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As soon as Hera stepped into her room with an excited grin on her face and an object hidden behind her back, Athena knew she was in for trouble.
“Um, Queen Hera, hello,” said Athena awkwardly, trying to look and see what she was holding. “What do you have there?”
“Ice skates!” answered Hera excitedly. “I heard from Triton that he had never gotten to teach you how to ice skate properly, so I decided I would do it. If you want to, that is.”
The goddess of wisdom stared at the light blue skates, then at her stepmother’s face. “I’ve never skated before. This is one of the few topics I know absolutely nothing about.”
“Then this is the perfect time to learn,” replied Hera softly. “It’s a good skill to know and it will be fun.”
A beat of silence passed before Athena finally answered. “Fine, I’ll do it.”
Hera nodded, then lead her to her wardrobe to help her pick out an outfit. Once Athena was dressed in a knee-length dress with shorts underneath, a fluffy scarf and leg warmers, they went out to a secluded lake.
“It’s where I first learned, during a break in the Titomachy. I must have fallen over at least ten times, but I didn’t give up,” explained Hera, then stopped with a chuckle as she saw Athena’s concerned face. “Falling isn’t a bad thing, you know? As long as you get back up, it can help you learn.”
“I’m not supposed to fall,” mumbled Athena. “Father expects me to-“
“He won’t mind what he doesn’t know,” interrupted Hera. “I swear I won’t tell him. Besides, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were better at it than I was. You’re a very graceful warrior and I had barely learned what the world was.”
Athena nodded and sat on a nearby tree stump, insisting she could tie her own skates before Hera swatted her hands away. Frankly, she had no idea how to tie these laces since she had never done it before, but her pride wouldn’t let her admit that. Thankfully, she didn’t have to.
“Steady there. Move slowly, try to find your balance,” explained Hera, holding onto her hands and she led them from the tree stump to the lake. Athena’s legs were trembling, balancing on such a thin blade unusual to her.
“This is even more difficult than wearing heels,” grumbled Athena as they were finally in front of the lake. “So what do I do now?”
“Keep your knees bent and your back straight and I’ll do the rest for now. I’m sure you’ll do great.”
The previous affirmation turned out to be false when Athena instantly slipped on the ice and fell to her knees, looking up at Hera.
“Are you hurt?” asked the queen as she helped her get up, holding her forearms in order to keep her from falling again. When Athena shook her head, she added: “It’s alright to fall, everyone does sometimes. Now just hold onto me and I am going to move backwards slowly, pulling you with me. Try to stabilize yourself for now and get a feel for how the ice feels under your feet.”
“Slippery, that’s how it feels,” mumbled Athena. She eyed the tree stump they had come from, with half a mind to quit altogether, but she knew she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Not when Hera had already sacrificed so much for her, not when she had taken the time to share her hobby, not when she actually bothered to help her get up. Slowly, the elder goddess began skating backwards, hands gripped onto the younger’s forearms, slowly advancing through the lake until they made a complete lap.
“Do you want to continue?” questioned Hera softly, no judgement visible in her eyes. When Athena nodded, she smiled. “Alright. Then put your feet in a sort of V-shape, then push slowly with one foot, then with the other. Don’t rush and remember that I’m right here, holding onto you. I’m not going to let go until you’re ready.”
The goddess attempted to do as she was told, only it seemed that her body didn’t want to cooperate. Her legs shook and slipped out from under her, the only reason she didn’t fall being Hera’s tight hold on her.
“You’re alright, just breathe,” murmured Hera as she slowly skated backwards and watched as Athena began pushing forward herself. “That’s it, you’re doing great. Remember to keep your knees bent and don’t lean on your heels or you’ll fall more easily.”
The redhead nodded, staring at the ice and attempting to correct her technique before her head was gently lifted upwards.
“Is the ice really more interesting than me, baby?” asked Hera with a small chuckle.
“I- I need to be able to see my feet,” stuttered Athena, trying to avert her gaze only for Hera to make eye contact again.
“No, you don’t, darling. I know it feels terrifying but it will make you dizzy after a while. Trust me on this and try to keep your eyes focused on my face, okay?”
Athena nodded, a warm sensation in her heart from her stepmother’s kind tone. Even when her eyes strayed back towards the ice as they skated further, Hera’s signature tongue click brought her back. The queen’s movements far kinder with her than with most other gods, a fact Athena didn’t quite know how to interpret. Of course, she could allow herself to be lost in the safety of her love, but she was far too afraid of disappointing her for that to happen. However, she was still a bit scared and her breath came out in soft puffs against the cold air, so, for the time being, Athena trusted that Hera would hold on and protect her.
