"I'm taking Athena with me to visit Adrastea tomorrow. We'll be leaving early so don't be surprised if you wake up and she's not there,"
Hera didn't like that he was telling her instead of asking but she knew she wouldn't win that argument and she had no real reason to object, except that she didn't like the idea of not seeing that little face for a whole day. No eyes wide with delight, no brows furrowed in concentration, nor nose scrunched in triumph. No pitter-patter of her feet, no bouncing on her heals, nor the fluttering she did trying to explore the large world with such a little body. I guess it shows some consideration that he wanted to make sure I didn't panic when I wake up to an Athena-less room, Hera thought.
"Alright, thanks for telling me. I'll make sure she has a cape and other warm clothes," Hera said, thinking about how cute Athena would look with a giant hat and and little fur cape.
Hera hesitated to exit the room. She was nervous to send Athena off alone with Zeus after Athena came back crying from the last trip. She knew there was really no power she had other than to attempt to convince him not to go. But she didn't think the god king would react kindly to her telling him he couldn't take his daughter somewhere. And Athena was such a curious child. And Adrastea was a mother herself, a good one, even if she had a hand in raising this monster, Hera thought drolly. And Adrastea held maternal influence over Zeus like Rhea did.
"Just . . . please be careful," Hera said to the god king, "I know you can protect her and I know have much to teach her and care about her very much and she treasures your affection, but I can't help but worry about her."
Zeus smiled a soft smile, glad to have a partner in parenthood, glad to have someone else who loved and worried for Athena. He went over and hugged Hera and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He took a moment to be close to someone else who understood how he felt about that darling little genius. Zeus thought it remarkable how much she managed to love a child that looked so much like the other woman her husband had been with. The other child her mother treasured so dearly, the one who got to be with her mother from infancy. While Zeus understood it was a tremendous sacrifice for his mother to give him to Adrastea and that his mother did it out of love and to save him, he was still jealous of Metis and her siblings who got to spend more of their childhood with his mother than he did. Metis was the brightest and cleverest of her siblings and Zeus hated her for it. But more frustratingly he discovered that he admired and adored her for it as well.
Rhea was younger than Tethys and had helped her big sister with her many nieces and nephews. When she got married she was excited to have some more and of her own body. That was until her husband heard the prophecy and decided to eat all her babies. Each pregnancy felt like a death sentence.
Hera told Athena about the mountain region and the creatures there, hyping her up for another solo trip with her father. Athena was curious child so it wasn't hard to get her excited for the trip, Hera just hoped she wasn't betraying Athena by hyping her up only for her father to ruin things for her. Hera started by asking Athena what she knew about the mountains and Athena eagerly told her about what she had read and what her daddy had told her. Then she told her stories of the battle with the rock giants in the Titanomachy, Athena listened with wide eyes, her mouth occasionally falling open in astonishment. Athena was also very interested in the snowy owls.
"I think owls are my favorite bird, but I've only seen . . . ." Athena paused for a moment to count on her fingers, "Ten types of birds so far, so I can't be sure."
Zeus heard the little knock on the door and opened it to see his favorite sight; Athena smiling up at him. She had on a little fur cape and big fluffy hat the seemed to emphasize her tininess. Athena bowed to the god king.
"I'm ready, daddy," She said.
Athena yawned, face and limbs and stretching gently, then her eyes snapped back up at him full of excitement and anticipation. Zeus smiled and caressed her chubby cheeks.
The wind blew and Athena's dark curls whipped against Zeus's face. He looked towards the curls owner and for a moment he half expected to see Metis. Something fell in him when he remembered she wasn't there.
"Daddy?" Athena asked, her eyes wide with concern. Zeus gave her a kiss on forehead. Athena looked down fidgeting with her curls. She then surprised Zeus by giving him a kiss on the cheek and threw her arms around his neck in a hug. Zeus gave her gentle squeeze, breathing in the smell of her hair and feeling her soft little face against his neck.
