"To make us great? Or to make<i>you </i>great?" Hera inquired, crossing her long legs and interlacing her fingers as she had so often done while holding counsel on Olympus. "You think you are the only one to be discontent with immortality and decline of his influence? Apollo only started to regain a foothold in the 1800s. He still struggles, he must have been if he dared come to me alone, but he's slowly been getting better."<br/><br/>She recalled that night almost too well. Some gods had adjusted better than others to the changing times and shifts in power. To look at Hermes, one wouldn't have even considered he had faded in the slightest. His personality was still irrepressible, still humorous, still sharp and clever...and still chatty. Hera had known the boy was adaptable, but each and every change in the mortal world he saw as another challenge, another game to play. Every now and then he popped into her shop with a package from one of the other gods. But Apollo, that one had always been comfortable with his position of power, even as he juggled so many different domains. To lose that influence and watch it slip through his fingers had steadily broken him. She had been about to close up the shop one night when she saw him standing in front of her door looking lost and hopeless, eyes dull and clouded. He had come to Hera because she had been the first to leave, and the first to adapt. He had begged her to teach him how be content with what they were now, how to cope. To say she had never thought such a situation possible with any of her husband's illegitimate children would have been an understatement, it had outright shocked her. Still, for the next few weeks she had helped him get back on his feet, so to speak, or at least regain his footing in a world that had left him reeling. However, she couldn't help but wonder where Artemis had been when her brother had needed her most.<br/><br/>"I am also curious as to why you would approach me first, of all people," she remarked as she noticed the faint darkening of the clouds outside and the minor chill in the air. "Why not approach Poseidon or Demeter? Surely they would have readily agreed, given their situations. It's not as if Amphitrite would try and prevent Poseidon from going along with it either, or their children for that matter. Artemis would also more likely lean towards your proposition. Dionysus would require convincing, he's been surprisingly adaptable, though I'm certain part of it is his wife's doing. He could be convinced if promised she would never fade. So tell me, why seek out the first goddess to leave Olympus?"<br/><br/>Hera's disappearance had been sudden, to put it mildly. She had told no one, save her children in hushed whispers in private rooms, and left without warning. For the last time, she had decided, she had been filled to the brim with fury and bitterness. When Zeus had returned to Olympus that morning from his latest illicit tryst, Hera was nowhere to be found. As if every trace of her existence had been erased, anything that had any memory of her was gone, from her clothes to her jewelry to her loom. All were either taken with her or thrown away. Eileithyia had insisted on traveling with her, as had Hebe. Eileithyia she had taken with her, but had insisted Hebe stay with her husband and children. No point in leaving a man who actually adored his wife to wonder what he had done to lose her. Eris had popped up just as they had reached the foot of Olympus, her excuse had been that she wanted to make an entrance, that and the fact she couldn't resist the idea of plunging the gods into a maelstrom of chaos from their queen's departure. The two had been consistently at her side since, though Eris preferred to be around her mother on her off days. She now spent her days (or perhaps her nights) causing mayhem. Eris had always been quite nocturnal. The sleepless nights Hera had suffered after her birth had predicted that much.<br/><br/>She had been thankful to have her girls with her when she left, otherwise she might have turned back. They had given her the conviction to stick to her chosen path. Let Zeus rage and sulk at her disappearance. Let him search if he was so inclined, she and her daughters had been careful. Eris had even refrained from her usual shenanigans for the sake of remaining unnoticed. Though many passerby had asked her how she could possibly have such a clever and mischievous "son". Admittedly, Eris' insistence on dressing in such a manner had actually behooved them. They were never found and Hera was able to create<i>Teléia. </i>Somehow, Eris had ended up getting her own religion, though whether she had actively played a hand in its creation or not, Hera still could not tell.