Hestia had gone looking for Hera after news of Zeus' beating reached her. She scoured the mountain in search of her sister. Everywhere she went she heard talk of what Zeus had done to Hera. But not why. When she asked around, looking for both the cause of her beating and her current whereabouts she couldn't get a straight answer. The stories were garbled, nothing was consistent.
She would ask Apollo first, as god of truth he wouldn't be able to lie to her about the current situation. And she wanted answers.
When she finally found him she immediately regretted it.
He was with Hermes. They had been going for a stroll in the park together, wading through the newly fallen snow. Hermes clung to Apollo's elbow drastically shorter than the latter, his height as tall as Apollo's shoulders. The two smiled at each other, eyes twinkling, and gave the other a small peck on the lips. They went to one of the porches in the park to overlook a mortal city. She was almost embarrassed to ask while the two gods were together. They had a tendency to be bit too intimate while others were around, and she was afraid they'd drop their boxers right in front of her while asking about her sister. But at least she'd get an answer. So she would suck up her virgin pride and ask the promiscuous couple. She had to find her sister. She needed to make sure Hera was okay.
She asked the both of them. What a disappointment. They both didn't know why it had happened or where the queen had gone, however, Hermes witnessed the beating and both had theories.
They proceeded to ask whether it was true Adiya and Hera had been sleeping together behind Zeus' back. According to Hermes, he caught them together in the kitchen throne room. Where he decided to punish Hera in a way she would find humiliating.
"That's an interesting thought, but I would like to know why you would think of something so-so-"
"Ludicrous?" Apollo suggested.
"Yes, thank you. Why would you come up with something so ludicrously impossible?"
Hermes shrugged, he looked up at Apollo for back up, the tip of his impish ears turning red with embarrassment. When he looked back at Hestia his freckles were turning orange. He cleared his throat, fixed his coat and answered,"Zeus had dragged Hera out of the throne room. When he started beating her. Adiya was hanging out near the kitchen door in shock. When Hera left Adiya had told Zeus it wasn't Hera's fault. It was her own, that she was the one that had started something."
Hestia huffed, she should've guessed Adiya had something to do with it. The moment she found Hera and knew she was fine, she would give the little hooker a piece of her mind.
She thanked the couple and walked off looking for anyone else to interrogate. Eventually she found Artemis. Artemis wasn't the ideal goddess to speak with when it came to small conversations about Hera, but at this point Hestia wasn't gonna take any shit from her. She went up to the goddess who had been clearing the snow off her driveway.
She was a pale goddess with a long black braid that would sweep over her shoulder from time to time. She wore puffy, silver clothes to protect her against the cold and her boots would crush the ice underneath them. She didn't have her bow or quiver with her, so she seemed smaller, not as large as Artemis usually liked to make herself in order to look intimidating. She daresay, she even looked more feminine without her bow. But her bow was also a defining feature, it gave her a sort of aura that made her even more attractive, it was a shame not to see it strapped on. When Hestia called her, the goddess turned her head sharply like a deer caught in headlights. Her eyes were cold with the color of molten lead. Like her brother, she held freckles that were almost invisible to the eye. Hestia knew that to be a recurring trait in children of Zeus. She never remembered why that was. She didn't remember whether Zeus held freckles on his face or not, she always thought Hermes had freckles because Maia had them. Then again, no one ever really met his mother, except Zeus and Hera. The two women were good friends if she remembered correctly, and then something happened causing Maia to leave Hermes with the king and queen and he was raised alongside his stepsisters Angelos and Zeus give him those spots or was it Maia? She hadn't had a chance to be up close and personal in years with her brother. Come to think of it, Hebe had freckles too. Hebe resembled Hera in every way possible, but Hera didn't have freckles, did she? In fact, she couldn't remember if anyone of her siblings had freckles. She rarely talked to them. That's when Hestia came to ask herself if she had any. She never bothered looking in the mirror too long, she didn't need to and so she never really payed mind to herself superficially.
Hestia touched her cheeks and nose subconsciously as she tried to get back to the task at hand. This didn't have anything to do with what she was originally doing. She brought her attention back to Artemis.
"M'lady, by any chance do you pertain any knowledge as to where our queen and lady has gone to?" She asked politely.
