Aine stared at him, his body giving off a gentle light and warmth like the sun in winter, his eyes kind. She swallowed and asked, her voice trembling.

“I’m a demigod! What happened to my mother!? Why did you wait 23 years to tell me!? Arhhh, how do I not have any . . . signs . . . that I am the daughter of a god!”

He smiled patiently, he reached out and cupped her face in a gentle caress, his touch warm and soft like a feather, as his thumb brushed her cheek. She was angry that he looked at her like that, furious that he just reached out to touch her without ask after not even answering even one of her questions. But the moment he did, her eyes became wet as she leaned into his slightly rough hand, she had never felt this, never felt so safe and loved, she could feel it through his hand, his emotions and even almost his thoughts. All of them were of her and how much joy and happiness he felt that she acknowledged, accepted, him as her father. His voice was gentle as he spoke next.

“The statement that you are a demigod is only half true. As you are not demi anything, because you have no human, or otherwise mortal, half. As for where and who your mother is, that is a tad more complex and the reason why there were no signs or clues to your divine heritage, that is the simple part but it in turn is tied to a more multifaceted and longer story. This long story also explains why I didn’t tell you sooner about your heritage. Or be the father you were entitled to. But I try to can make amends here.

“Some years ago, before you were born, a few gods with my pantheon received a grand prophecy, so powerful and with so much inevitable momentum that it would be impossible to divert or change. It would happen and any that attempted to stop or revolt against it would be crushed by it. Nexus itself advised against being a mere bug before a tsunami. Soon, we gods gathered in council, within our own pantheon, but as some of us reached out to friends in the other pantheons we discovered the terrible truth. It was not just us in Britannia that were to be swept up in the grand change, but our entire world. And so, we were forced to ally and speak to those we would have much rather have fought to the metaphorical ‘death’ with.”

He paused with a grimace, clearly still disinclined to the necessary measure, his eyes flicked to Aine’s face, his expression softening back into a fatherly smile. Aine got a clue that her part in the story was coming up, as her father continued.

“We . . . we made a bargain, we couldn’t interfere directly, but our children could, or so we thought until . . . we learned that our ‘children’ were already apart of the grand change. Only, they were the children of an ‘us’ from other worlds and other realities, demigods that due to many reasons, were banished, sent, taken or were even coming of their own volition to our world. They are ‘our’ ‘children’, the gifts ‘they’ wield come from ‘us’ and in name ‘they’ serve ‘our’ interests, but can we trust them? Nexus says not and we are inclined to agree, until they prove themselves were cannot leave the stability and wellbeing of our world in their hands.

“Nexus also informed us that we were forbidden from interacting physically with mortals, manifesting on the Mortal Plane or interfering in the changes that would happen in a physical manner. Which dashed our plans of creating a stabilising element within the grand change to try and direct or control the actions of the whole, since we are forbidden to lay with mortals to create ne demigods.

“Heron’s Shadow is or was one of the last Gods Blood Heroes, a child or a lucky descendent of a demigod, those that are left now lay under a doomed star, and ill omens surround them. Horus attempted to have Heron’s Shadow retire and step aside, but she refused, we suspect that either fate or even Nexus itself, made an example of Heron, the goal being to clear the way for others. And . . . and to show what happens to those that refuse to bend to the winds of change. If it is fate’s will then it is clear that all the heroes of the current age will fall into the Kingdoms of the Underworld to make way. If it was Nexus then it was a warning, brutal and clear, that those who refuse to get out of the way will die, and that we, the gods, do not take ‘no’ for an answer if we wish for our descendants to live beyond the grand change.”

Her father, Aine still could not get over the shock of having a father now, let alone that he was also a god, sighed, clearly forlorn and reminiscing; Aine realising that this may not be the first time that her father had encountered the children or descendants of the gods under ill fate, and maybe. . . maybe even his own. She watched his eyes, seemingly lost in thought, memories and sorrows of an old past intruding on this modern present, stealing his attention from current’s problems. Not really knowing why, maybe because she wanted their reunion not to be tainted with hurt, but his pained sorrowful expression cut her heart and made it ache, she reached out her hand and clasped his in a firm, but hopefully comforting, grasp.

His eyes regained their glow and presence as he turned his gaze back to her, his expression containing his joy that she cared and a determination, for what Aine didn’t know, but she knew, in the deepest part of her, that it was about her. Her father looked down, gathering his thoughts, before straightening his back and looked up to gaze into her eyes and starting to speak again. Aine felt a shiver down her spine as she stared back at his serious expression.

“We, the gods, came to a . . . understanding and an alliance . . . of sorts. We needed something to bind our pantheons together, while also providing a loophole in the rules by which we were bound by to limit our interference. It was Freya of the Norse that provided a compromise, Aphrodite of the Greeks that gifted the answer and Isis of the Egyptians that offered an example that sewed it up nicely. Freya offered herself in a marriage, but only to one that was her equal in both magic and war, Aphrodite suggested that rather than marriage, the oft product of marriage, children, should be the answer. And Isis concluded that, like her son Horus was once the God-King of Egypt, so too could their fully divine children walk the Earth as true gods, albeit in a limited form.”

Her father kept his gaze on Aine, his expression becoming guilty.

“I suggested a means of sorts in Faerie, a land that existed as one with the Earth but a step to the side and one that was relatively simple, especially for a baby, to leave, if some help was provided from both sides of the veil. It was a variation on how in the old days some would, both the desperate and the despicable, trick mortals by switching out and kidnapping their babies, though whether to raise as their own or to devour depended on the Lesser Fae using the trick.”

Aine had a mildly horrified expression form, before shaking the image out of her head as a thought came to her, she looked back to her father, her voice hesitant.

