Athens

Athens

"So Hera left again?" Sakura sighed after hearing Artemis dropping her bomb. "She is getting repetitive, this stepmother of ours. "
"But Taygeta!" Artemis shook her dark head. "She's Hera's employee for faiths sake. Her secretary! "
"Poor mum," Hephaistos said and toyed with his fork. "Why can't dad... Sorry, Hermes, but dads idea of a marriage isn't exactly a mainstream opinion. He's hurting mum with all these affairs. I want this to end!"

We were sitting in my dining room, having finished a light but delicate supper. Dusk was falling outside and the room was in twilight, a gentle, warm candle-light atmosphere. The six of us "Artemis, Sakura, Hephaistos, Hermes, Auroanos and I "didn't really know how to deal with this information and looked at each other for courage and support.

"Where's Hera now?" I asked.
"I don't know," Artemis admitted. "I was with dad when Iris mindcalled him, told him the news. He was angered of course, demanding to know every piece of information Iris had. But she didn't know more than that Hera had found out about Taygeta's pregnancy the night before and packed her bags the same evening."
"What... Chaos! Mama..." Hephaistos staggered. "She probably thought that with Alatheia being 16 there was no need for mama to stay around anymore. "
"I guess she went back to Argos," Auroanos said, streching his tall body, the chair beneath him creaking.
"Going back to the home of her 20:ies... She'll loose all credibility." Hephaistos sounded really sad and upset.
"What do you think she believes she's loosing with staying with a man who cheats upon her all the time?" Artemis returned.

"I'll try to find her." Hermes rose, putting his hands firmly on the table. Someone has to talk to her. Reason with her.
"Asking her to come back, you mean?" Artemis wanted to know. "I think that's too late now. And what good would it do? Dad wouldn't behave any better if she... "

"Please," I begged, "can't we drop the subject now? I have my nerves on the outside of my body over the Alfapolis vote. Hera's broken heart can't be mended by us six. Hermes, you go after her if you want! I'm going downtown. Undercover. I want to feel what's in the air, see if I'm loosing this town or not. "
"I'm coming with you!" both my sisters stated but Hephaistos said he was going to bed. Auroanos wanted to return to Olympos to see how young Alatheia was faring and also have a word with Astraea, Eleithya and Ares. I understood that. All of Hera's children must be really upset tonight.

***

The Alfapolis night was a buzz indeed. A lot of people out, walking down the streets or hanging in the bars. Of course it wasn't all about me and Poseidon. In fact most mortals seemed preoccupied with a wide-spanned miscellany of other things, ranging from ball games to trendy car models. Not to mention all kind of private issues, no less complicated than what we had discussed earlier in the evening. Nevertheless we did some asking around, Artemis, Sakura and I "and got a sort of fifty-fifty poll.

"Poseidon's my man," a tall, white-haired mortal said and rose his glass. "He's the sailors choice and I'm from a sailor family. I'm saluting the sea-god any day."
"Nah! No Way!" answered a dark-skinned youngster. "Poseidon is from the past. Athena is for the future. She's giving us new things. She gave us electric trains, motion pictures and aeroplanes. With 'planes we won't need your boats, old skipper! Go Athena! " "Yeah! Go Athena," answered his company, a pregnant woman with braided red hair. "I'm doing radio. Wouldn't have a job without her! "

"Hold it right there, another woman was saying staring at the pregnant redhead. Vote for Athena and Poseidon might as well sink our fleet and flood this whole area. I think we should play it safe here and..."
"Zeus's daughter will surely save us if Poseidon starts playing foul," the dark-skinned man said.

I hadn't given that risk a thought. Could Poseidon really do such a thing? Certainly he was able to do it, an earthquake at the right place would create a tsunami large enough for flooding the whole Alfa valley.
"Would he do that - and blow all his credibility?" I asked my sisters.

"Yeah, certainly," Artemis answered.
"No way! Sakura disagreed. "
"Kuri, Athi, that man has a terrible temper, you must know that. He's even worse than dad. And you, Athi, has been a pain in his tail fin for decades. "
"Tail fin! You sure have a way with words, Mimi!" Sakura laughed.
"So what do I do if Poseidon threatens to flood the Alfa valley?"

