Noia taps her jaw. “Hm…there may be a nymph that went by that title. I believe she and I quarreled often over storms. She said I was too harsh on the land – or maybe it was the one complaining about drowned turtles...”

Rowan snorts. When Noia tilts her head towards him he clears his throat. “Oh. You were being serious.”

Noia smiles. “From what I remember there was never one sole power feeding nature. Plus considering what happened to my name in history humans combined multiple individuals to make it easier to keep track of dieties.”

He makes a sound of acknowledgement. “Ah. So, any idea where you’d like to go?”

There was. It was a place she had seen in text messages and her curiosity pushed the words past her lips: “Korner Kirk’s.”

Rowan levels another look at her over the frames of his glasses.

“What?”

“How do you know about that place?”

Noia shrugs. “I’ve heard good things about it. Have you been there?”

“Yeah. It’s a café during the day and a fancy restaurant in the evenings.”

“Let’s go.”

It turns out that Korner Kirk’s was not far. They select a table outside under a pink and green umbrella. After placing an order Rowan turns to Noia.

“So, mind if I ask another question?”

Noia smiles at him. “You’re full of questions, human.”

“I have been asking a lot, huh? Alright, how about this – my sister and I play this game – you ask a question then I’ll ask a question, and so on.”

“This is a game?”

“Yes.”

“Is there a winner?”

Rowan rubs the back of his head. “Not necessarily. It’s a game that doesn’t really have a designated end. Also, technically, that’s two questions.”

Noia rolls her eyes. Pointing out the technicality was vaguely petulant. “Very well. Go ahead.” She sips from her glass of water.

“If you’re a goddess does that mean you have more than human strength – like, superhuman?”

“It does not feel like it at the moment but generally, yes. I am weaker than usual because I slept for a very long time.”

Both of them are quiet for too long and Rowan finally has to prompt her; “It’s your turn.”

“Oh. If you dislike ETHR and what it stands for so much then why do you work so high up in one of their departments?”

Rowan flinches. “Wow, direct, aren’t you?”

“We may have longer lives than humans but I did not spend much of mine practicing gentle conversation.”

“Figures. I guess I put up with them because they have the best access to technology for improving agriculture. Because of all the poisoned zones we’re experiencing a shortage of food to keep up with the growing human population – which is increasing faster than expected. Even with all the subtle breeding regulations they can’t really go around telling people to stop having babies. The prospect of having children is too ingrained in our biology and multiplied by emotional attached. Short of implanting chips to regulate the hormones and make it harder to acquire permissions there isn’t too much they can do to slow it without serious revolt worldwide.”

“So, plants are important to you because you want children?”

Rowan coughs, choking on a sip of his water. “I wouldn’t have put it that way exactly. I’d like kids someday but more immediately I think someone has to make moves to improve lives everywhere. Learning more efficient ways for plants to grow and purifying the dead zones means my sister will finally be able to travel to the zones she’s commissioned to collect data for. She has a low tolerance for unfiltered air. Besides,” he twirls his glass, “plants don’t aim to hurt anyone.”

Noia tilts her head. “It suits you.”

“Hm?”

“Your name. It suits you. In my time the rowan tree was known as a strong and resilient protector.” She smiles when a blush rises on his cheeks.

The waiter returns with their sandwiches. After a few bites, Rowan clears his throat. “Uhm, technically you had two questions there.”

Noia raises her eyebrows but gestures for him to proceed while she chews.

“You said longer lives. Does that mean you’re – gods and goddesses – are not un-killable?”

“Of course not. The only thing permanent in this universe is change. We are harder to kill than the average mortal but it is possible with the correct tool.”

“Did humans come after you when they found out Zeus sent you with the Pandora Box?”

Noia adjusts her sandwich. She turns it this way and that, looking for slices of food she dislikes. His hand on hers startles her, making them both jump.

“I’m sorry, was I not supposed to do that? I mean, oh shit, I should probably apologize for pounding on your back at Six Feet Underground. That wasn’t very respectful of me and you–”

Noia pushes her sandwich onto her plate to keep from dropping it in her amusement. She covers her laughter with the back of a hand, leaning back into her chair. Finally she swipes the tears from the corners of her eyes with a napkin and shakes her head.

