Interlude: The Goddess of the Hearth Pt.3

Prytaneum

Interlude

The Goddess of the Hearth

Part 3

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Hestia paused, turning her head slightly as they walked down the street, feeling something.

"Another earthquake…" She murmured, feeling the slight rumble. It was a slight thing, to the point that most people probably wouldn't have been able to feel it unless they'd been standing still, but it was something that was starting to grow familiar to her.

"It can't be helped," Hephaestus said, glancing her way. "They've been happening more and more often lately. You've only been here a few months, but you'll get used to it."

Hestia nodded slightly, but was hesitant to agree completely. It was true that in most cases, an earthquake wouldn't have been anything to worry about—at absolute worst, in the case of a major catastrophe, they might have needed to agree to bend their limits temporarily to preserve this city—but…there was something fairly dangerous beneath Orario, to the point that she wasn't sure something like this could be ignored.

"It should be fine," Hephaestus continued, seeming to understand her thoughts. "It's true that it's something that can't be simply ignored, but Uranus has been praying for a long time now, so nothing untoward should happen. If that changes, we would all be called up."

"…Right," She said, trying to push the thoughts from her mind and look around. It immediately proved to be as pointless as all of her previous efforts had been, for one simple reason—she couldn't see over the crowds. Or even through the crowds. Most of the children on this street towered above her, meaning that only Hephaestus and her captain could really look around. "Do you see anything yet, Hephaestus?"

"No," Hephaestus replied with a sigh. "I should have known; trying to look for them in a crowd like this is hopeless. I thought that someone as tall as your child might stand out, but…East Main is too full of people. I guess that can't be helped since the Coliseum is down this way, but…"

"Maybe we should try going to the Guild," Hestia replied, lifting a hand to one of her hair ties, touching the Undine Silk to reassure herself. "Percy is often meeting with his advisor there—she may have been the Guild member you child mentioned. Or…if not there, then he also goes to a bar called the Hostess of Fertility often enough. It's possible that someone there might have seen them…?"

"Mm," Hephaestus considered for a moment before nodding. "Perhaps. But both of those places are on the West streets and during a festival like this, there's no way to be sure they'll be there. At the very least, I know that the Guild reallocates a number of its members to the Coliseum to help deal with the flow of traffic…and the adventurers, of course. While most of them are good children, problems tend to arise when too many of them are put near too many civilians. At the very least, let's wait for Tsubaki to come back."

"Right," Hestia said, still worrying with her hair as she carried the massive case she held in one arm. Hephaestus had sent the young woman with her ahead to search the streets, using the power and senses of an adventurer. As a Level 5, her senses and abilities far surpassed that of the two restricted goddesses, so she had a much better chance of finding them. It's just that she felt useless, unable to do anything but stand here and wait.

At the very least, however, she didn't have to wait long.

"Hephaestus," Tsubaki said, dropping down from above with speeds too great for her too follow. "I may have found something."

"Is it them?" Hephaestus asked, raising her eyebrow as Tsubaki shoot her head. "Then what?"

"Loki and Freya are up ahead," She replied. "Given that the two of them were at the Meeting yesterday, I thought that they might know something and…"

"Mm," Hephaestus hummed in agreement. "I suppose now is as good a time as any. We should say thank you, Hestia."

"I know," She said, scowling slightly. "Let's go talk to them."

Tsubaki pointed the way and Hephaestus began walking, while Hestia followed behind, all but clinging to Hephaestus' coattails to keep from being lost in the crowd. Despite the fact that they were both goddesses, she really must have looked like a small child, trying to keep up with her friend.

"Freya, Loki," Hephaestus suddenly said, evidently seeing them as she raised a hand to draw their attention.

"Ah? Phae-phae?" Loki's voice answered. "Did you come to see the festival, too? I was a bit worried because you couldn't make it to the meeting yesterday."

"It seems someone misplaced my invitation," Hephaestus said, her smile turning bitter at the reminder, even as she moved through the crowd. Recognizing them as goddesses—and, perhaps, recognizing Tsubaki—the people on the street began to pert for them, moving out of the way, leading to what seemed to be the door to a café. When the last have them had shifted out of the way, she saw the two goddesses waiting there, along with the golden haired child beside them.

