Annabeth's POV

Seeing my little girl so happy with the man she loved, was like winning the Lottery. I have only been that happy four times in my life: the day Percy and I fully joined our families in immortality, the day Percy asked me to marry him, the day our daughter Artira had been born, and then of course today. I am a little melancholy, for I know that tomorrow Artira and Thane have to leave to finish their battle with the Collectors. I just wish that we could send more of our family with her. In addition to the muses, a couple more fighters would greatly increase her chances of success. I will speak to Ares and see if he would be willing to allow Clarisse, goddess of battle and carnage, to accompany Artira and Thane to protect them.

Even though she is his daughter and one of his best generals, she should be allowed the opportunity to help the rest of her family. She may be able to estimate the forces of the Reapers, our true enemies underlings. This way when the inevitable happens, we will be better prepared to meet the danger. Unfortunately, Percy and I were not here to witness Artira's first battle against a Reaper. I was away studying the Architecture of the Asari and many other of the various alien races, while Percy was away with Apollo visiting both the Hanar and the Salarian home worlds, in order to better understand those races. In addition, we were able to have Hephaestus use one of his magnets to drag the Normandy out of the orbit that Artira's helmsman, Jeff (Joker)Moreau had sent it to and bring have it hover over the Empire State Building (Mt Olympus), where Hephaestus would be able to thoroughly examine the ship. Extra members should have no trouble getting on board. The Muses are already scattered around the ship; four sleeping on cots in Artira's cabin and the rest are housed on the crew deck.

Before I speak with Ares about this, I must go and save the Stoll brothers from themselves. The decided to play a prank on both Artira and Thane. It must have been a success because both Thane Artira are now covered in blue paint, while Hermes, their father, is standing with the two boys laughing and congratulating them. I watched as Aphrodite lead Artira and Thane to a place where they could get cleaned up. I have a feeling she is not happy with those two boys and I suspect that it is because Aphrodite spent hours grooming Artira so that she would be gorgeous. Now that all the merriment is over, I guess I should go speak with Ares, I hope he agrees to this plan.

Ares' POV

As the wedding reception continued, Artira's mother, Annabeth, goddess of Architecture approached me and we talked about many different things. Finally, she got up the nerve to ask me if I would permit my daughter Clarisse, one of my best generals to accompany her daughter on her mission to fight the Collectors. I gave her proposal some serious thought and in the end I agreed to it. After all, Clarisse is ready for battle and Thane's son Kolyat has nearly completed his tenure under Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, so I know I will have several months to fully train him. I also, agreed with Annabeth that it is most important to know our enemies strengths and weakness. We know that Kronos will be leading them and we must use our full strength to thoroughly trounce him. We want to make sure that he will not try this again for a very long time.

Clarisse's POV

I have entered the place where Hephaestus has the Normandy docked and fully ready for launch tomorrow. I suspect that all of Artira's friends and team members are still on the ship. so I have quietly slipped aboard to look for a small cubby where I may conceal myself.

Percy's POV

As I watched Aphrodite lead Artira and Thane away to help get them cleaned up from the Stoll brother's little prank I was actually approached by Artemis who loudly insisted that I let Zoe Nightshade accompany Artira and Thane and the others on their quest I looked at her rather shocked at the request and tried my best to dissuade her saying that Zoe more then likely would not desire to go on this quest of theirs because it would mean working with a lot of boys such as Artira's friends: Garrus , Grunt, Jacob Taylor, Mordin Solus, Zaeed Massani to say nothing of Artira's pilot Jeff (Joker) Moreau. Artemis just looked at me and replied that while that may be true but as most of them if not indeed all of them were destined for a place on Olympus it seemed only prudent that they should have the extra protection and after all she added coolly there are many young women that are accompanying her on this quest and besides she continued Zoe can help keep that illusive man in line or at least keep tabs on where he is so that when I so desire I can turn him into a Jackalope thus make him harmless to Artira and all her friends. Finally seeing that it was useless to argue with Artemis I consented but implored her to remind Zoe that the men that were on the ship with Artira were allies not enemies. Artemis just smiled at me and replied saying, " Zoe knows they are friends after all she had been there when Thane joined the ranks of the Olympians and also Zoe had helped me train the young drell Kolyat, and anyway Zoe had herself begged for the privilege to accompany Artira and help protect everyone from what ever danger she could. For she believes that the Collectors are not the only enemy that Artira faces she believes that the illusive man is more enemy than friend and would turn on Artira as soon as he realized that she would not allow herself to be used." I smiled and said, " well then let Zoe know that if she wants to go with them she must pack her things and find a place to hide on the Ship."

