of wisdom and war

– “I’m not completely sure how to tell you this.” He pauses. Lets the tension simmer, building in the air between them like a storm. Tells himself its for realism, not procrastination, and nearly believes it too. “A few days ago, a sympathetic stranger reached out to me. A contact of Pandora. They wanted to warn me about an article going live this week, a courtesy call so to speak. There’s no stopping the drop, but they thought we deserved the chance to prepare for it, as a family.” He smooths an invisible wrinkle on the knee of his pant leg. Lets his gaze drift away from Athena, downcast, in feigned shame. A dread too easy to embody.

“The article covers some allegations about my private life. That I’ve been involved with someone apart from your mother. Allegations that are… true. I just wanted to let you know.”

---

“What? But —” The shock of it had Athena sitting straight up, brows lowered over her eyes. She found herself thinking back to the conversation she’d had with Hera not all that long ago, when she’d assured her that the separation wasn’t over an affair. Her stomach twisted. “Does Mom know?”

 it’s   strange .   out   of   maybe   all   of   them ,   he   understood   athena’s   emotional   processing   style   the   least .   dion   imbibed ,   ares   shut   it   out ,  temi   reacted   as   an   insane   person   would ,   apollo   sought   attention ,   and   hermes   was   hermes .   when   shit   happened ,   it   was   the   rhea   prerogative   to   swallow   it .   but   athena   was   like   a   raw   nerve .   they   let   things   get   to   them .   the   hephaestus   thing   got   to   them .   why  ?   the   hephaestus   thing ,   if   anything ,   was   funny .   like .   come   on .   is   that   not   funny  ?   like ,   even   a   little  ?   he   hums   thoughtfully ,   tilts   his   head ,   studies   their   expression . 

 ❛ ❛   i’m   sure   he   has   slept   with   fifty   people   you’ve   never   met .   ❜ ❜    he   tries   to   not   think   too   hard   about   his   father’s   body   count .   hermes   sips   at   his   drink ,  clinks   his   rings   against   the   glass.    ❛ ❛   well ,   you   probably   know   some   of   them .   ❜ ❜    he   amends .   athena   looks   nervous .   actually   upset .   maybe   he   shouldn’t   poke   at   the   raw   nerve .   ugh ,   but   the   urge   was   so   powerful .    he   attempts   to   refrain   from   rolling   his   eyes .   are   you   okay ,   hermes  ?   are   you   okay ,   hermes  ?   are   you   okay ,   hermes  ?   chaos ,   order ,   and   the   fates   above  ;   this   shit   has   never   felt   older .   and ,   honestly ,   it’s   wild ,   because   he   actually   is   pretty   okay .   like ,   he’s   been   so   not   okay ,   that   relative   to   that ,   he’s   kind   of   rocking   it .   crushing   it   professionally ,   dating   a   stable  -  ish   person ,   looking   hot ,   keeping   his   nose   clean .   like .   he   can’t   be   bothered   to   let   their   dad’s   bullshit   twist   up   his   life .   so   whyyyyyyyy   won’t   people   stop   fucking   asking   him   if   he’s   okay  ?     ❛ ❛   mm ,   peachy .   i   mean ,   like ,   dad   has   affairs .   ❜ ❜   hermes   gestures   at   himself ,   offers   a   wry   smile .    ❛ ❛    we   know   this .   i’m   more   pissed   that   he   let   it   leak .   sucks   for   mom .   she   needed   a   media   circus   like   she   needed   a   hole   in   the   head  .   ❜ ❜

---

Athena rolled her eyes when Hermes pointed out their dad likely had slept with fifty people that they didn’t know, but she couldn’t help a little laugh at the absurdity of the situation. He might be right, after all. She had no way of knowing now, not when she didn’t trust either of her parents to be honest with her about it.

“Yeah, I just...Mom told me that that,” the creation of Hermes, she meant, “was a one-time thing, that their fight now wasn’t about anything like that, and...fuck me for believing that I could tell when one of the world’s best actresses is telling the truth, I guess.” She made a frustrated little noise from between gritted teeth. “I can’t believe he’d do this again, with all his bullshit about family. I can’t believe Heph —”

–

He keeps his eyes forward, listening to his older sister go on. It doesn’t sit right. The fact that she lives in her own distant notion of reality. Does she think that they are all truly one family unit? Where does she get that idea?

