A/N: ACK! I was going to update. I really was. By my internet didn't
exactly agree on that point. So I got bumped to story #107 while waiting to
get back online. Oogala boogala humph!
Anyway. Here is the chapter. The next one ought to be up promptly, as long as I can steal enough time to actually write it... please do keep checking back, though, I am trying.
Also, OutlawEris... yes, I like Josh. I LOVE Josh. I am going to MARRY Josh, never mind the fact that he is almost 9 years my senior, and at my age, that means something. You're invited to our wedding. LOL! ;-D
*************
Hera briskly led us back out onto the balcony in the enormous entrance hall, across to another of the doors, through it and down a wide, well-lit passageway with blue couches set in the wall under windows, through another door, up a flight of stairs, down another, narrower, passageway, up another flight of stairs, ANOTHER passageway and ANOTHER flight of stairs, down yet ANOTHER passageway, and into Aphrodite's living quarters. I hardly need say I was more than out of breath by this time --- apparently Hera has this goddess-ly ability to march and march and march, without slowing, for a LONG time. She wasn't even short of breath. I looked over at Mrs. Pearl, and realized with a pang of irritation at myself that she had simply been flying the whole way. Of course.
WHY did I never think of these things? "Wait here," said Hera sharply to Mrs. Pearl and I. "I'll go and fetch her. Have a seat." She waved vaguely at the room in large, which I took to mean the two rose-colored couches in the center of it. Hera swept off through a pink, light-weight curtain, which divided this sitting room we were in from the rest of the chambers. Mrs. Pearl sat down lightly after Hera left, and I followed her, looking --- rather nervously --- around.
The room was expertly decorated, and seemed to match Aphrodite quite well... all was light and airy, the curtains impeccably draped and folded to reveal a gorgeous landscape below the white marble balcony. They were a deep pink color, trimmed with gold, as was much of the room. Everything in here seemed to be either pink, red, or gold, and, while I normally didn't like color schemes such as this one --- a pink/red combination was all well and good, but rooms should not, in general, be decorated solely in those colors, as it tended to make the room look like a badly-done Valentine --- I found myself strongly wishing I had a sitting room like this. (I was, of course, ignoring the fact that my entire apartment would have fit in this room.) Everything was so... beautiful and... well, Goddess-of-Love-ish. I'd never really been too concerned with dating, marriage, and all that, aside from what was covered in my job --- I was a romantic at heart, but was NOT about to take any of that into the general field of practice --- but now I found myself rather longing for a wedding or something along that line. With roses all over... pretty roses...
"Rather nice room, isn't it?" asked Mrs. Pearl with an amused glance in my direction. She had obviously seen my dazed expression, and I quickly snapped back to normal.
"Yeah," I said offhandedly, "very appropriate." I tried to look as though I hadn't been mooning over it two seconds before.
There was a rustle behind the curtain Hera had disappeared through, and a sharp whisper. A plaintive voice wailed "Heraaa!" and then it squeaked. "You poked me!" the same voice said accusingly, and it was answered with a hissing "Shush! Aphrodite, act your age!"
Mrs. Pearl and I exchanged looks.
Hera swept out from behind the curtain, smoothing her black hair and attempting to retain some of her dignity.
"Aphrodite will be out in a few moments," she said, and condescended to seat herself on the couch opposite Mrs. Pearl and I. She looked at us in turn, and I, feeling rather self-conscious, sat up straighter and attempted to look like something more composed and confident than the bewildered college graduate I actually was. Mrs. Pearl, on the other hand, looked back at Hera calmly, a slight smile on her face, and seemed completely unperturbed.
Then Aphrodite swept through the curtain, looking as beautiful as when I had first seen her. The only differences, in fact, were her clothing --- spring green, this time, with yellow and pink ribbons criss-crossing the waist, to match those in her shimmering, upswept hair --- and her smile, which seemed to be extra-large. She nodded graciously to us and settled herself next to Hera on the couch. This gorgeous, composed goddess looked quite unlike the whiny, adolescent voice we had heard behind the curtain.
"So, what can I do for you today?" she asked me, beaming.
"I, uh..." I cleared my throat, quite discomposed. I was supposed to tell off this sparkling creature and make her stop interfering in the affairs of godmothers? Right.
"I, er, have a small problem," I said haltingly.