"He has not made that threat yet, Athi. And the vote is tomorrow. Deal with it when it comes," my older sister adviced." If Poseidon threatens to do something like that I'll bring it up in the Hyperpantheon faster than the old uncle can reach for his trident. Then we'll see if he is so cocky when all the elected gods of the Union are watching him. He'll loose his credibility as you said, Athi. But before that happens he might cause a lot of damage to this area."
"But why would he risk his cred?" Sakura asked.
"Because Seidy is the kind of man who often acts first and thinks later," Artemis answered.

***

The day for the election dawned overcast with a light rain falling from the sky. Then the clouds cracked up around midday and the sun came out. I was sitting in my garden feeling idle and tense. This was perhaps the longest day in my life, not counting some New Years Eves when I was a kid and waited for the presents. I tried to play board game with Hephaistos, but did silly mistakes because my mind was elsewhere and I mindcalled Eos who said it was miserable up at Olympos with Hera away and Zeus in a bad mood.

Aphrodite showed up at dinnertime, wanted to be with her husband, and she and Hephaistos went downtown for a dinner for two. I jumped in the pool, swam round and round until Sakura came out and told me to stop, because her head was spinning.
"You can't change anything now anyhow, she said. Let's go downtown, Athi! Don't you want to be around when the result comes in?"
"Yeah - I guess..." I got up, dried myself and dressed. Casual elegance so I could drop my disguise and show myself if the vote had gone my way.

***

Sakura and I ended up waiting at Central Plaza, the large square in front of the Central Station. There were crowds and crowds of people and a big screen had been mounted on the building opposite of the railway station. Apparently that one was to show the outcome of the vote later in the evening. It was still blank, but excited Alfapolites were waiting beneath it, counting down the beats to the announcement that was due in a little bit more than an hour. Vendors were selling foods from stands and there were reporters everywhere. I also spotted more incognito immortals than I had ever seen before. Most of the Union Hyperpantheon delegates were around as well as other important deities.

Nike, Irdonan, Akiko, Aeolus, Arelis and Auroanos found us and came up and stood beside us. Silent support from their eyes. I returned their looks, smiled. Later on Hera's friends Neyta and Argus arrived together with Hermes' mother Maia and Nike's brother Nardalon. The clock was nearing 20 hours "time for the results, and the excitement was starting to rise. Then suddenly a roar filled the square. I turned around. It was Poseidon, standing on top of the Station building, radiating with confidence. He held his trident high up in the sky, and flanking him was a well-known person. Aganthanon. The Mayor-immortal.

"Chaos," I heard Irdonan mumble. "This doesn't look good."
"It's only the way it looks," Neyta answered my brother. "Relax, Olympian. Poseidon's only playing power games. At least he's better than Athena at that. You should go up there too, daughter of Zeus! Don't wait for him to declare himself winner before the race is over. "

"The winner is going to be presented on the screen," Maia said dryly. "Let sea-god stand upon that gothic roof and look dumb when they tell that he lost it. Then you go up on top of the screen, Athena! Show them that you believed all the time that the town was going to remain in your hands. I hope you have prepared a good speech for this event."
"You bet I have," I lied. I looked at the man with the trident. I didn't even have an attribute like that. Nothing to show off with, just myself and my strong voice. On the other hand if I won - did such things really matter?

Poseidon's followers had been chanting his name now for quite some time, but other people had taking up calling out my name and they were starting to sound like they were more. Then all went quiet when the screen suddenly flickered alive. A man appeared on the screen "the mortal Mayor "Takanadoras Isyailas.

"Great Divine King Zeus," he started. "Noble Immortals, Ladies and Gentlemen of Alfapolis - pearl of Attica - I have an announcement to make in this early evening hour. We Alfapolites have voted here on this beautyful day to select a favoured deity in this great town we're calling our home and are all so proud of. We have voted between Athena, the honourable daughter of Great Zeus and Poseidon, the mighty god of the sea and the waves."
"Get to the point," Auroanos mumbled.

