You remember Richard, a bully at an elementary school, one day he pushed you so hard, you fell and broke your arm. He laughed. With tear filled eyes, you wished he didn't, you wished he stopped bullying everyone, but nothing happened no matter how much you wished it. At first.

He continued to bully other children, and you kept wishing he would stop, and day by day, you could see a change. His demeanor changed, he slowly grew subdued, tired, bags under his eyes grew and colored and one day he just stopped. He set in his chair, face in his hands on the verge of crying. He was tired for reasons he didn't understand, but knew it was due to his bullying.

You knew all this, and felt the change in him. One day, when he again sat sullen behind his desk, you approached him. He told you to leave, but you knew, he desperately didn't want you to. You hugged him. The feeling of your cast on his chest broke him. He cried, he apologized, he promised to do better, and while at the depths of despair, you hugged him harder. You could feel the relief that flooded into him, relief you, as you now know, allowed him to have. He never bullied anyone again.

15 more years passed, knowing you were different, not understanding why. People who visited you, always left happier. Conflicts rarely started around you, and always ended strengthening the bonds between participants. Even as the world grew darker with plagues and looming danger of war, you stood in the center of island of stability, happiness, in the center of peace. It was on the day the war started in neighboring country, that threatened to engulf the world, when your mother finally appeared to you.

Hestia, the first born child of the Titan rulers Cronus and Rhea. Older than even Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. Many thought her a goddess of being a housewife, despite never being married and yet, both Apollo and Poseidon sought her hand and respected her refusal. Zeus too made no effort to change her mind, instead respected her decision to never know other man. Be it god or mortal, they knew, that the power over the hearth is nothing to be trifled with.

Her time has passed, she no longer was permitted to directly meddle in the affairs' of men. But knowing her influence was still needed, she took steps for you to come into being. You, you are a manifestation of humanity's desire for peace and your mother's wish for the same.

'You must be careful,' she told you. 'you are still a mortal, feebler than most, fragile, just like peace, but your power over hearth is as strong as mine. Bring happiness to the houses of those deserving peace.' She kissed you on your forehead, and smiled as she said it. Then she frowned and the world grew terrible for a moment as she added. 'And show them who flaunt it, the power of peace withdrawn.'

"Mom, what is it I actually...do?"

Mom took a break from tending to the fire to look at me and ask, "What do you mean, Brandy?"

I stuck another marshmallow on my skewer before replying, "I mean, what are my divine gifts, if I even have any? Like, the other demigods can eat fire or turn into giraffes or whatever. So what can I do?"

Mom sighed and looked up at the tree canopy overlooking us with a smile. As I pulled my marshmallow back and shoved it in my mouth, she answered, "Well, that's a bit of a story, pumpkin, and I can't think of any better place for it than around the campfire. It all goes back to the vow on the River Styx that I made to Zeus, that I would remain a virgin, unmarried and childless.

"Of course, over the centuries, I grew tired of it all. I spent centuries watching Zeus and the other gods run around and force themselves on women, more often than not cheating on their spouses in the process. Combine that with me noticing the hypocrisy in none of the male gods being ordered to remain virgins, and I started looking for a way out of my predicament. And eventually, I found somebody who was all too keen on helping me do so."

From behind us, someone responded, "Well, it is my vocation to make a mess of things." I turned around to see another woman in a dark blue chiton with a basket full of yellow apples and her hair done up in a long French braid strolling towards us. The woman kissed my mom on the cheek and turned to me. "Hello Brandy. I'm your other mom, Eris."

I tilted my head in confusion. "Eris? The goddess of discord?"

Hestia wrapped her arms around Eris as the latter answered, "The one and only. Hestia and I started dating in secret in order to defy Zeus, and before we knew it, you popped into our lives. Of course, we had to place you with a mortal family to keep Zeus from finding you."

"But...mom, didn't you swear on the River Styx? Doesn't breaking that warrant divine punishment?"

Hestia giggled. "Oh, indeed it does. And that is where your gifts come in." Before I could press her for an explanation, Eris let out a whistle so loud and shrill, it would've brought every cab driver in New York City to an instant halt. From the woods, a group of hellhounds charged out from the thicket and lunged at me.

