refusetofight | For @messageforyou

For @messageforyou

Achilles arrives at the Temple of Styx well before the appointed time. This is equal parts because it’s so difficult to judge time in the Underworld and because he’s determined not to be late to one of the most important meetings of his afterlife. … Or his life for that matter.

He approaches the edge of the Underworld—as close as he can before he begins to feel the insistent tug on his shade. By now, he’s discovered the exact stones that mark the border—unassuming at a glance, but should he step past, he knows he’ll feel the pull, like a strong ocean current willing him back to the depths.

So he stands just clear of this invisible delineation, hands clasped behind his back, and gazes past to what little he can glimpse of the surface. The slash of sun is too bright for his eyes, accustomed as they are to Ixion’s lesser light. The wind shifts, and he breathes in the pungent smell of growth, the distant tang of the Aegean Sea.

It brings to mind what Hermes said about Lyra’s birth: she was formed in the ocean. Was she tucked away in the midnight depths? Swaddled safe in a forest of kelp? Or floating free in the tides, pushed and pulled in meandering currents until she was finally washed upon the shore?

He wishes he could have been there to receive her that day—to lift her from the surf and sand, as small and precious as the beach’s scattered shells and wet, jewel-bright stones. Achilles entertains himself this way: imagining her early days, her first steps, her child’s adventures, her clever eyes examining each new thing the world offers.

Each shifting shadow, each rustle past the temple’s gate stirs a fresh flutter in his chest. It’s not long before his impatience and eagerness is fit to rival Hermes’. He periodically paces to the opposite side of the gate, as if it might provide a better vantage to spot her approach.

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Lyra's smile falls into a similar serious but open expression. She keeps her eyes on Achilles in the way children do when it's clear adults are saying something very important. (And it helps to stroke her ego a little bit. Oh go on, it can't inflate much more than it already is.)

"Yeah, I know," she says. There's almost a note of wistfulness in her voice. She's suspected for a long time that her parents might not have been a pair of mortals who left her in the sea. But accepting that suspicion would require accepting that for one reason or another, her divine parent ignored her, and she might be the target of horrible torments when she's discovered.

Her eyes dart to Hermes. Out of respect, she keeps her voice low as she grimaces, "No offense, but if it's Zeus, please don't tell me. I don't think that'd end well."

That surprises another, breathier laugh from Hermes. He shakes his head, offering her a sympathetic smile. No, he supposes Zeus isn't exactly an enviable father. "I guess he's the obvious option, right? But no. No, it's not."

Lyra sighs in relief. She doesn't even have the grace to hide it. "Oh, good. I was going to go hide if it was."

Achilles’ smile grows a little tighter, like a commiserating grimace. Even a mortal child knows what it means to be a child of Zeus. “You needn’t worry about that.”

Or about Zeus at all. Achilles still isn’t sure if the news of Zeus’ retirement to the stars has made it to the mortal world, but it isn’t his place to declare that his reign has ended.

“But your guess is close. Very close. Zeus is your grandfather.” Achilles releases one of Lyra’s hands so he can find Hermes’ and clasp it tight. It would be ridiculous to make her keep guessing, but the words feel heavy and thick. Caught in his mouth. They’re words that will alter her whole life, and her sense of identity with it.

No, not just her life—Hermes’ as well. Achilles’ own. Saying the words aloud is voicing a pact, binding them all together.

“Lyra—” Achilles glances up at Hermes, back at Lyra, and takes a long inhale. “Your father is right here, standing beside me.”

Oh, it was a bad idea to try to do this so fast. Hermes should have waited, should have given himself time to process, maybe a good twenty years. It feels like he's going to pass out, and his wings are pinned tight to his head. Hermes holds Achilles' hand like the only life raft in the ocean, knuckles white.

Lyra's eyes linger on Achilles' and Hermes' hands joined together--yeah, she's pretty sure that means one thing--but her attention is diverted by the news.

She doesn't react dramatically. She cocks her head, looking up at Hermes with open curiosity. The wings like a sunset, the keen eyes, the mouth that seems a little like it was designed to smirk. He's not the one who said it, she notes. He looks a little ill, if it's possible for a god to look ill. Certainly not eager to greet a long lost daughter.

