Hestia x Hera - Hearth & Home

[erza155]

Written for: Femslah February 2021

Fandom: Greek Mythology

 

Pairing: Hestia x Hera

 

Characters:

 

Additional notes:
Keep tagged '0A'
Last edited: February 26 2021

 

Date Archived: September 16 2023

Hearth & Home Hestia/Hera

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summary: Hestia leaves Olympus. Hera tries to follow and learn to be free. They build a home.

 

Little Hermes comes and he is all brashness and cunning and Hestia can see from the very air around him that the chaos is too strong within him. If they allow him to continue to roam free, his tricks will overcome [a few heifers] and he might become something worse than what they already are as gods. Hestia has always understood necessity. She is the oldest of all the Olympians. Her domain is the peace of the home. She knows what has to be done to maintain it. She gladly relinquishes her throne. She is still welcome on Olympus (of course she is) because she is family. 

 

Hestia does not hate her family members. It would be very easy to do so, but she doesn't. Because she remembers how they spent the first few years of their lives in the darkness of their father, with neither hearth nor flame to warm them and provide them light. It makes sense that they're all a little bit broken. And she supposes that the next generation, even if they had grown up with comforts that their parents couldn't have even imagined when they were children, they had to deal with the various cracks in their parents' visage without seeing how deeply their own parents were broken and carefully pieced back together. 

 

Hestia is the goddess of the hearth and home. She is respected. Some do not see value in her power. They think her weak and meek. But she doesn't care much for them. There have been many classifications of her powers, but she alone knows the true extent of her powers. Her siblings assume that she is bound to only places where a hearth lays. A hearth does not a home make. 

 

The precious little humans that Prometheus had adored so much to give unto them light, even at the cost of himself were so *creative*. She admired them for it, they had grown so much. To them a home was so much more than a stationary physical place to return to. It was a person, a memory, a piece of land, a state, nowhere and everywhere all at once. It was glorious and freeing. When she let herself expand her sense and revel in her own power, it was always such a rush.

 

So she watches over the humans as they grow, and they are so fascinating. Their lives are so short, but they attempt to fit everything they can into the few paltry years they are allotted. They are beautiful in their despair of life. They are beautiful in their welcome of death.
 

☆☆☆☆☆☆
 

Despite constantly being able to see everything happening, Hestia does constantly work on not spying on her siblings. Even if she were to give them guidance, they would not heed her words, and they would only grow [think her untrustworthy, something to be watched out for] of her and that wouldn't help anyone at all. So she stays quiet and tries to focus on the mortals unless there is another god calling for her attention. 

 

So, when she first stumbles upon Hera sitting stiffly on a bench with red rimmed eyes, she is of the mind to leave everything well enough alone, but the way Hera looks right now is... disconcerting. She is still her beautiful, and ethereal self, and yet a deep sadness permeates her. And mixed in with that sadness, she can sense a roiling fury, like the waves of the sea when Poseidon throws one of his tantrums.

 

Hestia sits next to her little sister and offers her a [handkerchief]. Hera takes it silently and daintily dabs at the corner of her eyes. Theirs is not a family [that is big on or built on] frequent communication. She cannot remember the last time she had been alone with Hera like this. Olympus was always crawling with gods, demigods, creatures, and your other what-have-yous. And as Queen of Olympus, it was Hera's duty to be seen, so she was hardly ever alone. 

 

No one is blind to Zeus' stupidity, but they don't say anything either because he's the baby of the family, or they fear his power. Sometimes both. Hestia supposes that she too is afraid of Zeus in some abstract way, but Hera is also her sister, and she will support her when she can.
 

☆☆☆☆☆☆
 

"Oh, sister," Hestia whispers, caressing her face. "How you have suffered. We turned a blind eye to your suffering. 

Hera wants to cry. No one has ever taken her side on this, but here is soft Hestia making her feel welcome.

"No more. I am sorry that I did nothing. But I will stand with you now." Her voice is fierce.
 

☆☆☆☆☆☆
 

"My Lord, Zeus, king of the gods you might be. But my domain is the home. Tread carefully. I can make it so that you never have a safe place to return to. No warm bed to lay your weary head on. Cold and empty walls await your future if you overstep your bounds."
 

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
 

Hestia adorns her head with braids. They talk while Hestia braids her hair. It is aimless chatter. It is wonderful. Every small moment with Hestia is a gift she did not have before. She is all the more appreciative of it.
 

When Hestia is done and she looks in the mirror She is shocked. She looks like a queen. She always has, but Hestia has managed to make her look *soft*. Hera has been wearing armor for so long that she doesn't know who she is without it. All her hard edges are still there, but Hestia has taught her to blunt them. Hestia takes her as she is and does not ask her to change. Hera could weep for how much her heart is overflowing with love.
 

☆☆☆☆☆☆
 

Something something about parallels and being goddesses of ceremonies?

Like carrying people over the threshold is a theatricality and a performance. It is a lovely ideal, but how long will the husband be that pleasant. Humans are so fickle. 

Marriages are a ceremony. Mortals have clung to the odd idea that it is love that makes a marriage. As if Hera has not spent countless centuries hating Zeus. Marriage is more than love. It is vows, unbending. It is also a slow destruction. 

Sometimes she thinks that she chose this to be her realm to punish Zeus and herself somehow. A sort of 'you've ruined me once and now you will never be free' sort of ideal.