A Queen and Her Kings

They're Only Human

A woman stood on a black marble and gold balcony, decorated in greek columns with vines of ivy crawling up the walls from the opulent garden below. It was a beautiful garden, filled with hydrangeas, hyacinths, and lilies that were planted along an array of black bricked paths. Ornate stone benches, fountains, and statues lined them as well, and all of them led back to a certain tree in the garden.

A pomegranate tree, the very one she had taken those seeds from so many millennia ago to support her and her husband's clever ruse. She needed a reason to stay that her 'dear relatives' would find 'understandable', after all, and a reason to see her darling mother.

The garden had been a wedding gift from him, to show that their love would thrive in even the most desolate of climates. She had tended to it well over the centuries, and they had taken countless strolls through it and talked of everything from what the chefs were making for dinner to the fate of their kingdom.

The woman looked up at the sky, dark and overcast, with no light and only dark gray clouds lining the air. It wasn't like this because it was night; it was always like this, here in the Underworld. She took a deep breath in, closing her eyes and savoring the cool night air, and sighed outwards. Speaking of her beloved husband-

"So, come here often, beautiful?", a sly voice called out, accent reminiscent of those who lived in the great cities of the overworld above. His accent was different from hers, from his brothers and sisters on Mt. Olympus; it was to be expected, considering he hadn't spent more than a day there in over two thousand years. The woman shook her head fondly and smiled.

"Why, yes I do. I have since I fished my extremely handsome husband out of Tartarus, perhaps you know of him? Flaming hair, toothy grin and- oh, Hades, it's you! I never would have guessed!", the woman carried on, playing along with her husband's joke. Her voice was airy and regal, with an English accent she had picked up from her mother, acting surprised when she turned around and saw him leaning against the archway that led back into their palace with his arms crossed. He was smiling his usual grin, and while others found that unsettling, the woman found it endearing. Gray smoke curled at his feet as he glided towards her.

"Ouch, that hurts, babes. But, since you saved my rear outta the kindness of your heart all those years ago, I suppose I can forgive you.", Hades said, hunching over to put his face closer to his shorter wife. His wife giggled.

"I would like that very much. I didn't come all that way to enjoy the scenery, after all, not that it isn't wonderful.", the woman said, kissing her husband on the nose.

"Yeah well, nice to hear someone thinks that, Perse.", Hades said, calling his wife by her favorite nickname. It was short for her given name, Persephone, the Goddess of Springtime and Queen of the Underworld.

She was beautiful, with long, shimmering blonde hair done up with a pomegranate themed headdress, braids and curls. She had fair, pinkish skin in contrast to her husband's stone gray. Her eyes were summer green, reminiscent of the fields she liked to wander in during the summer months. Her stola shimmered like her hair, and was a mix of glimmering pinks and reds. On her feet she wore brown strappy sandals, and on her left ring finger she wore her wedding band; a silver band with a small blue rose at the top, made of tiny sapphires. Her husband wore the same band on the same finger.

Suddenly, the atmosphere shifted. Not awkwardly, but simply to more business-like topics. This happened with them often. The two removed themselves from each other and began to walk side by side into the palace, easy smiles on their faces.

"So, I assume you felt it?", Hades asked, eyes firmly ahead even as Persephone looked at him. His wife nodded.

"How could I not? First that slight disturbance last night, and now that utterly disrupting ripple of energy not even mere minutes ago; truly, it has been most unusual.", the spring goddess said, contemplating what could have caused the occurrences she spoke of.