Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Character ages this chapter:
Michael – 14
Sally – 11
Will – 11
Robyn - 13

4) Sally

The first thing that greeted Michael when he traipsed into the infirmary on Lee's orders – "you need practice taking stock checks, put that bow down and go do your chores first" – was Sally perched on the side of one of the beds, tears running down her cheek. Will was hovering around her, looking lost, while Robyn, who was supposed to be supervising Will rather than leaving the kid to handle the infirmary alone, no matter how experienced he was, was out of sight.

Michael would deal with her later. He was far more concerned at the sight of one of his younger sisters being a patient in the infirmary. What the fuck had happened, and why hadn't he heard about it? Did Lee know?

"What happened?" he demanded, stepping up next to Will and catching sight of a cast on her arm.

Sally burst into a fresh display of tears and he turned his attention to Will to silently demand answers. His younger brother still had one hand on the casted arm, but didn't seem to be doing any more healing.

"She fell off a pegasus about an hour ago," Will reported obediently, and Sally hiccupped, trying and failing to get her tears under control. "Broken ulna."

A pegasus? "Please tell me it wasn't in the air at the time." Michael was pretty sure it couldn't have been – Sally wasn't seriously injured, and a kid falling from an airborne pegasus definitely didn't go unnoticed in camp.

Sally's shake of the head was welcome confirmation, though. It also drew Michael's attention to the fact that her usually-braided hair was falling loosely around her ears and halfway down her back. The girl sniffled again, wiping her face with her non-casted arm and doing absolutely nothing for the red-rimmed eyes and encrusted salty tear tracks forming.

Michael hated seeing his siblings cry.

"Will, go do stock take," he ordered, well aware that Lee had told him to do it but also ignoring that fact. What Will didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

"But…" his brother protested, looking at Sally worriedly, and Michael nudged him a little more firmly. "Go, and track down Robyn so she can help you."

Will looked at him for a few moments, glancing at the still-crying Sally, clearly torn, and okay, yeah, Michael was no-one's first choice for infirmary duties (except stock take, according to Lee, but Michael knew that was because when Lee left next summer it would be his responsibility), or even dealing with crying people, but he wasn't leaving that on Will.

He was the big brother, here.

Eventually, Will caved, giving Sally a careful hug. "She's had ambrosia already," he reported, "and she can't take any more painkillers for four hours."

"Got it," Michael acknowledged. "Now shoo. Go count things."

Will gave him a look that in a few years would be stern instead of endearing and moved away, grabbing the clipboard and pen from where it hung by the stockroom door and slipping inside the cupboard.

Michael would deal with Lee's disapproval for palming it off later, when either Will tattled or he saw the handwriting on the sheet.

For now, Sally.

She was still sniffling, and he pulled himself up to sit on the edge of the bed next to her. From this angle, he could see that her hair, a pretty colour somewhere between brown and red, was a complete mess.

He reached out and plucked out a twig. "Fall into a bush?" he asked, and she nodded. He couldn't see any scratches on her, but given Will had been in the vicinity, armed with nectar, and probably Robyn as well for all he couldn't see her right then, simple bush-scratches would've disappeared almost immediately.

Michael hummed lightly, then dragged himself up onto the bed properly, folding his legs under him. Sally had quite a lot of debris in her hair, and that was something he could do something about.

She didn't react as he started extracting more leaves and twigs, but she didn't pull away, either, so Michael busied himself with making sure everything came out, including the awkward twigs that had snarled themselves up in her hair so tightly that it took several minutes of careful teasing to release them.

He probably shouldn't have been making a pile of foliage on one of their infirmary beds, but it was the easiest place to put it. He'd clear it up later. Sally's sniffles quietened gradually as he worked, and by the time her hair was bush-free, she'd stopped crying, which was an unexpected bonus.

Her hair was still a mess, clearly frazzled from its experience, and Michael didn't have a brush to hand so he had to make do with finger-combing it. It took ages, because fingers were not the best tool for detangling knotted hair, but Sally seemed content to sit and wait for him to finish.

It wasn't perfect when he was done, but at least she no longer looked like she'd been dragged through a hedge backwards.

"That better?" he asked her, aware of the audience he'd gained at some point but ignoring them. Will and Robyn – wherever she'd reappeared from – had better things to do than stare at him and Sally, but he didn't care enough to tell them to go do them.

