𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 ─── crocus flowers and starry skies

𝖂ith words of joy and flowers of beauty...

"Why are you here?" Delia questioned, jumping down onto the rocky shore as the stars continued to watch her with interest. Hermes looked up from his seat on one of the rocks, a large grin appearing on his face.

"I wanted to see my favorite goddess, of course," Delia narrowed her eyes, still unused to people complimenting her. "And I wanted to show you something."

"What?"

"Well, it's not with me, per se," Hermes murmured, before smiling once more. "Can you leave your island?"

"Yes, but...," Hermes grinned, bounding over.

"Great." Delia shook her head.

"I can not leave my island unprotected." 

"It won't be," Hermes promised, as Delia looked panicked at the thought of leaving her sanctuary. "I asked Persephone if she could keep an eye on your island. She's back from the Underworld, you see, and bored out of her mind, so I asked if she would make sure that no god stepped foot on it. Most of them fear her."

Delia glanced back at her home nervously, as Hermes patiently waited for her answer. She tightened her grip on her staff, drumming her fingers.

"I...I..."

"It would only be for an hour and then I would bring you straight back," He promised, his eyes wide in hopefulness. "And there would be no other gods near us, I swear that to you."

Looking up, Delia's eyes narrowed at the sight of Leto, who was nodding with a grin on her face, and motioning for her to go. 

"Fine."

"Really?" Delia nodded, before she was able to back out of this. "Oh that's great! This is going to be so much fun, and I promise you that you won't regret it at all."

He reached for her, causing Delia to step back.

"What are you doing?"

"I have to get you back across the ocean somehow." He smiled, before tilting his head. "I don't bite and it'll only be for a minute or so."

"You promise?"

"Of course," Reluctantly, Delia allowed the young god to approach once more, trying not to squeak as he picked her up in his arms with ease. "You will have to wrap your arms around my neck if you don't want to fall off."

Delia slipped her arms around Hermes' neck, shooting a glare at Leto over his shoulder. The auburn haired woman was smiling like an idiot, and wriggling her eyebrows at Delia. The only blessing was that Hermes could not see the Titaness. 

His skin was warm beneath her touch, and she could feel the muscles in his back rippling as he prepared to start running.

"Ready?" Looking up, Delia was startled to see how close she was to his face. So close, that she could see the specks of gold in his dark eyes and the faint freckles hidden under the tan of his skin. 

"Yes." He smiled, before taking off across the sea, with Delia in his arms. 

∘☽༓☾∘

True to his word, it was only a minute before they came to a stop again and Hermes let Delia down onto the floor. 

She unwrapped her arms from his neck, clutching her staff to her side as she looked around in confusion as to where they were.

"Come on, Delia." Looking back, the small girl hurried to catch up with Hermes, who was walking through the grove of trees. Falling into the step with the tall man, Delia continued to look around her in awe and confusion. The stars were so much closer and brighter than on Delos, and the constellations were different too. They were further north, in the mountains, it would seem. 

"Where are we?"

"Gardens," Hermes replied with a smile, before they came upon a wall with a wooden door inlaid into it. "Mind your step."

Delia nodded, as Hermes unlocked the door and pulled it open for her, waiting for her to walk inside.

She made it two steps in, before pausing at the sheer beauty of the gardens. All around her was a plethora of smells, with plants in full bloom, creeping up the walls and all over the floor around her with a single path through them.

At the far end was a temple that seemed to have been reclaimed by the plants around it, ivy climbing up the walls and moss covering the stones beneath it. Delia placed her staff down, reaching out to touch the stone that held so many memories for her because she knew this place all too well. 

This was her first home, where she had been born and where she'd grown up.

"I found it some time ago," Hermes murmured behind her, a small smile on his face as he watched her expression. "It was more overgrown than this when I first came, large thorns covering the temple and all of the statues and sundials. But, I uncovered it and found that it was the temple to the goddess Delia. This was yours, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Delia choked out, pressing her hand to the temple doors that opened under her touch. The inside of the temple was kept clean, free of plants, dust and it seemed that time itself had stopped inside of it. "This was mine."

Hermes watched her, as she tapped the stones beneath her three times. It took a moment for the ancient place to remember who it had once belonged to, but once it had, the mud flew from the stones, the cracks repairing themselves slowly. The god's eyebrows furrowed, wondering how someone with so much power lived on a rocky island in the middle of the sea with little connection to land or the outside world.

He took a deep breath, as the temple cleaned itself, water pouring from the fountains on either  side of the walls, filling channels around their feet, as braziers flickered to life. Above him, he watched as the constellations that often appeared above Delos came to life, starlight providing a white glow that covered Delia as she continued to walk through the temple to the altar, flowers springing to life in the pots.

"It's beautiful, Delia," The goddess snapped out of her trance like state, a small smile forming on her face as she looked at the temple around her in awe.

"You should have seen it when it was first built," She murmured, a grin forming on her face as she heard the faint echo of laughter and cheers around her. "People used to come from miles around to lay their offerings at my feet and beg me to bless them with life and I did. I loved being able to give the humans a chance at happiness in the form of another life."

"They must have adored you," Hermes' voice was soft as he spoke.

"They did and I adored them just as much so," She replied. "They understood just how precious life was, and how to enjoy every moment of it. The gods do not know that. We are immortal beings who have no thought on the fragility that is living, or the emotions that come with that."

Delia shook her head, her smile falling as she touched the altar beneath her, shaking her head.

"What happened, Delia?" She shook her head once more, stepping away from the altar and back towards the door, barely glancing at Hermes. "Something obviously did."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"All right," Hermes murmured, as the temple closed up behind them, the fires dying out just as quickly as they appeared. He tilted his head, before looking at the forlorn girl and remembering something to cheer her up. "I brought you something."

"What is it?" Hermes grinned, before pulling the small bouquet of crocus flowers, orchids, carnations and daisies and handing them to the girl. "Why do you keep bringing me flowers?"

"Because whenever you get them, you have this little spark in your eyes," He replied, as she raised an eyebrow. "I like seeing that spark."

"Thank you, Hermes," He grinned, the wings fluttering on his shoes as he waited for her to speak once more. "Can we go back now?"

"Or course," He reached down, picking her up in his arms once more, as he closed the door behind him and locked it, unaware of the eyes that watched the pair go.

∘☽༓☾∘

Hiya,

Sorry, this was also super sweet and I just cannot get over Hermes at all, nor how sweet he is. Also, another bouquet, so you can play guess what Hermes is trying to say to Delia in that one and we're getting more of Delia's backstory and the fact that she has a temple off of the island that fell into disrepair. Guesses of what Delia is the goddess of? Also, Leto is a mood and I love her.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx