Chapter Text
“You want me to go to Camp Half-Blood?” She stared at her parents. Honestly not entirely sure she had heard them right. Since this sounded like one of the wildest ideas she had heard from either of them in a while. “Me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
It wasn’t that she was opposed to meeting her half brother. Far from it. But she thought she would be the last half sibling to be introduced to her impressionable half brother. Especially considering things were just starting to smooth out between her and her parents.
Also how on earth had they managed to convince one of the council to agree to this? Assuming they had signed off on this?
Her father was the one to answer the question really. “Your half brother has been praying to me for the last couple of nights telling us about the state of camp. What he has been reporting has been…concerning. Zeus will not let anyone in until we collect more information because he does not want Chiron and Dionysus to be onto the fact we are onto him.”
“And as far as most of the pantheon is aware we still are not on talking terms again. So I could go in acting like I am there to cause havoc or something and gather information without causing letting them know why I’m there?”
What most of the pantheon didn’t know was that her parents had been trying to repair their relationship for a few decades now. It had been slow going and painful and had definitely regressed more then once. But it was better than where they started.
As seen by the fact she was even being trusted with this. She was fairly sure she wouldn’t have been allowed near a child of the Great Prophecy back at the start of this.
They had come a long way.
“Yes.”
She raised an eyebrow wondering if they realized what they were fully signing up for. “You do realize I am going to have to cause some storms and havoc or else it will look a bit strange to them right?”
“I know just don’t go to overboard. The last thing I need is the rest of the council descending on me before they know what is going on.”
“Yeah, yeah, balance. We’ve talked about that.” She said waving off the concern with the lecture she had heard probably a hundred times at this point. Even if she understood why there was more concern right now then ever.
Since applying that to outside of the Atlantean borders. And around this camp would be two different things. But she knew what they meant regardless.
There was a new Goddess at the Head Table this morning Percy noticed as he sat down for breakfast.
And considering her jellystinger hair it was hard to mistake her for anything other than a Goddess. Unlike Mr. D. who was at least trying to pass for somewhat human next to her.
He turned to Luke with a frown. “Just who is that new Goddess at the table?”
Luke doesn’t even look up from his breakfast to answer the question. “Kymopoleia. Goddess of Angry Waves and Storms according to Annabeth.”
Huh, wasn’t that a child of Poseidon if he remembered the stories he used to read with his Mom? Had his suspected Dad sent her to keep an eye on him?
But then going by a comment by one of the other campers supposedly his Dad and her didn’t get along. Hadn’t for a very long time. So that really didn’t make sense. So it didn’t make sense for her to be here for him.
Maybe she just got bored?
Though how exactly did a goddess get bored?
Especially one known for making violent storms?
Maybe she was here on punishment like Mr. D.? But that didn’t make sense either. Because from what he had heard she was avoiding his Dad so how could she be punished if she was avoiding his Dad…
“Do we know how she got here?”
“Nope. Chiron and Mr. D. haven’t made any kind of announcement about why she’s here. And she hasn’t exactly made her reason for being here known yet either.”
Well that just made him more curious. And made him wonder even more if his supposed Dad might have sent him. Even if Luke had said the Gods didn’t care…
Guess he would probably find out eventually.
Percy tries not to argue with Luke about the camp activities. Really he doesn’t but after two days of activities that he knows he is not very good at…well…He might have started pushing back a little bit finally.
Because come on even if his Dad isn’t who he think he is. He is pretty sure he is some sort of sea deity based on his Mom’s comments. So he really should be able to do some water based activities.
And yet when he asks Luke if he could take basket weaving from the naiads. Luke is really not receptive about the idea. Thinking his time would be better at some other camp based activity that Percy is pretty sure he will flunk in less than five minutes.
Again.
He doesn’t flat out say it but Percy has a feeling that Luke thinks that water based activities are a waste of time. Which yeah if your a child of Hermes that’s probably true. But for a potential son of Poseidon that’s a whole other matter.
But he’s having a hard time convincing Luke of that. Considering he’s only been at camp for three days. And has only known their world for three days. So how on Earth would he know enough to be able to determine his lineage more then a head counselor?
“And what’s the problem with that?” A new voice asked.
Percy blinked up in confusion wondering who had decided to insert herself into the conversation. Only to realize it was the Goddess that had arrived this morning.
“Lady Kymopoleia.” Luke greeted. Percy didn’t miss the edge in his tone that signified the older boy wasn’t happy that the Goddess had butted into their argument. “How can I help you?”
“You can answer my question on what the issue in just letting the boy participate in a few water activities even if it might end up being a waste of his time? There is nothing to indicate he might not have some kind of water lineage.”
Far from it Percy knew. But it wasn’t like something that he probably should be admitting he had a feeling.
“It’s just since we so rarely get children of water lineage here I feel like this is a waste of time-”
“Like the other half dozen activities you’ve most likely dragged him to?” She asked raising an eyebrow. “Just because you don’t see a use in that activity or your leader doesn’t doesn’t mean he might not have use in it.”
