Chapter 101: Mount Olympus - San Francisco — Eternity Gods and Circuses

Thanatos’ cousin (of sorts) Hephaestus, is also an inveterate traveler. Thanatos finds Hephaestus’ desire to travel especially odd because he is crippled.

Hephaestus is the God of fire, metalworking, stonemasonry, sculpture and volcanos. His skills are unmatched and unmatchable. He wrought himself a wheel chair so magnificent, it makes even druids and nymphs stop dancing and beg for a seat.

Surely, Thanatos thinks, it would be easier to for Hephaestus to remain in his marvelous chair than go gallivanting all over time and place, appearing magically in fairgrounds and carnivals. But Hephaestus is a showman. He lives for wonder and applause. He has discovered that humans, especially young ones, make much more receptive audiences than gods.

He is not, strictly speaking, related to Thanatos. He is Hera’s son and no one else’s. She bore him parthenogenetically, to get even with Zeus, her cheating, sex-addicted husband, after Athena sprung from his head, with no help from her.