"What sort of problem? Didn't the magic I gave you at the ball work?" She looked syrupy-ly concerned, as though she was doing it not only because she genuinely cared, but also because she was sure I would spread tales of her great power and compassion. "It must have, I've been observing the couple, and they seem quite enamored with one another."
"The bow worked fine," I said, "but---"
"Well, that's all right then," she interrupted cheerfully. "What do you say we all go out to the gardens for a nice tea?"
"Don't change the subject," said Hera sharply. Aphrodite shot her the sort of look you'd expect to see on the face of a spoiled teenager after her mother told her to go, right NOW, and return the indecently low-cut shirt she'd just gotten or something.
"Actually," I tried again, "there WAS a bit of a problem."
"Really?" she asked, with just a little too much interest to be entirely plausible. "Whatever on earth could have happened, did Cupid's bow malfunction? It hasn't done that in AGES. A week and a half, at least!"
Oh, THAT was an enormous amount of time. I was suddenly extremely worried about the world in general.
"No, it didn't do anything like that," I said, then hurried on so she couldn't interrupt. "It hit who it was supposed to, and with the desired result, but it also connected the magic back to me. And all love-inducing and -enhancing magic was strictly prohibited."
"That could certainly be a problem," she said. "Well, just be sure they don't find out!" She smiled, and made as if to rise.
"They already have."
She sat back down, with a small "Oh." I had a feeling she sensed she was in trouble.
"I just got out of jail, and a "Blatant Disregard for Magical Laws" is going on my record. Not that anyone pays any attention to the record unless you're applying for a job with the law, but still, I would prefer to keep it clean. And I would definitely rather stay out of jail."
"But there's nothing I can do NOW, is there?" Aphrodite asked. "I mean, it's done, isn't it?"
"Yes," I said, "we haven't come to fix what's already happened. We've come to make sure you don't do anything like that again."
Aphrodite looked shocked.
"Not... but that's my JOB. That's what I DO. I can't just STOP like that, I mean ---"
"We don't want you to stop entirely," I cut in, before she started into full-fledged hysterics. "We want to make sure you check ALL the rules and regulations before you start interfering."
"I'd prefer it if you'd just stop helping fairy godmothers altogether, but that's not to be expected," said Mrs. Pearl. "I imagine most of your work comes from them."
"Yes," said Aphrodite with a little nod. "But check ALL the rules before? Nothing will ever get done in time, I mean, it will take a while to get ahold of the rules, if there even ARE any. I won't be of much use."
Mrs. Pearl twitched at the word "use", but said calmly, "I'm sure you'll be able to work something out. Use whatever you use to spy on people to check the Lawhouse."
"Webcams," Aphrodite said, "but I don't think webcams will be of much use down THERE. All the rules are in filing cabinets, I think, there's no way to open them at will without someone noticing. And it would take ages to sift through them all."
"Ah," said Mrs. Pearl with a smile, "I think there's an easier way. Each and every rule, temporary or otherwise, is kept in a database online. It's got a search feature, so that will cut down the time dramatically. The only problem is that to access it, you need to have special permission and the password and all that, and they won't give it to you. The Lawkeepers like to lord it over everyone else that they have permission. WHY I can't say... but anyway, there's no reason why you couldn't get access to the site with the help of a sufficiently talented hacker..." she trailed off suggestively, and Hera and Aphrodite exchanged looks and said simultaneously, "HERMES!"
"He's fantastic," Aphrodite said enthusiastically. "He's been able to get into all sorts of things. Pirate message boards --- I got some great romance out of that one, I got a bunch of girls to dress as pirates and sneak onto some ships, it was excellent, the captain was FURIOUS, but he couldn't do anything about it. Especially when HE fell in love with the princess of Tarabon, after she decided to run away --- you know, the old "independent princess" thing --- and become a rather seductive piratess. And Hermes also found a "Waiting For Love" chatroom... I haven't had THAT much fun in years. Cupid's arrows work pretty well through computers, people were falling in love right and left. They seemed pretty happy with who they got, once they met. I don't know WHY, those people were "Waiting For Love" because... well, there wasn't anything they couldn't do but wait," she gave a peal of girlish laughter. "That one guy, with all the hair in his ea---"
"Well, yes," cut in Mrs. Pearl sharply. I imagine she was probably feeling like I was. That is to say: not too anxious to hear the rest of this... I've never been a fan of ear-hair, and I really didn't want to hear about the stuff more than was strictly necessary. "Interesting as that sounds, I believe Hermes has arrived." She gestured to the door, where he was standing, hands twisting in front of him. He looked rather nervous.
