Who: Zale & Hades What: Stories and Comfort Where: The Old House When Backdated. Monday night into Tuesday Warning None.
Zale had awoken in the night and the quiet house was alive as he tip-toed down the stairs and wandered the hard marbled floors of the first floor. He had to cover his mouth not to yelp at how cool the floors were under his bare feet as he roamed. He was awake because he had grown restless in the night, but in the shadows cast by the furniture in the dim moonlight, the boy could not help but realize that this was the first summer he had ever spent away from his sister and his mother. It was so long ago since he last saw his twin and his mother was off protecting his little sibling. He had been assured she would be safe; she didn’t seem scared for herself at all, but...
Standing beside the window he put his hand up to the glass. Where are you, Mom? Are you okay?
But he wasn’t the only one up and restless. Hades had been laying in his dark wood bed for hours, his vast amount of sheets and blankets draped around Hestia but forsaken from him. Every so often, he reached over and checked his email on his new iPhone, but there was never any mail. But he had heard the stairs creek and rose to his feet. He would have taken his blade, but he knew those footsteps. Zale was up.
Carefully, he slipped down the stairs and watched from a distance as the boy stood at the window. Hades knew that look. That was a look of lonely longing. Sometimes he wished Zale would not be so much like him... Actually he always wished the horse whisperer would not be so much like him. Soundlessly, he moved across the floor and placed his hand along the boy’s shoulders, “[You okay,] Kiddo?”
His heart leapt up into his throat as he spun around startled but then Zale calmed. His uncle was too quiet. “[Hey, Uncle Hades.]”
Hmmm. No real answer. That generally meant no. Hades was wordless as he sat down on the wide window sill that easily acted as a window seat and looked out into the night. The trees were so green and the flowers so bright in the night. For the moment he wished he could give Zale his eyes for a second so he could see it, too. But that was just a distraction and now was not the time for it, “[She’ll be okay, Zale. Your mom wouldn’t do anything to put her child in danger.]” Purposely anyway.
The small smile remained on the sandy haired boy’s face. He knew his uncle didn’t like his mother but he always seemed to try to be nice. He wished his mother would see this side of him, then she would understand why he liked being around the god. “[I keep telling myself that but... It doesn’t make me not miss her.]”
Hades knew for a fact he couldn’t be nice about Demeter two sentences in a row and so shifted his thoughts as he shifted himself on the window sill, bringing his knees to his chest while motioning to the other side for the boy to hop up and sit, too. “[How did you like it at your sister’s?]”
Zale nodded and eased himself to sit at the other side of the window. He always liked the quiet moments with his uncle, but he wished they didn’t feel so hidden. But that was just because it was night in an unlit house. He smiled a little, but his own young thoughts still churned in his head. “[It was good. We ordered pizza on Friday and then she told me ghost stories... Are her stories true? She wouldn’t tell me. Said it would ruin the fun.]”
“[Could be true. She is the queen of ghosts. I guess it would depend on the story.]” Perhaps he shouldn’t have used that phrase. It made Hades’ heart hurt in his chest at its sound. As much as he enjoyed the little life he had scraped together with Hestia and his sons, the phrase made his mind flashback to memories he would never get to enjoy again. He shifted his vision to look out the window again. “[It’s good you had fun.]”
Zale frowned. He didn’t quite understand what was going on between his uncle and his eldest sister and what had changed things between them but they both seemed so sad at random moments sometimes. But he didn’t say that. He wasn’t sure it would help. He rubbed his hands together in silence and then rubbed his feet a little to get rid of the chill.
The movement Hades noticed. “[You cold?]”
“[My feet are. I forgot my socks in my room.]” The boy tucked his bare feet beneath him and brought his eyes back to the darkness of the outdoors, too. He was sure he wasn’t seeing as much as his uncle did but he imagined he was seeing much further. All the way back to California and pretended that was where his mother and sister were, waiting for the birth of his baby brother or sister. It was more comforting than not knowing where anyone was.
If Hades was a mind reader, he would have to go hunt down Poseidon and Demeter and bring them back with lassos… If only he had a magic lasso. He could have fun with that if his more recent comics had taught him anything, but he wasn’t. He was only a judge, but that was enough. “[She’ll come back. Don’t worry.]”
“[How do you know?]” Zale frowned more when he said it but he looked back to his uncle. “[I haven’t heard from Dad or Mara in months. Maybe I never will. Maybe Mom will be…]”
“[Not your mother. Your mother is too…]” Hades almost said possessive but cut the word off at the pass. In his pause, he tried to think of another word. Obsessive? Insanely protective? Clingtastic? Blinded by her own hype so she could ignore reason? No... Um, what was the nice word for all that? Damn. “[She’s too much your mother, Kiddo. She doesn’t work like that. She’ll be back. One day when you least suspect it.]”
