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“And the affront she paid me?” Athena asked.
“Your pride was wounded by the desecration of your temple.” Ares’ voice was hard.
Aphrodite spoke, before Athena could respond to Ares’ barb. “And while that is an offense, did Medusa choose the place of her ravishment? Something tells me she would not have done such a thing. She was too loyal to you. She is loyal still…”
Poseidon spoke quickly, before he could change his mind. “She did not. Truth be told, she wanted to see none of it – so I blinded her until it was done.”
“It was you?” Athena looked at him with disgust.
Apollo groaned and Ares laughed. “You owe me a chariot, Apollo,” Ares’ voice was merry.
“You wagered?” Hera shook her head.
“It was sport.” Apollo waved her irritation aside.
“She could not bear to look at you, and yet you could still use her thusly?” Athena continued to glare at him.
Laughter overpowered the melody of Hermes’ lyre.
“If the girl is comely enough,” Hermes spoke for the first time, “little will stop a man in rut.”
“You speak from vast experience?” Apollo poked.
“You pity me for vowing to remain pure?” Athena asked Hera and Aphrodite before turning back to Poseidon. “Is the rest also true, Poseidon? Did she give herself to you in exchange for the well-being of her husband? My guard, my soldier?”
He felt heat wash over him, angered by the flush of guilt Athena’s words stirred within him.
“What’s done is done,” Hera said, shaking her head. “She did insult you, Athena, but not through actions. That she questioned you is worthy of punishment.”
“She did so out of her desperation,” Aphrodite explained.
“No,” Athena said softly. “She did so because she was scared.”
“She may have been, a bit.” Hera nodded. “But desperate, too, with grief. The loss of her husband…” Hera shuddered, then asked, “Does she yet know that he lives?”
Ares shook his head. “He is only just returned to Athens. The battle at Salamis and carting all of Athens to and from Aegina has kept news slow at best.”
“But she is no longer in Athens…” Apollo said.
“Where is she?” Zeus asked.
“The Gorgons hid her in a cave,” Aphrodite said. “She fell, you see, injuring herself. Her sisters took her with them, to return to Phorcys across the sea, I suppose.”
Aphrodite looked at Apollo, who agreed.
“So it would seem. I saw her stumbling from the mouth of this cave. Perhaps she was confused, perhaps she hadn’t yet grasped the magnitude of her…condition, for she seemed to war with the serpents in earnest. Persians came upon her, those that had been looting and burning out the country as they retreated beyond reach of the Hoplites.” Apollo met Hera’s gaze before addressing Zeus. “I saw her grief as these men, her enemy, turned to stone. And I pitied her.” Apollo turned to Athena. “Truly, you would have felt the weight of it.”
Poseidon could envision it all. Her fear, coupled with her sorrow.
“Since then I’ve seen little of her,” Apollo finished with a shrug. “She hides while I am in the sky and travels with her sisters at night. I’ve rarely found her the same place from one day to the next.”
“Selene said she travels at night to keep others safe,” Aphrodite sounded forlorn.
“She cannot bear it, I think.” Hera spoke this time, staring pointedly at her husband. “She cannot bear to cause suffering. She hides herself away to prevent it.”
“Even now, she puts others before herself.” Poseidon’s voice was faint.
“She wronged you, Athena. None here deny that. And she has paid dearly for that. I would give her the chance to prove herself to you. To free herself and those good men who live and serve you, and Olympus. And return a beloved wife to her heroic husband. Ariston of Rhodes deserves to have his wife with him,” Aphrodite pleaded.
