#naiads

Finished just in time for the Spring Equinox! Inspired by a painting of Ferdinand Knab, a study on colors with a twist with the Naiads in the lake.

Happy Spring Equinox everyone! 🌸

Witold Pruszkowski (1846–1896), “Naiads”

‧͙⁺˚･༓☾　Hermes x Naiads!Reader　☽༓･˚⁺‧͙

"The moon will sing a song for me I loved you like the sun Bore the shadows that you made With no light of my own I shine only with the light you gave me"

Summary: A naiad in ancient Arcadia falls in love with Hermes, the wandering god who stops by her river. He brings her laughter and stories but eventually leaves, unable to stay. Through years pass, she still waits by the water, hearing his laughter in the wind that touches her surface. A hopeful part of her still believing in happily ever after.

A/N: I'm back for a while, barely, ig. I found this in my draft, all lonely and untouched for ages (wrote it back in Oct.). Also school has fucked me up, and i'm waiting for the christmas break. My boyfriend (now ex) broke up with me lol, so kinda sad, but that's alright. :)

(some of these are a bit dark, but they are my personal ideas, no need to agree with them)

If we put all the sources together we see that Penelope has seven brothers and one sister. We know for sure that her father is Icarius, but not all authors agree on who her mother is.

I imagine that Icarius had a first wife, the naiad Periboea (from whom were born Penelope, Perileus, Thoas, Damasippus, Imeusmius and Aletes), but that then she left the palace to return to her river and that Icarius remarried, this time with Polycaste (mother of Iftime, Aliseus and Leucadius).

But how did Icarius and Periboea meet? Icarius is wounded during a hunting trip, and runs to the river to drink. There he sees some naiads and begs them to help him, because naiads are famous for healing wounds. Periboea comes forward: she has enormous eyes, diaphanous skin and does not speak the human language. She touches Icarius' wound and he heals. Icarius falls in love with her and decides to take her with him to the palace of Sparta: he has decided that she will be the mother of his children.

But nymphs cannot stay away from their element, their source of life, for long. Periboea is stunned by dry land, walking is not natural for her, dressing is not natural, all those smells and noises are not natural. Over time she becomes more and more restless and subject to violent fits of anger. She gives birth to one child after another but when she takes them in her hands she smells only the human odor and does not understand what to do with them. Her skin begins to gray, to dry out.

One night, when Penelope is about eight years old, she is awakened by the sounds of a commotion and terrible hissing. That night Periboea runs away. The next morning Icarius seems tired, but also partly relieved. The naiad was becoming more and more difficult to handle and he was afraid that she might even hurt their children. An excuse is invented on why their mother will have to stay away for a while and the children do not ask questions. Penelope knows that she will never see her again.

She didn't have a real relationship with her mother, but she still struggles to get used to her stepmother's presence. Where Periboea was cold and silent, Policasta is sunny and talkative. She hopes she can learn to love her.

And about only reading the first series once and skimming like most of the second series - SAME like I really can’t properly reread it

adding onto this one a little bit teehee (not really but kind of if you squint)

it sucks that nature spirits are pushed to the background for the most part until battles when rick needs warriors so like outside of that its like almost purely headcanons lol

i was doing a reread but its stalling rn at the titans curse but just in the lightning thief and the sea of monsters, percy has a few lines/interactions where he expresses fondness/closeness with nature spirits/satyrs. off the top of the dome there is a line in sea of monsters (chapter 5 per my reread post) where percy says that he's always had a soft spot for satyrs and then he has some flashback at some point - i think the lightning thief? - where he says he always saw pretty women in the waves at montauk smiling up at him

that paired with percy being the son of the sea and being friends with a satyr and being there for pan's passing and honestly embodying poseidon's nature aspect really well and his relationships with pegasi and blackjack and the way he goes out of his way to help sea creatures trapped in pollution and even mermaids with hangnails and the way even artemis herself respects and regards percy highly "for a man" and his interaction with the naiad at the triple g ranch and the way he protected them in the fight by putting out the fires ravaging their trees and bushes (+ my own personal hc that percy who is so respectful of women and that extends to the dryads, naiads, nereids who are so pleasantly surprised because they're used to gods chasing after them in lust and only seeing them as sex objects but percy treats them like normal people he can be friends with), i think percy has an incredibly good bond with every nature spirit just as a basis to each interaction. even outside his status as the son of poseidon, hes just so kind and good and respectful and caring to every nature spirit and animal that he easily wins their friendship and trust.

anyways outside of that i hc that for the first few books, percy enjoyed spending his time with nature spirits rather than other campers because its not until after the battle of the labyrinth where castor dies that percy goes "i didn't even know him" and then in the last olympian, percy is seen calling practically everyone his friends, so i think that battle encouraged him to know every camper he could, but before that he spent his time with dryads and naiads and nereids.