Words pushed their way onto her tongue, yet the young warrior - still a godling, really, a child by the standards of her kind, she knew it full well - remained quiet, following her father’s example, the silence lingering around them thick and oppressive, like the heavy, humid air before a thunderstorm, loaded with electricity and anticipation.
She always figured she enjoyed the feeling; finding herself at the edge of Mount Olympus, to peer down onto the earth, which lay below, covered with a heavy layer of dark clouds, from where her grandfather would send down rain and thunder upon the realm of mortals. There hadn’t been many new storms, as of late, but she still remembered the ones she got to witness as a child, an actual youngling amongst the most powerful beings upon this earth.
This right, here, however… it wasn’t the joyous feeling, that once used to fill her with excitement, the anticipation of a natural spectacle. No, this… it wasn’t right. Not even the silence before battle felt quite like this.
A heavy, sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach. Guilt. Fear.
“Father?“ she dared to speak, tentatively, for the time being, her voice far from that of a fearless Amazon, a deity, an aspect of battle itself.
She did not fear Ares, per se. Not in the way mortals dreaded his presence, at the same time quietly hoping he could always be, somehow, persuaded to take their side, should violent conflicts arise. Still, he had never given his own children any reason to truly fear him - and yet, in this very moment, with the memory of the skirmish resolved barely a short while ago, with the knowledge the god of war himself was injured and that it was her fault-
Addressing her father was a matter of personal courage, this time around.
“How are you feeling?” An innocent enough enquiry, even though the goddess knew the answer full well. How was he supposed to feel, what did she think? Why did she feel the need to fill the silence lingering between them with unnecessary statements, with empty words, when the thought of uttering them gripped her heart with dread?
Perhaps… perhaps because allowing the silence to linger… was even more of a terrifying prospect.
He continues to take slow and even breaths, gradually making peace with the pain on his shoulder, making it easier to drown it out. But now he could feel that heavy shroud around them tension, unease, distress. Perhaps ... this was his second test by the Fates.
To protect his child blindly at the expense of himself was one thing, a noble thing. But to alleviate that child’s suffering, that distress of seeing their parent hurt could he really do that ? Or make it worse ( Ares only believed he was capable of the latter ).
No ... he shouldn’t doubt himself like that. If there was anything he wanted to prove, it was that he was better. To feel suffocating scorn from a parent leaves wounds, wounds heal, scars remain. ( He was all too familiar with that ). Ares sits up, adjusting himself. He winces slightly at the sudden movement, oof the pain was still all too potent for him it seems ...
He looks at Spitha, a stoic face hiding his weaknesses ( there was no need to hide, but maybe he simply wanted to appear strong ). His stomach sank hearing her, how afraid she must be. Ares taught all his children to fear nothing, to always be sure and to have no hesitation in their hearts, but in this instance, he could understand why. ( The all-powerful Ares, felled by an arrow meant for his daughter’s head. A fable in the making ).
“ This is nothing, “ a blatant lie, it certainly didn’t feel like a superficial wound, “ I’ve suffered much worse with little payoff. “ He looks at his daughter dead in the eye, a softness so concealed in his red eyes, that he himself wasn’t aware of it, “ I’d rather endure worse- “
Ares halts, biting the second phrase back, ever so acquainted with holding back any hint of softness ( weakness to him ). Even if it was what had charmed Aphrodite in the past, he was still a soldier trained to show nothing.
But he was also a father now.
“ ... I’d rather have a rain of arrows on my back than carry you home in my arms. Please understand that. “
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