I sat with my arms crossed in front of the goddess, who shifted nervously in her seashell, trying not to meet my eyes.
'Good. Be nervous. Especially after the headache you gave me for so many centuries, deliberately reaching out through my domain and then hiding immediately the moment I came close.'
Just thinking about the chase she gave me for so many years made me want to gnash my teeth in anger.
But I knew that it would not be fair to let my anger get the better of me and sour this first meeting with this young goddess.
And I know she is a young goddess.
Her divine essence is powerful, from what I can tell, but it is also young. Probably only as old as my nieces, the Horae, or maybe a little bit older, but definitely not as old as my siblings and I.
Which is strange since I can sense the weight of her existence is far older, not to mention the strange mix in her divinity, as if she is not just one being, but an amalgam of some kind with another being.
'Whatever. One mystery at a time.'
"So? You have anything to say for yourself?"
"Hehe."
She giggled nervously, making my annoyance rise a bit.
"Seriously? That's all? After so many centuries of playing with me?"
"Well, to be fair, I did plan on meeting you eventually, Brolios Asterion of Olympus."
Huh, she already knows who I am?
"I see that you know my name, yet I do not know yours."
She smiled happily and pumped up her chest with pride, holding her chin up high.
"My name is Aphrodite."
"Aphrodite, then. Can you tell me when your 'eventually' was supposed to be?"
"....."
She fell silent at my question, once again avoiding my gaze.
'Yup. Knew it. Her 'eventually' was probably a long, long time into the future.'
I could not help but sigh again.
Seriously, it was a lucky break that I got the idea to stop relying on both my Ki sensing and Divine senses and rely solely on detecting the distortions in reality to find her.
Divine beings of all kinds cause the fabric of reality to warp slightly around them through the sheer metaphysical weight of their existence. Something that only those who know the esoteric arts know about.
The only reason I even know how to look for such distortions is because of Hecate, who trained me in the art.
If not for this art that allowed me to find the distortion in reality and lead me straight to Aphrodite, there is no telling how long this woman was planning on playing this game with me.
Watching her nervous, yet hopeful look, I sighed for who knows how many times now and got up from my throne.
"Well, it is clear that you do not intend to answer any of my questions seriously, so I might as well leave. Since the mystery of that divine signature is solved, there is no reason for me to stay here-"
"Wait!! I'll talk!"
——————————————————————
Aphrodite watched the God of Destruction's changing expression, the confusion and curiosity in his gaze evident to her as she stopped him from leaving in a panic.
Truth be told, this was not how she envisioned her first, face-to-face, meeting with the god.
In her imagination, it would always be her who would one day truly expose herself to him, ready to greet him as a fellow god and as someone who was fully in control of herself.
She always imagined that through this meeting, she would finally meet the god who was probably one of the few who would not instantly fall for her because of her beauty and try to claim her forcefully.
And yet, all these plans went out the window, now that he had discovered her under his own efforts.
Again, she must say that she is very much impressed with the resourcefulness of this god.
And, she is happy to see that her initial hunch that he was not like any other god or goddess has been proven right.
Aphrodite knew her true nature from the very moment she was born.
She knew that her form was fluid. That she would appear exactly as the person facing her would perceive 'true beauty' to be.
That was why, when she met the Horae for the first time, she looked a little similar to their mother, Themis. Because, to the Seasons, their mother was the most beautiful woman.
That was why, when she met Hecate, her form changed to take on the features of Hera, the Queen of the Gods, whom Hecate thought to be the pinnacle of beauty.
And yet, here she is now, in her true form. With long golden hair adorned into a bun, just like the Horae taught her back then, and with her beautiful blue eyes staring at the god with wonder.
Because it would seem, to him, true beauty lay in a being's ability to be themselves.
This wonderful revelation is why she did not want Brolios to leave just yet. Because she wanted to know more about this strange god who felt completely different from any of the handful of others she had seen from a distance or interacted with in her life so far.
And so, she immediately blurted out whatever came to her mind.
"I'll.....how about some food? We can talk while we dine?"
'Great going, Aphrodite. You just invited a God of all things to a mundane feast. I mean, what in Gaia's name can I even offer him here? Fish and Seaweeds? I really should have stocked up on some Ambrosia and Nectar last time-'
Her internal berating session came to a grinding halt as she saw the delighted expression on the famed God of Destruction's face as he eagerly took his seat again, staring at her like a starving animal.
'...What in the name of Gaia? He is really that happy about mundane food?'
With a wry smile, she waved her hand, using her divinity to pull out some fish and seaweeds from the depths.
However, before she could use her divine energy to manipulate the elements and cook them, Brolios shot to his feet.
"No, no! You don't use divine energy to cook mundane food! They must be cooked by hand."
".....Forgive me, Lord Brolios. But I do not know how to-"
"That's fine! I'll show you!"
And so, on that day that Aphrodite would consider one of her fondest yet most bizarre days ever, she learned how to grill fish and use various materials to make stew out of Seaweeds and seafood.
'Yeah. He is definitely a strange god. But, not a bad one.'
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Aphrodite: (Click here for image)
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