7DeadlySins: I'm really sorry!^^" I know how much it hurt! But I love a story with some drama, so I cannot help it! But the story is not finished yet! I was happy for Delphina to display more powers. She doesn't display them that much, but when she does, I make sure that it looks amazing! For how Delphina is going to be involved in the Trojan war, well, I will let you discover it.

Thank you for your comment!

Chapter 20: Thetis

Two young boys.

One was blond. The other was light brown haired.

The same age. Eight years old. Good friends. Partners in training. They were under the supervision of the famous centaur Chiron who taught them everything they needed to know like fighting, poetry, literature, music, history, philosophy and everything else to ensure they would grow to be highly educated men.

From a luxurious house, a goddess observed them. A melancholic one with a subtle sadness in her blue eyes. She observed these wonderful kids in order to gain some joy highly needed.

Pointless! Delphina thought. Seeing these young boys reminded her of Asclepius. And thinking of her godson made her think about his father.

She brought her hand to her chest where her broken heart ached. A big while had passed since the last time she saw Apollo. Weeks? Months? Years? She stopped to count. Time felt suddenly so slow. She could pretend it had been an eternity.

"Lost in your thoughts?" A voice said.

Delphina jumped a little before recognizing it. She turned to see a gorgeous woman with dark black hair, a perfect creamy skin, red lips and dressed in a dark blue dress.

She sighed. "I'm sorry, Thetis. I feel like such a bad guest for giving you the silent treatment too much often."

"No. I am the one who feels like a bad host for letting you mopping alone." She said while sitting beside her on the bench. "You need to talk to someone. I'm here."

As the eldest of the Nereids, Thetis had always taken seriously her role of big sister and that also included her own adoptive little sisters, Calypso and Delphina.

"What do you want me to tell you?" The youngest replied, her voice weak.

"Are you sure it was a good decision? To abandon Delphi just like you are leaving him?"

The Goddess thanked the roof for offering them shadow. She would have hated to have this conversation while exposed to the sun. "My heart says no. My head says yes. Anyway, I pleaded my cause to Zeus to allow me to give up the patronage of Delphi. Apollo was totally against it and used his position to win his cause. But I won. It would put me to shame to come back on my decision."

"But you act more like you are punishing yourself." Thetis smartly noticed.

"Trust me. I truly love Delphi. Giving up this sanctuary that I cherish pains me. But I swore upon the River Styx to never come back. I cannot break it. You know that."

"I wasn't talking about Delphi. You don't need to return there to see him."

"Why do you insist on him?!"

"You fell in love with him." It was a statement, not a question.

"But no! I…"

"Don't lie to me."

"But… How could I…?"

"Your heart doesn't care about the "how" question!"

That did it. She broke down. Tears flooded from her eyes. She suffocated under the weight of her loss, amplified by her compromised feelings.

"Yes! I love him! I curse Eros! But I do love him! And I cannot stop to no matter how much I want to!"

Touched by this demonstration of sincerity, Thetis touched her knee and said. "Then, why don't you just go back to him?"

"I can't!" She uttered. "He doesn't deserve it! Not after all he did! That's also the same thing for Artemis! Can you believe that they both have the title of protector of the youth and yet, they killed children! And it wasn't the first time! Marsyas, Coronis... He never learns his lesson. I just…cannot keep on associating myself with someone like him."

"So you are telling that you are suffering because…of your pride?"

"No… I just follow what is the right thing to do."

At this statement, Thetis looked at her for a big while, as if she reflected about what to reply. And suddenly, she bursted into laugh, stunning a blond-haired goddess who didn't understand the funny side of the situation.

"What?!" She asked.

"Seriously… You are hypocrite."

"Me? Hypocrite?" She reacted wildly. "What do you mean?"

"You think you don't have a pride like most gods, but you do. You want to know how?"

Delphina closed her mouth, listening.

"You think you are better than them." Thetis asserted. "Of course, you are probably doing it because you really want to follow some principles, but deep inside, you are proud of your reputation. Being the one that doesn't ask for sacrifice. Being the one that doesn't ask for any reward. Being the kindest of them all. Being the favourite among most mortals. All of this adoration made you kind of cocky and you are not even aware of this."

