Hera watched her daughter order the young waiter around with a raised eyebrow, thinking that a lot had changed since she'd last seen her. The meekness that had once characterized her youngest was gone, and in its place was a headstrong young woman. If there wasn't that spark, that something, that called to a similar spark in Hera, she would never recognize this woman as her child. Indeed, she couldn't help but wonder if the change was in Hebe, or in her.
The question took her by surprise, although she supposed it shouldn't. While such a question would have been considered the height of rudeness in times past (or even in much of the world in the present day), it was pretty normal for it to be the first question out of an American's mouth. "I am a professor of Molecular Genetics at UCLA," she finally said as the waiter returned with a glass of wine for Hebe. "I also do some work for the Los Angeles Charity Clinic. And yourself? What have you been doing to stay busy these last few years." Millinnea....