With that Artemis headed off leaving me to head by to my home to wait for Thane and Artira.

Zoe's POV

After paying Morpheus a visit to pick up a couple sleeping potions I headed towards the Ship I would be joining Artira and Thane on. I found Clarisse and stayed near her so we could both stay out of sight and out of mind until tomorrow though my part in this quest is mostly as a body guard for Thane and Artira and to assist them in defeating the collectors and to keep Lady Artemis up to date on where the illusive man is so she can turn him into a Jackalope.

Artira's POV

I cannot believe that Travis and Connor thought that covering Thane and me in blue paint would be funny. True, it was little more than egg and food coloring, but I fear that they do not realize how hard it is to remove egg and food coloring out of hair as thick as mine, to say nothing of the effect that the dye could have on Thane's skin. Luckily, Aphrodite removed the dye fairly quickly. The biggest challenge she will have will be removing it from the beautiful dress, of hers that I had been wearing.. Oh well, I have to admit the prank managed, even for a little while, to take my mind off the war and the danger that lies in wait for us. Despite this, I am content.

Thane's POV

Tomorrow Artira and I will leave to finish our quest to defeat the Collectors. I am pleased that the future seems bright. I am also assured that whoever tries to attack her and her family will fail. Despite my confidence, I was quite surprised when Percy told me that one member of Artira's family, the Titan Kronos, had been a long-time adversary to the Olympians. This enmity has lasted for Eons. The whole conflict probably began long before the Protheans were around. Percy had watched and listened to conversations that Artira had been involved, even though he had been told by the fates that he could not directly interfere in her life.

It seemed plain to me that in addition to that, he had done some in depth study about the history of the universe. I often wondered about this history; were the reapers the true enemy or merely the servants of Kronos? If such is the case then the problem is simplified; find a way to destroy Kronos and the Reapers will flee. Then and only then will there be peace and freedom. Feeling that concentrating on the reapers was not a good idea while we had this time for a brake I asked Percy if there was anything about me that he wanted to know. Percy Smiled I could tell there was a secret that Percy wished to share with me but I didn't bother to ask after all I figured that Percy would reveal the secret when he was good and ready in this I was quite correct it was not long before Percy asked me to sit down. So I did.

Percy's POV

I asked Thane to sit down and began to share with him several secrets that up to now had been kept from him. I started by telling him that even though it was true that the Hanar were the first people to help the drell by evacuating 375,000 Drell to Kahje, but shortly after they did their bit. Apollo took his sun chariot which he had turned into a train and evacuated 5,000,000,000 drell to Olympus leaving only 5,999,625,000 drell to die on Rakhana I told him that I had learned about that only shortly after coming to Olympus. Athena has two hundred and fifty million drell helping her at the school she had set up on Olympus Demeter has another two hundred and fifty million helping her in the gardens and parks around Olympus Chiron has two hundred and fifty million helping him with the Pegasus stables Ares has about five hundred million drell in his army to aid in the upcoming war. another five hundred million have joined Athena's army as soldiers for the same reason. one billion five hundred million drell spend are helping Hephaestus make weapons and Armor for the up coming war. Three hundred and seventy-five million drell are in Aphrodite and Hera's breeding program and one hundred eighty-seven million and five hundred thousand drell serve under Hermes in much the same occupation as you worked in for many years Thane. And the rest busy themselves helping which ever gods or goddesses need their help.

1 billion drell are currently employed by Annabeth helping her to build the home you and Artira will be sharing together it will be nothing elaborate of course forty bedrooms, forty bathrooms, Dinning hall little more then a honeymoon cottage really.

