What's love got to do with it?

Athena, Artemis, Eos, Selene, Hermes, Apollo, Poseidon, Hestia, Demeter, Hecate, Hemera, Nyx... Aphrodite was spinning the pen between her hands, staring at those names again. Gods and goddesses without a significant other, no doubt feeling that loss even if some of them, like Artemis, tried so hard to pretend otherwise. According to Aphrodite none of them deserved missing someone in their lives. There sure wasn't anything wrong with any of them. All handsome and clever, kind and open minded people, however none of them without their fair share of quirks. Then who was without them? Aphrodite was not flawless herself. Neither were people like Hera, Zeus, Clymene, Hyperion, Oceanos, Nereus, Persephone or anyone else who had found love in their lives.

Like Iris and Zephyros. Their marriage was just about two year old, however Aphrodite knew it would last, since they had that 'thing' which made them connect so well. The Goddess of Love was so proud of that endeavor of hers. Every time she saw them together she felt as if her face was going to split with happiness.

A soft knock on the door cut off her train of thought and she looked up from her papers.
"Enter!" The next moment, the curly head of Persephone was seen in the door frame.
"Hello, honey, can you spare a moment for a goddess at loss?"
"Sure thing," she waved a hand. "Come on in!"

Persephone slid through the door opening and crossed the marble floor, her plum-coloured silk himation rustling silently as it moved about her beautifully curved form. Then she slipped down on a stool in front of Aphrodite's little desk, letting hear a small yet forlorn sigh.
"What's troubling you, dear?" Aphrodite asked as she faced the older goddess.
"It's my mother," Persephone began and plucked with her fingers across the rim of her dress. "You know, I'm going home within four days now."
"Home as in... down under?" Aphrodite was still using that mortal name for the Deadlands. A name, which mortals used out of superstition, to not draw attention from any of the Deadland daemons, not to mention the god Hades himself, who was more or less always nameless when mortals referred to him. Nameless or with some odd nick attached to him. Now the wife of that God was sitting opposite of the Love Goddess, looking a bit lost.

"Yes," Persephone nodded solemnly. "I'm going home to my husband. I – ah, mother is more upset with it this year than usual. I wonder if it's because I spent so much time with the Muses and with you and so little time in my mother's gardens, that she feels I'm letting her down. You know it pains me to disappoint her, at the same time I love my husband so very much. It's true I didn't do that from the start. Originally I just used him to get away from mother's almost suffocating care and the demands she placed upon me to become just like her. Which I actually couldn't live up to, because I am not her. I can't ever be her. I can only do my best at being Persephone. Too late did I find out that Hades was not the kind of man to let himself be used by me to run away with as some kind of teenage revolt and to hide behind when mother got mad. Not to mention dumping when I was 'done' with my little rash rebellion. When I was tired of the game, he was not letting me go. Instead he kept me down there and lectured me quite a bit about using other people as toys to fulfil my own whims. Am I... boring you?"
"No, not at all," Aphrodite assured.

"I tend to ramble sometimes; you must tell me if I do that to you. Anyhow now I'm stuck in a situation when mother wants me to postpone my return and with Hades, who cannot wait for me to get back. And I don't know what to do."
"What do you want to do yourself?" Aphrodite asked and regarded Persephone, who was still fingering upon her outfit as if it was somehow relieving her of stress.
"You're far from the first one to ask me that. Everyone from dad to Erato has been laying that question in front of me. And fact is, I do not know. Or I would have dealt with it so much much earlier. Instead of bothering half of the mountaintop with my little dramas. But I love my mother and I love Hades too. It's just that these two are so incompatible and I'm sort of stuck in the middle."
"I know one thing, though," Aphrodite said.
"What?"
"Your mother wouldn't be half as insufferable when it came to your love life, if she too had someone in her life. Someone to spend time with and share tenderness with."

