The Heart of the Hearth

All I could do last night was cry. I had a huge decision looming over me. It felt as if it were crushing me.

A soft breeze made my hair blow into my face, causing me to come back to reality. I opened my eyes to see the wildflowers around me slowly dance. A smile gently covered my face.

“Someone seems happy this morning.”

I turned to see a grinning Aster standing beside me. I couldn’t help but smile back.

“Good morning.” I greeted him happily.

“Good morning, beautiful.” He almost sang as he leaned over and plucked a flower up. I grinned at him as he placed it in my hair.

“It suits you.” He said.

“Why thank you.”

He offered me his arm. “Shall we begin checking the hearths today, milady?”

“Yes,” I said, “Let us begin.”

We both smiled as we headed toward the city to do my rounds. It didn’t take us long at all to complete my rounds. The public hearths seemed to be in fine condition and needed to no help from me.

“Since we have so much time left, do you want to visit the library?”

I nodded my head, “I think that is a wonderful idea.”

The two of us headed toward the library hand-in-hand. We smiled as we pointed out places on the way and greeted people as they greeted us. I saw people watch us with smiles on their faces as we passed. This made me smile even more. The people were happy that we were together.

“We’re here.” Aster spoke as I looked up to see the tall building before us.

We walked inside and began to look through scrolls upon scrolls of history and studies. The library was as it always was. Silent and peaceful, untouched by the outside worlds, aside from the abundance of knowledge that had been store within its walls, it was perfect. I smiled, wishing that the world could be like that as well. A peaceful place where Aster and I could be together without having to worry about what Zeus might do we continue to visit each other.

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The field was looked lovely as we walked through it. The sun was beginning her descent as the night was soon to begin.

“I’m glad that our day was better than the one we had yesterday.” Aster smiled at me. I nodded my head in response.

“Yes.” I looked at my feet. “Unfortunately, the day isn’t over yet.”

Aster looked at me confused. “What do you mean?”

I sighed, “My brother is mad.”

“Hestia?” Aster looked at me. “Where are you going with this?”

“I’m trying to say that my brother is threatening to do something if we continue to visit one another.” I said softly, before looking back at Aster. “I fear what he may do.”

“What could he do?”

My mind thought back to when Zeus and Hades had fought. Zeus had shot his own brother with lightning. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to think about what he would do to Aster and me.

“My brother wounded our other brother and banished him.” I grimaced, “Thinking about what he could do to us frightens me.”

Aster looked off in the distance. I watched him, waiting for his reaction.

“I don’t care.”

I watched as he turned back to look at me. A smile on his face.

“We made it through yesterday. We can make it through today, tomorrow and we can make it through all of the days that are to come too.”

“Aster…” I gaped, “Do you mean it?”

He smiled widely as I threw my arms around him.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”