Goodness but she was a formal little thing. Something about the very precise way she spoke and moved tickled Hypnos, and he gave her another sleepy smile. And her name, given with such politeness, told him why her appearance had seemed familiar. He knew this girl. Well, knew of her. This was their first actual meeting, though he was a bit surprised it hadn't happened earlier.
Hyp had certainly heard her name often enough. One of his sons had a little playmate outside of his siblings, which was unique enough given how many brothers he had to play with at home. Phobetor seemed to think that Melinoe was quite something, given the way he spoke of her. But whatever he imagined his son's friend to be like, this sweet, precise, polite, self-contained little girl was not it at all.
But perhaps she was those things because she was Hades' daughter. Hypnos knew that too, now that he had the name to slide into place in his memory. Thanatos spent a good deal of time with the Underworld king, though Hyp had no idea why, and he'd mentioned the daughters from time to time. It was possible that somewhere along the way, Sleep had even seen the girl before, but he couldn't recall a specific instance of that.
Though he would have done it for any child, given all those things that he was now aware of because he could finally place her, Hypnos was especially glad that he'd offered her his tea. And food. That she was being very diplomatic about accepting. Hades would be proud. “You can go if you wish, but I do have some lovely sweet things in the kitchen to snack on if you'd like. My wife is a very, very good cook. And I have to make another cup of tea for myself so I am going there anyway. Would you like to come with? You may have a snack and perhaps some more tea or some milk if you like.”