Percy watched Thalia leave his clearing silently. It had been a week since her training started with him. Already she was significantly stronger than she had been when she woke from the tree. Her endurance had at least doubled since that first duel. Percy grinned. Her words echoed in his mind, 'I'll surpass you eventually, then you'll have to catch up to me.' She had promised, Percy didn't doubt that she would keep it. He shook his head and grinned in amusement.
"Well, she's certainly improving." A feminine voice commented.
"She is. Somehow she's got this idea that one day I'll need to be saved and that she's the one who has to do it." Percy answered,
"I see. Then she isn't eligible." The voice responded,
"Hey now. Don't you owe me a favor? I just want you to keep an open mind and make her partially immortal if she proves herself. That isn't too hard is it?" he asked,
"No… But I dislike blessing a girl who is already in love, it would spoil my reputation." The voice answered.
"Is she now? I can never tell these thing." Percy asked,
"To my eyes it seems so, but I would recommend that you ask the fates whether or not your conclusion was correct." The voice suggested, there was a flash and the voice's owner was gone. Percy stared at the darkening sky thoughtfully.
"Perhaps I will, eventually." He mused.
Percy was holding back. He had thousands of years' experience over Thalia, so it wouldn't fair to fight her without going easy on her. He parried her thrust and blocked her spear shaft as it flew for his head. She was getting better. Every other day they dueled, and every other day her skill skyrocketed. Percy was beginning to find it difficult to beat her while holding back, not that he'd ever let her know that of course. His movements were slower than normal and he didn't thrust with the strength that he usually did, but he wasn't trying to kill her so it was to be expected. She aimed a strike for his head but he ducked, he blocked her spear with his own and allowed himself to move a little faster. Soon Thalia was on her butt in the dirt. Percy glanced over her choice of clothing, slightly ripped dark jeans, black shirt, a black jacket in the cooling days, black eyeliner. Her hair had been cut to a much shorter length than it had been at when she was released from the tree, but it was still feminine. She climbed back to her feet and readied her spear again. He could tell that she was in pain, her muscles were being put under tremendous strain by his training. He knew that she called it torture if Annabeth asked, but he detected a hint of affection in the word whenever it was used, she never complained about the pain either though. She rushed him silently. He was teaching her the many facets of warfare, morale, strategy, mentally defeating your opponent before they had even drawn their sword. If you could terrify an enemy army before even clashing your losses would be lower and theirs higher, which was the only true victory, keeping as many of your troops alive as possible while killing as many of the enemy as you can. He parried her thrust and answered with his own. She deflected it with her own spear before lunging at him. He was unable to block the butt of the spear as it smacked into his cheek. He was knocked flat onto his butt. He stared at her in shock as she grinned triumphantly and leveled her spear at his prone form. His jaw was broken in at least two places but he grinned. It must have looked pretty bad as Thalia flinched. He stood and held his jaw in place as he headed into his house and examined it in the mirror. He pressed in a few spots and soon his jaw was set, he taped a small piece of wood to prevent the bone from moving and headed back out into his yard.
"What were you doing?" Thalia asked happily,
"You broke my jaw, I think I'm allowed to set it." Percy answered. She frowned,
"Sorry. I didn't mean to." She apologized.
"It was a good hit. Don't apologize for a good hit." Percy scolded her playfully and ruffled her hair. But she didn't seem to care about her hair, she just shook her head and it returned to its place.
"Ha, I foiled your plan." She grinned.
"Yup. It's only noon, we can continue if you want." Percy offered,
"I don't know, I mean can you fight with a broken jaw?" she asked, slightly worried she had actually hurt him.
"I'll be fine. You've got a quest in a few days right? Why not rest so you aren't sore on the quest?" Percy suggested,
"I didn't think you'd let me." Thalia answered,
"Now I will." He answered, she had improved sufficiently to rescue two demigods from their mortal school.
"Thanks, but um…." She trailed off awkwardly.
"Yes Thalia? Ask your question so I can start praying for lunch." Percy asked,
"Can I stay here for the rest of the day? I know I usually go back after we finish our duel but…" she trailed off again.
"I get it, you want to avoid the campers asking you about where you always go during the day." Percy concluded,
"Yeah. Annabeth bugs me about it enough for the entire camp anyway." She agreed.
"It's fine." Percy answered, he led her into his small kitchen and sat heavily in one of the two chairs. Thalia occupied the other and he prayed to Hestia silently. Twin sandwiches appeared on the table. Percy stared at Thalia's blue eyes from the corner of his own, she didn't notice.