His jaw tenses but he sips his drink, humming along to her words. When he swallows, he gives her reassurance. “You’re both talented. I have zero doubt in my mind that it will go swimmingly.” He doesn’t even chuckle at his own pun.

His mind is too bogged down by her initial words, that he finally lets them out. “Do you truly think we have each other? Really have each other.” He can’t seem to think that. Perhaps if they do, Apollo himself hasn’t been let in to be part of it.

---

Athena blinked at Apollo, startled by the question. “Of course I do.” She thought about crying into Dionysus’s shoulder after her breakup with Tisiphone, about helping Dion to bed after a late night out and listening to her stories. About fighting with Artemis, only to ask for her help the next day, because they both knew they’d always love each other — even when they hated each other. Ares wasn’t even a question; he was her anchor, her light in the storm that was being a Rhea.

Hermes...well, she tried to be there. When he moved to Arcadia, after the crash, after he moved to Pontius. But she had let his work get between them, hadn’t she? She’d never done a very good job. And Apollo she was even less sure about. She chewed her lower lip, finding herself less confident in her answer than she’d started out as.

The Rhea family is a source of personal intrigue, to be sure, but it is also a source of distrust. Scylla knows as no other how power corrupts, after all, has witnessed it change her as a person fundamentally ( and, perhaps, encouraged that ) and knows, too, that whatever power she holds is nothing compared to that of Cronus Rhea’s many descendants. In Poseidon, she appreciates it. In Zeus and his spawn? It is a nuisance. In Hades? She does not think of him, because to think of him is to think of Charybdis. Tartarus might as well not exist to her.

So, Athena: righteous journalist, a talent to be sure. Scylla sits across her and considers the warmth on her features, tries for a moment to match it but finds herself falling somewhat short. Lovely, lovely, lovely: she cannot be serious, can she? She hides her distaste at the sweet sentiments, just nods. “Nice to see you again too, Athena.”

At least there is a sentiment she can agree with. “Well, like you said. The future is at our fingertips here, during the Summit and during any other day of the week, too.” Scylla crosses her legs under the table. “Adjusting well. It’s very different from Arcadia, but it doesn’t matter much as long as I have my work. Besides, Pontius offers a lot.” Then, she remembers politeness, “And how are you?”

---

During the Summit and during any other day of the week, Scylla said. If that was how she thought of her work, Athena could about understand why she loved it so much. Although she also had to wonder just what she might do to seize that future. What she had done, as well. The question itched under her skin, threatened to burst from her tongue. This wasn’t her job, strictly speaking, but the familiar desperation for truth had seized her, and she had never been able to escape its grasp.

If it was also a distraction from other, pressing matters, well. It was a welcome one.

But the key to these things was grace and subtlety, so she didn’t burst forward with accusations. Instead, she nodded in agreement. “Yeah, Pontius is definitely no Arcadia. Even when I’m in Olympe, I find myself homesick for Arcadia. There’s something about it that no other place has, I think. But I’m glad that you’re settling in here.”

She lifted a shoulder. “Oh, you know. I’m busy with work, especially at the Summit. I’m moderating a panel next week and working on some articles between now and then. But I love the work, so it doesn’t bother me much. You must be busy too, right?”

He had said so, hadn’t he? Mino supposes he fits into Tartarus these days, though not for its hedonistic sides but rather its darkness. A truth he’s growing accustomed to, even if it’s not one he much likes. But there is comfort to be found in resignation. He shakes his head at her offer, “No need. I have UV lamps already. Besides, there’s no need for a birthday gift.” It’s kind of Athena to offer, really, but he does not trust a gift handed to him by any Rhea. “Thank you, though. Sweet of you.”

Then Athena says the darndest thing and Mino keeps his face in semi-check, “You saw us? Oh, shit.” He laughs. “Well, I’m clearly not a very good criminal, if we managed to get spotted.” There’s an itch of amusement at the back of his throat. Sometimes he forget show good lying can feel.

