"Discord!" Sorrow gasped in shock and relieved surprise as she recognized her relative.

"Hey, Cuz, what's up?" Discord asked pointedly, her hands planted firmly on her hips and a smug smile gracing her blackened lips as her ebony eyes scanned the sad goddess with intense and mocking scrutiny. "You've sure got Uncle Ares in a real panic over your sudden disappearing act, and to tell you the truth, I really don't appreciate him bothering me to go out and find you."

"Then, let him panic!" Sorrow declared boldly, not the least bit afraid of her wicked cousin. "I wouldn't have had to run away if he would learn to take no for an answer!"

"My, my, my, such major words for such a minor goddess," Discord pronounced almost scornfully. "But, inasmuch as I don't appreciate being bothered with this, since I am your cousin, I've decided to be nice and cut you a little break: I will allow you one chance to tell me what I want to know, and if you spill your guts like a good little girl, then maybe I'll just forget that I even saw you. How does that sound?"

"Wh-what do you want to know?" Sorrow stammered, fully aware of who her cousin was and whom she served. Sorrow knew she was caught, and she had no choice but to hear the question and consider its answer, regardless of her own safety.

"Why does Ares want you? He's never even given you a second thought, and now, all of a sudden, he wants me to put off important work to hunt you down. Why?"

Afraid not to answer, Sorrow confessed to her cousin, "He - he said he was supposed to marry me, but my mother said he wasn't part of my destiny - "

"Marry you?" Discord echoed in complete disgust. "And just what does he think he's going to accomplish by marrying you?"

Sorrow shook her head sadly, "I don't know, Discord. But I do know this - I do not love him! I don't even know him, and I certainly don't want to marry him!"

Discord fell silent for a moment, considering this new bit of information. While on the one hand she realized, as the other gods had, that a joining between the God of War and the Goddess of Lamentation would be a volatile source of powerful children, on the other hand she was totally insulted that Ares would pick such a wimpy goddess to be his bride. It was an insulting replay of the deal with the now-human Nemesis and her worthless, half-human son, Evander. Once again, Ares had chosen the wrong female to produce his children.

However strong her emotions were over this situation, Discord chose not to let her jealousy cloud her judgment at this critical moment, and she eyed Sorrow with shrewd discernment, "And, just why wouldn't you want to marry Ares? He's a major god in our realm!"

Afraid to answer, Sorrow glanced up the river bank toward the direction of their camp, and Discord immediately interpreted the psychology attached to that slight move.

"Oh, I see . . . so, you've chosen to take a human as a husband, huh?" Discord questioned in a combination of pleasure and displeasure. While she applauded Ares not getting what he wanted, she also did not believe in the actual mating of humans and gods. Hercules and his other half-human siblings, like Perseus, had been the cause of many an argument on Mount Olympus, so there would be no convincing Discord that a human was Sorrow's best choice of mate. But, she also did not like the idea of Sorrow becoming Ares' wife.

"Hu - husband?" Sorrow gaped at her dark cousin in total, innocent misunderstanding.

"Oh, come on, you aren't that naive, are you?" Discord cast a disparaging look upon the blue-haired goddess. "Surely you realize that your only 'out' on this is to marry somebody else, don't you? Of course, I wouldn't recommend a human, but I suppose one will work in a pinch."

"Marry someone else?" Sorrow echoed softly, just beginning to see exactly what Discord was suggesting. "But, would Ares honor my marriage if I did marry someone else?"

"He'd have no choice, Cousin," Discord lied, knowing full well that Ares would do as he pleased regardless. However, Discord - in her classic tradition - vowed that she would do her best to see to it that Ares would not be the "first to the table," so to speak, when it came to being Sorrow's first husband or lover. "You know as well as I do that he can't undo anything the Fates have ordained."

Sorrow nodded slowly as she considered Discord's answer, knowing that most of her relatives did abide by the decisions of her mother and aunts, and she had never known Ares to go against them before. She then asked tentatively, "Can I marry a human?"

"As I said, I wouldn't recommend it, but we gods and goddesses may marry as we please," Discord explained distastefully, then added, "Just remember - humans are mortal; they grow old and wrinkle up, and eventually die, which is the only good thing I've yet to find about them . . . other than a few other purposes that I'm sure only I can truly appreciate."

"I understand," Sorrow nodded, now in full comprehension of what her cousin was saying.

"About time," the leather-clad goddess rolled her eyes in exasperation. She then said most pointedly, "Well, I don't know about you, but I don't think we ever had this conversation, did we?"

