Fireside

Demeter

At Hestia's house, everything was supposed to be calm and peaceful. At Hestia's house, there was supposed to be an air of tranquility to rival that of all the temples' and holy places' combined. At Hestia's house, all was expected to be quiet, except of course for the crackling fire found at the hearth.

At Hestia's house, nobody was supposed to be pounding at the door like a madman.

"Hessy?! Hessy!" a frantic voice yelled out from beyond said door. "Hessy, please open the doors!"

A fist pummeled against the closed entrance, finally forcing the goddess to rouse from her light nap and open her house to the unexpected visitor. She stood up from the kline, fixed her veil and marched to the door, all the while trying to convince herself that being disturbed from rest wasn't that big a bother. The golden panels of the entrance were pulled apart, revealing her sister and a half-dead man standing outside.

"What on Olympus is going on?"

"I need your help," her sister's large green eyes pleaded with her as she dragged the man, whose one arm was slung over her shoulders, over the threshold and into the room. Both of the man's feet dragged on the ground, covered with what seemed to be white flakes of snow. They were also in the man's hair and clinging to the skin of his frost-bitten arms.

"Demi, what did you do?" Hestia gasped upon identifying the man and assessing his condition. "What happened to Dio?"

Demeter paused, still partly supporting the now familiar figure. "You know him?"

"Of course I know him. I was the one who brought him here in the first place," Hestia said, taking the man's other arm and placing it over her own shoulders. "Come on. Help me bring him closer to the fire."

The two goddesses managed to drag him close to the hearth despite his larger size, and Hestia was able to find a thick fleece blanket from among the offerings she had recently received. They wiped the chilly water that condensed on his body as the snow began to melt. It was a long while before the man—Dio—finally showed signs of life, mainly by shivering like the tail of a rattlesnake.

"So who is he?" the younger goddess asked, helping her sister pin down the stranger's limbs so he wouldn't hurt himself while thrashing about.

Hestia rubbed the blanket over the man's arms and side to generate more heat. The man seemed to calm upon feeling the added warmth, his arms and legs relaxing gradually. His teeth stopped chattering, and the pink color to his cheeks returned. "Meet Dionysus, god of the vine and successor to my title as twelfth Olympian. Or he will be as soon as we get him to wake up."

Demeter paled considerably. "I'm sorry. I must've been more depressed than I thought."

The goddess of harvest had a sunny and bubbly character, persisting even while they had been trapped in their father's stomach. All that changed when she lost her daughter to the allure of romance. Now her sadness heralded the changing of the seasons. The more depressed Demeter was, the colder winter in the mortal world became. Everyone knew that only one thing could make Demeter so despondent that she didn't even notice it. "Did Persephone leave earlier than expected?"

"It's just as you asked," Demeter confirmed, and the temperature in the room dropped a tad bit lower. "She said she missed her husband dearly, and she gave me these ridiculous puppy eyes. She was so excited to see Hades again that I couldn't deny her the request."

The man lying prone upon Hestia's floor moaned, halting Demeter's explanations.

"C-c-cold..."

Hestia acted immediately, sandwiching the god's frigid hands between her own and blowing on them. His eyelids twitched, which indicated that he was regaining consciousness. She felt relieved when he finally opened his eyes, but held back that emotion in favor of reprimanding him for his actions. "What were you thinking, Dionysus? You know it's not safe for you to venture the mortal world during winter. How many times are you going to kill yourself?"