Oh well. Lyra supposes she knew that if her suspicions were true, her divine parent probably wasn't all that eager for her.

"I feel like I should be more surprised," she says matter of factly. "But that tracks."

Hermes huffs another laugh, but this one is breathy, tight with the tension in his throat. "It's pretty obvious when you think about it, huh?"

"Yeah," she says. She blinks up at him, still taking him in. Hermes feels like he's being examined by a scientist, or perhaps by a judge. "Why did you leave me in the sea?"

"Oh--" Maybe it's the casual way she asks, like it's a given that her father just dropped her into the ocean when she was born, but the question feels like a knife in the gut. For a moment, he feels like he's reliving the moment he reached for his mother for the first time, but now he's in Maia's position, so paralyzed by fear that he'd wound his child's heart for the rest of her life.

Hermes' eyes suddenly grow wet. He drops into a crouch to be at eye level, blinking quickly as he forces a smile, taking Lyra's free hand in his. Her hand is so small and rough in his. Lyra blinks, surprised at the sudden emotion in his face. "I'm sorry you were alone so long, darling. It wasn't intentional, I promise. I didn't know you existed." He couldn't let her think that her parents wanted her so little that they'd throw her away. He couldn't. "No one left you in the ocean. You were born there without a mother. You were created by two fathers."

Hermes nods his head towards Achilles, squeezing his hand. "And your other father is right here."

"What?" Okay, she's gone through this whole conversation without surprises, but this one gets her. She looks at Achilles, clearly confused. "What?"

Achilles puts his arm around Hermes’ shoulders, tugging him close. His eyes are on Lyra, but he can hear the underlying emotion in Hermes’ voice, can feel it in his energy. Why did you leave me … It’s painful enough for Achilles to hear that question—for Hermes, it must agony.

And then it’s Achilles’ turn to reckon with his fatherhood declared aloud. He was eager and ready for this, but his stomach lurches like he’s suddenly slipped and fallen, and for a moment, he interprets her confusion as dismay. Does Lyra even want to call such a proud, selfish, brutal hero her father?

But Achilles soldiers through for Lyra and Hermes’ sake. “It’s difficult to believe. We found it just as strange, but it’s true. There was a convergence of … hm—fate, divine power, love—that brought you into being.

“If we’d known, we would have sought you immediately.” Achilles’ own eyes shimmer with the threat of tears, and he gives Lyra’s hand a gentle shake for emphasis. “I wish we had known, but thank the Fates, you’re safe and healthy. You’re so strong and brave, child.”

Lyra frowns in confusion, gears visibly turning in her head. "How does that work?"

"How did my Aphrodite come from sea foam? How did my sister burst from our father's head?" Hermes gives a helpless shrug. "These things are just weird sometimes."

That's probably as good an explanation as she'll get. Not that she really wants to hear the nitty gritty of her conception anymore than anyone else. (Hermes and Achilles together, huh? That didn't make it into any of the stories she's heard.)

Lyra looks at the ground, still frowning. She's processing. She really didn't expect to have a conversation like this today, and she's figuring out how she feels about it. She's not like some of her siblings, hung up on heroic fantasies about her parents that somehow deny the fact of their abandonment--she'd always just accepted things as they were, and it's strange that she of all foundlings is given the fantasy that many of her siblings would kill for. Two whole parents, both from myth and legend and proud legacies, and neither ever meaning to abandon her. She should be overjoyed, shouldn't she?

"...Do you like each other?" she asks.

"Yes," Hermes says without hesitation. For his part, he doesn't find her muted reaction at all surprising or off-putting. It reminds him of any intelligent creature put in a strange, unexpected situation, testing the waters to see what may come out of them. "We love each other very much."

Lyra nods, humming with thought. That's better than she would have expected, really. The stories rarely make it sound like gods and mortals like each other very much when they have children, but maybe that's just stories of Zeus.

"Is it... bad that I was born?" Lyra asks with the same tone of cautious curiosity. She certainly couldn't have been expected. And Achilles is dead, and Hermes must be very busy, so they probably weren't looking to be fathers, and tending to her even a little must be very hard and inconvenient. And Patroclus? He's no Hera, but Lyra can't imagine he likes her very much after the revelation, which pinches her gut. She really liked him, and it's sad that he probably doesn't like her anymore.