"But she doesn't seem to care. She goes down in the mortal world for sex sometimes now and then just like everyone else, but she doesn't - how should I say it - seem to be looking for someone anyway. Not seriously, if you know what I mean."
"I think I do."
"So for mama to find someone, I don't think it's going to happen."
"How about me helping along with that?" Aphrodite suggested.
"Would you?" Persephone's face lit up as she posed her question for re-affirmation.
"Of course, dear! That's what I do, you know. I help people finding somebody. And Demeter is actually a person I'd love to help in any case. She should have someone. That'd make her so much more happy. Besides, I also believe she'd be more understanding of your situation. Not to mention preoccupied with other things than fuzz over you."
"I'd love to see that happen," Persephone said. "Just promise me one thing, will you?"
"Like what?"
"Not that darn Poseidon, please!"

Aphrodite almost laughed out loud at that.
"That's a promise I can safely give, Peri! They'd be quite an awful match! Not even gonna try that one. You see, that old brother in arms of hers is a bit possessive about his surroundings. He ought to have one of his own kind."
"His own kind?"
"Yeah, another sea deity. Not some die-hard land lubber like your mother. I'll find someone for Poseidon some other day. But for the time being, I'll have a chat with your mother. Perhaps even this afternoon. As you well know, there's a Dodekatheon session today, and when they are done they're usually going down in the garden for refreshments. I'll try to catch her there when they come out."

"I can't even begin to thank you!" Persephone looked so happy and relieved that Aphrodite actually felt she had to hold her back a bit.
"I haven't really acquired anything yet. Just promised to give certain things a try. Not sure if they'd work though."
"But you usually make things work. That's what people say at least. That's what Iris told me just yesterday."

Aphrodite fell silent. 'Usually make things work'. So that's what people said. She guessed these words should make her happy. Instead she just felt frustrated, whilst thinking of her own situation. Her own sad excuse of a love life. In spite of loving Hephaestos more than anything, she still couldn't let go of his brother Ares. Why was that? In the end this drab triangle just kept hurting all three of them. It would be inevitable for her to take control of the situation and decide in what direction she should go. Ultimately it all rested upon her. Aphrodite knew she had to end it with Ares, make a clean cut. Still she didn't seem to be able to. Every time he turned up, she lost before she even began to try. It felt terrible, and she hated her weakness more than anything! How could she ever call herself Goddess of Love when she couldn't even tie her own love life together?

"Aphrie?" Persephone's mellow voice cut into her thoughts. "Are you listening?"
"Say again," she hesitated. "I kind of lost myself in my own ponderings."
"I just wondered, is it true that you're leaving Hephaestos and returning to Ares?"
"What makes you think that?"
"People saw the two of you together the other day. You and Ares that is."
"What can I begin to say?" she sighed. Then she made a face.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to snoop or anything, I guess I was just curious."
"Just like everyone else then," Aphrodite snapped. Realizing the harshness of her voice she apologized: "Sorry, I didn't mean to sound like such a drama queen. I guess I'm just over sensitive when it comes to my own situation and my own love life."
"Aren't we all? And apology accepted. I've been sounding like that too, when being mad at mother. Often I get the feeling she's been trying to run my life much more than she has the right to. Now, if you can help her, I'd be so delighted. For I agree, it'll benefit both of us."

O0O0O

The sun was high in the sky, the shadows as short as they could ever become this time of year, however up here at Olympos it never got too hot, the way it could down in the mortal lands, where the air burned in your lungs and your clothes stuck annoyingly to your sweaty body. No, at Olympus the temperature was always balmy, always pleasant. While making her way to the Poplar Garden Square Aphrodite breathed in the fragrances of the Olympian gardens, delighted in the abundance of beautiful flowers, a lot of them blooming out of season, courtesy of the resident magic. She admired the exquisite marble statues, the fountains and the wrought iron lamps which would light up in the evening, fired by colourful divine light. No, she would never get enough of the pleasing beauty of this lovely place!

