Hello from a Scottish Potato! Or in other words, this is DonnaWatson posting this story for my friend because her computer is being screwy right now. Sorry for any typos person who wrote this because I refuse to say your name here.

"No. No. How do you do this Yassna?! It's impossible!" said Tiffany Macey as she stared at her twentieth failed attempt to fire an arrow into the target.

"No, it's not. Here, give me the bow and arrows, I'll show you." Yassna took her place on the archery line and nocked an arrow. Drawing it back to her ear, she aimed, fired- and hit the target dead center.

"You are superhuman!" Tiffany declared.

"So are you," Yassna reminded her.

Tiffany looked irritated, but she walked over and took the bow from Yassna. She strung an arrow and drew back the string. "Okay, how am I messing up?" she asked.

"Your arm's too far away from your head," Yassna answered, and corrected her friend's mistake. "And quit facing forwards, turn more sideways." Tiffany did so.

"Okay, now fire," Yassna said as she stepped back.

The arrow flew. It hit the target dead center.

"Yes!" Tiffany shouted, positively jumping with glee. "Finally!"

Yassna hugged her friend. "Good job! Do you want to try again?" she asked.

"Of course!" Tiffany laughed, beaming with pride. She nocked another arrow, took up the correct stance, drew her hand back to her ear, and fired. The arrow hit the target, but the string grazed her arm. She yelped with surprise and pain. "Ow!"

"You'll be fine," Yassna remarked. "That happens a lot when you're not careful."

Tiffany glared. "I was careful!"

Yassna Indicated the red area on Tiffany's forearm that Tiffany was rubbing. Tiffany looked slightly sheepish. "Right," she said. "How do I avoid that?" She sounded a bit embarrassed.

Yassna shrugged. "We'll get you an armguard," she said. "Hand me the bow?"

"Yeah, here." Tiffany passed it over. Yassna took it, unstrung it with some difficulty, and began to gather the arrows. Tiffany helped her. The archery lesson was definitely over.

"So what do you want to do now?" Tiffany asked.

Yassna shrugged. "I'm not sure," she answered. Both girls felt unusually mellow. Both were silent for a few minutes, just wandering about the camp.

"Remember the first monster you killed?' Tiffany remarked casually.

Yassna nodded. "Yeah. Manticore. What was yours?"

"Chimera."

"Really? Wow. How'd you do it?"

"I tricked it off a waterfall. I was in Yosemite and I didn't have a weapon. It attacked me on a hike, so…"

"Wow. How'd you do that?"

"Chimeras aren't smart, Yassna."

"Good point."

They were quiet for a few more seconds.

"How'd you kill yours, Yassna?"

"Shot it in the throat."

"You had bronze? Bronze arrows, I mean?" Bronze always ,eant celestial bronze.

"Of course. Wasn't easy to get."

The camp felt oddly quiet. Fewer demigods milled about outside,

"How's Thalia doing?" Yassna asked. The other demigod had been sleeping in the Hermes cabin instead of the Zeus cabin, because after several years as an awake, aware tree, she had a deep dislike of being alone, bordering on a phobia.

"She's doing okay. Still nervous alone. I was going to show her around later, but Annabeth ended up doing it. Only fair, I guess." Tiffany kicked at a rock on the ground. It was odd to see her so subdued.

"Are you okay?" Yassna asked her friend.

Tiffany didn't seem to hear. Yassna clapped her hands together, startling Tiffany out of her daze. "Are you okay?" Yassna repeated.

Tiffany nodded. "Yeah. Just worried."

"About what?" Yassna prompted.

Tiffany snorted. "As Lucia put it, about lightening thieves and poisoned trees, and traitor gods and titans of time. Yes, she said that."

"Oh." Yassna wasn't sure what to say. "Kronos."

The sky seemed to darken, and the air grew colder.

Tiffany shivered. "Don't say the name," she advised.

"Good point." Yassna sighed. "Not much we can do about it, though. Not even Poseidon knows where Castellan's ship is."

"Right."

The girls were silent for another minute, lost in thought.

Just then a voice shouted from the training field. It belonged to Betsy,* who Yassna had promised to train with. Yassna had forgotten, but, evidently, Betsy had not.

"Oh no, I forgot… see you later, Tiff!" Yassna called as she ran off, leaving Tiffany alone with her worries.

Fin.

*totally, absolutely, definitely not demigod! Betsy Jerome. Really. Trust me on this.