But Hermes' whole body cringes at the question. It really does feel like he's Maia, talking to himself, and the fear of hurting Lyra like he was hurt is paralyzing. He drops his gaze, shaking his head, struggling to keep his voice steady as he says, "No, no, not bad, you're not bad to be born."

Achilles has every urge to pull Lyra into a hug, but he doesn’t want to overwhelm her. Besides, it seems like Hermes is the one who needs more reassurance. Achilles grips his shoulder tighter. I know this is difficult.

He imagines Hermes when he was this small. Did he pose the same question to Athena and Apollo? What answers did he receive … if any?

“It’s not bad at all, my dear. It’s wonderful.” It would be easy for that to come off as empty exaggeration, but Achilles’ voice is thick with emotion and tears cling at the edges of his eyes. The honesty of it is unmistakable. “Truly, it is. I never imagined I would have another child.”

He blinks back his tears and gingerly moves his hand to touch her cheek. “I wish we were there for you the moment you came from the sea. I’m sorry it took us so long, Lyra.”

Lyra doesn't move away from the hand on her face. It's strange. She knows this is a big deal, and the grownups feel a lot of things about it, and she should feel a lot of things too. But she's not sure what she feels. If she's not sure, does she not feel anything? No she's pretty sure she feels something, just not sure how to talk about it.

She leans her head into Achilles' hand. Somehow, the calluses on them are more obvious when against the soft skin of her cheek. Calluses that must have been built up by years of fighting in war.

"Neither of you need to be sorry. I'm not mad. I wouldn't have looked for me either in your shoes." She decides that, yes, she feels good about that. It's nice to know that she wasn't discarded and left to die. Her parents just didn't know she existed. How can she expect people to look for someone they don't know exists?

So it wasn't that she was unloved and unwanted. It was just that she was unknown. That's nicer than she thought, she decides.

But then there's another question that might make it easier to know how she feels about this.

"...What next?" Lyra frowns in thought. "I can't stay in the Underworld. Or Olympus. Should I... find Neoptolemus? I don't think he'd like me very much."

Hermes, for his part, is trying really hard to pull himself together. He's never had such a hard time putting on a mask before. What's wrong with him? You're supposed to be a god, Hermes, get it together. But the suggestion of Neoptolemus draws him from his own thoughts, and his wings pin hard to his head. "I'm not sure that's a good idea." He doesn't know how much news has filtered to Achilles of Neoptolemus--Achilles hasn't asked Hermes about it, and he hasn't volunteered information--but he has little doubt that Neoptolemus would not be a kind, supportive big brother.

“Keep well away from Neoptolemus,” he warns harshly. Fresh shades often speak of Neoptolemus’ ruthlessness with a kind of reverence; they assume Achilles will be pleased to hear of his son’s prowess. By now, he’s heard plenty—more than he’d like to know—but he listens anyway. It’s his son, and his burden to bear.

If Neoptolemus found Lyra, he’s likely to use her—take her in, only to marry her off to some dubious, perhaps equally cruel ally. Or worse yet, try to father a powerful heir with her potent divine blood. Achilles can only hope she heeds his warning, and that Thetis and Hermes—perhaps Medea—keep her from his influence.

“Hermes and I, we’ve discussed plans, but …” Achilles cups her face and strokes his thumb along her cheek. “What do you want for yourself? I know you worry after your foster siblings. I wouldn’t keep you from those you care about.”

When Achilles, Hermes, and her own better judgment say she shouldn't seek out Neoptolemus (her half-brother? Weird thought), she's convinced. Maybe she'll change her mind one day, wanting to meet the only living mortal family she has, but her foster siblings are plenty enough sibling for her now.

And Achilles asks what she wants for herself. What a curious thought, to have parentage like this and still have the ability to choose. She leans her face against his hand, frowning as she thinks.

"Whatever you decide, your foster family will be well taken care of," Hermes assures her. That, at least, he can be confident about. Maybe the first thing he can be confident about in this whole conversation. "Each member will live in comfort the rest of their lives. I'll make sure of it."

