standing at Hebe's right. The first woman was tall with long golden blonde hair and piercing blue eyes.
"L-Lady Eileithyia"
"Kore" Eileithylia replied in a hostile tone. The hostility was not surprising as Eileithylia treated all their father's bastards as the bane of her existence.
"L-Lady Eris"
"Good evening Seph" the feisty brunette responded. Eileithylia scowled at the greeting which only brought a smile to Eris' face. The two were the furthest from friends, Eris merely had a habit of causing trouble for laughs.
"I do apologize dearest. I believe I forgot to inform you that my children would be present."
"Oh" Persephone was startled by Hera's abrupt intrusion into the conversation "That's - I mean I suppose it's fine."
"What better representation is there of a strong marriage than children."
"Loyalty" Persephone heard someone comment from the other side of the room.
"Hephaestus!"
"Rhetorical question, my apologies mother"
Despite Hera's visible irritation at her son's snide comment, she still managed to keep her composure and continue unbothered.
"I understand you and my eldest brother have no children yet, rest assured love I am sure it has nothing to do with you Kore."
That comment hurt. Persephone knew that both Amphitrite and Hera had given birth to sons at the same point in their marriage. It wasn't until she saw Hebe, her friend, snickering in the background that she nearly burst into tears.
"Thank you for the tour, if you will excuse me."
Persephone, holding back tears, left before Hera and her children could respond. The insults, the belittling, Hebe's reaction, it was all too much. It seemed like everyday she was reminded of another reason she was unfit to be queen. She had expected challenges in her return to Olympus, but she had never considered that through her marriage she would lose friends.
She strutted out of the palace, walked down the stone steps and through the garden. Persephone kept her mind empty during the walk, only focusing on stopping the tears that threatened to fall.