Zelgadis passed the salt and smiled slightly. She hadn't lost her talent for talking continuously either. So far she'd told him about her entire life after he left, up to Zeus' abandonment of her. Zelgadis clenched a fist under the table, wishing yet again that he could have ripped out Zeus' heart long ago. The damn smiling bastard had treated every living thing around him like so much refuse, and Hades had gotten sick of it even before he'd been exiled to Hell. That's what he got for telling Zeus what he thought of him.

That's what he got for telling Zeus what he thought of his treatment of Hera.

Zelgadis let Lina babble on about how she had finally gotten a job as a divorce lawyer-- how fitting, he thought-- only listening with half an ear while his thoughts once again turned inwards. Hera had never found out about that. She thought he had been banished to hell for other reasons-- as did everyone else. They hadn't really been friends, because gods niether needed nor wanted friends. They had power. Some fell in love, but it was their own undoing-- look what had happened to Artemis. But an ally was usually the closest they came.

It had been in the early years of their power. Zeus had run off with yet another human, leaving Hera infuriated and helpless. That was the first time she'd lashed out at the poor girl-- that was when Hades decided that enough was enough. He was Zeus' brother-- Zeus would listen to him. He had told him exactly what he thought of Zeus' childlike behavior, and his glaring mistreatment of the wife he had taken. Hades had sternly reprimanded the king of the gods in what he hoped was a brotherly voice. Unfortunately, it had apparently sounded too much like a lesser god's insults to the lazy and powerful Zeus. Three words, that's all it took, and Hades was out of Olympus for good. Zeus, out of some slight form of shame at his brother's words, never told anyone the true reason for Hades' banishment. Hades was happier that way. He wouldn't want Hera knowing-- she would have thought him a fool for it. Hades was beating himself up over it for eons afterwards-- he didn't need hera, in all her pride, to berate him as well.

It wasn't even that he liked Hera all that much, anyway. She was proud, stubborn, and an all around bitch-- but she was better than a lot of the denizens of olympus. Demeter and Hephastius were just about the only nice ones up there. Of course, Hades hadn't been much better. The gods and goddesses after the fall had gotten better as they were forced through hardships that they had never had to face in their lives as the worshipped. It made humans more or less livable-- he supposed it finally forced the gods to grow as well.

Zelgadis sighed. He had been listening to Athena and Aphrodite far too much on the subject of human morality that night. He supposed he had deserved it.

It had been a learning experience.

Zelgadis looked up suddenly as he heard Hera's-- Lina's-- voice catch. He ran his mental tape in rewind for a moment to catch up.

A secretary of hers in the office had a neice that was hit by a car driven by a police officer. The parents and the secretary hadn't enough money combined to hire a lawyer for the case, and they had little confidence that a case against the state would hold up very well without their own lawyer. It didn't help that they didn't know which car or which officer it was-- they only heard sirens and the girl remembered the red and blue flashes of light. Lina had taken the case without hesitating, even though she would be getting nothing from it, even though she was a divorce lawyer.

Zelgadis smiled slightly. Yes, Hera had changed a great deal. He had always been more sympathetic to the plight of the humas than the rest of Olympus due to his constant immersion in their dead, but he never imagined a day when hera would care about the cattle in her feilds. He grinned inwardly as he idly wondered what else about Hera had changed since he left.

"...but I couldn't do anything. They had no hard, real proof, and no one had seen the girl get hit-- no one beleived that the officer who had been on duty that night would have done such a horrible thing. He volunteered at homeless shelters, Zelgadis. He was a pillar of the community." her eyes grew steely, her hand gripping the fork and knife tightly enough that he was sure her knuckles were white under the satin gloves. When she spoke again, her voice was a hate-filled hiss, her words full of vicious malice. "But I could tell, then and there, that he did it. I knew. I hate this, I hate not having enough power to do anything about the things I have enough power to know about. If I wasn't at the same time visiting the poor child, I would hate humanity-- but I keep seeing the other side as well." Lina slumped, then shook her head and attacked her meal with almost strained abandonment.

Zelgadis silently heaved a sigh and gave a supportive smile, knowing it troubled Hera deeply. She had never, never, been one to admit her weaknesses, and the fact that she just had spoke of how heavily it weighed on her told a great deal more than she had admitted to. Hera had grown up, and Hades silently wished that he had been intelligent enough to stick around to watch the beauty blossom.

She was beautiful. Aphrodite was the goddess of love, but Hera was the goddess of beauty. Unfortunately for her, it was a different kind of beauty, a unique beauty, that many didn't properly appreciate. Like that damned husband of hers, Zelgadis mused, drinking his coffee. Her face was round and heart shaped, and her sunset hair framed startlingly red eyes that were slightly too big for her face. She was slim and graceful, and her stature bespoke power, if not height. Her hair was unbound now, like it had been on olympus, and it slid in a dazzling display of auburn down her back. Always in impeccable taste, her sleeveless black gown hugged her to her hips and flared out in tailored folds, her black gloves shimmering in the candlelight. Of course, she'd never noticed it-- she boasted of her beauty, but had never truly believed in it. Zelgadis shook his head and went back to listening to her.

* * *

He wasn't listening.

Lina grit her teeth as she saw the glazed look make its way across Hades'--Zelgadis'-- sapphire eyes. He had only been half listening ever since she started talking about her life after Zeus' final betrayal. Much as she never cared much if he put anything into their 'conversations,' she would at least like him to pay attention. He wasn't even half listening anymore, he was just looking at her. She grinned evilly as he seemed to come out of his reverie and look directly at her once again.

"What do you MEAN, you slept with our dog??" She shrieked, standing abruptly and pushing out the chair. The entire room fell silent as all eyes turned to her stricken companion, looking as though she had just pronounced his unhealthy fondness for the company of household animals. Which she just had.

"I...What?" he managed as she glared at him, his face turning an adorable if unbecoming shade of red. He stumbled over his words for a moment, his brain frantically trying to catch up with the topic and tripping over the speed bumps. "I didn't-- I mean-- huh?" He finished pathetically, his mouth gaping slightly in utter confusion. Lina sniffed and spun on her heel, stalking out of the room. which then turned to stare at Zelgadis.

* * *

Zelgadis watched Hera stalk off with something akin to a mixture of amazement, confusion, and horror. The little gerbil in his head was still frantically trying to rewind and play back the mental tape, coming up with nothing every time. He just stared as she slammed the door, unable to conceive of how he had set her off.

A polite cough brought his reeling thoughts to a halt. He turned to see the waiter in full penguin attire holding out a little tray containing the bill. Zelgadis absently signed it to his account and hastily ran out the doors into the pouring rain.

A snort made its way to his ears from beneath the green canvas of the restaurant canopy. He spun to see Lina, leaning against the red brick of the building with a devilish smile across her face. She pushed off the wall, falling into a smug saunter as she walked over to him. "I'll teach you not to listen to me." So. that was what it was about. Zelgadis felt relief wash over him before utter indignity staunchly took its place.

"What the hell was that?" He sputtered, unable to fully verbalize his utter inability to understand Lina, her actions, and the entire female portion of the population in general. She grinned even wider, and he uncharitably hoped the top of her head would fall off from the force of it.

"You weren't listening to me. I had to do something. And I was done with dinner anyway." She laughed at his amazement, cheerfully taking his limp arm and dragging him into the rain. "Did you remember to tip?"

Zelgadis sighed and followed the tiny goddess wherever it was she wanted to go, promising himself that she was paying the next time.