Chapter Text
Fate is far more mutable than some people think, and not nearly as mutable as other people think.
In other words, it averages out, instead of working at one of two extremes. Like many other things.
Fate can be changed. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy to change it. If you’re the sort of person who likes running across the street at places that aren’t a crosswalk, there is probably a higher-than-normal chance that your cause of death will be ‘was hit by a car that couldn’t stop in time’.
You’re probably good at dodging cars and looking both ways, granted, if you do that sort of thing regularly.
If you’re that sort of person, you may have already dodged a car today, depending on when you’re reading this.
But well, don’t let the fact that you dodged a car make you careless.
Keep looking both ways and being careful, because if you don’t, it’s still entirely possible you’ll be blindsided later by Car Number Two.
And Car Number Two can kill you just as dead as Car Number One.
What was the point of all of that discussion before we began the story, you might ask?
It’s a demonstration.
Sometimes, fate is something that approaches you, outside of your control. If, for some reason, a serial killer comes to your house and breaks in when your door’s locked, well… they’re the one who’s responsible for killing you.
Sometimes, fate is something that happens to you. Someone else made plans for you, set things up to happen that way, and didn’t bother to let you in on it.
And sometimes, fate - well, sometimes, “fate” is what happens because you walked down the road that led to that fate, of your own free will, couldn’t - or wouldn’t - see what was ahead, and then cursed (everything but yourself) because you had wound up walking off the edge of a cliff.
(Do you remember how Kronos ate his children and horrified his wife?)
(Do you see how many of the Greek gods treat their children?)
(Wonder, for a second. Why might those children might be angry, and want to overthrow them?)
(One of them is bound to succeed eventually.)
(Unless, perhaps, they stop giving them reasons to want that.)
(Which will happen first?)
Hestia first met Sally Jackson in a cafeteria in downtown Manhattan, late at night a few days before Christmas.
(It wasn’t planned by either of them. Sally’s apartment and the Empire State building were both relatively close, and both of them were thinking about their families.)
(Sally was - like she had been ever since her uncle died - alone, there. And it was the Christmas season, so… well, families were out in force.)
(So, a warm sugary drink. To help get her mind back on track).
(Hestia still had a family - but…)
“I’m mother’s favorite!” Zeus snapped at Poseidon.
“No, you aren’t! Being the only one she managed to save from father’s stomach does not make you her favorite!” Poseidon snapped back.
“ Why either of you think arguing like this would make you mother’s favorite over me is beyond me…” Hades - currently lounging on a throne of black rock that he had conjured from seemingly nothing - groused.
“While I do agree, why do any of you think our mother would have one of you as her favorite?” Demeter added. "You squabble like children."
As Hera started to add her own voice to the argument, Hestia just sighed from her hearth, roughly a third the size of her family.
Really.
The only reason she didn’t point out that she was likely mother’s favorite was because she didn’t want her mother - or herself - to suffer through the headaches that came with this argument popping up again.
As much as she loved them, well… they were far from perfect.
So. She would take breaks for herself. Find places like this cafe - small and homely, filled with good will, where the workers weren’t treated horribly and the food was good.
(She usually paid with cash, and left a drachma in the pocket of every worker (and the manager), typically. She had far too much money and not much to spend it on.)
“Hello, ma’am. Could I talk to you?”
And that was how everything started.
Two women meeting in a cafe that was open late, trying to get their minds away from their families.
Most of the other beings on Olympus would probably see it as strange, that the eldest sister of Olympus would take comfort in a human. Would see one as a friend.
(They could too - but nearly all of them have, far too many times, been hurt seeing every one of their human friends age and die, leaving them behind.)
(It is the nature of most living beings to want to avoid pain.)
Hestia has always been far more at peace with herself than they are, and - well, she is easily the most beloved of the Olympians. Even her own family, ever-divided and ever-proud, would (probably) agree on that without much squabbling.
But - well, just because somebody is loved doesn’t mean somebody is known.
Hestia has a very large family.
But the number of people that she trusts - the number of people she is willing to let truly know her - has not grown by much, ever since she was freed from her father’s stomach, saved from the fate of having her power and soul slowly digested and absorbed.
(She was in there the longest. Even though she is by far stronger than nearly any other god, she is still the least (directly) powerful of her siblings).
She loves her family.
But - for the most part - she doesn’t really trust her family.
And that is why, when Sally’s smile makes her feel oddly warm, she tells nobody.
And the warmth of Sally’s smile was why Hestia asked her if she wanted to meet up again next week.
Hestia offering to pay for the food was (part of) why Sally accepted her new friend’s offer.
The restaurant was fairly small and simple - a pizzeria, in downtown Manhattan. There were many places like it - but Sally had to admit, Hestia had good taste. The slices here were cheap, but they were still amazing for the price. She would have to come back here in the future.
So, with two slices of pepperoni waiting in the wings, she smiled at Hestia and started talking.
“What do you do?”
The question was fairly innocent, on Sally’s part. Just a woman asking her friend what she does for a living.
Hestia smiled, and decidedly didn’t panic.
“Mostly, I just spend my time keeping the peace at home… and sometimes baking.”
Sally then asked a question that made Hestia blink.
“Have you ever cooked blue food before?”