Work Text:
“Queen Hera?” asked Athena as she stepped into the room. Music was blaring in the background, a giant disco ball hung from the ceiling and the addressed goddess was dancing her heart out, stopping only when she saw the redhead.
“Hello, love. What are you doing here?” asked Hera as she turned the music off and walked towards Athena.
“I finished the work Father assigned me and I was wondering what I ought to do next, but I really didn’t want to face him again, so here I am.”
“Already done?” she questioned. Everyone on Olympus knew Athena worked fast and well, something that she was constantly praised for, yet this seemed even more impressive considering how she was still recovering from God Games. Hera didn’t ask why Zeus insisted on pawning off his work to his barely-alive daughter, lest she curse another mortal who acted as a mistress. She kept all this to herself though. “Good news for you then: you have no more assignments currently! So you can basically do whatever you want until Zeus, regrettably, calls on you again.”
“Does this mean I can visit—”
“No, you cannot visit your mortals. Not yet, at least,” interrupted Hera. Her heart instantly softened when she saw Athena pouting and crossing her arms. “Keep your head up, little owl. You’ll be allowed to visit them as soon as you heal. When did Apollo say that was, by the way?”
“A week from now,” mumbled Athena, still looking down.
“Not that long then.”
“It’s practically an eternity!” moaned Athena. “I haven’t seen Odysseus in a decade, I have to apologize to him—”
“Which you will do once you are medically cleared,” said Hera calmly. “As much of a bastard as Apollo is, I trust his judgement when it comes to healing and I know you’re smart enough to recognize that too. You just don’t want to accept it.”
The goddess of wisdom shrugged, still avoiding the other’s gaze. “Now I don’t have anything to do. My hands are still shaking too much for weaving or crafting and I’m half-sure Apollo will strap me down to the infirmary bed if I tried training again.”
“Again? Were the first two disasters not enough to deter you from pulling such stunts again? You always were a stubborn one, I suppose…”
“It shouldn’t be considered ‘stubborn’ to want to keep up with my domain—”
“After being injured? When your training sessions resulted in you passing out cold?” questioned Hera with a raised eyebrow. “Your self-destructive tendencies aside, I’ve actually got an idea for what you can do! Do you want me to teach you how to disco?”
“I know how to dance!” said Athena indignantly.
“You know how to go through the motions,” corrected Hera gently. “There’s a difference between that and actually dancing, that was made especially clear during God Games. No offense, my dear, but chances are I would not have let Odysseus go if he had been any less loyal.”
“Fair enough, but how do I actually…” Athena proceeded to make some weird hand gestures.
“Care to use your words?” asked Hera in between giggles.
The goddess of wisdom frowned and hid her hands behind her back. “How do I actually do the stuff you do?”
“Practice, mostly. And getting over the fear of failure,” answered Hera, playfully poking Athena in her side. “Luckily for you, I plan on teaching you!”
“I wouldn’t want to impose upon your time…” replied Athena, yet she didn’t try to pull away, even though the hold on her arm was feather-light in order not to aggravate her wounds.
“Nonsense! It’ll do you good to relax for once in your life.” Once they reached the middle of the dance floor, Hera let go of the younger’s arm and looked at her seriously. “If you feel bad, tell me immediately. I don’t mean when you’re on the brink of passing out either. If you feel the tiniest bit faint, you interrupt me and we’ll go for you to lay down. Is that understood?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Hera nodded, seemingly satisfied with Athena’s grave tone. “Good, now let’s get started. Do you know how to warm up?”
“I’m a war goddess.”
“Perhaps I should have phrased this more clearly: do you know how to warm up without overexerting yourself?” Seeing Athena try to uselessly defend herself, Hera sighed. “Don’t worry, it’s alright. Just follow my lead.”
Slowly, the queen showed her some easy warm-ups and forced her to slow down, despite her complaints.
