13
Reyna
Mason handled the pegasus ride fairly well, all things considered. At least until a few minutes in when he threw up. Thankfully, they seemed to be over a sparsely populated area of New York state.
Reyna, on the other hand, enjoyed the sensation of flying. The wind in her face and the quietness of the sky were old friends of hers by this point, as she had spent plenty of time in the air with a pegasus companion.
She was shaken from her moment of peace by Tabitha, who quietly spoke her first words since the encounter on Goat Island.
"Reyna, can I ask you something?"
Reyna glanced back to Tabitha, who was staring down at the passing green landscape below. "Anything," she replied.
Tabitha seemed to hesitate. "Back at the museum, where we ran into each other… and you said you remembered me from camp…"
It didn't seem clear to Reyna where this was going. "Yes?"
"Were you lying?"
Reyna blinked in surprise. "What do you mean?"
"I mean did you really recognize me? Or did you just trust that I was from camp since I knew about it and mentioned it by name?"
She thought for just a moment. "I did recognize you, though if I'm being honest, sometimes it's difficult to remember more than faces and names."
"Then you don't remember the conversation we had, four months ago?"
Even with the air blowing past them, Reyna's breath caught, her expression frozen in a mixture of thought and speechlessness. She thought back to that time period, and all of the faces she had encountered. In the wake of Gaea's defeat and the uniting of both demigod camps, there was much to accomplish as a Praetor. Even though her true duty lied at Camp Jupiter, she still spent much time at Camp Half-Blood as well, working with the counselors and leaders in everything from construction repairs to combat training. There had been a large influx of new campers as well, at both camps, and it meant many new faces on what sometimes seemed like a daily basis. Many fresh, excited, scared, confused, and altogether overwhelmed teenagers thrown into a brand-new world and life. She had done her best to make sure every one of them was taken care of and assured that they had a place, whether in the Legion or at Camp Half-Blood.
And yet Reyna couldn't remember talking with Tabitha.
It was a crushing realization, a weight that tugged at her heart and sank deep into her gut. Here was someone who was a member of the Legion, someone who respected her as a leader and trusted her enough to put their life into her hands out in the world, and she couldn't even give them the dignity of remembering a conversation, one that seemed from Tabitha's tone to be one that had some kind of significant impact on her. Reyna wasn't sure if her question was spurred by something the girl had seen in their encounter with the shadowy Giant, but it didn't matter in her mind.
The silence, even brief, seemed to answer Tabitha's question for her. Reyna heard her tone change to be more casual and lighthearted like normal, though it also sounded like a deflection. "Don't worry about it, I know you've got a lot on your plate. Gods know I wouldn't be able to handle half of it. I'm sure there are a crap-ton of people you talk with every day."
Reyna steeled through a minute or two of silence before glancing back to Tabitha. The girl's eyes were blankly staring out across the ground, and Reyna could still see a hint of disappointment in them. She wished words would come to her, but every possible thing to say seemed like either a pathetic excuse or a cowardly deflection, so she resigned herself to the torturous silence.
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Reaching Manhattan took hardly any time at all, with the skyline of the city coming into view just past noon, the sunlight pouring down over the island. Percy decided it would be best if they landed on the ground and went up the elevator instead of flying directly to Olympus, considering they had with them two Romans and a mortal. Zeus had been kind enough not to smite him out of the sky, so he wasn't about to push his luck.
The pegasi landed in an alley a short distance from the Empire State Building, and Reyna made sure to give Guido a pat and a thank you as they all disembarked, which he accepted with a cheerful shake of his head. Mason muttered a thank you as well, and Reyna was surprised that it sounded genuine despite the lack of color on his face.
Soon enough, the five of them entered the lobby of the Empire State Building, walking up to the front desk.
"Hey there," Percy said, leaning on the counter. "We've got an appointment. Six hundredth floor."
The guard, who was occupied with a book with a dragon on the cover, looked up with unimpressed eyes. "Do you now?"
"Yup."
"Name for the appointment?" he said, leaning forward to check the computer.
"Uh, Reyna, I guess," Percy said, glancing back to her.
"Reyna Ramírez-Arellano," she said. "We were instructed to come here, and that there would be those wishing to speak with the five of us."
