With Annabeth gone, it left Aria in charge of their group. She didn't like being in charge. There was reason to why Annabeth was. People listened to her, never questioned her and didn't dare to do otherwise.

Aria didn't know how she did it because the group took no direction from her, let alone listen to a word she said. Ever since Annabeth had left, fights had broken out between the campers and her group and Aria was having a hard time stopping it. The latest had been between a daughter of Ceres called Willow from her group and a daughter of Ares named Clarisse from the camp. She couldn't even begin to know what the fight had been about initially, but she knew Willow and the girl wasn't one to pick fights without cause, especially when Clarisse was twice her size.

Thankfully, Aria had intervened before either of them had thrown any blows and dragged Willow away. The tiny blonde girl seemed to be grumbling angrily and she paused to catch her words clearly.

"Okay, what in the Hades happened?" Aria exclaimed, trying to contain her own annoyance. She was trying to take a page from Annabeth's book and seem as collected as she did in such situations.

Willow let out loud exhale. "Clarisse bullies the younger kids." she told her. It was obvious that the tiny girl was seething from the red splotches on her cheeks. "She was messing with Jimmie."

She could definitely see where Clarisse went wrong. Jimmie was Willow's little brother. They didn't have the same father, but as the only children of Ceres amongst them, they were extremely close. Willow had taken him under her wing and protected him. "I get it." Aria sighed, trying to figure out the best way to handle the situation. Honestly, she was at a lost. She didn't know how to mediate. When she was upset, she went out on her own until she found a monster to relieve her anger. It probably wasn't the best way to handle her problems, but it had gotten the job done. "But you can't go around fighting the campers. This is our home now, too. We need to coexist."

Willow didn't like Aria's response. She ripped her arm out of her grip. "We'll coexist when she stops picking on my little brother." she snapped before walking away from Aria.

The daughter of Poseidon clenched her fists. Every freaking time she tried to talk to one of her group, they ended up walking away before she finished. It was infuriating, especially when it was some as tiny as Willow walking away from her.

To calm down, she trudged off to her new favorite place, the stables. Ever since she had learned that she could speak to pegasus, she had loved going there, even despite the terrible smell. She really liked Percy's black pegasus, Blackjack. He was a funny character. Though, he favorite was a grey, speckled pegasus by the name of Misty. She was a meek thing, but always talked to Aria whenever she came around. It left Percy was a little miffed because he had never managed to get her to talk to him. It was the reason why Aria liked her best, funny enough.

"Hey guys." Aria called as she entered the stables. She threw each pegasus a sugar cube as she passed them on her way to Misty, who she saved two for. "Hey girl." she murmured as fed her the sugar cubes. Misty neighed, happily in response.

Much thanks, my lady.

Aria shrugged. Another reason why Misty was her favorite, she just so damn proper.

What troubles you?

"Annabeth left me in charge and I'm screwing it up, big time." she muttered as she lightly kicked around the hay on the stable floors. "And they all know it."

Certainly, you're not that bad? Misty had a faith in her that no one else seemed to, but truth was that Aria wasn't cut out to be a leader, or well, she didn't think so.

"Worse than bad, Misty." the raven haired girl sighed. She just really wanted Annabeth to return.

Another voice replies and not in her head, but out loud. "You lack confidence." it said.

She looked up to see Chiron standing outside Misty's stable in his full form of hooves, tail and mane. He had a thoughtful look on his face. Chiron kind of reminded Aria of someone's wise grandfather, who always seemed to know what was going on. Personally, she hadn't spoken to him much. He was Percy's mentor, not hers. She already felt like she was pushing herself into his life by staying in the Poseidon cabin, she wasn't trying to overextend her welcome.

"I didn't know confidence had anything to do with it." she replied as she stroked Misty's mane.

"It does. None of them will treat you as if you're in charge if you don't believe you are, my girl." he told her in that 'wise old man with the great wisdom' voice. She found it a little lame. The whole 'believe it and achieve it' nonsense. Did that even apply in her world? Like that couldn't be it. "You don't think so?"

"They think I don't care about them." she reasoned in a sad tone. "Annabeth was always so good are the listening and caring and problem solving. I suck at it. I'm just not good with showing I care like she is."

Chiron seemed to be considering her words. "Why is that?"

Aria was a little taken aback by the question. Her friends had never really outright asked her things like Chiron was. Of course, they always got to the bottom of things with her, but they were more subtle about it. More patient. So, instead of answering him, she shrugged.

It was then that she realized that she hadn't had a proper conversation with an adult since her mom died. Chiron had been the first. Thinking of her mom made her chest hurt and she tried to ignore it.

"Does it have to do with your mortal family?" he asked, spot on. Aria was beginning to think he could read minds. It wasn't too farfetched considering she was talking to a centaur.

