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Esther sighed dreamily, resting her hand against her cheek. Heracles only clicked his tongue in response and continued inspecting his weapons for damage while sitting on one of the large stones. As usual, the girl hovered above the ground, muttering something softly to herself.
“She even adores violets. Can you imagine? Such an incredible goddess loving such small, barely noticeable flowers. Though maybe it’s because they’re considered a family talisman?”
She sighed again, blushing slightly.
“It suits her so well.”
Heracles rolled his eyes and exaggerated his focus on examining his armor and weapons. With every passing minute, he regretted more and more that he had agreed to listen to his sister’s ramblings. He had agreed only because she was the only relative he was willing to tolerate right now—but who could have known it would come to this?
Despite everything, the demigod had grown quite attached to the girl. He had met Esther back when he still had a spark inside him, when life still felt interesting. She was always ready to listen, to help in any way she could, and never judged him. Heracles had waited for a catch for years—but none ever came. Because of that, he had promised himself that he would always stand by his sister, support her, and help however he could.
But apparently the Moirai had a very peculiar sense of humor. Heracles was prepared to accept any choice she made when it came to a partner—man, woman, or some creature of indeterminate nature. Mortal, demigod, or even a god, no matter how much he disliked them. Even if her partner turned out to be a lazy good-for-nothing, he would have accepted it.
But Nyx herself?!
That was bordering on absurdity.
And the little star hadn’t shown her interest right away. At some point she had begun acting strangely, but Heracles chalked it up to her adjusting to the post-war era. Then, one day, he had casually mentioned Nyx—he didn’t even remember why. It just happened. And that was when Esther launched into a nearly hour-long monologue about her.
At the time, the demigod hadn’t understood why it happened and assumed it was simple curiosity toward a potential enemy. After all, for a star, darkness was an obvious foe.
But a lot of time had passed since that unexpected outpouring, and Heracles now understood—no, this was definitely not interest in an enemy. Every. Single. Time. Whenever he mentioned Nyx in any way, his sister would immediately begin praising her and listing countless facts that held absolutely no interest for him. Esther, of course, didn’t notice how poorly she was hiding it, completely consumed by thoughts of the goddess—but Heracles noticed. Very much so.
After thinking for a moment, the man nodded to himself and stood up from the stone. The little star didn’t notice, continuing to tell some strange story about Nyx. Heracles walked over, patted her shoulder, and gestured forward.
“Come on. I want to show you something.”
With that, he turned and, gripping his club more comfortably, headed into the forest. Esther blinked in surprise, shook her head, and flew after him. They went deeper and deeper into the woods until Heracles stopped and looked at his sister. She tilted her head to the side.
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
The man squinted, studying her thoughtfully. After nodding to himself once more, he removed the lion’s pelt and draped it over the little star’s head, hiding the glow of her hair.
“We can’t draw attention,” he said, moving forward much more quietly.
Esther was surprised, but seeing how serious her brother was, she nodded and wrapped herself more tightly in the pelt. They walked a bit farther until the demigod raised a finger to his lips and pointed toward a cliff ahead. Esther raised an eyebrow, but when she carefully approached the edge, she nearly squealed with delight.
Below, on an improvised training ground, stood Nemesis—apparently the one who had created this place to train far from the crossroads. And Nyx herself!
Was this a family conversation? And Esther was lucky enough to witness it?!
Heracles stepped closer as well, noticed his sister’s reaction, snorted quietly, and looked down.
“N–Mother, I understand that my sister said a lot of nonsense during her tantrum, but you know perfectly well that none of it is true. Everything is fine. There’s no need to waste your time on such trivialities.”
Nemesis sighed heavily, hands on her hips, staring at the ground with a slight frown. Nyx smiled and stepped forward.
“Nemesis, things like this don’t appear out of nowhere. Eris must have had her reasons.”
The goddess of retribution pressed her lips into a thin line, gripping her armor more tightly.
“She’s just trying to draw attention to herself. That’s all,” she hissed.
Nyx tilted her head.
“And why did she feel the need to do that? Why does my daughter feel she must hurt herself and others to be seen?”
She gently placed a hand on her daughter’s cheek. Nemesis flinched, her eyes widening.
“And Eris isn’t the only one.”
