"She's used to heroes. And she's used to Olympians." Hermes takes the cup of wine and drinks deeply. He takes a moment to admire the flowers, shifting close to Achilles to lean on him. "I was only two days old when I stole from my brother. If I'd been less charming or clever, it could have turned out very badly for me and my mum. Hephaestus spited Lady Hera for abandoning him by giving her a throne that forced her to stay in it until Dionysus got Hephaestus drunk and convinced him to release her, and that could have turned out very badly for him. Artemis demanded Pop's word early that he'd never force her to marry, and Apollo crossed I don't know how many gods chasing their daughters..."

Hermes flaps his hand in the air, some aborted gesture to help get his point across. "We all make legends by doing gutsy things we probably shouldn't. And the rest of us did it when we were younger and weaker than Zagreus. But even if we're being overprotective hypocrites, we've got to look out for our own skins too. You know how I feel about my Coz, but he's about as discrete as the Spartan army."

Hermes adores his baby cousin and sincerely thinks that Zagreus would take their side if he knew the full story, but Hermes also has a decent grasp of his skill set. Zagreus is best when the situation calls for interpersonal mediation or a lot of sword swinging, not when it calls for keeping his mouth shut about treason.

"We can all stop being overprotective hypocrites after we're done doing things that could land us in the depths of Tartarus, and he can make a legend picking a fight with gods that won't start a war over it."