Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...
Helios was at a loss. He stood in the large, arched doorway of his worn stable at the Rhodes Temple site, a bridle hung in the bend of his elbow. He stared out into the deepening darkness of a moonless night and felt physically ill. O god, it was going to be dark out there. Completely and utterly black. Like, not even a speck of light.
And why? Because some messengers from Lady Aphrodite had told him she wished him not to fly? Helios could count on one hand all the times Zeus had ever asked to hold his Chariot, and at least he had always explained himself! But the Goddess had mentioned morning... wait untli morning...
Helios wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but he couldn't help the hope firing to life in his chest like a banked smithy. The titan shifted uncertainly, leather of his tack creaking in the quiet. Even the horses seemed to be holding their breath for the outcome, still and strangely cooperative in their stalls, despite missing their accustomed routine. Helios was sure they were as ready as he to return to life as the sun.
The Titan turned finally, sighing slowly and trying to force the tension out of his body. He ambled towards the tack room, depositing the forgotten bridle from his arm to its designated hook. He knew if Dite were immersed in something universe altering, then Helios was best off staying out of the line of fire... but he couldn't help wondering how the earth was handling this... unusual turn of events.
Helios stepped outside again, beating his gloves against his thigh to dislodge dirt into a small cloud. He peered around him, listening to the sounds of the night, and suddenly stood rigidly upright. Because the sounds of night weren't... they just weren't there! Everything was quiet... no crickets, not wind in the tree branches, no...
"--the fuck?!" Helios muttered quietly, loping towards the cliffside edge of the plateau his barn sat upon. Looking down, he could barely make out the glass-like stillness of the ocean. So yeah, no sounds of the ocean moving... no motion at all..
"...wow. That is just... really not right." What the hades had Aphrodite done?!