"Herm," Aphrodite said, beckoning him over. "We need your help." Hermes looked rather as though he were barely suppressing a sigh. "With a computer issue," she added, and his impish face lit up.
"Show me what to do!" he said cheerfully, skipping in to the room as though he had wings attached to his feet. It took me a second to remember that he actually DID.
"You see," Aphrodite explained, "we have a bit of a... problem." I thought I saw Hermes muttering something, but I couldn't be sure. "I need you to break into the online Arpathian law and rule database."
"That's all?" Hermes asked, surprised. "I figured it would be something actually mildly difficult..."
"Well, excuse me, Mr. High-and-Mighty Internet Geek," Aphrodite said, sounding rather like a teenage girl annoyed with her show-off little brother. "Just get into it for me, all right?"
"Fine." Hermes looked rather smug with himself, all the same.
Aphrodite snapped and pointed at a small round table, draped with dark pink silk. A vase of roses on a doily was sitting on it, and the bouquet and doily rose as a shiny gold computer monitor, mouse, and keyboard rose up out of the center of the table and settled itself. Aphrodite swept over to it, mumbled a few words and brushed her hand across the screen, which lit up. A cool, pleasant woman's voice sounded through the room.
"Welcome, Aphrodite."
Aphrodite clicked one of the many icons on the screen (all of which seemed to be a sort of rose, heart, or arrow design), and a web page popped up, to www.venusimpressions.oly, apparently Aphrodite's favorite site, judging by the many photographs and paintings of her that were on it. Aphrodite stepped back and gestured to Hermes to take over. He skipped up, and speedily went from the homepage to a search engine, then to the Arpathian Law website. There was a homepage, which required you to type in a password to enter. Hermes considered for about two and a half seconds, then typed something which appeared in little stars. He clicked the "Enter" button, and was immediately granted access to the website. "How did you do that?" I asked in surprise. He grinned.
"It's not hard. The password is "Laws Rule!" It's pretty easy to break into any Arpathian official website. Just type in whatever the subject is, say that it rules or rocks or something really glorifying and adolescent like that, and you'll most likely be in."
"Are you criticizing the intelligence and common sense of my country?" asked Mrs. Pearl, looking amused.
"Only the government, ma'am," said Hermes, saluting her. Then he scampered out of the room, calling over his shoulder, "You owe me, Aphy! I don't break into the law for nothing!" And then he was gone. Mrs. Pearl chuckled.
"Some thousand years old and is still as immature as he was at ten."
"What else is to be expected?" Aphrodite asked with a long-suffering sigh. I caught Mrs. Pearl's eyes... she seemed to be thinking the same thing: Hermes wasn't the only one with a maturity problem.
"Well, thank you for coming to get this all straightened out," said Hera politely. "Would you care to go out into the garden for tea?"
"Thank you, but no," said Mrs. Pearl. I felt rather disappointed --- the Olympus crew didn't seem exactly the most level-headed, but I found them quite interesting. I especially wanted to see this new and sensitive Zeus. Besides, Olympus was gorgeous, well worth seeing more of. "We have to be going," Mrs. Pearl continued. briskly. "There are a few things to wrap up at home."
"Well, then, we'll be seeing you sometime soon, I hope?" Hera asked. I doubted her sincerity... next time we came, Zeus might be there. And I wasn't sure that she could handle two women besides herself being in Zeus's presence, even if they were only Mrs. Pearl and I, who were certainly harmless as far as the King and Queen of Olympus's marriage was concerned. I mean, really.
We made our final adieus, then Hermes was called back and ordered to take us back out, then go downstairs to the Underworld and see if Hades would be able to make it to the cocktail party that evening. So he led the way out of the palace, back down the path, to the gate and through the clouds.
"See you!" he called as we disappeared through the mists.
"Bye!" I called back, waving. And then we were out and flying, back into the bright sunshine. Or at least, it would have been bright if it hadn't been almost sunset.
"Oh, I forgot!" Mrs. Pearl exclaimed, glancing at her shiny silver pocket watch. "The sky doesn't act normally in there!" She gestured behind us at the mountain. "It all depends on how the Zeus and Hera want it. Which is a pity, I'm going to be late for my book club. And I'M bringing the refreshments!"