Yeah Percy hadn’t missed the fact Chiron had deemed water based activities kind of not useful if the sheer lack of number of them were anything to go by. Despite the fact he was definitely not the only sea child in the cabin.
He just wasn’t sure how many of them there were. But he definitely couldn’t be the only one that was being cut out by this whole choice but since he had only been here two days any comments he did make weren’t going to have any real effect.
“I’ve got a lot of kids to look after not all of whom will benefit from it-”
“Then let me take him off your hands for a bit. I am sure Chiron won’t mind me spending some time with a camper. Considering I hear he does the same.”
Ooh if that wasn’t a pointed barb about Annabeth he didn’t know what was.
And he knew by the sour look on Luke’s face. She had him backed into a corner.
Technically Chiron wasn’t supposed to play favorites like he did Percy was pretty sure. But even three days in Percy knew he did. And this Goddess would absolutely tell on Chiron for doing so if he didn’t let him go if he had to guess.
He could practically hear Luke grinding his teeth and at having to give him over the goddess. But he really didn’t have an excuse at this point at least not one that probably wouldn’t upset the Goddess if Percy had to guess. “Fine but he needs to be back for our next activity in an hour.”
“Fine by me.” She said with a shrug.
It’s only when they are far enough away from Luke that Percy finally says. “Thank you.”
He loves Luke, he does. But not being able to do any water based activities yesterday had really bothered him. So having her step in had really meant something. Though… “How did you know I wanted to do water based activities?”
It wasn’t like she had been here yesterday to here his comments to Luke.
She glanced back at him for a long second before saying. “Call it a hunch.”
Percy blinked, he always kind of knew he probably really looked like his Dad. Since the only other solution was he looked like someone really far up his Mom’s family line. But this was the first confirmation of it really.
“Plus I heard you two arguing before I even walked up about it.” Okay that made a bit more sense than his first assumption. “Anyway I wish I could have grabbed the other children of water deities. But no way that was happening with his attitude.”
“Maybe after my Godly parent claims me we can change that?”
“Maybe.” She conceded. “Though I have a feeling it’s going to depend on Mr. Grumpy Horse Legs. And ‘I would Rather Look like a Cherub in a Trailer Park then Presentable’ over there then your current Head Counselor.”
Percy blinked a couple of times. Surprised to hear anyone else call Mr. D. out for looking that way. Especially since… “He doesn’t have to look that way?”
“Oh no he doesn’t. He’s just throwing a fit over being sent here and this apparently is his way of expressing that.”
“I mean he was already expressing that.” Considering how much he reminded him of Gabe he was doing that plenty without the Cherub Presentation.
The Goddess frowned at that. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing.” He said definitely way too quickly. “Anyways what activity are you taking me too?”
She frowned at him before sighing seeming to realize that he wasn’t going to give her anymore information. “Basket weaving. Since until I can figure out where Grumpy Horse Legs has put the other water activity supplies. It’s easiest to do what is already easily provided.”
Well, technically, since she had noticed that basket weaving wasn’t an actual course being offered. But she knew the naiads still partake in the activity.
So she had a feeling that if they went up and asked them. They would be willing to teach them. Especially if the request was coming from children of Poseidon.
Or at least that was her hope.
“Unless you have a better idea?” She asked noticing a nervous look on her brother’s face.
“No, no I’m not opposed to trying to it. I’m just not sure how good I’ll be at it for a few different reasons…”
She reached out to ruffle the boy’s hair. “You don’t have to be the best at it the first time. Just got to give it a shot to even know if you can do it.”
He might not take to it entirely considering their Dad wasn’t exactly known for his weaving skills. But with a severe lack of any other activities that could even be remotely considered aligned with their father well…
It would do.
Besides unlike the rest of camp she wasn’t looking for the kids parent. She knew fully well who his Dad was. So she wasn’t looking for whatever bar the rest of the counselors had apparently.
“Thanks.” Percy said. “I guess I’m just worried since some of my attempts have ended in semi disasters.”
“Really, how bad?”
“I somehow got an arrow in Chiron’s tail when he was behind me. And I sent a forge hammer flying.” Percy muttered embarrassedly.
Kymopoleia blinked wondering how the first one was possible. The second one sounded like some kind of safety hazard more then her brother not being equipped to deal with the forges but that might be just her…Something to pass on to her father none the less.
“Okay the arrow I can get. Since that is bad enough I am wondering if you should be checked for curses.”
That seemed like a bit of an overreaction to bad skills. But what did he know?
“But the forge thing seems like someone wasn’t doing their job as much as it might be you not having their skills. Since a hammer going flying should only be possible if someone wasn’t paying attention to what they were doing which raises several concerns.”
Honestly part of Percy was thinking she might be overthinking it. That he just hadn’t inherited that particular aspect of his Dad’s talents. But…he also still didn’t know enough about this world to be really making a call either way.
“Well nonetheless this is just basketweaving nothing you can do that can really go wrong here.” She reassured him.
