"Have some more pita, Kore dear," Demeter will say, clucking over his wife, regular as a moondial, and you can bet her next words will be, "You look peaky."

"Plenty of fruit down here," he will say, rather pointedly.

And Persephone will frown, but below the frown - beneath the table - under cover of a pinch, she will squeeze his hand, and the flames will leap redder on his crown.