Hades |Lesbian Version|

Chapter 9: The Jealousy

After Zeus learned of Demeter from the great god Pan, he sent forth his favorite son Hermes to invite the mourning goddess back to Olympus.

There where the winged-god had been informed, Hermes found Demeter in her ragged cloak and shrunken form.

He immediately spoke to her.

"O Demeter, Father Zeus wishes you to come and join the tribes of the eternal gods," Hermes said. "Come, therefore, and let not the message I carried from him pass unobeyed."

"Did he remember what he has done to my poor child now?" Demeter's voice was cold and cynical.

"Father's wisdom is everlasting; I believe he understands your desperate wish, my lady."

"I have said it before, but I will say it again," Demeter replied, "Until I see my daughter's face emerges from the dark wretched world of Hades, I will not release the Olympians from the sorrow that has plagued me."

Hermes was alarmed to hear it.

"Demeter, the gods are in fright and chaos since the fate of the mortals laid in your hands." He tried to explain the turmoil to the goddess. "Your grief has affected us all."

Demeter simply turned her face away and ignored the plea. The messenger god tried with all his wits and cunning to persuade her, but the goddess' heart was unmoved.

After his imploring words were said to no avail, Hermes decided to fly back to Olympus and report it to his father.

The Sky Lord fingered his lightning bolt thoughtfully when Hermes finished narrating the story. He then sent forth all the blessed gods to bring back Demeter.

The Olympians came one after another to her cavern. They kept begging and offering many very beautiful gifts to the Lady of Grain and whatever right she might be pleased to choose among the deathless beings. Yet, no one was able to sway her mind and bend her will for her wrath was still burning hot within her heart.

The goddess stubbornly rejected all their gifts as she vowed that she would never set foot on the fragrant Olympus nor let fruits spring from the ground until she beheld with her own eyes the fair-faced Persephone.

At last, when the all-seeing Zeus, the loud-thunderer, heard this, he decided to pay the goddess a visit himself.

"I suppose we shall have to compromise," he said to her once they met. "I have been thinking. Perhaps I have not been quite fair to you."

"No," said Demeter curtly, "certainly not!"

"Do you still wish your daughter's return, dear Demeter?"

"Indeed, Lord Zeus," the goddess answered back. "And if you still sit back in your throne and ignore my wish, all the gods and mortals shall suffer as much as I."

"Very well then," sighed Zeus miserably. "In light of all the facts, here is my decree. Your daughter, Persephone, shall be restored to you and remain with you again. However, if any food has passed her lips during her sojourn in Erebus, then she shall remain there with Hades. This is the law older than the gods, and even I am powerless to revoke it - do you understand me?"

"You have spoken, Lord Zeus, and I shall hold you to your words," Demeter replied, feeling a surge of relief at last. "My child must have been too sad to eat anyway. No foods would have passed her lips, therefore she shall be returned to earth once again."

With that said between the two immortals, the deal on Persephone's fate was sealed.

~*~

Just past the ghostly meadow, beside the River Lethe and beneath the never-ending shade of white cypress trees, the somber palace of Hades stood tall into the black sky. From the throne room window, the royal woman would watch Persephone in her garden.