Andy brushed her fingers along the edge of the sparrow feather. Robin had told her that some poets claimed noble Hector, tamer of horses, had called his wife Andromache - Andy's namesake - his little sparrow. Helen, so beautiful and flashy, had been a peacock, but Princess Andromache was Hector's little sparrow.

"How long have you known Robin?" Andy asked Thalia.

"Since I became a Hunter," the girl said. "He makes nearly all our arrows."

"Yeah, what's with the eagle/turkey arrows?" Andy said. If you asked her, those were totally strange birds to put side by side. It didn't help that every time she thought of turkeys she pictured first a harpy, then Thanksgiving dinner.

"As far as I understand it, eagle arrows always fly fast," Thalia explained. "And turkey arrows fly straight. The goose feathered ones are the best, though - I almost don't want to tell you what they do." Andy looked at her expectantly and Thalia laughed. "They pursue their target," she said. "No matter how they dodge, the arrow won't stop until it's hit them. Robin knows the magic of all the birds. He wears that robin feather for luck."

"How... how old is he?" Andy asked. She could not help but wonder, for who lived in the forest, wore a tunic, and spoke so strangely? Certainly no one born in her century. "Is he a god?"

"No, he's a half-blood," Thalia said. "But... I know what you mean. He... he hasn't changed much since I met him. But Ari might know. Ari!"

A girl with olive-toned skin and dark hair turned at Thalia's call. Robin was gone, showing Phoebe and a few of the Hunters the tracks he'd found.

"Ari, how long have you known Robin?" Thalia asked the girl. Ari looked thoughtful, as though counting back the years.

"About two hundred years," she decided. "But he's been in the forest longer than that." Thalia and Andy looked at each other, mute with a mixture of denial, horror, and wonder.

"Has he changed since then?" Thalia asked. "Does he look older?"

"No," Ari frowned. "Well, maybe he's aged about a year."

"Perhaps he was granted immortality," Thalia muttered.

"Robin?" Ari asked. "No, he's a mortal. But... its the forest. Look, you aren't going to tell him, are you?" Ari asked, suddenly looking frightened.

"Why not?" Thalia asked, jaw set.

"Look, I don't think Robin knows," Ari insisted. "It's like... it's like he still thinks its the 1700's out there. Think about it, we Hunters are the only ones he sees, besides his mother. I don't think he knows how fast the rest of the world is moving compared to this forest."

"You mean... the forest slows down time?" Will asked, apparently having been eavesdropping on their conversation. Ari glared at him, practically spitting poison with her eyes and even Thalia seemed slightly disgusted by his behavior.

"I don't know exactly," Thalia said, deigning to speak to Will. "But I do know that whenever we leave the forest, the same amount of time has passed outside as within."

"Good," Will said shortly, meeting Andy's eye. She knew what he was thinking: If the forest slows down time, how long have we actually been here?

A/N: Footnotes:

Is that fact about sparrows referring to Andromache actually true? No, but it's a pretty sentiment.