Please accept this chapter as my vow to keep up with this story! It's a full length chapter again, and I'm excited about what is to come, stay tuned, friends!

Chapter 10: Exploring

How it was that Persephone had never noticed the depth of the wardrobe's interior before, she had absolutely no idea. She didn't think she was that wallowed in grief not to notice that such a large collection of intricate fabrics lay before two slender doors in her dressing area.

Hecate was much too indulged in the act of dressing Persephone to notice her shock. A few clinks of her golden bangles and just as soon as she had disappeared into the mass of fine linens, Hecate was out and whisking Persephone out of her robe.

The frigid brush of air to Persephone's front woke the goddess from her revere,

"Oh, Hecate, wait-!"

"Come now, young gem. Hades is vast and diverse, there isn't a moment to spare!"

"I may be in a new and very strange situation, but I surely haven't lost the ability to dress myself!" Persephone grabbed the fabric from the older goddess' arms and shot behind the changing screen. "And no peeking, I'd at least like to pretend I have some sort of decency left."

Now it was Hecate's turn to stand in slight shock. Her mouth agape softened into a smile, never before had Hecate encountered someone who was willing to defend themselves against her own whims, aside from Hades himself. Even though the matter was petty, she felt it meant much more; here was a queen she could follow.

Behind the screen Persephone slipped on the gown she was given. The fabric was a deep purple color that reminded her of the flowers she once weaved into her crowns. It was silken as it fell upon her skin; the top wrapped gently around her middle, covering her quite nicely, her shoulders were shielded from the gentle cold of the underworld with a thin and silky layer of fabric, the same that cascaded in gentle waves down either side of her floor-length dress. She could see nothing indecent with this dress, though the cool she felt on her back told her that this dress contained less fabric, at least at the back, than her mother would have approved.

It took her a few moments to realize that Hecate was dangling a pair of sandals over the changing dividers. "Admiring the body you never knew you had?"

A quick blush spread across her cheeks, "I'm just not used to this sort of dress is all."

"Clearly, and your mother was smart in some respects to keep you draped heavily in those maiden like sheets. At least she recognized true beauty, and its dangers to the prying eyes of unworthy suitors."

"Please, Hecate, I do love that dress, as I love my mother." An unpleasant silence threatened the mood of the room.

"Well, are we taking our little tour today or should we wait for your new dress to be tattered and worn as your original lovely number?"

Persephone quickly snatched at the sandals and smirked. Though she missed her mother, she had to admit, that things were fun, and she rather did like the way she felt in this dress. What could a tour hurt?

He rubbed his head as he slumped in his throne of obsidian and gold. He shifted in his chair rather abruptly and hissed as he felt yet another sting to his chest. Before Rhadamanthus could finish reading from the scroll of the mortal before him, which was customary before any rulings were made, he sighed heavily and summoned the guards with the flick of his two fingers, "Asphodel."

The reading stopped and only the gentle sobs and, thank you's from the mortal called Lycurgus; he did no great deed, neither did he commit any terrible ones, and so the ruling was fair.

Yet, "My Lord," It was Acacus who spoke then, a judge sitting in the first of the three seats which sat before the King's throne, "perhaps some time to recuperate our collective thoughts is necessary to resume the proper proceedings-"

"The ruling was fair Acacus, or am I to assume that you mean to veto Lycurgus' sentence to Asphodel?"

"Yes, the ruling was fair, still-" spoke Rhadamanthus as he resumed his seat beside Acacus.

"-the proceedings were cut short, My Lord." Minos, the judge in the third seat finished with a small sigh, "I would have assumed, dear King, that you would have left the rulings for another day, we all know that she is expected to tour today, Hecate couldn't stop talking about it."

"Our young Queen, be sure to address her as such," he shot a warning glance to the aged faces in the seats beneath him, "is being escorted by Hecate for the time being. I have no purpose in explaining my intentions to anyone, but I will state that Hecate is more comforting than I am at the moment. Not to mention the serious influx in souls we have gracing our court as of late. And, unless you find that ruling to be unfair, let us stick to the proceedings before us."

Minos shook his head slightly, Acacus looked down at his feet, and Rhadamanthus simply responded, "Of course, My Lord."

And the proceedings continued, the readings being cut shorter with each passing soul, and the sting of the arrow upon his chest seemed to seep within, gripping painfully at his lungs.

The whole time he thought on his own words: would there ever be a time that she could find comfort in him?

Hecate had taken Persephone by the hand and led her out into the hall. She had to take a breath when she realized that she was actually outside.

"Don't go sprouting wings and flying from me now little lark."

"How appropriate to say, considering you are the one who released me from my cage."

"I think I could jest with you all day and be absolutely content."

"I'd love to do that, but I think the false idea of freedom is even more appealing at the moment."

"There's that curiosity, young gem. You have all the traits of a fierce feline yet you know not what to do with all that fire."

"Fierce feline?"

"Never mind me, I talk too much, though I'd never admit it to anyone else."

Hecate pulled her through the castle halls, they exchanged so much banter along the way that Persephone was glad to have an escort, she would surely be lost by now otherwise.

Another day Hecate assured her when she asked why they weren't stopping to see the castle itself. From what she did see and what Hecate allowed her to linger on, which wasn't much, Persephone noticed at least two things: first, Hades was definitely the god of wealth and riches as was evidenced in his abundance of ornate decorations, and second that he preferred deep colors, ones that she thought to herself, would compliment his personality, and the depth of those lightless orbs…

"Young Queen, going to stand and stare at him all day, or can we get to the actual grounds?"

