Location: Larissa, Aeolia
Time Remaining: 9 Days
Adresteia perched on the roof of Peleus and Thetis's palace, looking at the sun rising over the sea to its east. She sat on the roof in human form - she could certainly have seen further in one of her raptor forms, but the colors of the sunrise were richer when viewed through human eyes and the ocean breeze was more exciting on bare, human skin. Adresteia still avoided spending too much time in her god-form simply to avoid drawing the wrong attention, but she was becoming increasingly comfortable in and appreciative of her human form.
There was no hesitation or delay once the matter of Helen's marriage had been decided. Menelaus and Helen were wed within the week. Agamemnon was, remarkably, true to his word and pulled strings to finally make Odysseus and Penelope’s marriage happen. And, it turned out, Agamemnon had made his own deal with Tyndareus that ultimately put him at the altar across from Helen’s sister, Clytemnestra.
Odysseus and Penelope would wed today, and it would be a beautiful day for it. By the time everyone gathered for their vows in the courtyard they'd chosen, the sun would have warmed the earth, but dropped low enough in the west to provide plenty of shade. The moon would be full, allowing the celebration of the wedding to continue well past sunset. Odysseus and Penelope had invited her without hesitation, and she'd accepted.
It would be the first mortal wedding Adresteia had ever attended, and it would be the first wedding she'd ever attended as a guest rather than as a one-goddess security force. Adresteia wondered if her feelings were typical for wedding guests. The excitement and hope of the bride and groom were infectious, even to someone who didn't have a great deal of experience with such emotions. Adresteia was glad that they would finally make it to the alter, because she knew it would make them both happy, and she couldn't abide the thought of Odysseus being heartbroken. Compersion aside, though, she did feel some envy. Counterfactual scenarios, 'what-ifs', still played in her mind if she was idle for too long. Her thoughts would carry her to any number of alternate realities, varying greatly in absurdity.
Sometimes, Adresteia wondered how things might have worked out if she'd been born human. Would she have met someone like Odysseus two centuries ago? Would he be interested in her if she had? Would she be interested in him, or would she be such a completely different person that she wouldn't even be able to relate to her alternate self's wants and desires.
Other times, Adresteia wondered what might have happened if Odysseus had been born an immortal, like her. Would he be as kind and thoughtful as he was in the real world? Or would the power have corrupted him, twisted him into a monster like Zeus?
Often, though, Adresteia revisited the decision she made after the night they spent making love. Should she have stayed and tried to make their one night together stretch into two nights? Three nights? A week? A month? A marriage? She'd had reservations about becoming more involved with Odysseus because he was mortal, but the gods of Olympus and their sons courted human women all the time. Of course, those 'courtships' often involved some degree of coercion, and even when they didn't they tended to be short. Gods would indulge themselves for a night, and then leave the mortal in the morning. Of course, Adresteia knew that was more or less exactly what she had done with Odysseus, and looking at it that way made her feel a measure of guilt, but Odysseus didn't seem to have any regrets.
No, it had been the right decision. The question now was what to do going forward. Should she test Penelope's flexibility on their wedding vows to scratch the occasional itch? Or should she leave them be? There were millions of people in the world - Odysseus couldn't be the only one worthy of her affection, and one perk of immortality is that she was under no significant time pressure. Having fallen in love once, she knew that she would fall in love again - if not this century then in the next.
"You've changed a great deal from the distressed woman I came to twenty years ago," Athena's voice came from behind her. The Olympian shrank down to mortal size so that she could comfortably sit next to her ally. Adresteia wondered if Athena was only ever this informal with her - she never seemed to carry herself quite so openly with anyone else.
"Change was a matter of survival," Adresteia said, "if I had continued on as I was I would have destroyed myself eventually. Heracles or some other champion of men would have hunted me down and finished what Zeus started."
"Perhaps," Athena said, "Although in a show down with any of my half brothers, I would not bet against you."
Adresteia laughed, "Right, you think I could take on Ares?"
Athena didn't answer that question, though she did let slip a vicious smile that unsettled Adresteia.
"I was surprised," Athena said, "That when we had our little sylvan tete-a-tete with Artemis, you didn't have questions about your own parentage. There was a time when you had many."