Lee was going to have so many things to complain at him about when he found out about this.

"Mmhmm!" she nodded. "Could you tie it up?"

Unlike most of their cabin, Sally actually had the habit of wearing spare hair ties and scrunchies around her wrist at all times, so Michael shrugged. "Sure," he said.

Given her hair wasn't perfectly brushed, splitting it into the three sections for her customary braid was a bit more awkward, and they certainly weren't the neatest sections Michael had ever prepared for a braid, but with some stubbornness and more finger combing he wrangled them into something workable.

"Since when could you braid?" Robyn demanded suddenly as he started to wrangle the three strands, outside into the middle, one side at a time.

Michael shot her a dull look, pausing in his manipulation of Sally's hair for a moment to make sure he didn't lose track of his progress. He could braid without looking, but with Sally's hair still being a bit rough, he wanted to be able to concentrate so it still looked good enough for his upset sister. Unfortunately, the ability to concentrate was often a lot harder when Robyn was in the vicinity.

"Since I was ten," he said flatly.

She gaped at him. "Why am I only finding out about this now?" she demanded. "Where have you been hiding this skill, Michael?"

"Not my fault you weren't paying attention," he told her. "Don't you have an infirmary to run?"

"Will, go run the infirmary," Robyn said instantly. The smirk she sent Michael was full of challenge and he scowled at her.

"I'm not your errand boy," Will retorted, crossing his arms firmly in front of his chest. "You're responsible for the infirmary this shift, not me. Do your own work."

Michael returned to braiding Sally's hair as his younger siblings started arguing, hiding his own smirk.

"So you'll do Michael's duties for him, but not mine?" Robyn complained. "This is favouritism, Will."

"Michael had more important things to do!" Will argued back. "You just want to stare."

"Like you're not surprised Michael can braid hair, too."

"Actually, I'm not. I already knew."

Robyn's outraged squawk got a small giggle out of Sally. "Was I the only one that didn't know?"

"Yes," Sally interjected, and out of the corner of his eye Michael saw Robyn throw her hands up in exasperation.

"Bullying!" she proclaimed. "You're all bullying me! Michael, once you're done with Sally, you're doing my hair, got it?"

He shrugged noncommittally. "Go do your duties and I'll think about it."

"That's blackmail!" she protested, but to Michael's relief she did actually obey, disappearing out of his periphery – but not without flicking the blue ends of her hair in his direction.

"She won't leave you alone about that now," Will pointed out unnecessarily. Michael knew she was going to bug him until he did it, but that was for future Michael to deal with. Current Michael was still concentrating on getting Sally's unbrushed hair into an acceptably-neat braid.

"You're supposed to be helping her," he reminded him. "She's not the only one on duty right now."

"I did your chore for you," Will rebutted. "I'm taking a break, and if Lee tells me off, I'm blaming you."

"Brat," Michael muttered, but Sally was giggling again, so he would take that. Besides, Lee was already going to be telling him off for not doing what he was told; what was one more thing? It wasn't like Lee was ever going to scold Will. A couple more twists of hair and the braid was finished. "Which hair tie do you want me to use, Sally?"

She hummed, raising her unbroken arm so she could inspect the collection on her wrist. "The black scrunchie," she decided, offering her wrist to him so he could extract it from the rest of them. It was difficult to do one-handed, and Will ended up sneaking in and doing it for him, complete with a smug look that said, see, you needed me here, didn't you?

Michael ignored his brother, twisting the scrunchie around the base of the braid until it was snug. It wasn't pure black; most of it was a solid black colour, but it was edged with a thin line of gold. Michael didn't often see Sally actually use that one in her hair, but if that was the one she wanted, he wasn't going to argue.

"All done," he said instead, once he'd twisted it as many times as it would go.

He was not prepared for her to twist around and wrap her unbroken arm around him in an awkward hug.

"Thank you, Michael," she mumbled into his shoulder, giving him a tight squeeze. "Best brother."

"Hey!" Will protested, and she giggled but didn't take back her words. Michael, in a fit of maturity, grinned smugly at his younger brother as he gave Sally a brief one-armed squeeze in response.

"You're welcome," he said.

Moving on chronologically, from being the little brother, now we're in big brother territory!

Thanks for reading!
Tsari