"We should sit." Hephaestus led the way into a sitting room near the kitchen. He considered a moment as he settled himself in a chair.
"I'll answer those questions in reverse order," he began. He briefly wondered if she would be satisfied with the answers. Probably not. "Atlas always looks like that, and I didn't just send Atlas to Ridgekeep like I was leaving a baby on a doorstep. When I confided in Freyra that I was holding Atlas' leash, she practically begged me to lend him to her." That was overstating it, but the elf goddess had been rather insistent. "Watching Atlas myself had been rather taxing, and I felt the Aesir and Vanir of Ridgekeep could do a better job of it, frankly." Freyra's status updates had been uniformly positive.
"But, despite all the trouble it caused me," Hephaestus continued, "I felt it was important to keep Atlas alive. Though many would overlook it, he is a member of our family. He and Zeus may not be kissing cousins, but simply ending Atlas' life seemed reckless and irresponsible." Hephaestus sighed, part for effect, and partly because saying his plan aloud was more emotionally taxing than he had reckoned. "When I found him, the... problem with the Egyptians was fresh in my memory. Atlas represented a resource that I felt could not be underestimated. As strong and battle-hardened as Herakles, I felt that if he could only be turned to our side, he would make a powerful ally." Hephaestus realized that he had just paraphrased Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine. He felt both awesome and uncomfortable.
"And since I had decided to keep him, what better place to keep him than here?" Hephaestus spread his arms wide to indicate his expansive mansion. "Beneath its luxurious exterior, my mansion is a technological marvel. Escape would be highly improbable for even one of Atlas' might." Hephaestus would not mention that Atlas had, in fact, escaped at one point.
"Finally, I was thinking that I could do something to protect the ragtag group of headstrong individuals that is this family." A little edge crept into Hephaestus' voice. He ignored it. He had wanted to help, damn it. "But because they were so headstrong, I had to keep them, you, in the dark. I didn't need Zeus or Herakles deciding they had to close the book on the last Titan." Hephaestus let out a breath and sank in his chair. "Though I did tell Hades. I thought if anyone should know about free roaming titans, it was he." Hephaestus sat back in his chair, waiting for Val's response.