Artemis? Wearing a ring? NO way. She will occasionally wear jewellery, but its normally it's a necklace, tiara or something similar, showing her allegiance to the moon – and to her own maidenhood, by making sure that it was a crescent.

I paced back an forth among the room, knowing that Artemis would be quite happily asleep – possibly snoring as she's never had anybody to dissuade her from it – and dreaming of whatever it is that daft sister of mine dreams about. Probably hunting and 'mundane' (for her) doings.

Could Orion have dared to propose? Would she have accepted? Or was it just a gift that only happened to fit that finger? My mind was swirling with questions that I couldn't find the answers for.

To many a person, my fretting would have seemed strange. She's only my sister – not even my YOU NGER sister – and she's strong enough to look after herself. She's proved well enough that she doesn't need a man to look after her – that she doesn't need the company of men at all. So why was I worrying about her?

It isn't all a façade, I can promise you; what Artemis shows of herself is perfectly real. It's just that even the immortals change, partially because we've got more time for it than mortals have, but my sister half won't no matter what happens. It's important to her identity as a Goddess to be a maiden: Gods and Goddesses are defined by what mortals see of them, and if they don't meet their role, then they just… fade. Not die exactly, but get replaced by another more-worshipped deity and disappear from the humans' minds. They stop appearing around Olympus or wherever their home is and aren't seen again. What about Uranus after Cronos took over? Exactly – he 'faded' and now mortals hardly remember him.

So Artemis can't change, because a maiden goddess is what she is. If there is something there, then it has to be stopped. Whatever the cost in the short term, in the long it will be worth it for Artemis's own sake. I can't let her get too close to the mortal hunter – I just can't.

o-o-o-O-O-O-o-o-o

Hermes must have thought that I was losing it. Lost it, actually, from the look on his face. I would have thought that he would have understood what I meant when I said that it was for Artemis, but he just stood there with his green eyes full of disbelief and his mouth hanging open.

"You don't need to do fish impressions." I told him curtly across the table.

He seemed to realise that he was staring and shook his head instead. "Apollo, I can't believe that I just heard you right. You want to make sure that your sister doesn't fall in love?"

"I want to make sure that my sister remains herself," I replied, "and if that means not letting her become close to Orion, then so be it."

"Stop giving me ridiculous replied that do not answer my question!" He slammed the kerykerion onto the table as he stood up and glared at me. "Long and short, you are refusing your sister the chance to fall in love! How can you even think of it?"

"And you know everything about love then, you philandering little cheat, hmm?" I snapped back, irritated even in the same instant that he had goaded me to a fight again. "Running around after women, taking after our father for that matter, and already with several kids to your name–"

"And did I go chasing after women who kept running? With the whole Daphne incident still fresh in everybody's mind, everyone will still think that you are still sore and that's why you're trying to keep Artemis and Orion apart!"

I didn't even dignify the comment with an answer. Getting off the subject now would simply waste time that I was worried I didn't have with my tempestuous sister. "Hermes, this is not what I asked you to talk about. The truth is this: I need your help to keep an eye on my sister. Got that?" I swallowed my pride as I said the words. "I just need you to keep an eye on her – bump into her when message carrying, just generally watch out."

"No promises?" Hermes still looked unconvinced.

"No," I sighed, "no promises. This is my problem – well, I'm making it mine. Your part is optional – but keeping your mouth shut is not, and don't you dare forget it!" I added quickly, knowing his agile mind.

"Fine, " he put back on his hat, "but I hope that this isn't just because you look down on humans more than the rest of us. You don't need to think of humans as inferior, you know – think of how much we actually owe them." He turned and left before I could say anything more, disappearing in a flicker of winged heels. Were all of my siblings losing their mind, or had Aphrodite worked out how to put something into the water?

o-o-o-O-O-O-o-o-o

"Athena," I said cautiously, "I need to know something."

"So you chose the goddess of wisdom? Dicey choice, Apollo."

I ignored the wry smile on her lips. "Do you know what's going on with Hermes?" I knew that the last thing I needed was to be trying to sort out two of my siblings, but all the same I needed him to help me. "He's acting all strange at the moment – disappearing off down to earth whenever he can get the chance as well."

"You don't know?" Athena asked delightedly, fixing me with her blue eyes. She pushed her helmet back slightly, making me wait for the news, until she could see that I was getting impatient. "If you think that it's anything to do with threatening to – and I quote – 'put the kerykerion somewhere even the great God Zeus won't be able to find it' then you're wrong. He's found himself another romance instead: the human princess Dryope."

"So that's why he was muttering about what we owe to mortals." Groaning, I sat down again. Why did the whole of Olympus seem to be conspiring against me? "I trust that you aren't joining in the whole let's-go-gooey over mortals thing?"

Athena sighed. "Virgin goddess, Apollo. Remember that."

"That doesn't always seem to be wholly stuck to," I sighed, "have you heard what my sister is playing at?"

"Which sister?"

"Artemis, my full sister." Yes, thank you Zeus, I have a lot of half-siblings. I knew that saying that was just enough to pique Athena's curiosity. "She's got a new follower…"

She nodded. "Orion. Yes, I know. Personally, I'd not be concerned about either her or Hermes. She's very stubborn when it comes to her maidenhood – you know that, all of Olympus knows that – and, if I may speak freely, Hermes has been through enough romances to rival Aphrodite." She paused. "Including Aphrodite herself, if I remember correctly."

I laughed. She always remembered correctly, making her an effective but unlikely person to ask for the latest stories on Olympus. It has to be the owl, I decided, bringing her the messages.

But what worried me was that she didn't seem as sure as usual as she talked about my sister. Artemis was stubborn, that's definitely true enough – and most of the time, she is stubborn enough to do the exact opposite of what everybody else says.

A/n – Argh, I'm so sorry that this may be a little rough-and-ready, and if there are mistakes then feel free to spot them out. However, please remember that I'm putting this update up a day early and it was a little rushed. Hopefully, updates will continue at one a week, but I can't be too sure.

Merry Christmas!