Thane stopped me for a second as he inquired saying, " You mean Artira's mother is already building it?" I smiled as I replied saying, " It is built my young drell it is finished you and your wife could move in tomorrow." I almost had to laugh when I saw the look of shock on Thane's face. So I added with a light chuckle saying, "Don't worry Thane I know you and Artira need to finish your mission before you settle in to your new home." I also made it quite clear that all the drell that had been brought to Olympus had been turned immortal they were not however been granted godhood no very few mortals are granted the exceptional gift of all the drell only Thane and his son were granted that greatest of gifts I also confided in Thane, that Kolyat had been to Olympus at least once before but that even before his first arrival on Olympus he had met my cousin/stepsister Jasmine Jackson. She is the goddess of mystery and she had been with me and Apollo when he an I actually first made it a point to study the Hanar and the few drell that lived on Kahje, my cousin having been an hed Kolyat but then she begged her own daughter to be patient because Aphrodite had already told her that Kolyat was not to be the only Drell that so great a gift would be granted too since Aphrodite had already started you (Thane) and Artira on the pathway of true love after saying as much Amphitrite led Kolyat to where Zeus was, and asked him to find some one who would keep Kolyat safe until you (Thane) and Artira arrived so that the gift of immortality could be granted to father and son at the same time. Zeus then called Artemis and instructed her to teach Jasmine's boyfriend how to hunt and to protect him as she would protect any of her hunters explaining in full what the plan was after that Artemis bowed to Zeus and agreed to do as he commanded her. And that of course leads us to the time you and your son had arrived here on Olympus and were granted Immortality in fact Jasmine was suppose to be Kolyat's companion for the bath you and he took earlier to day but something happened to make it necessary for Zeus to choose one of minor goddesses to accompany him instead. Thane then Looked at me and inquired saying, " And what was that may I ask?" I smiled ruefully and decided to answer him with nothing but the exact truth saying, " a tragedy though what happened can not kill a god or goddess it has the ability to injure them and have some small effect the tragedy that occurred was Jasmine Jackson was stung by a pit scorpion which comes from the very pits of Tartarus, though as I said it is unable to kill an immortal it can still affect them she suffered many of the same symptoms that are common when a person is stung by one of those beasts the beast had stung Jasmine while she had been eating just a day before you and your son arrived the creature stung her in her hand and a huge red welt appeared on it and began oozing dirty silver puss normally it is a yellow puss but because our blood is golden the puss and dangerous stuff like that take on a tarnished silver color however the her ability to hear began to fade and then things began to be blurry and then she found moving very difficult, she then suffered Paralysis.

Those are the only symptoms that are able to affect a god or goddess however if not treated those symptoms could become permanent lucky for her Apollo was nearby and rushed her to his home immediately and she has been undergoing treatment all this time in fact that is why Artira has not returned home yet she is paying Jasmine a visit and no doubt your son is there as well." After saying that I led Thane to Apollo's palace and as we entered Thane saw his wife seated near another young woman who was lying in a bed like the kinds you would expect to find in a hospital and next to that bed knelt his son Kolyat who was holding the hand of the girl in the bed. Thane moved over to where Artira is and stood behind her so he could get a better look at the woman who had captured his son's heart. Jasmine was beautiful her hair was so long that it couldn't even fit on the bed with her and so cascaded off either side of the bed and flowed around the floor weaving in and out of the legs of the near by chairs the color of her hair as I learned from Artira was the color of Onyx a stone which was pure black but also had an iridescent shine.

Thane's POV

As I moved to stand behind my beloved wife I could see the look of pure worry in my son's eyes and it was entirely too clear to me that his love for the young goddess in the bed was as deep as my love for Artira. But soon my attention was drawn away from the young woman in the bed to a young female drell child who had just entered carrying in her hands a jug of what I assumed was medicine but it was the words that came out of her mouth that surprised me more than anything else.

She spoke calmly and quietly while looking Apollo in the eyes. Saying, " Uncle Apollo I have the salve that you requested for my friend Jasmine." Apollo smiled genuinely and replied saying, "Thank you Leiko now run along and play but please don't forget to let your parents know where you are going and remember to be back in your house before sunset you have a very big day at school tomorrow after all Athena is taking your class on a field trip to show you how the marshmallows you and your friends all love to eat are made." I then saw the child smile brightly and with a swift and beautiful curtsy hasten out of the room. I looked inquisitively at Apollo, hoping for an idea about what just had happened here I mean I had heard from Percy that a total of five billion drell had been brought to Olympus but what had caused my confusion was that I had heard the child refer to him as uncle Apollo I was wondering if she was a drell demi-god. Apollo noted my confusion and soon replied saying, "No she is not a half blood (another word for Demi- god) she is full drell but ever since we brought the drell here to Olympus, we treat them as family and insist on being referred to as such by the drell that have been taken in by us sort of how the Quarians live we are all one large happy family we work together, eat together, play together and learn from each other and those that are a little uncomfortable with it at first soon learn to accept it or they end up punishing themselves far better then we ever could."

