Quietly humming to herself, a woman with blonde flowing hair that fell past her waist. She wore a plain white sundress that exposed her shoulders and collarbone, draping over a large portion of her legs. On her head topped a large circular straw hat that seemed to defy the laws of physics with its sheer size, perfectly shading her body.

The woman had a mature kind feel to her with a hint of innocence, much like a child.

She was tending to flowers without a care in the world, not even caring if her dress got dirty or not.

"Mother!"

Their voice was instantly recognizable to the woman as her face brightened up like fireworks on the fourth of July. Any person could tell that her day was made a hundred times better with a single look.

The woman was, of course, Leto and the voice belonged to none other than Artemis.

"Artemis, my little moonbeam~"

They embraced each other like they haven't seen each other in ages. Both of their arms were wrapped over the other as they shared an intimate hug.

Artemis didn't mind the gesture as it was the person that she held most dear. If it was one of her girls in the Hunt, she would be reluctant to say the least. People outside of the Hunt was off limits, especially men.

"You look so grown up, my baby." Leto stroked her hair.

A resistant hum emanated from the moon goddess in response.

For about another minute or two, their hearts warmed with the other's body heat. They stayed in each other's arms before they broke apart.

"How long has it been since we've hugged like that? It was so nice." Leto looked very pleased, mirroring the sentiment of her words.

"I don't know. Probably a while," mused Artemis, "But, it was indeed quite nice."

Her face was not reflective of what she said, but Leto knew that she meant it.

"Anything concerning you?" Leto asked.

Leto was one of the only people, who could really understand Artemis, being her mother and all.

There were some things that she could notice about her little girl that Artemis herself couldn't notice.

Artemis had something that was bothering her.

Leto didn't know what exactly it was, but she could feel that Artemis was thinking about something.

Artemis replied, subtly looking away, "Er. There isn't anything too important that happened..."

It was unknown if she believed her own words.

But, Leto immediately caught on to her daughter's little "tell" and decided to wait until she was ready.

As much as she wanted to know what was bothering her daughter, it wasn't something that she could force. That wasn't how she did things. There was no reason to rush things.

If Artemis felt that it was time to tell her, then that would be the time she would find out.

For now, it didn't seem like Artemis was inclined to say anything, therefore she gestured to Artemis to come help her.

It was nice for Artemis to take time out of her day to visit. Leto knew that she was busy keeping the monsters at bay. The amount of monsters have been low very recently, probably due to her daughter. She could not be more proud of her.

Leto giggled softly as she stroked Artemis's hair as the goddess was trying her best to mimic her mother.

She didn't need to take care of flowers, but when you have an unlimited amount of time on your hands it helps to have something to preoccupy yourself with.

Plus, it has been a while since Artemis last visited. She was perfectly content spending time with her little angel. Nothing was better than spending time with her. Of course, she loved both of her children equally. Spending time with Apollo was just as nice was spending time with Artemis, but both of them are full-fledged gods now. They didn't have the time to visit as they were preoccupied with their duties.

As much as she loved Apollo, Artemis just happens to visit more often, which makes her very happy.

"Mother, I want a hug."

Her words lightly surprised Leto, but it was the good kind. She didn't question why Artemis suddenly asked for one and simply gave her a hug.

"Mother, father had a guardian join the Hunt."

"Hm? Why?" Leto hadn't heard of such news before.

"Father said that I needed protection, probably because he thinks that I can't take care of myself."

Leto thought it was kind of reasonable and could see Zeus doing something like that. But, she couldn't see any reason why Artemis would bring it up.

A guardian.

What problem would that be?

At a glance, the prospect of a guardian was fine.

Technically, Artemis was still "young" by godly standards. What was a few thousand years when you can live for millions, given that there isn't any accidents. To mortals, Artemis might as well be the god of creation.

Even though she was a fletching god, it would be hard to find someone that would be daring enough to lay a single finger on her, just from the people that were backing her.

Zeus, Poseidon, the other gods of the council, allied Titans and other primordials, not to mention the hundreds of suitors that would die to have a chance with Artemis.

Goodness, gods were a persistent and fearless bunch.

