Zeus transported Athena and himself to a lovely little seaside restaurant. Plumes of smoke could be seen wafting through the air from the distant volcano on the island of Thera.
The sun shone brightly turning the azure Mediteranean into a sea of sparkling diamonds. Zeus turned to Athena. He cocked his head to the side. They wouldn't get very good service, if the locals realized they were gods. The poor things would be shivering in their boots afraid to get up off of the ground from where they prostrated themselves before the pair. With a slight wave of his hand their clothing was transformed into what would be considered middle class. Zeus couldn't seem to help himself. Athena's costume was made of sheer material, and with the sunlight behind her, he could see straight through it.
He gave himself a mental shake. She was his daughter. Could he help it, if he liked admiring the female form? Motioning Athena ahead of him, so he could watch the sway of her hips as she walked. They selected a table off to the side. The ocean breeze eclipsing the heat of Apollo's work for the day.
A waiter appeared as soon as they sat down.
"Could I get you something to drink?" The waiter inquired absently. His attention to the wax tablet he held.
Zeus spared a slight scowl at the waiter before he turned to his daughter. "What would you like?"
Hercules and Nemesis emerged from the dorms to find the campus quiet. They'd just missed Atalanta and Shou Lao doing their inspections. Hercules looked around at the emptyness and was a little uneasy by it.
"I wonder where all the students are?" He wondered a loud as they past the partially reconstructed gate. It looked like the workmen had been busy. He led Nemesis on the path to the graduate school.
In the darkest part of the night a cube made of glowing rods appeared near the barn behind the old shoe house. The cube blinked several times after appearing and then settled down to a steadier glow as a door like aperture opened in the side facing the house. A matched team of sturdy brown horses emerged from the cube pulling a canvas topped farm wagon.
“Was it necessary to bring us home in the middle of the night, Tessy?”
“At least we’re home, lass. It’s been a bonnie vacation and a good nights sleep under your own roof will put you in better stead to start fresh tomorrow.”
“I suppose you are right Dom but I did want to get a few things done in the daylight. We need to fetch the goats and the chickens and the cow unless you want to be eating dry porridge in the morning.”
“We can do that while you unpack the wagon.” Lucky replied.
“Now there’s a good suggestion. Your paws won’t be much help in unpacking, Lucky.” Dom said patting the old dog on the head.
“Can you to manage get them boxed up without upsetting the rest of the animals at Kel’s temple? I don’t want her thinking you two are pulling one of your pranks on her.”
“We’ll be careful, Blue.” Lucky replied as Tess built another box. Both dogs entered and the box disappeared with a an audible pop.
“Well, don’t just sit there.” Bt said with a smile. “I’ll start unloading the wagon while you get the team in the barn and settled for the night.”
Athena and Zeus appear in her temple library. "Here we are right through these doors. I thought you might be more comfortable coming directly here rather than parading through the public area."
Hekate and Antares reappeared in her Belltower room. Hekate had brought all of Thia and Antares things back from Eire as well.
Hekate placed the sleeping baby into her crib. "There you go, my precious granddaughter. We'll get along just fine, won't we?" Hekate smiled down softly stroking Thia's cheek.
"I should let Hades know we're back." Antares commented.
"He'll sense your return." Hekate said without looking at her daughter. "Trust me, let him come to you. As you said, he's very busy, you wouldn't want to disturb him."
"He's probably got a ton of work back-logged. I should get down there to help him." Antares rushed in to take a quick shower and a change of clothes.
"Antares." Hekate placed a restraining hand on her daughter's arm. "He's entertaining Hera. I don't think it would be a good idea to interrupt them. Hades may have a fondness for you, but I know Hera is not happy with me. I don't want her to take that out on you."
Hephaestus watched as the globe turned from pink to blue. Aphrodite had been unfaithful to him again. He'd created the globe after her first affair with Ares. She'd assured him it would never happen again. He threw the globe at the hearth watching it shatter. She never would be happy as just his wife.
He crossed over to the statue of her he'd been working on to replace the ones that were ruined in the temple mix ups. He didn't have the heart to work on it. Grabbing a tarp that was next to it, he covered it up. In the process Keleos' Gerbil was exposed.
He gave an exasperated sigh. "KELEOS!" He sent through the aether. "Will you pick up this damned statue?"
Hekate stiffled a yawn as she worked at her potions bench. The soft bubbling of a glass carafe creating a hypnotic murmering. Hekate spared a glance at her scrying mirror in time to see Hades and Hera walking off arm and arm. She raised an eyebrow at that development. Another yawn escaped.
"What is it Hypnos?" She asked of the empty room.
"How did you know I was here?" Hypnos asked as he appeared.
"All those years I dated your brother, I can pretty much tell." She explained, before turning from what she was doing to face the god of sleep.
Hypnos shrugged nonchallantly and crossed over to the bench where she was working. "What a waste of effort." He drolled enigmatically.
Hekate tilted her head to regard him. She waited for him to explain his presence. Her patience would fluster him.
Hypnos continued to survey her array of potions in the mixing. "Well, aren't you going to ask me why?" He finally added with a slightly irritated edge.
Hekate leaned back resting her elbows on the edge of the bench, and just studied him. "You'll tell me, when you're ready." She added calmly.
Hypnos shook his head. "The least you could do is show a little curiosity."
"Aw, that would just make you more reticent to tell me." A sly smile played at her lips.