"Hera and Helios say you wake up every day to watch the sunrise, so I thought you might like this view," Zeus said as they arrived at the valley.
"The sun god was talking about me . . . ." Athena asked, feeling a little self-conscious and embarrassed for some reason.
"He said you greeting him is the best part of his day," Zeus said warmly.
Athena smiled then turned to her father and ask, "Is he okay though? Is his life not happy?"
Zeus started to chuckled but refrained remembering what Hera said about Athena "shaming easily,"
"I'm sure his life is wonderful, princess," Zeus said, placing another kiss on his daughter's head he added, "You're just that lovely, you know."
Athena looked down blushing a little. Her gaze was then pulled to the mountains as they were lit up with the colors of sunrise. Zeus watched her eyes widen and sparkle and her mouth fall open in awe. Adrastea is gonna love her, Zeus thought to himself.
Athena struggled to move her hair out of her face, hands moving quickly as she tried to figure out how to keep all the curls out of her face at once. Each time she got a curl back a new one seemed to break free. Zeus managed to smooth them all back and tuck her hair into her cape, not missing the opportunity to caress her chubby cheeks again. Zeus couldn't help but notice they were getting rather rosey. She could get cold very quickly with such a small body, Zeus thought as he buttoned up her cape and wrapped the scarf that was hanging lazily over her shoulder around her neck and chin several times. He put his hand on her cheeks again, they didn't feel cold but he wasn't gonna risk it, he adjusted the scarf so it was covering her nose. They weren't exactly given a manual on their powers, and the girl was part sea nymph not mountain nymph. Ptah, ptah, Athena coughed reaching under scarf to pull out a thread from the fabric that had gotten stuck in her mouth
Athena marveled at the way the snow and ice blanketed the trees and shone in the sun. Zeus smiled as he watched her move around the forest, fluttering around then stopping in deep thought as she observed something, head tilting slightly, eyes narrowing with concentration and widening with awe. She's like a little bird, Zeus thought. A gust of wind blew some of the snow off the trees and Athena "oooh"ed as the particles sparkled in the sunlight. She shook the tree a little to make more snow fall but accidentally shook a warbler nest out of the tree. The bird was angry and started attacking Athena, Zeus ran over and slapped the bird out of the air away from his precious girl. Zeus felt a tug on his pants and looked down to see Athena holding up the nest to him. Zeus sighed taking the bird's nest from her. May your compassion never cause you pain, little one, Zeus thought.
"Wait!" Athena called out.
Athena ran her fingers through her hair several times then took the strands the came up and twisted them in to a net, she took the nest out of Zeus's hand and skillfully wove the net into the nest than handed it back to her father.
When Zeus reached Adrastea's ice palace he was greeted by the soft paws and rough tongue of his old ice leopard companion.
"It's good to see you too, Kiona," Zeus said petting the leopards head with his right hand as he held Athena in his left.
"She's so pretty, daddy!" Athena said in awe. Kiona gave Athena a sniff then rubbed her head against her, marking the cub as part of her pack.
"Do you want some 'scritches'?" Athena said scratching Kiona behind the ears. I see Hestia has indoctrinated her, Zeus thought amusingly, as Athena used the same silly word Hestia invented.
"She vibrates!" Athena said with wonder, her hand still giving "scritches" but the rest of her body was leaning over to one side then the other to observe the new creature.
"I knew today was a good day," Adrastea said. After rising from the deep bow to her king she made her way over to embrace her son and the beautiful little cherub he had brought with him.
"And this must be the basipoula, she is even more beautiful than they say," Adrastea said addressing Athena.
"Adrastea, this is my daughter Athena," Zeus said proudly, "Athena, this Adrastea she helped take care of me when I was young."
"It's an honor to meet you," Athena said a little shyly, still wary of new people.
Adrastea smiled warmly and led them into her ice palace. Athena's eyes lit up once more as she took in the way the ice reflected the light causing mini rainbows throughout the palace.
