Athena shuffled around behind the kitchen isle. She was the goddess of wisdom and could do quite a lot of things. She could even figure some things out without directions, like she had done when she had to put an IKEA shelf together but someone (Hermes. It was Hermes, absolutely Hermes) had stolen and sold the instructions. But cooking? She was not very good at that.

Hestia walked past the kitchen isles. She had initiated the idea that all of the Olympians learned how to cook, in case something like Apollo's journey would happen again and because she saw it as an important skill. Everyone had taken one look at her glowing eyes and nobody had had the heart to say no.

Which meant that everyone was standing in the kitchen at eight O'clock in the morning the next day. Artemis was slowly blinking. She rubbed her eyes. As the goddess of the moon, she was not much of a morning person - unless she pulled an all-nighter, which kept her energized all throughout the day (I don't know how). Yet, she had slept the day before - right now, she was a little pile of misery.

Hestia clapped in her hands. She walked to the front of the little tent (Oh, didn't I tell? They were in a tent in Demeter's garden. The kitchen of Olympus was way to advanced for a bunch of Olympians who can just about boil a pan of water without putting the stove on fire) and smiled charmingly at everyone, without even meaning to do so. Artemis, Athena and everyone else suddenly felt like everything was going to be alright - they just had to cook, what was the worst thing that would happen?

Hestia clapped in her hands. A few raw carrots appeared on everyone's isles. 'Now, I just need you all to peel the carrots and cut up them into little circles!' She chirped, 'The knife is right next to your cutting board, but be careful, it is sharper than you think!' She continued.

Poseidon took a deep breath, before he picked up the knife. He chose a smaller carrot to start with. He looked around the tent, to see what the others were doing. He saw that Artemis was slowly rasping the carrot, before cutting it up into little circles. Trusting the idea of his niece (That he thought cooked sometimes), he started to copy her.

Meanwhile, Zeus was cutting his carrots into little circles, wondering why Poseidon was holding his knife so weirdly and 'shearing' the carrot. After he had cut four of his carrots into circles, Hestia appeared next to him.

'Brother?'

'Yes, Hestia?'

'It goes easier if you first peel them. Like, get the yucky hard part off!' She told him. Zeus stared at the carrots. Now, he noticed that there was a little bit of dirt around them. 'Eh... Yeah, you're probably right.' He glanced around the room. He saw that most people were already done. Maybe more of my relatives can cook than I expected, he thought to himself.

While Zeus was still struggling with his carrots, Hestia clapped in her hands again. 'Alright! Lay the carrots apart for some time... that can be in the pan that is on the side of the furnace... Good!' She snapped her fingers. On everyone's table appeared a bunch of potatoes. Some of them rolled into Zeus Carrot masacre. He screeched.

Hestia stepped closer to his isle. 'Calm,' She whispered, 'Now, the rest of you can start peeling the potatoes and cut them into disks. Be careful, don't cut yourself with the knife! It is very sharp!' She turned back to Zeus. She zapped his carrots, so that they were perfectly cut. 'Here. Start on your potatoes. Peel them before you cut them into disks. Hestia smiled before she walked away.

She already knew at least one of them would cut themselves. That person was Hermes, who tried to peel his potatoes so that the peel came of in a nice, pendulum-formed line. Yet, he accidently missed a potato and cut himself in the thumb. Golden Ichor streamed out of his hand. 'Hestia!'

Hestia jogged over to him. 'Oh, that doesn't look good. Apollo?'

The god of medicine was already standing next to them. 'Hermes! What did you do?!' he yelled. Hermes shrugged. 'Cut myself cutting.' Apollo laid his hand on Hermes' wound. It quickly begun to heal.

When the wound was completely closed and invisible, Apollo took a deep breath. 'Bro...' Hermes nodded. 'I know, bro, but it's fine now.' Apollo nodded, kissed Hermes' hand and walked back to his table. Hestia didn't comment on it. She blinked a couple of times, before walking around to see if anyone else needed help cutting their potatoes (Because everyone went on with doing what they were doing as soon as they realised nobody was dying).

After five more minutes, the only person still peeling potatoes was, once again, Zeus. The other Olympians had started to play with the food at that point. Hestia realised she needed to go on. She closed her eyes, snapped her fingers and made eleven pieces of minced meat appear on eleven of the Olympians' isles.

'Here. Grab an egg and some herbs, they are laying on the side, and knead them through the minced meat. After that, you first put water into the pans with carrots and potatoes. You also add salt to both. Then, you put butter into the saucepan. While the butter gets hot, you roll the minced meat into balls, which you put into the butter once it is hot.

The Olympians started kneading their balls. Within seconds of sliding her hands into the minced meat, Aphrodite screamed, and so did Apollo. 'Ew!' Aphrodite jumped back. 'Gross!'

