The Beginning
Chapter 3:
The women blinks against the metal hovering near her throat, and raises an eyebrow.
"Would you raise arms against an unarmed opponent? And a pregnant one at that." She speaks unhurried and slow, like someone who has all the time in the world, and Percy grits his teeth, thinks scornfully Immortals and freezes.
It's not what she said, but the language she spoke in. If it was Greek, it would make sense. He understands modern Greek, and even the older dialects fairly well, thanks to his heritage.
However, this language- it's recognisable as Ancient Greek, it shares the same incantations and verbs. But at the same time, the Ancient Greek dictionary inbuilt into his brain is sending Error Pending messages. He can understand the general gist of what she is saying, yes, but there were words that just didn't feel right in his brain.
At Camp, they were part taught and part just knew the three major dialects of Ancient Greece: Dorian Greek, Ionic Greek and Aeolian Greek.
But this? This is something different. Terrifyingly enough, he suspects it might be something older.
A small part of his brain screams at him to remember the strange water, the silence of the forest, the women's old style of handmade clothes, and he ignores it for later examination.
After all, the immediate threat of an immortal- almost definitely a Titan- is right in front of him, and he suspects due to his earlier understanding that he can make out her words if he concentrates hard enough, so he focuses on her.
She is staring at him expectantly, waiting for a response and so he indulges her, sword unwavering.
"I highly doubt you are unarmed," and because he has met types like her he before he adds "My lady."
She shrugs, studying him with unabashed curiosity- he gets the feeling that she could hide her feelings expertly if she wished, but doesn't care enough about him to do so. "True enough, although this conversation would be smoother without a pointed piece of metal in my face, if you understand."
Percy smiles without humour. He doesn't know who she is, and so he has no inclination of removing his safety net without something to reassure him, especially on this not-quite-right island. "We must all protect ourselves somehow." Percy says calmly, gazing at her.
It is a test, and she knows it. "Thankfully, none shall come to harm on this island- unless, of course, they cause harm first."
It is both a subtle reassurance and threat, and he studies her body language before silently re-capping Riptide. He's trusted more suspicious individuals on less, after all.
Before the Titan War, he would have seen surrendering his weapon as a sign of submission, an acknowledgement of her power over him as a mortal. Now? He has fought Titans.
Several of them, actually.
He isn't sure that he could defeat her (his fatal flaw will never be over-confidence) but he could at least put up a decent fight, especially with the river next to him.
"So," she breaks the silence first, a strange curiosity in her eyes, "What are you?"
Of all the things she could have said, that throws him, and he stares in disbelief at her.
"What am I?" He repeats, his mind running wild.
Does she live under a rock? Or- he blinks as a thought comes to him. Maybe this was some kind of time bubble, like Ogygia but on steroids. Complete isolation from the outside world.
Still, to have not seen humans before? Humans were everywhere. Surely she had to have come across one of the 7 something billion of them at some point.
She crosses her arms, the movement drawing attention to her pregnancy, and at the reminder of other life he draws a mental cross over isolation from the world, although he wouldn't be surprised if a God had cursed her to be pregnant forever in a fit of petty vengeance and then proceeded to forgot about her on an island somewhere.
Admittedly, the situation sounded more in line for a mortal lover than a probable Titaness, but hey, it could happen. Just look at Calypso.
"Yes? Are you just slow, or is it supposed to be obvious?" She says with a huff, although he got the feeling most of it was for show. "Are you some new spawn of one of my siblings? Your aura feels like-" she cuts herself quickly, and looks away, and he is positively burning with curiosity now.
Percy raises an eyebrow and says, "I'm a human. And as far as I know, I have no affiliation with any of your siblings." He leaves out the rest of his heritage, because if she hasn't heard of humans, then demigods were probably a no go too and he doesn't want to reveal his entire hand just yet.
She was a Titan after all, although he admits she doesn't seem to mean him any harm. Yet, his self-preservation whispers, and he acknowledges the warning that it is.
A thought strikes him- she is a Titan. He had answered a strong 'No' when she asked if he had any affiliation with her siblings, but it's quite possible that he's met or even fought one. After all, most Titans that he can remember were family.
Still, he can definitely confirm that his parents aren't Titans (the idea might have even been insulting to his father, which is funny), so he technically still answered somewhat truthfully.
It's a good thing, because he may be an accomplished liar, but he feels like if he lied, she could look into his soul and see the truth if she wanted too anyway.
Not that that would stop him, though.
Then again, now that he thinks about it, most Immortals felt like that. Maybe it was a side affect of the long-life span?
He is pulled out of his musings when she takes a soft step back, away from both the river and himself.
Percy blinks as her eyes widen, and he briefly makes out a hint of fear before she smooths her face out.
A Titan afraid of Humans?
Her next words are harsh, accusations flying, "Are you some new version of mortal my husband has created, then? Has he sent you to watch over me?" Her eyes narrow. "I told him I wished to be alone here."
That is… a lot to take in. Her husband? Percy does a little mental run down of all the Greek mythology he knows, trying to come up with an answer, but finds zip.
Percy wasn't exactly known for being the brains of the situation, - and his heart gives a painful throb that he ruthlessly ignores- but even he had absorbed some information about the annoyances that make up the Greek world. Nothing was ringing a bell.
