chapter 18

The reason seemed trivial after all she could have just sent an envoy to convey her message. Incidentally Hestia's palace was on the other end of Olympus further away from the center which lay the royal palace and Aphrodite's palace was closer to the center  so their homes are quite far apart and since any form of instantaneous travel is banned within Olympus Hestia had to actually travel the distance.

"well yes, plus I wanted to have some tea with you since you were busy last time, how are things going with Hephaestus by the way, did you?"

She winked as she asked, interestingly enough Hestia was the type of person which didn't shy away from talking about things she had no experience in or rather she liked talking about the interests of others with them, and since Aphrodite was that type of Goddess Hestia was more than willingly to talk about matters of the bedroom despite still maintaining her chastity.

"I'd say things are going fine but no we haven't"

Aphrodite returned the wink indicating that she hasn't had sex with Hephaestus yet, Hestia raised an eyebrow at her not really believing what Aphrodite is saying.

"what's with that look??"

Aphrodite frowned, was it really so unbelievable that she hasn't had sex with Hephaestus yet? Well maybe it was but she didn't like how that having sex with Hephaestus seemed to be a given, she wants to but she doesn't like how everyone assumes that she will.

"Nothing I just thought by now you would have been done with him and moved on"

Aphrodite frowned at her words, she didn't like the way that sounded but she decided to let it go. She wanted to keep her friendly relationship with Hestia especially since Hestia herself wasn't a malicious person by nature so her words were probably not meant to harm.

"it's not That I don't want to, he just won't accept my advances, we haven't even kissed"

Those words came out with a much more disheartened tone than she wanted to convey, She was certainly Beautiful and definitely the most desired Of all the Goddesses and He does find her attractive and does feel lust for her but for some reason he has gone no further than a simple kiss on the palm.

Hestia on the other hand was in a silent shock, She found it utterly impossible that the two of them haven't even done anything yet, She doesn't think Aphrodite would lie about something like that, she probably would have if Hephaestus was still the same as before but he was Handsome now and well within Aphrodite's range of interest.

"Honestly I don't understand, He says he likes me but he won't  do anything, I have made it obvious that I want to but he just won't, doesn't he not love me, all the other Gods love me, why won't he?"

Aphrodite complained, She could not tell if he was lying about what he said about Finding her attractive, if you find someone attractive then surely you would want to have sex with them. He also said something about how finding her attractive has nothing to do with lust, she didn't think that was impossible it's just that Lust and love go hand in hand  if you lust after someone that means you love them and vice versa.

All the Gods that lust After her should love her and she picks and chooses whether or not to accept their love, she  wants to accept Hephaestus's love but he won't show her his love by lusting after her so there's no love for her to accept.

"You saying that all the other Gods love you, is that true? because I'm pretty sure that's not how they view you"

"What do you mean? Of course they love me why else would they lust for me?"

Though she  wasn't pleased with the amount of lust Are had directed at her during the Meeting,  that lust still meant that he  loved her at least.

Hestia raised an eyebrow at Aphrodite's question, something was wrong. Aphrodite is  the Goddess of love and beauty  as such she should have a clear understanding of those concepts after all they are within her domain but for  some reason Aphrodite seems to be confusing love and  lust as similar thing or at the very least seems to  think lust indicates love.

"Aphrodite, what do you think Lust is?"

She asked, Hestia could not call herself the Goddess of the Hearth without fully understanding what the Hearth is and its importance, not only that but the concept within a God's domain can hold a level of influence over them causing them to act in a way that represents that concept, however the way they understand that concept can cause them to misrepresent that concept as  well.

"A feeling of wanting to express one's sexual desires towards another"

"Hm"

She  hummed, That was correct or at the very least it was an answer that was generally accepted as the description for lust and Hestia saw no problem with it.

"Then what is love?"

"a feeling  of deep affection toward a person"

Sex, love and Lust are all things that a closely related to each other because they are all interconnected, when you love someone it is natural to lust for them and it is also natural to want to have sex with them, Aphrodite seems to understand the basics of this but then why did she think the Gods love her? No, lust and love are intricately connected it is easy to confuse the two, Hestia herself struggles to find a difference that separates the two concepts however she  could think of two gods she  could say loved each other.

"then when you love someone, What do you do? Do you stay with them for an extended period of time?

"No, why would I do that, love is a temporary thing isn't it?"

Aphrodite answered,  why would she  stay with a person she no longer loves, after having had sex the love fades and  both people simply go  their separate ways, no need to interact after that,  it's a simple thing that happens once  and then move on.

"Then why are Persephone and Hades still together if love is a temporary thing?"

"Aren't they staying together simply because of  the agreement Hades had with Zeus and Demeter?"

That was true, Hestia now had no idea how to correct Aphrodite's misunderstanding, Aphrodite understood what love is she just didn't think it was everlasting or something that stayed after having had sex, to  her it  was a feeling you felt and  expressed and  then be done with it, it never extended beyond sexual intercourse.

