Chapter 8:

“So, Helia, how did you enjoy your walk with Hera today?” Hestia asked. She had not joined her sister and her family for dinner in quite some time simply because the tension was too great, and a fight would always break out. Tonight, though, she wanted to get to know this godling who had captured her interest.

“Oh, it was so fun. Hera took me to her sacred garden, where I got to see the infamous tree with golden apples and her loyal Peacock Lysander. Then we took a walk down Olympus’s streets, where we saw the little shops that the nymphs and centaurs owned. Then she gave me a tour of her home and showed me the library, my room, and the sparring arena!” Helia stated without taking a breath in between words.

“Well, it seems you had a good time indeed,” Hestia replied, laughing. She had to admit that the child had infectious energy around her that rubbed off on others.

“It was great!”

“Well, I am glad that you enjoyed yourself in my company,” chuckled Hera.

Ares noticed how excited the small godling had become when she mentioned the sparring arena. Like everyone else, he was already enamored by the tiny being, and it worried him just a tad at this strange connection he felt towards her. “I see you are interested in the sparring arena,” Ares stated, “does that mean we have a new little warrior?” he teased.

“Yes!” Helia simultaneously exclaimed with Hera’s answer of ‘no.’

“Oh, Hera, please, pretty please. I never got to learn those things with grandmother Rhea and aunt Tethys, and I want to. Oh, please, please, please, please, please? I will be careful, I promise!” begged Helia.

“Yea, mom, let her learn to fight. Please, please, pretty please, with a little bloodshed on top,” Ares manages to join in on the shenanigans to try to help persuade his mother. He knew his mother could be stubborn, especially when it came to the well beings of her children, and though he knew that Helia was not Hera’s biological child, he could already see how protective his mother was of her. Ares, too, felt the odd need to protect her though he hadn’t even known her for twenty-four hours. No one had this effect on him, but here he was, engaging and actually getting along with the small goddess and engaging in polite conversations with his mother.

“Alright, alright, will you two stop your incessant begging,” Hera playfully countered both her son and daughter’s childlike antics.

Hera missed seeing her son so playful and was glad Helia brought it out in him. Ares was her little warrior, well, not so little anymore with his shaggy dirty blond hair and deep honey-colored eyes. He had his father’s chiseled jaw structure and muscular body, but he had his mother’s smile and freckles that graced his shoulders. He also inherited her devoted fierceness when it came to family and those he loved, and she hoped that he would also carry that devotion to Helia.

“Yay!” they both yelled.

“But only…”

“Aw, man,” Ares grunted.

“If Athena would be willing to oversee your sessions. That is if you are okay with that, of course, Athena.”

Athena was in total disbelief. Did Hera, for one, ask her something in a polite way, and secondly, did she ask Athena for her permission instead of demanding her. She looked around the table for confirmation that she didn’t imagine it, but when Athena saw how the other gods and goddesses looked startled, she knew it wasn’t a dream.

“Oh, um, sure, Hera, I wouldn’t mind overseeing the two of them. I could even help out if you want.”

“Aw, mom, come on, we don’t need a babysitter. I can totally be trusted with Helia on my own.”

“Oh, really? Explain to me again how Apollo ended up with a sword through his stomach a few years back?”

“Well….”

“Or that time you “accidentally” landed your sword through one of Hermes’ feet just last week?”

“Oh, um, well, you see….”

“Ares, save it. Either Athena will be there to oversee, or you will not have a hand in training Helia, am I clear?”

Ares wanted to continue the discussion, but he relented when he saw the cub-like look Helia sent his way.

“Fine, I only agree to these terms because I do not want to disappoint Helia.”

“Thank you, Ares. It is not that I don’t trust you, dear; I just do not trust you enough to not try to turn Helia into a blood-crazed goddess,” Hera joked.

“Oh haha, when she is the greatest swordsman next to myself and, of course, you, mother, you will be amazed at how well I trained her.”

“Let’s not forget that I will also be contributing to her excellent swordsmanship,” Athena haughtily stated, not wanting Ares to take all the credit in advance.

“Yea, you will contribute to the boring side, which is the strategy behind swordsmanship. I’m bored out of my mind already.”

“Hey, just because I do not run around on the battlefield like a mad man does not mean that I am no better than you on the field.”

“Let’s fight it out now then! Then we will see who Helia prefers to train her,” Ares challenged.

“Alright then, let’s go!” Athena spat as she began standing from her chair.

“No one is going anywhere near the sparring arena tonight, so stop your bickering and behave like adults!”

“Sorry, mother.”