“You didn’t report us, I take it? I never heard back from it, but I’ll have you know that the plant is doing well.” He shrugs, then. “I guess Tartarus is rubbing off on me, yeah. How do you know Hypnos?”

---

Athena pouted. “It’s not about need,” she replied with a roll of her eyes. “Gifts are about want. But message received, no solar lamps. Don’t worry, I’ll come up with something else.” And if Mino wouldn’t tell her his birthday, she’d just send it at some random time of year, like with — eugh, no, she wasn’t thinking about him right then.

“Report you! I would never, I’m not a snitch!” she replied, mock-horror in her voice. Her siblings might take some offense to that particular personal assessment, but Mino didn’t need to know that. She paused. “...Although, I did post on Tala about it. I might not be a snitch, but I am a journalist. I did it on private, though! It shouldn’t have gotten out.” Of course, with Tala, things were liable to explode.

“I hope that you’ll get a chance to relax too, despite everything.” What else could Patroclus hoped for? He wanted them to come to Pontius to hang out and while they were were, Athena seemed miles away because of the breaking news of Zeus and Hephaestus. “We have pools, drinks, the ball is coming up soon.” He shrugged. “I know it’s not much but I do hope you’ll manage to have some fun.” He reached for his glass in order to drink.

Patroclus didn’t let himself freeze at Athena’s question, he simply sipped his drink to buy himself a few more moments. Didn’t Achilles say that Zagreus could keep things quiet? People knowing about their past relationship will just raise questions, questions some people didn’t want to answer, Patroclus included. 

“Did he? Strange.” He paused for a moment. “I’m not seeing anybody.” Patroclus didn’t like lying, especially to Athena of all people but it was true, wasn’t it? Patroclus really wasn’t seeing anybody, least someone from Tartarus. Either way they needed to change subjects before Athena will ask more questions. “I’m curious, does Nemean News plan on doing a piece on the summit?”

---

“Oh.” Athena almost sounded disappointed at Patroclus’s response. It was strange, too; she was sure that Zagreus had been telling the truth. Of course, sleeping together didn’t necessarily mean seeing each other...but it didn’t seem like Patroclus wanted to say anything more about it either way. If he didn’t want to talk about it, she wouldn’t push. She decided she’d done her duty as a friend by letting him know and allowed him to move the conversation on.

“Um, yeah, definitely. I mean, what kind of news organization would we be if we didn’t cover the biggest tech event of the year?” She laughed. “But that’s not really my expertise, you know, I just do the political aspects. I am hoping to get statements on the reactions of the Quorum Members attending — tech policy is becoming more and more crucial to politicians’ platforms, you know?”

-

In any other context, Hephaestus would be tickled by her outburst - that even amid her polish and eloquence, she is still capable of very human effusion. But sorrow coils around him like a serpent, knows as he looks at her that all the tentative goodwill they’d managed to built back up again after he went and fucked it all is laying in a heap between them.

Heads turn, and Hephaestus feels his stomach coil inward, his flesh flush with humiliation. At the very least, if Pandora was aboard, they’d never run out of bylines - even this, as much as he’s been dreading it, has the potential to further occupy the limelight, protect them - her - even further. He turns swiftly on his heel and leads them to an unused conference room further off from the main vein of the deck, and shuts the door behind them.

“I’m sorry, Athena. I’m sorry.” He’s rueful as he turns back to face her, brows knitted. “You’re well within your right to yell, to scream at me. I’d encourage anything that would help you, in this moment.”

---

Athena headed into the conference room and watched as Hephaestus shut the door, arms crossed, a small frown on her lips. She wanted to rage and scream, she really did. But when Hephaestus spoke, all that welled up in her was this awful misery, drowning out her anger. How was he so goddamn calm about this?!

Well, maybe he’d been planning it. He would have been a fool not to, considering. She sank into one of the chairs surrounding the conference table. It was on wheels, and it spun into the table when she sat down. Decidedly not how she wanted to have this conversation.