That removes a major concern from Lyra. One of her big reasons for staying is making sure that her foster family is set up. But a god of merchants and commerce can set them up far better than she ever could, and she trusts that Hermes (her father? Should she call him 'Dad' or something? Is that presumptuous with a god?) will keep his word.

"I..." Her voice trails off. Then she clears her throat, squaring her shoulders and tipping up her chin to look at both of them. She can hold herself with confidence. If she held herself with confidence before she knew these were her fathers, then she will after. "I want to travel. I want to see the whole world, not just Greece. I want to see all the places people live, and I want to meet them."

Her eyes sparkle with ambition, and it makes Hermes' wings fluff, his posture perking. He can't deny how much it resonates with him to hear his child so eager to see what's out there.

"But I'm still little. And there's a lot of things I don't know yet, that I should know before I go on an adventure." Finally, she reaches up her hand and rests it on Achilles' against her cheek. She leans into his touch, and for a moment she can appreciate how nice it is to know that she's wanted. "And... I want to get to know you both. I dunno if it's against the rules, but I don't really care if it is. I want to see you as much as I can. If I can."

She's not sure if she can. Maybe Hermes will never have time for her, or Achilles will be assigned away from the Temple of Styx, and talking to him would require plumbing the depths of the Underworld repeatedly and risk greater and greater wrath from Hades if she does. But she'd do it. She wants to know her parents.

Hermes, for his part, softens. His wings relax against his head and he dares to reach out, tucking a lock of her curly gold hair behind her ear. "You can, my darling. You'll know us. Know us until you're sick of us."

That gets Lyra giggling, her nose scrunching with each bright, happy laugh, and Hermes smiles. At her little scrunched nose, at the sparkle in her eyes as she speaks of adventure--he feels the stirring of love in his heart already.

Deep in his heart, Achilles wishes he’d gotten to travel the world as well. Not as a conqueror, but as a guest in a new land. What would that be like? To travel with no aim other than to satisfy one’s curiosity? It sounds like a lovely dream. “I’ll do everything I possibly can to prepare you for those adventures. And you can trust Hermes to bless your journey with safe roads and swift travel.”

Achilles smiles at her determination; he recalls making similarly confident declarations in his youth. He’s glad, though, that her ambitions are so peaceful. “I only ask one thing in exchange: that you return and tell me all about the lands you visit. The people you meet.

“But you’re right—we need to know one another first. I want to hear all about you.” Even if it means defying the gods yet again, Achilles is determined to spend time with his daughter. He’s optimistic: the Underworld has welcomed her in. Perhaps that will help curry favor with Hades, and if not … “I served Lord Hades for many years and tutored his son. Hermes is his nephew and a dutiful psychopomp. I’m positive we can arrange for your visits.”

Lyra smiles. Finally, she decides that yes, this is a good thing. It's a good thing to find her fathers. It's a good thing they didn't want to abandon her, and it's a good thing that they want to know her now and support her wanderlust. And how lucky that of all the foundlings in the world, she has parents well appointed enough to give her the chance to know her father after his death.

(What should she call them? Their names, perhaps, but if she wants to call them 'father', she needs to think of specific names for both of them.)

"I'll tell you everything." Lyra throws her hands in the air for emphasis, as if to try to encompass the entirety of all her future adventuring experience in her arms. "All the funny things I see, and the pretty things people make, and the new ways people do things. I'll tell you all of it."

She looks to Hermes. She's noticed that Achilles is the one more inclined to talk and touch her, but perhaps Hermes is just quiet. Or maybe he needs time to warm up. "Is it okay if I stay in the Temple for a while? Just to talk?"

"If it's not okay, I'll handle it," Hermes says, stepping back and giving a little playful bow and a flourish to welcome her in. She giggles as she steps across the threshold between the living and the dead, and she feels the warmth of an old friend in the stones welcoming her to a home that isn't hers yet. "My uncle can be very grumpy and is good at seeming scary, but I know his secret. He has a soft spot for children that want to meet their parents."

Hades would probably sooner die (ha) than admit it, but Hermes knows that he still has a lot of feelings about everything with Zagreus and Persephone, and he can't imagine it'd be easy for his uncle to look another small child in the eye and tell her she wasn't allowed to even speak with her father.

