(A/N: Are you pleased, wonderful readers? Because these two chapters are so pathetically short by themselves, I finished them reasonably quickly and figured I could post them closer together! So, one day later due to editing, here is chapter nine!
Love, Shy x.
PS. For all my fellow Australians, I'm so sorry this was updated at eleven at night. I'm a twit who needs to get a watch. But I love you all!)
CHAPTER NINE
The first time Calypso noticed the fountain had stopped leaking, she was in her garden, thinking over the clothes she'd made for her houseguest. Calypso hadn't woven for a while but she was pleased with the way they fit him perfectly. Her mind then of course moved on, as was only natural, to Leo himself. Without the filter of rage she'd initially been blinded by, the demigod did not appear like the insufferable man-child she'd first seen him as. Calypso found herself thinking of him as wiry instead of scrawny, incredibly capable instead of weak.
Not to be misunderstood, Calypso hurried to tell herself. "He is still obnoxious, loud, inconceivably rude-" she muttered as she began pruning the dead leaves from her favourite raspberry bush.
Suddenly, she paused, her senses feeling as though she were missing something. It took a moment before she realised the tick tick tick sound of her bronze satyr fountain had ceased, replaced by the smooth trickle of water flowing as it should.
"What in all of Hades…?" she murmured, standing and brushing the dirt from her hands absentmindedly. The crimson of her gown magically repelled against the soil stains. The satyr looked good as new, as though it had never been broken and for a moment she suspected her air spirits of aiding her. But then why had they not fixed it eight years earlier when the problem began?
Her sharp dark eyes flitted around the garden, suddenly landing on the curtain rod above the entry to her cave. A rod, she had been certain, was quite uneven though it seemed miraculously level now. Her gaze drifted back to her garden shears which glimmered in the bright noon sunlight, far sharper than Calypso recalled them every being.
"Leo." She muttered, realising just how deeply mechanics ran in his blood. A fine son of Hephaestus; the iron god should be proud.
She felt the guilt swelter to epic proportions and finally sighed, studying the camp at a distance where the smoke still billowed but the hammering was, as promise slightly quieter. He'd fixed her home for her, even when she'd said such horrible, unkind things. Things she found she didn't even truly believe now that she had spent even a few minutes with Leo Valdez.
He was so utterly bewildering. He crash-landed on herisland and broke her possessions but upon catching her crying in her garden, he'd looked…wounded. He banged on that ridiculous handmade anvil for hours at a time like it was his gods given purpose in life but has also taken the time to fix her home.
Calypso ran a finger down the satyr's pointed horns thoughtfully and waved her hand over the fountain, causing the flow of water to stop and the basin to turn clear and still as glass.
"Show me Leo Valdez." She commanded and the reflection shimmered before revealing a curly haired toddler with an enormous grin racing through what appeared to be a forge of some kind, though the machines and projects seemed very different to what Calypso once knew. The picture changed to the same small child a little older, perhaps five, with enchantingly sneaky eyes as he removed the back of a small device and played with the internal wires with his chubby fists. Hermes had one- a cell phone, she believe it was called.
The picture changed again to the same boy, but this time his shoulders were hunched and he looked down at his hands with a stormy expression. His eyes were blank and darker than oil and he wore formal robes of some kind, with a black jacket and a tied length of black fabric around his neck. A modern suit like the gods occasionally visited in. He looked only a child but the anger in his face was far too old for him.
Suddenly the reflection revealed a Leo closer to the one who had landed on her island, his features older, on the cusp of teenagedom but his lip was split and bloody. Calypso felt a spark of anger began to blossom in her chest at the idea of someone hitting the young boy but he didn't seem upset by it. His mouth was pulled into a wide grin, his shoulders relaxed. But his eyes were guarded and still troubled.
Next Leo, a little different to the boy she knew now, was sitting on a bus, snickering and laughing with a pair of unseen figures behind him, rolling his eyes every now and then. He looked happier but slightly withdrawn, not the same joy as the tiny beautiful boy she'd seen before.