The guard glanced up with a raised eyebrow. "Five of you?"
Reyna met his eyes. "Yes."
His eyes narrowed at he looked around at the group. Nico seemed to be holding the guard's gaze as well, almost as unimpressed as him. Tabitha looked unsure of herself but tried to stand up straight. Mason gave the guard an awkward wave, which seemed to narrow the guard's eyes even more.
"Yeah, I've got clearance for you, but not for him," the guard said, lazily pointing a finger towards Mason. "He'll have to stay down here."
"Wait, why?" Reyna said.
"I only got word of five people coming, I wasn't informed one of them would be mortal. I can't be letting up a mortal without specific clearance from up top."
Reyna set her hands on the counter, glaring at the guard. "We were given specific instruction that the five of us had reason to be here. Does it matter if one of us is mortal?"
The guard lifted his hands in a half-hearted surrender pose. "Listen, lady, I don't make the rules. If you wanna go up and get someone to vouch for him that's all good, but for now there's nothing I can do."
Reyna scowled at the guard. This seemed entirely unfair and unnecessary, and she wasn't about to just leave Mason behind, especially not after all that had happened in the last two days.
As she was about to speak up again, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to see Mason. "Hey," he said. "It's okay, alright? He's just doing his job."
"I didn't come all this way just to leave-"
"You're not. Look, if what he said is true, you just go up there, talk to someone, then come get me, right? No problem. Besides, you need to get what you came here for." He smiled at her, his golden-brown eyes soft with reassurance. "You've got more people than me to worry about, right?"
She looked him over, her eyes landing on the dimples on his cheeks. She shook her head lightly. "Fine. But you need to stay put, and I will come and get you."
Mason nodded.
Reyna looked back to the guard. "Very well. The four of us, then. Is that sufficient?"
The guard just handed her a keycard. "Put this in the security slot. Only the four of you."
She took the keycard, glancing to the rest of the group and nodding. As they entered the elevator, the last thing she saw before the doors closed was Mason standing in the lobby, hand raised in a small wave.
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Camp Jupiter never ceased to fill Reyna with a sense of pride and accomplishment, with all of its magnificent marble buildings and statues. However, Olympus was an entirely different marvel altogether.
Its existence as a mountain in the clouds above Manhattan was a miracle enough, but as they climbed the steps up to the city, the countless buildings and temples came into view, and the sheer beauty and scale of the city took her breath away. Everything from the white terraced buildings to the vibrant braziers and torches to the olive trees and flower bushes - it all gave the place an aura of awe and power.
Tabitha seemed just as amazed too, her expression one of wonder and excitement. It seemed as though she was somewhat back to her old self, if only by distraction.
As the four of them wordlessly advanced into the city, Reyna spotted a handful of buildings that seemed to be under construction or renovation, and she smiled to herself as she remembered Annabeth's proud explanation that she was given charge of the architectural designs for a whole new era of Olympus. Then she remembered where Annabeth was at the moment, and her smile faltered.
"So, where exactly are we going?" Percy asked, walking in front of the group down the pristine street.
"I do not know," Reyna said, still gazing around. "Perhaps someone will come to us?"
As if on cue, a satyr walked up to them, dressed in a pristine white robe. He was holding what looked like a clipboard in one hand, and a quill in the other. "Ah, you seem like the type I'm looking for," he said with a chipper tone. "I assume you're awaiting some word of who to speak to?"
As they all nodded in agreement, the satyr clapped his hands together, and a handful of other satyrs joined them. "I'll have each of my colleagues here direct you."
Reyna looked to the others. "Meet back at the entrance when you're done. I'll get what we came here for, then we'll wait for everyone and then head to Camp Half-Blood together. Okay?"
"And Mason?" Nico asked.
"I'll convince them to let him up here."
He tilted his head. "And if they don't?"
She looked over to the satyr with a fire in her eyes. "I'll convince them more persuasively."
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As Reyna stepped into the throne room of the main Olympian palace feeling just slightly out of place, she was surprised she hadn't guessed who it would be that wished to speak with her. But as she laid eyes on the sole figure standing in the massive chamber, she felt a surge of appreciation and comfort.
"Lady Athena," she said, bowing before the goddess. "It is an honor."
