"She had a son?"

There were many things that Rowan would never understand, but the only one that really bothered him was why everyone assumed Demeter only ever had daughters. Admittedly, she did have a lot of them, but she's hardly going to stop herself from having a child if she knows it's a boy.

Being known as the only living Son of Demeter was hardly a huge burden; some people were actually surprised to find out Demeter actually had kids at all (thank you, Tyche). But Rowan was still rather tired of the title he was given by those too lazy to get to know him. Because he suspected that if they did maybe things might be a little easier. He was perfectly capable of thinking outside the box, so just let him do it. Quest to retrieve Zeus's lightning bolt? Would it really be so hard to leave Poseidon's son behind so you could actually get a plane? Magical border failing? Could you not just ask for another one? Labyrinth opened inside camp? Why can't you just block it up? But as usual, people were too fixated on the fact that "He's a boy?" to actually consider he might be able to help.

"Yes, Demeter had a son. And here I am. Woohoo. Do you need a big sign or is it clear enough?"

Yeah, that idea about Demeter's kids being all meek and timid? Feel free to test it out. Give 'em a reason and they will stand up for themselves.

"I'm sorry?"

"Yes?"

"I don't understand. What do you mean?" In a patronizing tone of voice.

"Oh, is lil baby George all confuzzled?" With equal condescension. "Basically, imagine that Demeter has children that are boys. That's me! Now, is that better? Does that make sense?"

At this point, most people would have stopped. They would have decided it wasn't worth the effort, and that this seemingly complacent young boy would continue to be as rude as ever. But not this boy. This was George Aguilar, the only child of Hera to ever exist. He'd had a rough time, but he had a talent for carrying on as usual no matter what. And right now, he wanted to carry on talking and if possible, come out on his own terms.

"Hmmm, not sure. Maybe if you were just a little bit clearer. A PowerPoint presentation might come in useful, but I don't suppose you have one prepared, do you? Shame..."

Rowan had been expecting many things, but not this. To give him credit, he did recover quickly, but a few seconds caught off guard was all George needed in order to know he had a fighting chance.

It was going to be a long while before the two boys were forced to stop.