Authors Note- Whats up my dudes. Long ass time. I went back and read this last night and I totally remember writing more than I had posted. I even remember having a partial finished chapter I was working on but its on a computer I don't have anymore. I decided to change the perspective the story is told from and I'll try to keep it consistent. Hope you enjoy and there's no guarantee I'll update anytime soon either, sorry.
Percy grabbed a handful of snow and shoved it in his mouth. He carefully crawled up the incline until he saw a cloud of water vapor escape from beyond the crest of the mound. He filled is mouth with more snow and slowly rose to a crouch. In front of him was a massive boar, easily 400 pounds. Percy pulled back the drawstring on his iced over recurve bow and let loose an arrow. The beast was struck through the heart and died before it could hit the ground. The arrow ended up embedding itself in the tree directly behind the boar. Percy pulled the carcass up the slope and angled the head downhill. He pulled out his knife and slit the animal's throat and let gravity drain the blood while it was still warm enough to flow. He then took his hatchet and hacked a couple juvenile oaks down. He placed two longer pieces parallel to each other a distance apart that was just little smaller than the width of the boar. He lashed two shorter pieces perpendicular to the first two and draped the corpse over his makeshift travois. He lifted up one end and dragged it back towards camp, making sure to take a path difficult to follow.
The sun had just fully risen when Percy mad it back to camp. He greeted the two Huntresses keeping watch over the camp while everyone else was scurrying about, completing their morning chores. More than a few heads turned as Percy dragged his kill through the camp towards the large Kitchen tent. The tent was on the far side of the camp and had no wall facing the inside of the camp. Girls running between grills and fires could be seen preparing breakfast. Next to the Kitchen tent was a place to skin and clean animal carcasses. Percy sat down without a word and began to finish gutting and cleaning the massive boar. He placed the intestines and various other organs in a bucket meant as fish chum for the monster they were currently hunting. He cleaned and treated the pelt with a solution of ammonia and salt then stretched the hide over a tanning rack to dry. Percy began disassembling the meat into various cuts but left the entire ribcage intact to be smoked. Thalia walked over carrying a bowl of water and a bar of soap.
"Nice kill Perce, we'll be eating good tonight!" She exclaimed. She sat the bowl down along with the soap on the table next to him, "Wash up, I'll go grab you some breakfast. I know how you like your rabbit bacon."
"Thanks, Thalia!" Percy called out as Thalia ducked into the Kitchen tent. There was a loud banging noise followed by a number of people beginning to make a commotion. Thalia returned surprisingly promptly, given the usual breakfast line, with two plates piled high with snobrød toast, ostrich eggs, and rabbit bacon.
"Come on, Seaweed Brain, lets fine somewhere to sit that doesn't smell like fresh raw meat."
They made there way over to a collection of rocks towards the edge of camp that were perfect for sitting on. After reveling in their food in silence, Thalia finally spoke up after picking her teeth clean.
"Are you excited for tonight?"
"I guess, it has been a tough three months." Percy replied.
"Come on, what you did is impressive. You completed Artemis' Lieutenant training in three months, it usually is a one-year course!" Thalia pushed. "I even think Zoe might be a little jealous." She teased.
"Shut it, will you? She completed the same training centuries ago."
"Yeah, but she didn't get the accelerated version. Plus, I heard from some older girls that Zoe's kill for her ceremony wasn't as large as yours either."
"Size isn't everything, Thalia." Percy rebutted.
"Fair enough, I'm just excited to taste that amazing cooking of yours again." Thalia admitted.
Percy sighed; the hunt had more or less stopped tormenting him. After they saw that the grueling training he had with Artemis and Zoe those first few weeks were not relenting and were, in fact, getting more intense, they decided the every day teasing could stop. A number of them had started conversations with him and some even did every day. Today was the final task of the training, to cook a dinner for the entire hunt entirely on his own. Some might think this wasn't a particularly difficult final exam, however, you need to account for the sheer number of people he was cooking for. Roughly 100 girls with monstrous appetites from running around and being active all day. He had been preparing the passed week for the feast tonight. He already had some side dishes made but today the focus would be on the main course. Percy has spent the last 2 days tracking down this fat pig and barley had enough time to prepare and cook it all. Even worse, he had to share the Kitchen at lunch time and had to leave enough space for them to make lunch.
Percy stood up, said goodbye to Thalia and made his way to the kitchens to start working his meat. He stuck the ribs on a rotisserie spit and through some applewood chips soaked in spiced water onto the fire below the ribs. He started preparing everything else while the ribs smoked slowly throughout the day.
Artemis and Zoe watched Percy from inside the tree line. Neither of them had said a word while they followed Percy during his two-day expedition. Well, followed Percy isn't the right way to put it. They followed him by tracking the boar he was hunting. They couldn't talk for fear Percy would discover them. He had truly hidden away from the world when stalking his prey. They saw the final moments of the boar and they couldn't even detect the arrow until it had struck the tree, mere inches from their heads. Both were impressed to say the least.
