Chapter Three
Hercules didn't have much time to ponder what had just happened for Corina had grabbed his arm and half dragged him into the throne room where Jason and Iolaus were talking. She marched straight up to her brother and tugged on his clothing to get his attention.
Jason, knowing that no one else ever tugged his clothes, knew that it was Corina and turned right away. She rarely ever needed his attention, and when she did it was usually important. "What is it?" he asked, trying to look her over and make sure she was ok.
She made a whole bunch of signs before pointing to her head and then at Hercules. She stared at her brother as if she were expecting him to explain something to her. He stared at Corina for a moment, she had just said that Hercules could hear her…in his head…but how could that be? Only the…
His eyes widened as realization dawned on him, "Of course!" he shouted, startling everyone, even Corina, "Herc's part god!"
Corina stared at him a moment, disbelievingly. Jason nodded vigorously to assuage her doubt. She looked at Hercules, studying him, before turning back to Jason, a sad smile on her face.
"Uh…what's going on?" Hercules asked, not understanding what he had to do with all this.
"Guys…Corina's mute," he explained. But upon seeing their confused faces, decided to elaborate, "When she was born, she didn't cry or laugh or anything…well, she did, but we couldn't hear her. Our father went to Apollo's Oracle, in Delphi and asked what was wrong with her. The oracle told father that Corina was mute, that she couldn't talk at all."
"Wow…" Iolaus stated, "That's got to stink."
Hercules' attention was slowly drifting from what Jason was saying as his gaze landed more firmly on Corina who was looking away from him at Jason.
"He asked the Oracle," Jason continued, "What he could do to get her a voice, to appease the gods to return her voice. The oracle mentioned sacrificing a bull to Zeus, and when father did…nothing happened."
Corina frowned playfully and shook her head before shrugging, getting a small smile from Hercules as he watched her.
"But then a few years later, Father had invited Cheiron to the palace to talk about my starting school there. Corina came in and Cheiron could hear her as if she was talking out loud. But she wasn't."
"How's that possible?" Iolaus asked.
"Father went back to the Oracle and was told that his sacrifice allowed the gods…or any divine being, anything that possessed a divine characteristic could hear her. The centaurs, the nymphs, mermaids, they could all hear her. The gods could hear her. Hercules," Jason said, drawing Hercules' attention back to the matter at hand, "You're part god, you can hear her too!"
Hercules looked back from the grinning Jason to see Corina start to smile as well, he smiled too. "Well, then," he started smiling directly at Corina, "I'm honored."
Corina rolled her eyes and let out a silent laugh, sufficiently creeping out Iolaus. "So…uh…how do you communicate with her if you can't hear her Jason?" Iolaus asked, after noticing that Corina and Hercules were in their own little worlds as they stared at each other.
"Well, mother came up with a bunch of hand signs for Corina to use if she needed something," he explained, showing Iolaus some hand signs, "Over the years, they just grew into a sort of language of their own. I've gotten rusty, I haven't seen Corina in years, but I still remember most of the signs." He glanced at Corina who was leading Hercules to a window and pointing at some things in the market place. "I'm just glad I'll get to see her more now."
"What do you mean?" Iolaus asked.
He grinned happily before replying, "Corina's coming to the Academy."
A/N – Awww, brother and sister reunited :) Next Chapter should be about Jason and Corina bonding a little over dinner and Hercules discovering a secret of Corina's.