Nemesis clenched her armor even harder, metal slowly bending under her grip.
“Nemesis, I know what you’ve done for our family—and for me. Your absences from your post, your secret training…”
Nemesis turned away as Nyx spoke.
“I know. And I’m not scolding you now. I blame only myself for allowing things to reach this point.”
Nemesis lifted her head, looking at her mother anxiously.
“No—this isn’t your fault, you—”
She tried to speak, but Nyx suddenly placed both hands on her daughter’s cheeks.
“You’ve always been kind, my dear. But Nemesis, I see now where my blindness and my faith that I was doing everything right have led us.”
Nemesis looked away, trembling almost imperceptibly. Nyx smiled gently.
“So let me fix it. I may still do it imperfectly, but please—give me time.”
Nemesis opened and closed her mouth, blinking rapidly. After a moment, she nodded.
“Alright. But please don’t take Eris’s words too much to heart. You know she never watches her tongue.”
Nyx chuckled and kissed her on the forehead.
“I know. But if not for her youth and wild temperament, I might never have noticed my own mistakes.”
She lowered her hands, folding them over her abdomen.
“And please—don’t overexert yourself during training. We can finally rest from war and battle.”
With that, Night dissolved into her shadows, leaving her daughter alone. Nemesis stood on the training ground for a while, then shook her head sharply and headed toward the crossroads.
Heracles let out a relieved breath when it was over. He slowly turned to his sister, who looked as though she hadn’t dared to breathe during the entire exchange. Esther was still staring at the place where Nyx had stood. The demigod snorted and waved his hand.
“Come on. I doubt anything interesting will happen now.”
He walked away from their unusual vantage point. Esther followed silently. Heracles was surprised by her calm—she had just seen Nyx again and witnessed that scene. No screaming, no fainting. Nothing.
“We’re far from the crossroads, right?” the little star suddenly asked as they emerged from the forest.
The man nodded, folding his arms.
“Yeah. The training area is already far enough, and we went even farther.”
“How did you find this place? And how did you know she’d come?”
Esther removed the lion’s pelt and handed it back. The demigod shrugged.
“While dealing with Chronos’s army in Ephyra, one of the monsters ran into the forest. I chased it—turned out to be fast. I caught it on that clearing. After looking at the amulets there and remembering what that witch said about Nemesis leaving the crossroads, I figured out whose place it was.”
He snorted, pulling the pelt back on.
“And that girl let it slip that Nemesis wanted to fix a family problem. Sometimes her rambling is useful. Though the fact that it was Nyx—and not someone else from that family—is pure luck.”
Esther was silent for a moment. Then she suddenly screamed and shot into the air, blushing furiously. Her hair flared brightly, lighting up the clearing. Heracles clapped his hands over his ears, wincing.
“Incredible, incredible, incredible!! She—she’s just incredible! Did you see her face during that conversation?! It was like light itself descended to the earth! And her grace—grace that perfectly shows she’s a goddess!!”
The demigod smirked as he watched his sister animatedly gush about the encounter. There she was.
“And her words! Oh, the way she expresses her thoughts—straight from the heart! And the meaning, the meaning!! I knew Night was incredibly kind, but seeing it in person!!”
Esther frantically looked around.
“Oh, I wish I had something to write this down! This moment must be shared everywhere! Everyone should know how gentle Night truly is!”
Heracles tilted his head.
“Well, I’m glad that boring conversation made you happy. Hopefully now you won’t chatter about her every single minute.”
Esther flinched and awkwardly scratched the back of her head. Her hair dimmed slightly.
“Sorry. I thought I was hiding it well.”
She giggled quietly, covering her mouth.
“But the most important thing—I noticed a very interesting flaw in Nyx. It seems she’s either absent-minded—which is unlikely—or very possessive.”
The demigod raised an eyebrow.
“Possessive? Seriously?”
The little star giggled again, pointing at her own forehead.
“She left a lipstick mark on Nemesis’s forehead. And considering how hard that kind of lipstick is to wash off, Retribution won’t notice it anytime soon.”
Heracles blinked—and a second later burst out laughing. Oh, he really shouldn’t have missed that detail. The goddess of retribution walking around with a kiss mark on her forehead—now that wasn’t something you saw every day.