Hope for the Underworld

33

Their life resumed its everyday domestic routine; they attended their duties at the Great Hall, passing judgement, and, occasionally, suggesting a way to resolve persistent issues or to heal old wounds. When they did not work, the duty passed to the three principal Judges and then, Hades and Cora spent their time together; they talked, read, and visited the Elysian Fields, enjoying peaceful picnics and each other's company.

She often asked how he could not be bored with the sight of her just reading the whole day. In truth, he felt he could look at her for the whole of eternity and never tire of it; each time he glanced, discovering something new that he had never noticed before.

Her focussed stillness was truly captivating; the expression of concentration and a myriad of emotions fleeting on her face fascinating to recognise and identify. Because, when she read, her face expressed all the sensations she was experiencing at that precise moment. He could still feel them, as before, but now he learnt to read them directly from her face. He considered it a slightly less invasive method; she still claimed he cheated by reading her emotional state, as if by magic.

And she had so many expressions to match her feelings. When she was focused, her brows knitted together, forming a single line on her forehead; when she read something funny, the lines around her eyes crinkled and her lips parted just a bit; when she was sad, her eyes shone with the unshed tears; and when she was angry... Well, that was something different altogether. When something angered or annoy her, her nose scrunched a bit and her eyes darkened somehow; he noticed that the shadows swirled faster around her then, in some way blurring the edges of her body, making her seem... somehow ethereal.

So no, Hades kept responding, he was never bored in her company. Besides, she seemed to become more beautiful with each day they spent together. He could not explain it, and the more he considered the matter, the less able he felt himself to verbalise his impressions. But there seemed to be an ambient light emanating from her every time he looked.

'You should really be ashamed of yourself!' she admonished laughingly on one occasion, when he scooped her up in his arms and sat down, settling with her in his lap.

'Why?... What have I done now?' He looked at her with confusion.

'Who has seen an Olympian being so besotted with one mortal woman for so long?!'

'Hmmm...' he considered the matter with a serious expression. 'Perhaps you are right? I might be getting old and somehow started preferring comforts over conquests?'

She tipped her head back and laughed out loud. 'Old? You do not look more than thirty to me.'

'I am much, much older than that, but with you, I do really feel like thirty.' He leant in and kissed her. 'You make me feel young and carefree...' He couldn't stop himself from kissing her some more and for a time the conversation stopped. Eventually, she pulled away, breathless, her lips tingling with pleasure. 'So,' he picked up again, not releasing her from his embrace, 'how can the King of the Underworld show you his love and appreciation?'

'Hmmm... I've been thinking...' she started.

Yet, he was unable to hear about it, because there was a knock on the door and a loud voice announced. 'Lord, a few of your guards humbly request an audience.'

'What?' His brows drew together in displeasure. That was something unusual; the guards had very rarely ventured into the palace before.

'Something must have happened.' Cora jumped off Hades' lap and looked at him with apprehension.

'Let them enter,' ordered Hades. The door swung open and two shadowy figures stepped into the room. 'What is the meaning of this?' Hades' tone clearly indicated he was displeased.

Both guards dropped to a knee, and one spoke in this rumbling voice Cora had first encountered on her arrival to the Underworld. 'Lord Receiver, Lady Justice.' Their heads bent low in respect. 'We have discovered something and... we thought it prudent to bring it into your attention immediately.'

'Discovered what?'

'This.' The other guard extended a huge hand towards his ruler; on his palm sat a bit of turf with a tiny flower tucked in.

'A flower?!' roared Hades indignantly; his eyes darkening. 'You dared to disturb me because of a flower!'

'Lord, please, forgive us this lack of decorum, but...' the guard hesitated. 'But we have never seen anything like it.'

Hades simmered with annoyance, but Cora seemed to sense there was something more to the story. 'Where did you find it?' she asked patiently.

'It simply appeared overnight on a patch of ground, just outside the palace.'

'Appeared?' she asked, quite surprised.

'It seems to... grow there, my Lady,' supplied the other guard helpfully.

'But... nothing grows out there.' Cora looked to Hades questioningly. 'Does it?'

'Of course, nothing ever grows out there!' he replied tersely. 'This is the Land of Death!'

'Could you show us where you found this flower?' Cora turned back to the guards.

'Of course, my Lady.' They both rose immediately. Hades snapped his fingers and they instantly transported outside. 'Lady Justice, this appears to be the place where you first landed on your arrival.' The guard pointed to the spot.

And indeed, when she looked, Cora could see a small pool of greenery in, the otherwise barren, landscape. She approached it slowly and looked in disbelief at the tuft of grass and the few daisies growing there, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

'What does it mean?' she whispered, looking to Hades with total incomprehension.

'I do not know' he mused pensively. He seemed to be perplexed by this discovery and he didn't like it. Then, he turned to the guards. 'Thank you for bringing it to our attention.' He dismissed them with an imperious wave of his hand. 'We will take care of it.'

They both bowed in submission and walked away, leaving them alone.

'Have you ever heard about anything growing here?' she asked, her brows furrowed in concentration.

'Never.'

'But things grow in Elysium,' she was thinking aloud. 'How is that possible?' she questioned further. 'It is still a part of the Underworld, so, why there and not here?'

'I am not entirely sure,' he answered quietly, but she could see he was uneasy. 'That's how it has always been... It is possible, however, that it has something to do with you,' he added pensively, looking at her with a new consideration.

'What do you mean?'

'You are destined to bring change to the Underworld. We interpreted it as the change you made to my life and to the way we judge souls, but what if there's more? It cannot be a coincidence that these flowers started blooming in this exact spot.'

'But why now? And why not straight away? I've been here for a long time.'

'Perhaps it has something to do with your choice to return?' he offered; his tone lighter. 'Let us see if we could grow something else.'