Disclaimer: I don't own anything

This chapter will contain some light limes and mentions of sex, so you have been warned!

Enjoy.

Olympian Encounters

An hour later

The last thing they discussed during the meeting was a proposition to have individual palaces up on Olympus and it was approved with little opposition and the first Olympian Council meeting officially ended.

Perseus went over to Demeter and Hestia who had immediately jumped out of their respective 'seats' and they stood conversing quietly. They noticed Perseus walking up to them in the now-abandoned hall. He stopped in front of them with a genuine smile before asking his question "So, what do you say to build on neighboring properties? This is definitely not because of Hestia's domain of Architecture" He said charmingly, 'It was actually was one of the reasons for his proposition, but it wasn't the main reason' he thought as he glanced imperceptibly at Demeter all the while, but by her amused grin he gathered that he hadn't done a good enough job with his 'subtle' glances directed at her.

Hestia agreed with a knowing tone and grabbed onto their forearms flashing out to the row right below the plateau where the Hall of the Gods stood. Where they constructed some stone roads leading at the edge of the level looking down at the rest of Olympus. They also connected the road to the levels further down until they had made an orderly city grid of roads connecting the plateau with the rest of the five levels in a seamless yet efficient manner. They decided to put their palaces on the right side of Olympus on the edge of the island, where they could see Zeus using his newfound domains to cover the bottom of Olympus with a thick cloud cover(probably unsatisfied by the dullness of the bottom of the floating island).

Perseus put his palace at the complete edge so if anyone would ever decide to throw a discus or something it would constantly run the risk of soaring off the side of the island, which would be quite irritating, but Perseus liked the view so he was happy. Following Perseus on the left was Demeter where instead of building her house/palace she planted a small cornfield in what would eventually (when she got around to it) be her garden behind her house.

And then Hestia finished their line of palaces/properties on Demeter's left with only a stool and a table already containing papyrus scrolls with sketches of her palace.

Perseus decided to take it on the go and put up some stone foundations for what would become his three-story log cabin/palace(because it felt appropriate, ok?). He managed to finish his foundation and first floor before deciding to actually sleep for the first time since last week or something like that, he couldn't even remember when he last slept?! He was about to lay down on the bed he had plopped in the middle of what would become a cozy dining room but was currently only some walls and what would have been a misplaced bed under normal circumstances.

But he was interrupted from his beauty sleep by a soft knock on his main entrance. He sighed and slipped on a khiton and walked out of the 'dining room' to his entrance hall up to his oak door to strongly reprimanding his reason for interrupting his well-deserved nap.

He opened the door and his words suddenly disappeared at who it was knocking at his door at this time of night(which was actually day since he had used the entire night in either a council meeting or constructing this very house. He silently let her in and he conjured two comfortable chairs for them.

"So what are you doing here Demeter?" Perseus said nonchalantly. Demeter rolled her eyes in amusement at his attempt to feign disinterest and said in a deadpan voice "You know what I mean Perseus. We need to talk" What would be the worst sentence you could hear from your romantic interest/partner was only met by excited mental squealing by Perseus before he got mental control back again.

"And what is there to talk about?" Perseus said continuing his shtick. Demeter again rolled her eyes at his antics and slapped him hard on his cheek as punishment for his bad acting skills. "Ow... that hurts right here" He pointed at his chest dramatically which he quickly stopped doing when he saw Demeter threateningly raising her hand. He finally became serious and stated "I have an obvious attraction to you not only because of our connection through our domains but also at your obvious beauty, if I'm allowed to be so bold" Demeter's cheeks faintly colored red, but other than that she had no obvious reaction to his declaration.

"You are a very handsome man Perseus, and I do feel attracted to that too but I was more concerned about our connection, rather than our physical attraction towards each other," She said kindly amusement evident. This time it was Perseus's time to blush and not because of the compliment. "I guess it's obvious now why we felt such a connection at even our first sight of each other." Perseus nodded and replied, "Yes but what are we going to do about it?" One of Demeter's elegant eyebrows rose in surprise at his obvious question but she didn't have any qualms about it so she replied with "Indeed what are we going to do about it?"

Perseus and Demeter rushed forward at the same time out of their chairs and their lips connected with obvious inexperience but they made up for it by sheer enthusiasm and vigor. Perseus eventually moved them into his 'bedroom'. And they shared a part of themselves which they could never share with anyone else.

Hours later after they had exhausted themselves, and before they fell asleep at their obvious tiredness Perseus spoke to the goddess laying on his chest with some thin coverings over them "So where does this leave us? As in like where is our relationship currently?" Demeter only replied with an exasperated smile on her lips.

