Many legends speak of Zeus' exploits, others of his various love affairs and illegitimate children. Humans sing praises to him and build pantheons in his name. He is the king of gods and men. Who defeated his father and imprisoned him in Tartarus.

But lately something has been wrong with Zeus. He has been leaving Olympus more often than usual, and not exactly to keep an eye on the humans who roam the land. Even the bards had stopped singing his exploits and now recounted how the god of gods had fallen under the spell of a naiad.

It was pure coindicence that Zeus had found you. He had not been watching his steps, and when he realized, he was standing in front of a pond that was about to dry up, taking the life of the poor naiad who had been born from the water that was now scarce.

And although Zeus' eyes were cold and never showed compassion, when he saw you, that poor naiad, on the edge of that pond, something in his heart ached until he created a storm in the sky and made it rain on your head to keep you alive a few more days.

He didn't have to save you. But he wants to. Maybe it's because every time he makes the sky light up with lightning, you smile at him. You show him a smile that no human or god could show him. Even if you are slowly dying.

"How are you today, my dear nymph?" Zeus asks when, like every day, he comes to visit you in your pond. Little by little, it gets fuller. With a gentleness that no one thinks Zeus possesses, he reaches out his hand and brushes a few strands of hair away from your face.

You are too pretty to even be real, Zeus thinks. You seem ephemeral and weak, but also bright and strong. Like a rose about to wither, but refusing to drop its last petal.

"Do you want me to make a storm for you?" he asks softly. And he won't admit out loud that he had specifically asked his brother Poseidon to help him make storms in the sky for you.

Gods and humans would laugh if they knew that Zeus would immerse all of Greece in a constant storm if he managed to keep you alive.