17 Strive for Continuous Improvement rather then perfection...Unless your a Goddess.

Hera POV:

For mortals, birth is a frightening yet mysterious concept. It is an experience all have gone through, yet none can recall, yet all view it with a sense of dread and trepidation for the dire consequences that hang like a guillotine over both parent and child alike. Their fragile mortality, the constant reminder of the inevitability of Death, shrouding what one should view as a happy and momentous occasion like a snake coiling around their prey...

Immortals, however, view childbirth far differently...The undying nature of our beings turns what mortals consider a wary affair into no more than an everyday act. After all, we Immortals aren't bound to the same laws of nature that all mortal life must follow. If one wishes,d they could give birth as soon as an Immortal is conceived or hold the child in their womb for thousands of years. As for said children, being born filled with knowledge and concepts far beyond mortal comprehension before even coming into existence can grant one a unique outlook on life.

Being the Patron of Women and the Goddess of Familial Love, few were as close to the giving of life as I. From conception, knowledge of beings yet to come and bonds yet to be made flowed through my very being like an ocean current; unlike my siblings, my awareness of the surrounding world within my mother's womb was amplified due to the potent act from the mother of carrying an Immortal child to full term. Such an act only empowered my growing Divinit, allowing me to reach out and examine my surroundings. My Divinity was so much like Rhea' herself that she would favor me more than my previous siblings, creating my name from her own as a statement of her favor. This, of course, wouldn't help me avoid the same fate that had already befallen my sisters...

Even, I a Goddess of Familial Love was unable to see the difference between Kronos' perverted love and the love of a true father, leaving me unprepared for when he bound me to the same prison that held my siblings. Being the exact opposite of my Domain, such an act almost caused my essence to scatter in distress; if not for the fact I could use the bonds and my sisters and held to ground myself, I may have well spread in God's endless being. Unfortunately, while this allowed me to stave off my father's continuous murder attempts, it did leave me with next to no access to my Divinity, leaving me unable to use the said bond to reach out and communicate with my siblings. Such a thing would have made my time inside Kronos far more bearable. After all, who can one talk to if not family?

Being so weakened did have it's benefits, it made time pass far quicker then it would have, then if I was fully aware of my surroundings. Something I'm sure my siblings would be incredibly envious of. The only memories I have of my father's stomach are when I first entered and when another one of my siblings was devoured.

When the time eventually came for us to be freed, I was the last one to leave, and for the first time since entering the prison, I was forced to bear the full force of Kronos' power, attempting one final act of destruction upon my being. Thankfully, whatever it was my youngest sibling had done, had caused Kronos' Divine energy to be wild and uncontrollable, otherwise I was unsure if being Immortal would be enough to save me. 

Once I finally finished my journey through fathers gullet to join the rest of my siblings, I had no time at all to make use of my newfound freedom before a woman of regal stature captured us in a pot that radiated Divine power, The discomforting feeling of passing through the realms quickly followed before I found myself staring up at the walls of a mountain cave. I'm only slightly ashamed of the spike of envy I felt flushing my being watching the eldest of my brothers quickly getting a handle of his Divine power to create a physical form so fast; I'm even more ashamed to admit the feeling only grew watching my eldest sister Hestia complete hers only a few minutes later.

Having enough of lagging behind my siblings, I quickly fazed through the clay pot and began to forge my physical form. Only to discover it was a far more challenging accomplishment than I had expected, not the actual act itself; it was relatively easy to turn Divine energy into Ichor and even more straightforward to manipulate it into any shape I desired. No, the problems came when I began trying to create my appearance; when I was watching my siblings, neither seemed to care too much about how they looked, with Hestia even deciding on a young and pitiful appearance rather than one of great beauty so when I found myself scrapping and restarting every time I came close to completion.

So, enamored with creating the 'perfect' appearance, I failed to notice my elder sister Demeter managing to make her form despite the fact she started after me. It's not my fault; every time I was almost done, I would gaze upon my creation and feel an overwhelming sense of wrongness that would cause me to feel a burning hot rage; this rage would cause me to scrap all my progress to begin a new one.

It didn't help that I could hear all my siblings introducing each other behind me, and as the Goddess of Familial Love, being unable to participate in family bonding was particularly torture. With each restart, I could feel my anger grow, especially when my middle brother finally managed to stumble his way out of the pot and managed to complete his form before me.

None of this would rush me, though; I was Hera, so favored by Mother Rhea that I was named in her honor, Goddess of Women and Marriage, Childbirth and familial Love, The Patron of Women and Queen of the Heavens. I was a being of perfection; beauty and elegance were part of my very being, and no matter how long it took, I would take a form-fitting such 'perfection'...