Hecate
"You mean you've never left the mountain?" I asked.
"Well, there was that bit of running away from Othrys.... and then before that being trapped in our father's stomach... but other than that, no." Demeter answered.
"So you've never even seen the mortal world." Leto said, just as much in shock as I was.
"Will you tell us what that is already?" Hestia asked.
"Well... you really need to see it. It's hard to describe with words.Come on, we'll show-"
"Hecate? Leto?" a voice asked from the doorway. I turned to see a woman with chocolate colored hair and eyes shifting from electric blue to see green to obsidian black.
My mouth fell open. "Lady Rhea?" I turned to the others, "She's on your side? Working against her own husband?"
"They're my children! Of course I support them!" Rhea said.
I stared at her for a moment, then shrugged. Go figure.
"Hecate and Leto joined us a couple of weeks ago, mother. They were just telling us about the mortal world." Demeter said.
"We were just about to show them the mortal world, actually." I said.
"What? Absolutely not! Kronos could find-"
"With all due respect mother, we can take care of ourselves." Hades interrupted Rhea.
"And honestly milady, do you really think your husband would ever think to look for them there?" Leto asked.
Rhea looked from Leto to me, then at all of her children in turn. She sighed. "Alright. But be careful."
***
"It's so... dark." Hestia said finally as we arrived in the mortal world.
"Well, yes. Mortals aren't allowed to have fire. It's a privilege reserved only for immortals. And Lord Helios only drives the sun through the mountains, you know, the range where Othrys and Olympus are." I answered.
"Alright, this is... sort of depressing. I think we should g-"
"What is that?" Posiedon asked, pointing to a glassy black expanse in the distance.
"Oh, that's the sea. You can't see much from here; you should see the part that carries over into the titans' realm. The light on the water...." Leto sighed. "Lord Oceanus rules over a whole other world there." She frowned. "Of course, he's agreed to give over his rule to whichever one of you gets rule over the water."
"So, could we, maybe, go see this 'other world' you're talking about?"
I laughed curtly. "If you want to see a really impressive other world, we should go see the Underworld."
Leto's eyes widened. "Hecate! Just because you take excursions to the nether-realm doesn't mean you can take them there! It is way too risky!"
"You sound like Rhea." I said, rolling my eyes.
"Who rules the 'Underworld'?" Hera asked.
"Well, Kronos was never really concerned with the Dark Realm, so he didn't take control of it like he did the other main elements. But the energy there is just as powerful, if not more so, as the sky or the sea. It's still ruled by Erebus, The Darkness, literally, as it has been since the dawn of existence. I go there to practice my magic sometimes. It's the only place I can practice freely without the other titans breathing down my neck."
"Then how about you take Hades and I too this 'Underworld' and Leto shows the others the sea?" Hestia suggested.
"Why do you want to go?" I asked. Because honestly I was having a hard time picturing Hestia in all her eternal brightness going to the Land of Death and Darkness.
The young immortal looked warily at the vast expanse of water with her flaming irises. "Just... all that water. It's making me uncomfortable."
I thought of Hestia's throne of flames back on Olympus, her eyes that glowed like coals in a hearth, her chiton that shimmered in a pattern like live fire when she turned. No, I supposed she wouldn't go well with water.
"That alright with you Leto?" I asked.
She nodded, smiling, and lead Zeus, Posiedon, Hera, and Demeter toward the shoreline.
I turned to face Hestia and Hades, taking their hands.
"Now, this may be a bit unnerving." I said, grinning.
Hestia looked at me warily. "What do you-"
She was cut off as the shadows enveloped us, opening a portal to the Underworld.