As usual, in connection with a Dodekatheon Council, a lot of gods were gathered in the Poplar Garden Square, some of them eager to know the outcome of the various questions being brought up for the meeting, others there to catch one of the top gods. Still others were content with just a bit of mingling, to sample gossip as well as goodies from the generous buffet which was laid out on a large table in the middle of the open space. Aphrodite arrived in good time before the end of the meeting, just to be sure to catch Demeter before she became either assaulted by too many people or left altogether. Aphrodite wanted to take the Goddess of Growth to the side for a little moment and she wanted it to look more spontaneous than if she had visited the goddess in her home. When wanting it to look like just a random encounter, the gathering after a Dodekatheon meeting was the perfect situation.

Of course there were already a lot of gods around when she arrived, however none was eating or drinking yet. The buffet was foremost aimed at the Dodekatheon members, even if it was abundant to last for more than ten times as many. Aphrodite stopped a bit to the side, by a fountain and chatted a bit with Hemera, Phaeote, Eudaimonia and the Muses Calliope, Terpsichore and Melpomene. Melpomene, the youngest of the Muses, was still in a way getting into things and she was working on a tragic play.
"However I doubt anyone would want to stage it," Mel tittered a bit. "It's just too depressing."
"It's not," Terpsichore protested. "The parts you read to me were great. Al right, they were sad, especially when her sailor beloved perished. Sad but beautiful! I wet my napkin there quite a bit."

Melpomene sighed.
"I can't write anything but sad, it seems," she grumbled. "I set out to write a jest, something charming and fun. But in the end I tend to make it all into a sad piece, with tears and despair. Heartbreaks and desolation. It's not... I want to broaden my propensity."
"But people love sad!" Eudaimonia pointed out.
"Not all the time," Mel shook her head.
"Perhaps you should have a chat with Thalia about it!" Calliope suggested. "She might have some ideas about how to put the action forward without it ending up in misery. Or at least to create a happy ending. You know, there's nothing that makes you cry more than a real happy ending!"

Aphrodite stopped listen and regarded the gathered gods in the park instead. To be true, theatre interested her very little; it was often just a bland copy of real life. The Goddess of Love didn't belong to those who had the ability of letting a drama catch her. Knowing the people on stage were just acting, she often felt it a waste of time sitting there and watching them overdo their actions and reactions, screaming and shouting in a way real people in the real life would never do.

Some weather gods who were laughing at something and next to them Helios who was talking with Nike. Hecate was standing on her own, reading a scroll and looking as if she was rehearsing something she wanted to say. Aesyle was sitting with Phaeote and they were whispering silently together, it appeared as if the former was comforting the latter for something. Aphrodite's eyes passed over Ciresia, and luckily enough Ciresia was not seeing her but was busy talking to her side-kick Darbena and a tall, raven-haired goddess Aphrodite had not seen before.

Just as she was beginning to fell restless, the meeting seemed to be over and the large double doors of mullioned stained glass opened up. Poseidon and Apollo exited first, then followed Nyx and Hestia. After them came a disordered thong consisting of Artemis, Apollo, Ares, Athena, Demeter and Themis. Lastly arrived Hades, Zeus, Hera and – Hephaestos. The latter looked an odd mix between proud and shy, his cheeks blushing alarmingly. What was he doing there? Aphrodite couldn't help wonder while looking at the gathering positioning themselves at the top of the gilded marble stairs in their usual way. Meanwhile the low murmur of talking died down almost instantly and Zeus took two steps forward so he came to stand slightly in front of the rest.

"Hephaestos?" she could hear Hemera in her ear and her eyes darted slightly to her friend's profile. The Day goddess was apparently as surprised as Aphrodite herself. Other voices were echoing Hemera's surprised exclamation of the blacksmith's name.

