Kore did not have much time to visit her 'new home' as the Elder King had put it. In fact, she did not have time for much at all.
Her clothes had been taken. She did not wear sandals, or they would have disappeared as well, Kore was sure. And now she stood, naked, in front of a tall polished silver glass, blinking in rhythm with her own reflection.
She was supposed to get ready. Ready… for what? She had no idea. The King had seemed excited, though, if excitement could peer through those chiseled, unmoving features of him.
Was she really going to be…a wife?
A queen?
Kore looked down at her body: her long blond hair fell against her shoulder, and tickled the top of her round breasts. She covered her sex with one hand, while with the other she reached for her own reflection. Was this what had attracted the attention of the Elder King? But there were surely more beautiful Immortals than hers. Aphrodite would have sung for years about her conquest if she managed to pull out of the Underworld such a secretive and important God, and what of nymphs? There was an abundance of nymphs. And according to Kore, quite the over-abundance, in fact…
Why her?
The thought of being a wife… she would have to do what wives did. Mother had tried to keep her away from such knowledge, but when Kore's family counted among its members Hera and Aphrodite… Mother's efforts were reduced to little more than a defeated sigh.
So, yes, Kore knew about what being a wife entailed.
Her gaze moved from her chest down to her stomach, and after a moment of hesitation, to her crotch.
She would be taken there. It seemed so alien to her, so out of place. Artemis might have been more familiar with the rutting of animals, and Athena with the activities of mortals.
Would she feel pain?
Would she feel good?
It must feel good, in some way, or Aphrodite could not have been such a strong advocate of similar… practices.
And it must be painful, or Hera and Mother would not have been so against it.
She was confused.
If only Hecate was there…
Kore's eyes moved to the side of the room. She had noticed a few incense sticks, before. They had most likely been put there for her own good, as the rest of the palace of Hades was without any scent, save for the frozen fragrance of stone.
She picked up the sticks, and slowly began to trace a line on the floor. Then she crossed it.
The Goddess of Crossroads.
"Hecate," she whispered against the ashen cross. "Hecate. Please, if you can hear me… Hecate!"
"Not that she's going to answer," replied a female voice. Kore started, and wiped the ashen cross from the floor. "That little trick will not work here," said Styx, flushing inside the room, her watery body strangely hard to pinpoint against the silver and white and black of the rest of the room.
Kore's own skin, hair and eyes were truly the only coloured dots.
"Why? Why is it not working?" Asked Kore. She had been found out. Might as well extract a little more information. "There is no door that can hold back Hecate."
"You would be right," Styx replied. "No door, not even the Door of Night can block the path of the Goddess of Hanging." A strange smile danced on Styx's mouth. "But what if she's the one to shut the door in the first place?"
"What?" Kore started. Did she mean… "… did Hecate block me here?"
"No, little not-nymph, not at all. That is… a small part of a long story, and I am not sure the Master would allow me to tell you, lightheartedly." She winked. "But worry not! After tonight, you will be Queen, and I but one of your subjects. You can make me tell you then!"
She was supposed to be queen, yes… queen of this palace. Queen of the wondrous jeweled room she had seen before. But she would just be queen of the dead, and nothing more.
"So, what are you, not-nymph?" Styx floated around her, like a transparent cat, begging for food. "Who was your father? Your mother? Are you a daughter of Ceto? Do you come…"
"I am daughter of Demeter, daughter of Rhea, and Goddess of Abundance," Kore replied, standing a little taller. Styx's playful mood was getting to her nerves, now. "And Zeus." Who needed no introduction.
"Oh." Styx's smile froze. "Oh," she said again. The smile disappeared, and Kore felt a little better about herself. "Oh," Styx said at last, the smile coming back with a vengeance. "This is great. The old man is going to get stricken by one of his own lightnings! Daughter of Zeus! No less, no less! Well, you are surely beautiful enough to catch the eye, dear. Do you take after your mother? No, no, you're blonde, after the father." Stys stopped talking for a moment, hesitating. "I do apologize. And not just because you're going to be my Queen in less than half the half of a day. No, I took you for a passing flight of fancy from the Master, and I should have recognized the signs. He does not dabble in nymphs."
"What do you mean? Is he…" the idea, in retrospect, was obvious. "… is he alone?"
Styx shrugged, sending echoes of water running around her form.
"The Master has always been unerringly diligent. Do you know the story of the lot drawing?"
"No."
"No? What do they teach you kids these days? But it is for the Master to tell you after all. No, no, let's just say… I think he likes he it here, because its quiet, and spacious, and the Master has always been a bit of a… solitary type. You will get used to him."
"But if he likes to be alone…"
"That does not mean he enjoys it all the time."
Styx clapped her hands, producing a burst of drops.
"So! Now that we have put that behind ourselves, how about…"
"Were you sent to spy on me?" Kore asked.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I remember the Elder King saying you would be recalled from the river, when you would be needed. Is this what you were needed for? Strike a conversation with me? Make sure I do not try anything foolish?"
"By the inscrutable void of Chaos," Styx replied, "you are sharp. I will admit my crimes. I had been sent to check out on you, which is not spying, but pretty close. The Master wants to make sure you are well and… uhm…emotionally sound."
Kore's shoulders slumped.
"It's not like I have a choice, do I?"
"I don't think so."
Still… he had sent the nymph of one of the rivers just to make sure she was fine?
Did he… care?
In a way?
"Also I wanted to make sure you dressed yourself in style!" Styx tittered as she washed all around her. "No offense, future Queen, and I can understand the need to dress in cheap clothes if you have to go outside, but those garbs you wore…"
"That was my good tunic," replied Kore, a frown upon her face. "It was hand-made by Mother."
Styx clasped her lips, and her hands followed.
"I do see. You poor, poor child. Now just relax and have me take care of everything."
Kore let out a long breath and fell on the bed behind her.
"I don't know what to do! Why am I here? Why should I be a wife? I know nothing about these things! I only want to come back home."
"You will get used to it. There is beauty in the Sunless Realm, daughter of Zeus. You will come to like it here."
"That is what I fear," Kore replied.
A long silence stretched as Styx made a show of looking around her room.
"Say," she asked in the end, "what are you a Goddess of? I am sure the daughter of Zeus must be an important one."
Kore shrugged.
"I mostly deal with things that grow. Plants, flowers, roots, stems, branches. Mother is far more powerful than I am, and Zeus… well he's Zeus. I have been taught to be quiet, and it has served me well."
"And yet the Elder King has taken a liking to you," Styx replied, that odd smile once again on her face. "And you will not be quiet for long, I am sure. Now, enough with the pleasantries. I have a Queen to clothe!"