He frowns.
"As far as I know, I wasn't created by your husband or sent by him, either." Percy informs her. That is the truth, after all. The only one who could be blamed for his appearance is Kronos, of all people.
"You're lying."
"You know I'm not."
She frowns. "If you are human, then you must be lying. They answer to my husband. Although," she looks critically at him. "You look like no mortal I have ever seen."
Percy raises an eyebrow, and laughs. "I'm a special little snowflake, all right."
Weirdly enough, the more he talked with her, the less concerned he was. Of her, at least.
Her husband, on the other hand…
According to her, he created humans who answer to him, which is bullshit, because he's pretty sure that that honour goes to Zeus in all his Godly glory and humans have definitely never answered to him.
Been scared shitless of him, yes. But answered to him? No. Not willingly.
So is she lying, or being lied to?
His attention drifts back to her, where she wears a blank expression that Percy would be willing to bet several drachmas on being caused by the term "Special little snowflake".
"What?" she says in confusion, her tone steady but eyes baffled.
Still, no-one has ever accused Percy Jackson of not being a little shit, so he smirks, and deliberately doesn't answer her question.
Besides, changing the topic seems safer, for now at least.
"It's just that I'm usually asked for my name before my species, to be perfectly honest," and then because he isn't a complete asshole, he takes pity on her, and says "My name is Percy."
"Percy." The name sounds foreign on her tongue, and she sounds puzzled at the sound of it. He considers offering her the name Perseus to use, and then gives a mental shrug. Percy is his name, whether she likes it or not.
There is a silence in which he stares at her expectantly, and she seems to not know that she is supposed to giver her name in turn.
"My name is Percy," he repeats, "And your name is…?"
She gives him a confused look, like she thought it was a stupid question, before raising a judgmental eyebrow.
"You should already know my name, if you are a human."
His eyebrows shoot up, and he says with some annoyance. "I am a human, but I obviously don't." Her haughtiness is getting annoying, and a sudden flash of familiarity at the tone fills him, but he can't quite place it.
She studies him like a bug under a microscope, before nodding decisively. "Very well. I am Rhea, Queen of the Titans."
Well, he thinks, Shit.
Percy's entire body stiffens, and he quickly chokes down the urge to pull out Riptide once again.
He really, really, really wishes she was lying. But the sudden familiarity at her words from earlier and her face -her eyes and even her hair, recognisable as the same black as his own- bring him little comfort in that regard.
She is who she says she is, and that's a lot terrifying, and a tiny bit cool. Just a smidge.
Rhea (because that's who she is, Kronos's wife and the elder God's mother, and Percy may be freaking out just a little bit) smiles in satisfaction, obviously noting his reaction but probably not really understanding the reason behind it.
At least, Percy hopes Rhea doesn't understand the reason for it, because things would get messy, fast.
"Ah," she says, like she hasn't caused problems for him just by existing, "You've heard of me, then."
"Most people have." Percy manages to grit out, his mind whirling. Why was she here? Had she heard about the war? Whose side was she on?
In the myths, she had hated her husband for eating her kids (understandable, really, it seemed like the kind of think that could make or break a marriage, to him).
Percy went cold. Her husband. Rhea had claimed that her husband made humans- and that he sent them to check up on her. But that was impossible- as far as Percy was aware, Kronos hated humans, mortal scum in his eyes.
Plus, last time Percy checked, Kronos was busy being blown up. So how was he sending people to check up on his wife?
And then- and then- Percy thinks. About time, Seaweed Brain the voice of Annabeth declares, and his mind whirls. Everything strange or odd that's happened to him since showing up.
The rough water, the weird stillness of the forest around them, her being unable to recognise a human-
Percy remembers the proud tone she had had when declaring herself to be Queen of the Titans (so much like Hera, now he knew the connection) and felt the puzzle pieces arrange themselves into place.
Because there was no queen of the Titans, at least not now. But there was before.
And, of course, the last piece of evidence, staring him in the face. Because Rhea, Titan of motherhood and fertility, was pregnant.
And according to the myths, she had only ever had six children.
Percy closed his eyes.
Kronos was a dick. He was also the Titan of time.
And Percy was pretty sure that this wasn't the 21st century.
Notes:
So the language thing is basically there were 3 main dialects in Ancient Greece. You had:
- Dorian Greek. This version of the language was spoken by the Dorian people who loved on the Greek mainland, in Cyprus, and on the island of Crete.
- Ionic Greek. This dialect of the language was spoken on some of the smaller Greek islands, on the eastern coast of the mainland (such as in Athens), and on the southwest coast of Asia Minor.
- Aeolian Greek. This version of Ancient Greek was spoken in the rest of Greece, including the northern islands in the Mediterranean, and on the northwest coast of Asia Minor.
There were some other differences, regionally, but that was what was mostly spoken. Anyway, what I'm trying to convey in this chapter is that even though the Language Rhea is speaking is older than all of that, its still close enough to what Percy is used to that he can understand it.
With that out of the way, Percy has finally realised that he is not, in fact, in Kanas anymore. Or the right time, for that matter. I wonder how he'll take it?
As always, please Read and Review and I'll see you next week!