003.

Temple of Hera.

The Queen of Olympus had returned to her temple once the chariot of Helios began to illuminate the world, marking the beginning of a new day. She made her way with her son in her arms under the curious gazes of the other residents of Olympus.

Hera didn't really pay attention to such curious and speculative looks, at least not for the moment. The night before had been a frankly exhausting night physically, emotionally and mentally.

So the only thing she wanted to do right now was to have a long and comfortable rest in her chambers, without the need to worry about any other kind of matter.

Once she arrived at her temple and passed through the large gates of it, she gave the order for all her servants to immediately leave her temple, none of them were allowed to stay.

After resolving this issue, she quickly made her way to a large and beautifully decorated room, being this the place where she used to rest and sleep every night. She carefully placed her son on the bed and proceeded to walk to another area of the temple.

For his part, the newborn god was observing with pure curiosity the things that surrounded him, after all in his short life he had only managed to observe the interior of a cave and rocks, many rocks of different sizes.

The negative emotions he had felt some time ago had ended up disappearing completely as he felt the connection he had with the woman return to its original state. Because of this, the little boy's mind had no worries at all.

Hera had gone to change her clothes as she considered that it would not be a proper thing to sleep with her, after all the previous night had been very chaotic and the cleanliness of her clothes was what mattered least to her at those moments.

The first thing the goddess saw upon entering her room was how her son looked at all her surroundings with a silly smile on his face. A sigh left the Queen of Olympus' lips at the sight of her son's actions, but she soon shook her head.

Regardless of how things had turned out, the truth was that nothing could change the fact that the little boy was her son. A foolish and ugly one, but that didn't stop him from being her son.

Hera took the newborn god in her arms and then began to clean his little body carefully and slowly using a previously prepared blanket, once she finished her work she covered him with another clean blanket.

During the whole process, her son never resisted her actions and even cooperated with her when she asked him to. This made Hera very satisfied with the little boy's performance.

After finishing her little self-imposed task, the Queen of Olympus lay down on her vast bed with her son still in her embrace. Placing herself in a comfortable position for both her and the little one, the beautiful goddess began to hum a soft melody.

It didn't take long for the newborn god to begin to feel tired and sleepy, however, he stubbornly refused to sleep.

Hera at no time became impatient with her son's action, instead she simply continued her gentle humming. Once the melody ended, her blue eyes scanned the little boy she held in her arms.

"You need to sleep, Hephaestus" Hera mentioned in a warm voice. This being the first time she mentioned the name she had decided to give her son.

Upon hearing Hera's words, the now named Hephaestus showed a smile on his face and then fell asleep a few minutes later.

The Queen of Olympus only looked at her son, and those negative feelings directed towards him had completely disappeared. Certainly, she considered it a pity that her effort seemed to go unrewarded, but there was nothing she could do.

Maybe things just weren't destined to work out. With that kind of thinking, the goddess' eyes began to close and within a few seconds she ended up falling asleep.

But at no time did she stop hugging her son. Holding him protectively, fearing that if she let him go, he would disappear without a trace.

…

Upon awakening from her long sleep, Hera felt a slight pressure in her chest area from the pressure caused by her son's small body. Noticing that the little god was still sleeping, Hera was careful not to wake him up as she tried to get out of bed.

Once she successfully managed to get up from her bed she proceeded to head to the outside of her temple, her steps were slow and soft, as she tried not to make any noise in order to not disturb her son's sleep.

After staying outside for a while to watch the beautiful sunrise, Hera once again headed inside her temple. As soon as she entered her chambers, her attention was drawn to the image of a newly awakened Hephaestus.

Although the sleepiness could still be noticed on the newborn's face, the truth is that the little one was moving his head in a frantic way in search of something, or rather someone.

Hephaestus did not take long to observe Hera and when he did so, a small joyful laugh left his lips as a sign of happiness.

The Queen of Olympus deduced that waking up and not seeing her caused the little one to enter into a slight state of panic. For a moment, Hera did not know how to react to such an attitude of her son, but she simply considered that there was nothing she could do.

He might be a silly and ugly son, but at the end of the day he was her silly and ugly son. So without a doubt, she had to be a little more patient and careful when dealing with him.

After thinking that, Hera quickly walked over to her son and pulled him into her arms, "You need a bath" she told him. Although she had already cleaned most of the dirt on Hephaestus' body, she still hadn't cleaned it all.

In a calm manner she led Hephaestus to another area of the temple, in it there was a large bathtub that could easily accommodate 20 people without any problem. Although usually, this area was only reserved for Hera herself.

However, what she was about to do would be a new experience for the Queen of Olympus, since in the case of her first son it was the nymphs who were in charge of performing such tasks, however, Hera was not sure if she wanted to leave Hephaestus in the care of someone else.

Hephaestus was very different from her first son or any other god in general, so she was not at peace, much less confident in the thought of leaving him in the care of others, even if they were her loyal servants.

