Enough is Enough (tag: Philotes)
She was standing next to her fireplace, looking at the pictures on her mantle. They were modern photographs, each in its own gilded frame. Her children, the loves and the wars. But the balance between them was missing. One of her children had never gotten their picture taken. One had been gone for far too long.
Aphrodite sighed and started walking to the main room of her temple. She supposed this was all her fault in some way. If Hephaestus hadn’t caught her and Ares having sex, none of this would have happened. Her husband seemed to have cursed the child from that union, though he never admitted it. Dite never regretted it. She had her daughter and Harmonia was beautiful.
But Harmonia had gone with her husband after his death. She went to the Elysium Fields to be with him. Dite had thought the move had been a bit extreme, but she didn’t do anything to stop her daughter. Maybe she should have tried, but she thought Harmonia would have returned after a few years. She had not expected her to stay anywhere near as long as this.
Aphrodite had a plan to get her daughter to come home. She just needed the right ally to pull it off. She didn’t think she would have much trouble convincing one of Harmonia’s closest friends to help her.
“Philotes, so good of you to come,” she said, entering the room. “I do apologize for keeping you waiting.” She gave the other goddess a hug and kissed her cheek lightly. “Would you care for some refreshments?” Dite motioned for her staff to bring out the wine and hors’ d’oeuvres.