Two days later

Perseus finished his palace after two more days of building and looked at his newly constructed home. It definitely looked like a little too big log cabin with strong oak doors in the middle and small windows lining nearly all sides of it except the one facing his neighbors, because that would be a quite crap view because of the palace blocking anything in that direction so he decided to ignore that side. He had two small lawns with a tree each on each side of a well-built walkway leading up to the front doors. It also split before the entrance snaking around on the right side of the building leading into the yard on the other side where he had a little gazebo, a small pond, and an oak tree with some squirrels living in it.

On his roof, he had a small perch for Ravens and birds in general. He now had two ravens named Sképsi and Myaló. Who was currently perched upon his shoulders. He had made them his sacred animals so he wouldn't accidentally kill them when he flashed or something stupid like that. They also frequently went out into the world to spy for him, they told him rumors and their own sightings from their hunting trips because of course, he made them able to gain information and tell it to him.

The inside of the palace was sparsely decorated because he had just focused on building the layout itself, ignoring any non-essential furniture like a bed and some comfortable chairs in his informal meeting room which he planned to use for visitors. He decided to actually get something more done and started designing his kitchen which would probably be unused but it was an important feature of any self-respecting palace to have so he decided to include it anyway.

He had just decided his layouts for kitchen counters and put a fireplace for warming up his hypothetical meals. Which was bull because he only ate ambrosia and because he didn't have any favorite foods his ambrosia was quite dull especially after a decade of it basically being his whole diet, at least the nectar had the taste of his favorite ale without the alcohol which he unfortunately realized was the main reason for liking the drink so he probably had to go out on a tour to discover new tastes if he wanted to stay sane he realized grimly.

He heard a knock at his front door. He quickly hurried up to the entrance with pleasant thoughts whirring around in his mind. Opening the door he was unfortunately not met by his now lover Demeter, but it was still the pleasant surprise of Hecate showing up at his door and he bid her in proudly directing her to his newly decorated informal meeting/relaxation room with the comfy chairs. Hecate though looked less than impressed with the furniture and room in general.

Hecate began with no greetings other than. "Perseus" She purred in an 'innocent' voice. "You have been naughty, very naughty indeed" Perseus looked very confused at the statement, he hadn't been 'naughty', and besides this was what his adopted mothers used to say when he had actually done something wrong and now Perseus was an adult in his own right. So Perseus in his 'innocent' mind was confused by it, and the way she purred his name was in a very sultry tone.

The tone would have made sense if it involved... oh, but was he attracted to her though? Well... yes, but now he already had a relationship with Demeter which he wanted to pursue. But they technically hadn't made any promises or vows to only be with each other. To summarize Perseus was quite conflicted if he should deny Hecate at all, or not.

Hecate continued undeterred by his silence "Constantly occupying my thoughts and I want to satisfy my curiosity... Perrrseuss" Again purring his name which was quite distracting to him, but he managed to clear his mind and logically thought about it. Hecate finally finished "I remember a few favors you owed me and I would agree to let you only owe me one if you did this... favor for me?" This sealed the deal for Perseus because while he was at least quite self-centered, proud and arrogant as every youth he imagined or a big majority, there were two things he valued higher than anything else. Repaying his debts, because he didn't like being indebted to anyone and vows/promises, he would go to great lengths to not break his promises. So he had essentially a personal honor code that he followed as long as it was logical and made sense.

He sighed and replied, "I will agree to it with certain conditions, though I won't make you swear an oath it would definitely be a breach of trust that wouldn't be easily repaired if you broke them, understood?" Hecate nodded, but her eyes glinted with... something when she nodded. "Firstly, this will be a one-time thing" Hecate nodded this time eagerly. "Secondly, you will keep yourself infertile and I trust that you will, during intercourse" She again nodded her head in acceptance but she again had a glint in her eyes after her nod. "Thirdly, we will keep this between ourselves" He paused and looked at her firmly. When she had nodded at yet another condition he finished "Alright, finally I already have an idea for the last favor so I will be free of your obligations from your admittedly appreciated roll in the rescue of my siblings" The last one he said in a kind voice and when she yet again silently nodded he said "Alright let's get this over with"

Hours later when Hecate was leaving she subtly floated some of his seed in a small bottle and quickly hid it before saying her goodbyes.

The next day

Perseus yet again had a woman knocking on his door, but this time it wasn't for any kind of sexual activities. Rather it was an invitation for late lunch the next day, he, of course, accepted it and the following day he stood outside one of his new neighbor's palace, he knocked with a firm hand, and soon the door was opened, with the kind face of his sister Hestia.

