The Queen's Irony

10

Hestia had gone looking for Hera after news of Zeus' beating reached her. She scoured the mountain in search of her sister. Everywhere she went she heard talk of what Zeus had done to Hera. But not why. When she asked around, looking for both the cause of her beating and her current whereabouts she couldn't get a straight answer. The stories were garbled, nothing was consistent.

She would ask Apollo first, as god of truth he wouldn't be able to lie to her about the current situation. And she wanted answers.

When she finally found him she immediately regretted it.

He was with Hermes. They had been going for a stroll in the park together, wading through the newly fallen snow. Hermes clung to Apollo's elbow drastically shorter than the latter, his height as tall as Apollo's shoulders. The two smiled at each other, eyes twinkling, and gave the other a small peck on the lips. They went to one of the porches in the park to overlook a mortal city. She was almost embarrassed to ask while the two gods were together. They had a tendency to be bit too intimate while others were around, and she was afraid they'd drop their boxers right in front of her while asking about her sister. But at least she'd get an answer. So she would suck up her virgin pride and ask the promiscuous couple. She had to find her sister. She needed to make sure Hera was okay.

She asked the both of them. What a disappointment. They both didn't know why it had happened or where the queen had gone, however, Hermes witnessed the beating and both had theories.

They proceeded to ask whether it was true Adiya and Hera had been sleeping together behind Zeus' back. According to Hermes, he caught them together in the kitchen throne room. Where he decided to punish Hera in a way she would find humiliating.

"That's an interesting thought, but I would like to know why you would think of something so-so-"

"Ludicrous?" Apollo suggested.

"Yes, thank you. Why would you come up with something so ludicrously impossible?"

Hermes shrugged, he looked up at Apollo for back up, the tip of his impish ears turning red with embarrassment. When he looked back at Hestia his freckles were turning orange. He cleared his throat, fixed his coat and answered,"Zeus had dragged Hera out of the throne room. When he started beating her. Adiya was hanging out near the kitchen door in shock. When Hera left Adiya had told Zeus it wasn't Hera's fault. It was her own, that she was the one that had started something."

Hestia huffed, she should've guessed Adiya had something to do with it. The moment she found Hera and knew she was fine, she would give the little hooker a piece of her mind.

She thanked the couple and walked off looking for anyone else to interrogate. Eventually she found Artemis. Artemis wasn't the ideal goddess to speak with when it came to small conversations about Hera, but at this point Hestia wasn't gonna take any shit from her. She went up to the goddess who had been clearing the snow off her driveway.

She was a pale goddess with a long black braid that would sweep over her shoulder from time to time. She wore puffy, silver clothes to protect her against the cold and her boots would crush the ice underneath them. She didn't have her bow or quiver with her, so she seemed smaller, not as large as Artemis usually liked to make herself in order to look intimidating. She daresay, she even looked more feminine without her bow. But her bow was also a defining feature, it gave her a sort of aura that made her even more attractive, it was a shame not to see it strapped on. When Hestia called her, the goddess turned her head sharply like a deer caught in headlights. Her eyes were cold with the color of molten lead. Like her brother, she held freckles that were almost invisible to the eye. Hestia knew that to be a recurring trait in children of Zeus. She never remembered why that was. She didn't remember whether Zeus held freckles on his face or not, she always thought Hermes had freckles because Maia had them. Then again, no one ever really met his mother, except Zeus and Hera. The two women were good friends if she remembered correctly, and then something happened causing Maia to leave Hermes with the king and queen and he was raised alongside his stepsisters Angelos and Hebe. Did Zeus give him those spots or was it Maia? She hadn't had a chance to be up close and personal in years with her brother. Come to think of it, Hebe had freckles too. Hebe resembled Hera in every way possible,  but Hera didn't have freckles, did she? In fact, she couldn't remember if anyone of her siblings had freckles. She rarely talked to them. That's when Hestia came to ask herself if she had any. She never bothered looking in the mirror too long, she didn't need to and so she never really payed mind to herself superficially.