Harvest Moon by Mercedes Lackey Page B

see people at their best and worst. I do not like how she is acting—how could I, when she wants to force us apart? But I understand it. What a mother feels for her child is not rational, especially not when she thinks her child is threatened. In a way, this is Demeter acting as we all did when our powers were new and we were drunk with them, thinking only of what she wants, and feeling only her own pain. And I can understand that. I do not like it, but I can understand it.”
    He kissed her again, and this time did not end it too soon. Persephone reveled in the bittersweet joy he gave her, knowing that their loving was going to be ended too soon, unless she somehow worked a miracle.
    He picked her up in his arms, but just before he turned to take her into the inner chambers, he paused. “I have a thought.”
    Her arms tightened around his neck. “I know—”
    â€œNot that sort of thought. I set the warrior-woman to chastising some of the inhabitants of Tartarus who had been giving trouble, but…perhaps that does not qualify as an impossible task. The Tradition is more likely to help us if what we ask her to do is something that seems to be outside of what she is good at. Well, look at whather mate is doing! He’s giving Hermes a challenge with his bargaining and negotiation skills, and Zeus is acting as his assistant in organizing the food distribution. He and she were acting as Heroes or Champions, not as administrators, so this should have been an impossible task for him, and The Tradition is rewarding him with success I would never have predicted.”
    â€œShe is very good at breaking skulls,” Persephone agreed, repressing her sigh that this was interrupting their pleasures. Hades would not have said anything at this moment unless it had a bearing on their predicament. “So…you think you should find her something that she is not good at?” Suddenly it dawned on her, what Hades’s thought must have been. “Do you really think she has any idea of what to do with a tree besides sit under it?”
    â€œI don’t know, but I think I will tell her she must help you,” he said, firmly. “It may be she has some skills, but they are not obvious, so by definition, that is an impossible task. And thus, by the rules of The Tradition, having her help you makes it more likely that you will succeed.”
    Persephone blinked. The twisted, inverted logic made her head ache, and yet, instinctively, she felt sure he was right.
    â€œI think you are a genius, my husband,” she replied, feeling hope once again. “I think you are more clever than Hephaestus, wiser than Zeus, and have deeper understanding than Athena.”
    A slow, gratified smile spread over Hades’s face. With an exuberant step, he carried her off to their couch, and proved just how gratified her praise had made him.
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    Brunnhilde regarded the death god with a curious gaze. He had laid out what he wanted from her, andwhy, with all the skill of a master craftsman. “This is not the sort of thing I know,” she replied. “In my land, I served as a sort of Charon on the battlefield, and as a cupbearer in the High Hall. Outside my land, I am better at breaking heads than nurturing much of anything. But I can see your point.” She pondered for a moment more.
    She had to give Hades this much; he was patient. He was perfectly prepared to let her think things through on her own time with no sign that he was getting irritated at how long she was taking.
    â€œIt is true that it seems absurd to set a warrior to making a tree grow,” she said at last. “And thus, it is the sort of impossible task that The Tradition so loves. It further seems absurd to send someone from the snows of the north to tend a summer fruit. And likewise, to set a battle-maiden of death to bring something to life. I think I see a pattern of three, here, and a pattern of three is likelier to