Hermês found himself growling in anger once more as he was unable to slip through into the realm of the sea.
He understood why Poseidón had done so. She was under no harm as long as she was within his realm, but Trent was there also alongside the old titans of the sea that would stir trouble for him. The rest of the Major Olympioi had tried distracting him from his worry by bringing forth word games to distract his mind which he does not understand why. Word games were basically declarations of war with this family. The last time they had played scrabble Athênê played abaxial on a triple and Ζεύς lightning-bolt the top off Mount Parnassus in his rage. She and Apóllōn were tied though admittedly, he and Hḗphaistos were not far behind.
(Of course, games such as monopoly, catan, risk, uno, and poker had been banned within the first year of their creation after Hestia had nearly rained fire and sulfur from heaven and destroyed the world. It had been terrifying to say the least to see their usual peaceful aunt so illuminated (and that was when they remembered that she too was a child of wily Krónos.))
And speaking of his half-brother, Hermês knew the elder god had used his worry for his Leaneíras to hustle him out of more funds for the reconstruction of his forge. (A good trick indeed as Hermês was sure that he had paid enough to cover the damage from both twins when they were still technically under the financing of their Father and Hḗphaistos would have enough to do any upgrades he wanted. Hermês would get him back for that... later.)
Trítōn was not responding to any messages and Hermês had sense enough to not ask Peithō to venture to her home realm for answers about Leaneíras, but he could truthfully do without all this worry.
And of course, the political aspect to it also. No doubt, Poseidón was trying to keep an alliance with Ôkeanos since Amphitrítē was his granddaughter. Thus, he had the alliance with Nēreús, but Peithō was Ôkeanos' daughter and Leaneíras was a threat to her marriage though Hermês did not understand why she was fighting so hard for it. She knew, as one of the goddesses of marriage, that the significance of a simádi psychís outranked any vows that they pledge lest he or Leaneíras formally acquitted it as a platonic mark. Considering he refused to see it as platonic and Leaneíras refused to acknowledge its existence outside of convenience, then it would continue to outrank her.
Hermês did not understand the mind of a woman, but he knew the mind of a deity and he wished she would understand that he would love her no less than he did now. It's just... Leaneíras was his blessing, his blessing from khaos, his mate, the one that Khaos and Eros spread their wings across starry Ouranos, around wide-bosomed Gaia, cradled infinite laughing Pontos, and brightened dim Tartaros and pushed together through the wreathed spindle of Anankê.
(Laranda did not give him these problems and he had half the mind to move her into a higher ranking than Peithō.)
He wished he knew that she was alright. His Uncle could surely send some kind of sign! The Gatekeepers were watching; most feeling regret that they had not managed to grab ahold of any of the children before fate threw them far from the heavens and the world of man.
He had received word from Hḗphaistos and Aphrodítē that Perseus had been landed upon Ogygia. Something that worried them all especially when they glanced upon the island to note the way she traced her gaze over him when she was not singing with a lovely voice, moving to and fro at her loom and weaving with a shuttle of gold. Kalypso smiled as she watched the boy; and caressed him with her hand.
And they all could see quite clearly that she would once again succumb to her curse even when she had been explicitly told that as long as she stopped trying to lead the men that landed on her isle astray then she would be free. She had been told that it was nothing as simple as her being cursed to fall in love with the hero that landed there! Because it was not love! Love would be understanding that the heroes had a duty, had lives and family that they would miss. If it was love then she would understand that and stop trying to get them to abandon it. Love would stop forcing herself onto them, siring children from these heroes in some twisted sense to have them stay with her out of parental duty.
Twas why it was no surprise that after Perseus awakened, she took advantage of his weakened and disorientated state. The boy probably did not even know what was happening, especially what she did when he took his rest. But they saw it. The marks she would leave upon his skin, skillfully giving him nectar before he could bear witness to them himself. The way she never hesitated to climb atop of him, utilizing her mageia to stimulate him so that she may use him for her own pleasure.
And when they could take it no more, Hḗphaistos went in to break the illusion that she brought herself.
