If? [ She laughs briefly, an exhale of dark humor. ] More like when. I do not say I prefer it, only that I am subjected to it.

I saw him while his punishment was being decided upon and he was in holding, tortured even then. It is true. Most likely he is there as we speak, in my home realm. I cannot believe Zeus would ever relent; Olympians think nothing of those they have discarded. [ Circe lets out a different breath, one of suppressed sorrow. She once tried to convince Hermes to visit him and give him a cup of water, but he thought the idea so outlandish, he laughed. And she had pretended she was a hard-hearted cold woman, out of self-defense. ]