Seeds, p.15
Seeds, page 15
See it. Lock it away so he cannot use it. It spread out before her like an angry sun, almost blinding her. But she reached out with cool blue fingers and formed a ring, encasing the light within her vision, and she tightened the circle as she slid her fingers along one another, confining the energy. And then she suddenly clamped down hard, shutting off the flow of energy, causing Ares to jerk back with a surprised howl. He looked down to see his rapidly-softening flesh, and reached down to give it several quick jerks, but it only wilted further.
“Kora!” she heard Demeter scream. She gasped softly and sat up, shoving a shocked Ares off to the side.
“What did you do! What the hell did you do!” he roared. Kora honestly had no idea. She had just reacted instinctively, shutting off the flow of potent energy to his groin. It had been so unexpected, this... stopping life, sealing it away. She still sensed it with Ares, but he would not be able to use it until she was somehow to break that seal she had envisioned, releasing the flow.
“Mother!” Kora screamed, ignoring Ares's indignant question. “He tried to... violate me!” Already she was on her feet, running towards her mother.
“Violate!” Demeter shouted when she saw how Ares had cut Kora's clothes with his dagger, and she glanced over her daughter's head to see a very enraged god get to his feet, quickly straightening his kilt. It was too late, she had seen her nephew's male parts and felt disgusted at the sight just as her daughter had. Tears started spilling down Kora's cheeks, and Demeter was torn between going after Ares and soothing her daughter.
“Little bitch! What the hell did you do!” Ares shouted, the frustration at his pent-up and now trapped energy giving him the balls – so to speak, at least – to remain in the vicinity of a supremely enraged goddess. However, when she charged at him, her sickle glinting in the sunlight that filtered through the trees, he was at least a bit intelligent enough to make himself quite scarce.
Kora found herself wrapped up in thick and strong arms, her head pressed against a warm chest as she let out sobs. Ares had been the epitome of male energy – albeit channeled in a negative way. Demeter was the exact opposite, overflowing with female energy that was positive. It reassured her, and she let that energy flow over her, calming her violent trembling.
o0o
There was a commotion in the main plaza of Olympus, and Zeus frowned as he rose from the table where he had been enjoying supper with his mother. As the knowledge of Kora had been spread to only the younger male gods, Rhea and her son had absolutely no idea what could have triggered Ares's tantrum outside. But one thing was clear – he wanted his father. Well, to cut the tantrum short he would humor Ares and see what had gotten his bloodthirsty son so riled up.
“Now Ares, tell me what you are disturbing my meal with your grandmother for. But not until we get a bit of privacy,” he said sternly, gazing down at his son with a slight frown on his face. He had dealt with his son enough times to know that an audience would only fuel Ares's anger further, and a calm tone towards his son also helped a lot. Ares's neck was practically purple in his anger, and Zeus had never seen his son so... frustrated.
“Demeter's daughter cursed me! I was seducing her when she changed her mind and cast a spell on me!” he growled.
Demeter's daughter? Fuck. Zeus suddenly felt his throat tighten. If Demeter came after her nephew...
“What happened? Explain!” Zeus said firmly, his manner paternal but entirely imposing. Ares gave out a frustrated groan.
“Hermes... he found a young demigoddess, a daughter of Demeter. He told a few others and...”
Gaea damnit. Of course who should find Kora but Hermes, whose mouth was as quick as his feet? Demeter was going to be so pissed. Oh Gaea, please. Let her see that this isn't my fault. I've kept up my side of the agreement. Please.
“And you went there to see for yourself...” Zeus prompted.
“She was friendly at first... and let me approach her. But then she suddenly changed her mind, and cursed my manhood!”
“She... what?” Zeus asked, not quite sure what his son meant in regards to the curse. Ares glanced around, glad that his father had pulled him inside for privacy, and had to keep himself from shouting in anger. Grandmother Rhea didn't need to hear any of this, he was already humiliated enough!
“It... it does not work anymore,” he hissed furiously.
