Heaven
The gathering had thinned since the argument.
Not because anyone left. Because the energy had drained out of them. Gods who had been shouting an hour ago now sat in silence, staring at the cracked ground, at the broken sky, at anything that wasn't each other. The question still hung in the air—what now?—but no one had the strength to ask it again.
Athena waited.
She had been waiting for a while. Letting the silence do its work. Letting the weight of indecision settle on shoulders that weren't hers.
Then she stood.
She didn't call for attention. Didn't raise her voice. She just stood, and the gods around her noticed. One by one. Like ripples spreading from a stone dropped in still water.
Ares looked up from where he was sharpening his sword. Odin turned his head, one eye gleaming. Thor stopped adjusting his grip on Mjolnir. Hermes appeared beside a broken pillar, then stilled.
Athena walked to the center of the gathering.