While they walked to her informal dining room, he noted that Hestia definitely was more efficient concerning the construction and decorating of a home. In her fashionable marble mansion, she had polished marble floors with decorated rooms on every side of the corridor they eventually followed. They came to a stylish and efficient dining room containing a long oak table in the middle with lots of simple chairs lining it on each side. Aurae the first non-Olympian/Titan inhabitants were already fixing a nice late lunch with some up and coming food dishes from the mortal world, which was quite exotic on Olympus, and Perseus's mouth watered at the delicious wafts he picked up with his nose.

The siblings sat down in seats on the end facing each other. Perseus was about to start and eat the delicious food but Hestia stopped him, making him look longingly at the food mocking him in front of him. "We will eat eventually, but I wanted to first talk to you about something important. Are you even listening?" Perseus had been listening though admittedly with minimal attention, the thing hogging the rest of his attention was the damn meal. It was a simple bread with a small bowl of olive oil and some vegetables on the side, but it was the best food he had ever seen and his stomach was currently throwing a revolution inside of him because of the food not currently down in his stomach. He absentmindedly replied "Yes I'm listening" still staring at the food.

"I don't think so, anyway it concerns your relationship with Demeter" That revelation drew his attention and he was soon watching her with an intense look in his eyes. "What about my relationship with Demeter?" He said. "Ohh quit your act, everyone can see that you like Demeter and she likes you" His eyes widened to a comical degree. "You are not very subtle with your constant gazes at each other and such, everybody suspects it already even Poseidon has pieced it together and we both know that he isn't the fastest fish in the sea mentally" The siblings shared a quick laugh at their shared brother's expense before they calmed down.

"I want to just assure that when you eventually act on your feelings that you will be responsible" Something in his expression must have given something away because she immediately followed with "By Chaos, you have already done that?" Perseus nodded a little guiltily. "Well at least you haven't been with anyone else" Perseus's guilty look remaining on his face made Hestia gasp and look at him with incredulity, not judging but still incredulous. "But you didn't be with this other woman or man after you confronted your feelings for Demeter, surely?" Hestia sighed again.

"How? You must have been with Demeter recently, she had a glowing happiness a couple of days ago so I would imagine that was when the two of you were together, meaning that you somehow were with another woman in these last days." Hestia deduced quickly. "But you surely know that this will damage your relationship with Demeter when she finds out... right?" Perseus coughed awkwardly "Well yes, and that's why she won't be informed of my other coupling. It was only a one-time thing you see." Hestia looked affronted at his plan to lie to his family or at least keeping it secret. "I know Hestia, but it's a necessity Demeter would be destroyed if she heard about it." A third party overhearing this also agreed at this conclusion.

"Anyway it was a mistake, but it is in the past now and we can only move on from here. Do you understand Hestia? I don't like doing it but it is for the best" Hestia reluctantly agreed and they finished their late lunch, Perseus completely oblivious to the third party who also heard his confession and went home.

A couple of days later

Perseus finally finished decorating his new home and he decided to get some air and explore his new domain of Nature.

He flashed into a forest located in the Arcadian mountains in the middle of the Peloponnese Peninsula. He was immediately approached by a pair of curious squirrels walking down from a nearby tree. They were intrigued by his aura, telling them that he wasn't threatening even if he looked like a predator.

He allowed them to climb up his legs and perch upon his shoulders. Suddenly a screeching sound came out of nowhere and the squirrels jumped off his shoulders. The perpetrators of this 'verbal assault' were his magical ravens Sképsi and Myaló they swooped into the clearing he stood in and occupied the previous positions of the squirrels. He rubbed the breast of Sképsi with his finger amused by his ravens' antics.

The squirrels cautiously made their way back to him, with Perseus's ravens now ignoring them in favor of whispering what they had seen and heard into Perseus's ears. While nodding with understanding at random intervals he leaned down to the squirrels and patted them while listening to his spying birds. He tried to form a connection with one of the squirrels but its brain unfortunately liquefied and Perseus had to make it another body transferring its soul over to the other body, and incinerated the old body with a snap of his fingers the now dead and reincarnated squirrel completely oblivious to its sudden demise.

Suddenly he felt a small tremor of something a couple of miles to the north. He bid the squirrels goodbye and mentally sent them away with a thought before flashing a couple of miles to his immediate north. He came across a small cave emanating with an aura of Nature. He was suddenly met with a half-man half-goat wielding a spear and a cowhide shield(the sight of it reminded him of his own shield and he became a little nostalgic at the inept shield). He didn't have any plans to attack the half-goat, but he did notice that the half-goats posture was less than adequate, to say the least.