Achilles’ smile creases his eyes. They still glisten with barely-contained emotion—deep happiness now, more than anything. He rises to his feet and guides Lyra into the temple with a gentle hand on her shoulder.

The sigh of the rushing Styx echoes against the ancient masonry, which still shows signs of Ares’ thwarted invasion: there are plenty of shattered stones with Persephone’s plants clinging in the gaps and vines snaking throughout. A few fallen blocks of marble make a passable bench, surrounded by patches of creeping thyme. Achilles has taken to sitting here (sometimes with Cerberus for company) while waiting to receive young shades.

He takes a seat and pats the space next to him in invitation. Lyra already knows quite a lot about her fathers. Granted, not all of it is true, but Achilles doesn’t know where to begin debunking, so he leaves it to her. “Tell me: what would you most like to know about us, my dear?”

Lyra cheerfully pulls herself onto the block of marble, swinging her legs off the edge. She frowns in thought at the question, absently plucking at the thyme creeping over the stone. (It occurs to her that it's odd that there's so much visible damage and plants here, but questioning that is secondary to learning about her parents.) Hermes takes a seat on Lyra's other side, his shoulders relaxed and his wings sitting at a calmer position as he looks at her with curiosity. Clearly, his nerves have diminished a lot now that they've got the hard part out of the way. Hermes doesn't feel so much like he might pass out or shrivel into nothing.

"I guess... we can start with how you met?" Lyra decides, eyes darting between them curiously.

"Depends on what you mean by meeting," Hermes says, looking to Achilles with a fond smile. "I had business with your grandfather, Peleus, time to time, so I first met Achilles when he was still toddling around, but I wouldn't say he met me. I was a hummingbird he chased about the gardens."

Lyra's eyes shine with curiosity and wonder. "Can you turn into animals? All the stories say that gods can turn into animals, but can you?"

The more they talk, the easier it is to keep going. She's a child. His child, and preternaturally clever, yes, but still a child, and he's good with children. Hermes smirks and gives a little flourish. "You tell me, darling."

And then he's replaced with a glittering orange hummingbird, zipping to and fro before Lyra, letting his wings catch the light for an extra showy display. Lyra squeals in delight, holding out a hand, and the hummingbird alights on her finger.

"You're so pretty," she says, gently running her finger down the hummingbird's back. The hummingbird chirps in response. "I wish I could turn into a bird."

She looks at Achilles. Her smile is wide open and unguarded, delighted with wonderment in a way only children really can be. "How did you meet him, then?"

“Just as I remember,” Achilles laughs. The hummingbird has always felt like the most apt animal for Hermes: energetic, fast, beautiful, and fierce. “And he has many more forms besides. Show her the ‘cheetah’ next, love.”

Achilles looks down at Lyra and hums. “The first time I met him—albeit briefly—was at Troy.”

He pauses, clasping his hands on his lap. He doesn’t want to sugar coat the story of that time, but it also seems too heavy for a child of her years. But after an exhale he decides that it’s more important to give her the truth, always. “It happened as it’s told in the songs: grief turned me into a raging beast. I wouldn’t allow my enemy’s family to collect his body—to let them grieve in turn.”

Achilles’ eyes shift to the tiny bird perched on her equally tiny finger. “Hermes delivered King Priam to my tent. I saw how much the man suffered, how alike we were in our pain. He reminded me of my own father, who I love dearly. How could I deny him any longer? I promised to return Hector’s body safely.”

He releases another tight breath. It’s still difficult to talk about this time, particularly with someone as important as his own child. “Hermes knew exactly how to dispel my blinding rage, to make me see clearly again.”

Achilles’ tone lightens as he moves past talk of Troy: “After my death, I was assigned to guard the House of Hades, where we saw more of one another—Hermes had regular business there, both as a psychopomp and a messenger. I delighted in his visits, and admiration turned to love when the trouble with Zeus began.”

"A cheetah? What's a cheetah?" Lyra bounces in excitement at the prospect of seeing a new animal. Hermes flutters his wings and bounces from foot to foot, still showing off the hummingbird. He'll show her soon enough, but he sees Achilles' mood shift before she does, and he doesn't want to distract from the story.

