2008, Random Forest, Somewhere or Other (Bianca doesn't really care about that though, she wants to know more about the magic tent)

Bianca looked at Zoe, the lieutenant of Artemis looked worried. And that made Bianca worried. What could scare a basically immortal thousand year old huntress?

"Zoe, erm, what was that?" Bianca knew that the sentence sounded stupid. Just like she knew that English was something she needed to work on, despite her not knowing exactly why. The newly unageing teen brushed that thought away with a flick of her ponytail. It was Zoe she needed to focus on, not her weird memory.

The elder huntress didn't notice, her gaze apparently fixed on their campfire, but Bianca was sure that she wasn't really seeing it at all. She had vague memories about seeing other people look like that, but she really couldn't remember where from. Zoe interrupted her thoughts, they weren't that important anyway she told herself, with a sigh.

"Bianca, hundreds of years ago, there were, well modern Americans would call them witches."

She would have laughed if Zoe didn't look so serious.

"Witches and wizards." Zoe began, but then stopped mid breath, and let out another sigh. It was a few seconds before she began speaking again.

"First, Bianca, thou must swear not to repeat anything of this conversation, to anyone outside of the hunt."

"Should I swear on the Styx? Isn't that just for gods?" Bianca was worried - everyone in the Hunt, and even a few campers, said how envious the gods were, and that pride was the thing they hated the most. Swearing like a god would sounded pretty prideful to her.

"No no, we swear by the sisterhood of the Hunt, little sister. If thou break this oath, the hunt, and only the hunt, will decide what, if any punishment should be brought."

"Oh err Okay then." Bianca looked around nervously, how did you swear an oath without a god or icon or something to look to? Zoe must have seen the look of confusion on her face, and smiled kindly.

"I am the lieutenant of the Hunt, and have been for millennia, thy may swear the oath to me little sister, and it is just as binding - we all have been given the blessing of our Lady, we need nothing and no-one but ourselves for any oath we make to be true."

"Oh okay. Erm, I swear by the sisterhood of the Hunt of the Lady Artemis that I will not divulge the secrets or contents of this conversation to anyone not a member of the hunt."

Bianca didn't feel any different, not like when she swore to Lady Artemis, but Zoe smiled at her and nodded.

"Very good little sister. Now I can tell thou something of witches and magicians." But here the smile slipped off the older girl's face, and she looked deadly serious.

"First, thou must understand that magician and witch may be equivalent in American, but they refer to two completely separate things. Magicians are related to magic users within certain pantheons and are limited in their abilities. I cannot say more on this without leave by Lady Artemis, but witches were very different."

"They were like mortals, but not. They could all see through the mist without trouble, as some mortals are able to, but they also had the powers approaching that of demigods. But they had no need of any godly influence or patronage. They had all the benefits of mortals, but very few of the drawbacks. Some gods thought well of them, most did not, and we thought they had all died out back after we had first come to America. It was a… complex time."

Another pause, and an even bigger sigh. A lot of things were skipped over there, Bianca was sure, but she couldn't even form the question before the elder huntress began speaking again.

"Whenever the Flame of the West has moved, sometimes the transition is easy, and we assimilate with the local cultures well. Other times it is more difficult, and moving from Britain to this new country, that was the longest the flame has ever travelled. We gained and lost much, and by the end of it, we thought we had emerged mostly unscathed. It was only later we realised that the witches apparently died out. But now it is possible we were wrong."

Zoe's eyes had gone from distant to angry. Bianca didn't know who the huntress was angry at, but she was sure that she didn't want to be that person. To try and drag anything out of Zoe, Bianca knew that was the worst thing to do, all of her sisters told her so, but she was curious, so she asked anyway.

"So, erm, how did the witches get lost, didn't they come with the Flame?" This was something Bianca still couldn't wrap her head around, the concept of the Flame of the West and that it moved. But that wasn't important right now.

"The witches were not part of our pantheon, or any pantheon we knew of. They simply existed , like mortals do, completely… independent." This last part was said with a bitterness that even Bianca knew not to query. But now Zoe carried on without pause, becoming more animated as she spoke. "There were some witches who were kind and generous, and assisted the hunt and Lady Artemis often. But they were mortal so for every good witch there were dozens of bad. And just as much as there were incredibly kind and good witches, there were cruel and evil ones that could make the Fields of Punishment look merciful."

"So Lady Artemis and the Hunt liked the witches?" The only way to get Zoe to stay on track was apparently to keep interrogating her. Bianca had to keep shaking off the feeling that she'd known people who did this before, but couldn't really remember who or why or when.