**************
Further A/N: There is a simply gorgeous little periwinkle button down there. Go click it. ;-)
Anyway. Here is the chapter. The next one ought to be up promptly, as long as I can steal enough time to actually write it... please do keep checking back, though, I am trying.
Also, OutlawEris... yes, I like Josh. I LOVE Josh. I am going to MARRY Josh, never mind the fact that he is almost 9 years my senior, and at my age, that means something. You're invited to our wedding. LOL! ;-D
*************
Hera briskly led us back out onto the balcony in the enormous entrance hall, across to another of the doors, through it and down a wide, well-lit passageway with blue couches set in the wall under windows, through another door, up a flight of stairs, down another, narrower, passageway, up another flight of stairs, ANOTHER passageway and ANOTHER flight of stairs, down yet ANOTHER passageway, and into Aphrodite's living quarters. I hardly need say I was more than out of breath by this time --- apparently Hera has this goddess-ly ability to march and march and march, without slowing, for a LONG time. She wasn't even short of breath. I looked over at Mrs. Pearl, and realized with a pang of irritation at myself that she had simply been flying the whole way. Of course.
WHY did I never think of these things? "Wait here," said Hera sharply to Mrs. Pearl and I. "I'll go and fetch her. Have a seat." She waved vaguely at the room in large, which I took to mean the two rose-colored couches in the center of it. Hera swept off through a pink, light-weight curtain, which divided this sitting room we were in from the rest of the chambers. Mrs. Pearl sat down lightly after Hera left, and I followed her, looking --- rather nervously --- around.
The room was expertly decorated, and seemed to match Aphrodite quite well... all was light and airy, the curtains impeccably draped and folded to reveal a gorgeous landscape below the white marble balcony. They were a deep pink color, trimmed with gold, as was much of the room. Everything in here seemed to be either pink, red, or gold, and, while I normally didn't like color schemes such as this one --- a pink/red combination was all well and good, but rooms should not, in general, be decorated solely in those colors, as it tended to make the room look like a badly-done Valentine --- I found myself strongly wishing I had a sitting room like this. (I was, of course, ignoring the fact that my entire apartment would have fit in this room.) Everything was so... beautiful and... well, Goddess-of-Love-ish. I'd never really been too concerned with dating, marriage, and all that, aside from what was covered in my job --- I was a romantic at heart, but was NOT about to take any of that into the general field of practice --- but now I found myself rather longing for a wedding or something along that line. With roses all over... pretty roses...
"Rather nice room, isn't it?" asked Mrs. Pearl with an amused glance in my direction. She had obviously seen my dazed expression, and I quickly snapped back to normal.
"Yeah," I said offhandedly, "very appropriate." I tried to look as though I hadn't been mooning over it two seconds before.
There was a rustle behind the curtain Hera had disappeared through, and a sharp whisper. A plaintive voice wailed "Heraaa!" and then it squeaked. "You poked me!" the same voice said accusingly, and it was answered with a hissing "Shush! Aphrodite, act your age!"
Mrs. Pearl and I exchanged looks.
Hera swept out from behind the curtain, smoothing her black hair and attempting to retain some of her dignity.
"Aphrodite will be out in a few moments," she said, and condescended to seat herself on the couch opposite Mrs. Pearl and I. She looked at us in turn, and I, feeling rather self-conscious, sat up straighter and attempted to look like something more composed and confident than the bewildered college graduate I actually was. Mrs. Pearl, on the other hand, looked back at Hera calmly, a slight smile on her face, and seemed completely unperturbed.
Then Aphrodite swept through the curtain, looking as beautiful as when I had first seen her. The only differences, in fact, were her clothing --- spring green, this time, with yellow and pink ribbons criss-crossing the waist, to match those in her shimmering, upswept hair --- and her smile, which seemed to be extra-large. She nodded graciously to us and settled herself next to Hera on the couch. This gorgeous, composed goddess looked quite unlike the whiny, adolescent voice we had heard behind the curtain.
"So, what can I do for you today?" she asked me, beaming.
"I, uh..." I cleared my throat, quite discomposed. I was supposed to tell off this sparkling creature and make her stop interfering in the affairs of godmothers? Right.
"I, er, have a small problem," I said haltingly.
"What sort of problem? Didn't the magic I gave you at the ball work?" She looked syrupy-ly concerned, as though she was doing it not only because she genuinely cared, but also because she was sure I would spread tales of her great power and compassion. "It must have, I've been observing the couple, and they seem quite enamored with one another."
