Lillelara

"You need my help," she said. Themis preferred statements to questions.

"There are too many mortals." Zeus nodded. "Far, far too many."

"Gaia had told you she suffers," Themis said. "Their weight is too great for her to hold."

"So she said. We must take many thousands of them."

"Plague," she suggested, but the king of the gods shook his head.

"Too inexact. Sometimes it just picks off the old, who would be dead soon anyway."

"Flood," she said.

"Too indiscriminate. It´ll take out the livestock as well."

"Always so mindful of you sacrifices," she laughed. He licked his lips at the thought of calf fat sizzling in flames.

"Volcano." She followed his thoughts toward fire.

"Too local."

"Earthquake."

"Too low a death toll."

"Large earthquake."

"Poseidon is too prone to partiality. You know how he is. He will obliterate Athene´s or Apollo´s favourites and keep his own intact. It will cause more trouble than it´s worth."

Their eyes met. "War, then."

 

With everything that is going on at the moment, this is a bit eerie.