"No . . . No, we didn't," Sorrow agreed with infinite relief.

"Great," Discord said with finality, "and if you know what's good for you, you'll stay as far away from Ares as you can possibly get. Got it?"

"I will . . . I promise."

"Good," was all she heard of Discord's final reply, for the troublesome goddess was gone before Sorrow could even think to bid her cousin farewell.

Sorrow let out a sigh of relief when she knew that Discord was at last gone, feeling somehow assured that her cousin would not reveal her whereabouts to Ares, and that would afford her more time to get to Iolkos. She felt pretty certain that for the moment, at least, she was safe. She knelt back down at the river's edge, determined to get the water as promised and highly aware that she'd been gone far too long. Hercules would be along soon to find her, so she hurriedly filled the bucket, but this time when she pulled back from the water, she was met head on by a very unhappy Iolaus.

Iolaus was standing in the midst of the trail that ran along the water's edge, his string of fish dangling from his hand. He was obviously on the verge of extreme anger as he demanded, "Sorrow, what are you doing here by yourself? I thought I left you with Hercules?"

"He sent me to get water," was Sorrow's feeble reply as she held up the bucket for him to see.

"Hercules sent you after water?" Iolaus questioned in disbelief, unable to believe that his friend could have let the young goddess go off on her own like that.

"Iolaus, it's not like I'm totally defenseless," she reasoned, holding up the new quarterstaff she carried in her other hand. "And besides, our camp is just up that trail there - he could have heard me if necessary."

"I still don't like the idea of you being off by yourself," Iolaus shook his head in disagreement, and Sorrow began to take offense.

"Iolaus, I appreciate your concern, but I am a goddess, and I can certainly take care of myself."

"I know, I know, but I'm going to worry anyway, so you may as well accept that now," he confessed seriously, unable to hide his feelings of responsibility any longer.

"As I said, I understand and appreciate that," she returned more gratefully, "but, I'm fully capable of getting a bucket of water without anyone's help, and certainly without getting into trouble!"

"You're right, you are," he admitted reluctantly, "but, I can't help feeling that you are awfully innocent for this world, and since I'm bound and determined to protect you, I have to exclude you from coming to the river by yourself!"

Sorrow's brow furrowed and she set her lips in a tight frown. She had wanted to impress him, but her adventure had only afforded her a good scolding from the hero. At last, she complained, "Iolaus, why do you have to be so stubborn about this?"

"I don't know - why don't you ask your mother!?" Iolaus retorted pointedly. "She's the one who put me in your path!"

The moment he said that, Sorrow fell silent and her eyes grew large as her mind processed what he had just said. After a moment, she replied in astonishment, "She did do that, didn't she?"

Sorrow couldn't believe it, but what Iolaus said had to be true! Lachesis, herself, had to have caused her daughter to meet up with the two heroes, and Sorrow could not ignore the possibility that it could also be a calculated move on her mother's part to insure that the young goddess encountered her true destiny before she could be forced into accepting another.

Iolaus noted the young goddess' surprise at hearing his statement, and her reaction caused him to also reconsider their "coincidental" meeting of the day before. They had truly met up at a most opportune time for this situation in which Sorrow was embroiled, and it resulted in him finally beginning to take to heart what Aphrodite had tried to convince him of - that maybe he truly was meant to be Sorrow's husband, and that he was merely postponing the inevitable by denying their feelings. Taking courage from that new idea, he swallowed hard and finally stepped forward, intent upon speaking his mind at last, but alas, he was unfortunately forestalled once again by the untimely appearance of his best friend.

"Sorrow!" echoed Hercules' voice as he appeared on the upper edge of the trail leading back to their camp. Both Sorrow and Iolaus looked to each other most forlornly before turning to answer the demigod.

"I'm here, Hercules!" Sorrow called out. "I'm here with Iolaus!"

Hercules peered through the brush and saw them together, and he smiled in relief as he waved to them and they waved back. He had actually left her alone for a little longer than he'd intended, and it was quite a relief to see that she'd been in good company - at least, part of the time.

Discord killed some time and consoled herself by going out to distribute a few doses of solid retribution before finally returning to file her "negative" report with Ares on her search for Sorrow. When she materialized at last in the Halls of War, she was not the least bit surprised to find Ares sitting unhappily on his throne, glowering at all around him.

"Well?" Ares demanded petulantly the moment he laid eyes on her.