"My fellow goddesses and Gods! Inhabitants of Olympos," Zeus began. "As anticipated I have some announcements to make, owing to this meeting of the Dodekatheon. The first and the most important proclamation here today is a change in the composition of the Dodekatheon. One of us who has been in the Council from the very start, the very foundation of Olympos, has unfortunately declared that he is stepping down to pursue other goals in life. It is Hades who will be working on securing the Deadlands from unwanted interventions from malicious beings from other, nearby dimensions. This has been troubling us lately, hazarding the death/life cycle. In effect, Hades let us know of his decision during our last meeting two months ago, and we have spent these weeks with finding a replacement for him. A while back our choice fell upon my son Hephaestos, who has accepted the offer and will now take Hades' place, beginning in earnest with our subsequent meeting in two months' time."

By those words Zeus held out his hand toward the god who was standing between Hera and Ares.
"Come over here my son!" Slightly blushing and to the sound of applauses, Hephaestos stepped forwards and up to his father who asked him what he wanted to do with his chair in the Dodekatheon. Now, the innovator blushed even more, Aphrodite knew well that he was not used to speak in public and she cringed for his sake.
"I want..." he began and cleared his troth. "I wanna... do a good job of course. I intend to start with listening a lot. Learning a lot, since there are so many areas being discussed in the Dodekatheon Council that I know very little about. So I have some reading to do. Then, I have some ideas which I want to... uh... test on the others. Ideas, which I believe can benefit us all. However..."

"Hades is stepping down!" Selene could be heard behind Aphrodite. "I thought Nyx would be the one to go within a short amount of time."
"And Hephaestos replacing him. Now isn't that a surprise!" Mnemosyne replied.
"Not really," the Moon Goddess replied. "After all I think he was the best choice."
"But how about your brother?" Mnemosyne asked. "Isn't he..."
"Helios is not interested," Selene replied. "He's been approached earlier, both when Leto and when Oceanus stepped down."
"But why..."

Hemera turned around and hushed them as Zeus began to speak anew and Aphrodite stopped paying attention. Hephaestos had been approached by the Dodekatheon? And accepted a seat. And not bothered with telling her! What kind of lover was that? Shouldn't he... Didn't she have the right to know such a thing? Perhaps she could have offered him some advices? For fate's sake, she could have helped him with that speech, and how to overcome his obvious stage fright. Shouldn't she be the one to aid him with these things? To encourage him and to be the first one to be over by the stage to offer him congratulations, being prepared for such an event?

Instead she saw how Selene's little sister Eos was up there first in line to give Hephaestos her congratulations as soon as Zeus was done informing about other decisions of importance. Then there was a long row of gods and goddesses doing the same, while the Dodekatheon members began making their way down to the waiting buffet and the gathering became more spontaneous. Still, Aphrodite couldn't get herself together and walk up to Hephaestos. On top of that she had totally forgotten what to say to Demeter about Hades and Persephone. Now Hades would probably become even more eager for his time with Persephone when he didn't have to come up here every second month and meet with the other Olympians.

Swallowing hard against her anger and disappointment, Aphrodite went up to the buffet and grabbed a glass of nectar and one of those ever present and delicious honey cakes. Then she swallowed her pride with a generous gulp of the beverage and made it over to Hephaestos. He was talking with his younger brother Hermes, the latter obviously impressed with his ascension.
"Heph," she cleared her throat and the gods turned to face her.
"Aphrie!" Hephaestos beamed up. "Great to see you! I thought you were still on Crete."
"No, I came home yesterday. But I was too tired to look you up. And you seem to have been – well busy. Congratulation to your new position!"
"Thanks honey! Honestly, I was a bit indecisive first whereas to accept the offer, thinking it would eat even more of my time. Then I thought that this is a one chance. If I had turned it down, the position might have gone to Aiolos or Iris or someone and I might not have been asked a second time."

