Miranda couldn't believe it. Lupa had visited camp that day, bringing a toddler with her. Now it was evening muster and he was supposed to join?
Standing next to the praetors was the kid. He had blonde hair and was wearing jeans and a t-shirt.
"Romans! This is Jason Grace. He seeks to join the legion! What do the auguries say?" Praetor Drew, a daughter of Venus, called out.
Miranda stifled a laugh. He seeks join the legion? He probably seeks to go and play.
"I have read the entrails!" The augur, Augustus, called out. "The auguries are favorable! He is qualified to serve!"
The legionnaires murmured, all thinking the same thing. How could he be qualified to serve?
"Ave!" One legionnaire shouted out after a few moments of silence, everyone else following.
The senior officers stepped forward, Augustus turning towards Jason.
"Recruit," he asked, "do you have credentials? Letters of reference?"
"Non." Jason said shaking his head.
"No letters." Augustus said. "Will any legionnaire stand for him?"
The legion was silent. No one wanted a little kid in their cohort.
"I will." Miranda said, stepping out of formation. All heads turned to her, shocked.
"Very well. Miranda Adams, does your cohort except the new recruit?" Praetor Drew asked.
The fifth cohort slammed their shields against ground.
"My cohort accepts the new recruit." One of their centurions said.
"Congratulations, Jason Grace. You stand on probatio. You will be given a tablet with your name and cohort. In one year's time, or as soon as you complete an act of valor, you will become a full member of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata. Serve Rome, obey the rules of the legion, and defend the camp with honor. Senatus Populusque Romanus!" Praetor Drew and Praetor Derek went back to the principia.
Jason looked lost. Miranda walked up to them, with one of her cohort members, Leon.
"Hi. I'm Miranda and this is my friend, Leon."
"Salve!" The younger one said.
"We're going to go to the dining hall and get some dinner okay?"
"Okay."
After dinner, the fifth cohort centurions told Miranda that she would be skipping games that night so she could take care of Jason.
As always, a new bed appeared, ready to use, for each new legionnaire. The new bed appeared under Miranda's, her bed was lifted but had originally been the top part of a bunk bed until the legionnaire under her retired.
"Come with me. We'll get you cleaned up with some new clothes."
Miranda took Jason to the camp quarter master's office. The quartermaster handed her a bag.
After she got clothes, she took Jason to the bathhouses.
By the time Miranda got Jason cleaned up, changed, and in bed, everyone was back from the games.
"You all have an hour until lights out!" The female centurion announced in the female side of the fifth cohort barracks.
Each cohort had a building. There were two doors for each building. One door went to the male's side, the other went to the female's side.
Unlike the rest of the cohorts, the fifth had more female legionnaires than male legionnaires. The first and second were mostly male, females only getting in with very impressive letters. The third and fourth were a bit more evened out, males making up just over half.
The funny thing was, the fifth cohort also had the most powerful demigods and legacies because the more powerful ones came earlier than the others and the other cohorts were never willing to take in little kids.
"Hey Anda." Miranda looked up at the eleven year old standing next to her.
"Hello Arya. How are you?" Arya was a legacy of Neptune and Apollo. She had big sea green eyes and long blonde hair that she was brushing out.
"I'm good. Just wondering about that one. Ciellia said she had a dream about him a few months ago." Ciellia was a daughter of Apollo (and the fifth cohort female centurion) who was Arya's half sister on her mortal side. She had dreams about the future.
"Did she say what she saw in the dream?"
"No. She seemed a bit shaken up though." Arya hummed as she snapped her fingers, her hair drying instantly. "Anyways, good night."
"Night." Miranda got into her bed after checking Jason and read some of her newest book until lights out.
The next few months went pretty smoothly. Jason did the activities that the rest of the cohort did, even though he had to sit out sometimes and needed extra help. Arya taught him how to swim. Miranda spent a lot of time with him, as he reminded her of her of her younger sister, Gwendolyn, that she had left two year before. Jason was a bit slow at speaking, but his speech was a mix of Latin and English so Miranda wasn't really worried.
A few months later Ciellia died.
The following year was hard on everyone. They had demigods coming in and dying a few hours later from their injuries. The praetors started sending medics on quests but then the medics would be targeted the most and most of the time one of the questers came back and died a few hours later after confirming the deaths. Even legacies were getting attacked, some of whom were 4 or more generations from being a demigod. Finally, August came around. Jason became a full member of the legion.
Miranda assumed he was three by then and since she didn't know his birthday she made up a birthday for him that fell on the day he became a full member. So Jason Grace's "birthday" was now August 1st.
Arya and Leon had decided to visit their great-grandmother. They invited Miranda and Jason. It was now September and they were sitting on a boat off the coast of California.
Miss Eva was born in 1921, to a young widow whose first husband died in the war. Said young widow loved the beach and ended up with a kid from Neptune. Miss Eva said that she originally went to another camp that was only 50 miles from Camp Jupiter. Camp Jupiter rarely let females in, only allowing them in when they needed healing and couldn't make it to Camp Juno. Then the two camps combined during the Great Depression because it was getting harder to keep them both running. She left Camp Jupiter right after WWII started, not wanting to be involved. She went and made an agreement with her father and lived on a houseboat with her best friend, who happened to be male. They wanted kids and ended up having them even though their relationship wasn't any more than platonic. They had a son and a daughter. Both children had children of their own. Their daughter's daughter went to Camp Jupiter after her parents died and ended up marrying a son of Apollo whom she had Ciellia, Leon, and Arya with.
Miss Eva talked about all of this and then she started asking Miranda questions.
"My father grew up on a farm, he owns a flower shop now. That's where he attracted my mother, Ceres. He had me and then ten years later he had my little sister. I started getting attacked a few years later and ended up at Camp." Miranda finally said, just trying to get her to stop with the questions.
"Is it normal for little kids to come to camp? Jason is way too small to be at a place like that." Miss Eva fussed.
"We get demigods that are seven or eight but a lot of them are older. Under seven is really rare." Leon explained. Miss Eva handed Jason a little stuffed animal.
"Here's a present sweet child." She hummed. "What should his name be?"
"Flavus!" Jason giggled, hugging the toy.
They stayed there for another week. Jason seemed to adora Miss Eva, but they had to leave.
The attacks started slowing down, eventually Jason turned five. The legion would normally send young legionnaires to school. Jason went to school in Texas with Miranda's younger sister, Gwen, who was about to start 2nd grade.
I rewrote Ch1 and Ch2 and combined them. Salve means Hello and Citrea means Lemon. I really like having Jason mix up Latin and English plus I have a fun thing about to happen.