It actually had a lot to do with her mother, not family. Aside from her mom, she didn't have anyone else and Aria didn't like thinking about her because so felt guilty. Instead of answering the old centaur, she shrugged once again.

Chiron gave her a look. One that said he didn't buy it. "You know."

Aria scoffed, suddenly annoyed. "So what? Talking about my dead mother isn't going to make me a good leader."

The words came out harsher than she had meant, but it was too late to take them back. Chiron was silent for moment before speaking again. Aria was pretty sure that he had only paused to give her a moment to calm down. A good call. "Problems aren't meant to be buried."

"Lemme guess, they're meant to be solved?" Aria grunted, trying very hard not to roll her eyes.

Instead of looking annoyed like she had expected, he was smiling in a way that almost looked as if he were doing so fondly. "Percy and you are a lot alike." he noted to her surprise.

Percy always seemed so… chill, if she were to explain it simply. She knew his mother was dead, but he seemed to be handling it a lot better than she was. She couldn't picture her brother lashing out like she sometimes did. He just seemed too nice for all that. Plus, he seemed to be a natural born leader. All of camp looked up to him, even some of her own group did. "Percy? No way. He's so relaxed and people follow him. They trust him."

She was given another smile, but this one different from the last. "He wasn't always and for a while, he was lonely. Spoke to no one, but Grover and Luke." Aria listened, intently with interest. Bianca had told her a lot about her brother, but she hadn't known him as long as Chiron had. "He was rash and angry after losing his mother and then Thalia...Did he tell you about that?"

She nodded. The daughter of Zeus had sacrificed herself to save him and Luke. They had almost made it to safety, but not quite and she was dying. In pity, Zeus turned her into the very pine tree that stood today and protected the camp. How Thalia was alive and kicking today, though wasn't clear, but she knew it had something to do with the Golden Fleece that hung on it's branches. Aria knew it's history and it didn't take a genius.

"He went to her tree everyday for weeks." Chiron continued, softly. "Just to sit with her. I think he believed she was lonely or maybe he was. It took weeks for me to even get a word out of him, but when he was at her tree, he talked to her."

Wow, her brother was an actual sweetheart. "What changed?" she asked.

"He won the capture the flag."

Aria snorted. "Really?"

"Confidence." Chiron offered with a side eye glance, but gave no further explanation. The daughter of Poseidon had honestly thought his story would have ended somewhere else.

She couldn't help, but smile slightly. "I thought you wanted me to talk about my mom."

"I just wanted to know why you think you're not a good enough leader. It was you that thought that you didn't seem to care enough. It was you that thought of your mother." His words shook her a bit. Mostly because he was right. She had led him to the conclusion on her own and it was she that hadn't seen it.

She suddenly knew why Chiron was in charge of so many messed up individuals. It was because he was so good at figuring them out. Aria kept quiet for a moment, trying to sum up what she wanted to say into fewer words so she wouldn't start balling on the spot. The more she thought, however, the harder it was to stop her tears.

Her mother had died only months after she had run away. From a cancer Aria didn't even know she had. Looking back, she felt so stupid for not noticing how thin and pale her mother had gotten. She had been so self absorbed and worried about who her father was that she didn't even appreciate the parent she did have. Aria regretted it very much and every argument they ever had.

"I-I don't know if she knew. We fought so much. I can't even remember the last time I told her l-loved her." It had come out all jumbled. Her breathing had quickened and she sobbed and he let her. He placed a hand on her shoulder for comfort and Misty rubbed her head on Aria's. Words of comfort from the pegasus swam in her head until she calmed.

When she did, she met Chiron's eyes. "Do you have fun making little girl's cry?" she joked, poorly as she tried to rub the last of her tears away. She silently thanked the gods that no one had walked in on her sob fest.

"Not especially." he mused and the girl rolled her eyes.

"You think she knows?" she then questioned, lightly.

Chiron nodded. "Without a doubt."

Aria sighed, sadly. "I hope so. She left me everything she ever worked for and more when she died. I don't deserve it."

Half of the time, she didn't know what to make of it. Her mother had left her family's fortune to Aria. Nadia Clark had been a sole heiress and so, when Aria was of age, she would be too. It seemed so trivial when she looked at how her life changed. There were times when her biggest problem had been wifi complications and now, she wondered if she'd even make it to eighteen.

"She thought you did." Chiron was rich with one liners, but weirdly enough they were the one liners she needed to hear.

"Guess we'll see if I make it that long." she muttered before casting a smile at Chiron. He wasn't bad for a so called mythical creature.

I'm happy with this chapter. I feel like we've gotten to know Aria a whole lot more. Plus, I think this is Chiron's debut ! Thanks for reading. Love you guys! I changed Aria's origins a bit. If you noticed. I already fixed it in the previous chapters, but don't worry it's a very minor changed. Her mother is dead bc of cancer instead of missing. Sorry, just resonated better with her.