"Lady Adrastea," Athena said after working up the courage to ask the latest family member she had become newly acquainted with, "How are there so many rainbows?"
"What a wonderful question," Adrastea replied and began explaining how the crystals break up the light.
"Do you have any more questions?" Adrastea asked.
"Well . . . . " Athena fidgeted and looked up at her father who smiled and nodded at her, " . . . yes."
Zeus smiled proudly held his amazing little girl as she asked his second mother insightful questions about the realm. Athena asked about the way the ice multiplied her reflection and then made floaty movements with her hands when she thought they weren't looking. Is she dancing? Zeus thought.
Zeus was examining a mysteriously plagued ice beetle, and Athena was leaning a little to close to the thing for his comfort.
Zeus walked over to the other end of the room and put Athena down.
"Stay here for your safety, baby girl," Zeus told his daughter.
"Okay, daddy," Athena replied.
Athena tried to watch what the adults were doing but there backs blocked her view and she didn't want to bother them. Her eyes wondered to her reflection, to the wall of Athenas. Zeus looked back over to his daughter and saw her and all her reflections spinning and dancing. What an adorable little pack, Zeus thought. Soon an adoring nymph came over, Athena backed away shyly but the nymph managed to lure Athena over by making snowflakes and when Zeus looked back over from what he was working on the nymph was decorating Athena's hair with snowflakes. Athena's eyes suddenly widened and lit up and she turned away from her reflection and said something to the nymph, bouncing on her heels a little. Next glance Athena was drawing something in a pile of snow and the nymph looked at the design and turned it into a tiara. Athena bounced with excitement. Another adoring nymph came over and asked Athena to design a tiara for her. Athena was a bit nervous at first but smiled bashfully when the nymph excitedly praised her new ice crown.
Kiona reappeared holding three of her kittens by the scruff of their necks and dropped them at Athena's feet.
"Awww," Adrastea cooed, "She wants her babies to play with your baby."
The kittens climbed on Athena and played with the tassels on her cape. Eventually Kiona reappeared and tried to pick up her kittens again but one would always manage to get away.
"I'll carry her!" Athena told Kiona picking the third kitten up. She followed Kiona back to her den in a cave where another female ice leopard lay nursing four more kittens. The cave was full of sparkling blue and silver gems. Kiona then gave Athena a few licks and led her back to the ice palace.
Athena jumped at the loud voice. It sounded angry, no, furious.
"Athena where have you been!"
Athena tried not to cry, as she attempted to explain that she had been with Kiona, "I - I"
"Don't start crying! I have told you before not to wonder off!" Zeus.
Kiona stood in front of Athena and hissed at Zeus.
"I- I'm so sorry!" Athena said as she tried to wipe her tears. She looked at her father's expression and turned away and shut her eyes tightly, almost as if bracing for something.
"It's okay, child," Adrastea said picking Athena up and gently wiping her face, "Mistakes happen, I know you're still pretty new here. We know you didn't mean any harm."
"But I caused it anyway," Athena said then turning to her father she through tears, "I'm really sorry, daddy"
Zeus looked down and sighed, I've done it again, he thought sadly.
Athena looked at her father then down then at her father again and cautiously held out her arms to him, her big beautiful eyes brimming with tears.
Zeus smiled softly at his daughter and picked her up and hugged her to his chest, planting a kiss on the top of her head.
"Please don't wander off like that," Zeus told her, "It's dangerous, baby girl. Do you understand? You could get hurt."
"I won't, daddy, I won't. I'm sorry."
"I know, baby girl. I know."
Zeus was finishing up the day on the southern ridge with Adrastea while Athena picked flowers when he turned around to pick her up and go back to Mount Olympus he saw she had tucked flowers under her hat and into her socks and sleeves, having picked more than she could hold.
"Hestia says these are Hera's favorite scented flowers," Athena said as her only way of explanation.