After another few laps, the duo came to a stop.
“Do you want to try something else? I can be right here on your left side and hold onto your arm,” said Hera. When Athena nodded, she moved to the left side and slowly moved forward, keeping pace with the younger as she occasionally stumbled.
Despite how new she was to the sport and her initial falls, Athena was quickly catching on, getting more confident while the minutes trickled by. Once they had made a few rounds without any mistakes, Hera let go of her stepdaughter’s arm. She still skated close enough that she could easily catch the redhead in case of a fall. Thankfully, Athena hadn’t noticed any difference, too focused on keeping her balance.
It was only when the war goddess tried to grip Hera’s hand as reassurance that she stumbled forwards. Although she didn’t fall, the duo stopped. Athena stared at her queen in surprise, Hera chuckling slightly as she watched the younger get her thoughts in order.
“You said you wouldn’t let me go!”
“I said I wouldn’t let you go until you were ready,” corrected Hera with a smirk. “Did I lie? Did you happen to fall or get injured in the minutes you didn’t have a death grip on my arm?”
Athena shook her head, fiddling with her hands as she realized how she probably sounded. ‘I am a grown goddess, I do not need someone to baby me in a task children can learn,’ thought Athena to herself. That train of thought was stopped, however, as soon as Hera cupped her pink cheeks and looked lovingly into her eyes.
“You think far too loudly, darling. I assure you that I enjoy doing things like this with you, otherwise I wouldn’t have suggested it.”
“Parents are the ones who typically teach their children how to do this though,” muttered Athena, cheeks a brighter pink from blushing.
Hera thought about her reply for a few seconds, before responding: “Does family always have to be blood-related? My own father ate my siblings and me, and I can confidently say that he would have never done anything like this with us.”
“Plus, the children are usually much younger than me.”
“I wasn’t much younger than you when a nymph took me aside and taught me during a break in the war,” explained Hera in a soft voice. “Time isn’t always on our side, and we rarely learn things when we ‘ought’ to. That doesn’t mean that we cannot choose to learn them later, nor that we should feel embarrassed about it. There’s that mortal saying, after all: better late than never.”
Athena nodded slowly, seemingly absorbing her words before she threw her arms around her stepmother. She whispered, with tears gathering in her eyes: “Thank you for doing this.”
Albeit being taken aback, it didn’t take Hera long to return the hug. “You don’t have to thank me, it was my pleasure.” The two stayed like that for about a minute. Then, Hera broke the embrace and pointed at the darkening sky. “It’s already late and we’ve been at this for long enough. I think it’s time to go home now.”
For once in her immortal life, Athena didn’t argue. Perhaps the frost gathering on her nose and her bright red puffy cheeks were the main reasons for her lack of protest, but Hera didn’t question it. She led them back towards the tree stump, unlacing Athena’s ice skates. “Do you know why you didn’t fall?”
The goddess shook her head as she put her shoes back on. “I got lucky, most likely.”
The queen laughed and replied: “For how prideful you are, you surely have a tendency to put yourself down needlessly.” She stood up and offered the redhead a hand, once she finished unlacing her own skates. “The reason is that you are much more capable than you believe, you simply need to get out of your head. Stop being so terrified of falling, of disappointing me when I have told you time and time again that I won’t leave you. I will not belittle you, harm you or tell your father of what you deem weaknesses, I promise. I know a single conversation won’t change your perspective- you’re much too stubborn for that- but I will keep telling you this until you finally believe me.”
Athena didn’t respond. She kept her head tilted down while she was pondering the implications of her stepmom’s mini-speech. Being cared for wasn’t exactly something she was used to since Metis had given her life to keep her safe, since her spear pierced Pallas’ chest, since Zeus had mostly used her as a weapon first, daughter second. Throughout all of those experiences, she had learnt to rely on herself, that everyone else could and would leave her.
However… Hera seemed to be telling the truth. Perhaps, even if it happened years into the future, Athena could learn to trust her. So, she curled into Hera’s side as they sat together in the kitchen and watched the sunset, matching mugs filled with hot chocolate in their hands.
Meanwhile, the queen watched her with adoring eyes, smiling as she sipped her hot chocolate. ‘She will manage to feel safe one day, I swear it,’ thought Hera to herself, holding Athena tighter. ‘She’s too adorable for that not to happen.’