But nothing happened. The pack was suspended in mid-air like they were puppets that had gotten tangled up in their strings. As the hellhounds slowly disintegrated into golden dust, Eris slung her arm around my shoulder and said, "From the moment you were born, no harm has befallen you or the ones you care for. Nothing that could kill or irreversibly hurt anyone within your circle of friends and family, be it mythological or mundane, can touch you."

"For you, dearest Brandy," Hestia continued, "Are the goddess of sanctuary, shelter, and found family. And among the Olympians, who have gone to war with one another over petty familial rivalries, there is no greater power."

I sat around the hearth and gazed into the fire, thinking of the past when I didn't know my mother was a goddess and not just any goddess, but the goddess Hestia.

I have power that demigods can't even dream of...I want to know why and how.

A women modestly cloaked in a headed veil sat on a white cushion in front of me while stoking the fire.

"Mother, am I really your son?"

The women in the veil paused to look at me. Her green eyes held an uncanny pressure. Like she was gazing into my soul.

"Of course you are, I raised you did I not? Doesn't that make me your mother? What kind of silly question is that." She said offhandedly.

"Well...I heard from the other demigods that you made an oath to Zues a long way back. An oath that you would never marry and remain a virgin forever. If that's the case...how am I here?"

she looked up again this time with a stern look.

"Who told you that? Are you being picked on again? Why I outta—"

"No it's not that. I just want to know." I told a half truth.

She sighed before leaning back on her cushion and looked up at the night sky. A shooting star flew past.

"Yes, I did make that oath and I still haven't broken it."

"Then?" I tilted my head in confusion.

"I made that oath when I was young and reckless. But...as I got older I started to yearn for a child of my own as I watched through the fire of all the mortal families that offered sacrifices to me. I started to wonder what it would be like to have a child...to be a loving mother."

She paused as she looked into herself and a distance past I could never fathom.

"But because of the oath, I was fated to never have that...or so I thought. One day Hera came down to see me and I happen to let slip my desire of a child. Hera to my surprise said that it was still possible but I would have to ask Aphrodite, Athena and Demeter for help."

She glanced at me.

" I decided it wouldn't hurt to ask so I invited them all to my place to discuss how we could go about giving me a child of my own." She closed her eyes.

" It was a long and enduring endeavor but somehow, with Athena's intelligence and science, Aphrodite with her wits and her knowledge of the human body, and Demeter with her knowledge of nature and fertility. We came up with a way." She gazed at me this time with the warmth a mother has for a son.

"You are a miracle that came into this world with the help of 3 goddesses, 4 if you include myself...but I didn't really do much."

"When you came into this world I felt truly blessed. I realized that when there is a will there is a way." She looked at me fondly.

"But how, I still don't understand." I asked curiously.

"Do you really want to know the whole process on how you came into this world as my child?" She said with a raised eyebrow. She shook her head as if wanting to avoid the topic.

"No, the process of how you came into this world does not matter. All that matters is that you are my one and only son. My blood runs through your veins. You should have more faith in your mother and the goddesses that helped bring you into this world."

"Ugh, fine...don't tell me the process. I don't care...Thanks for telling me this Mother."

She nodded her head before standing up.

"It's time for me to tend to the hearth of Olympus. Are you coming with me?" She asked.

"Not this time...I think I'll stay here a bit longer." I said softly in contemplation as I looked at the red fire.

"Don't stay out too late." She gave me one last look before touching the fire and disappearing like smoke.

So this power of mine? Is it not from just my mother but others as well?

The fact that women swoon over me, is that Aphrodite's doing?

Is my gift of strength and godly senses from Athena? My mother always compliments me on my intelligence as well.

And the fact that I can control nature to a certain degree because of Demeter?

Maybe it's not just my mother's powers that I inherited...

I listened to the fire as images of a mortal family sat down and gave their thanks to Hestia. I look at the ground as grass grew by my feet and saw in crisp vision the hairs of an ant close up. I reached out towards the fire and like a snake it wrapped around my arm as if it was alive. I gathered the fire into my hand and before my eyes it turned into various shapes according to my whims. A bird, a flower, then a wolf.

The demigods have no idea how many gifts I hold and I'm only just beginning to understand my limitations...

Note: This one was a bit tricky. I actually had to do a bit of research for this but still felt like I didn't get it quite right but oh well. This was good practice. Hehe

I was not the strongest of the demigods. Nor the fastest. Nor the smartest. Not the best-looking.

