Disclaimer: I don't own the Riordanverse.

Little Protogenoi's Tales

Chapter 4: A Island Getaway

Betas: None so far, you're welcome to apply

Ogygia, was a phantom isle that existed everywhere and nowhere at once. It was the prison that had confined the Calypso, nymph daughter of the Titan Atlas for eons. Despite being a prison however, the island was a beautiful place. It had the climate of a sunny Mediterranean island, stretches of picture perfect sandy beaches and was surrounded by some of the most fantastic waters.

It was a paradise. And that was what Ophis and Nico had expected when the latter had teleported them there to meet up with Fidi. Instead, the siblings found themselves in the middle of a massive construction site.

All around them were buildings under construction, and statues being erected. Scythian Dracaena with hardhats and safety harnesses were everywhere working on the various constructions with dozens of immense serpents serving as stand-ins for cranes though there were a handful of the machines scattered about as well.

At the sight of their goddess, the dracena and giant snakes all immediately stopped what they were doing and paid Ophis homage.

Absently, Ophis gestured for them to return to work, even as she looked at everything around her in confusion.

"Oppy, you sure you teleported us to the right place?" A confusion that was evidently shared by her brother.

Using her powers, Ophis double checked before nodding hesitantly. "I'm sure. This is Ogygia."

"Isn't it supposed to be some kind of island paradise?" The little protogenos just nodded. "Then why is it suddenly a giant work site?"

"I can explain that." Fidi Douli, Ophis' loyal nymph handmaiden said as she teleported in front of the two children.

Nico jumped a little at Fidi's sudden appearance but Ophis was unfazed and instead gestured for her servant to continue.

"As you know, My Lady, this is where I brought your army after the Battle of Manhattan." Ophis nodded. "As a place outside of the normal flow of time and space it was a perfect place for us to retire to, especially considering your domains."

"Ophis is the Primordial of Time and Space and this is an island outside of both." Nico said contemplatively. "Very fitting. Good choice, Fidi."

"Thank you, Nico." Fidi said almost absently as she continued to look towards her mistress for her judgement.

"And all this construction?" Ophis asked, gesturing to the work going on all around them.

"A temple city that your subjects decided to build in your honor, Lady Ophis." A woman with caramel hair that was braided over one shoulder, peach-toned skin, pouty lips, dark almond-shaped eyes and a milky face that appeared timeless said as she walked over. She was dressed in a white sleeveless Greek dress with a low circular neckline trimmed in gold.

Ophis saw Nico tense and giggled in the privacy of her own mind at his protectiveness. She was a powerful protogenos surrounded by her army and he was worried that she could be in danger.

Only Big Brothers. Ophis mused in amusement.

Turning her attention to the new arrival, who her powers were helpfully informing her as Calypso, Queen of Ogygia, Ophis introduced herself.

"It's nice to meet you Calypso." The seven year old said with a smile as she offered the older immortal her hand. "I'm Ophis."

Smiling pleasantly, the nymph shook the offered hand as she replied. "I know very well who you are, Lady Ophis. Your devoted servants have been quite happy to tell me all about you."

Ophis blushed in embarrassment at that. "I'm sorry about that."

Calypso waved it away. "It's no problem. I enjoyed having someone to talk to for a change."

"You still can't leave Ogygia?" Ophis asked with a frown. The gods had promised that she could. Had they failed to uphold their Oath?

"Oh no! I can, if I want. The gods have kept their word." Calypso hastened to clarify. "I've left a few times already. But I always come back."

"Why?" Nico asked curiously, only to earn himself a chiding look from Fidi.

Calypso smiled at the demigod and explained. "It's just, well, I don't really have anywhere else to go."

Ophis' frown deepened. "Why don't you go visit Percy? I heard you and him were friends."

Calypso gave the a sad sigh. "We might have been more than that, once. But he's moved on, so I've been reliably informed. I couldn't cause him trouble by showing up now."

Ophis blinked in confusion as she tried to make sense of what Calypso had just said. Nico seemed to get it though and replied immediately, "You're too generous."

"Aren't you the same, Nico di Angelo?" Calypso asked knowingly.

Nico flinched at this, before asking in a shaky voice, "Ho- How?"

"Experience."

Ophis looked between her brother and the nymph in confusion. "Nico?"

"It's nothing, Oppy." Nico replied with a guarded smile.

His little sister frowned a little at that but didn't press. If the son of Hades wanted to tell her about it, he would. In the meantime, she would respect his secrets.

Changing the subject, Ophis asked about what her subjects were doing.

"As I said, they are building a temple city to honor you."

"And you're alright with this?" Ophis asked the nymph. "With us just taking over your island?"

Calypso shrugged. "They've kept clear of my garden and even built me a new villa to stay in, so I can't really complain. Besides as I said earlier, I enjoy the company."

Ophis nodded hesitantly. She still didn't like it. Calypso might not have minded but just taking over her home like this was wrong.

"Fidi."