Like she may enjoy her chaos. But something happening that would endanger her brother would definitely get her in trouble with her parents.
(Though how she would manage to pull that off now she wasn’t entirely sure.)
“I’ll still find a way somehow knowing me.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m a goddess, even if you somehow do, which I doubt, I’ve got it under control.”
At most her brother might cause a storm in frustration would be her guess. But considering her titles that would be easy enough to cover up as her own handiwork until they were ready to reveal who his father was.
More importantly she was the first actual family member to get a proper gage on her brother’s personality. And what his potential powers could be. Even before her parents had the chance.
(She was really hoping that he had inherited some of their Dad’s storm making. Since it had been a good century or two since she had a sibling that could really lean into her chaos.)
“So do you have any idea who your godly parent is?”
Considering he was praying to their Dad already. She was fairly sure the answer to that question was yes. But mortals could be funny when it came to their shape of denial.
“No…well not for sure.” He corrected himself. “But I kinda had a suspicion based on what Mom used to tell me.”
“Which was what?” She didn’t know a lot about demigods, or at least not so much in the modern era. But from what little she did know the impression she got was that the kids were discouraged from putting it together too early.
And if his mortal mother had said something more blatant that had lead to him putting it together. Well…that was definitely going to get a interesting reaction from their father.
“Not much really.” Percy said with a shrug. “The only thing that really kinda clued me in was she used to say he was lost at sea.”
Yeah that would do it to at least get him in the vicinity of their part of the pantheon.
Admittedly there were other sea gods that could have been the kids Dad. If it weren’t for the fact that Percy looked so much like their father. But he didn’t know that so it was a bit surprising he had come to the correct conclusion first.
Either that was sheer dumb luck or the kid knew more than he was letting on. And she didn’t know which one it was at this point. Like if it were she would lie to steer up some chaos. But she hadn’t gotten a read on just how chaotic her brother was.
An extended meeting really wasn’t enough that.
She guessed it was possible that one of the other sea Gods before someone had directed the prayers to their father? But if that was the case it certainly hadn’t been mentioned.
Though it gave her a bit more insight into her brother’s personality. Since a lot of her demigod siblings certainly wouldn’t have held back from stating who their father was from the first day they had figured it out.
“And yet that was enough to think you knew who your Dad was?”
“Yeah and I ended up being right since well he sent a letter quickly after.”
That…she wasn’t aware of. She knew her parents weren’t ignoring her brother obviously. Or else she wouldn’t be in the camp having this conversation. But she didn’t know apparently the amount of contact they had had.
She really needed to remind her parents to tell her what they were doing with her brother soon. Before she accidentally said something and gave away something that they didn’t want.
Well at least they were at the lake now. So she could have a conversation with the naiads about things that wouldn’t somehow get her in trouble.
Like what was with the camp’s weird lack of water activities. Well outside of canoe races. Since her father had been rather insistent that she try to get an answer on that.
“Why isn’t it offered on the official schedule?” She asked as her brother took a seat next to one of the naiads. Not trying to be accusatory. But with the naiads living in camp she would have thought it would be offered as an option to any water deity kid.
But when she had managed to convince Chiron to give her a copy of the schedule this morning. It had been noticeably absently.
“Officially we stopped offering it a few years ago after an incident with another camper.” The Naiad on the right of Perseus said without looking up from her basket.
“Unofficially we still offer it to any child who shows interest in it.” The one on the left said.
Kymopoleia frowned at that. “Why did you have to stop offering it officially?”
The two naiads exchanged uncomfortable glances at the question. Before Talula, the one on the right spoke, spoke. “Chiron said to us that it was the…best option at the time for all of us after a series of incidents that resulted in us taking ill.”
Oh she did not like that. Since she was fairly certain “best” meant something else entirely. And she knew her father was not going to like that. Since she did not know where this was going but nothing involving being made to stop an activity for someone’s safety could ever end well she was fairly sure.
Especially as Talula’s eyes flicked at Percy for a moment meaningfully who was distracted in the moment with trying to understand a part of the weaving technique with the other Naiad to notice the conversation. But Kymopoleia got the message. This was not a conversation to be continued around impressionable ears. She would have to come back after she returned her brother to the Hermes cabin.
Honestly returning Perseus to one of what she suspected was Chiron’s favorites was done with some reluctance. Now that she had suspicions of their being at least one alarming incident involving a favorite and the naiads.
But at this point she couldn’t exactly voice the complaint. Not without revealing her brother’s parentage. And for the moment she had been told it was decided it was best to keep who his father was private. So she couldn’t exactly do that.
So she couldn’t exactly put into words yet why the naiad incident (even with how little she knew about it). Made her nervous about having her half sibling around Chiron’s favorites. Or even do anything.
(Admittedly there was a chance that this didn’t involve Chiron’s favorites at all. A minute chance but one that existed.
But considering it seemed no one had been held responsible for what had happened…Yeah she wasn’t banking her drachma on that. Now just how many demigods it involved that was a whole other matter.)
