I'm baack.

I have been hit with inspiration in the form of boredom, caffeine, and a great desire to put off doing actual work, so I'm updating again. So soon after the last chapter.

Last chapter was filler, any way. Way too short. I realized that in writing the previous chapter that it was getting way too long, so I had to cut it in half.

Obviously unevenly.

So hopefully this makes up for it.

Warnings for this chapter: Um, more serious tonally than previous chapters, I guess.

Enjoy! Leave a review, if at all possible. I love reviews.

Peaceful.

It was a shame the stars wouldn't have her undivided attention tonight.

Zoe assigned Orion to keep watch. Then she waited until everyone else was asleep before crawling out of her tent. An olive branch in the form of privacy. She got the impression that he would withdraw from her as well if she had tried to talk to him in front of others, and then where would she be?

Orion eyed her as she took a seat next to him, surprised, but not quite ready to run yet. A good sign. "Can I help you?"

"Perhaps thou can," she leaned back against a rock, directing her gaze upwards. The stars were out. The trees were conveniently parted in the clearing they had set up camp in, and the night was clear. It was, in her opinion, a beautiful night.

Stars were soothing. They reminded her that she had gained something since her banishment, that it wasn't all loss and betrayal. There was no night in the garden, after all. Just a constant oscillation between civil twilight and nautical twilight and astronomical twilight. Nothing but the brightest of stars had been visible in the garden. She supposed it was beautiful, but there was only so much dusk one could admire before it became boring. At least outside, the skies change. The days followed the path of a wheel and not a pendulum.

It sounded like symbolism for something she couldn't quite figure out. No matter, poetry wasn't her forte, anyway.

"Um," Orion's voice interrupted her musings. "Are you stargazing?"

Right. She had a job to do.

"Yes," all conversations have to begin somewhere. This is as good an opening as any. "Dost thou?"

"Sometimes," he admitted. He sounded cautious, like he was expecting a trap, and it occurred to her that this was the first conversation she's had with the giant after the initial round of questions died down. An actual conversation, not curt commands or one word responses.

Perhaps they had been a bit too hard on him.

"I didn't mean to make thee feel unwelcome," she started. He blinked, the apertures of his mechanical eyes shuttering open and closed. It was as close to an apology as she was willing to give.

"Thou must understand, most of our encounters with men are not pleasant. I'm sure thou art familiar with some of the stories, so I shall spare thee the details. The point is, it is difficult for Hunters to interact with men, much less trust one."

"You're talking to me right now," he pointed out.

"It is a struggle, I assure thee."

He cracked a smile. Then he turned serious. "Artemis sent you to talk to me, didn't she?"

"Not at all. I sent myself."

"Any particular reason why? I assume this isn't a social call."

"Thou would be correct. My lady has informed me of a visit by a certain love goddess, who shall go unnamed."

Orion froze. "Ah."

"Thou hast been avoiding the goddess for weeks," she plowed on. "It is starting to become a concern."

His face twisted in grimace. "She might have mentioned that she was invested in having Artemis and I...pursue a relationship expressly forbidden in our oaths."

A surge of fury shot through her. How dare she. Wasn't it bad enough that that meddling, hypocrite of a goddess was taking away her sisters? Now she wanted to take away her goddess as well?

She knew that Artemis was immune to love magic, but Orion...

She'd had to trust in her goddess's judgement.

"I see," she managed to say after getting her temper under control. "The goddess trusts thee, and I trust her, so I shall give thee the benefit of the doubt."

"...Thank you."

"But I'm sure I do not need to remind thee of thy oath, and the life thou now lead."

"Of course."

"Good," she nodded. She went back to stargazing, deeming her duty fulfilled.

"Zoe?" Orion apparently deemed it otherwise.

"Yes?"

"Excuse the abrupt question, but what was your life like? Before Artemis, I mean."

She stiffened. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, you seemed to know about me. I think it's only fair to know something about you," he turned sheepish. "Never mind."

She let the silence drag on a bit.

"I was a nymph," she allowed. "I was exiled after I aided a hero, who forgot me the moment his quest was over."

"Ah," he seemed surprised that she actually answered. "Heracles?"

She jerked in surprise, "How did you-"

"Lucky guess." Fair. The man allegedly fought basically every monster in Greece, after all. She wondered how many of his victories were actually his. "I would have met him in battle, you know, if I hadn't decided to desert."

She didn't want to talk about him, especially to another male. She changed the topic. "And what had made thee decide that?"

He shrugged. "I was born to oppose the Archer twins, one of whom was the god of prophecy and the other rejected her destiny to become a Huntress. I suppose my resulting personality was made to reject whatever destiny I was given." His voice went quiet. "I keep expecting my mother to open a crevice under my feet and cast me into the abyss. She did that to my brother, Damesen, just for avenging a mortal. I'm actively consorting with the enemy."

"Perhaps she is too deeply asleep now to do anything."

Orion didn't look convinced. "Perhaps." He shook his head, "I really don't know why I'm telling you this. I don't know if I should be."

"I have been informed that building rapport is integral to teamwork," she offered a smile. A peace offering. "Thou art doing fine."

And if the tension present in the camp lessened just a bit the following day, well, no one really likes tension anyway.

Yep. I have been rereading what I wrote, and have come to the conclusion that the Hunters really wouldn't warm up to Orion that quickly. Thus, a chapter in which Orion starts to fit in just a little more. You'll notice that the tone is a bit more serious than previous chapters, but I suppose it makes sense from what we've seen of Zoe's personality. Hopefully it wasn't too jarring.

So yeah. Stay tuned, leave a review, etc, etc.