“Are you sure?” Zeus asked in disbelief.
“I was all... ready to go, and then she just... and then it just was not there anymore! She tricked me! Fix it! Change it back!” he growled.
For once, Zeus was at a loss for words. Kora? Even though he hadn't seen Kora for years, he had the feeling that she wasn't one to lead a man on. She had been too... honest and thoughtful when he had met her. From Ares's frustrated attitude, and his propensity to shift blame to others for his troubles, Zeus concluded that it was more Ares's fault than Kora's, whatever might have happened.
“I will talk to Demeter, and we can get this settled,” Zeus finally said, trying to calm his son, placing his hands on Ares's shoulders. He had no idea how to fix Ares's problem, for he did not have the gift to control the flow of life as his sister or daughter did. But he honestly didn't want to risk the possibility of having Demeter's wrath directed onto him, and...
“There you are, you bastard!” he heard his sister's voice screech from outside before she emerged within the vaulted room in an instant, and Zeus instantly backed away. Rhea rose from the table at the other end of the room and approached father and son.
“What is this, Ares? Running off to your father, crying after you have been justly punished for your deed!” Demeter screamed.
“What deed?” Zeus asked, trying to maintain calm. It was harder to say which deity was filled with more rage – the Goddess of the Harvest looked just as ready to tear the mighty God of War apart as Ares was angry about his own painful loss of ability to feel pleasure.
“I caught this lying filth here trying to rape Kora!” Demeter replied acidly, jerking toward Ares as he started to pull his sword out of his belt. At the wide doorway a few gods were hovering, listening to the fight as several more joined them. As much as he wanted to believe his son, he had no doubt that his sister was telling the truth. The rage in Demeter's eyes was unmistakable, and it wouldn't be the first time that Ares had gone on such a... firm conquest. Not that Zeus approved of that kind of behavior; violation was one thing he felt a woman should never have to go through. Sometimes a woman would be reluctant, but violence... no. He could not condone that, ever.
“Is this true?” Zeus asked his son, hoping that Ares would just admit to his guilt.
“She was a tease!” he growled.
“Her gown was torn from one shoulder and he cut her skirt with a dagger! And she told me exactly what happened!” Demeter interjected.
“What happened was that she teased me! She is a tease! Just ask Hermes!”
Zeus slowly shook his head, almost amused at his son's further exacerbating the position. But he did not dare smile even a little as he felt his sister's burning gaze.
The Harvest Goddess wanted to brain both of these men on the spot. Demeter had asked Kora what had happened. She told her how she had come to meet Hermes and rejected his advances, and he had been gracious enough to not press her into it. Kora had been wise enough to leave out mention of Apollo and Triton, not wishing to needlessly increase her mother's anxiety.
“My daughter is virtuous, and I should castrate you for what you have done!” Demeter replied hotly. Ares yelped and ran toward the doorway, shoving the other gods aside as he sought an escape from his furious aunt.
Just like any other mountain, Olympus was made of earth, and despite its place in the heavens, the Goddess had as much power here as she did anywhere else. From the white marble under Ares's feet green shoots sprung up, thorns quickly issuing from them, whipping him as he struggled against them. The more the thickening vines flailed, the wider the cracked hole around them became, pieces of marble littering the circumference.
Ares was known for his berserker rages. He would have been a formidable opponent to the fearsome Titans. He was good enough with a sword, but his infamous rages and bloodlust was what sealed his claim as the God of War.
However, even his most destructive tantrum paled before the righteous wrath of a mother. Her eyes blazed, and she stared at the nephew who had refused to accept his punishment and had gone crying to Zeus instead of taking it like a man – in strictly a manner of speaking, of course – and understanding the wrongness of what he had done.
Sunlight gleamed off the polished metal of Demeter's sickle, and she raised it over her head. Ares's blood dripped onto the marble around his restraints, standing out in stark contrast against the rubble.