"Halt! Who wants to approach the honorable Pan?" The half-goat half-man? said before suddenly sniffing his nose and asks "How can you smell like that? You nearly smell like... Pan himself." The goat-man looked suspiciously at Perseus.

"You can smell my domains?" Perseus said with a raised eyebrow. The goat-man nodded excitedly "So what do I smell?" The goat man replied thoughtfully. "Well you have a strong smell of Nature mixed in with lots of other unintelligible smells, I can't really get anything else than the smell of forests from you. I am sorry if that displeases you, my lord." He bowed his head submissively. "None of that... What kind of species are you?" Perseus asked. The goat-man replied with "I'm a Satyr, My...what is your name?" He bleated out a little scared of any repercussions for his bold question.

"Well, I probably should introduce myself. I am Perseus God of Nature, Sacrifice, Ravens" He nodded at his two silent companions. "... The Dusk and Dawn, Heroes, and Swordsmanship. I am also known as the Patron of Mortals" He finished with a chivalrous bow.

The now apparently Satyr gasped at his first and fourth domains because of their connection to nature and the sky and quickly fell to his knees. Perseus only sighed, because it definitely was in the job description of being a deity to have all kinds of creatures bowing and scraping to you, but it became quite annoying after a while but, he could live with it. "Just escort me to this Pan figure you mentioned" The Satyr which Perseus hadn't got the name of by the way led them into the cave which was a paradise for a nature lover with an abundance of different vines growing all around on the cave walls.

Further, into the 'corridor' they were descending through was a big chamber with hundreds of different species living together in harmony ranging from big chickens to giant hairy... elephants Perseus believed they were called(he hadn't personally seen them but he had heard of gigantic monsters, though they were apparently naked of any kind of fur) he was led into yet another 'corridor' and finally arrived at a cozy little outcrop reminding him of his own first home.

There was a being radiating power there looking like the satyr escorting him in all honesty there were a few key differences though, he for one had giant twisting horns on the top of his head in comparison with the satyr's small tips just peeking out of his hair. Two he had white fur instead of the brownish-black fur of his Satyr guide. And three he had an expression of contentedness on his face that was worthy of jealousy, with just how content and relaxed he was.

Pan noticed his visitor and said politely "Gerses, thank you for escorting our guest to me. You can leave now" The apparently named Gerses bleated in appreciation at his Patron's compliment and galloped out whistling with happiness.

"They are an underappreciated species Satyrs, always quick to help others even at the risk of their own lives. They may not be the most successful at it but at least they try, and that's all they can do" Pan said in a fond tone. Perseus decided to hijack the conversation "As much fun as it is to learn more about the nature of Satyrs I have some questions for you to answer if you want to of course" Pan nodded appreciatively at the politeness and had no problems with that so Perseus continued "Alright, Who are you?" Pan got an amused smile at the question.

"Well I am essentially an age-old personification of Nature, so a Nature deity if you will" Perseus understood and asked another question "So you have always been here since Gaia was created by Chaos?" Pan only nodded and Perseus pressed on "Do you have memories stretching through all that time?" This time Pan responded "No, or not a very clear one at least. You see I remember my creation and the first creatures walking upon this land but I do not know how long ago that was or anything of substance between then and a couple of thousand years ago. And each day I lose yet another day of memories with exactly four thousand years to the second. "Interesting" Perseus and Pan talked through the next days completely oblivious to the time, lost in their conversation...

End of Chapter

If anybody is confused by Perseus's 'power grab' in the previous chapter, then I will explain it now. 'Percy's 'power grab' is his proclamation that the surface of Gaia is his domain because as you may know, gods aren't allowed to visit a god's domain if they don't get permission so Perseus essentially claimed a monopoly of any visitation to the surface of Gaia and he has the ability to deny gods to enter the mortal world so the Trojan War may be a little different in this story(hint, hint).

Pan is also here so (*yay) a coworker for Perseus.

If anyone caught the hidden reference, then good job(*pat on the back) for catching that incredibly obscure reference.

And who is this mysterious third party? We will find out in a couple of chapters, well you will because I already know who or what it is but I digress.

Limes are going to be few and far between but they will be included in this story.

From now on I will tease you with the title of the next chapter at each end AN.

Next: Cripples, Bastards, and unBroken Things?

Thank you for reading!