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Persephone was the flower of her mother's fields, the gem that sparkled brightest in the sunshine, and Hermes wasn't the only one who could see that. If the other suitors had been the only problem to his courtship, there wouldn't have been one. Hermes had already proven he had intelligence and knowledge of beauty above that of Apollo, and Hephaestus and Ares didn't even merit thinking about, so most of the time Hermes didn't bother.
The problem was her mother, and Demeter definitely was a problem. So Hermes did whatever he thought he could to improve her esteem of him. Which, at least during his first stage of courtship, meant bullying Iris into bringing Demeter the bad news, and making sure that he brought her the good.
Not that there was much news to give, or that Hermes could always tell which news Demeter would react negatively. Fortunately, Iris was willing to help him. Unfortunately, she felt that helping gave her the right to make fun of him.
"What message is it you wish me to deliver?" Hermes asked, hoping he was treading the right line between respectful towards Zeus and being able to keep some of his own dignity. Serving others didn't come easily to Hermes. Iris didn't seem to have a problem with it, but then, Zeus wasn't her father. Hermes was sure Persephone would understand, she had to.
Zeus scowled, became aware he was doing so, then continued to scowl anyway. Hermes found comfort in the realization that Zeus' sulking was no more directed at him or Iris than Hera's was. "There are invitations," Zeus muttered, and Hermes had to strain to hear the usually-powerful god, "That need to go out to all the gods and goddesses. As well as to any mortal women who would still be alive who have born children fathered by me."
"An invitation to what?" Iris asked brightly, clearly directing the question to Hera.
Zeus answered, "Hera and I will be renewing our vows."
"Oh, how sweet," Iris said, and didn't speak again until she and Hermes were at least nominally out of hearing range of the two most powerful gods on Olympus. "You should take the message to Demeter first," Iris said.
"No way." Hermes shook his head a little more vehemently than he probably had to, as his helmet almost fell off.
Iris looked at Hermes the way his mother sometimes did. "Demeter would positively love to be among the first to know of the event. It'll give her a leg up in the social sphere."
Hermes stared at Iris, trying to figure out if she'd been hanging out with Dionysus too much recently, or if there could possibly be another reason she'd completely left the rational world behind.
Iris sighed. "Look, whatever Demeter is, she isn't a hypocrite, and she'd be delighted to know that Zeus and Hera are going to put actual effort into making their marriage work. Besides, if you go and tell Demeter, I'll tell your mother for you. Does that work?"
Hermes considered it, and figured that even if Iris was wrong, he'd rather have Demeter rant and throw things at him than be subjected to the same treatment from his mother. If only because odds were Demeter, who spent most of her time in fields, wouldn't have as much access to heavy materials. "Yes, it does. Thank you."
Iris smiled, and the messenger god and goddess made quick work of diving the others before setting off their separate ways.
When Hermes came upon Demeter, she was in a field, with Persephone sitting next to her, making chains of daisies to set in her hair as a crown. Hermes watched her for a moment, fascinated by her beauty and her innocence, before Demeter cleared her throat, and Hermes met her furious gaze before quickly dropping into an elegant bow. "I bring word from Zeus, lord of the thunderbolt, and of Hera, Queen of the gods."
"Well, what is it?" Demeter asked when Hermes paused for permission to continue talking.
"The noble god and goddess wish to issue an invitation to yourself and your children to attend a ceremony in which Zeus and Hera will reaffirm their love and loyalty to each other." Hermes was busy avoiding what he was sure would be Demeter's angry gaze, and was taken completely by surprise when she chuckled. Hermes met Persephone's eyes, and she shrugged and smiled shyly.
"Good for her," Demeter said. "You can let Hera and Zeus know that I'll be attending."
"Just you?" Hermes asked, trying very hard not to sound disappointed.
Persephone looked at her mother. "Please can I go?" she asked. "I promise to comport myself with dignity, and I won't talk to anyone you don't want me to."
Demeter considered. "Alright. Let Zeus know that both myself and Persephone are coming. But also let him know that if he so much as comes within five feet of my daughter, I will," Demeter grinned suddenly, "Let Hera know about it."
Hermes nodded. "Yes ma'am."
The rest of the responses Hermes received were split about 50/50 between those supportive of Hera finally trying the guilt strategy to make Zeus stay faithful and those who couldn't stop laughing about the very idea of the ceremony. And then, of course, there was Hades, who seemed in usually good cheer. Maybe spending all that time in the underworld had finally gotten to him. Hermes was quite glad when he could leave the underworld and Hades behind; that place always made him feel like the walls were closing in.
Since Zeus had sent him with a request, rather than a full-fledged message, and bursting in on mortals just to see them jump in surprise got old rather quickly, Hermes knocked politely on the door to Danaë's residence.
"Can I help you?" she asked when she answered the door.
"Your presence has been requested by the Lady Hera at a ceremony to celebrate her marriage with Zeus and for them to affirm their commitment to each other," Hermes said. He'd thought a lot about what to say, and he thought he'd finally perfected the formula so that the other mortal women he had to visit wouldn't throw a sandal at him, like Maera had. Hermes had ducked, but he had the feeling that he wasn't being a very good messenger if the people he delivered the messages to ended up upset at him.
"Why does Hera want me there?" Danaë asked.
"It wouldn't be my position to speculate," Hermes said, and managed to maintain that stance all the way through his visit. He was sure that Iris would have given in to the urge to gossip, because Iris seemed to find a lot of pleasure in talking and sharing her opinion on matters that really had nothing to do with her. Of course, Iris found pleasure in many aspects of life that entirely failed to amuse Hermes.
