When Annabeth was about seven, she'd run away from home and met her two former best friends, Thalia and Luke. Almost immediately, a satyr named Grover had come, and said he was fetching them back to a place called 'Camp Half-Blood', and that they were demigods. All four of them had traveled towards the Camp, facing monsters along the way. Annabeth had been scared- no doubt about it. What if this is a trick? she'd wondered. What if I die?
In the end, none of those had become true. In the end, the one that sacrificed her life was Thalia.
At that time, she'd been outraged that the main thing the people at Camp Half-Whatsit were bothered about wasn't Thalia's death, but some trash called the Great Prophecy.
Even if others weren't saddened (much) though, she'd been. Thalia had been a daughter of Zeus. She'd been one of the most powerful monster-fighters ( demigods, take your pick ) Annabeth had known! If she could die, then who said Annabeth couldn't?
At first, Annabeth found herself training restlessly, working harder then she'd ever worked before. Eventually, though, she'd began to grow… almost impatient. Thalia had died to get her and Luke to safety. What good was that if she wasn't good? How could she tell if she wasn't good unless she could leave Camp? How could she leave Camp if she didn't get a quest? How in Hades could she get a quest?
In spite of all her doubts, she ended up asking Chiron. This plan had had some flaws, of course. Chiron could deny her. Chiron could forbid her from ever setting foot outside Camp. Chiron might even bring up Thalia, whose death she still mourned.
But it wasn't like Annabeth had any other plans.
Annabeth had decided to bring up this subject very carefully. It wasn't like she could march up to Chiron and ask. Well, theoretically she could but…. No, that wasn't the wise thing to do, and Annabeth was the daughter of the wisdom goddess. She couldn't do it without a plan!
The problem was, Annabeth thought, that she was,-at least in Chiron's mind- young. For that reason, it was highly unlikely that Chiron would grant permission for a quest and include her unless he was positive she could take care of herself. She needed to be impressive at anything that could come in handy, and do those things when Chiron was around. It would also help if she was head counsellor of the Athena Cabin, but according to Annabeth's calculations, she had an about 4.5% chance of defeating the current head counsellor in a duel. Pity.
Also, according to more calculations, there was an 0% chance of leaving Camp without a partner, (Luke, she immediately thought) and about an 89.6% chance of getting attacked by a monster (per day) if it was only her and Luke, now that Thalia was dead.
So how to bring up the subject?
Obviously, she would have to do it when he was in a good mood, and after he was very pleased with her. So pleased, in fact, that he would allow her to go on a quest.
Annabeth also knew that she would probably only get one chance to ask her question. If she pestered Chiron about it and he said no each time, then no doubt he would get very angry at her. Then he would never let her go on a quest!
It would probably help, too, if Athena or one of the other Olympians sent her to do the quest. Sadly, Annabeth doubted that would happen. Gods never helped people often, so she shouldn't have to rely on that sort of thing.
The first course of action, Annabeth reasoned, was to ask Luke. Luke was older then her, and Chiron would probably feel more at ease if Annabeth went on a quest with an older person. Of course, Luke would probably say yes. He had made a promise to her after all- to never let her down like her family did.
Annabeth felt a stab of bitterness at that thought, but quickly pushed it away. She didn't need them. She had Luke. Speaking of Luke….
Luke was walking her way, along with the rest of the Hermes Cabin. It was now or never. Taking a deep breath, she headed his way.
" Hi, Luke," Annabeth greeted him with a smile. Luke looked worn out, like he'd spent the entire afternoon at the arena practicing with his sword. Sweat glistened on his brow, but he smiled at her all the same.
" Hey Annabeth," Luke grinned wider. " How are you? Have you been to the arena yet? You should. They teach you some great moves. Maybe if we had known the moves before, then Thalia wouldn't have-"
His face darkened, and he closed his mouth, but Annabeth knew what he was going to say. Maybe if we'd known the moves before, Thalia wouldn't have died. Annabeth bit her lip. She couldn't let this spoil her goal. Maybe it was nice pretending Thalia could still be alive, but she wasn't. Thalia would want Annabeth to be the best warrior she could be, and she was prepared to do that. By getting a quest!