“I fought in battles, I can do this—”
“Sure, you can,” answered Hera sarcastically. “If you want to pass out and Apollo to kill both of us.”
After that struggle, the duo decided to continue (once Athena had admitted that she was actually having fun, though she would never say so if anyone else asked her).
After a short warm-up session, during which they had discussed Athena’s assignments and her healing process, the two of them stood up and Hera laughed at Athena’s blank stare.
“Great, now that that’s done—”
“Come on! Let me show you what songs I have!” said Hera as she dragged Athena towards the speaker. The selection was wide, with many different styles and genres of music, so she stayed silent as she allowed the younger goddess to analyze her options. After a few minutes, she asked: “So, have you picked anything out? There’s a lot here, I know, don’t rush.”
Athena hesitantly picked up a record and showed it to Hera. “Where did you get this from?”
“This one? Hmm, I think it’s an old present from Poseidon, a sort of music that they play in some parts of his kingdom. I haven’t heard it in a while though…”
“Then maybe this is a good time to break it out,” murmured Athena as she stood up with a soft sigh. “If you want to, of course.”
Hera shrugged and placed the record in the record player, letting the music flow easily between them. At first, Athena was tense and on edge, but she quickly relaxed once she began dancing, the movements coming to her in a natural way, as though she had done it before.
“Hm, there may be some validity to my theory,” thought Hera to herself as she watched the way Athena’s feet skipped and leaped, the movements betraying no sign that she was injured. “I’ll definitely need to ask her.”
In the following hour, Athena chose similar songs, all of them having some sort of connection to Poseidon’s kingdom. Despite their rivalry, which was as known to the mortals as it was to the Olympians, this wasn’t the strangest part to Hera. During a few of the songs, in a fleeting moment, her eyes focused on Athena’s face and she saw tears welling up in her eyes. However, they were gone as soon as they came.
Finally, Hera called a stop to it, waving to Athena to sit down next to her.
“Do you care to tell me why you picked those specific songs?” she questioned as she handed Athena a cup filled with nectar. “You do not have to if you do not wish to, though. Fates only know your hand has been forced enough already.”
Although the queen was truly curious about the reason behind her step-daughter’s decisions, she also knew that a forced confession was likely to present lies rather than the truth. Most of all, she wanted Athena to trust her— it was still a work in progress— and, therefore, she would offer her the freedom whether or not to tell her the truth.
After a bit of hesitation, Athena began explaining: “Do you remember how I was sent to Lake Tritonis after I was released from my father’s head?”
“Yes, I do,” nodded Hera. “Is that music popular over there?”
“I cannot speak for the present, since I have not visited recently or talked to many people from there, but it was during my time, at least.” Athena let her head rest on her knees, her arms coming to hug her legs closer to her body. In Hera’s opinion, the action only made her look that much younger. “I was not a good dancer, especially not at the start. I was quite bad, actually. It was Pallas who insisted on teaching me and it had become a pastime of ours after a while… I keep thinking about that. I keep thinking about her. I have done so ever since the Games.”
“The event brought up some memories from you, didn’t it?” Hera moved closer to Athena, but kept some distance between them, offering Athena the choice of closing the distance or staying away. “You’re still mourning Pallas, aren’t you?”
“Don’t ask me questions that you already know the answer to,” retorted the younger goddess, though her voice lacked any significant bite. She sighed deeply as she leaned her head on Hera’s shoulder, her muscles instinctively relaxing. “She meant so much to me, it’s sometimes hard to imagine that I actually had someone that good in my life at one point. And now… she’s dead. There are very few things of hers I have left and I intend to treasure them for as long as possible.”
Hera hummed in a low tone and began making small circles with her thumb on Athena’s wrist. “I understand. Music was an important part of your life and now you’re discovering that again.”
“I wish she was here,” whispered the goddess. “I’d be better if she was here.”
There was now no question as to whom Athena was referring to. “You’re already good enough, my dear, Pallas Athena.”