Hello! I'm back.

This is the next chapter.

Warnings: Um...can't think of anything. It's somewhat heavy on the feels in the end?

Concern.

Artemis eyed the giant, who looked rather shell-shocked by the turn of events. She considered gleaning his surface thoughts, but decided against such a breach of privacy. He was a Hunter now, after all, and if no one else, she trusted her Hunters.

Orion doesn't seem to have welcomed Aphrodite's company, at any rate.

After doing a thorough once-over to ensure that Aphrodite hadn't afflicted him with any love magic, she let him get back to camp with instructions to shoot the goddess should she show up without invitation again. Orion seemed all too happy to obey.

Orion was a good shot. He wouldn't miss.

That'll teach her to mess with one of her own again.

Orion was avoiding her.

It took awhile for her to catch on, considering that he didn't like to draw attention to himself in the first place. But after going two weeks of only seeing his retreating form, she started to suspect that something was wrong.

It didn't take much longer for her new lieutenant to raise the issue.

"My lady," said Zoe, "This is presumptuous of me to bring up…"

"Yes?" she inquired. She was still new the job, still unsure of how to approach her. It was going to be a sensitive topic, then.

"It's about Orion."

Of course it was. Out of all the Hunters, Zoe wasn't the most outspoken in her dislike of the giant, but she was indisputably the most protective of the Hunt and its members. Artemis hadn't made her lieutenant for nothing, after all. It wasn't surprising that acute observation skills came as a side effect of that protectiveness.

Artemis found herself touched by her devotion. It was really a shame that she had never seen Orion as one of the Hunters. Artemis knew Zoe well enough to know that she would only talk to her and not Orion if she believed that Orion was the threat.

"Go on," she prompted.

"He seemed to be avoiding thee as of late."

"Yes, I've noticed."

"Thou dost not think that is cause for concern?"

"Oh, I do believe it is cause for concern," she reassured her. She wasn't an idiot, after all. "Aphrodite seemed to have left a mark on him."

Zoe stiffened at the mention of the love goddess. "What did she do?"

"Physically? Nothing, I think. But you know that there are subtler ways of...ah, influencing people."

Zoe grimaced, "What art thou going to do?"

"Aside from using her for target practice the next time we meet? Have a discussion with Orion, for starters. Remind him of his oath, that sort of thing."

Her lieutenant hesitated. "Is that...safe, my lady?"

What if he turned out to be like every other man who targeted the Hunt? What if Aphrodite's influence was enough to make him target thee?

Ah, so new to the whole Lieutenant position, and she had already mastered the art of the Unspoken Double Meaning.

"Why wouldn't it be safe?" Then I will defend myself. That, at least, is within my abilities, even if doing the same for the Hunt doesn't seem to be.

"No reason at all, my lady." Those incidents are not thy fault. Callisto was not thy fault. Thou dost not need to prove anything. We are still devoted to thee as ever.

"Oh?" Is that the general consensus, or is it just you?

"I do believe that it is the duty of thy lieutenant to build rapport, however." We're all still here, aren't we?

"Oh. Very well, then. I will leave the speaking to you." Thank you, Zoe.

Zoe nodded respectfully, before going on her way.

Yep, Artemis thought. She'll go far.

Zoe would never be Callisto, but perhaps Artemis didn't want a replacement.

The next Lieutenant would have a lot to live up to. Hopefully the day she had to choose a new one wouldn't come any time soon.

Yeah, I know, this chapter is a bit filler-y, and short, but hey, that's because it's the build up to the next chapter! (As the name implies). Hopefully I did okay with the Zoe and Artemis dynamic. I thought they were awesome in The Titan's Curse. I do hope I did their chemistry justice. Zoe is still new to the whole lieutenant business as of right now. Artemis was still not over what happened to Callisto, and her role in turning her into a bear. I'd imagine that she had issues coming to terms with the whole thing.

It's my head-canon that Callisto was lieutenant before the whole Zeus thing happened. She was Artemis's best friend. I assumed that was the reason. Or maybe her friendship was what made her lieutenant. Whichever one came first.