Besides that, it would be hard to find anyone that would be willing to become her guardian in the first place. Anyone that was stronger than her that is.

As the daughter of Zeus, she was born naturally powerful, only continuing to grow in strength as time went on, controlling and honing her divinity to the point where there were only a few handful that could match her.

If there was a person with said amount of strength, they would essentially be reduced to a babysitter.

A glorified babysitter.

For the daughter of the strongest god in present day.

Which sounded less and less appealing the more she thought about it.

Which ancient being would want to do such a task? Probably none.

With that amount of strength they would have to be respected everywhere they go. And at the least, no one would be willing to mess with them.

It didn't make any sense for a being of said stature to diminish their own standing.

Let's say there was such a person.

Then, the issue would be something completely different.

If she was Artemis, she probably wouldn't want to be surveilled by her father like a child, or know that the person was sent to her to "watch" over her to make sure she didn't get in trouble. The problem would be more-so being treated like a child than a god with her own responsibilities to do, which Artemis had.

Artemis's next words tossed her logical thought process out the window.

"He mainly does the chores and teaches the girl proper form and such. Most of the girls don't really interact with him besides the archery stuff. He is-"

The sound of her daughter's voice was slowly drowned out by her inner monologue.

She said he.

He as in the guardian.

The guardian being a man.

With that new bit of information, the pieces began to fit into a short cohesive story.

Zeus forced Artemis to bring in a male being the overprotective father he was.

Artemis and males were not a good match, therefore Artemis came to her for help.

Artemis doesn't want a guardian but cannot do anything due to Zeus being as powerful as he is. His usual way of dealing with people is through force since he can.

He would probably just strip Artemis's divinity from her and exile her somewhere like Dionysius in Camp Half Blood.

But, how could Zeus do such a thing?

He knew what Artemis thought about men and he still gave her a male guardian.

Did he have any sort of consciousness?

How long did her daughter have to suffer before she talked with her?

Being with a male by force for Artemis was akin to torture. And when her daughter suffers then she too suffers as well.

Her worry was overflowing as she paced back and forth, thinking about what to do next.

It was be difficult to get rid of the male without raising any suspicion from Zeus, which is probably why Artemis hasn't done anything yet.

No, she didn't mean get rid of him as in kill the male. Leto wasn't that type of person.

But maybe, some other way?

If she could somehow find a way to bribe him to leave his post without reporting to Zeus.

Leto was about to voice her thoughts on the situation when Artemis hurriedly stopped her.

"Mother, it's fine."

It was heartwarming to Artemis, seeing how worried her mother was.

Honestly, she couldn't have had a better person to be her mother then the person right in front of her.

Truly, she was blessed.

She could see the question marks that appeared above Leto's head.

"It's fine?" Leto cautiously asked.

"Yes," Artemis answered affirmatively.

After a moment, Leto asked again, slowly, making sure she said each word clearly. "Are you sure it's fine?"

Artemis nodded.

The titaness sighed and grabbed her daughter's cheeks, giving them a slight pinch and rubbing them like how you would play with a squishy ball.

"You make me so worried sometimes."

"Ib sbwby." (I'm sorry.)

"Promise me, you won't do that again. It'll make your mother really really sad."

"Yb, I wob u yt aben." (Yes, I won't do it again.)

Like an emotionless doll, Artemis allowed her mother to play with her face however she liked without a single complaint.

After a while, she finally let go.

"You can tell me anything."

Artemis really didn't want her mother to stress about anything, so it was probably time to tell her the whole story.

Letting out a sigh of resignation, Artemis was about to tell her everything from the very beginning when she noticed her mother acting a bit strange.

"Mother, is there something wrong?"

"Hm?" Leto looked at her for a second. "Someone is here."

"Who?"

The place they were at wasn't exactly the most secret place in the world. But, it was hidden with Mist, so mortals and normal animals couldn't see through it.

All they would see is regular old hill that had a few trees on it like every other hill nearby. This one just so happens to have the nicest view that you could only see if you were on the hill itself. When there are literally dozens of other hills around, it's like finding a needle in a haystack.

"A mortal? Or a demigod, I don't recognize." Leto added, "He seems to be looking for someone."