"Figured as much," Loki replied. "Sorry 'bout that, but there wasn't much I could do on such short notice."

"I understand. Still, I understand that the two of you helped to protect a child of mine. I owe you my thanks."

"There's no need for such a thing," Freya replied, brushing the gratitude off with a smile as she turned her almost reflective silver eyes their way. She was dressed strangely for a Goddess of Beauty, covered almost entirely by a blue cloak that hide her skin and most of her face—but Freya's presence wasn't something that could be hidden by just a single layer of cloth. The same people that had shifted out of the way to let them pass were standing almost entranced, silently watching her. "It wasn't as though your child did anything wrong in the first place—I simply put a good word in before the others got out of hand. It seems they were rather excited by the news of child."

"It's not as though I was hiding it to begin with, but for it to have come out in such a way…" Hephaestus murmured before sighing. "I still owe you both for standing up for the two of them while I was gone. I won't forget it."

"Eh? Well, I won't turn down a favor from Phae-phae," Loki drawled. "But I can't take full credit for such a thing. This girl here asked me to help, you see."

She gestured towards the golden haired girl standing silently behind her, who bowed her head slightly towards the both of them.

"You're…Aiz Wallenstein, correct?" Hephaestus asked, tilting her head at the girl. "Then thank you for your help, Sword Princess."

"I have to thank you as well," Hestia spoke up, stepping out from behind Hephaestus. Though her taller friend was fairly slender, she was regrettably short enough to hide entirely behind her, especially while following behind. "From what I heard, you've helped my Percy a lot. I'm sorry for any trouble it might have caused you, but…thank you for helping my Familia."

"Eh?" Loki abruptly frowned, as if distaste. "You brought the itty-bitty shrimp with you? Phae-phae, I thought you we were besties now!?"

"Please don't be overdramatic, Loki," Hephaestus said with a sigh. For her part, Hestia grit her teeth and all but bit her tongue. Of all the gods and goddesses she knew, Loki was by far the one she disliked the most, and the bad blood between them extended far back into their days in heavy. Her first reaction was to return fire and remind Loki with as much insult as she could that the somewhat plunging neckline of her 'shirt' was reminiscent of a flat cliff face, and that however much she might call her a shrimp, the difference between them was plain for all to see—

But no. Even if she was an annoying bitch, as always, just this once she would swallow her pride and let it go—because whatever she might have wanted to say, Loki had acted to protect something more important than her dignity.

"…Loki," She managed to force out, doing her best to sound like the word didn't leave a bad taste in her mouth. "Thank you for helping my child. I…owe you a lot."

Loki actually opened her eyes slightly to look at her at that, the red orbs staring at her for a moment as she smirked, though compared to her usual, it seemed to have less life in it.

"Well," She said. "To think the day would come when the shrimp would come and thank me. Hah…I guess it's only…to be expected…when…"

Loki trailed off while her child, Aiz, sort of just stood there, awkwardly silent. But she stood in very intense awkward silence.

"Whatever," Loki final huffed, shoulders falling. For whatever reason, she seemed unable to draw the amount of pleasure Hestia would have expected from her words and even her attempt to try and hold it over her head seemed hollow. "I only did it because I was asked to, anyway."

"…I'm sorry," Aiz said behind her. It took Hestia a moment to realize that the words were directed at her and even then, they were spoken without any semblance of context, so the apology baffled her more than anything else. "Want to…to…"

Aiz seemed to pause to consider her words, but instead of speaking up after a moment, her brow furrowed in distress.

"Anyway," Loki interrupted, presumably to cover for her. "If there's anyone you want to look too, its Freya here, isn't that right? Seems she's taken an interest in that boy of yours."

Loki's words were challenging, but Freya simply seemed to chuckle.

"I hardly think I'm the only one, after yesterday's display," Freya said, voice smooth as ever. "It seems you found an interesting child, Hestia."