"And it is good to speak face-to-face at last, daughter of Bellona," Athena spoke. She was dressed in a simple yet elegant white dress, and her intense grey eyes looked at her with a hint of pride. "You have done much to earn my favor, and it is only fitting that we have this opportunity to speak."
Reyna still had her head bowed slightly, waiting for the goddess to finish speaking. After a moment, she heard Athena scoff slightly and move forward to lay a hand on her shoulder. "Oh, I don't wish for this to be so tense." As she spoke, Reyna looked up to see that Athena had changed her outfit from the dress to a simple grey t-shirt and jeans, and gestured to Reyna as she turned. "Come, there is a beautiful garden just outside. It is much more befitting for us."
The goddess led Reyna outside into a small but lush garden, with orange and red flowers and trees with some of the largest fruit she had ever seen. Athena walked beside her with her hands folded behind her.
After a quiet minute or two, Athena spoke up. "I'm sure you have things you wish to say or ask?"
Reyna was taken aback. "I suppose so."
The goddess gave her a reassuring smile. "Then you need not hesitate. I know you're one for formality, but as I said, it would be difficult for you to earn my distaste by bluntness or informality. So don't worry about that."
"Right," Reyna said, still in a bit of a daze. "Well, thank you, then. For everything, not just that. I wouldn't be alive today if not for your blessing."
"And I very well may still have been trapped in my own mind if not for your bravery," Athena said. "Though, speaking of blessings, your cloak. I notice you are without it?"
Reyna looked down again. Her purple cloak she had become so used to wearing, and the one Athena had blessed with her Aegis in the fight against Orion, was absent from her shoulders, and had been for some time. "Yes. It is at Camp Jupiter, hanging on my wall." She looked back up to the goddess guiltily. "It isn't that I spurn your gift, but-"
"I know," Athena said. "I'm more curious than anything. Why leave it behind? I have my reasonings, but I'd like to hear what you have to say."
A knot in Reyna's stomach formed again. The one that she had felt when Panacea mentioned the "weed" inside of her. "I don't know," she said honestly. "It didn't feel right, to wear it. I'm not sure why."
A small twinge of embarrassment hit her, as she admitted not knowing something to the goddess of wisdom, but the goddess just nodded in understanding. "Well, it may very well be useful to figure out why," she said. "Understanding oneself is very often the necessary precursor to understanding anything else. Fatal flaws, for instance. Are you familiar with the idea?"
Reyna nodded.
"Then I'm sure you've given thought to what your own may be, yes?"
She certainly had, though she had never landed on an answer. Reyna was no stranger to self-reflection, but a fatal flaw was something she had never quite been able to determine for herself. Perhaps she had enough on her plate to spend the time to figure it out. Or maybe a part of her was too scared to find out, since knowing her biggest weakness would put even more stress on her already heavy life.
"I don't know," Reyna admitted again.
"Hm," Athena hummed. "Keep searching. It will be important to understand."
The goddess gently brushed her hand along the red flowers of a bush. "The conflict with Gaea and the Romans took quite a toll on me, as you may have heard."
Reyna nodded. She didn't know all of the details, but Annabeth had told her some of the situation with her mother during the war, including how Athena had been afflicted with the form of Minerva, her Roman counterpart. Even as a Roman herself, Reyna could see how the goddess might be vengeful towards the Romans for diminishing her importance in the pantheon of gods.
"Excruciating as it was, it did serve to aid in my own understanding of myself." Athena's eyes narrowed slightly. "As much as I still find him… troublesome, Percy Jackson accomplished something I did not think possible by any mortal or god, and that is to convince us Olympians that we are capable of change. The effect Gaea's war put on us proved that further."
She looked at Reyna. "Do you know what it is I learned?"
Reyna raised her eyebrows in question.
"I came to understand where my strength truly came from," the goddess said, raising her hand in a clenched fist to look at it. "I needed every ounce of it I could muster to make it through that time, and it did not come from where I expected it to. I had lamented what the Romans did to me, and hated the lower tier of worship I was being given."
Reyna knew the goddess wasn't talking about her, but she still felt a bit intimidated by the hint of spite still in Athena's voice.
