PART TWO
Nnamdi-Aakil, the eternal Watcher of his little gods, has a dilemma.
Recently, Nike, the spirit of victory and eldest daughter of Styx, had come to him with a small bundle with the smell of burnt flesh. Nnamdi had asked where she had found this, already knowing what exactly was wrapped inside the grayish cloth and Nike shortly explained that after a battle, she sensed pain; it was pain, unlike anything she had felt before.
Nike scoured across the battlefield, littered with pierced corpses and dismembered limbs to find a grayish bundle. Athena, who was present at the battle wandered over to see what Nike was holding, and that same smell of charred flesh hit her. Athena told Nike with a scrunched nose, "Take whatever this is to Aakil; I'm certain he'll know its identity."
(Aakil is the second part of his name and is what the younger gods tend to call him.)
Nnamdi thanked Nike for the bundle and sent her on her way, heading into his private chambers to unravel it. Once he reached his desk, Nnamdi carefully unwrapped the grayish cloth, feeling bile churning within his stomach once he spotted blood. He could only imagine whose blood it was.
The Olympians spot an unusual thing within their halls, first reported by Artemis.
It is something Artemis could only describe as a ghostly image of a child following Nnamdi as he made his way to Hestia's chambers. It was strange, according to the moon goddess, no soul would be allowed entrance to Mount Olympus unless the gods themselves grant it.
The child is seen once more by Hephaestus, waiting patiently outside of Hestia's chambers for Nnamdi, Apollo assumed. Whoever or whatever this child is, they seem to have a strong connection to Nnamdi if they managed to escape the dark bowels of the earth.
The gods decide to wait before asking; they have never questioned the Watcher about his mysterious past and nor does he seem to want to tell that long tale. It is only fair but they cannot help but be curious.
Snow falls gently across the land(he hasn't seen it in so long, the cold of the white powder was refreshing, to say the least) as Nnamdi travels to the underworld. The hidden crossroads that leads to the underground home of Hades and the millions upon millions of wandering souls is quite easy to find when you have traversed the path multiple times.
He sees a cloaked woman standing in the center, a torch not nearly as bright as Hestia's hearth the only spot of color within the white landscape. Nnamdi bows slightly, "Lady Hekate." The cloaked woman chuckles, pulling down her hood to reveal a crown of long dark curls, "There's no need to call me by that title, old friend."
Nnamdi smiles, "Well, I am used to calling others by their titles so do not blame myself, blame my mind."
"Yes, of course," Hekate chuckles again, "Now, I believe we have some business to attend to."
Hestia greets Nnamdi with her usual warm smile, noticing a small, slightly bloodied bundle in his arms. "A newborn? Why is there blood?" The watcher sighs, sitting in front of her hearth to be rid of the snow upon his shoulders. Demeter, little Kore in one arm and a basket of harvested herbs under the other arm walks in, seating Kore on a little golden chair made just for her whenever she visits Hestia's chambers.
"I'm sorry, Father, I could only gather what herbs were available," Demeter apologizes but Nnamdi says not to apologize, she was worried and worry makes humans, even gods work with haste. "Who is the poor babe?"
The watcher sighs once again, allowing Hestia to unravel the bundle and the sisters gasp at the sight. Even their all-seeing eyes could not have seen the horror done to this poor newborn.
Burns are scattered all over the tiny body, a short gash going down its heavy-breathing chest. Small cuts also dot the poor thing, bleeding slowly and causing the infant to let out a strangled, pained cry. Hestia turns away to catch her breath while Demeter covers the eyes of a curious Kore. "Dear gods, what on earth happened?" Demeter manages to breathe out, leading Kore back to her chair.
And Nnamdi thought he had seen it all. He should have known something much worse would come along.
Nnamdi names the child, a now 19-month-old girl, Thema, meaning "queen" in his language. It's an unusual name for the region but it sounds right for a toddler who survived something many mortals would pass away from.
(He is not exactly from Hellas and his little gods know this as one of the few things he's told them about himself. They don't challenge it and Nnamdi is alright with that.)
Strangely, she does not seem to need any sort of sustenance nor does she have to need to... relieve herself. It has been clear from the start that Thema is not a typical human child and Nnamdi has noticed her display some possibly subconscious techniques that someone with power over light(e.g. Helios, Apollo, Eos) would have:
While sleeping in a makeshift bed set in Hestia's chambers, Nnamdi could spot a faint source of light coming from little Thema and Hestia could as well while she was tending to the hearth. It was flashing for just a few seconds before dying down as Thema woke up with a whimper.
Another incident was when Thema was being entertained by Artemis(it's only natural, she is a protector of young girls) with some butterflies flying around her and one of the winged insects landed on her head of dark hair, suddenly beginning to glow a dim gold.
Artemis was taken aback by this and called Nnamdi into her chambers to see for himself. Several minutes after he arrived, the butterfly flew from Thema's head and the golden glow was gone.
_
Thankfully, these incidents and many more are harmless to both Thema and everything else so Nnamdi has nothing to worry about and neither do the Olympians.
Well, he does have one thing to worry about: one of the gods putting their hands on Thema once she grows to be an adult. (The male gods on Olympus have already agreed to not do anything to Thema as they know what Nnamdi would do. He may usually be benevolent but only the Heavens know what his anger is like once unleashed and they are not willing to risk it.)
So, Nnamdi has Artemis, Hestia, and Athena(the three virgin goddesses who Aphrodite has no power over) place a sort of blessing upon little Thema, leaving her with a small sign of the watcher's power as to ward off any gods who would like to do unpleasant things with her once she grows older. Thema, when old enough, has the choice to remove it if she pleases as Nnamdi would not like to be controlling her.
Though, he can't help but wonder what her powers would be like once she's an adult. Time will tell and luckily, Nnamdi has all the time in the world.
END OF PART TWO
PREVIEW OF PART THREE:
"Father," Hades greets Nnamdi with a pleasant smile with Kore— Persephone, he should say, now a grown woman and sitting by the god's side as his queen. "What brings you to the underworld?"
"Would you happen to know if Bia is around? I need to speak with her."
"Oh, yes," Persephone answers for her husband, "She's in Tartarus, keeping Kronos and his brothers in line. Well, 'in line' would be a more delicate way to put it."
Nnamdi thanks them and moves past the softly moaning spirits, waving hello to the twins Thanatos and Hypnos as they bring another soul to the river Styx and their brother Charon, the ferryman of Hades.
They wave back and Hypnos drops the spirit while distracted, scrambling to grab hold of them again as Thanatos quietly chuckles and Charon lets out an amused groan. Nnamdi can see their elder sister Styx floating in the river she had named, laughing at her younger brother and then offering to help.
Ah, the wonder(and curse, according to Artemis after Apollo had accidentally killed one of her sacred stags) of having siblings: they may argue and tease each other but they do love one another in the end, even if they do not outwardly admit it.