Delphina blinked her eyes. The question was: could she deny it? The oldest pursued. "Let me tell you something. Pure selfless doesn't exist. We all do things because at some point it satisfies us. We help people because it improves our self-esteem. We protect our loved ones because losing them would be painful. We savour acknowledgement. And we all possess our limits about goodness."

At this, Thetis smiled. "Don't you remember Hermias and the dolphin?"

This reached the nerve of the goddess who had to react. "You cannot bring this! It happened a long time ago! And you know how much I regret it!"

"I know. But what matters is that you still did it. You let your pride get into your judgement. And can you swear to me that it never happened again?"

"Well…" She seemed to hesitate.

"Well?"

"There was that time… A group of fishermen captured one of my dolphins in their net. Instead of releasing him, they killed him! But not quickly, they had to torture him for so long before achieving their crime! I still can hear the cries of my protégé in my head… So someday, when their boat got hit by a thunderstorm, I deliberately let them drown. I only saved the one guy who protested against the other members of the crew in order to save the dolphin, unsuccessfully."

"Interesting."

"But that doesn't count! I didn't kill them! I just decided to not provide them the services I usually offered since they disrespected the creatures that assist me!"

"Really?" Thetis dared to riposte. "Yet, I remember a little girl who got bit by a snake and cried a lot. She profaned so much hate toward that creature which left her in an unbearable pain. Then, suddenly, that same snake was found dead the other day. You pitied it and gave it a proper burial despite how much you hated and feared it."

"But… I was young and naïve." She said. "And what is supposed to mean?"

"It means that the Delphina that I dearly knew would have always forgiven everybody and took pity of them no matter what. It is how kind you were. But… Time changes us. Power changes us. And for us who are so powerful and live so long, that change can be for the worst."

"Are you implying that pride is beginning to lead my life? That I will be cruel just like the others?" The youngest asked, starting to freak out with the turn of the conversation.

"I only speak from my own experience." Thetis retorted.

"But you have always been good! I never knew you as someone prideful. You have always been wise, generous and benevolent just like your father!"

"Then, you don't know me well."

"What?"

Thetis laughed. "You think that I have never been attracted by power? You are so far from the truth! I have always lusted for it! I worked hard all my life to develop my magic. I gained the power of shape-shifting, the gift of prophecy, an improvement of my hydrokinesis and the ability to curse people. I wanted to be more than the leader of the Nereids! No! I wanted to be a goddess! And even when I received the status, it wasn't enough for me. I had to climb higher! So… After the Titanomachy, I seduced both Zeus and Poseidon."

Delphina couldn't believe it. She had always thought it was them who made the first move. Thetis pursued. "Yes. I did it for the sole goal to become a queen! Then, the prophecy about my son fated to surpass his father was uttered and you know what followed. I was mad! You have no idea how! Deep inside, I am very jealous of my sister Amphitrite! And I still don't understand why you refused Poseidon's proposal! I felt so humiliated!"

"But that doesn't make you bad. After all, you are the one who took care of Hephaestus when he got rejected. It was so kind and generous from you."

"Eaxactly. Deep inside, I thought I was doing it with pure compassion. But the truth is that I did it in order to prove myself better than Hera, his terrible mother! Ho! Don't get me wrong. I truly love Hephaestus! But when I adopted him, it was more because I was jealous of Hera's position and I wanted to get my revenge through her son. I knew he would become an Olympian. So, I believed that if I raised him, it would be like if I became equal to Rhea, Hera, Leto, Maia and Semele. But it was only an illusion. I got a powerful son who loves me more than his real Olympian mother, but I am still so low in the hierarchy."

"But Zeus still have a great opinion of you. After all, when Hera betrayed him and bonded him to his bed, you were the one who went to his rescue."

"Yeah, I remember… Deep inside, I thought I was doing it by loyalty, but again, it was only an opportunity to get the reward I wanted to have. I hoped the betrayers would get banished and that I would get a place on Olympus… But that didn't happen. Of course, Zeus remembered the prophecy. He didn't want me to mix with other immortals. The risk of bearing a too powerful being scared him. This is why he forced me to marry Peleus, a mortal."

Delphina had listened carefully. Shock showered on her mind. She had never seen this side of her idolised adoptive sister. She had never wondered how she felt despite knowing how the prophecy had affected her life, in particular when it came to love. A sound of melancholy had overtook the room and the blond had to ask. "Thetis… Does it mean you are unhappy?"