All she could do was watch from afar and hope she could interfere quickly enough if something did happen. And speaking of things happening she needed to find out what had driven the naiads to stop the classes in the beginning.
“My father doesn’t want to claim my brother quiet yet for his safety. So even though I’m hear to keep an eye on things and report back. Things are complicated to say the least.”
“Because of the Sky-King?” Talula asked.
“No. He already knows about Percy actually.” That earned her surprised noises from the naiads. “After my brother started praying to our father about the issues at camp. Dad didn’t take to some of the information he passed along very well. And one thing lead to another. And secrets came out.”
Of course Zeus wasn’t the only issue when it came to her brother’s safety. As far as she was aware no one had told Hades of his existence or his innocence. So there was that issue also to deal with.
“How did he manage that?”
“Styx oaths are very useful in proving innocence.” To the point she wondered why he hadn’t just done that to begin with. But well too late for that she guessed.
Maybe because she was trying to keep her brother’s existence from being revealed?
Or maybe he thought their uncle would let this blow over once they found the actual thief? This wasn’t the first time she knew he had been posturing about going to war like this. It happened every once and a while, most of the time it blew over, but every once and a while…there was something to be weary about it.
Like the last time they had actually gone to war. Well to say the least there was a good reason her parents had finally started talking to her.
Several of them actually.
“Ah that makes sense. Though who is he trying to protect his son from?” Talula asked with a frown.
“I think you already know based on what little you told me in our earlier conversation.” Because they might not have outright said it. But they had definitely implied heavily that Chiron and Dionysus weren’t protecting them and the nature spirits from the campers.
And if they weren’t going to protect the naiads that associated with her father. Who anything happening to them would impact children of water deities possibly.
Than they were very unlikely to do anything to protect her brother.
Aurora frowned looking over at her fellow naiad. “I would say he would never endanger a son of Poseidon like that. But if it came down between one of his favorites and your brother I am not so confident…”
“Especially after that summer.” Talula agreed.
Kymopoleia tilted her head with a frown before asking. “What exactly happened that summer anyway? You said there was a series of incidents but that’s not entirely clear.”
“Someone started poisoning the water supply around the camp.” Aurora answered. “Mostly around the lake since we believe they were angry at us. But they did take aim at a couple of the small rivers as well.”
“Whoa, hold on what.” When she had heard the word ‘incidents’. She was thinking some kind of scuffle with the campers that Chiron had overreacted to. Not what was arguably attempted murder against some of the naiads. “How did this never get back to the council?”
This felt like the kind of thing that really should have gotten back to her Dad. And she knew if it would have because that kind of reaction…she definitely would have noticed it.
Because while her brother may or may not have inherited water healing skills. That wasn’t necessarily a given for all sea demigods. Or hell her siblings necessarily. That usually came with the stronger ones who the fates tended to be favoring one way or another.
Which meant along with the naiads being in danger. Which was a problem within itself. Chiron could have put any of the water demigods in danger by not addressing the issue.
Including her brother if he had been here already.
Since she does not want to think what could have happened if her brother had been here when the water was poisoned. Since she doubts that it was just the naiads that were impacted by the incident.
Which might work in their favor if she could find the reports on any children that took ill around the time it happened. It was a way to prove that not only it happened.
But give reason for actions against the culprit beyond what her father would demand.
Maybe not immediately but definitely overtime if it had been allowed to continue.
“Because we were never able to prove it definitively. Or at least not in Chiron’s eyes. We have some strong suspicions on a couple of names based on Chiron’s favorites that he doesn’t normally punish. However, nothing definitive. Which was what was felt we needed to go in front of the council.”
Well okay that made some sense. Though she knew her father would have liked names regardless. Since there was a chance that whoever it was was causing an active danger to the camp.
Especially if Chiron was protecting him from repercussions. Favorites tended to thing that in her experience.
And depending on the situation they were definitely correct.
(Look just because her and Triton’s relationship had gotten better over the centuries. Didn’t mean it was ever perfect. Or that she hadn’t seen him use his being the favored child to his advantage a few times.
He had eventually gotten better as they had all gotten older. But she hadn’t forgotten those younger years.
But also Triton wouldn’t have done anything that would have endangered her existence. Where as Chiron seemingly was with anyone associated with water.
So this probably wasn’t the best comparison.)
So she knew exactly the kind of behavior Chiron was probably enabling. When Aurora talked about Chiron and him shielding his favorites. And just how unlikely he was to do something about it. Until the child themselves realized they were messing up.
Which she had a feeling wasn’t going to happen.
“So unless you ever caught them in the act its a they said/they said situation.” Kymopoleia finished.
“And we never actually caught them. Just saw them hanging around at suspicious times. But couldn’t pin that either since that was also near our class times. So his excuse was they were considering our classes and then decided against it.”
