Small Twists of Fate

Chapter Thirty Three

Eric sighed as he walked through the hallway to his castle, making his way to Elle's nursery. Normally, he wouldn't have bothered Ariel with something like this but Grimsby had brought it to his attention.

Apparently, Hades had submitted the paperwork for a restaurant on the Isle. Every business on the Isle had paperwork in Auradon, just so if anything happened to the respective villain, the transfer of the business to their children could go smoothly.

But Lord Hades knows he doesn't have to fill out the paperwork right? Eric thought. I mean, he's a God for crying out loud. I may be a mere mortal but I'm no idiot. If anything happened to Lord Hades, the restaurant would immediately go to Mali, paperwork or no paperwork. Well first it'd go to Lady Persephone until Mali was old enough but that kinda goes without saying.

He sighed, as he'd begun to do, as he thought of Mali and Persephone. The Goddess had promised she'd be over as often as she could so that Elle could bond with her cousin but so far, there hadn't been a peep out of Persephone.

"Eric?" Ariel asked softly and Eric realized he had made it to his daughter's room. "Is everything alright?"

Eric nodded. "Lord Hades just submitted a request to open a restaurant on the Isle. Grimsby brought it to my attention since he's family but I was going to go ahead and just approve it after you saw it. Is that alright?"

"Of course," Ariel said before turning back to the window she was in front of and let out a small sigh. "Eric, what are we going to do? This weather...it's completely out of the ordinary in terms of what we've come to expect from springtime. And yet grandfather has said Aunt Persephone has refused to see anyone so it's not even as if we could ask her if something was wrong with Lady Demeter."

"I know," Eric said and gently went over to rub Ariel's back. "And I don't know what we can do. All I know is it's got to be soon before crops start to fail."

Ariel sighed and held Elle close to her. "It's...it's strange. We know it's supposed to be springtime but...this weather..."

"I know," Eric said. "Clearly something's bothering Aunt Persephone or even her mother. Maybe we...should we ask at the hospital? I'm sure her sister might know something."

"Eric, you know as well as I that Eileithyia would never gossip especially about family," Ariel told her husband before letting out another small sigh. "Oh if only this was happening in the ocean then one of my sisters might have some clue as to what was going on! And they're notorious gossips, they'd tell me what I'd need to hear in a heartbeat."

"Ariel...if...if you can get information from family...why not reach out to your uncle?" Eric suggested. "You have the mental link and Lord Hades considers you family. He'd know if something was troubling Persephone and then we can work with Grimsby to fix it."

Ariel shook her head. "The link's not a guarantee Eric. Uncle Hades could have it muted while he's working or helping his pirates with their kids while Aunt Persephone's in Auradon with their daughter...do you think something's wrong with Mali?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Well...it's just Aunt Persephone said she'd bring Mali around to attend Elle's first birthday but I haven't heard anything about it. And now, with Aunt Persephone not having any audiences..."

"I got it," Eric nodded. "I hope nothing's wrong, but wouldn't that be a good reason to use the mental link? You're obviously concerned about Mali, and I am too. And if we know we can help."

"Eric...I want to go to the Isle. I want to talk to Uncle Hades in person."

Eric paused and looked at Ariel in shock. "Um...are post-partum hormones different for merpeople than they are for humans? And do they often last so long since Elle turned one...?"