007.

​​Hephaestus was in the workshop he had located on Mount Olympus. His gaze was entirely focused on about a dozen tools placed on his workbench.

Anyone who could observe them could tell that they were tools related to the work of agriculture. One thing to note is that all the tools were of the highest quality.

Despite this, Hephaestus' eyes were extremely critical as he vigorously evaluated each of the tools, nodding or shaking his head from time to time. Once he finished his evaluation process, he found three tools that failed to match his expectations.

To the point that in his eyes, they could only be described as poor quality products. For that reason, he knew he would need to make them again, as he refused to deliver a product of such quality.

The only positive side was that he still had enough time before he had to meet the delivery time. With that thought, Hephaestus began to separate the tools that had passed his evaluation from the ones that hadn't.

It was during this process that he noticed that a small basket had been placed on one of his work tables. He didn't need to think too hard to know that his Aunt Hestia must have paid him a visit, but seeing that he was working, she decided not to disturb him.

Calmly, he approaches the basket to see its contents, these being small cookies that look extremely appetizing. It was not for less, since they had been made by the hands of the goddess of hearth.

Hephaestus clearly remembered the delicious taste of the previous cookies that his aunt had prepared for him, his reaction was to extend his hand in search of taking one of them; however, he quickly observed the dirt that his extremity had.

So he had to remove it and start looking for something to clean himself with. His mother had taught him the importance of cleanliness and even if she was not by his side, he always kept her teachings in mind.

Once he finished cleaning his hands, he picked up one of the cookies and began to eat it enthusiastically. The taste was extremely delicious, and it was one that could not be matched even by his mother.

Hephaestus had the thought of taking another cookie once he finished eating the first one, but he knew that if he did, he would end up eating all of them, so reluctantly he ended up taking the basket to later put it away in a safe area of the workshop.

"Let's get to work" Hephaestus said enthusiastically after taking an unexpected break. He deserved a short break anyway, besides the fact that thanks to it his mood had been completely restored.

…

Hephaestus was walking through a vast extension of cultivated fields. In every direction he looked he could only observe large and beautiful crops, with wheat being one of the most numerous of these.

Frankly, it was a very beautiful sight. The truth is that every time he had the pleasure of witnessing such a landscape, he ended up being amazed, regardless of the fact that it was not the first time he observed it.

On his back he carried a large sack that could be considered too heavy for a young man to carry; however, for someone of Hephaestus' condition it did not represent any kind of problem.

In a short time he reached an area where there were large and sturdy trees. The little god's gaze focused on a leafy apple tree that protected a young woman from the sun's rays.

Hephaestus shook his head in disapproval at this scene and after a few seconds of consideration began to head towards that place. Once he was close, he was able to observe the woman a little more.

No doubt she was beautiful, that was something Hephaestus had never had any doubt about. Her beautiful brown hair always attracted the attention of those who had been lucky enough to see her.

Her clothing consisted of a simple white robe without any embroidery. A sigh escaped Hephaestus' lips as he saw a small amount of half-eaten apples around the young woman.

Because Hephaestus was in a somewhat chaotic mood due to the woman, he failed to notice that the young woman herself began to open her eyes. Drowsiness was obvious in her eyes; however, this soon changed to pure joy when she recognized the figure of the man standing in front of her.

"Hephaestus!" she called out enthusiastically as all traces of drowsiness disappeared from her being.

"You" was all the named one could say immediately, "How many times have I told you that you should be more aware of your surroundings?" he managed to ask with utmost seriousness.

"Especially when your mother is not near you" he added quickly, leaving no room for the young woman to answer him.

Persephone kept silent while she listened to Hephaestus' little scolding, once it was over, she simply smiled in a big way, "You worry too much" she mentioned in a carefree way.

"There is no one who would dare to do any kind of harm to me" she continued to say, in her words, there was no insecurity whatsoever, as she truly believed, no one was stupid enough to try to harm her.

A flash of frustration passed through Hephaestus' brown eyes as he heard Persephone's response. No matter how hard he tried to make her understand about the dangers in the world, since she didn't understand, no, it was better to say she pretended not to understand.