Artemis sniffed, looked around her front yard, rubbed her nose, then back at Hestia,"I don't see her." She went back to clearing her driveway. Hestia was not about to be ignored again, not this time. "Lady Artemis, it is imperative for me to find Queen Hera. Do you have any idea where she's gone or what might've happened to her?"
Artemis shrugged again,"Don't really care."
She turned her back to Hestia. Hestia scowled. Disrespectful little,"Bitch." She flipped the goddess over so the two stared eye to eye. Artemis had never seen Hestia mad. No one had ever seen her mad. Or even cuss for that matter. When Hestia turned her, for a moment, Artemis thought she was ten years old once again. She had been anticipating Hera's wrath to meet her with a mighty blow from the queen's hand. Instead she was greeted with Hestia's gentle smile and a fire in her usually kind, rusty eyes.
"Listen here, brat. My sister is in trouble, and I will not take such disrespect from your or anyone of you so called 'major gods.' Now you will answer me with respect, or so help me you will be the first to know what my wrath and fire feels like."
Artemis avoided looking into her eyes, she was definitely ten years old again. She gave quick, quiet nod. Hestia let go of her shoulders and the young goddess sighed lightly,"She's not on Olympus. I know that much."
"Why did your father hit her,"she asked tersely.
Artemis shrugged,"I didn't go into the throne room until after he beat her. She ran past me and then vanished. I don't where to, but if she were on Olympus she would've had a crowd taunting her from all sides. I probably would've been among them."
Hestia narrowed her eyes at the goddess. Artemis looked at the ground and very quietly added,"You should ask Demeter. I hear she was there for the whole event."
Hestia let off a soft sigh. She cupped Artemis cheek gently and thanked her. She astro traveled to Demeter's garden. It was the second largest garden on Olympus. It was in competition against Hera's in forms of beauty and liveliness. While Hera's held a more regal appearance Demeter had a more rustic approach to her landscape. It was simple. And Hestia like it.
But as she appeared inside the garden she was taken aback by how barren it looked. That's when she remembered that it was winter and Persephone wasn't here to breathe life into her mother. She looked around at all the wilted and frost bitten plants and felt a sort of sadness come over her. Did Hades and Persephone know? Did they care?
Hestia stepped closer to the small temple that stood at the edge of the garden. The closer she got the deader everything seemed. Finally, she found an old hag sitting on a bench underneath an old sycamore tree. She had fossilized, white hair and watery, nebulous, eyes. Her face was weather worn, with an etched on frown that never seemed to go away. Her hands and fingers rheumatic. Her usually bright, olive clothes now dusty and tattered. Her skin was wrinkled, covered in sunspots.
She knelt in front of her younger sister gingerly and held her hand, "Poor thing."
She kissed her hand and rubbed it with her thumb trying to revive some movement within the poor creature,"Demi. It's me, Hestia. You're sister."
No response.
"Demi please, I know you and I haven't spoken but that will change. I need your help. I need you to tell me why Hera was punished. Where she went. Demeter please answer me." She begged.
The more she seemed to talk the more distant Demeter seemed to become. Hestia looked at the snow covered floor in shame. She shouldn't have let her siblings grow so far apart. It was her fault Hera was in fates knew where and Demeter a train wreck. Her brothers hated each other and one of them was a sociopath. Hestia rested her forehead on Demeter's knobbly knee.
"We're an ironic bunch, don't you think, Demi? A goddess of marriage with a cheating, beating husband. A goddess of fertility and agriculture with a barren garden. And a goddess of home without a family."
She sat on the bench next to Demeter and held her hand, resting her head on her shoulder,"I'm sorry. I'm supposed to keep you safe and together. I've failed. There is no family here on Olympus that's whole and happy. If that's true, then this mountain isn't a home. It's a place where a myriad of heartless, soulless creatures dwell and feast on one another's happiness."
Hestia looked up at her sister, still staring ahead. The image becoming blurry. Hestia sniffed,"Demi? Are you there?"
She called.
"Hera, where have you gone?"
She called.
"Hades, stop running. There's no room."
She called.
"Poseidon, follow my voice."
She called.
"Who's Zeus?"
She called.
No one answered.
In the throne room, was a fire pit that stood in the room's center. Hestia's eternal fire roared brightly when she tended to it. That day, it's bright flames flickered away and disappeared leaving no trace of ash or heat behind.