"Dionysus" Artemis spoke as she recognised the voice speaking to her from nearby.
"Are you telling me that I can't even meet my child at least once" She spoke, but her voice contained coldness that might have terrified ordinary mortals to feel the presence of death itself, but the recipient of it this time was someone who shrugged it off with no problems at all.
"Seeing this is the first time you had a child, I can ignore this form of disrespect for now" but then his tone became serious "Put away that look you brat, do you know how hard it is for me to shield your presence from father, push me even more and I will remove it and you know what will happen after that"
The moment Dionysus said that Artemis realised her folly, she had done everything she could to stay away from her son to ensure his safety all those years ago. Just knowing that he was alive made her appear here right now without even thinking about its consequences.
The entire camp is under the scrutiny of her father. He might not look into it normally, but her presence might pull his attention here and in turn will reveal the truth about her child.
Artemis can already imagine her father calling forth a council meeting to talk about it, essentially revealing the fact that the goddess of celibacy finally has a child. And Artemis knew that will be the day where her son will lose everything.
Her fist tightened as she realised what she was about to do. And seeing her like this Dionysus realised she had calmed down. he took another swig of diet coke and spoke nothing as he watched Artemis look at her child and nothing more.
He remembered the first time he had a child of his own and seeing the expression on Artemis, he knew that she must be going through something similar as well.
After some time, Artemis looked away from Silva after making sure that he was completely all right, she was able to feel a trace of Pan within him along with the ability of forests that seemed to rival a few minor deities she had seen in her travels.
But she cannot wait longer, she needed to leave now. Even though Dionysus never mentioned it, she knew that he will not be able to shield her for too long as even that attract too much attention towards this place.
She looked at Dionysus and Dionysus seeing this decided to give his advice.
"Until he becomes strong enough to handle himself, the only way for him to be safe is for you stay away as you did till now."
Artemis froze as she heard what Dionysus said, but he still continued.
"He might hate you for it, he might even despise you for doing it. But the only way for him to be absolutely safe is for you to it this way. As a father who had lost countless children in front of his eyes" Dionysus paused as he looked back for a second through his memories. "You must be prepared to face at least that much by a minimum if you want to see your child thrive before he passes away one day."
Artemis didn't know what to say for a moment as she wanted to retort to the suggestion given by Dionysus. But something told her that this was the only way.
"Can you keep him safe till then?" She asked.
"The boy is polite, smarter than what his age would suggest. As long as he does not go too far, I'll make sure to keep an eye on him. But I'm still a god so at the end of the day I can't interfere too much" Dionysus replied.
Artemis nodded as she knew that was the best she can get at this situation. She looked at Silva one last time before she vanished and went back to her hunters.
"I suppose you heard everything" Dionysus said as Chiron came nearby.
"What are your orders director" Chiron asked as he knew he was sort of out of his depth here.
"Just like before, you have no idea who the kid is other than his connection to Pan, when the truth comes to light I can take the blame for not looking too much into it" Dionysus said as he took another swig. "For now, only the four of us at camp should know about his origin."
"Four?" Chiron was confused for a moment, but then he realised it as he looked to the centre of all the cabins where a child was tending the hearth fire, making sure that it does not go out even in the darkest of nights.
As he watched, the girl raised her head and slightly nodded while putting a finger on her lips, indicating her agreement in keeping the silence.
Back to the hunters.
Artemis came back to her senses as she brought back her spirit from the cabin. The moment she did, she can feel the tears flowing through her face.
"My Liege!!!" the worrying cry from her lieutenant suddenly brought her back to her senses about where she was currently right now.
She can see the worried looks from her hunters. But she knew she cannot remain idle and wallow in her helplessness right now.
She wiped her tears off and stood straight making the familiar sharp expression appear in her face.
"Prepare yourself, we will going for some hunts right now. Our aim will be certain creatures that had not died for a long time" Artemis ordered.
The hunters wanted to ask about what happened, but the expression shown by their lord told them that it was not the time. Even Zoe realised it was better to carry out the order given right now.
Artemis was going to start a hunt that will thin the population of monsters on the planet. She knew there was a balance when it comes to these and no matter how much she kills, the same number of monsters will get reborn from Tartarus.
But she can do the only thing that can make her child safer than how he is right now. She can hunt down the stronger ones and the ones that are extremely difficult for her son when he grows up.
'I'll make sure to do something similar on my side as well, he is under your protection for now, but one mistake and I will try my best to take him back' Artemis heard the declaration made by Diana in her mind and only tightened her hold on her bow in return.
The monsters are not going to know how they brought the wrath of the goddess of the hunt upon them.
A/N- hope you like it.