“You kept this from me. My dad lied to me, and you -” She swallowed, pressing her elbow to the table and her forehead in her hand. Every time she tried to wrap her head around the affair, it only seemed to spiral further beyond her grasp. “How long did this go on for? How did it start? Did you ever think about the consequences?”

These were all questions she’d asked her father; she was just checking that their answers lined up. But then, one she hadn’t asked him: “Were we ever really friends? Or was I just - I don’t know, what did you want to be? My stepdad?” The shrill laugh that left her sounded wholly unlike her. She shook her head - please don’t answer that. “I mean, what in Chaos made either of you think it could work? It was bound to come out.”

Patroclus tapped his finger on the table in thought, not loudly just as something to do while they were sitting and chatting. He couldn’t imagine Poseidon doing it because of that, maybe for publicity but not because of the news. “I want to believe he wouldn’t do that.” 

The summit was interesting in that he didn’t have to do much in being there in the first place, which gave him a chance to focus on his own thing. “Relaxing, I suppose?” Patroclus shrugged his shoulder. “They didn’t put me in any panels this year so I’m not complaining and I guess I’m looking forward to see my co-workers and friends succeed in their respective panels.” He smiled, knowing that some part of him was looking forward and dreading somethings or someones. 

---

Athena couldn’t help the look she gave Patroclus. Maybe he didn’t want to believe it, but she was long past denying what her family was like, no matter how much she’d like to. She sighed and took a long sip of her drink, eyes drifting toward the sea.

“I’m glad that you get the chance to relax,” she said. She hoped she didn’t sound jealous. She really was happy for him. Still, she wished that she could be half as normal as Patroclus was. To be the sort of person who got breaks from their work and from publicity. She looked back at him. Speaking of publicity -

Mino lets out a soft bit of laughter at her gall, at how almost cheeky her proposal is. How might it be, to have such things to offer? It’s a power he’s not familiar with: Mino had never been the kind of person who offered much, in the material or monetary sense. And even the things he did have, he shared selectively.

“Oh, no, no. I don’t think Olympe is for us. But I’ll keep it in mind.” Swapping one Rhea brother for another hardly seems like a plan worth following, especially in a city like Olympe. Theseus might like it, though. “And Tartarus is quite interesting. Never a boring day.” Unless he was put on a day shift at the casino, when there was hardly anyone there.

He is not an envious person, at least that is what he tells himself. There are plenty of things Mino despises about himself, plenty of surface flaws and blood stains in his past. But he is not an envious person, at least. Then why does he hate to see Athena beam? He smiles at her and forces his bitterness down. “That sounds wonderful. Really. I’m glad you get to do something that makes you so happy.” 

And he means it. He does. And he wants that, too. He nods, then. “Yes, I live almost that far down, too.” Does not say he lives in the House of Hades, because it feels like another can of worms. “I miss Arcadia, sometimes, but I’ve grown fond of the city. Even if it’s hard to get sunlight for my plants.”

---

Athena pressed a hand to her chest when Mino said that Olympe wasn’t for them, as if heartbroken. But in reality, she understood. She couldn’t really imagine Mino and Theseus anywhere but Arcadia, not even Tartarus. They’d just seemed to blend so well into that city, as if they were part of it. She’d envied them terribly for it. She wasn’t sure she’d ever fit in anywhere, not like that.

“If you say so,” she relented. She tried to envision Mino deep underground. She couldn’t do it. With a small frown, she said, “When’s your birthday? I’ll buy you a nice solar lamp for your plants.” Then, her eyes lit up, mouth forming a small “o” of surprise.

–

Apollo wishes he knew better the inner-workings of what was going on in his siblings’ life. But then again, they’re not truly that close, are they? Not as much as he thinks in his heads, or wants. Doesn’t matter what he’d done for Hermes growing up, or anything else. Things are just… different. And he tries not to think about it. The longer he thinks the more it hurts.

“That’s too bad.” He says genuinely. He hopes to see his little brother around while he’s here, but he knows that he’s busy. 

He hums at his sister’s words and sips his drink, laying more comfortably on his seat. He doesn’t note that ‘staying close’ implies needing to have been close in the first place. “Sure. Gotta keep the family together.”