Zale was going to ignore how long that pause was. He knew his uncle was trying and that was enough. But now there was some hope in his heart, “[How are you sure? Did you hear something?]” Probably not from his mother, but maybe Persephone...
In that moment, Hades looked to the young horse whisperer and had to make a choice. It hurt to see the kid so upset and worried... He knew what to say. “[No. But all mother’s visit their sons when they least suspect it. Mine did and I lived in the Underworld. You live in Florida.]” And just because comedians liked to say Florida was part of Hell did not make it true.
Zale perked up. He had never heard a myth like that. “[Really? Did she come a lot?]”
Hades shook his head. “[Only once but I was a grown man and it was the Underworld. Want me to tell you the story?]”
The boy only nodded in reply. Of course he did.
The Dark One almost smiled as he leaned back. “[It had been a while since I had gone to the Underworld after the dice game. I never visited Olympus because I really couldn’t. I didn’t have time for holidays like that but I wished for a long time that they would visit me. I had never been away like that. I had always been surrounded by family until the day I left... But day after day passed and no one visited. I thought maybe I had been forgotten.]”
Zale listened intently. He could relate to it. He had always been around his twin and his mother. Even Uncle Dionysus. Not to say he wasn’t with family now, but not around the family he had always known. “[And then what?]”
“[Well, one day I had given up all hope that people were even bothering to think about me. I felt betrayed and I was angry beyond words. I took up my chariot and started making circles around my kingdom when I caught sight of something wandering the gardens and making its way to my palace. And it was large. I gripped my weapons tightly and stormed down.]” Hades made the motion with his hand to denote a flying chariot swooping down, “[I thought it was a Titan that escaped from Tartarus and I had to resecure it. I was only partly right. It was a Titan.]”
“[You almost attacked your mother?]” The boy laughed softly. He knew the story had a good ending so it was just funny to imagine the mistake.
“[Almost? I knocked her right down and had my staff at her throat.]” Hades replied quickly and then continued, “[She pushed back her hood and laughed, saying at least I was getting good use of the staff she had given me to use during the war. But I didn’t find it humorous. I demanded to know why she was here to which she replied she was coming to see me. Hadn’t she been heading directly to my palace?]”
Now Zale titled his head, “[Why didn’t you trust her? I mean, it was your mom.]”
“[I was worried she was there to free Father. She was his wife after all and I was a bit paranoid about him ever escaping where I had secured him. That was the last thing I would ever need.]” And it made him stay up at nights wondering if his father had managed to escape literally the deepest, darkest section of Tartarus after the Fall. If mere souls could escape Hell... Hades shuddered at the thought and continued his story to push aside his anxious fear at it. “[But I let her up and she hugged me. It had been so long since I had been hugged. Any harshness from having been King of a hostile world melted away from me. She told me she had missed me, and even though she might not be able to visit again, she wanted to let me know something.]”
The boy couldn’t help himself. He was leaning forward on his knees, waiting for the next part. ‘[C’mon, Uncle Hades, enough cliffhangers.]”
Hades nodded, “[Even if she couldn’t visit me again because it would frighten people her going to the Underworld, she wanted to let me know that she loved me. She then asked me why did I think she let me keep her staff once the war was won and when I couldn’t answer she explained it was so I always knew I had my mother’s love. Even when the night of the Underworld seemed so dark and I felt so alone, I would always have her love. Her next words echo in my mind, Zale. ‘All sons have their mother’s love. Always. And all mothers long to see their little boys.’ She stayed with me until first light of the morning on the surface and I allowed her back up.]”
Zale could only smile as he looked at the window again, “[You think that will happen for me, too?]”
“[Your mother is a mother and you are a son. Besides, like I said, this is Florida, not the Underworld. People come here for vacations. Your mother loves you and can’t wait to see you again.]” Hades then released his knees from his chest and nudged the boy with his foot, “[Now get back to bed. You have horse camp tomorrow. You don’t want to be groggy.]”
It made Zale laugh as he eased off the window sill back to the floor. His uncle was right about tomorrow. He didn’t want to be too sleepy. Gemini would be disappointed with him. And maybe his uncle was right about the other thing, too. At least he hoped he was. Giving his uncle a hug, he whispered, “[Thanks for telling me that, Uncle Hades.]”
“[You’re the only one who knows that story. It was a secret.]” The god whispered back as he returned the hug and then nudged him again, “[Bed.]”
“[Goodnight.]” Zale then quickly scurried up the stairs to try to catch a few more hours of sleep before the smell of breakfast woke him up. He thought Aunt Hestia was going to make waffles in the morning.
“[Goodnight, Kiddo.]” Hades remained on the window sill looking out into the night. It was good Zale felt better, but now he felt terrible. “If only that story was true...”
Summary: Zale wakes up in the night and begins to wonder if his mother was okay and if he was going to see her again. Hades, not being a good sleeper, heard him and went down to offer him kind words and a comforting story.