"I had forgotten what light meant, and so,
this longed for moment, so anticipated,
I stand still, dazzled by my own delight.
I see you, and you see me, and we smile
and your smile says you are pleased as me
with everything and nothing still to say"

- Jo Walton

"Where have you been?" My mom demanded. I opened my mouth to reply - to lie, actually - but she cut me off: "Nevermind. I know where you were: laying in the sun like a cat."

We were working side by side in the fields, which was too much a big word for what the fields actually were; a small corner of our property where my Mom and I had planted a vegetable garden when I was much younger.

There was just something about digging my fingers into warm soil and pressing it back with my palms, knowing that I was helping to create life. Knowing that in some way, I was contributing.

For dinner that night, Mom and I sat around the table, sharing the bounty we'd gleaned from our little vegetable garden with the women who'd worked all day in the fields, her truest friends my Mom liked to call them. We made spaghetti noodles out of zucchini and a fresh tomato sauce with our ripe tomatoes. In the meantime, while waiting for the sauce to come to a boil on the stove, we all snacked on the bounty of pomegranate seeds one of the women had brought over, laughing.

That night, I curled up in my old bed, the balmy summer air blowing in through the open window. I fell asleep to the sound of my curtains fluttering, and dreamt all night of a tall figure shrouded in shadows. In rare glimpses of sunlight, I saw unearthly blue where I thought the figure's eyes should have been.

Somehow, the next day was even hotter. There was no breeze to speak of and I thought of lying lazily in the house, but - impossibly - the heat was even worse inside than out. I wandered through the vast acres of land my mother owned, and it seemed the grass and flowers were shrivelling from the oppressive sun's gaze. I felt like I was suffocating in the heat too, and sought shade in the line of trees that my mother didn't like me to go near. She didn't have a reason, so I didn't listen. Not anymore, anyways.

I used the bottom of my palms to wipe sweat from my face, blinking as I sunk back against the trunk of a tree. What I wouldn't give for a glass of water to magically appear.

It was the perfect kind of silence; the chattering of birds, my heart beating in my chest, kicking off my sandals to feel the grass between my toes. A sweet smell drifted over to me, and as I breathed it in, I believed that everything would be perfect if it weren't for the heat. I leaned my head back against the rough bark. This had been my entire life but a year ago. I'd been wholly content to live my life on the farm, in this small southern town.

But things were different now. My mother's constant concern was no longer a simple fact of life; it was stifling and suffocating. The acres of land were no longer endless, with endless things to for me to see and discover. I'd seen it all - and it was all beautiful, to be sure, but I was bored.

I'd tasted life, drunk freedom down greedily and done whatever I'd wanted.

So this was...I was beginning to resent what my life had been before, began to resent my Mom for trying to push that back on me. Could she not know how I desired so much more than this quaint, cookie-cutter life?

I had cooled down as much as I probably would and stood up, feeling bad about how I'd just been thinking of Mom. I drifted further into the shade of the many trees. I saw a path, hidden away and hardly used enough to be noticeable. Just some trampled down grass, a few snapped twigs. I followed it all the same, and the shadows around me got thicker, a pleasant reprieve from the sunshine.

The leaves of the trees in perpetual shade were a deep green, darker than the ones in the sun, rich and vibrant. I could hear the birds calling, louder here, and other small animals scurrying along. Soon, the path forked, one curving out to the left, the other curving out to the right. I paused for a moment, debating, and a gentle breeze brushed against my face and lifted up my dress slightly.

On the left, sunlight broke through the leaves, shining down from overhead and giving the path a golden aura about it. On the right, scraggly, jagged tree branches reached out like they were trying to catch something in their spindly arms. No sunshine broke through there.

I headed for the left, and followed it all the way until it came to an abrupt end in front of a robust tree. Upon peeking around it, I found only denser forest and decided to head back. My sense of adventure wanted a glass of something sweet more than it wanted to go tripping over roots and rocks.

The path wasn't a long one, and I was shortly back to the fork but something was different this time - a dog was running at me, a black blur of slobber and excited barking.

It didn't slow as it neared me, and I thought it might swerve around me and continue on, but instead, it jumped up on me, knocking me back a few clumsy steps and I fell backwards and though I tried to stop it, I ended up flat on my butt. I made a noise somewhere between oof and ouch.

The dog was on me, licking at my face with a vengeance. I was laughing, thinking that dogs really liked me these past two days and petting at the dog where I could when I heard a sharp whistle. Almost instantly, the licking stopped, and the dog merely sat down beside me, tail wagging.

I tilted my head up and felt shock course through me at meeting electric blue eyes. I tried to think of something witty to say, but instead "I think your dog likes me" fell out of my mouth.

He didn't smile, but his lips twitched and something in his demeanour shifted, and I suspected he was amused. "I'm inclined to agree with you."

Just like yesterday, he reached down a hand to help me to my feet. I took it gratefully, smiling bashfully at him as I brushed the dirt and grass off my dress. "Well," I said after a moment, "Cerberus certainly knows how to make an entrance."

This time, he laughed. "Funnily enough, he's only ever done this to you."

I raised my brows at him, unable to fight a smile. There was nothing better than being a dog's favourite. "Guess I have to join you on your walk if it makes Cerberus this happy to be around me."

To my surprise and joy, Hades readily nodded his consent. He still looked awfully amused. We walked side by side in silence for a moment, going along the path I'd originally taken into the trees. "So...where does that path go?" I asked after a minute.

Hades looked up at me, unstartled and calm, hair still perfectly styled and not a bead of sweat on his face for all the black he was wearing. "The one I came out of with Cerberus?" When I nodded, he continued, "Nowhere special. It's just a shortcut from my place."

I knew I had been MIA for more than a while with school and all, but I was positive there weren't any new houses or apartments near the farm. The closest was the Miller's, which was miles, and which I knew because Mrs. Miller worked for my mom. I decided to let it go for now, thinking maybe he lived in town and he'd found a trail that led back this way.

"What about you?" He asked, gesturing briefly to the tall grasses bathed in sunshine that met us as we came out from the trees. "Where does this lead?"

"Not really anywhere," I told him. "My Mom has a farm up that way, though," I pointed up to the left - not like you could see anything, anyway.

"A farm? With cows and horses and the like?"

I shook my head. "I shouldn't say farm - force of habit - it's more like a...produce farm. We sell locally, and to a few of the towns nearby." He nodded, eyes on Cerberus and his wagging tail as he sniffed at a fallen leaf. "Of course, that's mostly all my Mom."

After a long beat of silence, I continued: "What do you do?"

"I manage the dead," he said, absently. Then he added, with a darting glance in my direction, "Their estates, I mean."

To have a job like that, responsibility like that, I assumed he was at least a decent bit older than me. He didn't look much older than me...

"And what about you, Persephone?" His voice was low and nearly melodious as he spoke.

I laughed slightly, looking at him sideways. "I told you, we -"

"Not your mother," he interjected. "You, Persephone."

His words stumped me for a second. "I'm in university," I said, almost questioningly. "I have a part-time job at a gardening store in Athens."

"Sounds fitting," he smiled, and butterflies of all shapes and sizes took flight in my stomach and ribcage, and my heart sped up to match the beating of their wings - and boy oh boy, I was in trouble.

Heya! Hope you're all liking it so far (feel free to drop me a review ;)). Any ideas what's gonna happen next? I'll give you a hint - it's based off an older version of the Hades/Persephone myth that I read about. :))