Once Upon a Winter's Spring

2.The Beast and The Rose

As she grew, Kori was the apple of everyone's eye. Day began and ended with her as even Eos, Helios, and Selene thrilled in hearing the little princess's joy at seeing the morning sun come up and going down at night. And Hades would hear of it all at their return. After all, the Titans were doomed to live down under.

The king of hell would hear the sibling Titans ramble off about Zeus's dear daughter, and Hades would listen with a distant face, yet unknown to even him, his heart craved to hear of all the things the Titan siblings told about Kore.

Above ground, on the highest of the highest mountains, grew Kori, like a little gentle flower. When she laughed, Gods stopped to listen, and when she was upset, thunder stormed and lightning flashed and all of Olympus scrambled to find her lost giggles. To everyone's shock, one day it happened that only mother Hera had the key to Kori's happiness, and not even Demeter could come between them.

It was spring when Kori set her mind to crawling. All the animal gods, especially Artemis, brought all newborn cubs and pups and kits to her so she could learn to crawl with them. When Demeter found herself missing on her daughter's first crawls, she vowed to be first witness to her Kori's first steps. And she was. Kori let go of her mother's hand and willed herself to walk, and before she fell, mother Spring made little greens shoot up from the ground to support her little toddler learning to walk. Down on earth, every little tree found a root, and forests were sure to grow in time.

Her first steps were a secret so hidden, that on Homecoming, all the gods of the universe gasped when she fell on her first step, but applause thundered when little Kori picked herself up and walked on her own all the way to Demeter's throne.

Behind the fist covering his mouth, the lord Hades smirked gently when the little flower flopped to sit at her mother's feet, her pink dress became her petals, and her golden hair the center.

The gifting ceremony came, and Kori gave all a flower themed present. For mother Hera a tiara made with Lilliums of petals so yellow, they looked gold. And a pink rose in the middle that served as a gem. Mother Hera was quite pleased. Her father earned a yellow garland to wrap around the holster for his bolts. For uncle Poseidon, a sacred lily, the first of its kind, originally intended to rescue a drowned Kori. Aunt Hestia got a flower brooch that earned her a smile from the usually stern, original oldest goddess. Mother Demeter got a Jasmine necklace that looked like white diamonds.

And then it was his turn. All the gods were aware of what would happen, and resented to hear their darling cry, but he could not change his affliction. He was the god of darkness, bound to cause death at his touch to anything that wasn't eternal. The young spring goddess knew not what to give to the king of hell, but being bound to present something, she offered him a white rose, to offset the darkness of the underworld about which she had heard in tales.

The King of Hell, the original oldest God, bent on a knee for this little girl. The blue fire that eternally bound his soul to hell, retreated from his hand that had extended to the young Kori.

She knelt, still too little for him even when he was on his knee; she curtsied and presented the thorny white rose. As she did so, a thorn pricked her palm and she yelped. But the drop of blood that had flown didn't fall to the ground, but rather got absorbed by the flower.

Everyone watched as the white rose slowly but surely took on a red color. So deeply red that it almost looked black. It was more red than Aphrodite, more red than love itself. The audience oohed and Hades scoffed a laugh.

But Kori was bound to turn the thing over to Hades. He took it with a grieving sigh, aware of what was bound to occur. And it did happen. The blue flame shot up the flower's stem, engulfing it. The young flower goddess gasped and was about to cry, seeing such injustice about to happen to such a beautiful thing she had made.

Her tears fell on Hades' soul, and he turned his head away, now staring at the flower in his hand. It remained as it were: a thorny stem guarding a blood red flower, but now engulfed in a blue flame. He smiled at the crying flower, and his thumb wiped a tear away.

"Do not mourn what has not yet passed, my dear. Your gift to me is much too enchanting for me to allow it to wither. Observe."

The court watched the fire rose hang in the air as Hades tinkered in his hands. For the patience of the young Kore, an eternity later, Hades held a silver plate in one hand, and a glass jar in the other. The plate went under the burning flower and the glass jar entrapped it. The blue flame that covered the flower, now jumped over to its confinement, leaving the rose hovering in its fiery cage.

"Now, I shall cherish it eternally. Thank you, little flower."

Kori curtsied and ran back to her mother, who hugged her lovingly. Demeter was eternally grateful that Kori was bound to not remember anything that occurred before her 105th birthday. 

And such were the humble beginnings of the greatest mythical love story ever to be told.