Loki grunted at that, gaze switching back to Hestia.

"I hate to fucking agree with Freya, but I guess I've got no choice. What's up with that kid of yours, Hestia?" Loki asked, eyes opening again in a piercing look. "I covered for him as best I could, but you can't expect anyone to think he's a normal Level 1. At this point, I'm sure everyone's begun to wonder just what you're playing at."

Hestia did her best not to flinch. She didn't have to answer anything like that, debt to Loki or no. Granted, not answering wasn't the same as not being asked and just about everyone was going to be asking from what she'd head, but that was no reason to tell the truth here—if anything, that'd just make things far, far worse.

Unfortunately, she was struggling to think of a convincing explanation or lie—or, at least, one that wouldn't be seen through instantly by Loki—and coming up blank, so she decided silence was her friend.

"Eh?" Loki asked. "Nothing to say? I hope you don't think—"

Loki cut herself off as both Aiz and Tsubaki suddenly turned their head's looking back towards Babel with narrowed eyes. Loki frowned, looked towards the child of her Familia, and then followed her gaze and that was enough to make the rest of them follow suit. In the distance, there seemed to be a commotion, people shouting and causing a stir, but it took her a moment to realize the cause.

On the rooftops, there was a massive, black shadow.

"That girl…" Aiz said and as before, Hestia had no idea what she was talking about, at least not until the shadow began to approach at extreme speed. Several small shapes—people, rather—seemed to try and leap up to it, but others were crowding around it and, either way, they were left in the dust. Tsubaki drew her sword but Aiz lifted a hand to stop her a moment before the crowd snapped to attention and began to scramble away, right before an enormous, black shape fell down right beside them, cracking the street below. It was only then that she could make the shape out as a massive, shadowy hound and understood that Aiz was referring to the teeny-tiny shape on its back, holding on for dear life.

But really, she couldn't emphasize enough how big the shadow dog was—it was enormous, towering far, far above all of them to the point that it seemed to be at a shoulder with some of the smaller buildings nearby, a fact made more alarming by its giant, sword-like teeth, massive man-eating jaws, and glowing red eyes, to say nothing of the unnatural shadows around it. She staggered away from it as it landed, as alarmed as most of the people on the street, but…perhaps not for the same reasons as most.

"You are…Liliruca Arde…?" Aiz said slowly, the only one besides Freya who didn't back away in the slightest, hand still upraised to prevent violence. After a moment, Hestia remembered the name as the supporter that had been with Percy and her heart sank even further.

Arde made a sound like a whimper before apparently getting ahold of herself and straightening slightly before carefully straightening on the monster's back. Her eyes seemed to dart around slightly as if she was only distantly aware of where she was, before focusing on them.

"L-Lady Goddesses," She said with only a slight stammer. "Please help—there's been an emergency in the Dungeon. That is, two emergencies. Two enormous monsters appeared!"

"What?" Loki asked, frowning suddenly. "What are you talking about?"

"A giant plant monster appeared on the sixth," Arde said, speaking pretty clearly despite almost being in hysterics. "At least…at least Level 4! And, and, a monster spawned on the eighteenth as well—a Goliath, but it was different! It was—"

"Wait, wait, what?" Loki said, holding up a hand as her frown deepened. The words were ridiculous, but they were goddesses and they could tell that, at the very least, the words didn't seem to be a lie. "What do you—"

"You," Hestia breathed, voice shaking slightly in horror. "You're…you're Percy's supporter. Which means that…"

"What?" Hephaestus asked, looking at her before her eye widened as the pieces slid into place and she swore. "Tsubaki—"

A man fell down from the rooftops, landing beside the dog.

"Lady Goddesses," The man said gruffly. "I know it must seem ridiculous, but it's true. I'm Bors Elder and—"

"Everyone shut up," Loki shouted, silencing everyone with a flash of her godly aura and glaring up at Arde. "You there, explain; everyone else, be quite. What's this about monsters? And where?"

Almost as if in response to her question, the street cracked and exploded, a giant plant-like thing suddenly exploding from the ground without the slightest warning.