---

“Exactly!” Athena exclaimed, relieved that someone else in the family seemed to understand the importance of them all staying together. If Apollo had been being sarcastic, it went completely over her head. “Thank you. I mean, if we don’t have each other, who do we have?”

She settled back into her own seat, squinting up at the sky as a gull flew over the ship. She had to admit that once she got her sea legs, Pontius wasn’t so bad at all. She could almost understand why her mother had chosen to stay. Almost. She didn’t think she could stand living on a glorified cruise ship. Hermes managed, but cruises seemed more his thing, anyway.

it stilled him, for a moment. he almost wanted her to repeat herself – she had wanted to bring him into olympe? oh no. oh no, theseus. that feeling, that dangerous feeling, began to bloom somewhere in his chest. ( the one he always felt at the beginning of a plan. the one that said: this could work. this might work. ) he filed it away, this information. olympe wouldn’t be too bad, and if had the backing of another rhea… mino could learn to love the sun again, he was certain.

“ask me if i enjoy it after a few glasses of wine,” he settled on with a wink. “you’ll have to stop by soon, and i can give you a tour.” to his very real job at a very real casino. “by the end of it, i can guarantee you’ll only disapprove a little.” her expression, however, was a puzzle he was very eager to solve. he wondered what sort of dirty secrets such a bright and shining star might have. 

“depends on who you’ve changed the world for, dear. i don’t notice much down in the dark.” alright, maybe he was a bit disappointed they still held onto all of their idealism, if only because it made his job of courting them into a friendship again that much more difficult. morals, and all that. “yes, nemean must be keeping you busy these days. is that what brings you here? business or the desire to escape it for a little while?” 

---

“Mm. I’ll think about it,” Athena said with a smile, though the truth was that she wasn’t sure she could step into a Tartarus casino ever again. Not if Tisiphone might be there, anyway. “I’m not sure if I want to risk being persuaded to like your casinos, though. It wouldn’t be a very good look, no offense.”

She paused at Theseus’s point about being stuck doing in the dark, head tilting to one side. “You know, that might not be the case for much longer. I mean, there’s Briseis, trying to get Tartarus to be more transparent. And I’ve heard Zagreus is interested in working with the Quorum, too. Of course, Khton will be the harder sell, but...hey, maybe it won’t be too long until we bring Tartarus into the world. Then you’ll get to experience my reform efforts firsthand.”

– “Good, good. We can revisit the study, once we see how the task force gets on.” He parrots the line off-hand, a conversation he’s had in pieces with Athena over the past days already, practiced answers.

The joke doesn’t land, on any level, but he smiles all the same. Looks down, shakes his head. “No, no,” he says. “Nothing like that. Your job is secure here. No professional fires to put out at the moment.” He pauses for a beat, then two. “This one’s on me, actually. It’s to do with why your mother left for Pontius. There’s something I haven’t told you.”

---

Athena’s eyebrows shot up. The fact that there was something he hadn’t told her hardly had to be stated aloud. His answers to her questions about the separation had been cryptic at best, endlessly frustrating at worse. She’d known, of course, that there was more to the story. But she hadn’t believed he’d ever give her a straight answer. She felt a little thrill go through her at the prospect of knowing the truth. Maybe she’d proven herself?

-

Patroclus couldn’t contradict Athena’s words, despite him not quite believing them. But it would be hypocritical of him, wouldn’t it, to have Athena speak of whatever was wrong when he himself never did. “Maybe Poseidon should’ve postponed the summit just a bit.” There was no real, professional reason to postpone the summit other than selfish reasons and Patroclus doubted that even if he did propose such an idea, Poseidon would’ve shut it down. 

With everything that has happened on Olympe, Patroclus agreed that everything was happening at once, too fast for two weeks to be enough of a breather. “I hope you stay in Pontius will be relaxing, despite everything.” He hoped this for the both of them. 

At the mention of the greenhouse he smiled and took a sip of his drink. “I would love to walk you through it after we finish eating.” Patroclus smiled softly. “Are you looking forward to your panel next week?”