And it's not long before Lyra notices Achilles' shift in mood, too. She leans against his side, looking up at him as he speaks. There's nothing he says that surprises her. The songs said that he was shamed after his anger cleared, but it's different from actually seeing how heavy the weight sits on him in person. Lyra, so far away from the reality of war and loss, doesn't really know what it's like. An adult who's been through funeral rites, who's known the fear of their loved one being damned by a lost body, might judge Achilles more harshly, but Lyra has none of the life experience to make that story viscerally twist her gut. But she can see in his face that it still hurts, even after he's been dead so long.

"You don't wear your laurels," she says. It'd been one of the things that helped her identify him in the beginning--he was a hero deemed worthy to guard the temple by Hades, but who didn't deem himself worthy enough to wear his own laurels. It's her way of acknowledging that she knows his regret, and knew it from the start.

She looks to the hummingbird in her hand, and she strokes his little head with the tip of her finger. The stories paint Hermes as clever and skilled with manipulation. But Lyra things that that's only possible because he's good at knowing people. Even people at their worst, like Achilles was.

"What happened with Zeus? Did he have a fight with Hades?"

“No, I don’t. I leave laurels to more deserving heroes.” Like Patroclus, who looked after the Myrmidons with such quiet, steady care, who sacrificed himself for the sake of his fellow Greeks. Heroes whose hearts weren’t rotted by pride.

Does he even deserve such a sweet child? Achilles instinctively puts a welcoming arm around Lyra. She’s so eager for affection—both to give and receive it. Achilles has never had to work for love. It was something he took for granted—from Patroclus, his mother, his father, his fellow Greeks. Lyra seems to soak it up every touch, smile, and kind word like a flower deprived of sun and rain. She’s so like Hermes in that way.

“And no, it wasn’t a fight with Lord Hades specifically. Zeus had been treating many of the gods unfairly for a very long time—I’m sure that comes as no surprise. Hermes was punished unjustly, and it was cause to finally fight back.” Achilles meets Hermes’ tiny hummingbird eyes, shiny and black as beads. Meeting Lyra has been challenging enough. Maybe it’s best they don’t talk about Zeus. “The story is a long one, and not all of it is happy, little fledgling.”

One downside of turning into an animal is that it's hard to be too expressive. Hummingbirds don't have faces like humans. But Hermes grows still as the topic of Zeus comes up, and it's pretty clear that he doesn't want to talk about that right now. Getting into Zeus might require getting into Maia, and it would definitely require getting into how Hermes betrayed his own father. It's too emotional a day for him to figure out how to recount all that.

Lyra, for her part, picks up on the mood in the air. It doesn't escape her that Zeus is supposed to be king among gods, so 'fighting back' is treason. If Hermes is still here, that must mean that the treason won... or else Hermes made a nasty bargain for forgiveness. Either way, she imagines it's painful and complicated.

"I'm curious," she says, looking to the hummingbird on her finger. "But I won't ask now. I know it makes grownups sad to tell unhappy stories."

She hasn't quite had enough life experience yet to know what it's like to be sad because she had to tell a story, but she's seen it consistently in all the grownups in her life, so she believes this is the kind thing to do right now.

"Now, may I please see a cheetah?"

At the polite little request, Hermes' response is immediate. Gone is the hummingbird, replaced by a long, graceful big cat, resting its head in Lyra's lap and purring. Lyra squeals in delight, clapping her hands together before calming her limbs enough to run her fingers through the rough, sandpaper fur.

"It's like a cat! A huge cat! But it's not a lion."

Then Hermes gives one of the silliest possible meows possible for a cheetah, and Lyra laughs loud and bright.

"That can't be the real noise it makes! You're making it up!"

No, hummingbirds aren’t very expressive, but Hermes’ reservations still come across. Achilles is grateful Lyra doesn’t choose the stubborn, impatient route—at least this time. Both of those things are certainly her inheritance.

“Thank you for being patient.” He combs back her unruly curls from where they’ve bounced around her face. “We’ll tell you everything soon. You have my word.”

Besides, a cheetah is much more fun than a tale of divine conflict. Achilles laughs, as much at Lyra’s unrestrained delight as the strange meow. “I’ve never seen a cheetah that wasn’t Hermes. I couldn’t tell you if they truly make such a sound!”