Either way, his divinity is almost non-existent. He probably wouldn't be able to cause any harm.

"Is he looking for mother perhaps?"

"Perhaps. But, I don't remember ever being referred to as Mistress."

Upon hearing the word Mistress, Artemis froze for a second and realized that it was her guardian.

"Ahem. Mother, please excuse me for a moment." She said before quickly going in the direction of the mortal.

T-T

"Mistress!" Percy sighed. "What a relief."

"You. How did you get here?"

They were hundreds of miles away from the camp. No amount of running, walking or swimming was he able to get here in that short amount of time. It was impossible by normal means.

Percy pondered for a moment before saying, "I am not entirely sure myself."

"Yesterday," He began to narrate his point of view. "Around the evening, I noticed that you were no longer at the camp, so I went to go find you."

Rubbing his forehead, the crescent's soft glow dimmed completely. The light was there but it was barely noticeable. Artemis and Leto didn't see it. "About five or six hours in, I found myself here." He couldn't find the words to explain how exactly he knew what direction she was because he himself didn't know.

Percy said, "Mistress, who may this be?" He was looking behind her.

Following his gaze, "This my mother." Artemis gestured to the woman behind her.

He paused, thinking to himself. Percy was about to address this person as Mistress's mother when he thought that it was a strange and awkward.

"Greeting, Madam." He did ninety degree bow to show respect.

Leto inspected the male, immediately noticing his peculiarities.

Most notably, the mist and the crescent on his forehead, something coming to mind.

He seemed tame enough, although she didn't know how long that would last.

"Do you know you have something on your forehead?"

The male looked unaware and asked, "Do I?"

It was very out of the blue and confused him a bit as no one else had mentioned anything about it, not even his mistress.

Leto pulled out a mirror and gave it to him.

"Madam, could you describe it? I don't seem to be able to see what you see?"

After confirming her suspicions, the titaness took back the mirror. "I must've been mistaken."

Artemis was confused because she could see the crescent on his forehead. She just assumed that it was something natural and didn't question it. But, it seemed that there was more to it than what met the eye. It also seemed that her mother knew something about it that she didn't.

Whispering, she asked, "Mother, what's going on."

The titaness told her to stay put while she checked something.

T-T

Inside her home, there was an inconspicuous lamp in the corner of her living room. It was the most average looking floor lamp that one could possibly imagine. Leto walked over to it and touched the top of it on her tippy toes.

She was immediately brought to a small room that had only a dresser with a single drawer.

Pulling on the handle, she opened the drawer to reveal a silver candle.

The moment she saw the candle, it all but confirmed her suspicions.

The candle looked extremely similar to the one that Artemis had used to summon her guardian with the exact same Greek letters on it, except this one had a small difference.

On wick of the candle, there was a small ember.

Despite being lit, the flame showed no signs of spreading. Presumably, it had been burning for quite a while in the drawer, and the drawer was still intact.

. . .

Her gaze lingered on the flame, seemingly entranced by the dancing glow, for ten to twenty more seconds before closing the drawer again.

So that was the male that her daughter was destined to be with.

Neither of them seemed to be aware of it.

Her initial impression of him wasn't bad, in fact it was positive.

The feel that she got from him wasn't some ancient freak born millennia ago.

He was definitely one of the most polite youngsters, the titaness had ever encountered. It was almost like it was too good to be true.

In the back of her mind, a part of her thought that maybe he could be pretending, but she believed in her own judgement. She believed that he was a good person. And if it turns out that she was wrong, then he deserved an Oscar. Because it definitely fooled her.

She had seen her fair share of vicious and two-faced men in her life, even more than Artemis. Although, she still believed in the goodness of man because she knew that women were also capable of betrayal and ruthlessness.

It wasn't men act like heartless and cruel and women were gentle and nurturing. Both man and woman were capable of acting in the same way.

And from her experience, this one did not strike her as the deceitful type.

Initial impressions could always be wrong, but she trusted her intuition.

Even if she had only met him today, Leto was sure he would have a good impact on Artemis.

She shook as she looked at the time. Leto didn't want to linger any more than she already has and hurried out of the space to avoid looking suspicious.