202. A Visitor
A Visitor
Only Bia and I returned
to my father’s palace.
Pallas, Nike, and Kratos
stayed in Olympus
to discuss battle plans.
As Nyx painted the sky dark,
I realized that Zeus had not
promised me anything,
no mention of goddesshood.
But as I watched Zelus heal,
his body finally coming back
together, painfully, slowly,
it occurred to me that
as long as my children
were safe from imprisonment,
from an eternity of pain like this,
I did not need any promises
from anyone. My own ambitions
were a small price to pay
for the safety of my children.
I felt weary.
But then on the balcony
came a flash of light. For a moment,
fear seized me,
thinking it was Zeus.
Instead, when the light passed,
I saw the figure wasn’t a God.
It was Asteria holding
in her hand the last
embers of a falling star.
My heart leaped at the sight of her.
I stepped out onto the balcony,
my eyes glistening with tears.
I had missed her deeply,
even though I had tried not to.
Eras without her had been
so hard to bear. Her own eyes
spilled over with tears as she whispered,
‘Styx.’ We embraced
and I remembered
all those days when we were girls.
Everything we had made together,
from the eels to the starfox,
eons ago, and yet those memories
were the happiest of my life.
I realized then as I felt her body hold mine,
how motherhood had changed us both.
‘Asteria,’ I said quietly,
pulling back to take a look at her,
‘I heard you had a child.’