“Rowan Landell, if I wanted to smite you for disrespect there are worse transgressions you could make and better places for the satisfaction of your last breath.”

Rowan gives her the same easy smile he had worn as he left her in Six Feet Underground.

“To answer your question, yes – though they did not know it was me as Levanoia and I was more vulnerable as Pandora. Zeus twisted what happened from the confusion he seeded, absolving himself from blame. Of course they came for me. I had to leave everything. They killed my husband and the only children I was able to have. I had to redeem my status as a goddess from the shadows. If not for San’azi and Morphia I would have failed.”

“Then…I’m glad you had them.”

Noia smiles but makes no comment.

“You miss them.”

Noia looks beyond the edge of the umbrella towards the sky. “I wish I could remember what happened to them.”

“Who were they? Morphia and San-izzy?”

“Morphia is – was – the goddess of dreams. The night is her realm. She could do anything there but she had no voice in the waking world.”

“Hm. She was probably one of Hypnos’ many children. Did she have a brother named Morpheus?”

“No. Her grandparents were The Night and The Darkness if that helps.”

“Ah, then she and Morpheus are the same. Zeus’ doing, I assume?”

“Probably. San’azi is – was – a trickster older than Zeus. When I first met him I thought he was crazy.”

“Why?”

“He claimed to have made mankind and therefore they were older than Zeus.”

“I can’t imagine Zeus liked that very much.”

“Zeus trapped him underground in a gorgon lair for half a century for telling fibs.”

Rowan chuckles. “What a fool.”

“The foolish one was his brother who would often take action without thinking about them at all. San’azi would do a foolish thing despite having thought it through.”

Rowan pursed his lips. “Hm. What else did San’azi get up to?”

“Once there was a common disagreement between the mortals and immortals which was resolved at a banquet at the base of Olympus. San’azi was charged with presenting the offerings from the mortals – what’s wrong?”

Rowan swallows hard. “The offerings. Was one beef inside ox stomach and the other…bones layered with fat?”

Noia nods. “Zeus chose the later and, in his displeasure with San’azi’s trick, hid the gift the trickster had given the humans: fire. What?”

Rowan sits back heavily in his chair. “San’azi was Prometheus?”

“Rowan, what is wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s just, your friend was a titan according to our mythology. He’s used as an icon of humans striving for scientific knowledge – but also for overreaching, clever as he was. Whenever we have unintended consequences we blame his influence.”

Noia chuckles. “Is mythology another passion of yours?”

Rowan grins sheepishly. “Yeah. I was a bit of a nerd in high school.”

“High school?”

Rowan waves his hand. “A public learning institution we mortals subject our adolescent children with and provide filtered information in.”

“Hm. As adolescents we undergo deadly trials of divinity.”

The waiter returns with the check and Rowan presents his wallet for the payment scan.

“So, may I take you anywhere else? I mean, you mentioned sleepless nights and since I can’t keep you company then – since, you know, I actually need sleep – at least I can keep you company until then?”

Noia nods slowly. “I would like that.”

He takes out the remote and his car lights flash. “Where to?”

“Is there…somewhere we can go to see the sky?”

Rowan looks up. It is slightly overcast now and the filtered afternoon light throws a glow onto the edges of the buildings. There is a breeze but nothing powerful enough to tease skirt hems or steal hats. “You’re not going to summon another storm, are you?”

Noia chuckles. “No, but I feel better under open sky.”

Rowan looks at her for a long moment then smiles. “There a place, just at the edge of the city by a filter barrier.”

This time Rowan stumbles around the car quickly enough to fumble open the door for Noia. Once out of the wave of rush hour traffic he rolls the windows down. Noia leans her head out the window, allowing the wind to pull and toss her hair. She leans against the door, eyes half closed, breathing in as much fresh air as she can get.

The buildings around them are shorter now and by the time Rowan turns into a park they are barely two-story houses. Many of them still bare damage from the wars in crumbled walls and roof debris sprawled across the road. The colors of the paint have long faded and grass is just starting to grow back on the lawns. The area where Rowan parks is half covered in sand and just over the dune in front of them she can see the sea. The sight of the grey waves causes something in her chest to tighten. She hears an echo from the back of her head. The memory rises and falls, like a breath. She reaches for it, eager for more information–

“Noia? What’s wrong? Is this alright?”

