Dahyun sat skinning a mountain lion. She had given it the ritual, said her thanks, and now she could reap the benefits of the hunt. 

Then a warm scent entered her room. It was of strawberries, then of roses. 

“You're interrupting something sacred,” Dahyun said. “Out.” 

Sana sat down on her bed. Without asking. “You’re tearing an animal apart. That’s not sacred.” She looked at the remains with distaste. Compared to the gore around Dahyun, Sana looked absolutely pristine. She wore a light white dress, one that wasn't suited at all for their camp. 

“It's a kill,” Dahyun replied, “and one that's going to waste.” Perhaps if she made her actions as disgusting as possible, the goddess would leave. 

“It’s stomach will,” she retorted. “Or will you tell me you use every part of it?” 

“We sacrifice the organs,” Dahyun finished with the skin, “or my brother makes an appearance and divines the future with its entrails.” It was not an appropriate gesture, but she drew out some of its small intestine, presenting it to Sana. 

She cringed, before rolling her eyes. “Like that ever works. He was convinced I would fall on my face during the last party.” She lay back on the pelt. “I fell on my back.” 

Dahyun would have liked to see it. 

“At least he was right that you fell.” Normally Dahyun would agree that her brother’s predictions were silly at best, delusional at worst. Every now and then there would be some truth to it. That was usually from the Oracle and not him. 

She began to clean the beast, separating all that she’d use from all that she wouldn’t. There was a lot of ammunition to use if Sana didn't leave soon. 

Sana had propped herself on her elbows. She watched her in surprising silence. 

“What’d this come from?” She ran a hand across the pelt on which she lay. 

“A giant sheep.” 

“Really?” 

“No,” Dahyun said. “It was a pack of coyotes. A blessing from one of your many suitors.” They had been feral. And they’d attacked them while they were in Asia. Not a typical habitat. 

Sana’s brow rose. “Ares sent you coyotes?” 

“And bulls.” Dahyun pointed to the collection of drinking horns. “I’ve sometimes wondered if it was a curse or actually a gift.” She’d once gifted him one at a rare victory of his. He’d laughed his head off, but accepted it. 

Sana was still frowning when Dahyun turned her attention to separating out the bones. 

“I’m sorry.”

It must have been said sarcastically. If Sana was anything, it was unapologetic. 

“For interrupting my desecration of an animal?” Dahyun glanced up. “Already forgiven.” She let a bone fall into a bowl with a pointed thud. 

Sana did not flinch. “I mean for Ares.” 

“You didn’t bring him into this world. Not technically at least. That was Zeus’ doing.” That was another reminder that the war god was also her brother. What a lovely family she had. 

She snorted. Also a very un-Aphrodite thing to do. “He was jealous.” 

“Of the hunt?” Dahyun found it very hard to believe. 

“No.” 

“That I know,” she said. “He once told me I cause too little senseless death.” As if the numbers were a competition. If Dahyun counted the animal industry to hunting, then perhaps she won in that sense, but she did not. Any look at the mortal news reminded her of how little she had in common with the deaths of war. At least she hoped she did. 

She finished with the bones. Now she began with the head. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sana averting her gaze. 

“You know the mortals have places where you can buy food, right?”

Dahyun sighed. “Yes.” She’d gone to the supermarkets as well, but Sana clearly did not know that. She decided that it would stay that way. 

“So?”

“I’m the goddess of the hunt, Sana.” She fought the urge to flick one of the eyes at her. Perhaps that would make her leave. Dahyun looked at the eye she held between her fingers. It was so tempting. 

“And?” 

“If you expect me to abandon the hunt just because there’s an easier way to get food, then you wouldn’t need to use natural charm to attract mortals.” There was some sort of belt she had that could make someone fall in love with her. Dahyun knew it did not work on her. Thankfully. 

“Natural charm?” Sana repeated, her voice much higher than before. It pierced her ears. Dahyun wondered if the rest heard this conversation. She hoped they were placing bets on when she threw something at the goddess. It was between the eye and the lion’s heart. The irony would be nice. 

“Why are you here?” Dahyun asked. “It certainly isn’t to watch this.” She stood and set the bowl that was filled with what was edible down on a table. A part of why she had that was to convince the new hunters that you could indeed eat a carnivorous animal. 

“Are these books?” Sana hopped off her bed and went straight for a small shelf. 

Dahyun refrained from making an offensive remark. “Yes.” 

“Why do you have them?”

“I can read, Sana.” She took the heart in her hands. If she aimed it just right, then perhaps—

“But isn’t this dry for you?” Sana flicked through one of them. “I thought you’d like biology.”

So she’d also been lumped in with Momo and Jihyo. 

Sana put the book back. She looked at the shelves with a frown. “You need actual books in here.” 

Dahyun wasn’t sure if she was supposed to question that Sana read mortal books or question that she hadn’t thrown the bloody heart at her yet. 

“You know,” the other goddess stood, “fiction.” She winked. “Maybe a bit of romance.”

Dahyun raised her hand. 

“Did I strike a nerve?” Sana eyed the heart, her hands half in front of her. "Don't throw it."

“Please leave.” 

Now she pouted. Typical of her. “You didn’t let me answer your question.” 

“So answer it,” Dahyun said. “Then go.” 

She didn’t respond immediately.

The heart was starting to drip. Dahyun threw it back into the organ bowl. 

She saw Sana’s eyes flick to it. Then she finally spoke. “Do all of your hunters have to kill animals?” 

Dahyun felt more than taken aback by the mundanity of the question. She’d expected some comment on her vows or a similar remark. “If the main point of concern is maiming or eating animals, that is no reason to reject the hunt,” she said. They were rare and the first ones to abstain had been quite the surprise for Dahyun. “And I respect their wishes.” 

“Then what’s the point?”

Dahyun was mildly offended at the blatant doubt. “We hunt beasts from Tartarus. Even a vegetarian wouldn't spare them.” She went to the basin with water, wiping the blood from her hands. 

“But they’re not as common.” 

“You’d be surprised,” Dahyun said. She scraped at a dried portion on her elbow. 

“And when there’s nothing to do?” 

Why were there questions about her lifestyle? There wasn't even a comment about the lack of men in her life. 

“We waste away, bored out of our minds." 

Sana was beside her then. “You’re awfully sarcastic nowadays.” Her arms were loosely crossed.

Dahyun dried her arms. “And you’re suddenly curious about what we do,” she replied.

"You make it sound like a bad thing." Sana frowned. 

She shrugged. "You once said we were a group of sad and lonely little girls." She picked up the bowl of meat. They would cook it. One of the others would handle the skin. That one had been curious about how to. Dahyun would walk her through it tonight. “But now that your question's been answered, I think you can leave." 

There was something very different about Sana's expression then. It almost looked like hurt. 

Dahyun looked away. The goddess of love was lucky that she hadn't gotten a heart thrown to the face. 

_____

Author's Note

A tad random on my part, perhaps, but in my mind it just makes sense that Dahyun, as the goddess of the hunt, would throw a slab of meat at another goddess just to gross them out? I can tell you this much, she has done it before. 

Would love to know your thoughts! This is a bit stranger compared to the other things I've written, but it's a fun little dynamic for me to explore.