I turned my head slightly, took a glance at the man on top of the Central Station. Poseidon still hell his trident high, looking confident. Then he spotted me, and when I felt him seeing me I noted that his aura shivered just a bit, showing some insecurity.
"And the deity we have selected here today, Takanadoras Isyailas went on - is a deity who have given this region so much. A deity who has waken Attica from it's slumber, it's lull, rural backwaters and rocketed her into the future. The deity - the goddess who is to be the most favoured one is no one less than our beloved Great Athena.!

Sakura was screaming behind me and I held my hands to my blushing cheeks. The rest of Takanadoras Isyailas' speech was drowned in the outcries of the Alfapolites. Some with rage but most with joy while the historical figures were showed on the screen. I had won over Poseidon with 62 % against his 36 and 2 % undecided or blanks. (Some people had put dads name on their ballots. Or Aganthanon's. Jerks!)

"Get the Chaos up there, Athena," Maia urged me, pushing me in the back. I looked back at her, smiling.
"Can't wait!"

Just as I was going to cast my disguise and take into the air, an incognito god came pushing through the crowd and up to me. First I didn't recognise him, but then I remembered whom those gigantic dark and muscular features belonged to. Orion, Attica's former Hyperpantheon delegate.
"Here, take this," he said to me. "Athena, it's the Spear of Attica. It truly belongs to you!"
"Thanks, Orion! Wait for me!" I said.

The next moment I was up on top of the building that carried the screen. People were calling out my name but quieted down when I held the spear up in the air, showed with my whole aura that I wanted to speak. Poseidon was gone from the opposite roof, I noted with a part of my mind.
"People of Alfapolis! I started. I thank you for your confidence in me on this memorable day. I'm going to prove myself worthy of it. I am going to prove myself worthy of this town Alfapolis. This - I promise you  - is only the beginning of its glory. People of Alfapolis, I am Athena of Olympos and I salute you."

With those words I ended my speech and rose my spear again and the crowd went even wilder this time. Their collective energy became a great whirling wind of soulpower carrying me to glories I had never experienced before, charging me with energies of the likes I hadn't thought I could absorb until now. It had me throw back my head and hold the Spear of Attica upright and high. Then I did something I had never done before. I channelled all that energy into a mighty lightning that rushed through my body and the spear and up in the sky until it connected with some of the leftover clouds from the morning rains. When the electrons travelled trough my body I felt the hair rise on my head and my chi sparkle.

"Athena! Athena! Athena!" people down in the square were screaming and 'Zeus's daughter!', 'Zeus's daughter!'. They had seen the lightning and connected it to dad of course. He would be proud, but some of my sisters and brothers would probably make fun of my 'Showing off attack' at the rooftop. I hid myself, sat down and rested and soon my kins and friends found me and were full of congratulations and praising exclamations.
"Where's Poseidon?" was the first thing I asked after all these words of affection. And where's Mayor-Immortal Aganthanon?

"Who cares?" Sakura snorted.
"I care!" I told my little sister. "I want to know what the sea-god is up to. If he'll be the kind of bad looser Artemis feared. Or if he's going to accept his defeat. "
"If he's honourable he'll come to shake hands with you," Irdonan said.
"But he's not," Sakura stated.

"I'll go find him," Orion offered. He had been standing a bit behind until now, watching the others. Poseidon don't know that I'm coming from you, Athena. In fact I stayed neutral through this whole business since I had no idea what was really going on. I came home to Attica as late as yesterday.
"I'll go talking to Aganthanon," Nike said.
"Great! I love you! And then come right home to me here in Alfapolis! We're sure going to celebrate our butts off tonight! "

***

There was a large crowd of people waiting down in the street and I ended up signing so many autographs that I almost became late for my own party. I put my name on papers, on bus-tickets, on commercial leaflets and on paper bags and whatever was given to me. I even wrote my name on one mans bare arm. At that moment one of his friends said:
"Bet Anaxamachos ain't gonna wash that arm for weeks."
"Go see a tattoo-shop instead," I told Anaxamachos. I'd like to know if he took my advise but I never saw him again.