The memory sinks past the edge of her reach and she jerks to the present with a start. Rowan has opened the vehicle door and is waiting. “I’m fine. I just thought I felt another flashback coming on.” A mile to the west she sees what looks like a factory tower emitting blue light straight up into the atmosphere. Miles beyond it along the coast is another one. “Are those…”

Rowan nods. “The filter shield generators keeping out the toxic fallout from the End Wars. We’re far off from any danger zone here though. ETHR runs maintenance on them once a week but for the most part they’re self-sustaining. It means they’re usually in quiet areas at the edge of the inhabited cities.”

Noia nods. Then, as if she has been doing it for years, removes her socks and shoes, leaving them in the car. She walks to the edge of where the dune rises and then looks back at Rowan expectantly.

Rowan is struggling to get his socks off fast enough and she suppresses a chuckle. He finally manges to ball them up in his shoes and flings them onto his side of the car then jogs to catch up with her.

They walk in silence for a long while, listening to the waves. There is no storm on the horizon but the waves reach for them as if to grab them and suck them into a whole new realm. Rowan dips one foot in and yelps, declaring it too cold under Noia’s laughter. He returns to her side and tucks his hands into his pockets. Noia studies the white caps for a while before watching the clouds shift overhead. Every so often Rowan studies her when he thinks she is not looking.

“So, what was it?”

Noia pulls back into herself and turns to Rowan. “What?”

“The bet you and San’azi made with Zeus. What was it?”

Noia frowns, calling up the details slowly while they walk. “We managed to tether Zeus’s strength to the Jar and then I made the bet with him when he came looking for it. I bet that I had hidden the jar so well that after eleven centuries of searching he would not be able to find it.”

“Why eleven hundred years?”

“A quarter of a century for each of the lightning children he enslaved. It’s not too long in the stretch of our lives – a more than tempting timer for the king of all ‘gods.’ During the time of his search his power would diminish, pulled into the jar. The catch was for this period he could not cheat – especially by leveraging me.”

“Okay, then what would have happened if he had found it?”

Noia hugs herself. “I was rather hoping that he would not. Either way the jar would have been disturbed enough for me to wake to either triumphant or to punishment.”

Rowan frowns. “It’s been beyond eleven hundred years. What could have gone wrong…” He rubs his jaw, thinking to himself. He turns to the side only to find Noia stopped a few paces behind him and is staring out at the ocean.

“Noia?”

“If Zeus did not find the jar then he is dead. If I did not wake when the jar sipped up the last of his power something must have happened to Morphia to disrupt her connection spell. And San’azi – Prometheus – promised he would find me, that he would remember me. He is not here. I cannot remember what happened to anyone I knew or anyone from our immortal court for that matter. I have only seen Oryn and I have no idea how to reach him…”

She does not realize she is crying until the tears spill onto her jacket and thunder rumbles overhead. She reaches up to wipe her cheeks, making a sound of frustration. “Stupid,” she mutters to herself. “You asked for this. What did you think was going to happen when you isolated yourself from the court? You’re getting just what you deserve for–”

The rest of her self-deprecation muffled when her face is pressed into Rowan’s shoulder. He hugs her tight and in his silence she lets herself come apart. He shifts his weight to accommodate for her leaning into him, a little tricky on the soft sand. When the rain starts pelting them he says nothing. He does not even bother to wipe the lenses of his glasses in the hiss of the sudden downpour. Lightning thrashes by the nearest filter tower and he jumps but otherwise remains as still as a rock, grounding her sadness.

When the rain lessens to a drizzle and Noia gathers herself he releases her. While she scrubs her face he clears his throat.

“Look, I know us humans aren’t near as long-lived as the gods and goddesses and we’re not nearly as hardy, I’d like to think we make just as good friends. I mean, why else would there be so many stories about your kind coming down from Mount Olympus to hang with us?” He tries a tentative smile.

Noia snifs. “You’re not wrong.”

He grins at her. “Sometimes I’m even quite right.”

She laughs and shakes her head.

********