In which Hephaestus does something good by not doing something bad.
Amy Dresden Smith’s most notable characteristic was her ability to take in strays- thus, when the smith god Hephaestus arrived on her doorstep, she was initially unsurprised.
.
She opened the door brightly. “Hello. Are you with the bank?” she asked. Her nails dug into her palms at the thought. So far, the elderly manager of the local bank had been what she considered overly generous- he had only raised her interest rate what he assured her was a normal hike.
“No… I was just wondering if you had time to show me around town. I’m newly come, you see,” Hephaestus began, clearing his throat.
The woman’s response shocked him. “Of course! Just let me leave out the food for my cats, and I hope you don’t mind if I bring Sweetie- he needs a walk. I’ll have to be back by three, though, that’s when I have to pick my son and daughter up from their friends’ houses. Oh, and I’ll need my coat. I’m Amy Smith, by the way- what’s your name?” She talked too fast and with her hands, gestures overwrought and excited voice pitched a little too loud. Amy seemed completely trusting of the nameless stranger who had just asked her for a walk. No one threw her off a mountainside.
Hephaestus worked to clear his shock. “Philip. Philip Forge,” he said, holding out a hand. This is going to be too easy.
She pumped it up and down, smiling enthusiastically. She whistled high enough to hurt mortal ears, and Hephaestus was faced with a mastiff-hellhound cross.
That thing’s the size of a house. How on Earth did she tame it? Hephaestus wondered, as the dog licked his mistress’s hands in supplication. ‘Sweetie’ looked at Hephaestus, and his hackles went up as sure as a cat’s. A low growl built in his throat, until Amy patted the ‘savage beast’s’ head, whereupon Sweetie immediately wagged his tail.
“I know he’s rather large, but he’s a gentle giant,” Amy told her visitor in a tone of reassurance and apology as she shrugged on a worn tan wool coat. “I’ll just close the door. Do you want me to point out the best cafes or something? Or I can introduce you to my neighbors- they can be a little grumpy, but they’re really good at heart!” Amy reassured him.
Considering the graffiti he’d passed on the way to her house, the smith god wished he could beg to differ.
Amy closed the door- which Hephaestus noted didn’t have a lock, oh boy- and the pair left 137 North Drive, New Britain, CT. Amy all but bounced down her steps. She slid nearly face-first on the icy concrete when Hephaestus caught her with strong hands. He steadied her not without some exasperation, and could not help but note that her mail box was nearly bursting with unnoticed letters. She thanked him in a hushed voice.
As Hephaestus steered her down the street to a café- he’d noted she was reed-thin- he was shocked to learn she was a secretary.
Amy noted his face and laughed self-consciously. “I know, I’m very disorganized, but the people at the school are kind enough to keep me on. They even let me go by six when the kids need attention- that’s all species, mind.” Her voice was warm whenever she spoke of her children.
“It’s not that,” Hephaestus lied. “You just don’t seem like the desk job type.” The last was true enough- Amy had a lot of nervous energy, tension spilling out as she fidgeted, finger-combing her hair and biting a little at a hangnail- and this won a blush.
“I wanted to be a vet when I was a kid, but Dad said I was too scatterbrained for college, so. I do my best. Which isn’t always enough,” said Amy, a touch nostalgically, but then her voice regains that characteristic self-effacing humor- “one time, I baked these brownies for a charity potluck, and I spent hours on them, but they still came out overcooked and chewy!”
“I’m sorry,” the Lord of the Forges found himself saying. Amy blinked.
“What for? ‘S not your fault.” He realized abruptly it must be cold for her, and threw an arm around her shoulders.
“That you put that much work into something, only to have it fail,” Hephaestus said. He has scared himself by having said a true thing to a mortal woman, and abruptly withdrew his arm.
She smiled brightly at him, and for a moment, Hephaestus saw Amy. It frightened him, but he realized she was genuinely a good person. She deserved better.
He meant to kiss her, he really did.
It would have been terribly simple to have his way with this naïve, gullible, sweet woman.
But he couldn’t do it.
So Hephaestus did the best thing possible for Amy Dresden Smith at that very moment:
He ran very far in the opposite direction.
Sweetie’s tail thumped on the sidewalk.