He scratches at Hermes’ fuzzy cheeks with his free hand. “You know, Lord Prometheus was inspired by Hermes when he made this cat. It’s very fast. It can outrun a horse with those long legs.”

Lyra can accept the promise of answers for now. She doesn't need to learn everything immediately. There are so many things to learn already that her curiosity will surely have plenty to work with.

And she has plenty food for her curiosity here with this strange giant cat. Hermes purrs louder as Achilles and Lyra scratches his face, eyes half lidded and mouth stretched into as close to a smile as a cheetah can get--which is remarkably close, all considered.

"I didn't know that Hermes was born before Prometheus stole fire," Lyra says, clearly unaware that Prometheus has since been released. "How could a cat outrun a horse? Can I see?"

Ah, the magic words. Hermes rises to his paws, playfully bumping his nose against Lyra's--provoking a bubbly giggle--before he takes off. He picks up speed quickly, his long tail whipping with every turn, and he turns into an orange blur. Lyra bounces in place, grinning wide as she claps in delight.

"Look at him go! I didn't know any animal could go so fast!"

“Hermes paid Lord Prometheus a few visits. The two of them have much in common.” In fact, Achilles wouldn’t mind if Lyra spent some time with Prometheus. He could teach her quite a lot, and he seems like the type to be charmed by a child’s many questions.

“I’ve no idea if all cheetahs go so fast, or if Hermes is adding a bit of his own speed. He does like to show off.” And Hermes seems to be basking in Lyra’s delight. Achilles is pleased to see him back to himself—it beats all the fear and anxiety leading up to this meeting.

“May I ask you some questions, Lyra?” Achilles shifts his posture to better face his daughter. “I’d like to know about your life—where you live, what your foster family is like, what you do day-to-day. Will you tell me?”

At the accusation (gasp! Horror!) that Hermes might like to show off, he stops in his tracks and flops on his back in front of Achilles and Lyra, meowing loudly as he waves his giant paws in the air. Whatever he says can't be directly translated to Greek, but any old melodramatic monologue about 'how dare you accuse him this way, he's never been so wounded, he's been betrayed, stabbed in the back, sold out by the one he loves most' would probably work.

Lyra, for her part, finds this hilarious. "Look! You offended him!" she manages between her laughs before she slides off the marble to scratch the cheetah's exposed belly. Hermes stops his flailing to purr instead, smirking up at Achilles and playfully swishing his tail to tickle the tip of Lyra's nose.

Showing off his animal forms for Lyra serves dual purposes: Hermes can bond with her, but it also saves him from the expectation of speaking. It's so much easier sometimes to interact with people if he's not expected to speak, and can instead bond more physically, showing his affection through purrs and play rather than trying to put all his feelings into words.

Lyra smiles at Achilles as he asks his questions, chewing her lip as she considers.

"So... I live in a little village near here. It's pretty small, but it's near the coast so we see sailors and merchants come by sometimes, and they don't mind telling me stories when I bug them at the market. My foster parents--Eudokia and Isidoros--they're farmers. And they were never able to have kids, so they figured that was the gods telling them that they should take in the kids no one else wanted, so they took in a lot of foundlings." The sorts of kids left at temples, or in the woods, or in the sea. Usually babes borne to a frightened unmarried woman, or a woman dead at childbirth with a lover who wanted nothing to do with the child that resulted in her demise. "I have four brothers and three sisters. We usually spend all day working on the farm. We're very poor, but I'm good at making sure we aren't too poor."

Meaning, the sort of poor that may force their foster parents' hand and sell some of them into slavery so the others don't die of starvation. Lyra didn't start off by stealing from the Underworld, and she's not afraid of admitting it, not even to her noble father. With a god of thievery for her other father, she figures she comes by it honestly.

“You manage such theatrics, even as a big cat. What skill!” Achilles laughs. “Will you show her more of your menagerie? Ah! The fluffy cloud-dog perhaps?”

He leans forward, elbows propped on his knees, listening to Lyra describe her life. It’s such a far cry from his own. As a prince, Achilles encountered that sort of poverty only rarely. A few times during his youth in Phthia, and later during his raiding along the Troad. But neither of those truly taught him what it was like to eke out such an uncertain existence.