It was extremely frustrating, and the worst part was that he really didn't have the heart to be angry with her, so he really didn't know what to do. Because of this, Hephaestus found out how it is that his mother should feel when he ignores her words, and it is certainly not a pleasant feeling.

"Just try to be a little more careful, okay?" Hephaestus mentioned softly after a short silence.

"Okay" Persephone's response was quick. She knew Hephaestus was just worried that something might happen to her, but she just didn't really think there was anything to worry about.

Despite having that thought she would try to heed Hephaestus' words, it wasn't a hard thing to do anyway and that way she could make sure Hephaestus wasn't having unnecessary worries.

Hephaestus nodded in a satisfied manner upon hearing Persephone's answer, although he seriously doubted that she would keep her word. The only thing that comforted him was the knowledge that Demeter would never let anything happen to her daughter.

"By the way, where is your mother?" questioned Hephaestus once he remembered the main reason why he had come to this place.

Persephone shrugged, "She must be harvesting the crops" she replied as she demurely settled herself on the grass, at the same time pointing to the spot beside her for Hephaestus to take a seat.

"I need to hand over her new tools" a clear refusal came from the god's lips at Persephone's actions.

"You can't do that!" such a reaction from Persephone was something Hephaestus had not expected.

"You are the only one I can talk to on a regular basis with the exception of my mother, besides you need to tell me what has happened outside" she mentioned in a quick manner as she clung to Hephaestus' body for fear that he might run away.

"I will just hand over the tools to your mother and return immediately" formulated Hephaestus; however, as he finished his words he only felt Persephone apply more force on her grip.

"That's what you said last time, but you ended up spending most of the day helping my mother" Persephone managed to quickly counter, "In the end you didn't even get to spend much time with me" she added.

After those words, Hephaestus reasoned that he had certainly not kept his word the last time he had visited Persephone. Upon thinking about it, Hephaestus decided to fulfill Persephone's wish, so he took a seat next to her once she released him from her grip.

Subsequently, he began to tell her about all the events that had happened on Olympus since his last visit.

…

After a long time of conversation between Hephaestus and Persephone, it was that they both began to discern the figure of a woman approaching in their direction.

"Mother!" exclaimed the young girl excitedly at the instant the woman came into her line of sight as she ran towards her.

The woman only gave a warm smile at her daughter's call. The truth was that Demeter was practically an adult version of Persephone in appearance. A beautiful woman in every sense of the word.

Hephaestus only watched the actions of the mother-daughter pair with softness because to a great extent such actions on Persephone's part reminded him of how he acted with his own mother.

Once Demeter finished her little conversation with her daughter, she brought her gaze to her sister's son, "It's nice to see you again, I guess my little assignment is ready, isn't it?" she commented as a friendly smile formed on her face.

Hephaestus' response was a slight nod, and then he pointed to the bag that he had carefully placed on the grass because it was uncomfortable to have it on his back while he was sitting.

"All the tools you requested are inside, besides that I managed to increase the quality in relation to your previous tools" he expressed in a quick manner at the same time that he entered a somewhat more serious mood.

A trace of surprise flashed through Demeter's eyes as she heard Hephaestus' words, "If what you say is true, then that will be an impressive achievement" she said with complete sincerity in her voice.

It's not that she thought Hephaestus was lying to her, it's just that his words were hard to believe, after all her old tools were made by the ancient Cyclops, so even though she was aware of her nephew's abilities it was impossible for her not to have doubts.

"Have I ever lied to you?" Hephaestus asked immediately as he noticed the uncertainty in his aunt's tone of voice.

"No, you never have" Demeter replied calmly along with a playful smile as she noticed the indignation her previous words had caused in Hephaestus.

Persephone began to feel as if her presence was completely ignored by both of them, it is because of this type of situation that she had not let Hephaestus go in search of his mother.

" Mom" she called out which quickly got the attention of the aforementioned, "It's time to eat" she added in an attempt to change the atmosphere that had been created due to the interaction her mother had with Hephaestus.

Demeter nodded briefly, " Would you like to join us?" she asked Hephaestus as her playful smile was still present on her face.

