Hera wrapped her arms around him as he embraced her, smiling as he placed a kiss at the corner of her mouth. She could still feel the scratches on his back she had given him last night in the throes of passion. She and her children's lives upon Olympus were not without happiness. The disheartening part of it was that those moments had usually been without Zeus. Most of them anyway. In the beginning, Zeus had tried with Ares, and there had been moments when she would gaze upon her young son and husband together with joy, though she doubted Ares truly remembered. As the rift between her and Zeus had widened, the time he spent with any of their children had dwindled. Every affair, every time one of his children by another woman garnered more favor than them, did nothing but gave them more reason to identify as<i>her </i>children, their father be damned.<br/><br/>"I remember that, he begged for days to have a three-headed dog," Hera chuckled at the memory, recalling all the lists of reasons her little boy had written up as to why it would be beneficial to have their own Cerberus. Poor boy didn't quite understand when she told him that giant three-headed dogs were not an everyday occurrence. He had pouted for a week afterward. Her Ares had always been persistent. She pulled away just enough to look him in the eye but keep their bodies pressed together. "So how do you plan to approach Thyia? I might be able to help, or at the very least make some suggestions."<br/><br/>It wasn't a matter of lack of faith in her husband, it was far more that mending the rift between him and their children would be a delicate task, especially as they got around to speaking to the boys. She just wanted to make sure there were as few possibilities for misunderstanding and misinterpretation as possible. Thyia might be somewhat forgiving, indeed she might even be willing to go along with his plan for the sake of preventing herself from fading further, but she was clever and had seen the births of her half-siblings more often than she had cared to. Being the goddess of childbirth had made it a necessity to see to them, though she had not been above making it extraordinarily difficult for them. The legends could say what they liked about Hera's power or influence over her, but plenty of that had been Eileithyia's decision, a small bit of petty retribution, but one that was in her power to take. For all her temerity, she was still a goddess, and one who knew her power at that.<br/><br/>At that moment, Hera's phone rang, the poppy ringtone indicating that it was Thyia. Well, that was certainly interesting timing to say the least.<br/><br/>"What's that saying mortals have? Speak of the devil and he shall appear?" Hera remarked with a wry grin before giving him a quick kiss and disentangling herself from his grasp.<br/><br/>She fished her phone out of her purse from where it sat on its side not far from the doorway.<br/><br/>"Hello, Thyia," she greeted in the soft motherly tone she always took with her children. "How was last night at your brother's place?"<br/><br/>"Hey, Mom, it was good," her daughter answered in her usual soft-spoken voice, unaware that Hera had put her on speaker phone upon reentering the kitchen so that Zeus could hear her as well. She thought it might benefit him to hear her voice. "Eris actually<i>didn't </i>set the kitchen on fire this time, which she wasn't too happy about but I don't think I've ever seen Aglaia that proud. By the way, it's your day off right?"<br/><br/>"Well, it is Saturday, so that would mean it's the weekend and therefore I don't work today," Hera said jokingly.<br/><br/>"Lucky, too bad babies don't take weekends off," Thyia replied, sounding somewhat tired, and on the other end Hera could hear the sound of a comb going through hair. She was likely preparing for another day of tending to births and babies. "Do you think you could bring me over some coffee with some nectar in it at lunch? Like say, between 12:30-1:30?"<br/><br/>"Are you not feeling well?" Hera said, her fingers nervously beginning to fiddle with her necklace.<br/><br/>"Nah, just a little tired, that's all," Thyia answered with what Hera assumed was a shrug. "I'd know if I was fading. After a few scares you start to get a hang on the symptoms. Besides, Hephaestus wouldn't let me leave if he thought I was. Don't worry, I just could do with a pick-me-up, that's all."<br/><br/>"Sure, is there anything else you need?"<br/><br/>"Cinnamon hazelnut flavor and two spoonfuls of sugar please? And my lip balm? I forgot it at your place yesterday."<br/><br/>"Of course," Hera promised, still feeling the quickening of her pulse even after Thyia's affirmation that she was fine. A mother couldn't help but worry. "Have a good day, sweetie."<br/><br/>"You too. Bye."<br/><br/>With that, their daughter hung up and the coffeemaker sputtered to a stop, the carafe full with enough for two people. She would have to make another thermos full for Eileithyia.