When I got home most of my kins and friends were there with food and wine and hugs and speeches. Even more people arrived later. Dad was almost teary-eyed when he hugged me hard.
"I'm so proud of you Titi! Chaos, I'm so really really proud of you tonight."
"But are you surprised? "
"No, I said I knew you could do it if you really put your heart in it. And you did! Titilove you did! You have made it. This town is truly yours now. "

"There's one thing still bothering me," I said, looking steadily at dad.
"Poseidon? He's not going to..."
"Not Poseidon. Not Aganthanon either. My theory. About the energy crosses. I still don't know if it's working as I thought or if it was the aeroplane plants and the hi-tech industries that really boosted Alfapolis. "
"Does it really matter?"
"I guess not. Until I want to found another town that is. And that might take a while. "

***

I didn't get much sleep that night and the next day was full of everything too. Aganthanon did come up and took my hand, said he was sorry and that he had never meant to walk out on me.
"I got used by Poseidon. He promised me all this and that and I was tempted when I really should have stayed with you, Athena. I hope we can..."

"That's fine, Aganthanon. I'll see if I still can put my trust in you as a Mayor-Immortal. I haven't decided that yet. Where is Poseidon? I have still to receive his congratulations."
"I guess he's beneath the waves. Tending his wounds. "
"His wounds? Bad looser, that's what he is. You're to remain in office until I have made up my mind about you, Agy. Till then - do your best, and I might forget that you abandoned me. "

I met with Orion and Takanadoras Isyailas and a lot of other people, both mortals and immortals, and I informed Nike that she might have to take over the Mayor-Immortal position.
"Later there's something else that you might be needed for, my friend. There are talks going on about moving the Attic residence from Atticapolis down here to A-pol. Nothing's decided yet and Pancleia and Obina are  holding back. But Sedirios wants to move and I guess most of the mortals want it too. So you might become a Governor-Immortal instead. "

"Like Minos on Crete?"
"Something similar, yes. But nothing's for certain."
"And Sakura? Isn't she out to get a position?"
"She's more eager to get control of the new academy. "

In the early evening I got a unexpected visitor. I had just finished my supper "alone for the first time in weeks, and was preparing to catch up on some reading when my nymph-attendant told me I had a guest waiting down in the large livingroom. It was my poor dear stepmother.

I sat down in front of Hera who was looking out over my city, where the lights of the night were lighting up one after another.
"So how's Zeus?" she asked after some initial chit-chat.
"Lonely," I responded.
"So he's not having a ball with Kallirhoe, Taygeta or Ananke now with me gone?"
"Come on! He's over them since forever. I mean, Ananke is a mortal. Go home to him, Hera! He needs you. "

"I can't!" Hera was saying, blinking hard to get rid of the moist in her eyes. A tear escaped and travelled down her pale cheek, glittering in the dimmed lamp light. "I can't stand this eternal womanising of his. I can't stand being cheated upon and fooled all the time. I can't stand the thought of him running off with my friends and my colleges, not to mention my political adversaries. Or the thought of people laughing behind my back and wondering what it is I can't give him that he must go to others and find. Like I have ever refused him! Athena, you have done a good thing not getting married. Don't ever do that mistake!"

"So you're divorcing dad?" I gave Hera a paper napkin but she didn't bother with drying off the tears that had followed the first one.
"I guess so. I have the form here, but I can't get myself to fill it in. I guess I still love him in spite of everything. Or, at least, I loved the man he used to be."

"What do you mean 'used to be'? He cheated on mum too. And on Themis, his first wife. You know that. You know about Leto and Eurynome. "
"Yes, not to mention myself. He cheated on Themis with me once. "
"He did? Well, you see! "

"And Themis left him. Like I should do. "
"Hera, what I mean is: Zeus has never been different. He has been running after women all the time regardless of being married or not. I think it's more like a game to him. He loves the hunt, the excitement of catching them and winning them over. Then he loses interest. Still he can't get over you. And you can't get over him. So please reconsider that divorce thing. You're only going to hurt dad so very very much. And yourself. "

"I'll think of it," Hera said. "Can I stay the night? I need company. And I want to hear about your victory here."
"Of course you can!" We hugged and then I got another sleepless night while telling Hera all about these crazy Attic days.

Next day I got another unforgettable surprise. The town council headed by Takanadoras Isyailas made the decision to rename the town in my honour. A lot of people had never really liked the name Alfapolis, which did in fact sound too much like a working name on a drawing board, also too easy to mistake for the capital Atticapolis. So from now on the towns name was Athens.