Bliss

Chapter 1

Psyche and Nikolas sat on a soft, woven blanket that had been spread out in the middle of the nature preserve that they both had loved since they were children. No servants were present, so they laid out a picnic for themselves, much of it classic Atlantean fruits and vegetables that somehow tasted better here than it did at Psyche's palace amongst the clouds.

Near the banks of the nearby pond, Psyche's daughter sat very still as she watched a frog sitting on a log that had fallen into the pond. Like most goddesses, the girl had many names and many forms. Hedone. Voluptus. Pleasure. But Psyche had taken to calling her Bliss, and the name stuck. It was quite literal, as it reflected the little girl's natural state. Even as an infant, she sought out small, physical pleasures whenever she could and that trend had continued now that she was a small child. Psyche watched her bask in the sunlight and let the wind caress her face. The girl had long, dark hair and pale skin that she had gotten from her father, but her green eyes came from her mother. Eros was fond of saying that her looks came from both parents, but her personality was all him.

Psyche was in agreement on those points, as Bliss had inherited a great deal of her father's passionate and impulsive personality. She loved to try new things and was always running toward adventure, never considering that there might be danger in that. She also had a sweet tooth that made Psyche grateful the girl had a goddess's resistance to tooth decay.

Near Bliss was a swarthy, curly-haired Macedonian boy not much older than Bliss. The little human was the son of Psyche and Nikolas's sister Euphemia and the King of Macedonia. With no protector in his home country and several older half-siblings in line to inherit the crown, Nikolas had happily offered to raise his nephew.

Psyche had observed that the boy, called Jason, who was being raised not only by Nikolas but their parents and a house full of doting servants, had a rather good-natured and kind way about him. Psyche found this bittersweet, as she wondered if her dead sister Euphemia would have been as kind and good-natured had she not been constantly in the shadow of their other dead sister, Eugenia.

"Cousin, do you wish me to catch the frog for you?" Jason asked Bliss.

Bliss looked over at the boy, and she appeared to be pondering the answer to this question. Before she could speak, the boy hopped from the shore to the log and lunged at the amphibian. The amphibian was having none of it and hopped into the pond, and the boy fell headfirst in after it with a splash.

"Can he swim?" asked Psyche, standing up and running over.

"He's been taught," replied Nikolas, following her, "but with those clothes and sandals he'll likely sink."

Before the adults even got to the shore, however, little Bliss had reached out her hand, which her cousin had gripped. By the time Psyche and Nikolas reached her, Bliss had pulled the boy out of the pond. He sat waterlogged next to her, a sheepish grin on his face.

"That's what you get for bothering a frog," said Bliss.

"I wasn't going to bother him, Bliss," replied Jason. "Just let you look at him. I would have put him back."

"Good," said Nikolas, standing near the boy. "You should never hurt a creature unless it is necessary. The frogs in this pond eat insects that bite us."

Psyche smiled. She knew her older brother's tone so well, as he had given her so many of the same lessons when they were children. She missed those days sometimes, as it seemed simpler and somehow more pure.

It had only been five years since Psyche had become a goddess, but in her mind, it felt like it had been centuries. She supposed that was in part because she could choose to live outside of the confines of human time and space. Eros had shown her how to enter pocket dimensions and stay for what felt like centuries in different worlds. He had shown her how to change her form to adapt to these strange new worlds, go unrecognized. He had shown her how to fly among the stars and walk with the shades of the Underworld. It had all been quite fascinating, but she had still been born human and craved human-like experience.

So that was why when their daughter was born, she had asked to be able to raise her like a human. She wanted to see the baby grown into a small child and then bigger child and then young adult. She wanted to bring that child to visit her uncle, who was the crown prince of Atlantis. She wanted her child to know and love humanity. After all, when she was conceived, Bliss's mother had been fully human.

Of course, that came with some issues. Issues Psyche was reminded of when she watched her daughter manifest a pair of gossamer wings and fly over the pond, laughing as she did so.

Jason looked at first dumbfounded and then terrified. Psyche quickly knelt near him and placed a delicate hand on his forehead.

"Sleep now, nephew," she whispered, "and enjoy the pleasant dream of your cousin flying about like she was a fairy or an angel...or goddess."

Jason yawned and curled upright on the grass and slept. Nikolas dashed back to their picnic place and retrieved a cotton towel, sent all the way from Egypt. He placed it on his nephew, letting it absorb the water that still pooled on the boy's skin and soaked in his clothes.

Meanwhile, Psyche signaled to her daughter to return to shore. Bliss being Bliss, flew right up to her mother and giggled brightly, before heading out over the pond again. She gave her mother a mischievous look as if to say "You told me to return to shore but not for how long."

"Jason is way too young to keep such a secret," sighed Psyche.

"If he told the other children his cousin was a goddess who can fly, they would think him mad," agreed Nikolas.

Psyche shook her head. "I've told her not to, but can you blame her? I think either of us would have not have been able to resist flying when we were her age."

Psyche sighed deeply. She didn't expect to be able to reason with a small child, but she suspected that Bliss would be resistant to reason even as an adult. She would have to come up with other ways to persuade her daughter.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out an amulet, one with a red jewel in the center and small green jewels that encircled it. The chain was made of white gold, and the entire piece had been crafted by Hephaestus himself.

Nikolas gasped. "Don't show that to mother. She'll be jealous. Who am I kidding? I'm jealous. Why do you not wear such a jewel."

Psyche smiled. "It isn't mine. It was made for Bliss."

Psyche held out the amulet so it glistened in the afternoon sun, making a shadow on the ground. As expected, it caught Bliss's eye and she flew over to get a better look. She also finally noticed her cousin's sleeping form.

"Jason had to go to sleep because as a human, you flying around like that would scare him," said Psyche firmly.

Bliss inhaled and she landed on the ground, her gossamer wings disappearing. "It's not fair," she sighed.

"Would you like to wear this amulet?" asked Psyche.

Bliss, whose attention span was short on a good day, smiled and nodded. Psyche put it around her neck. "When you are wearing it, you will be mostly human. You will not be able to manifest your other forms or perform any magic. This will make it so you can play with Jason fairly and not scare him."

Bliss looked incensed, and she tried to remove the amulet but she found she could not do so. She started to pout and fuss.

"Currently, it's warded so that only your father or mother can remove it. When you are grown, you will be able to remove it. It doesn't change your immortality or allow anyone to hurt you. It just prevents you from doing anything that might scare humans."

Bliss sat down, folded her arms, and glared at her mother.

"It's a good thing, sweetheart," said Nikolas, kneeling beside his little, immortal niece. "Now you can play with Jason all you want. If it weren't for this amulet, you'd have to go home to your palace and be alone. You wouldn't want that."

Bliss shook her head.

"Good," said Nikolas glancing up at his sister. "Now, maybe your mama can wake up Jason and we can all enjoy some of the honey cakes the cook made for us."

Bliss nodded, and soon her cousin was away and they were all happily finishing their picnic. Psyche did have a moment where she wished Eros, even in his human form, was there with them. She knew he had important business, and his tone about that had made her slightly unnerved. She brushed aside that thought, however, reminding herself how truly blessed she was.