“Which was why Chiron also suggested doing away with the classes.” Kymopoleia finished Talula’s sentence. “Since I’m guessing you guys had to stop the classes anyway without risking a camper getting sick…”
“He reasoned that we weren’t doing it as much anymore anyway. Which is probably what they wanted to begin with.”
Okay so definitely need to try and be careful about who her brother is befriending. If some of the campers have concerning behaviors like this.
Preferably keep her brother away from whoever they suspected.
“And like we tried to take it up with Chiron but since he seems to favor any of the probable suspects. He would never punish them. Dionysus cannot be bothered to punish unless the world is ending. And Chiron said since the likely suspects were children of Olympians the rest of the council would not take our concerns with any validity since we were just naiads.”
“Woah hold up he actually said that.”
“Not those exact words. But close to them.” Aurora grumbled.
Okay so not only had he allowed them to get really sick and nearly killed she's guessing. Because it was one of his favorites behind it. But he had dismissed the concerns because they weren’t a God.
Dad was going to love hearing about all of this.
Just because Poseidon was hoping that the evening prayers would go smoother now that he had one of his daughters looking after his son. Did not mean he wasn’t anticipating there being some kind of problems popping up.
Not after the track record of the past few days anyway.
Though he is mildly calmed by the fact that he knows if something really dangerous had happened with Perseus. Than Kymopoleia would have already reported it back to him earlier in the day when it happened.
So he had actual hopes that things might be okay for once today.
-Hey Dad it’s me Percy. So we had a new arrival today, but not a demigod, no it was a Goddess, Kymopoleia.
Which is weird because the way Luke talks we never have Godly visitors. And here she comes. Like admittedly I don’t think she has any kids at the camp. Since she hasn’t interacted with anyone in the Hermes cabin other than myself.-
Huh that was an interesting choice. Admittedly he and Amphitrite exactly given instructions when they had sent Kymopoleia to the camp other than to keep an eye on her brother and on possible trouble. And to report back on what they weren’t hearing via the prayers.
So they hadn’t exactly said she hadn’t needed to interact with any other water related demigods who might be in the camp. But he thought she might approach the other ones besides just Perseus.
To hear that she had interacted with Perseus only so far was a bit surprising. And he had to wonder if there was a reason they didn’t know of so far.
-And I’m pretty sure she isn’t my other Godly parent. Though we could be related if I’ve been correctly praying to you this whole time?-
That was probably the first time he remembered Perseus expressing any kind of doubt on whether or not he was his Godly parent. Since he had first made contact with him a few days ago.
Even if the doubt wasn’t very much and was more there in a roundabout way.
Poseidon did wonder for a moment what he would have done if Perseus wasn’t his child. Would he have informed the actual Godly parent of Perseus’ prayers? Possibly. Though admittedly if they would have a reaction at all to Perseus’ prayers would entirely depend on the God he knew.
-Since if I’m right about who you are then that makes her my half sister. I had wondered if maybe you had sent her to keep an eye on me. But I heard from someone else that apparently it was well known that you and her weren’t getting along.
So I guess she just got bored and rolled up on camp?-
That wasn’t how things worked. Or how Gods normally were allowed to visit camp if they didn’t have children.
But with the way Chiron was explaining things he couldn’t say he was confused over how that worked. Since he had a feeling his son was lacking on the education department thanks to Chiron.
-So I don’t know if she’s here because she’s being punished like Mr. D. She honestly never said anything and I didn’t ask. Though if she is here willingly I have to admit that seems like a weird way to spend time. Especially with how miserable Mr. D. seems all the time having to spend time here. But maybe that’s because he’s forced to be here-
He really needed to have a word with his brother about Dionysus when they talked later that evening.
He wasn’t going to ask any of his children to unwillingly spend time there. Since considering how things could be with their demigod siblings over the centuries. That could definitely be asking for trouble.
No if any of them ended up there it would be like Kymopoleia. In agreement that this was something that they were willing to do.
-Anyway she seems nice. I don’t know if anything I say will make a difference in your guys argument. But when I was trying to get Luke to let me actually do a water based activity. And he was kind of being a butthead about it.-
That was a curious label for someone that was supposed to be in charge of his son. Something to possibly keep an eye out on in the future. Since he didn’t fully understand the mortal term. He had been far too removed from being around mortal children for too long before having Perseus at this point.
But he is confident in thinking that the label isn’t anything good. And should be raising some kind of flag from him.
But he would have to see if Kymopoleia’s report backed up his suspicion.
-She actually stepped in and took me to an activity!
So I finally got to do a water based activity. I’m not sure how good I’m actually at basket weaving. But the two naiads that were teaching me seemed really nice. And I didn’t do anything that might cause harm or damage.-
That was…more then mildly concerning that it seemed that his son seemed to associate any kind of failure in activity with harm or damage. And left him with more than a few questions on how the camp activities were being run.
Particularly the ones that were testing campers for their possible Godly parents.
He was going to need to follow up with Zeus after this.
-So I think I’m going to keep it up.
Though I noticed that one of them said they had to stop offering it officially because of some incident. But wouldn’t what the incident was around me. Though I had a feeling they were going to be talking to Kym about it later when I wasn’t around.-
An incident?
