4 Crafting Is Fun. Maths Is Also There Too

The evening had come around again too soon. I rested my head against the cool metal of the front door. The lights of the sunset crept in through the open blinds, casting a dark shadow across the dim room, my hair illuminating the near surroundings.

My hand ferreted around for a tool to tinker with. I felt a constant need to do so, and I decided to just give in to my urges and begin to craft.

This caused me to inadvertently create some things I don't think should have been invented just yet, like an hourglass.

How I had done this is used the theory or the Angle of Incidence and the Angle of reflection connecting to my roof.

It took me a while to craft my small hut into something akin to a protractor, a modern mathematic tool, and was able to determine the angles through the time of the day and the sun.

This would normally have been difficult but I seem to understand all things I normally would have found difficult in my past life mathematics and science lessons.

Most likely a god thing for me to understand anything that could help me with my crafts.

Anyway, through judging when the light reflecting through the roof of my house, I was able to create a 1 hour long hourglass which resets itself once the sand is entirely filtered out.

With easy access to the beach and the small trinkets along the sea bed, I was able to create most things very easily.

Unfortunately, I have limited access to sodium carbonate and the other essential things so the glass I make is not extremely strong, which is why I limit myself to small constructs.

For me, the fire I emit follows what I intend to do. That is the conclusion which allowed me to understand why mother, Thetis, was fine. At the time I was calling for help, so it allowed those with the intention to help me…help.

Same with if I want to destroy something. The fire destroys what it is intended to destroy. To melt. To mold. To warm.

Dragging my mind away from my tinkering, the hourglass turned for the 19th tick on the clock and thus announcing roughly the time when one of my mothers would be home.

Since my hourglass flips itself every hour, I decided to attach it to a clock with plenty of gears giving me at least the liberty to know the hour of the day, unfortunately not yet the minute or the second.

I got to my feet and walked towards my small huts door. With a sudden jerking movement, I stepped back and opened the door, the cool damp air rushing in with a few spots of rain. I turned, locking the door in three places and left with a jolly smile, seeing my second mother Eurynome was the one to come home.

manoeuvring my way down the layers of shells littering the beach, the cool damp air rushing in with no chill, my fiery hair keeping me an optimal temperature. Neither looking left nor right nor down yet having complete awareness of the coast.

"Mother!" I shouted in Ancient Greek as I got close to her.

"Hephy!" She responded in glee, allowing me to be in her embrace.

"You seem to grow every day don't you? It's nearly 7 years since you have been with us Hephy, so me and Thetis have decided to take you a bit further in land, let you experience the world," She said.

This was probably the best piece of news I had heard since finding out I was a God! Finally, I will be able to socialise with other people!

She seemed to notice my growing smile as she grabbed me a bit tighter before letting go, dropping her arms to the side.

Honestly, I knew I was definitely taller than the average 7 year old, being near enough the height of Eurynome's shoulders.

"Seriously? When are we leaving? Is it now? If so I'll go pack some stuff. Oh but ifit's tomorrow thenthatisokay aswell because thatwillgive us moretimetoprepareeveryhtingthatweneed.ItsprobablygoingtobetomorrowthoughbecauseThetisisnthere-"

"OKAY! Hephy! Slow down," She interrupted me.

I took a deep breath, calming myself down.

"Sorry mom. You know I've wanted to go to a small town for so long!"

I was hardly able to calm my excitement as the prospect of being able to interact with others other than my mothers seems like a foreign concept.

Gradually my rate of excitement calmed down and we together returned to our home; I quickly stored everything into a makeshift backpack weaved from the strongest nearby sea shells.

Eurynome said that she had never seen anything like it, that when I had finished making it, it seemed like it had become enchanted or such. Probably explains why so much fits in there for it's limited size.

Huh…I wonder if I could make it smaller? Like a small waist pouch to hold all my tools…or weapons?

Well, that's for me in the futures problem.

I should probably take advantage of this opportunity presented to me though. If I am able to create 'enchanted' creations, surely I would be able to secure myself plenty for the future.

However, I am currently just a young, immature god who near to nobody knows the existence of, so I should probably wait until I can travel and spread my expertise.

If my memory is correct, then the original Hephaestus first appeared with Hera's throne scaling Olympus with a need for vengeance, and it was the first time all gods except Hera herself had seen Hephaestus.

Would they even know who I am? I'm not too sure if either the god's knew but ignored or didn't know and only knew after his demands to not be treated with disdain.

Honestly, despite my isolation on a small beach in the coast of Lemnos, I held little to no resentment for Hera. Sure, she threw me from Olympus, but I'm sure from the built up centuries of ignorance from a hormone driven husband would drive anyone insane.