If Ares couldn't appreciate the fact that he still had his male organ, then he wouldn't have it at all. Her sickle would exacerbate his punishment, and she was eager to do so. Hephaistos had crafted it so that it would cut through the stem of anything – and plants weren't the only living things with stems.
“Demeter!” Zeus' voice roared through the air, and the goddess whipped around to glare at her brother.
“You would allow him to go unpunished?” she asked, fighting the urge to attack her brother on the spot.
“Ares came to me, but that does not mean I take his side.”
This cooled the fire in Demeter's eyes – if only just a bit.
“Let him go. It is bad enough that he has to suffer the humiliation of not being able to please Aphrodite or anybody else. It is up to you to decide when to lift the punishment. And that is all I will do in this matter.” His gaze was cool as his eyes fell on his trapped and furiously struggling son. Yes, he had failed affairs with women, sometimes the couplings were a bit wild, and certainly he used trickery at times, but he had never brutalized any woman. That was beneath him, and it was an attitude that he tried to impart onto his sons. Only Ares didn't seem to understand, and why he would go after Kora when he had Aphrodite was beyond the King of the Gods.
“Father! No! You cannot let her do this to me!”
Very rarely did Zeus ever get truly angry with one of his children. He was a generally tolerant father, letting his offspring handle their affairs however they pleased, but this was crossing the line.
“SILENCE!” His roar was like thunder, and the throng of gods now again gathered outside fell silent.
“Brutalization against a woman is a vile offense. Everyone here should know that. The next god to ever do such a thing will find himself worse off than Ares. And...” he regarded his son with a frown, “If you ever hurt another woman – goddess or mortal or anywhere in between – then I will gladly heap a punishment upon you on top of whatever my sister wants to be done to you. Demeter alone decides the duration of your punishment. You might as well learn how to make amends, goodness knows you are not humble enough.”
“And what of Hermes?” Demeter demanded.
“What of him? He had no part in what his brother did.”
Even now, Hermes was trying to inch back, using Apollo's tall and muscular build as cover. Surely pretty little Kora hadn't tattled to her mother about what he had shown her in the glade?
“He found her while he was snooping around and revealed her existence to the other gods. I wanted to raise Kora in peace and she ends up being almost raped!”
“Was that my fault?” Zeus asked in a firm but reasoning tone. “I cannot keep an eye on my children all of the time --”
“That is painfully obvious to everyone here,” she replied acidly. The audience, of course had no way of knowing that Kora was also one of Zeus's offspring or they would have enjoyed the irony of this comment.
“What can I do?” he asked with a shrug. The gods glanced at her, many of them now curious to meet that mysterious daughter and see what she was like. Gods always liked to know when one joined their ranks, or to know what offspring – bastard or not – was born to anyone on Olympus. Demeter certainly wasn't the first one to try to hide the existence of her offspring, but as had always happened in the past, these kind of secrets came to the light.
“The same as I have always wanted. And I will do to others what I have done to Ares should they set foot on my island.” Zeus assumed that it was Demeter herself who had done this, and she decided to not correct him. Kora didn't seem to be aware of what she had done, much to her mother's relief. Better to have her daughter's powers activate in when she was in danger than have her use them on her own.
“May we talk inside?” he asked. She glared at him stonily.
“I have made it clear that violation from anybody is entirely unacceptable. Ares has received his punishment, and it is in your hands. It was a good thing you were there to catch Ares.” Ares's shouts filled the air as the thorny vines continued to flog him. “When do you intend to let him down?” he asked.
“I will need to think about that,” she replied coldly.
“Sounds good,” he replied dryly. Ares's punishment was more than fitting; strike where it hurts most was a saying Ares liked, and it had been used against him. It was hard to not appreciate the turnabout. How often had he scolded his errant son, trying to teach Ares that even when a god had human qualities, there were certain qualities to be avoided by deity and mortal alike. Being imperfect – and how he understood being imperfect all too well – was no excuse for evil.