"The bow worked fine," I said, "but---"
"Well, that's all right then," she interrupted cheerfully. "What do you say we all go out to the gardens for a nice tea?"
"Don't change the subject," said Hera sharply. Aphrodite shot her the sort of look you'd expect to see on the face of a spoiled teenager after her mother told her to go, right NOW, and return the indecently low-cut shirt she'd just gotten or something.
"Actually," I tried again, "there WAS a bit of a problem."
"Really?" she asked, with just a little too much interest to be entirely plausible. "Whatever on earth could have happened, did Cupid's bow malfunction? It hasn't done that in AGES. A week and a half, at least!"
Oh, THAT was an enormous amount of time. I was suddenly extremely worried about the world in general.
"No, it didn't do anything like that," I said, then hurried on so she couldn't interrupt. "It hit who it was supposed to, and with the desired result, but it also connected the magic back to me. And all love-inducing and -enhancing magic was strictly prohibited."
"That could certainly be a problem," she said. "Well, just be sure they don't find out!" She smiled, and made as if to rise.
"They already have."
She sat back down, with a small "Oh." I had a feeling she sensed she was in trouble.
"I just got out of jail, and a "Blatant Disregard for Magical Laws" is going on my record. Not that anyone pays any attention to the record unless you're applying for a job with the law, but still, I would prefer to keep it clean. And I would definitely rather stay out of jail."
"But there's nothing I can do NOW, is there?" Aphrodite asked. "I mean, it's done, isn't it?"
"Yes," I said, "we haven't come to fix what's already happened. We've come to make sure you don't do anything like that again."
Aphrodite looked shocked.
"Not... but that's my JOB. That's what I DO. I can't just STOP like that, I mean ---"
"We don't want you to stop entirely," I cut in, before she started into full-fledged hysterics. "We want to make sure you check ALL the rules and regulations before you start interfering."
"I'd prefer it if you'd just stop helping fairy godmothers altogether, but that's not to be expected," said Mrs. Pearl. "I imagine most of your work comes from them."
"Yes," said Aphrodite with a little nod. "But check ALL the rules before? Nothing will ever get done in time, I mean, it will take a while to get ahold of the rules, if there even ARE any. I won't be of much use."
Mrs. Pearl twitched at the word "use", but said calmly, "I'm sure you'll be able to work something out. Use whatever you use to spy on people to check the Lawhouse."
"Webcams," Aphrodite said, "but I don't think webcams will be of much use down THERE. All the rules are in filing cabinets, I think, there's no way to open them at will without someone noticing. And it would take ages to sift through them all."
"Ah," said Mrs. Pearl with a smile, "I think there's an easier way. Each and every rule, temporary or otherwise, is kept in a database online. It's got a search feature, so that will cut down the time dramatically. The only problem is that to access it, you need to have special permission and the password and all that, and they won't give it to you. The Lawkeepers like to lord it over everyone else that they have permission. WHY I can't say... but anyway, there's no reason why you couldn't get access to the site with the help of a sufficiently talented hacker..." she trailed off suggestively, and Hera and Aphrodite exchanged looks and said simultaneously, "HERMES!"
"He's fantastic," Aphrodite said enthusiastically. "He's been able to get into all sorts of things. Pirate message boards --- I got some great romance out of that one, I got a bunch of girls to dress as pirates and sneak onto some ships, it was excellent, the captain was FURIOUS, but he couldn't do anything about it. Especially when HE fell in love with the princess of Tarabon, after she decided to run away --- you know, the old "independent princess" thing --- and become a rather seductive piratess. And Hermes also found a "Waiting For Love" chatroom... I haven't had THAT much fun in years. Cupid's arrows work pretty well through computers, people were falling in love right and left. They seemed pretty happy with who they got, once they met. I don't know WHY, those people were "Waiting For Love" because... well, there wasn't anything they couldn't do but wait," she gave a peal of girlish laughter. "That one guy, with all the hair in his ea---"
"Well, yes," cut in Mrs. Pearl sharply. I imagine she was probably feeling like I was. That is to say: not too anxious to hear the rest of this... I've never been a fan of ear-hair, and I really didn't want to hear about the stuff more than was strictly necessary. "Interesting as that sounds, I believe Hermes has arrived." She gestured to the door, where he was standing, hands twisting in front of him. He looked rather nervous.
