Prologue[]
To celebrate Gemini with the last weeks of May, Iris invited her friends over to go on a Nature hike with her to visit her favorite lake and stream. Although, she doesn't have any delivering to do and it would be a very long walk until that lake, so her friends show her their interests when in nature.
Story[]
"To celebrate her month, we hereby declare that Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, is off for delivering for a whole week!" Zeus announced. "For now, we use Hermes and his chariot for delivering." Hermes shrugged. Iris flitted happily above the crowds and waved. "Thank you, I know it's my birth month but it's just another ordinary day on Mount Olympus. I'm really not going to expect anything special for my—" Iris stopped and gasped. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, IRIS!!!" Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis, Hera, and Persephone said. Iris felt very flattered and she saw them carry a large birthday cake. Hera quickly rushed back to Zeus so she could do her "queenly" duties.
After a while when everyone on Olympus finally finished her cake, Iris decided to take her friends on a nature hike. "Yeah, well, I got a few errands to run..." Aphrodite tried to dodge her invitation. "Aphrodite!" Artemis and Athena angrily whisipered. "What? This is going to get dirty!" Aphrodite squealed. "Oh, don't worry, Aphrodite. This nature hike is nothing dirty, all beauty and nature at its best, in my favorite natural place. Luckily it's not a forest for you!" Iris giggled. Aphrodite's face brightened up as she stroked her new chiton in relief. "So...where's Zephyrus?" Aphrodite jokingly asked. Iris raised her eyebrows. "You know...your fiancé?" Aphrodite asked. "Oh! He's not coming today. He got deliveries himself." Iris answered.
Iris and her friends ventured deeper into the heaven-like natural meadow, and Iris saw a forest nearby. "Wow, it's a long walk until the lake, so Artemis, I think I hear a few animals in there. We have to make this last, so come on!" Iris said, flying as fast as she can to the forest. "Wow! The forest... It smells so fresh!" Artemis exclaimed. "Uh...yeah, it's okay, I guess." Aphrodite said, looking down, trying her best for her clean sandals to not touch the ground. Artemis gasped, and she found a large turkey hiding behind the trees. Artemis shot it straight in the eye, and it collapsed onto the ground quickly. Artemis' friends were cheering for her. "Hunting's an art rather than a skill." Artemis modestly huffed.
"So, Athena, what do you do when you're in the forest?" Iris asked. "I like to set up traps for animals and watch them stumble up into them!" Athena said. "Watch." Athena then set up the trap and actually caught an animal. "Meet the first animal I've ever caught." Athena said, holding out her first animal, also known as a deer. Artemis gasped in horror. "YOU LET GO OF THAT—uhm...I mean, hey, it's a poor little deer. Please let go of it." Artemis formally informed Athena. Athena dropped the net of her captured deer and it feel to ground and ran away. Artemis shot it with her arrow right in the eye of it, and it also collapsed onto the floor. Her friends admired her hunting skills, and it was in the pupil of its iris, similar to a bullseye in Artemis' opinion. Instead of leaving the corpse there like she usually does, Artemis obsorbed its mana and the skin disintegrated in the wind, and drifted away like ash.
"Persephone, Aphrodite, do you guys have any of your nature skills to share with us before we venture over to the underground lake?" Iris asked them. Even though she was scared of dirt, Aphrodite was not afraid to use her nature attraction powers. Aphrodite sang a four-note song and all the animals immediately came running to her, even the insects surrounded her. Aphrodite let out a girlish scream and panicked at the sight of the bees. Artemis shot her arrow and the straight line of bees were on her arrow. "A bee kebab!" Artemis joked. Everyone giggled. "Persephone?" Iris and everyone else asked. Persephone showed everyone her connection with forests, and had the ability to shrink and grow tree stumps. She also took off her multi-layered sandals and walked on the rough grass, and every single type of flower sprouted. Her friends admirably clapped, and Persephone felt very flattered.
"Do you mind if we not enter the forest any deeper? It looks rather dirty in there." Aphrodite scowled. Iris simply smiled and attempted to make wrinkles on her face so that she could seem helpful, or at least she thought. "Fine. You can ride on my cloud." Iris said. "Cloud? You don't have a cloud!" Aphrodite protested. Iris giggled and shook her head. Iris quickly obsorbed water from a tree and conjured up a cloud. "I could've used water from the air, but we could probably be suffering right now." Iris let out a nervous laugh. "Well, its not pure water, but it'll have to do, even if it was inside a filthy tree." Aphrodite lifted the edges of her chiton, and gracefully sat down onto the cloud.
"Don't worry, Aphrodite. We're nearby the underground lake! I can feel it!" Iris sensed, smelling the fresh air. "But-but—the river's the other way! I don't see the need to travel this deep into the forest." Aphrodite protested again. "Artemis, Athena, Persephone, if you were to do the honors." Iris directed. Artemis felt the soft grass on the ground, though it felt slightly more moist than regular grass. "There's water flowing underneath here! Maybe even a large tree, sucking in and blowing out water." Artemis said. "Yes, it is a big tree. Vines too! The tree sucks up all water." Persephone happily exclaimed. "That means..." Athena continued. Everyone stared at Aphrodite, and before they knew it, Aphrodite and the cloud were both underground.
"Athena, I'm sure there's a secret door here." Everyone said to Athena. "We have to save Aphrodite! Possibly from drowning in her case." Artemis joked. "Maybe it's somewhere right over...HERE!" Athena, extremely surprised that her guess was correct, she flipped a branch off a tree and it led to a secret staircase. "Come on, let's go!" Iris cried. Everyone followed slowly behind her, as Athena was very careful to see if there were any traps. "Somebody...help?!" Aphrodite squealed inside the large tree. "We're coming, Aphrodite!!" Iris and her friends shouted. Athena summoned an axe in mid-air and cut a hole in the middle of the tree. Aphrodite leapt out of the tree, but plummeted into the water. Instead of screaming for help on a regular basis, Aphrodite actually did enjoy the water. "Come on, guys! This is fun!" Aphrodite cried, splashing water arounde verywhere, and saw the light reflect on the calm surface.
"This is it! This is the underground lake!" Iris exclaimed. Iris took off her sandals and dipped her toes in the lake, and she pushed off the mossy wall and did a summersalt in the air, diving perfectly in the lake. She stuck her head out of the river since she nearly felt like her feet could touch the bottom. Her friends applauded. Aphrodite urged everyone else to come in, so she pulled Athena and Persephone in. "Egh..." Artemis looked at the lake in disgust, and quickly threw her bow and arrows on the floor, and threw her sandals away, with her glamorous crystal-blue anklet gleaming in the mild sunlight. It disappeared once she did a huge jump into the lake.
"This is the best birthday ever!!!" Iris squealed in joy.