He didn’t remember hearing about anything with the naiads having problems at camp. Either from the naiads themselves or from Chiron.
Though the latter was less of a surprise at this point after the past couple of days. Him underreporting things seemed par for the course.
The naiads did catch him by surprise. While they were not officially part of his court. He had always made it clear if trouble in the camp were to arise he would have been willing to step in.
And yet they had never mentioned any problem. Let alone one that apparently had stopped them from being teachers. And to a degree that they didn’t want to name names around one of his children.
He hoped that Kymopoleia had gotten more information on what had happened. But he would have to wait until he heard from her.
-Anyways sword training is tomorrow. I’m kind of nervous about it. Since the only time I’ve ever picked up a sword before now is during the mock fights Chiron used to have at Yancy. And those I’m pretty sure don’t count around the campers.-
Oh joy. More things to be concerned about.
And he still hadn’t even received a report from his daughter that he was expecting. On what was going on at camp that Percy was almost definitely holding back on.
Either because he didn’t know he should be saying something about it. Or because he was reluctant to comment on it for some reason.
(Though with how freely he had been talking about things. Poseidon wasn’t sure how much would actually fall in the latter category at this point.)
Either way tonight was going to be a long night.
And it would continue to be that way until Zeus finally stopped letting them sit around. And actually let them do something actively about the situation that was ongoing.
Well at least he had Kymopoleia looking after Perseus now. For whatever that might end up being worth.
Thankfully Kymoploeia’s communication followed shortly after Perseus was done.
-So first day at camp really was a bust if you wanted me to really be able to protect my brother or gain information really. The campers don’t seem the friendliest but that might be because their other real experience is Dionysus which well…does Zeus know how he is presenting himself? Because I’m all for some chaos but going by my brother’s reaction to Dionysus he is definitely giving a bad impression to camp about the Gods-
As far as he knew the answer to his daughter’s question was no. Dionysus was fairly well together during council meetings. But with Zeus’ attitude up until recently none of them had gone to camp. Even the ones with children currently.
So none of them had thought about how the God of Wine was presenting himself. And now he was starting to think that was a huge miscalculation. Since well if his daughter was commenting on it being a problem...
Then they definitely had a problem.
-Like I’m not sure if I should be concerned about the kids reaction to Dionysus or not. But it might be something to look into if he’s not the only one weary of the God.
Especially since Percy seemed to not be a fan of it. Like he tried to dismiss it when I questioned him but he dismissed it too quick to not make me wonder about that.-
Well at best that was caused by being around a God for the first time. And Dionysus not liking being at the camp.
At worse…there might be some concerns about his son’s home life.
-Cause like it might be size and power imbalance thing. Since let me tell you Percy is easily one of the smallest kids at camp. He’s closer to some of the younger kids at camp size it looks like then one camper that is supposed to be his age from what you told me.
And combine that with the reaction to Dionysus…look I don’t know a lot about how mortals are raising their kids these days. Heck I really never knew much about mortals to begin with if we’re being honest. So maybe I’m over thinking this. But something just feels off here.-
Okay so they definitely needed to look into his son’s home situation. Since this felt like it was raising red flags around Sally. And he had been disconnected from their life for Percy’s sake.
That he honestly didn’t know how she could have changed in the past decade. Which he was now regretting.
He was really hoping he was wrong and Sally wasn’t hurting their son. He tried to do well to pick his partners. Especially ones in the situation Sally was going to be in.
But he couldn’t ignore the possibility that she might have harmed their son.
-Also the look thing isn’t the only thing about Dionysus that’s got me raising some eyebrows. I think I might know where some of the overcrowding situation from Hermes cabin is coming from.-
That was genuinely surprising that she might have gotten that information that fast. It was good of course since that meant they could start looking at a way to fix it.
But he didn’t think any of them had been anticipating it to be this quick.
-And its because apparently everyone that isn’t a child of an Olympian is staying in Cabin 11. Like you know how minor gods children are supposed to be staying in allied parent cabins? Yeah I could tell pretty quick that wasn’t happening. Didn’t need to look hard since some of the kids do resemble themselves more then you would think. So it was kinda easy to tell that it was just siblings in the cabins.-
Well that certainly explained more then half of the problem. Though he had to wonder how it had come to that. Since even if some of the relationships between his fellow council members and allies had maybe dissolved over the years.
He had made it clear that children of the sea were welcome in Cabin 3 as long as they posed no threat to his children.
So why was Chiron he was guessing ignoring an order he had given centuries ago now?
What in Khaos’ name did he have to gain from that.
-Plus on top of that Dionysus told me shortly after arrival that I could stay in the Big Houses’ annex to stay in.
Which hey wasn’t needed because your letting you use your cabin. But I know you mentioned before I left that the unclaimed are supposed to be there. As far as I know none of them are sleeping there.-
And that explained the other half of the crowding issue. Since if Dionysus had claimed the annex as his own. Than the unclaimed would have nowhere to go other than Cabin 11. Since even if the other children knew their godly parent and Chiron was placing the children correctly.