'Why is it so cold!?' Apollo complained. Hestia calmly walked over to their isles (I swear, any other god would have lost all of their cool at this point. I know it is her character, but how does she keep this calm?). 'Aphrodite, Apollo, darlings, what seems to be the issue?'

'It is so... cold! It freezes my hands! Aren't meatballs supposed to be warm?!' Apollo shouted.

'Of course, after you've cooked them. This meat comes right out of the freezer, otherwise it would be unhealthy to eat!' Apollo slowly nodded.

'Alright...' he whispered. Hestia turned her attention to Aphrodite, so that she did not see Apollo turning the sun on his slab of meat at such an angle that it got hot and less painful to knead. He grinned and started kneading the hotter, salmonella-filled ball of meat (He knew about the bacteria. He would magic them out later on, or something).

Aphrodite stared at Hestia. Then back at her minced meat. She lowered her shoulders, before snapping her fingers. A pair of stylish looking plastic gloves appeared around her hands. 'Nothing wrong!' She hastily said, while grinning in Hestia's direction. The goddess chuckled and walked around the pavilion again.

Artemis was slowly kneading the meat. She didn't have the energy to knead it the correct way. She glanced over at Dionysus, who was standing next to her. She realised he did not look much better. His skin was pale and he had huge bags under his eyes.

'Did you even sleep last night?'

He shook his head. 'Some brat of Ares had a problem with a harpy half way through the night. He tried to sneak into the woods for 'Extra monster hunting training in the dark,' as he put it. It cost us half of the night to find him, bring him back, calm down the harpies, calm down everyone who had been woken up, and walk back to the Big House. At that point, I was too hyper to sleep anymore.' Artemis slowly nodded.

'I fell asleep around five O'clock and had one and a half hours of sleep. One of my girls was home sick and wouldn't stop crying. I spent the whole first half of the night caring about her and the other two that were suddenly missing their family, who she infected with it. Now I can barely hold up this spoon.' She yawned. Dionysus closed his eyes for a moment.

'...Well, what Hestia wants, right? And she... is so happy.' They both looked at Hestia, who was laughing at a joke Demeter had made. The goddess of agriculture, who was Always early awake, was in a great mood. Cooking was one of her specialties. Artemis and Dionysus both groaned. Yes, they could both do basic cooking, Artemis because of her hunters and Dionysus because he had learned as a demigod and never forgotten how to do it, but when they could hardly keep their eyes open it was no easy feet.

Hestia grinned at her younger sister once again, before walking to the counter of her youngest sister. Hera didn't look very happy with her work, but she was doing it anyway. She grinned at Hestia when the goddess looked at her work.

'It is not that difficult...'

'You like baking better than cooking full meals, is that assumption right?' Hera nodded and shrugged.

'Why are we making dinner foods when it is eight O'clock in the morning anyway?'

'Because I checked the schedules. This was a time when we were all available, and this is the most basic cooking there is, so I want to teach this first. We can safe the food for tonight with magic,' Hestia answered. Hera put her meatballs into the pan.

'Reasonable, but...'

'Yes, we'll try brownies in a few minutes.' The queen of the heavens slid her hair behind her ear. 'Thanks, Sister. It is really appreciated.'

This time, Hestia waited for Zeus. 'Alright, know we wait until everything is ready. The carrots and meat will be done earlier than the potatoes, because we have to bake the potatoes as well. The carrots and meat will disappear - don't worry, it will reappear when it is dinner time!' Everyone muttered yes and nodded - except for Artemis and Dionysus, who hardly understood what she said.

Hestia noticed that as well. She walked to the back of the kitchen. 'Is everything alright?' Artemis slowly blinked. 'Tired.'

'...Kids were being crazy last night,' Dionysus answered. Hestia looked at her niece and nephew. Then at their pans. 'The food looks alright, though,' She answered.

'Yeah, the girls need to eat and often don't know how to cook, or are tired, it is important to food them...'

'It's easy to cook for yourself out in the wild...' Hestia took a deep breath.

She snapped her fingers. Two cups off what seemed like tea appeared on the isles. 'Drink up. It will energize you. Don't tell Zeus.' She stared at them until they had both drank up the whole cup. 'Alright, go on with the rest of the meal.' She walked off.

'Dio, she's doing your job.'

'I am aware of that and I don't really care.'

'You cared when Apollo tried to become the god of theatre.'

Dionysus' expression hardend. 'I don't care in this specific situation.'

Hestia knew that Artemis and Dionysus would stay energized for quite a while. She usually kept the drink on hand in case she ran into demigods in desperate need of an energy boost, but it also worked on gods.