---

Athena rolled her eyes. “I bet he did this on purpose. He’s taking advantage of - all of this.” Of course, she knew how absolutely paranoid that sounded. But she also knew how her uncle saw life as some multidimensional chessboard, and every tragedy was an opening.

She couldn’t muster a response to Patroclus’s hope, all too optimistic. Relaxing, the Kalavrian Summit? Even if it weren’t for everything going on in the background, she couldn’t expect that. It was work, after all, chaotic and usually thrilling and probably a little stressful regardless of the circumstances.

They had made a very job of it on purpose, of course. He wonders if Athena is looking for an explanation now, doesn’t know if he’s interested in feeding more lies. “Oh, I didn’t mean to worry you, doubt that Theseus did too. We were just … stupid, you know. Reckless. Wanted a fresh start and changed all our numbers and kind of forgot that people might care.” 

He registers her surprise and swallows the bitterness that rises as bile. “Yes, we both work in Tartarus.” Mino didn’t dislike Athena, but he did mind her curiosity, had found it quite an impossible thing to avoid even back in Arcadia. He supposed he could only be relieved, that Athena hadn’t known Ari, too. That her questions weren’t going after his lost brother, too.

“It’s alright. Work is work, isn’t it?” Just another guy on Hades Rhea’s payroll. He gives a bit of a smile, prods at his dinner but does not lift his fork. “I do get to tag along on trips like these, so I can hardly complain. I’m on the security team. Theseus works in finance.” He supposed he’d answer the question before it could be asked. “Tell me about your job, but like, not what I can find when I do a TalaSearch. How do you like it?”

---

Forgot people might care, Mino claimed. She couldn’t deny the sting of that. The thought that maybe Theseus hadn’t found her half as interesting as she’d found him. That maybe it hadn’t been malicious at all; he simply hadn’t thought of her. She nodded, kept a smile plastered on her face.

“Just alright?” she questioned. Her smile grew a little sly. “You know, we’ve got security and finance up in Olympe, too. If you ever want something a bit more interesting.” Certainly not the first time she’d tried to recruit the two of them, but maybe a little bold, considering she hardly knew them anymore.

“Oh, Fates,” she said at the mention of her job, smile widening, tightening at the edges. “It’s my dream job.” That much, at least, was true. It was exactly what she’d been dreaming of since she was a little kid. And now that she had it —

.

“I didn’t have a plan, Athena. I don’t know if I would ever have told you. I can only assure you I didn’t want you to know. I would rather carry this hurt alone than let it stain my children too.” Hera stops herself, breath short, caught by surprise with the words that came out before she could select them, editing each phrase as she usually does. That is what it comes down to, isn’t it? The reason she left in silence, the reason she agreed to this show. She would swallow all the pain, keep it sealed deep inside her, just to protect the kids. The problem is, the poison goes beyond her control. Hera can’t keep them safe from all of it, so she has to choose which toxins are allowed to leak.

“What else can I tell you, Athena? It was horrible to do this alone for months, and it was all for nothing, because you found out anyway, in the worst possible moment, just as the press vultures came running to question all of us about it. I never wanted you kids to have to take sides, but here we are.” There’s not much else Hera can do now. She knew there was no going back once this plan was set in motion, but Chaos, was it hard to actually live through the aftermath. 

---

“We had a right to know!” Athena snapped, voice rising above Hera’s. It felt like a naive protest, reminiscent of all the times as a child when she’d complained about something not being fair. Still, she charged on, “Maybe you didn’t want us to take sides, but we had a right to make that decision for ourselves. He’s our father!”

And he was her husband. She couldn’t imagine what her mother had gone through. She knew that with sharp, sudden clarity. But her sympathy was dulled, because, “You didn’t have to go through this alone. You did that to yourself. I get not wanting the whole world to know, but you could have told your family. You didn’t have to protect him from us!”

Her shoulders slumped, and she looked away, unable to meet her mother’s eyes. “I’m not mad at you,” she muttered, like saying it might make it true. “I just don’t want two parents I can’t trust to tell me the truth. Who am I supposed to turn to now?”