Aphrodite refrained from mentioning what she had heard about Helios being offered and declining a place twice.
"What made you decide to accept in spite then?" she asked instead.
"A chance to influence things," he began before pausing. "I cannot deny, I am honored too. You see, the Dodekatheon is – well the Dodekatheon."
"The most powerful congregation in the world," Hermes filled in. "The things Iris and I take with us from the meetings, they affect the whole civilized world. Now we're trying to stop a conflict in Kanaan. There have been deities approaching the Dodekatheon for negotiations, and Athena and Apollo are to go down there the next week and meet with some gods who are mad at each other."

"So you know beforehand what is being discussed?" Aphrodite asked the messenger.
"Some of it, yes." He shrugged his shoulders. "Including that your name was in the hat."
"In the hat?" She knit her brows, Hermes use of words could be a bit outlandish from time to time.
"Yeah, among the suggested candidates. But I guess the decision finally fell upon Heph because of seniority. You know, he's just a few years younger than Ares, has been around ever since Prometheus was still a chancellor to dad. Before the two of them had their famous fall-out which ended with Prometheus being more or less thrown off Olympos, with all kinds of nasty words lashing his rear end. And then that god who..."
"Hermes, Hermes, Hermes," she held up her hand stop his tirade. "You mean they were actually considering ME?"
"Yeah, well..." Hermes suddenly dropped his eyes to the ground and Aphrodite knew instinctively that he had stepped over the line of confidence, that he had told her things which were not supposed to leave the Council Chamber.

"Hermes?" she pressed on in spite.
"I cannot really say how the discussion went," the god looked up and faced her again. "I was not there."
"There's always plenty a names being discussed," Hephaestos came to his younger brother's rescue. "As I have come to understand it, they want to have a handful of names of probable candidates just in case. Thing is, there has been talks about both Nyx and Themis resigning for a long time. You know that Themis once was Zeus' spouse, right? Before he married mother."
"I know," Aphrodite nodded. "I understand her fully if she want to quit. Must be hard coming here every second month and facing Zeus and Hera together. Remembering the old love that died."
"I mean really," Hermes interjected. "It's a political body. What's love got to do with it?"
"More than you know, Hermes," Aphrodite began. "More than you know. In spite of everything..."

The rest she was about to say was cut off by raised voices. It was Hades' growling baritone clashing against Demeter's agitated protests.
"She's my daughter!" Demeter was raging.
"She's my WIFE!" the resigned Dodekatheon member returned. "And if you think my resignation will affect that fact, then you have another thought coming!"

"Oh fates!" Hephaestos rolled his eyes. "This is so OLD!"
"I'll have a word with them," Aphrodite stated. No matter she'd been Olympian for less than seven years, she too was sick of Demeter and Hades' eternal fighting over poor Persephone. A goddess who wasn't even around, at least Aphrodite couldn't see or sense Persephone anywhere among the gathered deities.

"You're so stuck up, Hades," Demeter was snarling. "If you gave her a chance to leave your side to travel just once or twice during the winter times, she wouldn't be half as restless as she is when she comes up here in the spring."
"And where should she travel? When she's supposed to be with ME?"
"So why don't you travel with her?"
"Why? There's nowhere I want to go."
"But stop being so selfish already! I'm talking for HER sake..."

"Demeter, Hades," Aphrodite cut in. "Don't you think it's time to drop this animosity now after all those years?"
"What do you know about this?" Demeter faced the Love Goddess, her voice unusually hostile towards her.
"Enough to see that this quarrel of yours which have been going on for so many years is not benefitting anyone. Not you, Demeter, not Hades," she nodded to the now unusually silent god. "And definitely not Persephone. She's trying to ignore your animosity, you know. Trying hard. But it's really impossible for her to do. Now, she shouldn't have to live with this guilt."
"What do you mean 'guilt'?" Hades asked. "Guilt for being in love? Guilt for being married? Aphrodite, I didn't expect to hear that angle from you of all people!"

