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CALLIOPE: Planning a wedding is challenging at the best of times. But luckily for our dear goddesses, they have the perfect ally on their side.

Welcome, dear listeners, to Forged Bonds.

You may recall, dear listeners, that of Hera’s many godly attributes, being the goddess of marriage is one of them. And who better to help plan a wedding than the goddess of marriage? Hephaestus has gone to meet her mother in her new home on the beach, requesting that help.

HEPHAESTUS: This place looks incredible, mom!

HERA: Thank you! It took a lot of work, but it was worth it in the end. Given how nervous Si was, I almost thought we’d drop the project before it could truly begin but it’s done. It’s done and it’s beautiful and I’m so happy, Phae. 

HEPHAESTUS: I’m happy for you. This… Knowing you get to have this after everything you went through… Overjoyed doesn’t even begin to describe it.

HERA: Enough about me, though. What’s new with you? You seemed… excited when you called, like something had happened. 

HEPHAESTUS: About that…

CALLIOPE: Hephaestus held out her hand to her mother, watching as Hera’s eyes grew teary.

HERA: Oh Hephaestus. I– I’m so happy for you. I’m so happy for you, I mean, gods, Phae, You never thought… I knew Aph loved you, she asked for my blessing and was going to ask you to marry her even if I said no, but seeing it come to fruition is… Words cannot express how happy I am for you.

HEPHAESTUS: She asked for your blessing?

HERA: She did, yeah. It was actually really sweet, she just… She cares so much about you. Which is all I’ve ever wanted for you. It’s all I’ve ever wanted for both of us, and we’ve finally gotten it. 

POSEIDON: Hera, have you seen– Oh, hey, Phae! I didn’t know you were coming over today. (pause) Hera, is everything alright? You look like you’ve been crying–

HERA: Happy tears, my love, I promise. Did you want to share, Phae?

HEPHAESTUS: Aphrodite and I are getting married!

POSEIDON: Congratulations! I was wondering why your mom was having me commission a ring from you, but this is all starting to make more sense. 

HEPHAESTUS: (laughing) Yeah, I thought you were trying to propose to my mom. (pause) You two aren’t saying anything in a way that’s starting to feel concerning. Is everything okay?

POSEIDON: So, about that…

HEPHAESTUS: You can’t just trail off after ‘about that’, Poseidon. Are you two engaged?

HERA: We’re not engaged. 

HEPHAESTUS: Okay it still feels like you’re not telling me something though. Are you planning to get engaged? Is that what this is? Because I’d be more than happy to design the rings– I’m actually designing ones for Ares and Hermes too. They got engaged before me and Aph did which was really funny–

CALLIOPE: The words died in Hephaestus’s mouth as she noticed what appeared to be a ring of sea glass around her mother’s finger. Casting her eyes over to Poseidon, she saw a similar ring adorning his. 

HEPHAESTUS: Mom… 

HERA: We were going to tell you, I promise! But I also knew that Aphrodite was proposing so I didn’t want to step on your moment if that was what you came here to talk about.

POSEIDON: If it makes you feel any better, you’re the only one who knows so far. I haven’t told Hades or Sephie yet either. We didn’t want anything big, just… Just to know that it was forever for us. And since your mom is the goddess of marriage, we didn’t really have to do anything on that front either. Hera performed the blessing and the paper appeared in Zeus’s files which he never goes through. I don’t even think he can read.

HEPHAESTUS: (awed) My mom got married. My mom got married to someone she loves and who loves her in return. I…

CALLIOPE: Hephaestus threw her arms around her mother, tears of joy streaking down her face that she was sure were mirrored on her mother’s. Looking up over her mother’s shoulder, Hephaestus saw Poseidon standing awkwardly, eyes darting between the two goddesses and anywhere else in the room.

HEPHAESTUS: Get over here, Si. 

CALLIOPE: Hephaestus had never been embraced by her father– this, of course, comes with the territory when you do not actually have a father. Zeus, as you might imagine, had never been overly fond of the young Hephaestus, so she never got affection there. And try as Hades might, he wasn’t around often enough to truly make a good father figure for Hephaestus. And when she moved away, she hadn’t known her mother’s embrace for the longest time either. But when Poseidon’s arms came to surround her and Hera, Hephaestus could feel everything clicking into place. This was the family she had missed growing up. This was the father who would protect her from the harms of Olympus because he knew those harms first hand. This was the man who would love her mother like no one else could. Hephaestus let her eyes fall closed, allowing herself to be held and loved by her family for the first time in her life. 