"plus I don't see how this is related to Hephaestus not wanting to have sex with me"

"Oh! no this is very Related, I think it's the root of the problem, you  and Hephaestus have very different understandings of Love"

Hestia expressed, she now had a grasp of what was going and it made sense why Hephaestus hasn't had sex with Aphrodite. She needed someone's help in explaining that Love wasn't just a momentary feeling but something that lasted for a long time, not necessarily forever but long enough, that's what she thought at least.

"changing topics for the moment, Do you want to accompany Me to the underworld?"

Since she has vowed to never get married she wouldn't understand what it means to be in love or at the very least  wouldn't fully grasp what experiencing love was like, as such she needed someone who had personal experience on the matter to explain their view, they'd do it better than she could.

"Why?"

"well since I'm not really qualified to explain to  you matters concerning love, I think Persephone will be the better Goddess in explaining to you her version of love and Maybe you can understand why Hephaestus hasn't been eager to have sex with you like the other Gods"

Hestia explained, while Persephone's relationship was  a  forceful one and her consent wasn't really considered when Hades asked Zeus  for  Her hand, she  definitely lucked out that Hades was a decent God  that she  was able to easily fall in love with him, well  Persephone is  quite the  sheltered Goddess so it's no surprise that she easily fell for Hades.

"I'm  sure as  the  Goddess of love, my  idea of  love is  the correct one so  I don't see any need"

"just Humor me will you  Aphy"

"Okay but let me get changed"

"Aren't you fine going as is?"

"The one  I'm currently wearing is pretty good but I want to  show off all the dresses he made for me."

"ah! I see, you gonna have to talk to him for me because I need a dress too"

Aphrodite smiled at Hestia's words, the pride she felt right now was quite palpable, she  almost doesn't want anyone  to have  the same clothes as her just so  they could be  jealous of her, almost.

.....

(Wanted  to Hestia to say Aphy-chan, infact I wanted Hestia to  refer to everyone using kun and chan but had to  remember this is Greek myth not Japanese myth)

  .....

"What!!"

The shout echoes throughout the mountain range scaring the Birds and causing them to fly away, the one who shouted out of shock was Zelus after Zeus had just  told him about the prophecy.

"My lord, this simply cannot stand, never mind the fact you waited this long to tell us this but we must hurry and conduct a search post haste"

Zelus continued, he could not simply accept the possibility of a traitor within Olympus no anyone who betrays Olympus or so much as thinks about such a thing must be immediately dealt with.

"calm down, did you hear what Lord Zeus said? You can't expect him to suddenly conduct a search the possible traitor might escape before we get to him/her, not to mention it the lord's own children that might be traitors we must be delicate about this"

Bia Rationally explains to Her brother, he is always quick to judgment and never thinks things through, honestly it's embarrassing how idiotic he is, She can't have him embarrass her by association in front of her lord.

"Are you in cahoots with the traitor? Only such a person would spout such nonsense"

"How dare you direct those words at me, such an offense will not be tolerated"

"what offense? I mere spoke the truth, regardless of who the traitor is acting fast to prevent such a thing from happening should be what we as enforcers strive for, the fact that you would suggest otherwise is absurd, the only possible option it that you are a traitor as well"

"AH—"

"ENOUGH!!!!"

Zeus quickly Ended their little quarrel and immediately shut them up, their loyalty was certainly something very appreciated but he came here looking for Solutions not more arguing.

"while I appreciate your loyalty, I came here hoping that we would put our heads together and find the best solution to locate the possible traitor before their plans come to fruition, I don't need you to squabble like children"

"plus Athena and Apollo have already been sent to look for the Oracle so a better and detailed prophecy will be provided on due time"

It was Hephaestus who spoke right after Zeus, honestly he was quite surprised that Zeus spent an entire week not doing anything rather than look for the possible traitor amongst his children, plus he didn't even tell his enforcers about such an important thing,  was Zeus such a lousy king in the myths? He wasn't sure.

"Any way since I'm amongst those suspected, I'll be taking my leave and I'll let you discuss this topic without me"

Hephaestus suggested, it would be far more suspicious if he stayed while they discussed so to absolve himself of any suspicion he will vacate, Hopefully this matter is resolved much more peacefully than the previous times where a child had to dethrone their father.

His spar with Kratos was cut short but it was fruitful enough for him at least for now, though he couldn't confirm how he measured against beings like  Kratos, he was satisfied since he got a skill out of it. Walking up to his carriage and woke up his pets and prepared to take off.

"Don't forget, tomorrow is my turn"

Nike reminded him and he answered her with a wave and then proceeded to take off and leave, he had some stuff to do and some experiments to try plus he hasn't made Aphrodite's gift yet but he should have it done by the end of today so there was no rush, he was also reminded that he has plenty of experiments to do as well.

.....

A/N: Yo how your day be going?

got any powerstones to share?