"Yes. Our Lady Artemis had an association with what Americans would call magic and witchcraft early in Greece, before she wished to focus more on the moon and maidens, now much of that original domain is now under the patronage of the Lady Hecate." There sounded like a story there, and Bianca was half tempted to press that, but Zoe just looked at her, and any potential question faded away.

"On the whole, the Hunt decided that witches would be accepted if any wished to join."

Bianca couldn't remember any witch among the hunters, but before she could ask, Zoe answered.

"But no witches ever joined us little sister, many had no wish for a boy-free existence, but the Hunt were given assistance nonetheless. This was a time when mortals and the gods could exist much more closely than today."

Bianca now decided to move onto the most difficult question.

"So, erm, how were the witches lost? And where did they come from?"

Zoe didn't sigh, but looked up at the stars, those that were visible at least, as if they held the answers.

"Whenever the Flame, or we, moved, there were always witches, at least in Europe, there was always some in Greece and Rome, there were many from …Aegyptus, and in France and England." Zoe paused, and seemed lost in memory, before shaking her head and continuing.

"When we moved with the Flame, many years after the declaration of American independence, but we had to spend much time …" There was a pause as Zoe appeared to struggle to find the right word. "...settling in, as it were. This is always a complex endeavour, trying to fit in with local spirits and deities, but we have always succeeded. It was only around the turn of the century, when the entire pantheon had come to America, that the Hunt realised we had not come across any witches, or wizards for that matter, and the creatures we were used to seeing were not in the United States. This was before the mortal government controlled all of North America as completely as it does today. Our initial expeditions were limited, until American control moved further out as each state became part of the US, but even then it took years for us to freely enter those areas. It was only after all the current states were completely under the influence of the mortal government that we realised that the witches hadn't been congregating in a single state, or even mortal reservations , but had completely vanished."

It was a few moments of silence, but this time Bianca didn't need to ask a question, Zoe was speaking for herself, looking almost lost in some memories.

"Witches could do much, limited only by their desires. Of course nothing like the gods, or Lady Artemis, but like strong demigods for the most part. They were not limited by the patronage of a single god, one witch could control the elements, create things, and become invisible without any connection to any of the gods. There were many a crisis on Olympus averted by a witch being called on to mediate, or many fights that never happened once the gods realised the witches had backed one side."

"So they were like half-bloods then, could challenge the gods, and some Laws were not applicable to them?" Bianca was determined to understand this.

Zoe smiled at that.

"Yes and no, Bianca. The witches were completely independent of any pantheon, so no Laws applied to them, and they had the means to hinder gods and monsters, but because they were also completely mortal, it was difficult to harm them using weapons that worked against monsters." Zoe looked like she was about to say something, but then changed her mind. "Even in Greece the gods rarely acted against many mortals directly. If the gods truly wished to harm any mortal then nothing could stop them, but mortals are dangerous in their own way, the witches moreso. Many conflicts between the god and their followers were halted by the presence of witches on one side or another."

From what Bianca had heard in the Camp and from her fellow sisters, the arguments and possible fights between gods were super serious. That was why the gods needed a balancing force like half-bloods to keep them from fighting too much, and that was apparently the main reason many gods had demigod children and those children could act so freely according to Celyn. Bianca had gotten a run down of the major myths, godly conflicts, and overall sense of where the Hunt, and Lady Artemis stood, on many actions. But she couldn't stop the next question tumbling out as it occurred to her.

"Wait, aren't demigods supposed to kind of act like that? As a balancing force for the gods, so that a War in Heaven won't happen." She didn't know if God existed, but she had a vague idea of a Catholic upbringing that just made certain phrases easier to come out with. She must've been Catholic growing up, but couldn't really remember anything before going to Westover Hall. She'd always known she had a rubbish memory, but stopped that thought when Zoe answered her..

"Yes, demigods are loyal to their parent and knew more of the Olympians, they were the ones who led the actions of the mortals and witches. But now there are demigods fighting demigods, which is always…messy." Bianca could tell there were a few dozen words that Zoe did not use, but she mentally filled them in. Bloody. Horrifying. Apocalyptic. She stopped herself because now she was thinking of hundreds of dead campers, and Nico among them.

Zoe saw the look on her face and nodded.

"In Greece mortals and half-bloods strove together as extensions of the will of the gods, but now with so many mortals and so few half-bloods, this balance is no longer equal. There are too few demigods to direct the mortals appropriately, and too many mortals so we cannot always know their actions even if directed.".

