An Unexpected Journey

Chapter Thirty-Three: The Tale of Cronus

Dinner that night was a quiet affair with everyone exhausted from the last few days and wanting nothing more than a decent night’s sleep before they planned the next part of their journey.

Fíli and Kíli chuckled watching Balin change the bandages on Thalia’s arm, the blonde muttered curse words glaring at the dwarf who ignored her knowing that it was just the pain talking.

Cornelia snorted sitting next to Dwalin, he was one of the few that she felt sort of comfortable around except for Thalia; she messed with her dinner thinking about where they would possibly find Paloma.

“Now I want you to keep that dry,” Balin ordered strictly finishing rewrapping Thalia’s arm, he didn’t want it getting anymore infected than it was and he hoped that with a few days rest that she would be okay.

Thorin eyed his friend as he moved away, he knew the look on his face and knew that it couldn’t be good; he carefully approached Balin wondering if everything was okay.

“The wound’s infected,” Balin said gently not wanting to worry the others, if the news got out that Thalia was going to become seriously ill no one would be willing to leave her behind; the blonde was a member of their company and they were all attached to her in some way.

Thorin frowned glancing back at Thalia who was talking with Nori and Ori, he felt something tug on his heart at the smile on her face; she acted as if nothing was wrong.

“What can you do?” Thorin asked knowing that they would only be resting for a few days before they had to get going; the last thing that he wanted to do was leave Thalia behind.

Balin sighed, the next few days were going to be important, if the infection took hold then Thalia was going to be in trouble.

“I’ll try my best… but if the infection takes hold, we might lose her,” Balin warned the last few months had taken their toll on Thalia and he wasn’t sure how well her body would fight off a full blown infection that was currently brewing in her arm.

Thorin stared at his friend, his mind falling back of the dark times of war where so many were lost because of infections like the one that currently threatened Thalia; he didn’t wish to lose her in such a horrible way.

“Relax Thorin,” Balin said patting his friend on his shoulder, none of this was going to be easy but he hoped that here they would be able to help her.

Thorin nodded his head looking back over at Thalia, he smiled as he thanked Balin before heading off to sit next to Thalia; his blue eyes filled with concern wondering what would happen to her.

“Tell us a story from your world Lia?” Kíli asked making the blonde look at him, she tilted her head as Fíli nodded his head; they still didn’t know much about what it was like in her world and they all wanted a good story.

Thalia thought for a moment as she nibbled on her lip, there were so many stories that came to mind but she couldn’t decide on which one too tell; she glanced around the gathering as they all looked at her wondering what she would say.

“There once was a Titan named Cronus and he was notorious for being a very jealous and greedy deity. His greatest fear was that one of his children would steal his throne from him,” Thalia started sharing a look with Cornelia, it was still weird for her to think that this was all true.

It was even weird to consider the thought that Cronus was correctively her grandfather on her father’s side, it was clearly something that she was going to have to get used to.

“So Cronus to prevent any of his children stealing his throne, swallowed every child that his wife Rhea gave birth to; Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon were all swallowed whole by their father,” Thalia continued smiling to herself. The looks that she got from the company varied from shock and awe to horror and disgust as she told her tale.

Thalia glanced around a little amused by the expressions as Cornelia chuckled knowing why Thalia had chosen this story, if it wasn’t for the tale then neither of them would exist.

“However, when Rhea gave birth to her last child, Zeus, she managed to trick Cronus with the help of the Titans, Uranus and Gaea. She gave her husband a rock in swaddling clothes to swallow, as a substitution to her child and sent Zeus away to a island,” Thalia said wondering for a moment what her grandmother was like.

There were still a lot of questions in the blonde’s mind about her paternal family and she knew that when she got the chance that she would do some serious research into her father’s side of the family; there was so much that she didn’t know.

Cornelia smiled fondly as she listened to Thalia talk, it was clear that Thalia had a natural ability of storytelling and no one seemed to be able to look away as she spoke.

“Zeus was raised secretly by the Nymphs. Soon came the day where Zeus was mature enough to claim the world and he started a battle against his father and the Titans,” Thalia whispered adding to the dramatic effect, she glanced at Thorin who was sat beside her who seemed just as engrossed in her tale as his nephews were.

“First, Zeus managed to liberate his elder brothers and sisters from his father's stomach by giving him a special herb and making him disgorge. Then, with the help of his siblings, Zeus overthrew the Titans in the depths of the Underworld, Tartarus,” Thalia said making Cornelia smile in delight.

Cornelia knew a lot about the underworld since she was the daughter of Hades, her father felt slighted about how things had been divided up but she could truly careless; she had a job to do and she knew that it was coming.

“After overthrowing his father, Zeus was confronted with the Giants and also the monster Typhon, which he both defeated successfully. Time had come for the world to be in the hands of Zeus and his siblings,” Thalia said messing with her white gold amethyst teardrop pendant that lay around her neck making Cornelia frown at the sight of it.

Cornelia was all too aware that Thalia hadn’t been told the complete truth about her parentage and she knew that before this quest was over that the blonde deserved to know the truth.

“Zeus drew lots with his brothers Poseidon and Hades to let luck determine who would become the new King of the Gods. Zeus won the draw and he officially became the ruler of the sky, his brother Poseidon became the ruler of the oceans while Hades became ruler of the underworld,” Thalia said finishing the tale about her only family history.

The dwarves all stared at her taken back while Cornelia snorted in amusement as she looked at her cousin, a couple of the dwarves glanced at her while others whispered in awe of the tale.

“And just think without any of that we wouldn’t be here,” Cornelia said making Thalia nod, it was strange to think that if things had gone wrong then neither of them would exist; they were both children of the big three and Cronus was their grandfather.

Thorin looked between the two cousins wondering what Cornelia meant, he looked at the blonde next to him waiting for her to explain what had been meant.

Thalia opened her mouth to speak when there were three loud bangs on the front door.