Jason's mind stumbled over possible answers to his dad's question. His mind was at a blank, and he probably had the most ridiculous look on his face. Piper had just arrived and Jason was already about to screw it up.

"Um," Jason said.

His father continued to stare at him, a stern look on his face.

"Please excuse Jason's behaviour Dad," Thalia butted in, "He's still waking up from his nap. It was Reyna he was talking to, her voice was acting funny."

King Jupiter furrowed his eyebrows and looked at her. Thalia had a bored expression on her face, acting as if it was no big deal. Well, it shouldn't have been if they were going with Thalia's story.

Jason calmed himself down, "Yeah, her voice was acting funny."

King Jupiter nodded and his expression calmed down a bit. For him, at least. Thalia kept her calm expression but shot Jason a look that said, 'tell me everything'.

The day in the throne room was exhausting. Not even exhausting, just boring. Tiring on your brain. All of these people bringing their complaints to the king, some didn't even make sense. Of course Jason wanted to help them, but he wasn't exactly at liberty to. So what did he have to do? Literally just sit there quietly practically the whole afternoon.

He and Thalia were sort of like accessories. Just there to make the king look good in some way. Jason dozed off at one point. By the time he woke up it was time to leave, and he rushed out of that throne room like lightning.

He arrived upstairs and opened the door to Reyna's room to see Piper, Reyna, and Rachel sitting on Reyna's bed in the middle of a conversation. Percy was in the corner looking around the room as if to make sure it wasn't a trap.

"Hey," Jason said, "so Piper, you wanted to talk to me?"

The princess of Lehpid nodded and got up, quickly followed by Percy. The redhaired girl stayed with Reyna, saying that she had nothing else to do anyway. Piper and Percy followed Jason out of the room and into Jason's room so they could talk privately.

Jason blinked. "You need me to do what?"

"We need to stop the war Jason," Piper said, "you and me, we're going to be ruling these countries one day and I really don't want a rivalry… especially not with you."

Jason's eyes widened and he could feel his face heating up, "Uh yeah, same I guess."

Piper smiled a bit, "Good, we have an agreement."

The knight, Percy, spoke up, "And I really don't want a war either, I have too much to lose."

The princess gave him a knowing look before going back to Jason, "So you agree, we're going to do this?"

"We're going to try," Jason corrected.

Piper pressed her lips together and raised her eyebrows, "We have to do more than try."

Jason shrugged in defeat, "Yeah."

"Okay then," Piper said, "first we have to know the root of the rivalry… do you know?"

"I don't," Jason replied, "and you?"

"I don't."

"Did you think this through?" Jason said.

"She doesn't think things through," Percy said.

Piper rolled her eyes, "Okay, fine, so neither of us know about the rivalry. We can improvise, right?"

Jason sighed and sat down on the bed. Piper crossed her arms and sat down on the bed next to the blonde. Jason look over at her and she honestly look very upset.

"I just don't know why my father is keeping this from me," Piper said, "that's how it's always been, him keeping stuff from me."

They all remained silent for a while before Percy spoke up.

"I know a little bit about the rivalry," he said.

The silent environment quickly broke as soon as the words came out of Percy's mouth. Piper's face showed a wide range of emotions, from surprised, to sad, to angry, confused, everything.

"You knew and you didn't tell me?" Piper asked.

"It's just a little bit, it won't be helpful much," Percy answered.

"So what is it?" Jason said.

Percy looked around and Jason concluded, he must do that a lot. He understood though, Percy was a knight, he always had to be on his toes.

"The general of Lehpid, Gerard, told me that it was over a girl."

"My father was married to my mom, Percy," Piper said, "he… it couldn't be over a girl."

The look on Piper's face was absolutely devastating. It was a fusion between anger and absolute hurt and Jason didn't like it one bit. He was used to the always smiling Piper, the one from eleven years ago, not this one. The last time he saw her like this was at her mother's funeral. That's not the kind of face you'd like to see on a six year old, or anybody close for that matter.

"Was he cheating on her?" Piper said.

Percy shook his head, "I don't know, all I know is that it was over a girl."

Jason wanted to lean over and hug Piper, hold her hand, play with her hair, anything that would make her smile. But it's been eleven years since they've seen each other and he was sure it would have been a bit awkward. There was something about Piper that just made you want to make her happy, ever since they were kids.

Jason couldn't say that he understood what Piper was feeling. His mother, the queen of Snathe, died when Jason was only three. He barely remembered her, but all Jason knew was that she had turned to alcohol, but he never knew how she died. He did know that his father really didn't like talking or thinking about it.

"I'm sorry Piper," Jason said, "but we don't know for sure… not yet, okay?"

That was his best attempt at comforting. He wasn't exactly good at it.

Piper looked at him and smiled, "Yeah, okay."

Jason could still see how sad she was, but she was trying her best to hide it.

"So the rivalry was about a girl right?" Piper said, trying to keep her voice steady, "let's try and see what girl was important to both of them, I guess."

Jason nodded, "And the war, it'll start soon, but I don't know what the knights of Snathe have planned, so keep your friends safe."

"Yeah," Percy said.

Jason almost forgot he was there. He winced.

"Sorry," Jason said.

"Whatever," Percy replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'll try my best to postpone," Jason said, "talk to my father."

"Yes," Piper nodded, "and I'll return again tomorrow night. We still have a lot to plan."

Jason blinked, "Again? Tomorrow?"

The princess shrugged, "Yeah. Got a problem?"

"Nah," Jason shook his head and glanced at his watch. It was almost one o'clock in the morning.

"I should probably go," the brunette said, "you need sleep and I need to be back before anyone notices… you know you're not that hard to work with."

She had a smirk and her face that Jason immediately grinned at.

"I know."

Piper smiled and got up, "Bye. Come on Perce."

With that they walked out of the room.