Only then did Demeter let him lead her back inside while the other gods enjoyed the spectacle of Ares struggling against the vines which alternated between whipping him and merely shaking or thrashing him around.
“Perhaps now is the time to introduce Kora to Olympus?” Zeus asked mildly. “After all, she would be what...” he counted his fingers, “seventeen or eighteen?”
“No!” Demeter shot back.
“Kora is practically an adult now. Doubtless you have raised her well. I am eager to introduce her.” He did not forget her curious and intent gaze. He looked forward to getting to know his daughter better.
“I said no!” Demeter growled.
“Do you intend to hide her forever?” he asked.
“Why not?” Kora was a delight to have around. She loved her daughter, and would not lose her.
“Demeter, I have been patient enough. I honored your wishes to raise her alone. I have the fullest confidence in your parenting skills. If you are so concerned about the company she's in, there's suitable role models here. Athene, Artemis, Hestia. Mnemosyne. And our mother, of course.” His compliment and list of candidates – and he had named good ones – did nothing to soothe her.
“It's not time,” she countered firmly before she turned away.
o0o
Kora had nearly told her mother about the naughty thing Hermes had done, but held her tongue since the playful god had backed off. She also held her tongue when her mother asked her what she had done to Ares, replying with simply saying “I don't know, Mother, I was just so afraid!” This was sufficient enough to quell her mother's demand on the usage of her power, and Kora let out her breath in a quiet huff as she rose from her seat at the window.
Demigods wouldn't have that power, she thought as she tapped her chin. At least I think so. It was one thing to make plants grow, but she had... stopped Ares in his tracks, just like that. She had done to him what every man was afraid of. And there was the fact that her body hadn't grown in the last five years. Was Demeter somehow keeping her frozen in time so she wouldn't age? Had her mother also somehow channeled some of her power into her daughter for cases like this?
Her head snapped up when she heard her mother's heavy footsteps. Oh, wonderful, Mother's home, she thought bitterly. Mother hadn't even asked her if she wanted to come with her to Olympus. No, she had left her daughter behind, without a second thought! Okay, not a second thought exactly – after all, her mother had an excellent reason for going up there – but Kora was the one whom Ares had tried to assault. She wanted to face her attacker, and see the other gods as well.
Her mother quickly emerged through the doorway to her room. Kora glanced up at her silently, still miffed about being left behind in the supervision of the nymphs. With a wave of her hand, the Goddess quickly excused the Dryads, and the trio of nymphs slid out of the room, leaving a faint scent of trees and flowers behind.
“What happened? Tell me everything,” Kora demanded, feeling that it was her right. “I wanted to go to Olympus with you.”
“Nonsense.” Demeter shook her head.
“I was the one Ares tried to hurt, not you! I should have been the one to offer testimony.”
“Oh darling, but you had just been through a horrid experience, and...”
“Mother, Ares did not get to finish his deed. And I would have been with you. I could have handled it.” Why couldn't Mother see that she was handling this situation just fine?
“As it was, there is no need to worry. Ares remains punished, and Zeus decreed that any god who ever hurt a woman would face much worse punishment. But perhaps I should take you from here...”
“No, Mother.” Kora's heart thudded, knowing just what her mother meant. She would be even more secluded, more sheltered and smothered... No. She managed to rein in her tone and posture, not wishing to seem too overanxious. “Mother, if the King of the Gods has made such a decree, then surely no god would be so foolish enough to try what Ares did.” Of course with men like Ares, a decree would not always be a determent, but Kora wisely chose to not broadcast her thoughts.
“Would you not be losing to Ares if you banished yourself from this place? It would please him, and then without you here, he would go after the nymphs.” Contemplation and inquisitiveness had sharpened her logic, giving her insights or arguments that benefited her. Such as now, when she saw her mother stare at her contemplatively.
“Why did you not tell me about Hermes before?” Mother asked, placing her hands on her hips. Okay. She had known this question was coming. Kora nodded slowly and swallowed.