"I…"

Suddenly, two young boys showed up to interrupt them. "Mother! Guess what I have done today!"

Both jumped. Thetis stoop up, ready to reprimand. "Achilles, I already told that you have to excuse yourself when you interrupt a conversation. And remember your manners when we have a guest."

"I'm sorry, Mother." The blond answered. "But I had to tell you about all the progress I made today. Chiron said that he never saw another hero being that good at fighting at my age."

"Hey! Don't forget me!" The other child said. "I almost beat you this time!"

"Yeah! Almost, Patroclus!" He repeated while laughing.

"Don't mock me. It means I am getting better like you."

"You are right! This is why I have to continue to progress so you may never defeat me!"

"Ho! You finally recognize my talents."

Delphina smiled. Children… So cute and innocent… It suddenly brought her back memories that saddened her. Luckily, Thetis was too distracted to notice it. She approached her son and knelt to look at him. "Ho! Achilles. I am very proud of you! But look at you! You are so dirty! You fought in the mud, once again, right? By Zeus, I will need to have a conversation with Chiron. Now, you two, you are going to take a bath!"

"Not now!"

"Not a single word from you! I am certainly not sending you back to your parents in this state, Patroclus! You two! You go inside to clean yourself!"

The children looked annoyed. They wanted to play a little more. Then, Delphina got an idea. "Well, may I propose something, boys."

They all turned to her, listening. The goddess suggested. "If you only need to wash yourself, you can go to the sea. My dolphins are there, by the way."

Sparkles emerged from the eyes of the toddlers as they contemplated the idea of swimming with the famous marine mammals. "Mother! Please?" Achilles begged.

Thetis sighed. "Fine, you can go. But you have to come back all clean!"

"We promise! Thank you, Aunt Delphina!"

"My pleasure."

The children left as fast as they had arrived. Thetis stood up and commented. "Sometimes, I don't know if you are helpful or not."

But the Nereid only got face to face with a deity lost in her thoughts. She was watching the children leaving with a susceptible air of sadness, despite the slim fake smile she depicted.

Thetis understood. "If there is one of us that is unhappy, I think it is you."

Remembering the presence of her adoptive sibling, Delphina turned to her with a confused reaction. "What?"

"You were thinking of Asclepius, right?"

She locked her lips and could only nod with her head. She gave a look once again to the kids before they disappeared from her view. A single tear emerged from her eye to slide on her cheek.

"I cannot imagine how hard it must be." Thetis said.

"You don't want to know."

"I'm afraid that I will know sooner than I want to."

That caught Delphina's interest. "Why are you saying that?"

"When Achilles was born… I hated him."

This confession shook her but also intrigued her. She waited for Thetis to continue. "When I held my son in my arms for the first time after many hours of pain, I only saw a curse. The reason behind my torment. The object of the prophecy that caused the end of my ambitions. Destined to be greater than his father but also me. I was condemned to be known as the mother of this child and nothing else! And worse than that, he was mortal! Having worked so hard to obtain my godhood, this made me feel so low!"

"But now, you love Achilles! Tell me that you do!"

"I learnt to but not before… Do you know what I have done?"

Delphina was anxious but remained curious. Thetis confessed with emotions in her voice. "I tried to make him immortal. So I took the baby. I anointed him with ambrosia and was about to throw him into the fire… Peleus appeared at the right time to stop me! He looked at me with total incomprehension and anger. After all, it would have not made him immortal no…this ridiculous processus would have killed him! And I knew it!"

Thetis suddenly fell on her chair, beginning to sob brutally as if her torment had exploded on the outside abruptly. She cried and yelled. "I almost killed my own child! I almost killed my own blood who was innocent! I pretended that I did it thinking it would save him but I fooled myself. I knew that it could kill him but I ignored it because of my damn pride! That's how I realised that I was a monster pretending to do everything with good intentions but in reality always with a selfish motivation behind!"

"Thetis… I…" Delphina couldn't bear to support the weight of this revelation. She wanted to say…

"No! Don't try to comfort me! It is the truth! I also realised that I had always been unfair toward Peleus. He has always been a good husband to me, not even caring that his son would be greater than him. And here, I was regretting of not having married gods who would have never been faithful to me. Peleus didn't give me power but true love and I was late to know it. And he had seen me trying to kill our child. So… I escaped and ran to the sea, too ashamed!"