Annabeth toke a deep breath. " Look Luke, I miss Thalia too. But that's not what I wanted to talk about. I want to get a quest, and I want you to go with me."
Originally, Annabeth hadn't planned to be that blunt. But the talk about Thalia was reopening too much old wounds. Thalia was dead. Thalia, who toke her in and treated her like a sister….
She snapped out of her thoughts. Don't cry, she urged herself. Concentrate on getting a quest. Luke looked stunned, like out of all the things he thought possible, this was at the very end of that list. Annabeth felt worried. Was he going to say no?
" You don't have to do it," Annabeth said quickly. " I was just skiing, and I-"
Suddenly Luke broke into a grin. " No, no, it's a brilliant idea!" He assured her. " I was just a bit confused about why you wanted to go, that's all."
"Oh," Annabeth felt happiness swell up inside her. Luke was going after all! It made her want to scream with joy. " Okay. So now I just need to formulate a plan-"
" Wait Annabeth," Luke interrupted. " Have you asked Chiron for permission yet?"
" Well no," Annabeth admitted. " That's what I'm formulating the plan about. You see, Chiron has to be in a good mood and very impressed with us when we ask, because that'll increase our chances by two percent-"
She babbled on, talking about their chances of getting a quest with Luke, completely missing the hopeless expression on his face. It was quite obvious that he had no idea what Annabeth had said beyond the word 'percent'.
" Um, Annabeth," Luke politely interrupted her after about 24 minutes. " Don't you think you're overthinking a little?"
Annabeth looked at him blankly. " Are you saying I should just go ahead and ask?"
" Pretty much," Luke admitted. " I think our chances are good enough already. If all else fails, you could always… tell him our chances of getting back here alive. I think he's in the archery station."
Frowning with doubt, Annabeth turned and went. Was she really overthinking? Luke had never been wrong before. Maybe her chances were better if she just asked now.
Chiron was easy enough to spot. He was in the middle of the area, his quiver slung over his back, bow in hand. From the looks of it, Chiron was giving tips to a bunch of Hephaestus campers.
" No, not like that," Chiron corrected one camper's hold on their bow. "Nyssa, if you hold your bow like that, you're going to end up shooting your leg."
" Um Chiron," Annabeth tried to get his attention. Chiron did not seem as he he had heard. She tried to make her voice louder. " Chiron!"
Waving off the Hephaestus camper, Chiron turned. " Yes, Annabeth?"
Annabeth cleared her throat, suddenly unsure of herself. Go on, ask! This is what you wanted, right? " Um, I was wondering if-"
" Wait a minute." Chiron turned and gestured to some Apollo campers that were entering the archery station. " Nicholas, could you please assist Nyssa? I'm busy at the moment."
Turning back to her, Chiron smiled apologetically. " Sorry about that, Annabeth. What were you going to ask me?"
Annabeth's mouth turned dry. She suddenly wondered if if she should have waited after all. Finally, she blurted, " Can I have a quest?"
Chiron paused. During his silence, Annabeth started to panic. Was he going to say no? " Luke's coming too!" she added hurriedly. " I mean, Luke's willing to come, if you'd allow us to go. We'll stand a much better chance together, and maybe someone older could go with us…"
" I'm sure you and Luke would be an excellent team, Annabeth," Chiron tole her. " You are extremely capable of taking care of yourself."
Annabeth felt like she was soaring above her wildest dreams. He said they'd make an excellent team! He called her capable!
" However," Chrion continued, " it is not yet your time. You must wait a while, Annabeth. But your quest will come when a certain camper arrives at the Camp."
Annabeth felt like she'd been slapped. " Wait- what?"
" Whe a special camper comes," Chrion repeated, " that is when you will get your quest. But not now. If you'll excuse me, Annabeth, I need to stop Nicholas and Nyssa from strangling each other."
Annabeth nodded, trying to hide her disappoint. When she went back and relayed her conservation to Luke, he nodded thoughtfully. " So all you need to do is wait for a certain camper to come. Well, that's pretty weird. Did you know that a new camper arrived today? Maybe he's the one-"
Annabeth was already out the door.