"But," the goddess spoke in a gentler tone, "It was not the worship that strengthened me, or the strategies of war, or the well of wisdom I had drawn from." She smiled softly. "It was Annabeth. And Frederick, her father. It was Malcom, and his father Alexander. It was Zeus, and Ares, and Hestia, and all of the Olympians. Even Percy." She looked to Reyna. "And you."
Reyna found her jaw hanging open slightly. "Me?"
"Yes, you. And all of the others." The goddess raised an eyebrow. "It came down to a simple observation. Stripped of my powers, my status, my worship, and even my identity, what was left? What was the only thing left untouched, unchanging, the thing I had to rely on to restore what was lost?"
The word came to Reyna. "Family," she said quietly.
Athena smiled. "Yes. The last refuge from war. It was only in my inability to fight that I fully understood. But it was what carried me through that time."
The goddess paused for a moment as they continued walking through the garden. "You're quite familiar with war, even at your age, aren't you? What carries you through all of it?"
Reyna thought about all of her experiences in war and conflict, both on and off the battlefield. All of her rallying speeches, her careful strategies, her combat maneuvers. All of the bloodshed, on both sides. All of the long nights kept awake by the stress of the preparation and the fear that lives would be lost, or that they would fail, not even giving the dead the reassurance that their sacrifice meant something. How did she get through it?
She thought back to what she had said to Mason.
"I do it because I must," Reyna said. "Because I can. The lives of those I lead are in my hands. That's what it means to be a leader. Responsibility." She glanced up to the branches of a tree they were passing under, its fruit hanging heavily from the branch holding it. "If I fall, they do as well. I suppose I keep that at the front of my mind, and it gets me through whatever is thrown at me."
Athena nodded silently, seeming to process her answer and calculate her next words. "In all wars," the goddess continued after a moment, "your soldiers are your greatest asset, from a strategic perspective. It doesn't matter what weapons you have if you don't have the men and women to wield them. Protecting them and ensuring they are at their best is of utmost importance to any leader or country. But that doesn't mean simply training up deadly warriors to be as impervious and lethal as possible. It also means keeping their spirit alive. Do you know how that is done?"
Reyna didn't answer, mostly because it seemed rhetorical and that she would hear the answer in a moment.
"It happens on a surprisingly small scale. Folded pictures of lovers hundreds of miles away. Letters from mothers back home. Fires under the rain with a few companions. Perhaps even a spontaneous soccer game between foes. Small pieces of peace and humanity in the midst of a war. That's what keeps the soldiers going. It's been true for every war in human history, from the World Wars to the prehistoric fights for territory and everything in-between."
As they reached the end of the garden and made their way back into the throne room, Athena stopped and held out her hand. "May I?"
Reyna was unsure of what she meant, but nodded.
The goddess reached out to gentle grab Reyna's hand, turning over her arm to reveal the tattoo on her forearm, with SPQR and the symbol of her mother Bellona, the crossed sword and torch. "I find your mother's symbol to be quite fitting, you know. I am still coming to terms with everything: the Romans, Minerva, your mother. It's difficult to grasp fully, even for me. But I see now how whole Bellona's understanding of war is."
Athena brushed her finger against the sword image on Reyna's arm. "The sword at day." She brushed against the torch image, glancing over to where the hearth was, burning in the center of the room. "The torch for night."
The goddess looked into Reyna's eyes, her own grey and piercing. "The soldier needs both to truly survive a war. Remember that in your coming trials."
The words were somewhat cryptic, and Reyna mulled them over in her mind. However, as Athena let go of her arm, she blinked. "Can I ask you for something?"
"Anything."
"I have a… friend. He's mortal, but I believe he was led here with us for a reason as well. But they wouldn't let him up to Olympus without word from someone up here. I believe he has someone who wishes to speak with him."
"Ah, yes. Well, I believe he's already speaking with them at this very moment."
Reyna blinked. "What?"
Athena smiled. "Trust me, he is in good hands."
Reyna's lack of understanding was frustrating, but Athena's reassurance put her mind at rest as far as Mason was concerned. She looked to the goddess with renewed purpose. "Then I must ask as well, I was told I would find what I needed here, something that would help me save Camp Half-Blood. Do you…"
The goddess' curious smile persisted, and Reyna furrowed her eyebrows as Athena spoke again. "I believe your friend is taking care of that, as well."