The next few images began to speed up, rotating rapidly. There was Leo hanging on to the edge of a cliff, Leo on the ground with his hair covered in golden monster ashes, Leo and several shadowy figures in the back of an Ancient Greek chariot pulled by pegasi.
Calypso waved her hand again and the images paused, showing him with a blazing hammer over his head. She studied the way he looked, tired, somewhat anxious but still wilful like she knew him to be now. His clothes were very different to the cotton trousers and shirts she had been making. He wore pants of some kind of rough blue fabric and a white t-shirt coupled with a dark green camouflage print jacket but he seemed to be comfortable in them.
Calypso thought to the times she had rewoven Leo's clothes for the sole reason that he had burned holes the size of melons in his last set and turned to her loom, speculatively. She wasn't about to apologise to the stupid demigod. But a peace offering was in order if they were to coexist on this island and he'd already made his.
Her fountain, the curtains, her gardening sheers- it was her turn to reciprocate the gesture. Calypso had learned some small amount of strategy from her militaristic father and it served her well now. Inequality on the two enemy camps leads to war, Atlas had told her when she was only a child-goddess, tiny and wild haired with enormous dark eyes. Which meant that equality must lead to peace, Calypso decided. She sat at her loom and began to manoeuvre the wooden beams, concentrating on the image she'd seen in the fountain, a replica of the younger Leo's garments appearing at her fingertips. Yes, she scrutinised, her peace offering would turn out quite well. Now she just had to hope he'd accept it.
(A/N: See? Tiny chapter. This doesn't usually happen (me finishing two chapters so closely together) so next Friday is back to normal update schedule I'm afraid. Now reviews!:
Skyshattered: Aww, you sent reviews for several chapters? You made me smile when I read my notifications, just so you know. I'm so glad you're enjoying the story so far (also, I couldn't resist the mental image of the Olympians in their pyjamas. I don't even know if they sleep to be honest) and thanks so much for reading, hope you like chapter nine!
The Invisible Pretender: Hello! I'm sorry I'm killing you in a good way (don't believe me, I'm lying through me teeth :D). Aren't you glad these two were updates together, even if they are kind small? Hope you like chapter nine, more about Calypso's perception of Leo and how it may or may not be…changing ;) Thanks for reading!
Guest: Every day until Blood of Olympus will be spent imagining enough happy endings for Caleo so even if it does fail (RIORDAN, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!), I'll have a nice comfy pile of fluff to dry my endless tears. Joking. I think. Anyway, don't check every morning, updates are on Mondays and Fridays, I don't want to make you wait unnecessarily! Really glad you're enjoying it, how are you liking Calypso's opinion of Leo? Thanks for reviewing!
Tenneyshoes: Don't be too scared, I'm all about the HEAs :D Really glad you're enjoying Calypso's POV, I really like developing her opinions a little more, cause when you think about it, she's not just a love interest, she's the daughter of two incredibly powerful Titans and had her own life going before Ogygia. Leo's just there to make it complicated hee hee hee ;) Loving your suggestions so far (there is definitely going to be some kind of morse-code-explanation in some distant chapter ;) ) Thank you for reviewing, hope you like chapter nine (even if it's a wee bit small)!
Kiki-DaughterofApollo14: Viva La Caleo! I love a lot of Caleo fanfics, they're just such an adorable couple. Do you speak Spanish, like Leo? If so, should you read anything that sounds out of character for Leo, feel free to PM or review me with comments! I rely heavily on a few translating sites and my own background in French and Italian to translate some of Leo's dialogue so it might be a little wonky. (Sorry about that. I should really learn not to write in languages I don't speak.) Anyway, I'm really happy you're enjoying the story so far, I hope you like Calypso's POV! Do you like her so far? She's one of my favourite characters in the series, I think. Thanks for reading and enjoy chapter nine!