She walked past Zeus' isle. Apparently, he had found something that he liked. He was kneading the minced meat like a kneedmachine. Hestia didn't know how to feel about that, so she just let it be.

After everyone was done with their basic dinner, she told them to put some salt and oil on their potatoes, so they could be put into the oven. While the potatoes were baking and spreading a pleasant smell, ingredients for brownies appeared on everyone's' isle.

'Alright - brownies are slightly more difficult. Yet, I have weighed all the ingredients, so that is something you all won't have to worry about...'

'Oh. So we needed... all of the chocolate?' Hermes asked from the back. Hestia looked over. 'Oh, eh, I'll get some more. I see that you already ate... about half of it.' She shook her head and snapped her fingers again. 'Here's some more! Now...'

'I ate mine too.'

Hestia didn't respond to Poseidon. She just clapped in her hands, so that everyone had a double portion of chocolate needed on their isles. 'Here.'

She gave instructions and within five seconds the entire room was layered with chocolate, flower and eggs. You couldn't set a single step anywhere without your feet sticking to the ground. A few of Hestia's live brooms and dusters were busy, but even for them it was difficult to keep up the speed at which the Olympians produced trash.

Yet, Artemis and Dionysus were doing really well. So well, that when Hestia came by to check, she stopped for a moment. 'Is... everything alright?' She asked Artemis, who was mixing batter like her life depended on it.

'Why? I am making the brownies!' She answered, while pouring the sticky chocolate goup into a baking form. Hestia slowly nodded. 'I guess.' She turned to Dionysus and saw that his situation wasn't much better.

'Aunt, you gave us to much caffeine-ambrosia. Plus, you really shouldn't be mixing that stuff with pure glucose and nectar.'

'In tiny portions, it works on demigods...'

'Yes, but because we eat mostly ambrosia and nectar on a day to day bases, it messes up the formula.'

'... well, lot of success with the rest of the brownies! And no adding ingredients!' She quickly walked away before her nephew could really start telling her everything that was mixed wrong in her energy drink.

'Argh!' Hestia turned her head towards the sound like a moth to a flame. She noticed that Ares was looking at Hephaestus in a way that didn't promise anything good.

'Nephews! What's wrong?' The other gods turned their heads towards Hephaestus and Ares' direction and immediately wondered who put them next to each other, because that was never a good idea, no matter the circumstance (even though that one time during a war, that wasn't so bad, that worked out fine).

'His... his mutant mixer almost cut off my finger!' Ares screeched.

'Mutant mixer?'

'Just look at it!' Ares pointed at the mixer Hephaestus was using. The god of the forge had... edited it, so that it could mix four times as fast.

Hestia couldn't really describe the thing without sounding inappropriate, but it looked like it could mix the brownie goup within 5 seconds or less. Hestia swallowed. 'Eh... Heph, maybe you should put that away. You could be dangerous. Ares, you can stand with...' she quickly scanned the room. 'Poseidon?'

'No way!' The god of the ocean screamed. While he turned around to tell Ares to back off, he let go of his mixer; but he didn't turn it off. It dropped into the mix bowl, which made it drop onto the floor and start spastically jumping around.

Poseidon screeched (high-pitched) and ran away from his kitchen isle. 'What do I do?!' In his panic to get away, he bumped into Demeter and Hera, who both gasped. Hers dropped her mixer as well, demeter tripped over her oven and cut open her ankle.

'Poseidon!'

'I can't...'

'Apollo! Your oven is on fire!'

Apollo, who had walked over to his aunts and uncle to check on them, turned around like he was being stung.

Artemis jumped over her kitchen counter. 'Someone throw me the fire extinguisher!' Hermes came running up to her with the fire extinguisher. Artemis thought he would just hand it to her, but in the last moment he threw it anyway, so that it dropped to the floor and exploded right then and there.

The fire in the oven went out, but the foam was everywhere. Artemis tried to slip to her feet. Hermes and Dionysus tried to help her, which only made them slip as well. While they were all trying to scramble to their feet, the other Olympians swiftly evacuated the tent, outside, into Demeter's' garden.

Hestia took a deep breath. She snapped her fingers. The whole tent was cleaned up at once. The ovens and counters were emptied. The goddess sighed while her nephews and niece walked past her. Artemis stopped walking (because she walked in the front, she forced her brothers to stop walking as well).

She patted Hestia on the shoulder. 'Thanks for the training, Aunt.' Hestia turned to her.

'You didn't even need it, though.'

'Still thanks.'

'Yeah, same.'

'Uh-huh,' Dionysus and Hermes chimed in.

Hestia smiled at them. 'You're very welcome. Now go back to your daily goings on. I know everyone was busy.' The goddess snapped her fingers and they all disappeared.

Hestia looked through her tent. Her lip quivered a little. Well, better luck next time, she thought.