"Did the witches ever fight in a godly war?" Bianca almost punched herself, such a stupid question. Everyone always said she was too impulsive like that.

"No, not for any god directly. Whenever their discussions failed, the witches usually left the gods to fight … but they could harm enough of a god's followers or children that limited their power. They were able to use the Mist in ways that demigods were unprepared for. Only clear-sighted mortals can see through the Mist without any difficulty." Another pause, and this one Bianca knew Zoe was thinking about a huntress that died from not seeing through the Mist in time - she'd ask later though.

"The witches were all clear-sighted mortals, so they could see through the Mist no matter what a demigod tried to do. Demigods had become used to disguising their movements through the Mist so often that many were slaughtered when they thought themselves safe. Without their tools, the gods would try to intervene in wars themselves. It didn't take long before godly wars became too destructive to continue, and some minor godlings were even lost."

"Couldn't the gods-" Bianca couldn't even voice the thought. The first thing the Hunters had told her, reinforced by Chiron relentlessly, was that the gods were all powerful, and insulting one was virtually suicide, unless the god in question was feeling merciful. That seemed arbitrary- but this thought was quickly squashed in Bianca's mind as dangerous.

The gods were not arbitrary, they were wilful at worst, and their choices and reasoning were beyond the understanding of many mortals, even demigods. They were gods, they literally were not human, so there was no point even trying to apply human behaviours to them all the time. That was Godly Survival 101, Bianca really should try to remember that.

"No, the wizards were independent of the Olympic pantheon, any attack by a god or demigod on a wizard would risk drawing more mortals into the fight. And…" Zoe stopped again and sighed. "Later, when you have more experience with the Hunters, you will see just why the gods have stopped themselves attacking mortals.."

Bianca could tell when she wasn't going to get any more information, but wondered about what Zoe was not saying. How did she meet wizards? And why did she look so worried when she came back from the tent?

But the far-away look on the other girl's face stopped Bianca from asking. Some things were just too personal, even for (new) sisters.

Inside Thalia's Tent

In their tent, Thalia and Grover were busy explaining to Percy exactly how the daughter of Zeus had gotten the tent.

"Wait, so an actual wizard just turned up one day and gave you a tent?" Percy sounded like he couldn't believe the shortened story Grover just told him. As if he wasn't the son of a greek god that lived in America and killed monsters straight out of mythology. Thalia had to grin at that.

"Yeah, pretty much." She didn't try that hard to keep the smug sound out of her voice. This was the first time anyone outside of her, Annabeth or Luke actually went in the tent, and she was amazed that it looked just the same as it did seven years ago, no mould or anything like that.

Even Grover was looking around in shock. That made sense, Thalia guessed, he never saw the tent, just knew that she was given it. It wasn't a rule that she and Luke came up with, but they decided at some point that they would only use the tent if they couldn't find shelter anywhere else. It was Luke's idea, he didn't trust the tent to stand up to monsters, no matter Harry's assurances. Thalia agreed with Luke, they had been subject to so many monster attacks over the years that it was kinda difficult to trust a tent, and everything happened so quickly after meeting Grover (she remembered the fear of the Cyclops, of Annie being all alone, the sheer terror as dozens of hellhounds and harpies that were about to descend on her on that hill-) that they didn't have time to use the tent after meeting Grover.

Shaking her head in a vain attempt to dislodge the memories, Thalia looked again at both of the boys and decided she'd better tell them about her Luke and Annabeth's adventures with the wizard. It made her feel more like a person, and less like a story-character.

"Well, we first met Harry in Richmond, only a few weeks after me and Luke found Annabeth."

A/N: Zoe's explanation isn't thorough, is coloured by her own biases, skips over a lot, confuses a lot of the timelines, and is limited to her perspective or what she has been told

Don't take her word on what is true or not regarding witches and wizards, just like Mr D and Harry have their own biases that colour their opinions

And yes, Zoe is drawing a distinction between magicians and wizards, there's definitely a reason there

It's interesting that IRL 'magic' in ancient Greece was generally looked down on and even the word 'magician' comes from Greece's old enemy (Persia)

(religion and magic in Ancient Greece (around 500BC) were for all intents and purposes virtually the same thing, but over time, especially leading to the Roman Republic, 'magic' became more associated with fakery, charlatans, and something that was beneath good men/people to use)

anyhow, let me know what you all think