Fluff-is-awesome (Fluff is awesome): YAY, THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING WITH ALL THOSE AWESOME WORDS LIKE PERFECT AND LOVE :D Also, as far as I can tell, Leo's treatment of her as an actual person with things to contribute is one of the defining parts of their relationship. I mean, even Percy just kind of thought of her as a goddess who helped heal him and then sent him on his way. Leo's first thought is that she looks stuck-up and it sets her apart from the other girls he goes crazy for. Way to confuse the girl, Valdez! I'm so glad you're enjoying it so far! I hope you like this chapter, it's kind of Calypso's shift in perspective about Leo. Thank you so much for reading :D!
Forever sibuna: I love them too, they're just so cute with their 'I-like-you-so-I'm-going-to-pick-on-you-relentless ly-like-I'm-a-ten-year-old' kind of relationship. Hope you like chapter nine and thank you so much for reading Firsts!
Mila-is-a-bookworm-101: Hello again! Glad you're enjoying it so far, sorry about the teeny tiny chapter size this round. They get bigger further along (I hope. Maybe. Perhaps.) Hope you enjoyed chapter nine, it's a shift of perspective for Calypso ;) Thank you for reading, you made my day again!
Randomosity4arty: You are awesome ;) thanks for reading!
PJoHoOFan: WRITING FRANTICALLY! Seriously, I'm happy you're enjoying it so far. Fangirl with me, things are just starting to get interesting ;) Hope you like chapter nine!
Totalbooknerd13: I know right? Same as in HoH with the line: 'Leo disliked her instantly'. All I could think was liiiiiarrrrrr…hope you liked chapter nine!
Dids107: I did too! One of my favourite lines in the whole book was 'oh no, not the birds!'. Sorry about the teeny tiny chapter size this round but I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you for reading and reviewing :D
The Oz Meister and Jen Baas: I'm perfecting my fluff skills, I promise but these two have a while to go before they're ready for the fluff. They're fluff novices. They're on, like, cotton buds covering broken glass, at the moment. Not fluffy and just barely managing not to kill each other. Wow, that was sort of abstract and cryptic. Anyway. Hope you liked chapter nine!
Hannahthemelon: Hello again Melon! I too will become a blubbering mess if Blood of Olympus does not end well with these two. Riordan had better get his act together. That's so cool you took up Latin! I have a friend who's finishing the Harry Potter series in Latin and I'm really jealous because it looks like she's reading some kind of old magical text when she shows me (because on the inside, I'm a petty four year old child *rolls eyes at self*). Also, French and Italian are so ridiculously similar in terms of structure to Latin, it hurts. Subject + indirect object + direct object + verb etc etc. Honestly, I'm kind of winging it but it's…kind of working out…kind of. Hope you're enjoying Calypso's POV and thanks for reading!
Carrot-Bunny: It did occur to me that Leo is kind of a firebender but that's a whole other story. The little piece I wrote is set in a kind of Pirates-verse but Calypso is just a shipwrecked noblewoman with sea magic in her blood. Leo is under Captain Chase's ship Argo alongside the Seven and ends up getting his ass kicked off via cannonfire during a run in with Captain Khione and his ship, Ice Maiden and he washes up on Ogygia.It's purely for my own entertainment but if I get around to finishing it, I'll post it on here somewhere ;) Also, I'm glad size isn't an issue (*snickers*) but seriously, the chapters do get longer eventually. I hope. Fingers crossed. Hope you're enjoying it so far and that you liked chapter nine! Next update is Friday!
All done! Next update is on Friday but in the meantime, if you have any suggestions for future chapters, please, please, please, feel free to PM or review them to me, I really like hearing your feedback! Hope you liked chapter nine and because you guys reviewed chapter eight knowing chapter nine was coming the next day, here's the title for chapter ten:
The first time she realised Leo might have his own great love waiting for him back home was also the day she first made him laugh.
Much love,
Shy xx