The boy looked much too like his sister for Hermês comfort and after these two years pursuing Lea, Hermês considered him as close as a friend that a mortal could be to a god. So be as it may, the next time that he ventured towards that Isle, he hoped that Perseus would have lived a long life filled with glory and children and a legacy that would span eons.
And he would laugh in her face when she realized that he was not appearing to lay within a soft meadow and among spring flowers once more in a beautiful bout of passionate mutual hatred.
Truthfully, thinking of her assaults towards him made him wonder of Lea even more though he knew that her Father would coat the world in blood before he allowed any to get near her.
He just wished that he could see her himself, dammit!
Lea was not having a good time.
She had awakened in an unfamiliar place surrounded by unfamiliar people.
It was like waking up at Camp Half Blood all over again well except the accommodations were nicer.
She was lying on a bed made of silky woven kelp, in a room paneled with abalone shell. Glowing pearls the size of basketballs floated around the ceiling, providing light.
She must've woken up several times, but the pull of her mageia was strong that she was lost to its current. She drifted within a psychedelic glow of luminous colors covered in an almost blanket like wave of green-gold mageia. Once she had awakened, she saw a man with glowing green eyes hovering over her, concern on his face as he brushed the hair away from her face.
"Who," Lea managed to croak.
"Rest well, my child," he murmured, and the currents pulled her back under.
The next time Lea woke up, the man was gone. In the corner of the room, Lea had a sense that she knew the two people; one female and one male that sat on either side of her. She couldn't name them though, and she fell back asleep once more.
And that led her to now, blinking tired green eyes awake; alone in a room that was not her own. She sat up slowly, trying to ignore the throbbing in her head. Her feet were bare, and she had once more been changed into clothing that looked as if she had stepped out of a fairytale.
It took her a moment to realize where she was exactly though that was mostly due to the gossamer sheet floating away from her. She slowly began to recognize coolness of water on her skin, and she gave herself one moment to panic before she realized... she was breathing... underwater. Percy had said that they could, but Leaneíras never sought out the need to confirm it. Her eyes widen as a hammerhead shark drifted through the bedroom window, regarded her, and then swam calmly out the opposite side of
the room.
She remembered in on the brief snatches of recollection; a spell of some sort that... something about her Father's throne.
Leaneíras was underwater.
Oh, she was not having a good time. Not at all.
She stood on shaky feet, body weak from exhaustion and a deep, agonizing pain that resounded within her core like ripples in the water. The dress that she had been placed into shimmered around her in the water though curiously, it was dry like Percy had proclaimed. There was no one in the room nor the hallway when she managed to creep out into it. Every step that she took was exhausting and she had to stop more than once to gather her strength. It was a bit strange that she saw no one, but she moved forward as best as she was able.
At one point, she found something that resembled a mirror.
Her reflection looked as exhausted as she felt. Her eyebags had bags, sunken low in her face that one could find the titanic within them. There was a tiara-type of thing that wrapped around her head, and if she wasn't so tired, she could think of its actual name, but it was made of silver and green medal with an emerald crystal firmly in the middle. Arkas hung from the amulet, hidden within his shell and she felt a spark of worry for the little creature. Her skin was a ghastly pale, like a corpse, and her veins stood out on her skin though it was moreso the pathways that her mageia flowed through her if she was remembering Kirkê's words correctly.
(Speaking of that goddess, she would need to see if Hermes could take her to the resort. Leaneíras had some words to say about her treatment with those amazons. Hmp, she'd start her own Themyscira as soon as she found the right gogo boots.)
Her hair hung down to her waist and the sight of it made Leaneíras even more ill than she already was. There was a reason she kept it in a ponytail. It was thick, coarse, and hard to manage, but she had never been allowed to cut it aside from simple trims. It hung limply around her, stiff in a way that shouldn't be possible in water, but it just sat there lifelessly. This was eerily familiar to when she first awakened at Camp Half-Blood all the way down to the change of clothes that showed off her khaos-mark with the only noticeable different was that there was no one watching over her.
Leaneíras turned her gaze away when she took sight of the way her bones peeked through just a bit. Aliens above, this was like being kidnapped all over again.