"Yes, mistress?" Fidi said as she stepped forward, only to wilt a little at the withering stare Ophis was leveling at her.

"Why didn't you tell me anything about this?"

"A thousand pardons, My Lady." Fidi said as she prostrated herself on the ground. An action that seemed to catch the attention of many of the dracaena and snakes in the immediate area, not that they hadn't been spying on the whole conversation so far despite her order to return to work, but now they weren't even keeping up the pretense of working and were focusing all their attention on them.

Nico looked a little unnerved by her behavior and was about to intervene but Calypso grabbed his arm firmly and shook her head when he turned to look at her. Ophis made a mental note to thank the daughter of Atlas later. If Nico had intervened, Ophis would have to respond accordingly. She couldn't look weak in front of her subjects, especially not when she was reprimanding one of them. Calypso had just saved her a lot of trouble.

"Answer me, Fidi Douli." Ophis insisted sternly.

"I wanted it to be a surprise." Fidi confessed with an audible gulp.

The Great Serpent just gave her a resigned sigh at this. "And in so doing you have made me a ungracious guest by having my servants violate the hospitality of their host."

"But she didn't-" Fidi tried to defend herself, but Ophis cut her off.

"It doesn't matter whether Calypso minded. Did you even ask for her consent before you arrived on her island? Or before you allowed my subjects to begin work on this city?"

Fidi very hesitantly shook her head.

"I would think not!" Ophis declared. "Because if you had then I would have had to come and make the agreements with Calypso as your master. That would've ruined the surprise wouldn't it?"

Fidi nodded.

"I know you had no ill intent, Fidi, but you have overstepped your bounds and must be punished for doing so. Do you understand?"

"Yes, My Lady." Fidi said in a small voice. It honestly hurt Ophis to hear her loyal handmaiden talk like that, but this needed to be done.

Sighing once more, Ophis passed her judgement. "For the next week, you are banished from my side." Gasps erupted all around, but both Fidi and Ophis ignored them. Though tears had started streaming down the former's face, being barred from the presence of her goddess even if only a week was a nightmare for the nymph who had been born to serve her. "You will stay and supervise the work here instead."

With those last words, Fidi vanished from sight.

Ophis took a long steadying breath as she calmed herself in the wake of what she'd done.

"Was that really necessary?" Nico asked as he wrapped a comforting arm over his little sister's shoulders. "I mean, you don't like being away from Fidi for more than a few hours. And now a whole week? Will you be able to handle that?"

"I have to." Ophis said with as much confidence as she could muster.

Turning to face Calypso, but not leaving the comforting embrace of her brother, the primordial addressed the nymph. "So you are agreeable to my people using your island as our own?"

"I formally cede ownership of the island of Ogygia to you, Lady Ophis." Calypso said with a comforting smile. At her words, she and the whole island glowed gold for a moment before the glow of the island changed into a mixture of black and white and an aura of the same two colors sprang up around Ophis.

"You didn't need to do that." Ophis said softly as the glow faded, surprised at the older woman's generosity.

"I don't really need the island and you do. So it just made sense."

"Thank you."

"No problem."

An idea suddenly sprung to Ophis' mind then. One that would allow her to repay Calypso and maybe make her own life a little easier.

"Calypso?" Ophis asked, a devious little smile spreading across her face.

"Yes, Lady Ophis?" The nymph replied, a beautiful eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"You mentioned you have nowhere to go, right?"

The nymph nodded.

"Well, why don't you become my Personal Assistant? That way you'll get plenty of chances to explore the outside world and with a purpose too." Ophis offered.

"Err… Oppy, isn't that Fidi's job?" Nico hesitantly commented.

"Technically? No. She's my handmaiden. Her job is to take care of my person." Ophis explained. "A personal assistant would handle my business things. Like dealing with correspondence with other gods, handling my subjects, etc."

Nico blinked. "How do you know that?"

"Big Brother Hades explained it to me. He said I should get a personal assistant, since Fidi was handling that on top of being my handmaiden and he worried she'd get overworked. He said if that happened then I'd have to do things myself and that's a pain."

The son of Hades groaned. Apparently unimpressed that his father was passing down his disdain for paperwork to his little sister.

Ignoring her brother, Ophis returned her attention to Calypso. "So, what do you think?"

Calypso who had been pondering the decision while the siblings talked, made her choice.

"Sounds good to me." The nymph said with a smile.

"Yay!" Ophis cheered, before throwing herself at Calypso and hugging her tight. "Welcome to the family!"

And that's another chapter of this fic done.

Hope you guys like how I'm dealing with Calypso. I thought this would be an interesting alternative to her rather passive role in canon, since as Ophis' PA she actually exercises quite a bit of power and can even influence Ophis herself.

Besides that Ogygia was just too much of an ideal base of operations for Ophis for me to ignore. Though admittedly I only recalled its unique temporal properties as I started writing this chapter, but once I did I knew I had made the right choice. As for why Ophis needs a base of operations? Well, you'll have to read on to find out.

Anyways hope you liked the chapter. Please review and see you next time.