"Well, what?" she retorted with her usual sarcastic, biting tone.

"Did you, or did you not, find Sorrow?"

"Does it look like I found Sorrow?" Discord gestured at the empty air around her disdainfully. "Are you absolutely sure she's not hiding up here? I mean, I couldn't find a single trace of her down there, and absolutely no one remembers seeing anyone even remotely resembling her, and believe me, she's definitely not your usual-looking chick, knowhutimean? Maybe you should just tell Poseidon that she'll come on home when she's ready?"

"Unacceptable," Ares pronounced most distinctly, somehow managing to hold onto his temper for the time being. "You've only been looking for a few hours."

"Hey, I've got my sources," Discord replied indignantly, fighting to keep from taking offense.

Ares eyed the leather-bound, raven-haired goddess with moderate appreciation and commented lasciviously, "I'll just bet you do."

"Yeah, I do," she continued acidly, "and that means that it doesn't take me all day to figure out she isn't down there. Besides, I still don't get what's the big deal with her taking a little vacation - I mean, who wants to sit and listen to boo-hooing war widows all day?"

"As I said, I promised Poseidon - "

"Save it," Discord quickly silenced him. "I've also got the sources I need to inform me just what your interests are in that weak excuse for a goddess, and I hate to tell you what, but I don't think your little ‘wedding' is going to go off as planned."

"Shut up, Discord!" Ares thundered, his voice showing the bare edge of his increasing anger.

"No, not this time," she shook her black tresses fervently. "If you think Sorrow is going to be capable of producing the children you want, then you're totally deceiving yourself!"

Ares smiled ferally, "Oh and I suppose you could be so capable?"

"I'm a helluva lot more capable than her, I can promise you that!" Discord argued. "If you want the bad-ass sons you've been promised, then you need a bad-ass mother to give birth to them."

Ares smirked cryptically, "Oh, don't worry - before all is said and done, my sons will have a bad-ass mother. I can guarantee you that."

Discord now glared at her war-mongering uncle, understanding that her veiled offer had been summarily denied with nothing more than a glib statement. She was totally insulted now, for she had given up a full schedule of delivering righteous retribution in order to do his bidding, and what had Ares offered in return? Nothing but lies, manipulations and, ultimately, insults.

"You mark my words," Discord finally uttered her venomous, embittered warning. "Sorrow is not your best choice, ‘dear' Uncle."

"Don't you have a job to do somewhere?" Ares dismissed her with evident irritation.

Discord didn't reply, opting to leave him without the benefit of her vast list of derisive retorts. It did not matter to Ares in the least, except for the fact that he had counted on Discord to find the young Goddess of Lamentation for him, and now he had to devise another plan for locating her.

"Perhaps," he said to himself after some thought, "it is time to call in the troops?"

Iolaus absolutely refused to allow Sorrow to dirty her hands helping him clean the fish for breakfast, but instead enjoyed her company thoroughly as she sat on a rock and talked to him while he worked beside the river. She tried once or twice to cajole him into letting her at least scale and gut her own fish, but Iolaus would not hear of it in the least.

"No way! I'm the hunter in this fam- er, group!" he proclaimed most decisively, although he nearly bit his tongue off when the word "family" almost slipped out.

"Fine!" Sorrow crossed her arms in pretend offense. "I'll let you be the one who gets all filthy and smelly, then!"

At the time she said it, Iolaus had laughed, but the minute they delivered the fresh fillets to Hercules for cooking, Iolaus immediately excused himself and most uncharacteristically threw himself into the river to bathe! When he returned damp, but fresh from the washing, Hercules knew then and there that it was a "done deal" for his friend - Iolaus was truly in love. The obvious humor of Iolaus bathing for Sorrow ~ voluntarily at that! ~ did not escape him, but still he did not laugh, for that one act alone had declared all the demigod needed to know to confirm what he had been witnessing all along. However, Hercules wished with all his might that the current situation with Ares were settled before Iolaus got more involved than he already was . . . before he got hurt.

Once again, Hercules forcibly shifted his focus back onto the positive aspects of Iolaus and Sorrow's possible future, for they had enough trouble at hand without looking for it or inventing it. Hercules would naturally support whatever they chose to do, despite the ever-present, ever-nagging worry that kept him from being one-hundred percent sure about their union.

And so, as he watched them innocently flirting with each other across the fire as they ate their breakfast, Hercules tried hard to forget that their happiness likely depended greatly upon what would happen in the next few hours.