Asklepios put his other hand over hers, squeezed it gently. Philotes was a reasonable goddess, and a good one - guided by her heart but not toward bitterness. Would that the rest of her siblings had learned that, somehow or some way. All of this was turning into some kind of madness, and he truly was afraid that Aphrodite's party might find itself at the epicenter of it all. That didn't mean he wouldn't go. Asklepios had gone on the Argo with much more to lose than a body he didn't truly value any longer. Philammon... no, he wouldn't come. His brother would do what he thought was best. It just wouldn't involve making things worse, hopefully.
Hopefully.
"Yes," Asklepios said with a smile. "I think I will. A night away from all of this might be just the thing."
Something about her was odd, she'd suddenly become nervous somehow. Maybe because she was afraid that he was angry at her? Asklepios was probably flattering himself with that assessment, but she was looking for something. A port in a storm. He had to give her that, if he could, didn't he? Grief was a difficult process, and the knowledge that Artemis would return in one form or another - at some later date - did little to assuage anyone's grief or fear. Least of all Philotes' grief and fear.
"Do you want to come with me? It might help, talking with ... well, Aphrodite's parties are rarely dull. I don't expect you not to grieve for your friend, but it might help you burn away some of your stress."
Did she think the party was in poor taste? She might be right, if she did, but Asklepios was not going to ask Aphrodite to cancel the event. Feasts and funeral games often accompanied a burial. The fact that there was no burial... might as well be a taboo subject, for all of them. There was nothing wrong with a little revelry in the face of death, a reminder of the things you wanted to live for instead of the things you didn't.