Liam woke up; no-one was around him. He got out of the bed and looked around for his sword or the arrow. They weren't there. Where would they be? I have to find them, he thought.
He walked out of the room and onto a porch where there was no-one around. He glanced around, still looking for his weapons.
Sierra was walking past the cabins when she noticed a guy who looked a little confused. She looked around for Chiron or Mr. D, or someone who could maybe explain the concept of gods to the poor kid. Not seeing anybody around, she started walking over to the porch.
"Hi." Sierra said as she walked over to the porch.
"Hi, who are you? I am Liam; do you know where we are? And have do you know Seb? I know him from years back." Liam asked the young girl.
"Seb?" Sierra asked, looking momentarily confused. "I don't know anyone who goes by Seb. Oh, and I'm Sierra."
"Seb, Sebastian, you know the memories person." Liam said with feeling. "Hi Sierra, who are you the child of?"
Sierra raised an eyebrow, "You already know about the gods?"
Liam nodded, gesturing for her to answer his previous question
She smirked, her bright blue eyes glittering with mischief, "Care to wager a guess?" Then, she held up ten dollars.
"Hermes? Sorry not too great at this, I just nearly died. Oh, by the way do you know where my weapons are?" Liam was now suddenly very, very tired.
"Yep." I'm a Hermes kid, and no, I don't know," Sierra studied him closely. "You look pretty bad, have you been to the infirmary?
"Yeah, just been healed." Liam said weakly, doubling over.
Sierra's eyes widened, "Are you okay? I'll go get some Ambrosia." She turned to run off toward the pavilion.
Liam grabbed her arm, "Only they," he said with a jerk of his thumb to the Apollo cabin "Can heal me, can't take any food of the gods." A wave of nausea hit him as he remembered what happened to Anna.
"So you need a healer. Oh, perfect. I think they're out at the archery range, but they usually stay longer than they need to and hog the archery range. Ugh. I could probably find another counselor..." Sierra paused as she saw a familiar brunette. "Katie!"
She turned and saw Sierra and groaned. Katie walked over, her green eyes looking at Sierra cautiously.
"What? If this is about Travis-"
"Nope, him."
Katie looked over at Liam and frowned.
"Should I go get Will? He's one of the best healers in Apollo."
"Wow, do I really look that bad that anyone can tell if I'm unwell and anyway what happened to me? I can go ... without ... a healer." Each word took an effort from his dwindling energy supply. "My sword and my arrow. Do either of you know where mine are."
Katie raised an eyebrow and shook her head, "Haven't seen 'em. Why don't you go inside and sit down. Get some rest. Sierra will go look around in the weapons shed, if you tell her what they look like."
Sierra looked at the Demeter counselor with a 'what the heck' expression, which she returned with a small smirk. Payback. But Sierra was happy to comply...for a price. So she waited for his answer.
"The sword I can describe with perfect recollection: it's a steel katana with Order written on it. That is mine, and so is a bone carved arrow." he remembered the arrow out of his shoulder. "Please find them; they are all I have to remember my sister and father. I may even pay."
Sierra perked up at the word pay and she brought her hand up, saluting him, "Aye, aye, captain. "One sword and one arrow, coming up right away."
Then, she ran from the cabin, searching around camp. Once she was gone, Katie turned back to Liam.
"Katie Gardner," She gave him a small smile. "Go on inside and sit. Sierra will have them back to you before tomorrow. She's pretty good at finding things." Especially when she's not supposed to be finding them at all. She added as an afterthought in her head.
"So what's your story? You seem...weighed down."
"I'm okay." Liam said. Then he sighed "I'll tell you what I will but how do I know I can trust you? Sorry, but I've had a hard life. It's not easy for me to trust blindly."
Katie thought for a moment, "I understand completely. We're supposed to be cautious. This is camp, though we're like a family. No one gets left behind here. And here."
She reached into her pocket (she had just come back from working on the flowers around her garden), and pulled out a seed. She held it out to him.
"Hold that."
He reached out and gripped the seed and waited. After an agonizing moment he sighed "I'm sorry but I don't know what is happening and I don't think it is."
Katie smiled once again and looked at the seed. Slowly, it started growing until it was a pretty freesia flower. Liam was now holding a full grown flower. Katie beamed at the flower then at Liam.
"It means trust."
"Ok then, you trust me and I trust you. Ok, I tell you this in confidence. When I was younger, about 5 years old, my mother dropped me on this world with my father, who was a good man. He raised me as well as he could but when I was 6 me and my sister were left with our swords and our wits. He was dead you see, he was killed by Chaos's monsters. Chaos is the 'first being' I don't really think about it that often, however. Mother taught us about our powers and how to use them. My sword is Order and my sister's was Justice. We ran and kept running, running from the evil of Chaos. My sister was more Order than Justice and so got a Sword of Justice and that balanced her, you know Yin and Yang, and I am more Justice than Order so my Sword balanced me. Then we went to war; we fought so much, fought each other for and against, fought those who disturber balance or caused injustice. Then one day I met Seb, Sebastian to you, and he asked us to fight for him, he was good and he did the right thing to the extent of his ability. We fought for him and my sister Anna took serious damage and nearly died. We left the field of battle forever until now and Seb fed her the food of gods but it killed her. To our power the food of gods is for gods and no one else. Seb took damage and nearly died, I thought he was dead. Then Mother came and told me to go to here. And here I am." he finished "That is the Readers Digest version of the Readers Digest version of my life."