"I'm afraid I have to decline such a tempting invitation" the little god gently denied, "My mother awaits my return" he added.

"A pity" Demeter commented regretfully.

A short time later, Hephaestus began his journey back to Olympus. Though not before he had to promise Persephone that he would start visiting her on a more frequent basis. As for Demeter, he only said a few simple words of farewell.

…

Hephaestus' days were joyful and satisfying, he usually only needed to worry about working in his workshop for a large part of the day and then head home in the evening to spend time with mother.

Even if other people might think that kind of day-to-day life was extremely monotonous. The truth is that Hephaestus never believed that, in his mind, he considered that such a life was too good for someone like him.

This day should have been similar to the others; however, his everyday routine had been interrupted because his mother had been called to a meeting along with other gods of Olympus.

So he had a considerable amount of free time. Currently, he was in an area that the vast majority of the inhabitants of Olympus tended to avoid. This because such a place was in Athena's complete domain, and no one wanted to earn her hostility.

Hephaestus, on the other hand, didn't really care about that possibility. He had only come to this place because he was bored and wanted to be somewhere other than his workshop or his mother's temple.

Because of that, this place was perfect, as firstly it was a different scenery to what he was used to and secondly was that he wouldn't have to endure the stares of the inhabitants of Olympus upon seeing him if he were in another place.

Anyway, Hephaestus' attention was completely focused on designing new torture machines for his uncle. The business dealings he had with the Lord of the Underworld were a heavy workload, but it was a very well paid one.

Around him, he had various scrolls, some of them had complex drawings, while others had simpler ones. He usually delivered a wide variety of designs to Hades for him to decide which one he wanted from all the ones he presented to him.

Once the selection process was over, he would simply produce those that had been chosen en masse. Later, once the products were finished, they were delivered to Hades and Hephaestus received the payment for his services.

The young god was so focused on his work that he did not notice the presence of Athena a few meters from his position. The goddess' footsteps were silent as she approached the figure of the little god.

Her usual indifferent gaze had a slight feeling of appreciation and admiration as she saw the designs that Hephaestus had been making during the previous hours. It wasn't until Athena picked up one of the already completed designs that Hephaestus became aware of her presence.

"I thought you would be at the meeting" he commented in a confused and blunt manner.

"My presence was not required" Athena replied quietly.

Hephaestus nodded at her words and continued working. He didn't mention or ask anything else due to the fact that if Athena had wanted to share more information, then she would have said so from the beginning.

Besides, he didn't think Athena wanted to be bothered, most likely she just came to see who was inside her territory. It was because of this thought that Hephaestus was a bit confused to see that Athena had not left even when several minutes had passed.

Because such a situation had never happened in all the years Hephaestus had interacted with Athena, it made it impossible for him to know how he was supposed to react.

"Are you still angry?" Athena asked after a time of awkward silence. Her tone of voice was extremely soft, something that was definitely strange about her.

Hephaestus' eyes sparkled with confusion as he didn't understand what Athena was referring to, however it didn't take him too long to understand what she meant.

"I was; however, mother brought me to my senses, so I'm not anymore" he replied quickly, "It's just that I disliked that you treated me like a foolish and ignorant child" he added.

"Is that so, huh?" were the only words Athena could articulate. Frankly, she never thought she would get any kind of help from Lady Hera, even if she knew that whatever she said was simply to reassure Hephaestus, it was still a strange feeling.

"Of course, because if you don't remember, our age is very similar, and it's kind of irritating that you treat me that way" he commented with sincerity and a brief trace of anger.

Athena nodded slightly, "I'll keep that in mind" she said simply.

Such words took the young god by surprise, who could only show an awkward and cheerful smile in response. Due to his joy at being taken into account, Hephaestus continued to chat with Athena enthusiastically.

The truth was that since he had met Athena, this time was the first time he felt he had had a real conversation with her. The first time he had been able to properly socialize with her.

If anyone were to watch such a scene, they would be surprised to see how the two gods that Olympus described as extreme opposites chatted with each other in a cheerful and comfortable way.