They did not.
Though he wonders how they got to this. Since he is certain that this is not something his brother would have allowed if he knew about it. Which means Dioynsus had done this without informing anyone.
Which why?
Was he trying to make his punishment less miserable on the assumption that he would not get caught? Which admittedly before now had been a correct assumption since they had not been paying enough attention.
But now that assumption was certain to backfire on him in someway.
-Anyways Dionysus isn’t our only issue. The Castellan boy that’s in charge of the Hermes cabin got weirdly controlling when I tried to take Percy away to the only camp sanctioned water activity at the moment. Tried to make a point about it being ‘pointless’. Which was a stupid argument considering all of the other activities Percy’s tried could be labeled the same.
If I’m being overly generous maybe that’s just because he wants to keep an eye on all of his kids all the time since he has a huge cabin. Which oh boy I don’t know what numbers you got on the cabin but I feel like they are probably underreported.-
Somehow that doesn’t surprise him after the past few days.
He isn’t sure why Chiron would be underreporting the numbers of course. But after all of the other surprises that camp had thrown his way courtesy of Perseus. There being more campers in the Hermes cabin than they had been told?
Not a shock.
But considering what they had been reading through the reports recently. If his daughter is correct on that than there are some massive concerns there. Along with multiple questions starting with why would either Chiron or Dionysus underreport that kind of information?
It did no one any good from what he could tell.
So why was he doing so?
-Or if there is something else going on. But thought you would like to know.
Oh and so apparently someone poisoned the naiads via poisoning the water supply a few years back. That I was really surprised to hear about since you never mentioned it and I figured that would have caused a couple of storms at the least since Chiron never did anything about it.-
Yes he had never mentioned it since he had never known about it. Since what do you mean that one of the camp’s water sources has gotten poisoned and it had never been reported to him?
He still wasn’t sure why the naiads hadn’t felt necessary to tell him. He only had some guesses.
Mainly beginning with the fact Chiron was being weird about looking into was responsible. Since he wouldn’t past the centaur to have encouraged them not to tell on what had happened.
Since he couldn’t get involved and punish those involved. If he didn’t actually know who was behind it.
Well before now anyway.
Since he had every plan to follow up on this once Zeus decided they didn’t need to hide the fact they knew camp was having problems.
-But apparently since all they have are, are strong suspicions on the culprit. And not an actual concrete definite person who poisoned the waters. And all of them are campers that are Chiron favorites and all of them are related to Olympians.
And he said because they were Olympian children there was no way that there concerns would be taken seriously by the council since they are ‘just naiads’.-
Well now he had additional concerns about how Chiron was allowing the more nature spirits of the camp. And not just the naiads. Though his primary concern was with them at the moment being the naiads since while they weren’t part of his court technically.
He usually kept an eye on the naiads of camp since they interacted with his children. And he had interfered on their behalf before though it had been a long time since it was necessary.
Something Chiron had forgotten.
And the naiads too supposedly. Though he supposed in their defense with his lack of activity at camp. They might not think he would go much against his fellow Olympians.
Apparently he needed to correct both parties on this. And as soon as Zeus would actually let him interact with camp properly.
But as for the dryads and nymphs…while his daughter hadn’t mentioned anything concerning about them. He has to wonder if Chiron’s behavior was just towards water related spirits.
(Certainly a questionable choice.)
Or all nature spirits.
Either way it was something to raise with his fellow council members. Though who to go to on this was less clear.
Hermes might know something considering who his son was. But also considering how busy the God got it was entirely possible he was oblivious to the nature spirit situation at camp.
The other option he could think of was Dionysus possibly since he was supposed to be watching out for at least the satyrs. Which considering the little he was hearing on the God at camp…that seemed to be a failure all around.
Plus considering Dionysus was at camp. He has to wonder why he isn’t doing anything about the issue himself.
-Anyways kids got sword training tomorrow. Which I’m half guessing Triton would flip his lid if he realized how long it’s taken them to get weapon training. Especially with that game the day after tomorrow.-
Triton wasn’t the only one that was about to flip his lid as his daughter said over the situation. There were rules supposed to be in place to protect new arrivals from participating in Capture the Flag.
Especially new arrivals like his son who had no training.
So why was this being allowed?
-I could watch but I don’t think it will do any good. Something about the Castellan kid tells me that he’s not particularly fond of Gods going by that first encounter. Not entirely sure what his deal is but…-
Oh he had a few guesses on what the boys deal was. Considering he was one of the children involved in Zeus’ daughter getting turned into a tree last he checked.
The last name was unique enough that he remembered Hermes mentioning it in passing. And while it is possible that there is another Castellan at camp. Considering the attitude and what he is guessing is his feelings on what his brother should have done to save his daughter.
Than he would be more then surprised if he wasn’t involved in that somehow.
