Kore

"Oh, it is so hot!" My mother snatched her fingers from the fire of the iron stove, waving them into the air to cool them down. She turned her neck towards the door as I entered in. "Kore! Good! Your back! I prepared a stew of fresh tomatoes and sage. There is no veil or game left since —-" she halted her words before looking away.
She should have finished them.

"Since she destroyed the earth and all of humankind is what she meat to say mother?" I say aloud, sitting at the table and watching her as she ran across the legnth of the kitchen.
It was a mess.
The house was in disarray. Pots and pans were thrown and spread every which way. Flasks of oil and filth littered the floor. It was a bit cleaner than when I first saw it was  still a far cry from its former glory.

"I baked fresh bread with what was left of the wheat"
And again she was lying. The earth was desolate and wheat hadn't grown since the winter solstice. It was probably made of dirt.

"Mother" I interrupt her tedious announcements.

"I also baked a basket of dried figs and—"

"Mother" I say a little louder, this time, I pushed a finger to my temple. I was growing impatient.

"Demeter!!!" I yelled, finally forcing her to halt her actions. She stopped her announcements of accomplishments and stared, looking into my eyes before lifting her palms to the top of her stomach.

"Oh...I suppose you are not that hungry?" She muttered ever so defeatedly.
How naive was she?
Pretending eveything was fine? We had been distant since my arrival; our relationship strained? I had been here for 10 long and strenuous days and I had hated every second of it.
And yet, she sits here weaving baskets and making food as if all was well.
How dense was she?

"I am not hungry mother"

"Surley you must eat! You have been eating nothing but berries and dried fruits. It almost spring Lore. It would help if you wore something more bright in color—"

"DEMETER!" My voice was icy. She nodded and carefully slid into the seat at the table. She knew I wanted to speak with her about something important.

She looked across the table, taking in my features with careful regard.

"What was the one wish you asked the great mighty Zeus." I said. I made sure to paraphrase what Poseidon had told me to ask. She stopped playing with the bowl of fruit in front of her hands as she heard the words.

Fear dripped into her soft golden orbs as she heard my question. She looked into the distance as if she was in a trance. Remember something, or perhaps trying to forget it?

"Mother!" I snapped her out of her stupor, patting table impatiently. She snapped her head back and smiled.

"A wish? No, there was no wish Kore" She snapped, dismissing my words as juvenile.

"Persephone" I reminded her. She tilted her head in spite before looking away. "Why do you still keep things from me?"

"I don't Kore. There are things you are not meant to know" she defended, scooping a healthy portion of her unappetizing stew.

"I have seen death.
I was taken in the fields while playing.
I almost died in a forbidden forest cursed by a goddess to see realities even scarier than life.
I am not your innocent little maiden.
I am Persephone, ruler of the underworld."

I hadn't realized I was standing. I guess my little speech had impassioned my plea for independence. "Now tell me Demeter, what wish did you ask the great god Zeus?" I made sure to repeat myself more clearly this time. "What deal did you make with my father?"

She shot from her seat, shaking her head rapidly.
"No...no...he cannot.
He will not take you
He must not
He cannot!!" She babbled like a madmen.

"Tell me..." I run to grab her arm, "please mother, the future of thé under depends on it"

"No! No!" She yelled slamming her fists into the floor. "No! I will not! You will not corner me like this AGAIN!" She shouted.

I separated from her side, running to the wall were my thicker robe rested before pulling it taut. She l was at my heel as I bent to take a small bag of my belongings.
"Where are you going?"

I ignored her of course. If she didn't want to aide me, then I must go to Zeus.

"Tell me!!" she pulled my arms tight so I could face her. I pushed her off and continued packing my belongings.

"Kore please... don't go...I can't loose..you again"

"I have asked you time and time again. I have begged you to tell me all there is to know about my life. I begged you to take me to Olympus and teach me the ways of the gods but you refused!
You kept me a prisoner!
I am 17 mother! I have become a woman in the underworld yet you treat me like a newborn babe. I will not wait for you or try to convince your mind that what you have done to me is sane."

"Kore please!" She grabbed my wrist once more.

"I refuse to sit around here and listen to you babble and pretend that things are alright with us when they are not! You don't care about fixing a broken rearionship! You only care about yourself and your gratification because you are selfish!"

"That is not true!" She defended.

"It is mother! You know it is! You are selfish for what you did to the people on earth! It was you who pushed me to go there! Earth was a prison and you know what?"

"Stop it Kore!"" She warned me, her eyes glowing holding with rage.

"I am glad I pricked my hand on that flower!
I hate it here! I will never be happy here!
I tried to rewrite the event in my mind
When I yelled and I cried in the underworld it wasn't for you, it wasn't!
I was scared; Frightened of a life that didn't have you in it and I soon realized how foolish and ridiculous that was.
You wanted to keep me chained up here! Protect me like a delicate flower...but that is not how life works!"

"Aides is a menace to you and the Olympians. He has chained you!"

"Aides had freed me.
Aides taught me not to wait on silly things like patience. I was so foolish!
I cursed the underworld as my new prison but I now see how foolish I was. It is there where I learned what it meant to be free"

"He stole you Kore! You are under the impression he is your love when he took everything from you!"

"Took everything? Tell me mother! What did I have here on earth?
What exactly did he take?" She was silent, for even she know the truth in my words.

"I ask you to stop calling me Kore not because I hate the name, but because that little girl is gone! I am not her...I will never be your Kore...I am Persephone" I declare. I look into her eyes as tears dripped down her soft brown cheeks. She refused to accept my words.

"No! No!" she snatched my palms and pushed them out, trying to prevent my departure.

"Let go of me!" I tried to push her off but she grabbed onto my arms with blunt force.

"No Kore!
No please!"

"You refuse to tell me about the wish so I will travel to Olympus myself and ask Zeus."

" He will never tell you
He will never remember!" she falls to my knees, pulling me to stay.

He will not tell me but then you refusé as well? So what do you suggest I do?" I asked sarcastically.

"Stay here Kore!
With me! We can... rebuild the earth and protect it"

"Goodbye" I sighed, dragging my feet as she rested above them. I just needed to get past the door.

"No!! No!! You will not go!" She presses her palms into my arm, her nails clawing into my skin.
Maybe it was my sadness from being apart from my love or my rage from being banished to earth but I lifted my fingers and blasted her away, using my powers, a power I had not even known existed until today.

She fell back in shock as I zapped her. Her eyes looked as shocked as mine.

"I—" my eyes fell down to my sweaty palms. I couldn't help but but stare in awestruck wonder.
I had powers!!

"Good bye Démeter." I whispered, running out the wooden doors of our humble cottage.
I blow on the horn Poseidon had given me to summon his Pegasus.
He knew my mother and knew she would never tell me about the wish. He insisted I give her one final chance to make things right but she couldn't do that.

No bother. I had lowered my expectations anyways.

But now?
I was off to see him. The man I promised to never speak to.
The man I had vowed to loath for the rest of my days.
The pride of Mount Olympus.
The great and powerful Zeus

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