Thief Of Truth's Heart

Chapter 11

The news of Apollo and Atlanta's impending marriage spread throughout the entirety of Olympus, Atlantis, Underworld and mortal lands alike with the intensity of a wildfire. To the mortals, it meant getting a head start to build temples of the duo together on the direct instruction of the God of the Sun, and to the Gods, this was merely a confirmation of what they knew all along and just wished the couple good luck.

Ares was upset with Apollo, but he was clever enough to see that Attah was happy, so he made peace with it.

All the nereids, naiads, oceanids, dryads, anthusae, and other nymphs along with Satyrs and other Gods like the ever existent Pan started to travel from their dwelling places to Olympus for the first wedding among the second generation Olympians.

The wedding of Apollo and Atlanta was fixed to be held twelve days after the Winter Solstice. Hera had agreed to marry them off, much to Apollo's relief. He knew that getting married in Hera's favorite time of the year had to have it's advantage. His Lana having a sweet relationship with the Queen of Gods was an added bonus.

Where Apollo did not get time to breathe with all the running around that his father, Uncle H and his sister was making him do, Atlanta was busy with the job of consoling her beloved daddy and moody brother, and coaxing the two of three most important men in her life to come out of their rooms in Atlantis where they had barricaded themselves, and have their food on time.

Atlanta could swear that her daddy had become bipolar since the time she had come back with her best friend, who also now happened to be her fiance, and announced her acceptance of his proposal. He was so happy for her immediately after that, then became sad and gloomy a bit later, and then became happy again.

The mood of the God of the Seas had become even more unpredictable than usual since then, which was a feat in itself. One second he was smiling at Apollo and telling him how happy he was for his princess and his nephew, and the next second he would be crying his eyes out about how Apollo was taking his little girl away from him and how his Underwater Palace in Atlantis wouldn't be the same without his daughter's excited laughter ringing through the halls.

Poseidon had even gone as far as trying to convince Apollo that Atlanta was not ready for getting married yet as she did not know skills of weaving and such with perfection, and that they should wait for a bit longer, never minding the fact that he was the one who encouraged Apollo to propose to his little princess.

So, in short, Poseidon is having yet another midlife existential crisis, and was trying to pretend that the whole thing never happened, which his daughter wasn't too happy about.

Atlanta had to come to Atlantis as per norm before her marriage, seeing that it was the realm governed by her daddy. All the courting gifts that were sent by Apollo to Atlanta were immediately snatched away from the bride-to-be's sight by an alarmed Poseidon, who would then proceed to hug the life out of his daughter and repeatedly assure her that she would always be his little girl.

Whether he was saying that to her or to himself in order to convince his distressed mind, was still a mystery.

Poseidon switched between being a mournful drinker with Hades as his companion in his pity party, or cursing Zeus to Tartarus and back for convincing him to agree to his stupid plan.

He had almost said no to the marriage once in his panic all together. Amphitrite slapping his head upside down was the only thing that had stopped him from going down that path.

Triton was faring no better; with him being even more moodier than he usually was, the mere sight of him was enough to send all the guards and civilians of Atlantis running in the opposite direction with their tail in between their non existent legs.