"Hades!" she replied, feeling the frustration grow. "What I call 'guilt' is the feeling the two of you together are forcing upon Persephone with your stubbornness... no, Demeter, let me finish! You are both demanding a certain behavior of Persephone, Demeter as a mother and Hades as a husband. And your requests upon her are contradicting each other. As it is now, there's nothing this girl can do right. If she pleases you, Demeter, she's making Hades disappointed. And the other way around. I know you people made a kind of agreement several centuries ago, long before even my mother Dione was born. But not one of you seems willing to honor it other than with your lips. No one, save for Persephone. To keep the peace at least somewhat, she's been laying low, not acting overly annoyed by your perpetual infighting. But I can tell she's not having it easy. You have both probably heard it before, but how about both of you starting to think about HER for a while?"

"I'm doing that all the time," Hades cut in the moment Aphrodite paused. "Especially when she's away from here. I had hoped to meet her here today, but apparently she has gone to Samos. Samos of all places. Now why..."
"Don't you bother with that," Demeter said. "She wanted to visit a friend's birthday party. And it's during her half a year up! So you cannot expect of her to sway her life after every whim of yours. Not when she's..."
"Me attending the Dodekatheon is not a 'whim'. Besides you're not going to have to face me in that chamber again since I..."

"Will you two STOP it!" Aphrodite did her best to not raise her voice too much. "Now, listen. Hades, how long are you staying at Olympos this time?"
"I'm going home immediately," the god grumbled. "Just going to have a few words with Brother Zeus first."
"Now, can't you consider staying, at least until Persephone returns from the reception at Samos?"
"This sun is a pain in my eyes," the god made a face. "Not to mentioning all the smelly greenery. Makes me sneeze."
"That's just your imagination," Demeter snided. "Gods don't develop allergies."
"And what do you know about that? Are you suddenly Apollo or what?"

"Hades!" Aphrodite suggested. "Go to Samos! Meet Persephone there! I happen to know some cool caves with small hot wells in. You two can spend a romantic night there, bathing, drinking wine. Not to mention making love. Bring a bear skin, Hades! She's gonna love that!"
"It's actually a good idea!" Hades smiled smugly as the suggestion started to grow on him.
"It's actually a bad idea!" Demeter contradicted just a second later, and Aphrodite groined inwards. Everything Hades said he liked, Demeter was against and the other way around.

"Then you two get one night together," Aphrodite regarded the god. "A bit of a change of routine, we all love those after all. In return perhaps Persephone may stay another day more up – and just bound with her mother, Demeter you two can rest in the garden and talk and..."
"No!" Hades protested.
"After all this winter is a leap year, so you get to 'have her' for the same amount of days as a normal year anyway, Hades..."
"Now, I've always been protesting about that," Demeter said. "I think that every second leap year at least she should be let up one day earlier..."

"Stop pulling her between you like some price animal!" Aphrodite suddenly heard Artemis behind her and she turned to face the dark-haired goddess.
"I love that woman!" Hades snarled.
"What's love got to do with it?" Unknowingly Artemis echoed Hermes' words from earlier. "What both of you really want to do is possess her. Which is that's exactly what Aphrodite is trying to tell you, only that she's so darn polite she doesn't seem to reach you. But you are frigging treating her like an item. A thing! Not a woman of flesh and blood! That's so respect less you should be ashamed of yourselves!"

The goddess stopped speaking. Standing akimbo she faced Hades and Demeter with her eyes burning. The silence was heard for a couple of heartbeats before Aphrodite added:
"She's right you know. I was too kind. Even giving you ideas about how to benefit a bit more from the situation. But no, you didn't take them. All you did was stubbornly sticking to your old positions on the board. But don't you know that you can never win a board game if you do not move your pieces."

"I don't intend to let him win anything from me?" Demeter snarled.
"Not even for the benefit of your daughter?" Aphrodite asked, honeying her voice. Demeter opened her mouth to reply something, before stopping as she realized she had nothing to say. Then she turned to Hades.
"Take that bear skin of yours and go to Samos then! And in return Persephone stays one day more up."
"Deal," Hades responded harshly before turning on his heels and marching away from the park.