It’s a wonder Lyra is so healthy and energetic. Her divinity must have granted her resilience—both of mind and body. “Your foster parents were very kind to take you in when they had so little for themselves. I’m deeply grateful that they gave you a home.”

Achilles grasps one of Hermes’ paws and gives it a teasing waggle as he continues his questions. “The sailors and merchants—and bards, as I remember—is that how you learned so much about history and the world?”

"Yup." Lyra nods, smiling proudly. "I paid the bards to sing for us while we worked. My foster parents thought it was a waste, but I always made sure we had enough for food, so they let me get away with it." And Lyra suspects that they themselves were rather delighted at the strange luxury of hearing stories and histories they never would have heard otherwise. Stories of the gods were still told over the fire by peasants, but not as beautifully and thoroughly as by a bard. "I still don't know my letters, but I'll learn."

Lyra says it with breezy confidence. She's yet to have the leisure time to sit down with a tutor and learn how to read and write, but now that she knows the future of her family is assured, then it'll be easy to find the time and money to learn.

Hermes wiggles his big paw in Achilles' hand, then the cheetah pops out of existence, replaced by a happy panting cloud.

Lyra squeals in delight, throwing up her hands. "It's so fluffy!" Completely forgetting for a moment that she's dealing with a god, she picks Hermes up and hugs him tight like a stuffed toy, rocking back and forth as she rubs her face into his fluffy, fluffy fur. Hermes, for his part, seems perfectly pleased to be manhandled and squeezed within an inch of his fluffy puppy life. "It has to be made up. This isn't real. It's so cute!"

“It is made up, after a fashion. People in the future breed dogs to look that way, or so Lord Apollo says.”

Achilles watches Lyra cuddle ridiculous-dog-shaped Hermes for a moment. Funny how Hermes probably isn’t anywhere close to ready for that kind of physical affection from Lyra in his normal body. A cheetah or a dog is safe, though. Then he remembers all the times Hermes has shifted into an animal when his emotions are too much and it makes entirely more sense.

“Hermes and I will arrange for more tutors. You’ll learn your letters and much more.” Even if they send her to Medea, he’ll make sure she has a well-rounded education. Maybe he can persuade Hermes to send her away for a few months with Chiron. He gives her a sideways look, as if sharing a secret. “You know, my own letters are quite sloppy. Heroes aren’t asked to write very much at all. I only had occasion to pick up a quill after I died.”

Maybe someday he’ll share the codex with her so she can read more about the Underworld. Or maybe it’s time to start a new one with her in mind.

Or …

“Even if you can’t visit me regularly, we can send letters to one another. And we have just the messenger to deliver them, assuming he ever turns back into a man.” Achilles gives the fluffy cloud a boop on his wet nose.

Being an animal is a welcome respite from the overwhelming pressure of godhood… or fatherhood, in this case. Hermes is grateful for his ability to hide in a less complicated state of being, because right now, he can’t be the happy, accepting father that Achilles is. He needs to warm up to her, needs to get used to the idea of being her father, but he can’t bear the thought of actually saying that to Lyra and risking her thinking herself unwanted and unloved. It’s easier to be an animal, to let her treat him like an animal, and make her laugh for now.

As for Lyra, it doesn’t escape her that Hermes has been strange this whole time, but that’s not weird because gods aren’t supposed to act like normal people. And in some ways, perhaps a small part of her is grateful for him to be an animal, because it’s easier to get to know her fathers one at a time.

When Hermes’ nose is booped, he looks at Achilles upside down, panting with that big natural smile and rotating his head side to side. At the goofy show, Lyra laughs, scratching the dog behind the ears. “But he’s so cute like this! I bet a cheetah would be a really good messenger.”

She smiles bright and open at Achilles. It’ll likely take a while before Hermes warms up enough for them to connect on the same level, but she’s clearly connected with Achilles. “I’d really like to write you letters. I’ll learn how to make mine extra neat for you. I like learning new things.” She looks back down at the fluffy impossible cloud dog, at its happy face and wagging tail, and rubs its ear gently. “Like… I didn’t know gods could be silly. But Hermes is silly, and that’s fun to learn.”

He might not feel like her father yet, but he feels friendly, and that’s more than she would have expected.

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