Truth be told, I wasn't much of a demigod at all. I had no primal domain; I was not Zeus' child, who walked the sky; I was not Poseidon's child, as much at home on water as on land. I had no special bearing on the hunt, warfare, medicine, war, craft, or love. I was not adept at skulduggery or fast talk.

I wondered why they gathered around me. I wondered why I was allowed at all. They told me I belonged, but I insisted I'd never done anything supernatural. I was adopted, sure; I'd never met my birth mother and been raised like anybody else though. I'd been bullied in school, right up until David's parents split up and his dad took him to military school. The next time someone tried to bully me, Brett stood up for me. He was everything I wasn't--tall, strong, good-looking.

If I believed this Greek society's ravings about my being the son of Hestia, goddess of hearth and home, family and nation...well, I suppose I could add "Entirely human" to that list.

Well, as it turned out, Brett struggled in social studies class and he'd been referred to my study group. The class came naturally to me and it would be the difference between him being academically eligible for football season and getting kicked off the team.

We became friends that day, and Brett wasn't the last person to show up for me when I needed a friend throughout high school.

According to this Alpha Alpha Alpha Alpha group, that was me passively leaning into the divine aspects my mother had given me. How many stories are out there of people showing up for 'found family' and 'this is my home'? A lot. So much identity and safety and security and comfort is tied up in my birth mother's domain, apparently.

That's probably why they all gathered in my off-campus apartment, telling me that we were all distant family.

The moment I truly embraced my identity was why they stayed.

"That kind of talk is what got us into this mess!"

Agon paced the deck with a spear in one hand and an uncovered torch in the other, taking a grim satisfaction in the anxious eyes of his fellow crewmen. They had bullied him, long ago. So long ago that most of them probably didn't remember it. But they were right about one thing: he was crazy. He would burn the whole ship to punish the world for blowing the Titanic off course.

Or at least he'd let them think so.

"Did the founders of Athens raise our city on their knees?" the bronzed warrior continued, "Was the Serpent of Paideia slain with pleading and pity? The gods demand a sacrifice!"

Where he stalked, men and women stepped back to give him a wide berth. All but one: Mars' daughter Argo. Her chestplate gleamed blood-red in the evening sun as Agon stepped closer, their breaths mingling. Agon smiled, Apollo's fire through the windows of his eyes. "Are you volunteering?"

"Stop this, Agon. We all swore an oath of brotherhood."

"We swore an oath to destroy anything that stood in our way! Look where your pathetic attempts at peace swept us. You call yourself a daughter of war? And to think I once loved you."

"I loved a man who spoke music and poetry, not these vile threats."

"A man who tastes poison must spit his words."

Argo's height nearly matched his, despite the man's imposing size. Paarthurnax watched them bicker from his perch atop the mast. He was further from the action than his few friends on the deck, but he could see the inevitable as well as anyone: Agon would get his wish. There would be blood before the sun set.

"We need you, Agon," Argo tried one last time. "Whatever horrors wait between us and home will be twice as deadly without our second best warrior. But I will put you down myself before I let you kill one of our brothers."

"Second best?"

Both demigods' eyes gleamed. Unbidden, a sailor passed Argo a spear and shield. "Get my shield," Agon spit. They stepped apart, the crowd parting around them. Sunlight flashed on the bronze shield, blinding Paarthurnax for a moment. Perhaps it was Apollo's blessing - perhaps it was a warning. The gods were fickle.

All except one.

"Wait!"

Paarthurnax dropped to the deck. Both pairs of eyes - all pairs of eyes - turned to him.

"I can find the way home."

Both challengers raised an eyebrow. Argo laughed, a short, humorless sound. "You? You can barely find your way off the ship when it's time to fight."

"I can save us," he insisted. "What we need right now is not battle, it's to get home. Don't let your pride blind you to that. Give me seven days, and I swear I will get us home."

The demigods turned to look at each other. Finally, Agon lowered his spear. When he spoke, he didn't deign to address Paarthurnax. "Seven days. And if he fails, I'll be glad to not have to sacrifice you," he told Argo. She merely nodded.

As he took the wheel, Paarthurnax's eyes stayed on the horizon. I trust you, mother. You do not strengthen my arm or quicken my spear, but you never, ever fail me.

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