Authors Note:

Hey, Kaurii here. I've really been wanting to write a drabble, but I have not yet succeeded. I always end up elaborating too much and ending up with a flashfic... but I really like this one. Anyone have any advice on writing drabbles without ending up with too many words or is it just something you have to learn on your own? Anyways, I'd love some feedback (new author, you know), so feel free to tell me whatever your thoughts are on this. Thanks!

Fears are a funny thing.

Thalia Grace was never afraid of heights before she became a tree. In fact, she used to love them. When she was on the run with Luke and Annabeth, they would do all sorts of crazy things which included stunts such as braving hikes on mountain trails and visiting the roofs of tall buildings (one of Annabeth's favorites). Thalia loved the adrenaline, the rush, the freedom.

But now as she looks off a precipice, all she feels is fear. Fear of falling.

She wasn't sure what caused the change. She knew her time as a tree did not change her personality, something for which Thalia was grateful, but something inside of her had changed. It wasn't until Thalia found herself alone, pondering, that she realized exactly what that change was.

Things in life are never set in stone, they are always ever-changing, Annabeth had told her many times. With the two people she cared about most by her side, Thalia felt that Annabeth had it all wrong. Their family was a constant thing in life, something to be trusted. They were her rope and lifeline while life was the cliff they were climbing. With them, she was never scared.

After the fleece had released her from her woody bonds, Thalia had learned of Luke's betrayal. Part of her rope, her lifeline, had started to fray and was inching toward its breaking point. The cliff was becoming more of a threat.

By immersing herself in spending time with Annabeth, solving a quest, and joining the Huntresses, Thalia learned to ignore the impending drop from life's precipice and kept climbing on slippery footholds. But ignoring her severed rope that coiled at her feet, mocking her, was a hard thing for Thalia to do. It was a cruel way of reminding her that Annabeth had it right all along, nothing ever stayed the same.

So it was only after Luke's betrayal that she started to fear the fall.