For the Love of God

θ | eight

"TYHI?" I WHISPERED, sneaking on him while he was cleaning dirt off from Vequin's different spades and tools.

A loud clatter came in response to my call and I froze in my place just like he did. His hands were pressed to his chest, trying to subdue his racing heart because I could hear its loud thumps. He turned around and when he realized it was me, his eyes paused for a second, surveyed the empty backyard and pinned on me again. "You startled me," he said, at last.

I smiled. "Sorry. I wanted to ask if you are occupied."

"No, I'm not. Why do you ask?"

"Aphro — Lady Aphrodite has gone out. She said she doesn't need me until tomorrow. I heard Lord Hephaestus is also out for two more days. I was wondering..."

He seemed like he already knew what I was going to ask. I watched him as he swallowed and asked, "What?"

"If you'd like to spend some time with me. Away from here so that I don't have to whisper to you and pretend to be someone I am not," I said and Tyhi smiled. His teeth were paper white and his breath hit me like fresh minty air. I wondered if the credit went to his immortality or the minty toothpaste we used in the morning. Probably the former because I was pretty confident that my breath stinked of this morning's spinach curry.

"I know just the place to take you to. And I am glad that you asked me," he said, segregating the clean tools from the mud-packed ones. "I will drop this off at Viquen's storage shelf and be back."

I nodded. He traced back to the black and brown storage shelf from where he must have taken the tools from. He stacked the green bag of clean tools and the violet bag of unclean ones, pausing to fiddle with the latch of the shelf as it refused to lock the shelf shut. I was about to take a step forward to help him but a noisy screech tore into the air as the latch locked in its place. He glanced at me once before running back to the kitchen, probably to remove his apron and wash his hands.

I took the time to admire the flowers and the plants that Viquen grew —sorry, raised. They were an assortment of beautiful shades, from pastel to bright and everything in between. Some of the flowers were identifiable, like roses, azaleas and jasmine. The names of the ones introduced by Viquen last night were faded echoes in my mind. I recognized the Boonflower because they looked like dandelions but I couldn't recall the names of the others. I let my gaze wander over the other blossoms until they paused on a silver flower. There were only a pair of them in the far end of the garden. Like a magnet pulling me, I walked up to where the plant was rooted.

The fragile stalks underneath the flat jagged leaves were bent to a semicircle, bearing violet heart-shaped berries. On the other side, there were two silver flowers opened to sunlight. I reached out to touch it but before that I heard footsteps. Loud ones. Fast-paced.

I turned around and met sunset eyes, which held a tinge of disappointment. "What's wrong?" I asked immediately. "Did something come up?"

He shook his head. "No, that is not it. Hyacinth wants us to buy vegetables from the pàzari. I asked if she could ask Viq or Blissia for help but she said they are occupied with work. I am sorry."

"Um, what is pàzari?"

His face immediately wore an expression as if to ask me how could you not know what it means? but then realization crossed his features. "It is a place where you buy everything you need. I'm sorry I forget that—"

"It's okay. Is it like a marketplace?"

He shrugged. "Perhaps you could say that. It has everything in one place and it is the most crowded place in Olympus."