"Hera led me to believe she'd bred and engineered me like one of her monsters," Adresteia said, "And I have no recollection of being gifted with a legacy as you described. I remember combat drills and survival training. In my earliest memory... I'm just lost in the woods, fleeing... something hunting me."
"Orthrus, probably," Athena said, "Hera would set her dog on her other creations to test their mettle."
"But I know I'm not Hera's creation."
"Not in the sense she would have wanted you to believe. You had a mother and a father, though your father died shortly before you were born, and your mother was soon thereafter imprisoned in Tartarus. Your legacy was given to you that day, when you were an infant."
"Is my mother still alive?"
"If I said yes, would any caution I provided dissuade you from finding her and freeing her?"
"Perhaps - what caution have you cause to offer?"
"I'm sure it would not surprise you to know that it was Zeus who killed your father and sealed away your mother..."
"She might be another ally against Zeus, then, mightn't she?"
"I'm sure she would be, but your mother was very much like you - subtle and discrete when she was being professional, but... more passionate when circumstances became more personal. Her predilection to punish wrong-doing without hesitation would send her straight to the throne room of Mt. Olympus, and with her own legacy taken from her long ago, she'd stand no better chance against Zeus and Hera than she did the day you were born. And two hundred years imprisoned in Tartarus likely hasn't done her any favors, either."
"Then you would have me wait to see her until after our task is done in full."
"If I thought you could meet your mother, see her, but then leave her behind until we were finished, I would tell you to go to her right now. That seems unrealistic, however."
"I think you are right," Adresteia nodded.
"That said, I need you to go to Tartarus and free someone else."
"That's ironic."
"You have no idea," Athena said, "I need you and Odysseus to infiltrate the most secure portion of Tartarus, and release Prometheus."
"Prometheus?" Adresteia said, "Don't you think Zeus will take notice of that?"
"Zeus sees much less than what he allows others to believe, and while he might take notice of someone leaving Tartarus, he won't notice someone being shuffled about in Tartarus."
"Shuffled about?"
"Much like your mother, there's no telling what harm imprisonment has done the Titan - if stories are to be believed, it's likely his sanity is thin or altogether broken by this point. If you released him into the greater world now, it's unlikely he could function, so instead we're going to free him from his torment in Tartarus, and move him to another realm within Tartarus, where he will be able to eventually recover from his experiences."
"How do I do that?" Adresteia asked, "I've been to Tartarus many times, but I never saw anything more than the thousands of sarcophagi stacked on one another. No realms of torment or recovery."
"The many realms of Tartarus are accessed through those sarcophagi - while the body sleeps within, the mind travels to other worlds that Tartarus creates for the gods on command." Athena produced a number of flat hexagonal crystals, "There is a small pedestal next to each of the sarcophagi - if you pry the top of the pedestal off, you will see a slot that matches these crystals. Install one of the green ones in the pedestal to your left when facing Prometheus's sarcophagus, then find an empty pod and install one of the purple ones in its pedestal."
"We only need two then?"
"They aren't incredibly durable, and your approach to challenges sometimes becomes... rough."
"Ah, spares then. Good thinking."
"Well, that's what I get the 'of wisdom' title for. Once you have the stones in place, it will be Odysseus's task to use the empty sarcophagus to enter Prometheus's underworld and free him."
"I assume if I asked you how Prometheus figures into your plans, you wouldn't tell me."
"Believe it or not, this task is largely sentimental in nature. Though Prometheus was imprisoned long before I was born, I bear a great deal of responsibility for his situation. I owe it to him, and another one-time close companion to see him rescued from this state."
"I could just ask Hades and Persephone to do it..." Adresteia said.
"I have considered doing so myself on many occasions, but the less my uncle and aunt know, the better off they are."
"Fair enough, but why send Odysseus into Prometheus's prison instead of just having me do it?"
"As you have no experience sneaking into the underworld, I'm sending a guide with you. While Odysseus liberates Prometheus, it will be up to you to protect him."
"You think this 'guide' you're sending with us is likely to betray us?"
Athena once again smiled coolly.
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