Besides, she was completely sure that the tasks the nymphs performed would be something extremely simple for someone like her.

In that way, the Queen of Olympus learned a new skill and made a mental note to be more careful at Hephaestus' next bath. On the other hand, the newborn god learned what it felt like to be plunged into the water without warning.

…

A day had passed and rumors were circulating all over Olympus about Queen Hera's new son. Although this fact was completely unknown to the mother and son couple.

The truth is that the Queen of Olympus was not very discreet when she returned to her place of residence, which is why more than one had seen her protectively holding the figure of a newborn.

Of course, the important fact that the Queen of Olympus is pregnant was no secret, so when the inhabitants of Olympus saw such an image, the only possible explanation that came to their minds was that the Queen's child had finally been born.

Unfortunately, although there were numerous witnesses to the Queen's arrival with her son, none of them were able to get a clear view of the newborn. So a large part of the inhabitants of Olympus were very curious about the new prince.

Of course, the popular belief was about him being a beautiful little guy and at the same time he was also powerful, after all they could not expect anything less from one of the Queen's sons. That was a belief that could not be easily shaken.

The atmosphere of curiosity and speculation was completely broken when a thunderous laughter echoed across the surface of Mount Olympus. There was only one thought on the minds of all the inhabitants of Olympus at such laughter, and that was that Zeus had arrived.

Inevitably, Hera had also heard Zeus' laughter. She had been drying Hephaestus with a blanket after bathing him, but after hearing her so-called husband's laughter, her actions stopped completely.

Hephaestus bowed his head in curiosity at the woman's actions. The little god could faintly sense that the woman was being overwhelmed by a great amount of negative emotions.

As best he could, he tried to bring his hands to the woman's face in an attempt to comfort her, but as they were too short he was unable to accomplish his task. Hera's less than optimistic thoughts were cut short when she heard her son crying.

She quickly tried to see what made him cry, but could only see Hephaestus' small brown eyes looking at her with total concern. The realization hit her immediately.

Hera forced herself to calm down as a sigh left her beautiful lips, "It's okay, everything will be okay" she commented with a soft and gentle smile as she continued with her task.

When the door to her chambers was opened in a manner that could only be considered rude and disrespectful, she had already finished drying her son and had even placed him in a temporary toga that would serve as his clothing for the time being.

Zeus' walk was one replete with arrogance and pride, qualities of the god that Hera had once found attractive, but which she had learned to detest entirely as time had passed.

"The news of your son's birth spread far and wide" he mentioned as he approached the place where mother and son stood. "So I came to see the results" once he finished his words he took Hephaestus without leaving Hera the opportunity to refuse.

A strong displeasure appeared in the eyes of the King of Olympus as soon as he observed the newborn god. One that he did not even try to hide in the slightest. "He's ugly" were the only two words Zeus mentioned, however, these same words were full of disgust and contempt.

At no time did Zeus pay any attention to his wife's gloomy face, even if he did he would not have cared. The King of Olympus continued to watch his wife's son, but the more he did the more disgusted he became with him.

The emotions coming from Zeus began to disturb Hephaestus and added to the fact that the position in which he was holding him was an extremely uncomfortable one, causing the little god to move irregularly and slight sobs began to leave his lips.

Hera acted immediately upon hearing her son's sobs. She quickly snatched Hephaestus from Zeus' arms and then began to cuddle him while reciting gentle and warm words in an attempt to comfort him.

Zeus was certainly more than incredulous at such an action by his wife, after all he was watching her lovingly cooing to a thing she would at any other time only look upon with disgust. Frankly speaking it was something he thought he would never see in his long life.

"Be careful with your words Zeus!" Hera made clear with boiling anger, she cared little for having raised her voice against the Ruler of Olympus.

"My son is not ugly, he's just not beautiful" although she knew Zeus' words were true, Hera refused to let anyone call her son such a thing, of course she was an exception to that rule.

"Your son?" asked Zeus, not believing the word that came from his wife's lips, "Do you even plan to acknowledge him as such?" he asked mockingly.

Hera knew what Zeus meant, of course she did. To acknowledge Hephaestus as her son would be a great blow to her prestige. After all he was an imperfect son, one that the Queen of Olympus should not have.

"If I didn't I wouldn't be referring to him in such a way" despite knowing what her decision meant she would not back down, once she was determined to do then she would do it, there were few occasions when anyone or anything could stop her.

Such words from Hera only provoked a derisive laugh from Zeus. After so many years together with her, the truth was that he had some knowledge about his wife's mentality.

Even if at the moment she seemed determined to be a good mother, for that thing she would sooner or later get tired of acting out and when that happened then she wouldn't care what happened to the one she now called her son.

A slight glance was all Zeus needed to observe the image of his wife lovingly playing with the ugly thing that was their son. His eyes turned cold and once again filled with disgust, he subsequently left the room without even saying goodbye.

It was not until some time later that Hera realized that Zeus had left and when she did she cared little. The Queen of Olympus just continued to spend time with her son.