She kept going, hoping to find some type of personnel.
(She was at sea, but... but what if she wasn't at her Father's throne? What if she had been taken by one of the other people of the sea? Was she a political prisoner? She kind of promise Drew that she'd stop doing that and she did not have on the right kind of outfit for that.)
It was as she was leaving heavily against what she hoped was an exit that the door across from her opened. She had moment to curse of the way her mageia lied weakly within or the fact that she had no weapon and that she was exhausted to the point that she doubted she could throw a punch when a large being stepped out the door.
Her gaze moved up and up and up and up until it landed on one eye firmly in a middle of a face. Clearly, there were a big shot by the sash wrapped around them and the medals that decorated it.
"Tis if it isn't the Twice-Blessed Princess. Leaneíras, the endurer. Leaneíras, three speared."
If she had the strength, then she would have flinched from that last title. Artemis had called her that exactly once and when she understood the implications of that, Leaneíras had puked for hours upon hours. Not all of the pirates had surrendered peacefully on Kirkê's resort. It had been something that she had successfully repressed the memories of. The way she had ran one of them through with a spear and her mageia rushed through the weapon and killed two others leaving a bloody mess all around and over her.
"A killer just like her Father," the cyclops bared its teeth. "Just like the monsters on the surface that parade around in human skin."
Leaneíras scowled at the cyclops as the being sneered down at her. "I know damn well Mike Wazowski not talking," She tilted her chin haughtily, stepping neatly around them. Her voice sound gravely, but Leaneíras wasn't one to let anyone speak to her as if she was lesser. "You're one more candy bar from not having teeth and you have the nerve to call somebody a killer."
The cyclops stepped forward as if it was going to attack her.
She sneered, bracing herself. "I'm not the one, two, or three. But hey, I got openings today if you want to get the shit slapped out of you."
There was the sound of a clearing throat beside them.
She turned to it immediately and froze.
She didn't even notice when the others left the room.
Because...
The man in front of her... he was.... It was almost like looking into a mirror.
His skin was deeply tanned, his hands scarred like an old-time fisherman's. His hair was black, like Leaneíras. His face had that same brooding look that had always singled her out as troublemaker. But his eyes... The green was the same shade as his — their — her eyes. He was dressed in blue silk robes crowned with gemstones.
Pure power radiated from him in such a way that Leaneíras could understand how primitive cultures of the ancient world could gaze upon these aliens and gift them with their faith and worship.
(Though, even if she could understand, Leaneíras would not be caught dead worshipping anyone. What did she look like doing that ?)
"My Leaneíras," the man murmured, stirring old memories within her mind. "My daughter..."
Leaneíras gaped for just a moment, feeling tears stream down her face. She whined, hands clutching her face thinking of who she used to be. She had been so happy and filled with love and care. A small toddler rushing through the sands of Montauk Beach, calling out to her Brother and listening to her Mother saying that their words held power. She called out for her Father every single time and something broke within her day by day when he never showed, believing him lost to the very sea that he controlled. She remembered the teasing from children when she had no one to attend Father-Daughter dances with her until Usnavi stepped up to the plate. There was no Donuts with Dad for them. She thought about the day she had fallen into the ocean and hit her head on a really hard rock and the pretty people that she now knew were naiads that helped her back up to the surface. And when she decided she no longer cared about a world that did not care for Leaneíras; she did not care about a man that wasn't coming for their family, thinking him dead and they were left to the mercy of Gabe.
Leaneíras wanted to scream and cry, but more importantly, Leaneíras wanted to rage.
"Leaneí—"
The god cut off abruptly, frozen a bit in shock as he curled into himself while her fist sank into his sternum.
"You abandoned us," Leaneíras growled. "You abandoned me! How could you—And... and to stand there and call me yours? To call yourself my Father? H-how dare you!"
Her knees shook with strain, and she found herself sinking to the ground, but her... Poseidón followed the motion, wrapping her into his arms and Leaneíras shook with the force of her tears. "You left us."
"I know. I know," he soothed, holding onto her tightly. "I'm here now, Leaneíras. I am here now."