Page 17 of Hermes
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Demeter widely grinning from ear to ear. She seemed like she was barely able to contain herself, wanting to leap from the dais to hug her daughter. However, she remained seated in her proper position, as advised by the King of the Gods.
But what struck me most peculiar about this scene was that Hades had a wicked smirk on his face as he came forward. He looked fairly pleasant for someone who had just lost to the gods. It left an unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“Persephone! My daughter! You have returned!” Demeter cried out.
“Yes! I have missed you dearly, mother. But I am back for good now. Thank the gods,” Persephone replied.
“Not so fast,” Hades interceded. All of us stared at him with puzzling expressions on our faces. “I may have accepted your terms and brought Persephone back to you all, but that does not mean she will remain here for good.”
“Yes, she will!” Demeter shouted at him. “You won’t ever lay a finger on her again. So help me gods…”
“Enough!” Zeus shouted to silence everyone in the room. “Now brother, you have agreed to return Persephone to her mother, permanently. You cannot go back on your word.”
“But it’s not without warrant,” Hades explained. “For you see, Persephone is now one with the Underworld. Just ask her yourselves.”
Persephone displayed a quizzical look on her face. “What are you talking about? I am not one with the Underworld.” She then glanced up at Zeus. “He is lying!”
“Tell me, my dear, what was the last thing you ate before we arrived here?” Hades asked her.
“Just a few pomegranate seeds you offered me. Nothing more.” Persephone was still caught off-guard by the question, not understanding why what she ate mattered to anyone. “What does this have to do with anything?”
But the room fell silent around her. Demeter’s demeanor completely changed then. Her moment of contempt in being able to finally see her daughter was crushed. “Oh Persephone… you didn’t…”
“Didn’t what?” Now Persephone was becoming more agitated, realizing she was oblivious to what all of this meant. “Will someone please tell me what is going on here!?”
Zeus then spoke up over the masses. “When you consume the seeds of the pomegranate, the nectar of the Underworld, you become one with it. If you indeed ate a pomegranate seed, then you must return the Underworld.”
Persephone cupped her hand over her chest, taken aback by this newfound information. Her look of shock immediately turned to one of scorn. She took several steps towards Hades. “You! You did this! You tricked me, knowing I was hungry and needed to eat something. You planned this whole thing!” Persephone accused him.
Hades placed his hand over his face, trying to hide his laughter. “And you fell for it. But rules must be obeyed. You have no choice but to abide by them. So, what say you now, brother?” Hades diverted his attention back up to the King of the Gods. “Surely you cannot withhold Persephone from me now. You would be breaking your own rules by preventing me from taking her.”
I glanced over at my father, wondering what his decision would be in all of this. I sensed the frustration oozing from him. He was in quite the dilemma here. I sat on the edge of my seat, wondering what he could possibly do to appease all audiences and be fair in his final judgment.
Before he could reveal his sentence to us, Demeter rose from her seat, staring at him. “I will not go back on my word. If you give my daughter back to him, I will continue to let the Earth rot. If Persephone remains in the Underworld, the world will become cold and suffer with no harvest or plants to grow.”
Zeus let out a heavy sigh. “But my sister, surely, you must understand. It was your daughter who succumbed to the nectar of the pomegranate. She cannot remain with us forever. She will have to return to the Underworld.”
“I am aware, my brother. However, I am still telling you, I will neglect my duties when Persephone is not by my side,” Demeter threatened once more.
“Then there is only one solution,” Zeus stated. “Persephone, you must spend part of the year here with your mother and some time in the Underworld with Hades. The world cannot go for more than several months without Demeter’s powers, for the famine will wipe out many mortals.”
“I’m not asking for Persephone to have a permanent residence in the Underworld,” Hades interrupted. “If she promises to marry me, and become Queen of the Underworld, I only request that she remains with me for one-third of the year. Four months at a time. The rest of the time is hers. She can decide during the other eight months if she wants to stay in the Underworld or come up here to the surface.”
“I will never be your Queen!” Persephone yelled.
“Persephone. I must implore you…” Zeus began.
“Let me speak with her,” I then spoke up for the first time. Everyone’s eyes shifted at me with alarm, surprised that I had anything to offer in this moment. “I would like to talk to Persephone in private. Only for a few minutes,” I requested.
My father had a sly smirk on his face. He, too, knew that if anyone could manage to convince Persephone to agree to Hades’ conditions, it was me.
“Very well. My servants will escort you and Persephone to a private room to have your discussion. But please make haste. Do not keep us here waiting for very long.”
I nodded. All I would need is just a couple of minutes.
Persephone and I were led into a private room at the far end of Zeus’s castle. Once the doors were shut behind us, I then felt comfortable enough to speak up.
“You need to be reasonable in all of this,” I told her.