CALLIOPE (CONT.): We shall continue on to another area of Olympus, this time the Underworld that we have grown so fond of. Where one family is healing, another… Well, it’s easier just to show you.

HADES: She’s not leaving.

PERSEPHONE: Have we tried siccing Cerberus on her? Maybe that will get her to go away.

HADES: I tried that. I had Charon ferry her back to the mortal realm. I had Thanatos threaten her life. She’s not leaving, Sephie. I’m afraid the only way to make her leave might be to talk to her. 

PERSEPHONE: …I know. I know, I just. What am I supposed to say, Hades? ‘I’m sorry that Zeus used you like he uses everyone else but I still hate you’? I’m not even sure I’m that sorry about it. ‘I’m sorry you’ve pushed away everyone who has ever cared about you, including me’? I can’t… She’s my mother, Hades. I don’t want to hurt her but all she has ever done is hurt me and I don’t know– (pause) I don’t know that I can stop myself from trying to fix this even if it doesn’t deserve to be fixed.

HADES: It’s not simple, beloved, I know that. Demeter is, and always will be, a complicated point for you. I’m not saying you have to forgive her, or fix her, or even spend more than two minutes talking to her, but I don’t think she’ll leave without seeing you. And I don’t want her to hang over you like a dark cloud the entire time she’s outside our home. I will be here the whole time, every step of the way, okay? You won’t be left alone with her, not on my watch. 

PERSEPHONE: …You’ll stay? Even if she asks you to leave?

HADES: If she won’t let me stay, then she can leave. I’m not letting her bully either of us in our own home.

PERSEPHONE: (sigh) Okay. Let her in.

CALLIOPE: To say that Demeter looked rough wouldn’t even begin to describe it. She looked exhausted after days of sleeping outside of their home in the Underworld, hair messy and eyes heavy. Hades allowed her to shower before starting their conversation, hoping to give her a moment to collect herself even if he didn’t particularly like the harvest goddess. When she finally sat down across from them at their kitchen table, she looked better but still subdued.

DEMETER: Thank you for letting me use your shower. It’s much appreciated.

PERSEPHONE: Why are you here, mom?

DEMETER: Would you believe me if I said I wanted to apologize?

PERSEPHONE: Not in the slightest.

DEMETER: (sigh) Well, it is the truth whether you believe it or not. I… It has come to my attention that how I raised you hurt you. That so much of what I thought would be in your best interest hurt you. That despite my best efforts, all I did was hurt you. And I’m so sorry for that, sprout. I’m sorry that you grew up with unrealistic expectations and no freedom. I’m sorry that I didn’t support what you wanted– that I didn’t support who you loved even though he clearly loves you. And he clearly does love you, a love that is real and true and everything you deserve. (pause) I’m sorry to you as well, Hades. For trying to keep my daughter from you. For painting you as the villain when you really just… You love her. You love her in a way I have never seen before– softly, reverently, fully. After what happened with Zeus… I should’ve listened. I should’ve known. But I let my pride and my anger cloud me. 

PERSEPHONE: Apologizing doesn’t make this better, mom. It doesn’t fix anything.

DEMETER: I know that, Persephone. I’m not here to fix anything, I… Hera has been far too kind to me, letting me fix my past mistakes. I know I don’t deserve that, not from either of you. That doesn’t mean that you weren’t owed an apology. 

HADES: You’ve been talking to Hera?

DEMETER: Yes. She told me she would be there when I finally saw Zeus for what he is and she was. It’s… It’s not perfect there either, it will never be the friendship we had when we were younger, but it was a place to start. I don’t expect anything like that here. I have hurt you both in ways I can never fully understand, but I needed you to know that I am sorry. And that even if you don’t forgive me, I will still be sorry. (pause) I’ve taken enough of your time. Thank you for allowing me this opportunity. If you ever want to talk again, you know where to find me.

