“Maybe I could have a productive conversation with him. And he speaks Greek. But it might be difficult to find somewhere comfortable for us both. Or, no. It wouldn’t.” Pytheas smiled. “If Yayzu and I wanted to compare notes on incarnation and how we best ought to help people, I know a place. Maybe. I’ll think about that. It might even be a good idea.”

“But Jathery is a Saeli god,” Marsilia said. “Shouldn’t he feel an … aesthetic need to be attending to their affairs?”

Hilfa shook his head without looking up.

“I think it would certainly be preferable if he did, instead of heading off into primal Chaos with Athene,” Pytheas said.

“So do you really think we should go to Father?” Hermes asked.

“Well, maybe. Except that she does plead for me not to tell him,” Pytheas said, looking down at the paper again. “Since you also seem against it, let’s try getting the explanation first.”

“Pleads? Athene? Can I see that?” Hermes asked, putting out his hand for it.

“No, I think not,” Pytheas said, folding it up and putting it inside his kiton.

“But Zeus must know already. He knows everything,” Thetis said.

“He knows, but he’s not aware of things until they come to his attention. If we can sort it out ourselves, it might be better if this came to his attention after Athene is safely back,” Pytheas said.

“Or at least until we’ve read the explanation and know we can’t do it without help,” Hermes said.

“Time can’t be changed, except in one circumstance,” Pytheas said.

“The Darkness of the Oak,” Marsilia interrupted. Both gods turned at once to focus on her. I had no idea what she was talking about, but the words sent chills through me. I took a deep draught of my wine and looked sideways across the room to her as she continued, “It’s given me nightmares since Dad told me about Zeus talking about it on Olympos. Do you think he’d do that? Unmake the City, now? Because of this?”

“More than that, if need be,” Pytheas said. “Athene wants to know everything. There are no limits to everything. But Father has Mysteries he might not want investigated, and I fear this is one of them. It’s directly against his edicts. She might have gone too far. And as for Jathery—is Jathery a favorite of Father’s?” He swung around to Hilfa.

“No,” Hilfa whispered, his lips hardly moving.

Thetis broke the awkward silence. “Where are the pieces of Athene’s explanation?”

“Distributed through time, where only gods can get them. Kebes has one of them.”

Marsilia, Thetis and I gasped in unison. “Who’s Kebes?” Hermes asked. Astonishing. But of course, he didn’t know. He was from another world. The seventy eventful years of our history was all new to him.