Defying Fate

Chapter 19

Odysseus woke up to the sun shining on his face through the gaps in the shutters. Carefully lifting Polites' arm off his chest, and sliding out from beneath Eurylochus' legs, he stood and stretched his stiff muscles.

He'd slept without dreaming, for the first time in he didn't know how long. He couldn't remember the last time he'd woken up this well-rested.

Creeping downstairs, he found Athena sitting at the smaller kitchen table, nursing a mug of a steaming, strongly-scented brown liquid, so dark it was almost black.

"Do gods sleep?" Odysseus asked, he'd never wondered that before.

"Sometimes," Athena said, sipping the dark drink. "Want some coffee?"

"What's coffee?"

"Nectar of the gods," Athena stood and walked over to where a machine had been burbling like a particularly noisy fountain. "There's a fresh pot."

"Couldn't that stuff kill me?"

"Maybe," she refilled her mug and sat, watching him over the rim as she took another sip. Her silver eyes glittered. She was challenging him.

Odysseus found another mug in the cupboard and poured a small amount of the liquid into it. It was still steaming, but he swallowed it gainfully, coughing at the bitter taste as it burned his tongue and throat.

"'S good," he wheezed, and Athena smiled. She stood, and took his mug, pouring him another cup and stirring in a spoonful of what he recognized to be honey from a jar.

"Try it this way," she said, pushing the cup back toward him. "Slowly."

Odysseus blew on the coffee to cool it, and took a slower sip. The sweetness of the honey balanced out the bitterness, and he was hit with the scent of the coffee, and he felt his mind sharpen just a little.

"Better?"

He nodded, and they both went to the table, and he took another sip.

They sat there in silence for a full count of ten, before...

"So! What's on the docket for today?" Hermes practically bounced into the kitchen.

"You have to go into town and buy some baby things." Athena said. "A high chair, some proper baby food. The kid has probably not had any proper nutrition in at least a year."

"Hey," Odysseus protested, but Athena put up a hand.

"It's not your fault, you did your best. Where is the child now?"

"I left him asleep, with Polites and Eurylochus," Odysseus said.

"We should have just stuck them all in one room in the first place," Athena said, exchanging a look with Hermes that Odysseus didn't really understand.

"I was trying to be a good host," Hermes said. "We have this big house, it's a shame to waste it. Unless you want to call your family..."

"Your family, you mean."

Hermes actually stuck out his tongue, but changed the subject.

"Okay, so while I'm stuck in town picking up *baby* things, what are you going to be doing?"

"Training,"

"Oh no you don't saddle me with babysitting while you go off traipsing around Greece looking for trouble."

"*You're* the god of travelers,"

"He's *your* mentee."

"That was a long time ago, my responsibility ended in 1300 BC."