Hera could not help but snicker as she overheard Zeus fumbling about wherever he was. It seemed she had overestimated his grasp of current technology, especially if he was using what must have been a phone with a cord. Of course he would try to play it off as if he knew what he was doing. He always had been proud and unwilling to admit when he was out of his depth. She did permit herself a small laugh at his recollection with the young man and made a mental note to question him further on that little story later. She had had more than a few similar moments herself throughout the years, usually from women who came in with stories of how their mothers or grandmothers had gotten their wedding dress from her store and recalled the owner in detail. Hera's response had typically been that she and her "mother" bore an uncanny resemblance even for mother and daughter. She would then rece, ive glowing comments of how she was just as lovely as her mother. In reality, she and Rhea were about half and half on similarities and differences in appearance, the most obvious of the former being their thick brown curls.<br/><br/>"Are you still there?" she asked after she did not hear from him for a long moment. She had heard the softest of impacts, like a light landing on carpet. When he did finally pick up the phone again, his voice was tight and raw, despite how he had cleared his throat just a second before. She had also heard the deep breath he had taken. Yet she couldn't help but give a wry grin when he spoke of her beauty. Somehow she doubted that, after all, a whole war was the fallout of<i>that </i>particular contest and she had not even been the winner. Truth be told, it had been wise of her husband to refuse the position of judge in that debacle. Two options would have provided argument for bias and choosing Aphrodite would have resulted in the ire of a wife and a daughter. No, it had been clever of him to divert the role to someone else, though she had rolled her eyes at the more "noble" reasoning he had given for the decision.<br/><br/>"Best you never say that around her, lest you invite her ire, though I do appreciate the sentiment," Hera responded as she lowered her voice to a soft murmur so that the girls wouldn't hear. "Yes, they often stay with me. Still fairly much the same, but Eris has been rather fond of changing her appearance with the times. You would be surprised how often I find hair-dye staining my sinks. Eileithyia spends most of her time putting her domain into practice. Apparently midwives and doulas are still in use, which I think is commendable. Hebe occasionally visits as well, but lives with her husband."<br/><br/>Hera had always felt guilty about taking her children with her. While Zeus had been far from the best father to his children by her, to have one's offspring taken from them always left a deep festering wound. Their children had always been closer to her, as was to be expected when one's father seemed to favor their half siblings. Still, she knew it would pain him, perhaps not in a day or a month, but eventually the sting would be there, a thorn so painful but immovable. Yet Eris and Eileithyia had come with her of their own volition, with Hebe very nearly doing the same and leaving her own family behind. Two of her five children she had taken with her, but the other three had removed themselves from their father long ago. Physical distance would have hardly changed a thing for the boys. Even so, the guilt of taking her husband's children from him had gnawed at her.