CALLIOPE: Persephone wouldn’t look at her mother as Hades walked her to the door. She stared blankly at the table, fists clenched, until her husband returned and tilted her head up to look into his eyes.

HADES: Are you alright, beloved?

PERSEPHONE: She apologized.

HADES: She did.

PERSEPHONE: She actually apologized. Without expectation, without demands, without ultimatum. She apologized. (pause) So why am I still so angry with her?

HADES: You said it yourself, Sephie: apologizing doesn’t fix anything. You deserved that apology– you had deserved it for quite a while if I’m being fully honest. And the fact that Demeter apologized means that things can be fixed if you want them to. It doesn’t fix everything right away and it doesn’t mean you have to let her back into your life. 

PERSEPHONE: Hera did. What kind of daughter would I be–

HADES: The kind who grew up lonely and aching for affection from a woman who would never see her as she truly was. That doesn’t go away overnight, it might not ever go away. Hera’s situation is different and Hera’s process of dealing with it doesn’t need to be the same as yours. I’ll be honest with you, Sephie, I don’t forgive Demeter. Not for what she did to me but for what she did to you. I’ve been slandered all of my life because of Zeus, her trying to villainize me meant nothing to me. But everything you’ve told me about your childhood? I could smite her where she stands for that. You can do whatever you want, my love, and I will not judge you. You shouldn’t judge yourself for it either.

PERSEPHONE: …I don’t think I can forgive her, Hades. And I feel awful for that.

HADES: I know, darling, I know. But you don’t have to. And even if you do feel awful, I’ll still be here. Always.

CALLIOPE: There is one final place that we will need to visit today, and that’s the home of Ares and Aphrodite.

APHRODITE: I wanted to talk to you about something.

ARES: (semi-distracted) Sure, hit me.

APHRODITE: Something… Kind of serious?

ARES: (fully focused) Okay, yeah, let’s have a serious conversation then. Is… Is everything okay? Did something happen, did I do something–

APHRODITE: Woah, hey, no, you didn’t do anything. Sorry, I don’t know why I phrased it as ‘serious’. I mean I guess it is serious in that like. This isn’t a joke. But it’s not– nothing is wrong, I promise.

ARES: Okay… So what’s up then?

APHRODITE: You remember our wedding?

ARES: Yeah, of course I do.

APHRODITE: I walked down the aisle by myself, as you might remember.

ARES: Right…

APHRODITE: Now that I’m going to be getting married again, I started thinking about what I wanted from a wedding that’s actually mine. What would make me happiest, what I know would make Phae happy, stuff like that.

ARES: Are you sure everything’s alright, Aph? You’re… More nervous than usual. I don’t even think you were this nervous when you told me you were going to propose to Hephaestus. 

APHRODITE: I’m fine! I just… I don’t know why this is so hard, it’s not like you’d say no I– (sigh) You mean the world to me, you know that right?

ARES: I know, Aph. You mean the world to me too.

APHRODITE: You’ve been my best friend for so long and you’re the only person I could ever picture trusting enough to walk me down the aisle. And I would really love it if we could make that picture into reality for my wedding.

ARES: You… Really? I thought the whole process of ‘giving you away’ would be a little archaic for you.

APHRODITE: (laughing) It is, in some ways. But the thought of having someone to lean on for support as I make my way toward the person I love more than anything in this world… I guess something about that appeals to me. And if it was going to be anyone, it would have to be you.

ARES: I would be honored, Dite. (joking) I’m honored that you want me as part of your wedding at all, given how your last one went.

APHRODITE: It wasn’t so bad. I got to marry my best friend, after all. 

ARES: (remarkably fond) Yeah, I did too. And now we get to marry the loves of our lives.

APHRODITE: And you’ll be by my side every step of the way?

ARES: On one condition: I want you by my side for my wedding too.

APHRODITE: It’s a deal.

CALLIOPE: And that, dear listeners, is where we shall draw our story to a close for the day. In different places across Olympus right now, our dear gods are holding each other in their arms, letting the love of family, of marriage, and of friendship crash through them like waves on the shore. There is still so much more to come, but for now know that you are being cherished as much as the gods cherish each other. Until next time, and as always, thank you for listening.