“Sorry, Hera.” Both Ares and Athena apologized together while Athena took her seat, looking thoroughly embarrassed because of her childish behavior. After Hera chastised her adult children, everyone decided to return to their everyday conversations, though others talked mainly about Helia, which lasted throughout the remainder of dinner.

Hestia, who sat idly by watching the interactions between her sister and her family, had been amazed. In the past, when she would visit, she would try to engage everyone in conversations. It was a painful challenge that she would soon regret when nothing but arguments and fights came of it. Though, here she was, witnessing not only her nieces and nephews playfully arguing but also her sister interacting with them. Hestia looked at the godling sitting beside her sister and knew immediately that she was the cause of the change, and she was grateful; for the first time in many years, Hestia had hope that her family would finally be united one day.

***

“So, little one, how did you enjoy your first day on Olympus?” Hera asked Helia as she tucked her into bed.

“Oh, it was wonderful! It’s the most fun I have had a while.”

“Well, I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.” Hera was happy to know that Helia had enjoyed what little time she spent on Olympus and being in her presence.

“Hera?”

“Yes, little one?”

“Ares mentioned at dinner that he was the best swordsman after you, and I just wanted to know if you taught him.”

“Oh, yes, that. Uh-hmm,” Hera cleared her throat, making herself a bit more comfortable beside Helia before answering, “when Ares was young, he had a habit of acting out. He was easily angered.” However, Hera didn’t disclose why she believed he had such a violent nature. “So, when he was around your age, I helped him channel his rage into something more creative, which turned about to be fighting, and with our daily training sessions and hard work, he learned to master his domain as the God of War, even though he can be sloppy at times,” Hera teased. “I’m proud of him, nonetheless, and how far he has come since the beginning. Training him is still one of my greatest achievements in life.”

“Wow, do you think that you could help train me one day, alongside Ares and Athena? I mean, that’s only if you want to,” she continued with her rambling without stopping to take a break, “I mean, I would understand if you can’t. I know that you are busy with being the Queen of Olympus….”

“Helia, sweetheart?” interrupted Hera.

“Yes, Hera?”

“Breathe, honey,” she laughed, “of course I will help train you. I am better than Athena and Ares both, so it is only right that you be trained by the best, right?”

“Oh, yes! I can’t wait for my training to begin.”

“Well, the battlefield won’t be the only place you will train in. We will also have you trained in literature, mathematics, and other subjects as well.”

“Aw, Hera, I thought I was here to learn to be an Olympian. Shouldn’t all the lessons I’ve learned from grandmother Rhea and Aunt Tethys count?” Helia loved learning, but she had grown quite tired of the everyday lessons she had back home and believed that her brain would literally turn to mush if she began to learn anymore so quickly.

“Oh, little one, if you truly want to be an Olympian, then these are things that you have to learn.”

“Okay, Hera,” Helia said as she sunk back in bed with her arms folded and a slight pout on her face.

Hera laughed at Helia and her childish ways before she rose to head to her own room. “Now, little one, it is time for bed, sweet dreams.”

Hera turned and began walking towards the door, but before Hera could make it out, she heard the little godling’s tiny voice behind her. “Hera, um, could you stay with me for a little while longer? I’m a little nervous to sleep in here by myself just yet.”

Hera’s heart swelled at the thought that her child wanted, needed, her, but she guesses she took too long to answer because what she heard next made her wince. “It’s okay, Hera, you don’t have to. I will be okay and learn to get used to it.”

Hera quickly turned around and was at Helia’s side in the blink of an eye. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, I didn’t mean for you to take my silence for a no. Of course, I will stay here with you.” ‘There is no place I would rather be than here with you,’ she thought.

Only when Helia saw the sincerity and truth in Hera’s eyes did she move over to make room for Hera to climb into the bed next to her. Hera slid into the bed next to Helia and was surprised when she was met with Helia scooting closer to her and laying her head on her arm.

Helia thought she had done something wrong when she felt Hera remove her arm that her head rested on, but was elated when Hera had only repositioned them both so that she was wrapped in Hera’s arms in a cuddle.

“Would you like me to tell you a story to help you sleep?” asked Hera, not wanting the night and their time to be cut short so soon.

“Uh-huh!”

“Okay, this is the story of a little peacock who was looking for her forever home,” started Hera.

Helia was asleep before Hera could finish the story, cuddled even closer into her side like a cub. A lone tear fell from her eye as she watched her little girl sleeping peacefully beside her. She turned out the lamp and rolled over to snuggle closer to her daughter, not wanting to release her for fear that this may all be a dream.

Hera gently and carefully, as to not wake the sleeping child, kissed her forehead and whispered, “Good night, little one,” before letting Morpheus claim her.