Hades and Persephone

Minthe, Again

Persephone didn't know why she'd stolen one of the pomegranates from Hades' orchard.

She hadn't meant to, truly, but one second she had been admiring them, and the next she had been slipping it into her bag when Hades had turned his back to her as he'd talked to Hecate. She hadn't even thought about doing it; it was almost as if the pomegranate had forced her to steal it, which was weird, and absolutely not true, because a pomegranate couldn't force anyone to do anything.

Unless it was a magic pomegranate, which, to be fair, the ones from the Underworld probably were.

Shame ate away at Persephone as she stared at the pomegranate sat on her desk. She'd been half tempted to tell Hades she'd stolen it, to say sorry for her wrongdoing, but when she'd opened up their text messages, she had frozen. What if he was mad at her? These things were dangerous, right?

"Kore, I'm heading out now," Demeter called as she knocked on Persephone's door. Persephone squeaked and leapt you're from her bed, snatched up the pomegranate from her desk, and tossed it into the closest plant pot. Just in time too, because that was when Demeter opened the door.

"Have fun at work," Persephone said as she idled across the room. She stopped in front of her mother so she could kiss her on the cheek. "I'll be here, doing nothing as usual."

"You can always invite Harmonia over if you're bored," Demeter said. "Aphrodite says she thinks you'd be good friends, and we can certainly trust Harmonia, seeing as her domain is harmony."

Persephone smiled. "I'll give her a call. Well, I'll give Aphrodite a call, and she can give Harmonia a call for me."

"Wonderful," Demeter said, and she kissed her daughter on the forehead. "It's good to see you making friends besides Hermes. Have a good day."

When Demeter left, Persephone huffed. She already had friends, thanks, and quite a few too.

Still, Persephone got dressed then sent Harmonia a text—Aphrodite had already given her Harmonia's number. If Demeter was expecting the pair to meet up, then they needed to see each other at least briefly, if only so Harmonia had something to talk about if Demeter started asking questions. Soon enough, they met at the edge of Mount Olympus, and they headed to the mortal world together.

Thankfully, Harmonia wasn't easily recognised amongst the humans, especially since that day she'd put on a pair of fake glasses and had changed her usual pink eyes to a bright blue. Persephone said Harmonia looked cute, and Harmonia gave her a bashful smile.

As they walked arm in arm, Harmonia said, "I think I need to give you my own nickname."

"You do?"

"I do indeed," Harmonia said wistfully. "It stresses me too much to call you Kore in front of Demeter, and Persephone in front of others. Being the goddess of harmony really is quite hard when lying does not agree with you."

"So, you need to give me a universal nickname, something you can call me in front of everyone?"

"Yes! How about Petal? It is close to Persi, and it suits your love of flowers."

Persephone grinned. "I love the sound of Petal."

"Then, henceforth, you are my dear Petal," Harmonia said, and she beamed.

As they approached Cassie's Coffee, Harmonia pulled Persephone to a stop and pointed towards a figure in front of them. A young woman in black with mint green hair.

"Minthe?" Persephone said. That was strange, considering Minthe didn't work on Mondays. Had she left her purse behind again?

"Why do you work with a chthonic nymph?" Harmonia asked quietly.