Persephone whipped her head to see Hecate smirking at her.

She looked back up to notice that she had in fact been staring at something she wished that Hecate of all people hadn't caught her looking at. The frame encrusted with rubies was as tall as her, mounted above the ivory carving of a very fierce looking beast with three heads. But the ornate frame and statue were not what caused the blush to her cheeks, rather the portrait within the frame, of the man with obsidian eyes, her captor.

"Though I do love to see you admiring your King, young one, I'm afraid we must be off." Hecate was whispering with raised eyebrows and an amused look on her face into Persephone's ear.

"He is not my King."

"We've been over this dear! Come now, you'll have a chance to explore within another day, let's get you some fresh air, yes?"

They stepped out of two grand doors, and Persephone couldn't withhold the gasp.

Almost in a trance, she released the hand of the divine witch and stepped gingerly onto the black marble staircase before her. With each step she took, she could see more and more of the grounds, and they fascinated her.

Stretched out before the palace and her feet was an expanse of white Marble statues, at the base of each lay black wired vines. Each statue bore the likeness of actual flesh, carved to perfection; she would attest work as this only to the most skilled carvers. The subjects of some of these statues, or most of them actually, seemed quite formidable indeed. Some were just beautiful depictions of everyday people, others of otherworldly beings, dark creatures carved into white polished stone. The stark contrast made her both intrigued and somewhat frightened all at once.

Dark polished stones stretched down the middle of the lines of statues and extended out to create a cross shaped path to the rest of the underworld. In the middle of the stone path she could see the back part of what seemed to be a temple.

She felt compelled to venture forward, to march into that temple just to answer the question she had conjured up in her head, without real reason or explanation she wondered to herself, "who would I find in there?"

A warm hand once again grasped her own,

"That is the temple in which the souls are judged, young gem. We are at the front of the palace. Do not be offset by the décor. It is meant to look ornate and powerful, though it can sometimes come across as menacing. But you understand, yes? Not all souls are decent, and for those souls at least, the power of Hades must be emphasized to put them in their rightful place."

"Can we go inside?"

"I'm sure Rhadamanthus, Acacus, and Minos would find that a very interesting occurrence, but I'm afraid there is one who may not be as easily amused by our interruption."

With a bite of her lip and a cute pout to her face, Persephone remarked, "I thought you said I was to be Queen, who would question my choices?"

Dodging that question Hecate replied, "Oh, so are you warming up to the thought?"

"Only if it gains me unlimited access, besides, you said so yourself, I really don't have a choice after… what's happened." Another blush to compliment the red in her hair.

"Hmmm, he really did find the right one. You are proving more and more amusing, I'm afraid I haven't had enough decent conversation in all this time to be sufficient for all your worthy banter."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Persephone smirked, "well, lead on then, I guess that too can be saved for another day."

Persephone and Hecate made their way to the river Styx, and was met by the ferryman Charon. He stopped his load of souls for the two women to cross in his boat. He was reluctant when Hecate insisted, but jumped to the occasion when she mentioned Persephone's name. It wasn't the first he'd seen of the young queen, but it was the first chance he had to greet her while conscious.

His appearance was much different than what the mortals often described as the image of death on water. What they called a skeleton in a cloak of darkness was really a lean god with obvious strength in his upper body. He was clad in a cloak of black, but it didn't take away from his muscular frame. The mortals made him to be a bearded skeleton, blindly rowing his boat on the river of death. Yet, this could not be more opposite of his true appearance. Though he grew no beard of silver, his long hair was a steely gray and it was held in place by a band of black and gold at the nape of his neck, his body itself was lean and muscular, clearly from all the rowing, and his eyes were unlike Persephone had ever seen. They seemed to reflect exactly the river upon which the ferryman sailed his boat, the same light blue hue and shine of the waters shone from his face.

He reached out a strong hand to Persephone, "My Lady, a pleasure as always."

Perplexed, Persephone accepted his hand and climbed into the boat, "always?" she asked as Hecate glided in behind her.

Ignoring her question Charon began rowing and simply gestured his hand to the far side of the river, Persephone clutched the edge of the boat and peered in that direction. She had never been on a boat before! This was more adventure she could have asked for.

"Be careful not to fall in my Lady, the waters of the dead are full of sorrow and mourning, something I hope you'll forever be without."

She looked towards the boatman then, "Yet without sorrow there would be no gage for joy, and without mourning, the soul cannot heal. People forget that life cannot be as it is without death. I think these waters are beautiful in their own way."

As she looked out on the still waters, Charon and Hecate exchanged a look of knowing and pride, for their young queen was not as young as she looked.

Finally they came to a stop on the banks of the far side of the river. The lines of souls she had witnessed near the palace were far from her now, and beyond the banks she could only see the thickness of what she surmised to be a very deep and extensive forest.

Charon offered the final words of, "My Lady" and pushed off the bank to return to the ferrying of souls.

Hecate, still thinking on her young Queen's previous statement, led her silently to the beginning of the forest. Persephone noticed that there was yet another river here with only a single bridge above it and between them and the forest. Though the forest itself was dark and thick, she felt no menacing feelings from it as they approached.

Just as she thought this, a shadow fell over them, causing Persephone to cling to Hecates' side.