And if that was the case he had a feeling his daughter was right on the fact that she would not be welcomed to watch a training session. And the boy would end up getting cagey about it.
(Plus the fact that observing that closely would more then likely reveal their hand that he had sent Kymopoleia. And she was not there entirely as punishment.
As much as he disliked the lack of information. For the moment in the long term it was more important she missed this training session.
Next time however was another matter.)
-So I’m probably going to use that time to try and investigate stuff in the Big House. I doubt Chiron will leave out evidence right in the open. But hey who knows maybe he’ll be that dumb since it’s been that long since there’s been another God in the camp.-
It was certainly some hope. Though he thinks his daughter is correct in assuming they won’t be able to find actual evidence easily.
-Anyways that’s all I got for tonight. If something surprising somehow pops up in the middle of the night I’ll let you know in the morning. Otherwise let me know if ya need to do anything besides keep an eye on Percy and if I don’t hear anything I’ll assume we’re good until whenever you and uncle actually decide to do something about all of this.-
Which hopefully wouldn’t be a day or two more. Since he’s not sure how much more unreported incidents he can take finding out about at this point.
Today was technically tamer in comparison to the past few days Poseidon noted. There were still some concerns he had that that he definitely wasn’t going to ignore.
But compared to the rather extensive list that had been produced the last two days. Today almost seemed to slow down to a slow crawl.
Though Poseidon didn’t expect that would last long.
For the first time in three days Perseus’ prayer came with almost no concerns for once he realized belatedly. Well…no immediate concerns. He was still very much concerned about what was going on with his son’s training. And the timing of the capture the flag.
But that wasn’t something they could do something about immediately.
There was also the concern about what was going on with Perseus’ home life. That he was hoping that he might be reading too much into. But he was not going to assume entirely otherwise until he had investigated that.
However on the flip side there was everything with the naiads. And that possible reveal inferring that there had been some unreported dangerous incidents at camp wasn’t entirely a surprise.
Since they knew there were definitely those by Chiron’s comment about cabin duels.
But they didn’t know it reached past those. Until this had been reported. Several years after the fact.
(Which again raised the question of how much wasn’t Chiron or Dionysus not telling them. Especially Chiron whose job it was to report these kind of things.)
“So when are you planning to talk to Apollo about all of this?”
Since the last time he checked. His brother still was putting that conversation off to an indefinite time and place.
And the more he heard the more he wanted Apollo to give his son a look over. Since he did not trust Chiron to have actually made his child was properly healed after the fight with the Minotaur.
He trusted his children to an extent. And he trusted Kymopoleia to have said something if she saw something extremely concerning.
However the issue of course there was that as of right now none of them knew if Apollo’s children had actually looked at his son. And if Apollo was getting involved in this then there was an excuse to get the God to take a look at his youngest.
(Though he has a feeling by the end of this Apollo is going to be taking a look at all of the children. Since again unreported poisoning and who knew what consequences from that.)
Zeus gave a tired sigh. “I am not sure yet. The problem is I don’t know if I will be able to keep Apollo from having a conversation with Chiron once he becomes aware of the information due to his domains he has a chance of not reacting well. So if we want to be able to keep collecting information for the moment I can’t tell him. And I had that concern before you told me about the naiad incident.”
Well that certainly was not reassuring. And made him wonder just how far back these files apparently went back. They had gone over some of them last night. But had only made it a few decades back.
Apparently the files that Zeus had found kept going. And now he was wondering what he might not have found out when his last children were not around.
(Apparently he needed to work on a communication issue. Since he had thought he had told them to tell him if something concerning was going on at camp. Apparently they never had.)
The only slight assurance he had that his son was safe right now. Was that Kymopoleia was at the camp at the moment. Or else he might start demanding drastic action.
Khaos he still wanted to even knowing why they were sitting on their laurels. He would rather have his son safe in Atlantis and have Chiron lost on why he was missing for a few days.
Then continue this danger to his child.
“Zeus if you do not tell him by the weekend. At the latest after capture the flag. I will. Since I know Chiron is supposedly checking the children over after the game even with minor injuries. But at this point I do not trust him.”
Any trust that he had left in the centaur. Which there wasn’t much by today. Had gone up in flames entirely upon finding out about the unreported naiad incident. And the possible consequences that lied there.
At this point he couldn’t wait around an indefinite deadline. Not when every reveal seemed to put his son more, and more in danger.
If Chiron wasn’t making sure the children were getting a basic check. Which he had his doubts on based on what he had seen of the reports. Than he was going to make sure they did.
They had let this go on by ignorance long enough. It would not last any longer.
“Fine.” Zeus agreed though he could tell his brother was reluctant. Whether it be wanting more evidence or something else he didn’t really care at this point since he was in agreement. “Saturday morning we will talk to Apollo.”
“Thank you.”
Now hopefully nothing happened between now and Saturday. But he has a feeling they will not get that lucky.
Hopefully Kymopoleia will be able to protect her brother as need be. Though he has a feeling that will not be nearly as simple as it should be.