Hello.

How are you today?

So in researching this for this chapter, I found out that Artemis and Apollo's birthdays, the day the Thargelia is held, is approximately May 24th and 25th.

So I missed a perfect opportunity. Oops.

In this chapter, Apollo enters the chat.

As always, please leave a review. They do make me feel happy. And appreciated.

Enjoy!

Confusion.

Apollo had appeared on Delos in a flash of light, dressed up in the latest fashions from Mount Olympus, ready to kick off his birthday celebrations. "Yo, the awesomer twin has arrived! Let the feast begin!"

Then he noticed that someone was conspicuously absent.

Apollo frowned at his mother. "Where's little sis?"

"Artemis said that she was running late," Leto said, sipping at her nectar.

"On her birthday?" Such a concept did not bear imagining for him.

"She said that something came up in the Hunt."

Interesting. Artemis had always been the more punctual of the two. Apollo personally preferred being fashionably late.

Speaking of which, Artemis seemed to be showing up to things late a lot recently. Apollo remembered the time he and Hermes set up a prank involving tadpoles outside one of her temples in Kalydon during Harvest time, and by the time she showed, they had all turned into frogs and hopped away. Hermes was sooo disappointed.

Which was weird, because he knew that Artemis had a certain fondness for that particular festival, considering that the last time the Kalydonians forgot about her, she had sicced a death pig on them.

Or the time of the Winter Solstice. She had come in an hour late grumbling something about respecting other people's life decisions and glaring daggers at Aphrodite. Even Zeus had been too scared to reprimand her for her tardiness.

Come to think of it, he hadn't visited the Hunt in...what was it, two years now? Perhaps it was high time he showed.

"I'll be back," he told his mother, before disappearing in a flash of light.

He grinned to himself. His baby sister was always happy when he showed up to her Hunt. It was going to be fun!

Artemis did not look happy when he showed up in a flash of golden light.

"Come to kidnap another girl?" she asked acerbically.

Ouch. Apollo abruptly remembered why he had been staying clear of her Hunt for the past two years.

"But little sister-"

"Do not call me that!"

"I was just getting worried because you've been so distant lately-"

"Have you considered that it might be because I want to be left alone?"

"-But today's our birthday! You can't spend your birthday without the rest of the family! The mortals sacrificed fruit for us and everything! You have to come!"

"Oh," she paused, like she forgot.

"Sis," Apollo was suddenly worried, "What's going on?"

Her expression morphed into something that could only be described as defensive. "Swear that you won't try to kill him."

"Him? Ooh, Artemis-"

Artemis made a growl in the back of her throat, like a bear ready to strike. "Swear it, or get out, Apollo."

"Fine," he nodded, because he was a good big brother. "I swear."

Artemis relaxed minutely. "Come on, then."

"Artemis," he said, feeling a sudden need to be discrete, "It's a man."

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I've noticed."

"A hot man."

Artemis paused, as if it hadn't occurred to her. "If you say so."

"And he's a giant."

Said giant looked between the twins, as if watching a very intense game of shuttlecock. Both gods ignored him.

"Problem, brother dear?"

"Aren't we supposed to be killing giants?"

"Well, he seemed to be behaving himself thus far. I have yet a reason to."

"And what is he doing here?"

"He's part of my Hunt now. I made him take the oath and everything."

"...Why?"

"I have my reasons, none of which you need to concern yourself with."

"So you're not worried about breaking your own oath?"

"For Father's sake, Apollo, you do realize that it's entirely possible for two people to be friends without being romantically attached."

"Friends. Sure." Apollo nodded, letting a grin stretch his features, despite his unease. "Is that why you've been spending more time with the Hunt than anything else lately?"

Artemis's silver eyes narrowed, "I'm sure you did not mean to insinuate what I think you did."

Now, the thing about gods was that despite being immortal, they still had what mortals would call self-preservation instincts. After all, grievous bodily injury and other forms of damage was not limited to mortals.

Apollo's self preservation instincts were not particularly well honed, but Artemis, being the goddess of wild animals, had the effect of amplifying the self preservation instincts of everyone around her. The effect was especially prominent on whoever held Artemis's attention at the time. It was even more prominent when she was angry.

Apollo had the misfortune of being both the object of her attention and the target of her anger. Cold sweat started appearing on his brow.

"Of course not," he reassured with a winning smile. "I'm sure you knew what you are doing. Shall we get started with Thargelia?"

A tense moment. For a moment, Apollo wondered if she'd call him out.

Then Artemis nodded, obviously having declared the matter of Orion dropped. She made to leave the tent, and Apollo followed him. Orion said his goodbyes, visibly relieved that they weren't talking about him anymore, and turned back to his duties.

They both missed the look of distrust Apollo threw over his shoulder.

And that, my friends, is what they call foreshadowing.

So fun fact: I actually wrote the first part of the chapter before I wrote my previous two chapters, which is why it feels so tonally different, and more in line with the earlier chapters. At least, the difference was pretty glaring when I'm writing it. I don't know, do you notice a large difference? If you do, which one do you prefer? Or should I alternate between them?

Trying to balance humor and drama is hard, guys. I should give those people who can manage both at the same time more credit.

Thanks for the reviews and encouragement!

Also thanks for reading. Do leave a review, if possible.

Until next time!