"What do you expect to win with this?" Artemis asked as she placed a hand upon Aphrodite's arm.
"A small victory," she replied. "I have planted a few words in the mind of Persephone. Things she can talk with Hades and with her mother about. Perhaps making them understand her just a little. You know, Artemis, this discord is so old and raucous, it must be dissolved slowly and very carefully."
"Um, yeah," the goddess of hunt nodded slowly. "Perhaps I was a bit harsh with them there."
"No, not really," Aphrodite flashed off a smile. "They needed to hear harsh too. You were the bad cop while I was the good one."

Not responding, Artemis looked nonplussed at the Goddess of Love and Aphrodite laughed at her expression.
"Long story, it's actually from a play. One of the few plays I like. A crime puzzle story with a murdered count in a locked room, which I saw in Athens a while back."
"I think... I know that one," Artemis nodded. "Although I don't remember any part about a good and a bad cop."
"It's at the beginning of the second act, when they are interrogating the suspects." Aphrodite explained.

O0O0O

"I'm sorry for sounding harsh there today," Aphrodite told Demeter later on as she caught up with the older goddess on the path down to their homes. Demeter turned and faced Aphrodite, her forehead wrinkled in ire.
"Harsh?" she asked in an aggravated voice. "Harsh, you say, Aphrodite! What do you really know, you who have no children on your own. Can you ever begin to understand how it feel to be alienated by your daughter, your very own flesh and blood?"
"Demeter," Aphrodite prompted. "May I ask you one thing before I answer you that?"
"Go ahead!" Demeter stopped reluctantly where the path forked, north towards her home or south, towards Aphrodite's.

"How about yourself? Where are your parents, how come you do not spend half your year with them?"
"Because they are dead," Demeter snapped.
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"The Titans got them. But I avenged them." There was an odd quality of pride in Demeter's voice as she said that. Although Aphrodite had hard to picture the normally so gentle Earth goddess as a warrior, she saw through her façade in just this very short moment, saw the young woman hidden deep below, the young woman who had lost both her parents without even learning to know them and how that had affected her. How it made her cling too hard to her own daughter. How she feared of losing that continuity in life. It wasn't really that different from mortals, gods too feared the loss of connection and continuity.

"Even if they hadn't died," she asked silently. "Would you have spent half your time with them?"
"That's a hypothetical question, Aphrodite," the goddess replied with hesitation colouring her voice.
"Then give me a hypothetical answer, Demeter," Aphrodite dared.
"I guess," Demeter hesitated. Aphrodite could tell she was actually thinking her question over, which gladdened her. "I guess that'd depended on them. On their reactions. I cannot envision that since I never knew them. My first memory is actually being rescued out of the Hades by Zeus. How he then took me to his mother, Rhea, and let me stay with her until I was healed and ready to partake in the Titan wars. In a way Rhea has been the only parent I know, but I can imagine my real parents wanted to protect me. Instead they got destroyed. But I know they wanted me all the best, just as I want my Persephone all the best."

"Even love?"
"Eh..." Demeter closed her eyes, knowing that Aphrodite had backed her into a corner. The Goddess of Love knew she hadn't won yet though, she still had to navigate carefully. Taking two steps she laid her hand on the arm of Demeter, lowering and softening her voice.
"Demeter, Persephone loves Hades deeply. This is a love which might not have been there from the start, that is true, but it is there now. It's within her whole body, she shines of it. If you look at her with that in mind next time, you know I am telling the truth. And she does love you too, Demi. That's another kind of emotion. When you and Hades are in conflict you are both hurting her, because she doesn't know what to do. She knows that whatever she does it will hurt either you or the man she has chosen for herself. Imagine how hard that can be!"

"I... I'm not sure," Demeter said. "I've never loved that way, that strongly and deeply."
"Just wait for it, dear," Aphrodite comforted her, still holding on to that physical contact. "One day it will happen to you too."