"Chiron!" Clarisse protested. "I was promised the next quest. It is not good for a child of Ares to go long without war."
"Don't we all know that," Percy coughed.
"Can't we just send furies after the little brat?" Dionysus suggested, causing several people to look at him funny.
Eirene was lost for words. She didn't know how to respond to such a request. In fact she was flattered that he'd ask of something so big from her, but she felt like she could never take on such a role. She's just arrived; she hasn't trained or learned any of the formalities well enough to be able to venture on a quest.
"Me? Lead the quest? I…I don't know what to say…" She swallowed. "I don't think I'm prepared enough to do so…I haven't been trained—"
"Training? You don't need training! If Sam wasn't exaggerating about your fighting skills I'll say you'll do just fine leading a quest. Plus, you're the only one whose recently seen Dennis."
Eirene couldn't deny what he was saying, but it still felt odd to just wonder into a camp and be handed a quest so quickly. And she didn't really like the daggers Clarisse was giving her either.
"Perhaps Samantha was exaggerating…"
"Nonsense! Don't let Clarisse intimidate you. You can take her down!" Percy encouraged, giving Clarisse the stink eye and a smirk of rivalry.
"This one can fight? Ha! I don't believe it!"
"You're being erratically rude, Clarisse."
"No, no, Annabeth. Leave her. If she doesn't believe Eirene can fight then this can be settled easily through a small battle in the arena." Chiron suggested much to Eirene's demise. A battle against Clarisse in the arena? Surely he wasn't trying to sentence her to death?
"Don't you think you're going too far?" Connor asked.
"Yeah, the poor girls just got here and you're already unleashing the wrath of Clarisse on her." Travis agreed. But Chiron didn't seem wavered by their opinion, instead he stood his ground.
A satisfied smirk grew on her face. "Excellent. The terms of the battle are as followed: Whoever knocks the other down first wins. Scars equal extra points," She held up a hand at Annabeth's protest and locked eyes with Eirene. "Find your sword and meet me at the arena tomorrow morning at dawn. Then we'll see who really deserves to lead this quest."
Not even blinking, Eirene agreed. "As you wish,"
She knew that arguing with Clarisse would just make her more determined to fight her, so why not accept the offer and get it over with? Eirene didn't mind if she led the quest or if Clarisse led the quest, whatever would cause the drama to deflate. Clarisse brought her shades out and slipped them back on, and then proceeded to exit the room. Almost immediately after she'd left, Annabeth turned to Percy.
"Can't you guys leave your pettish rivalry at bay for once?"
He seemed like he was about to make a sarcastic joke, but after he saw the plea in her eyes he instead pulled her close and rubbed her shoulder. "I'm sorry; I got a bit carried away."
She sighed but her eyes had softened. Instead she directed her fury at Chiron. "Why didn't you stop her?"
He simply smiled. "I see nothing wrong with a little duel. In fact, I myself am curious as the whether the rumors are true." His gaze shifted to Eirene. "Whether or whether not you are as just a fighter as they say,"
"I really don't think Samantha qualifies as 'they'. It's just one person, who knows if she can even take a punch?" Travis opposed, yawning as he leaned against the railing. "It doesn't matter anyways, we're gonna go back to our cabins if that's okay with you, boss."
Dionysus brightened up. "Well of course you can return to your cabins." He turned to Percy. "See? That's how a proper camper addresses his superior, not resulting to nicknames like 'wine dude' or 'Mr. D'."
"Actually, we were talking to Chiron," Connor laughed. "But we respect you too, Wine dude."
"Not really," Travis muttered, turning to Eirene. "We'll see you back at the cabin, though I'd suggest you attend sword fighting classes with Percy."
And with that, they were gone; Leaving Dionysus cursing their children to Hades for eternities. Eirene felt like a huge weight had been thrown unto her shoulders; how had she gotten herself into this mess? She turned to Annabeth and bowed. "I'm sorry."
She blinked, clearly confused. "For what?"
Eirene straightened up and twirled her shirt between her fingers. "For demanding that you take me with you; I now see you were trying to protect me from this…Clarisse."
"Don't beat yourself up over it. Chiron would have declared you leader of the quest anyways and Clarisse would've still declared war over you. It was inevitable."
Eirene looked at the door and thought of the three who'd just left. "They don't like me very much, do they? They kept referring to me as if I wasn't here."
"Eh, Clarisse doesn't really get along with anyone other than Chris. Speaking of which, I haven't seen him this summer."
"He said he was going to be home half the summer, something about his family."
Eirene wasn't really listening to their rambling but was thinking of what tomorrow would wait. She had just arrived to this camp though she was sure everyone knew who she was—and if they didn't—they would learn tomorrow when she defeated Clarisse. Even though it was her policy to be humble, she couldn't deny that her fighting skills were god-given, because they were. She had never trained a day in her life but managed to save herself from the attack of all those monsters over the years. And even if Clarisse's sword fighting skills were up to beat, she couldn't land a scratch on Eirene. The girl's skin was immune to any tears or bruises, no matter how many times she'd been bitten by a snake or scratched by a tree branch, a mark had never appeared; it was as if everything simply bounced off her skin when in contact. It was one of the many advantages of her curse.
But was it an advantage, really? Never being able to be injured, or killed. Some would definitely see it as a blessing but in Eirene's case many times it had been a curse. She couldn't count on her fingers how many times she'd wished she could feel pain or see a gash on her skin where she'd been hit. It—it… it would've proved that she was alive, that she could feel. Idiot, you're thinking about it again. But she couldn't help it; the feeling often crashes over her at random times. While Eirene was growing up on the run, she had tried to commit suicide several times. At some point she probably tried to kill herself once everyday—just to see if it would work. Most of the time it was fueled by pure boredom and curiosity, but a few times she'd feel an overwhelming pang of depression. Always running, always being attacked, believing she was a burden to everyone she's ever met, that only is enough to drive someone into insanity. But it was the monsters that were the final straw.
Every time they attacked her, every time they tried to hurt her, their assaults would just bounce off of her like her skin was made of cellophane wrap. And it was a blessing at first but then it became unbearable. What was the point of them constantly coming, if they knew she could never be hurt? What was the point of all this running if they couldn't hurt her? She began to question everything she'd ever known, and she began to question herself. What kind of human being doesn't feel pain? Isn't pain an experience of being alive? Isn't pain assurance that you're alive? So for a while, she fell into a state of nihilism. And even in that state, she still wanted to believe; to believe that she was more than just an experiment Zeus had created, but that she was alive. So she would try and try and try over and over and over again to feel pain; Throwing herself off a building, slashing her wrists with a knife, anything that could ease the emotional pan by causing physical pain.
It seems quite silly now that she thinks back on it, her younger self seemed to not understand what being the child of the Styx river meant and how when you're born with something, you have to learn to live with it.
"Eirene? Eirene?"
She slowly faded back into reality and turned to the calling voice. "Yes?"
Annabeth looked slightly concerned by her spacing out. "Percy is available for sword fighting lessons, if you're worried about that."
"Oh no," She smiled. "I am not worried about anything."
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