“How did you stop us from . . . becoming gods . . . I guess?”

Her father smiled kindly as he responded.

“We didn’t, you are a god, merely an extremely weak one, near mortal in fact, we, your parents hid your divinities, placing them out of sync with you. Now that you have changed from when we parted you from it, now that you have grown at a mortals rapid pace, while your divinity is still infantile, it will take centuries for it to play catchup as it will be growing at a pace it normally would have. It takes many centuries for a god to grow and appear before mortals, even if it sometimes appears that they spring from nothing fully formed and grown.”

He ponders for a moment before he smiles, his eyes crafty with mischief and humour.

“Have you heard of how Athena, Greek Goddess of Wisdom was born?”

Outside the café, thunder suddenly rumbled, and a storm began to brew, iron grey clouds gathered, threatening to disgorge a downpour of rain and erupt with lightning in a thunderous fury. Aine looked out the windows of the café with a frown, her gaze turning back to her father, his eyes gleeful, it didn’t take a genius to know that he was teasing someone. The question was who? Athena? Or one of her parents?

The question must have been clear on her face because he grinned, glanced about and then whispered over the table to her, which, if you tried whispering over a table you would know that it was futile. If you actually whisper, the person across from you wouldn’t be able to even hear you, so really it was all an act on his part, more body language than anything else. But that didn’t mean she could keep herself from playing along, as she leaned in to listen.

“Athena was born from the mind of Zeus, King of the Greek Pantheon of Gods, after Zeus swallowed Athena’s mother, Metis, whole, after he had laid with her, due to a prophecy that should she carry a son, that son would eclipse in wisdom and overthrow his father. However soon after Zeus was struck by crippling headaches, so desperate was he to remove the issue he ordered that his head be spilt open with a great axe. From the wound sprang Athena, fully armed for war and with a beauty to stop the sun in the sky at noon, and wisdom that not only eclipsed Zeus, but all the Greek gods.”

Aine looked at her father with a distasteful look on her face, while the story portrayed Zeus in a poor light she didn’t see where the mischief in her father’s eyes came in. He continued smiling, as he continued speaking.

“What few know is that Athena was born ahead of time, every god has a personal territory, commonly referred to as a domain, a pantheon often links these territories or domains together. Examples would be Faerie, Olympus, Yggdrasil and so on, these worlds are built using the personal territories or domains of the gods apart of that pantheon, sort of a membership fee almost to join a club. The more gods, the more robust and stronger the Pantheon’s Divine Kingdom, now this is not the same for every god, there are exceptions, gods of the underworld like Hades, Hel, Osiris to name a few.”

He gave Aine a happy grin as thunder roared outside and rain began bucketing down, taking a glance outside with mischievous raise of his eyebrows before looking back at her.

“Long story short, with Athena running amok in Zeus’ domain, trying to get out, teenage angst as the modern world calls it, Zeus was forced to let her debut into the world ahead of time.”

Lightning stuck a street lamp just outside the café, her father lost his grin, his eyes darkening with a flash of fury, his green eyes fading to grey.

“You seem to forget, you are not the only god, now how about; You! Butt! Out! Of! My! Teaching! Moment!”

The sky roared and rumbled, shaking as if an invisible war was being fought, before the storm of grey clouds, pouring rain and thundering lightning abated. Aine stared at her father as his eyes brightened back to a now tired green, weariness showing on his face as he slumped slightly in his chair, a worn-out smile on his expression.

“I’m sorry Alannah, I felt someone spying and when I clued into who it was, I decided to tease them, but it is clear that they either had a short-fuse today or I took it to far.”

Aine looked out at the sky as she asked, her voice shaky.

“Was that Zeus?”

Her father laughed, his face and mood better for it.

“No, just someone borrowing his power and authority, Zeus is too proud of Athena to regret anything wrong or embarrassing he may or may not have done that led to her creation. No, the reason I told you that story was to give context to your situation, you and the others like you, are not currently connected to your domains, your personal territories. It is in these special personal places that reflect who a god is, indeed, it reflects what they are a god of as well, it is the root and foundation of their, and your, identity as a god and the source of your divinity, your power.

“Without it, you are still a god, immortal and eternal as any god is, but ultimately, you are without the strength to affect the grand change to come. Now I know that I have told you the ‘why’ of your existence, and I am truly sorry that it wasn’t out of love but necessity that you were planned. The ‘how’ and with ‘whom’ is what I have yet to tell you, it is a longer story and full of more than a bit of my own foolhardy arrogance.”

Aine raised her eyebrows, her face must have been making that face daughters only make to their fathers, that one that said, ‘you promised, and I want it now, not later, now!’ face. He winced and gave out an awkward chuckle, pulling at his collar and looking away as he cleared his throat and sighed.

“So, as you might have guessed, it is a story that I really wish to tell at a later date, not only for my own sake, but also because it will unnecessarily complicate things. So instead, I hope to distract you with a shiny offer and that is, do you want to reconnect with your divinity and hear about something else instead?”

She stared at her father, his helplessly uncooperative and reluctant expression, it was clear that this was a tale that he found not only embarrassing, also damaging to his prestige. She could also strangely tell that what he was most worried about, what he feared above all else in this situation, was looking less than infinitely capable in front of her, his daughter. She was strangely happy that he cared so much about how she thought of him.

Not mentioning that he was totally trying to avoid doing as he promised, but at least he was being up front about it. She suspected that he didn’t think he would make as much progress in talking to her, as if he had thought that he would have more time to tell her who her mother is. Instinctively, she knew that a possible sticking point was her mother, maybe their relationship was poor, a thought suddenly struck her, if it was, did this mean her parents were divorced?

She stared hard at him, as she took a calming breath and told him her thoughts on the matter.

“. . .”