I was lucky enough to have no trouble with it and told Apollo as much. He smiled and turned back to his work on Jasmine and then both Artira and I followed Percy back to his home after all since we were leaving the next morning it seemed only fair that we spend this night with him rather than seeing our new home. Annabeth walked into the house shortly after we had, Artira walked over to her mother and hugged her tightly and then the two walked off no doubt to talk about girl stuff.

Artira's Pov

When mom and I were in my room I sat down and looked at my mom it was wonderful to know that when the Collectors were done my friends and I could return to Olympus where the rest of them would join the ranks of the Olympians but I was also afraid I was uncertain about how many would survive to return here with me. As I confided all that to my mother I noted that my mother's face had a knowing smile on it so I inquired about it saying, " Mom what do you know that you are not telling me?" My mother smiled even brighter as she replied saying, " you and your friends will have more accompanying you on this quest I aside from the Muses you will be having your cousin Clarisse with you, and Artemis is sending her best hunter Zoe Nightshade with you. You have more hope of surviving then anyone else I could imagine."

I smiled actually pleased that my family had actually upped our chances for success. Mom smiled though I could clearly see the tears that stood in her eyes as she smiled and said , " You will be a strong woman my child lead your family through this trying time and we will always be there for you and your friends and their families. And dear please remember the very second you get back with your friends from this mission through the Omega four relay return to Olympus Directly I know you will no doubt have other missions afterwards but all of us would prefer to add your friends to our immortal ranks before you did any more flying around like chickens with no heads. Do I make myself crystal clear?" I smiled at my mom and replied saying, "Yes mother inescapably clear"

Thane's Pov

I was still inquisitive and asked to see where the drell lived because I had yet to see any buildings that housed any Drell at all. Percy smiled at me and said he would show me where they lived. With that he led me out of the house he took me an place that could easily have fit ten of forty-nine of America's fifty states but all five billion drell only took up about 1/15th of it I then asked Percy why he had given the drell such a large parcel of land of their home when all that was living there was 5 billion drell? Percy smiled brightly and then replied saying,

"That it was because it was our intention for the drell population to increase and thrive in their new environment you and your son as you know will be living in the main body of Olympus with me and all the other gods and goddesses the drell here are immortal but not deified among the Olympians or the other gods and goddesses for many different reasons. But the biggest one is that it was not their wish, they wished to only be allowed to live their lives as they had always lived so we offered a compromise we granted them Immortality and eternal youth but allowed them settle where they chose to live on Olympus. And Olympus is large enough to accommodate as many people as we so choose. Who knows what uncle Zeus' next decree will be in order to protect the Universe and all the wonderful creatures in it from the reaper menace. It may be that one day all species will be living here after all Zeus sees that most if not all the races are on friendly terms with Artira. The only race that seems to dislike Artira at all that I have seen are the Batarians. However they will still be granted a place here if they choose it. And despite what this looks like at the moment this doesn't mean that we are segregating the alien races after all the fact that you and your son and all the rest of Artira's friends will be joining us in the main body of Olympus is enough to prove that. No the races will be permitted to mingle and live in the same areas and do the same things but it will not be forced on them. This is a sanctuary Olympus is as large a place as you could wish it to be. And all the races that are given a place here will have enough room to expand and thrive without fear."

I was surprised by what Percy had told me but nonetheless pleased. I began to wonder that if the Hanar were granted a place here if the Olympians would be able to accommodate the other drell that would no doubt accompany the Hanar. But as of yet I spoke of my concern to no one. One thing at a time.

That evening when we returned home to Percy and Annabeth's home I bid my mother and father in law goodnight and decided to retire for the evening knowing that Artira and I would be leaving to continue our journey in the morning. Our battle against the collectors was still to be waged and if we were to wage it we needed to follow the Illusive man's lead by going to a derelict reaper and collecting an IFF. Though I knew everything else had been upgraded and figured that no doubt god of the forge that I had been introduced to yesterday had made the upgrades even stronger so I figured we had more chance than ever to comeback in one piece. And, Artira had helped everyone get their own personal closure to make sure we all could focus on the mission 100%. All we needed was the Iff and we would be good to go. I went to sleep with the image of success in my head as I am sure Artira did as well.

Artira's POV

The next morning, Thane, I, and my mom and dad got up just as Apollo was getting ready to bring on the dawn of the new day. I said goodbye to all my family and Thane wished his son good luck with his training and gave him some small advice about how to attract a woman. After a couple more tearful heart felt goodbyes Thane and I boarded the Normandy and headed to where we would find the IFF so we could finally complete our mission.