"Herm," Aphrodite said, beckoning him over. "We need your help." Hermes looked rather as though he were barely suppressing a sigh. "With a computer issue," she added, and his impish face lit up.
"Show me what to do!" he said cheerfully, skipping in to the room as though he had wings attached to his feet. It took me a second to remember that he actually DID.
"You see," Aphrodite explained, "we have a bit of a... problem." I thought I saw Hermes muttering something, but I couldn't be sure. "I need you to break into the online Arpathian law and rule database."
"That's all?" Hermes asked, surprised. "I figured it would be something actually mildly difficult..."
"Well, excuse me, Mr. High-and-Mighty Internet Geek," Aphrodite said, sounding rather like a teenage girl annoyed with her show-off little brother. "Just get into it for me, all right?"
"Fine." Hermes looked rather smug with himself, all the same.
Aphrodite snapped and pointed at a small round table, draped with dark pink silk. A vase of roses on a doily was sitting on it, and the bouquet and doily rose as a shiny gold computer monitor, mouse, and keyboard rose up out of the center of the table and settled itself. Aphrodite swept over to it, mumbled a few words and brushed her hand across the screen, which lit up. A cool, pleasant woman's voice sounded through the room.
"Welcome, Aphrodite."
Aphrodite clicked one of the many icons on the screen (all of which seemed to be a sort of rose, heart, or arrow design), and a web page popped up, to www.venusimpressions.oly, apparently Aphrodite's favorite site, judging by the many photographs and paintings of her that were on it. Aphrodite stepped back and gestured to Hermes to take over. He skipped up, and speedily went from the homepage to a search engine, then to the Arpathian Law website. There was a homepage, which required you to type in a password to enter. Hermes considered for about two and a half seconds, then typed something which appeared in little stars. He clicked the "Enter" button, and was immediately granted access to the website. "How did you do that?" I asked in surprise. He grinned.
"It's not hard. The password is "Laws Rule!" It's pretty easy to break into any Arpathian official website. Just type in whatever the subject is, say that it rules or rocks or something really glorifying and adolescent like that, and you'll most likely be in."
"Are you criticizing the intelligence and common sense of my country?" asked Mrs. Pearl, looking amused.
"Only the government, ma'am," said Hermes, saluting her. Then he scampered out of the room, calling over his shoulder, "You owe me, Aphy! I don't break into the law for nothing!" And then he was gone. Mrs. Pearl chuckled.
"Some thousand years old and is still as immature as he was at ten."
"What else is to be expected?" Aphrodite asked with a long-suffering sigh. I caught Mrs. Pearl's eyes... she seemed to be thinking the same thing: Hermes wasn't the only one with a maturity problem.
"Well, thank you for coming to get this all straightened out," said Hera politely. "Would you care to go out into the garden for tea?"
"Thank you, but no," said Mrs. Pearl. I felt rather disappointed --- the Olympus crew didn't seem exactly the most level-headed, but I found them quite interesting. I especially wanted to see this new and sensitive Zeus. Besides, Olympus was gorgeous, well worth seeing more of. "We have to be going," Mrs. Pearl continued. briskly. "There are a few things to wrap up at home."
"Well, then, we'll be seeing you sometime soon, I hope?" Hera asked. I doubted her sincerity... next time we came, Zeus might be there. And I wasn't sure that she could handle two women besides herself being in Zeus's presence, even if they were only Mrs. Pearl and I, who were certainly harmless as far as the King and Queen of Olympus's marriage was concerned. I mean, really.
We made our final adieus, then Hermes was called back and ordered to take us back out, then go downstairs to the Underworld and see if Hades would be able to make it to the cocktail party that evening. So he led the way out of the palace, back down the path, to the gate and through the clouds.
"See you!" he called as we disappeared through the mists.
"Bye!" I called back, waving. And then we were out and flying, back into the bright sunshine. Or at least, it would have been bright if it hadn't been almost sunset.
"Oh, I forgot!" Mrs. Pearl exclaimed, glancing at her shiny silver pocket watch. "The sky doesn't act normally in there!" She gestured behind us at the mountain. "It all depends on how the Zeus and Hera want it. Which is a pity, I'm going to be late for my book club. And I'M bringing the refreshments!"
**************
Further A/N: There is a simply gorgeous little periwinkle button down there. Go click it. ;-)