The Nereid was almost convulsing with all the guilt that came back to assault her. She took a moment to breathe and calm down before continuing her story. "Finally, I got the courage to come back. This time with a new mission: being a good mother for Achilles."

Delphina smiled. "I would lie if I say that I am not horrified by what you attempted to do. But I can tell you that you are now doing a great job at being a mom for your son."

"Thank you, but…" Thetis shook.

"But what?"

"I love him. And I fear to lose him too soon. Do you remember my wedding?"

"Yes. I do."

"Eris got mad because I didn't invite her. So she threw the golden apple causing a conflict between Athena, Hera and Aphrodite. Well, you know the story with Paris' intervention. But I wondered. Why would Eris do something like that? After all, I was the one who didn't invite her. Shouldn't she try to hurt me instead? It was suspicious. So I used my power of prophecy… And I saw it!"

"What did you see?"

"A conflict! A big one! It will be long and will create divisions among the gods. But that's not the terrifying thing. Achilles will be involved and die there at a young age!"

The combination of the words "die" and "Achilles" struck Delphina's heart like a dagger. She thought of Asclepius, at the exact moment he died in front of her, and imagined Achilles in his shoes. She wasn't raising him but she still cared a lot for her adoptive nephew and couldn't bear for him to suffer the same fate!

Thetis knew what she was thinking. "Eris wants me to suffer just like you do. I don't want to go through this. I don't want to lose Achilles when I have just learnt how much I love him!"

"There must be a solution!"

"Fates are difficult to play with. There will be two options. Either Achilles will refuse to go to this war to live old but unknown. Or he will go there to die young but famous."

"That's it! You will only need to convince him to stay here."

"I thought so. But I am pretty sure Achilles will grow to be like me. He will care more about fame and glory than anything else. It will be pointless to convince him otherwise."

Delphina didn't know what to say. She would have preferred to not know it at all. She was shocked. How devastating and torturous it must be to see your child growing up knowing when he will die and how. That was the dark side of the power of prophecy. Even Apollo avoided to use it on himself.

"Thetis. I'm sorry."

"Please. I didn't invite you to have your pity. And don't think of me as a defeatist. I am still doing everything I can to protect him."

"Like?"

"I couldn't make Achilles immortal without Zeus' approval so I did the least I could. I took my baby and I plunged him in the Styx River to make him invincible."

"Invincible? Wow! That explains why he never gets sick or hurt! But that almost makes him immortal!"

"Not exactly. He is still aging and I was holding him with his heel which I didn't plunge. That's his only weakness. But please, don't share this information."

"Ok! I see but why I feel like you invited me here for a reason?"

Thetis smiled at the intelligence of her guest. "Well, maybe you know me better than I thought. Indeed, I made you come to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"When the time for Achilles to leave for the war will come, I want you to accompany him and to watch over him."

"What? Can you not do it yourself? Why me? How could I even help to protect him?"

"I have the feeling he will listen to you more than me. And as a mother, I couldn't bear to see him on the battlefield. By the way, I trust you that you will do a wonderful job. You suffered so much with Asclepius. You will understand me better than any of my sisters. So please, do it for me!"

The goddess hesitated. But the arguments were pretty convincing. "I will do it. Not only because I love you but because I also care for your son."

"Please, swear upon the Styx River."

"Is it necessary?"

"It will be hard for you. War can often test our morality so I need you to be totally committed."

"Fine. I swear upon the Styx River that I will watch over Achilles when the time for him to go to the war will come."

Overwhelmed by her emotions and overall by comfort, Thetis took Delphina in her arms to hug her. "Thank you so much."

The Goddess of Dolphins held her back. She had learnt so much about the big sister she had always idolised. She discovered that people weren't always as strong as they looked like.

And for Thetis, she tasted the bitterness of having to cover the truth once again.

She hadn't told Delphina that she had seen Apollo linked to Achilles' death.

Thank you for reading!

Yes! I know! This chapter was simply a conversation. But a really important one for the story. I hope it was still great to read!

You will have guessed it! Achilles is going to play a prominent role in the following chapters! That promises to be intense!

The story of the dolphin getting tortured and the torturers getting drown after that while only one of them was saved by the dolphins is a real one that I read somewhere. I don't remember where, though. I did so much research about the dolphin in greek mythology that I somehow got lost. Anyway!

I hope you enjoyed it!

See you soon!