When Percy had asked the gods to claim their children before the age of thirteen he hadn't taken into a count how many Demigods there were in the world.

It seemed every day at least two new demigods were claimed. This was a good thing; of course, everyone seemed happier. And everyone was happier, especially considering that war had recently been fought.

The Demigods who were newer to camp knew about the war of course. Every Demigod knew about the war. You had to if you were going to know the number one rule in the camp.

Don't talk about the war to the Veteran Demigods who fought in it.

Every camper learned this one way or another. Most of them were told by the satyrs who hadn't been directly involved in the war.

Others were told by campers who had been lucky enough to arrive after the war was over.

Once you learned the first rule, you quickly understood the second.

Don't ever talk about, mention, hint or even think about the war in front of Percy Jackson.

He was their leader. He had led the Demigods to victory. He had swum in the river Styx. He had turned down godhood. He had cared enough about them to get them claimed by their parents. And if that wasn't enough, he was a kind soul. Nice to everyone he met unless you threatened one of his friends, but no one in camp was stupid enough to do that.

He was a legend. A living, breathing legend. And he was a friend.

So no one wanted to make him upset by remembering everything he had been through.

People were curious though. It was just how they were. The new campers knew they couldn't talk about it to the other campers, but that didn't mean they wouldn't talk amongst themselves.

They would huddle together in their groups of friends and talk about what they thought it must have been like. How scary it would have been to be in.

They liked to share rumors they had heard about the war from the tree nymphs and satyrs they came across in New York.

The Aphrodite girls liked to share love stories of people who had been torn apart by the death of their loved ones.

They were always very careful who they talked with and what they said. Especially where they said it and who might listen in. Now and then they would all somehow end up together, and they would share their favorite tales and quests.

And it was one of those days when rule number one and rule number two was broken.

It had been bound to happen. They had started talking too much, thinking they were perfectly secretive and they had slipped up.

Someone had heard what was going on and had followed them.

Only it wasn't just a someone. It was thee, someone. The legend that walked among them. It was Percy Jackson who found them huddled together talking excitedly around a big pile of rocks.

They hadn't noticed him at first. Something that was very surprising considering Percy himself seemed to give off an aura that demanded attention no matter where he was.

"I heard that there was a..." One of the younger demigods who was talking excitedly about a rumor he had heard from the sea nymphs was suddenly cut off from a voice behind them.

"What is going on here?"

Every one jumped apart looking for the person who had found them. Imagine their horror when they found Percy Jackson standing there hands in his jean pockets his bright green eyes staring at them in confusion.

"Oh well, we were just..."

"Nothing! We were..."

"It was her fault! I thought..."

They all started talking at once trying desperately not to upset their leader.

"Whoa! I can't understand a word you are saying! Can one person tell me what is going on?"

They all immediately stopped talking. One younger Demeter girl started crying. An older sibling of hers tried to shush her.

Percy walked towards her. "Here let me try." He whispered to the older sister before bending down to the little girl's height.

"Hey there," He whispered. "Why are you crying?"

The little girl, Anna, tried to explain through her sobs. "Are you going to be mad at us?"

The entire clearing seemed to hold its breath waiting for an answer, but a response never came.

"Why would I be mad at all of you? What were you even doing back here? The woods can be dangerous; you all know that."

One of the sons of Aphrodite spoke next. "Well, we were um... we were back here discussing the battle of Manhattan. We came back here so you wouldn't overhear us."

"Yeah and that worked out." someone muttered, but it was only half heard over one of Athena's daughters yelling at the son of Aphrodite.

"Why didn't you make something up! We just broke rule one and two!" And then people started yelling and accusing each other of one thing or another.

Percy for his part didn't completely understand what they were talking about. It was a jumbled up mess of people talking and shouting, and Anna by his side was crying again. There were many people, and they all seemed to be yelling about rule one and two. And Percy was at a complete loss on what those were.

So he did the only thing he could do, "HEY! QUIET!" His voice echoed through the now deadly silent clearing.

He cleared his throat; he hadn't even known he could yell that loud. "Good. Now, why do you all seem to be under the impression that you are all in trouble? I just followed you guys out here because you looked like you were doing something fun. Now I am worried. What is this all about? What about the battle of Manhattan?"

The same daughter of Athena from before, her name was Kaylee, spoke up again. "Well we came out here to talk about the war because we aren't supposed to talk about it in the form of the other campers, you know the ones who fought in it."

For a moment Percy was shocked. "You think you aren't supposed to talk about the war in camp? What on earth gave you that idea?"

Everyone shifted, no longer look him in the eye. "Well it is rule number one; Don't talk about the war to the Veteran Demigods who fought in it."

"Then what is number two?" Percy asked not sure how to react to rule number one.

A boy named Hunter, son of Hermes spoke up. "Rule number two is a little like number one, but it is; Don't ever talk about, mention, hint or even think about the war in front of Percy Jackson."

They all quieted down watching him wondering what he would do. And to everyone's surprise, he threw back his head and laughed.

Everyone was shocked. Shouldn't he be in sorrow remembering the bloody war? The friends he had lost? Shouldn't he be fighting back the tears? Yelling at them to leave and never bring it up again?

They had to wait a few minutes before Percy calmed down enough to talk and when he did the first thing that he said was, "That is the ridiculous thing I have ever heard!"

They all looked at each other not sure what to make of that.

After a minute or two more Percy calmed down and was able to look at them seriously.

"Now you listen, all of you." He paused to make sure he had their attention but he shouldn't have bothered, they hadn't been able to take their eyes off him since he had stepped into the clearing. "You can't go through life ignoring something. Not something like the war that went on a few months ago. War is awful; war is bloody, war can be inevitable. Can be, sometimes you can avoid it. Sometimes you can't. It is as simple as that. We had to fight in it. Now we need to make sure that we didn't fight in vain. That we didn't lose loved ones in vain. Because as awful as war can be, we can learn a lot from it. We can learn our mistakes, our strengths, we can become closer. And you can not just ignore it. If you ignore it, then you do not learn from it, and then you will be doomed to repeat it until you learn the lesson that comes from it. So do not ever not talk about it. Rumors can twist what happened, and you might end up learning the wrong lesson. Do you understand?"

The crowd in front of him was speechless. They would have never in a million years thought of it that way.

Anna, the little girl who had sat down on the grass when he had yelled for them to be quiet, looked up at him quickly understanding what she had just been told.

"So can we ask questions? Because I heard that there was a Lydian Drakon. Is that true?"

Percy smiled down at her. "Yeah, that one is true."

And it was like a floodgate had opened. Everyone had questions that they wanted to be answered. And it was long into the day before they left the forest, people still bubbling with questions that would eventually be answered. They had listened as Percy told them off his quests and the monsters he had fought, the people he had met, the jokes that had been told. Everyone had laughed; everyone had cried. But now they knew the truth.

"Just remember," Percy had told them as they were walking back to camp, who had no doubt noticed the thirty or so missing people by now. "Some people will talk to you; others won't. But don't feel scared to talk about it, talking is how people heal. Even if they don't feel like they are healing."

So as they walked back into camp, all thirty-one of them, they understood. And rule number one and rule number two were never acknowledged again.