Just imagine giving your heart and entire future, being a goddess of marriage, to someone, then them just seeing any hole as a goal.

It still doesn't take away what she did to me, but I am trying to be sympathetic to her position…I guess Thetis is really rubbing off on me huh?

….

"Hey Hermes, did you touch my Lyre?" Apollo asked.

"No?" Hermes replied swiftly.

"It's just weird because…it's missing…like a thief stole it," Apollo pressed further.

"Yeah that is weird, because I didn't touch it," Hermes said again, avoiding eye contact with his brother.

Apollo touch a deep breath before shouting, "DID YOU TOUCH MY LYRE?!"

Apollo then swiftly was able to catch the speedster god off guard and clutch him tightly.

"Hey! What are you doing? Are you crazy? You sound like you're going insane!" Hermes retaliated, trying to break away.

"Fuck you Hermes! I know you stole my lyre!" Apollo shouted once more.

"Get away from me or I'll tell your sister you're acting this way!" Hermes tried to dissuade Apollo once more.

"Swear it on the river Styx!"

"I don't have to swear to shit!"

"Just do it man!"

"No! Why don't you go and search for Hera's child already?!"

"Who?"

"Wha- You- Why- UGHHHHH! Apollo! Zeus specifically assigned you the task of searching for the child Hera threw away!"

"He said observe. So here I am observing…YOU STEALING MY LYRE!!"

"Give it back-" "Fuck off!"

"ITS PARTY TIME! P. A. R. T…Y? Because I've got to-" "Fuck you!"

"Not what I was going to say?" Dionysus replied as he was cut off, looking forwards to see his two brothers in a tussle.

He decided it was probably best to be left alone, going back to doing what he was before…being the better brother.

….

Houses were all lit up, everyone home or pretending to be. My feet moved over the cracks in the road, my body casual, ears taking in every sound.

There was a boy on the corner, fronting weapons for the travelling men. My worn sandals slip and bend, were there any sharp edges I'd feel them through the weak material but these oversized pebbles seemed pounded smooth by workers not too long ago.

The road is one carriage wide with slim pavements at the edge, the crooked houses that are built without gaps, save the odd alley to the minuscule gardens behind, but the one area that catches my attention is one with thick amounts of smoke float into the air.

Fire burst from the windows like a dragons breath. I peer through the small crack in the door to see a few men hard at work as under the artificial glow of the furnaces they become shallow and dull.

I take in the beautiful smell of steam and smoke mixed together to create something that just feels…right. Like I belong.

"Thetis! Eurynome!" I said aloud as I turned around to see them speaking to a young woman.

"Hephy, come here, say hello to my child Algea," Eurynome told me as I strode over.

"Oh? I didn't know you had a daughter mom?" I said to her.

"Huh? 'Mom'? Are you my brother?" Algea asked me surprised.

"Ah! No, it's just, your mom has looked after me so long she sort of became…my mom?" I said to her as she began to understand.

"Oh, I see," Algea said.

Currently I was trying extremely hard to keep paying attention to myself as I was being taken away by the graceful actions of 'Algea'.

I'm sure I heard that name somewhere before though?

"Well, my name is Hephaestus, nice to meet you Algea," I said, giving her my best smile.

"Yes, you too," she said, bowing slightly.

"So, if you are a child of Eurynome, would that mean that you are an oceanid?" I asked her.

"Yes, half-oceanid and half-goddess," she replied to me.

"Oh really? Then who is the fathe-" "You two?" A voice interrupted.

I looked over and saw that it was Thetis.

"Yes mom?"

"You two weren't listening to us when we were trying to talk to you," she said, repeatedly tapping my head.

We both began to hurriedly apologise. The only time I seem to drone off from something like that is during my crafting…strange.

"Daughter, your sisters are waiting for you," Eurynome told her.

"Yes, sorry mother and it was nice talking to you, Hephaestus, I hope we meet again," she turned to me with a smile which I returned.

"Yes, you too,"

"Mom? Is this a small area of gods?" I asked her.

"Well Hephy, most mortals are used to the sight of so many gods and goddesses that they tend to just mind themselves and pay their respects. Don't let it get to your head!" She reprimanded me.

She was always so overly protective. I should probably be glad I am a god or else I'd have to be going for a dip in the Styx myself.

"I know mom, can I go to the smithy now?" I said, excitedly pointing towards the building from before

"Yes, let's go," she said.

Excitement comes to me, roaring my engines into the purr of anticipation as I stride in hastened steps towards the wooden door ahead of me.