Hermes thought the ceremony was lovely, and that Zeus seemed perfectly sincere when he repeated his vows. Clearly he lacked even basic powers of observation, as Iris was all too happy to tell him. She was also willing to detail everything he missed, though, which meant that he didn't have to strangle her, and take on her workload in addition to his own.
"Look, right there," Iris said, her eyes going wide in shock, and Hermes immediately whipped his head around to look at Zeus.
"What?" he asked.
"Did you see the glare Hera just fixed Artemis with? I find it hard to believe that Hera would be jealous of her."
Hermes smiled, glad there was at last an aspect of the conversation he could contribute to. During the ceremony, Persephone was being closely guarded by her mother, which left Iris to talk to. Which wasn't a bad thing, because Hermes was having quite an enjoyable time listening to Iris bubble about the ceremony and all the tiny details. She had, after all, been vital in its planning. "I doubt she is. But when I delivered the message to Artemis, she laughed, and said she'd come, if only," Hermes frowned, trying to remember Artemis' exact words, "to see how much of a fool Hera makes of herself when Zeus sleeps with someone during the banquet."
Hermes was rewarded for his efforts in memory recall by Iris' soft giggle.
During the banquet, Hermes tried several unsuccessful times to talk to Persephone, until Iris took pity on him and agreed to distract Demeter. "Hello," Hermes said, nodding at Persephone as he took the seat next to her. "What did you think of the ceremony?"
"I thought it was rather sweet," Persephone replied, and Hermes thought about everything Iris had told him and wondered just how sheltered Persephone was and whether she knew any of the history that lay between Zeus and Hera. "I just feel a little out of it all," she admitted. "I don't think I know who an eighth of the people here are."
Hermes smiled at her, trying to exude comfort and trustworthiness, and trying to ignore the pure glee he felt at the fact that he was having a conversation. With Persephone, without her mother hearing every single word. It was fantastic. "Well, if you're curious about anyone, you can just ask. I pretty much know everyone. Kind of have to, given my job."
Persephone smiled politely, and nodded in the direction of the one guest who wasn't sitting next to anyone else. "Who's that?" she asked.
Hermes raised his eyebrows in surprise. "That'd be Hades. Though I'm not surprised you don't recognize him. He gets out even less than you."
"Oh." Instead of laughing at his joke, Persephone looked thoughtful. When Hermes asked her what she was pondering, she just shrugged. "Nothing important, I'm sure," she said, and Hermes dropped the subject because he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable.
Hermes must have succeeded in his goal to convince Demeter to trust him, because when Persephone was kidnapped the first thing she did was ask for his help. Well, the second thing, because the first thing Demeter actually did was rage and threaten that nothing would ever grow again. And technically Demeter didn't ask for Hermes' help, Zeus did. Still, Demeter didn't object to Hermes playing an instrumental part in the rescue of her daughter, and that was a good sign.
The detail that most stood out about the scene Hermes entered was how much older Persephone looked. She still wore flowers in her hair, at least, Hermes hoped those were flowers, and she looked as delicate as she ever had, but gone was the way her eyes used to dart about, as if the entire world was too fascinating and new for her to focus on any one aspect of it. Instead, she was looking pretty consistently at Hades, at least until Hermes started to talk. Then those eerily still eyes focused on him.
"My lady Persephone, you need dwell down here no longer," Hermes said. "Hades, Zeus has ordered that you let her walk free."
"I wouldn't dream of disobeying my dear brother," Hades said, and as soon as he started to talk Hermes took the break his eyes away from holding Persephone's gaze. "But I'm afraid my dear Queen here has already eaten of the food of the underworld. The rules regarding such an action are quite clear."
Hermes looked back at Persephone, to see her calmly picking the seeds out of a pomegranate he was sure hadn't been there before. He ran forward to grab the pomegranate from her, but could see that she'd already eaten at least three of the seeds.
Hermes didn't think anyone could be happy with Zeus' solution, but then he saw Persephone smiling. Iris explained it later to him, though, and she managed to be clear without being condescending, and Hermes thought he could understand. "With the situation being what it is," Iris said, "Persephone has the benefit of being truly in control of herself. While she's with her mother, she won't be expected to be in charge of anything or anyone. She can safely relax and expect others to take care of her, and they will. I think Hades has made it very clear that he respects her judgments, so when Persephone is in the underworld she has control, not just of herself, but of literally hundreds of souls. She literally gets the best of both worlds."
"Oh."
"To be honest," Iris said, smiling to take the sting out of her words, "I'm not convinced you ever really had a chance with her. Persephone has always wanted to be in control of her own destiny, and I think her mother liked you too much for her to consider you a viable escape from her childhood."
"I see," Hermes said, even though he didn't. Not really. Though he did think he understood where Iris was going.
"She's just not your type. You're too good for her."
Hermes looked at Iris in surprise.
She laughed. "As in, you follow too many of the rules. Yeah, I know, you're a thief and a liar, but you spend too much time running errands for the other gods for that label to actually stick as much as you think it does."
"I thought you meant-" Hermes started.
"Oh, I did, a bit," Iris said. "Persephone must be talented at not seeing what's right in front of her. It's a talent she unfortunately seems to share with you."
"Sorry?" Hermes said, sure that Iris had to be mocking him.
"Fortunately I'm willing to overlook that particular fault." Iris shrugged, and then she leaned forward to kiss Hermes, and there were two more gods who were satisfied with Zeus' solution to the abduction of Persephone.