"He has done unexpectedly well here." Zoey broke the silence, voice a little harsh from not using it.
"Yes," replied Artemis, "It's almost as if he was born of the forest."
Zoe stared at Artemis, puzzled. She had never heard her lady give such high praise to anyone. Not Orion, or to herself. A pang of jealousy spiked across Zoe's heart but faded just as quick. Artemis still had not taken her eyes off him since he had killed the boar. There was a look on her face that Zoe didn't recognize. It was one of approbation for sure, but there was also something more to it that she couldn't quite figure out. "Although, these next three months won't get easier for him, or any of us, if we're tracking what we think we're tracking." Zoe sad grimly.
"Let's go, we've seen all we need to of him. We have our own preparations for tonight." Artemis said.
"You don't mean we're performing the ceremony?" Zoe replied in shock.
"Don't be silly, he's not a member of the hunt. He can't become a Lieutenant. This is one we've never done before." Artemis answered with a glint in her eye. With that, the two of them made themselves known around camp, planning the special ceremony for Percy.
As the sun lazily sank in the distance, the Hunters finished seating themselves around a few banquet tables. All four tables were already set and at each spot a steamy bowl of soup and a salad made from plants gathered in the area already waited to be eaten. There were dishes of varying sizes and a massive rack of ribs at the center of each table. The mouths of everyone present were watery with anticipation of the meal to come. They had discovered early on how good of a cook Percy was when he first landed in Kitchen duty when rotating chores. When asked, he just answered that he used to cook for his mom a lot. A few hunters tried convincing Artemis to give Percy permanent kitchen duty, for the sake of fairness, she declined. Even though she secretly wanted it too. As soon as Percy finished putting the desserts, mainly pies and cakes, on the dessert table the girls all immediately began to stuff there faces. Despite planning for a three-course meal, Percy had several Hunters bum-rush the desserts and he had to jump out of the way to avoid taking any damage.
As the feast winded down and the sun was just about to disappear for the night, torches surrounding the tables all lit up at once. Standing so everyone could see her, Artemis began speaking.
"Hunters!" She called, "We can enjoy this bountiful spread tonight thanks to our guest, Perseus!" A surprising amount of cheers went up from the Hunters. "Although, he is not much of a guest anymore his he." Artemis continued. She turned toward Percy. "Perseus, the Hunt has deemed you worthy. A unanimous decision, the first of its kind. Perseus, will you become a honorary member of the Hunt?" Percy froze, unsure if he had heard her right. He looked at the faces around him, all looked kind and welcoming. Even those that had never talked to him were smiling at him. Percy stood up, barely concealing the shaking of his body. He knelt in front of Artemis and answered,
"Yes, Lady Artemis. I happily accept."
"Then swear to always be an ally to the Hunt, and to me." Artemis said, resolutely.
"I, Perseus Jackson, swear upon the river styx to always be an ally of the Hunt and an ally of the moon."
"In return, I, the goddess of the Moon, the Hunt, and childbirth, recognize your skill, character, and place among the Hunt. You will always find a home here in the hunt. This I swear on the river styx." A small whirlwind carrying dust only a few feet off the ground encircled the two of them, sealing the solemn contract. "Zoe." Artemis called out. Zoe appeared out of nowhere carrying a bundle in her hands.
"It is time your gear reflected your skill." Artemis exclaimed. Zoe handed a white cloak, almost indistinguishable from their surroundings, to Percy. "This cloak is enchanted to change camouflage befitting any environment you may find yourself in." Next, Zoe handed Percy a necklace, a boar tusk was shaved down and hung from the brown twine. Percy grabbed the dangling necklace by the ornament and the tusk suddenly morphed into a dull ivory, traditional recurve bow, a quiver of arrows appeared on my back too. Percy was utterly speechless.
"Finally, to mark you has belonging to the Hunt." Zoe produced a small black box. Inside contained an onyx black wring with a silver crescent moon acting like a bow with a knocked arrow and drawstring back emblazoned on it. "I present you with my personal seal."
Percy was trying his best to act like his eyes weren't tearing up. The Hunters all stood up and cheered for him. In one way or another, Percy had helped every single one of them. Even Phoebe had to grudgingly admit he saved her life once, but they both still won't talk about it. There was no doubt he had earned it.
"Thank you, Artemis, thank you everyone. I really don't know what to say." Percy managed to get out.
"I declare Perseus' training complete. The rest of the evening is yours." Artemis said, turning towards the crowd of Hunters. Percy waited in a daze until the dining area was cleared out. Zoe and Thalia were the only two left, together they start cleaning up after the night's festivities. Idle chit chat filled the air until late into the night.
