"Agalia," my father said.
"Dad!" I cried out. In a blur I was in his arms, bawling. I choked between snot. He wept, chest rumbling.
Hermes sniffled behind us, teary-eyed. He turned to Thanatos, crying into his shoulder. Death watched, unmoved.
"You're beautiful," dad finally said.
"Dad. Why did you never tell me?"
He stroked my hair. "I wanted to protect you. My only daughter." His voice seemed hoarse from disuse. "I'm so sorry. Every day, for years, not a moment passed when I didn't think of you or your mother. I never imagined you could grow so quickly. I've missed so much." His lips drew thin. "Hermes, I can never repay you."
Hermes blew his nose on Thanatos' hood. Red-cheeked, the messenger god replied: "You two are such beautiful people! Oh Prometheus!" He tackled us in a bear hug. "You're free. And things in Olympus - they may finally be alright."
"Agalia?" came my mother's voice.
"Mom?"
Dad handed me over to her. I nearly screamed at the sight of Hesione. She was rail-thin, her skin was marred by scars, hair cut haphazardly like a Nazi prisoner's. But she smiled despite her suffering. She was hardened, but unbroken.
"Agalia, oh, my beautiful daughter!" she cried.
We talked until gods knew when. Thanatos left, disgusted by his snot-covered robes, and Hermes brightened up.
Finally, my father, as he did of old, told me a story of stolen light.
We stood at the base of Mount Olympus. The clear sky undercut the storm within me. I shivered, looking at my father, his eyes slick with tears. He handed me the water of Mnemosyne.
"Drink," he whispered.
I did.
New strength yawned within me.
Hestia's hearth beckoned above.
I felt my father's Titanic sorrow, my mother's grief, and Hermes' quiet wonder.
A new goddess was born. I said goodbye in a voice like embers. Hermes bore wingless hope to the sky.
In the beginning, the wiliest son of Zeus returned Prometheus' stolen fire. A fire that, in the end, had become his. The road before us stretched into the stars.
"Is it lonely, on the peak of Olympus?" I asked.
Hermes smiled softly. "Only when you lose sight of your dreams."
TO BE CONTINUED!