Chapter Two
When Percy had come to Hazel with the first draft of the Lex Aevum Legionarium, she hadn't known why or even what it was. As a Tribune, she was allowed to attend senate meetings and vote on bills, but she was specifically excluded from doing any legislating of her own. Either she needed to convince Reyna to put a bill forward or, much more difficult, she had to convince Percy himself. She hadn't done it once, but she knew that Hank had approached Percy with a sixteen page proposal, and when he emerged from his office four hours later, he burned it and any copies he had. Frank had been working on a proposal of his own, but it wasn't nearly close to being ready to take to either Percy or Reyna, and she doubted it would be presented before the year ended. Having Hank, one of Percy's close friends and most trusted officers, being so thoroughly put out by whatever debate was had didn't do Frank any favours, and Hazel felt for him.
So yeah, she was a little surprised when he came to her with a bill. Maybe a little more surprised because he came to her, slipping into her little office in the Principia on a relatively boring afternoon.
"Imperator—" She started to rise, but he held up a hand.
"Don't stand. And call me Percy, for the gods' sakes." He smiled at her. "I have something I want you to look at."
He placed a large binder down on her table, Lex Aevum Legionarium—The Legionary Age Law—stamped across the cover. It had the name of the consuls underneath it, but he wouldn't have brought her anything that he hadn't contributed to at least somewhat. It just wasn't his style.
"You're the youngest junior officer we have, so you should read through this and tell me if we've missed any marks. I personally didn't see anything wrong with it, but it's pretty much what I wanted in the first place, so we'll see if something didn't slip through the gaps." He explained. "Pretty much, I don't want anyone younger than sixteen joining the legion. We'll put them in the Urban Cohort, where they'll learn the same stuff that they already do, but without the risk of being thrown into a war like the two we've just had. Anyone currently enlisted in the legion under sixteen is being grandfathered in so that they're not transferred unless they want to be. All things go according to plan, in three years we won't have anyone under the age of seventeen in the legion."
"And you want me to…" She trailed off. He gave her another smile.
"To review the bill, make sure it's not being unfair to anyone currently below that age-line, yourself included." Percy confirmed. "I have another job for you as well, but we can talk about that later. Right now, I want you to read through this. You can have Frank help you too, if you want, but try to keep the number of people down and to officers and trusted squad leaders. I don't want the rumour mill going wild before anything official is done."
"Yes sir," she said. "How long do I have?"
"Three days to review it, another three to put together any notes you may have, and you'll present to the consuls on the seventh day."
"The consuls, sir?" She blinked in surprise.
"As much as it pains me to admit it, I'm only human, and I can't do everything myself." He told her with a wry grin. "You'll make your presentation to the consuls, and they'll report to me at a later time. There's about to be a lot going on, Tribune. Things are going to pick up and slow down all at the same time."
Hazel had no earthly clue what that was supposed to mean, and it must have shown on her face, because Percy chuckled softly. "The gods work in mysterious ways, youngling. You already know this better than most."
"Do you know something, sir?"
"Only that change is coming." He shrugged, making his way to the door. He paused, cocked his head to the side, nodded at himself, and then turned back to her. "What do you know about Kansas?"
"Kansas?" Hazel's eyes crinkled as she thought. "Andy and Jason got possessed by spirits near Topeka and had a duel, from what I was told, but we didn't stay long enough to really form an opinion on it."
"That's it?"
"I never left the Argo II," she confessed. "But…it felt…different there. I can't tell you how or why."
"Thank you, Tribune Levesque." Percy said. "Remember, three days to review, three days to revise, present on the seventh day. The consuls will reach out to you to establish a time to meet with them. I really appreciate you doing this."
"Of course, sir." Hazel beamed up at him. "I'm happy to help."
"Well, we'll see how long that lasts," he laughed, "I trust you more than most people, so you'll be helping a lot."
He stepped out of her little office, and almost immediately she heard several people snap to attention and fire off an Ave Imperator! Just before the door closed, she heard Percy sigh deeply, before responding with a lazy Ave Legionarii! If there was one thing that she both loved and didn't understand about Percy, it was his intense dislike of all the pomp and ceremony that came with being Imperator. She loved it about him because it made him that much more personable—not hard, considering who he was—but she didn't understand it because half the time, he was the one reintroducing it all. She had asked him, once, and all his had done was laugh and tap the side of his nose, before moving on.
She glanced at the Lex Aevum Legionarium, down at the report she had been reading through for Reyna, and then back at the bill. She had three days to read through the bill. She had three hours to write a summary of the report. It didn't take an Annabeth to figure out which one had priority. Hazel pushed the bill to the side and got back to her main job.
XXX
Reyna had already known that Hazel had been given a draft of the Lex Aevum Legionariumby Percy, so she gave Hazel the rest of the day off and promised to send Frank her way when he was done with whatever task he had been given. So, with her schedule clear and the thick binder carrying the new bill under her arm, Hazel made her way to the Café Drusilla, where she was briefly fawned over by Anna before the older woman gave her a smile and a hug and left her to do her work. She had been put in a corner booth that had a decent amount of privacy. She cracked open the binder, placed her notebook at her side, and flexed her hands several times as she prepared for what she imagined would be a lot of writing.
The law was well written, but she had already spent weeks studying all of the major laws pushed through, and it was clear that Percy had very little input beyond the broad strokes of the bill. It lacked the…feeling that his words held. Whenever she read Percy's bills—the ones he had written by himself, not with other senators—it was clear what he thought, why he thought that way, and why the law in question was necessary. Sure, arguments could be made against them, but he had a way of manipulating those views to seem irresponsible or idiotic. This bill had moments of that, but it was clear, at least to Hazel, that the Consuls had almost certainly just written down whatever Percy had said to them when he was explaining the point they were making. It had none of the flair, the emotion, the skill that Percy had. They were just words. But they were words that were effective. She didn't disagree with any points, and while she was maybe a little annoyed that Percy thought anyone under seventeen was a risk to the legion, she could also understand why he thought that way. Hazel was fourteen, one of the best riders in all of New Rome and had helped save the world. She was anything but a risk. Hazel was also an outlier—an anomaly that only came round rarely. That she had shown up when she did was fate. Not every fourteen year old would be her, she knew that.
And so did Percy. It wasn't like he was kicking her—or any of the others under seventeen—out of the Legion. He just wasn't bringing any new minors in. They had the choice to stay or not, and there were no incentives for either decision. It was purely up to the person in question, which was considerate. It was also a little hypocritical. They were trusted enough to decide about whether they got to stay in the legion or not, but any future recruit under seventeen wasn't?
Hazel released a deep sigh. It was one of those things where she understood it and she agreed with it, but the law as it stood created a double standard and if she could see it, most senators would be able to as well. She spied her waiter approaching with her drink and food, so she closed the binder and slid it to the side, thanking him as it was placed in front of her. His quick glance at it didn't escape her notice, and she cleared her throat quietly, sending him scurrying away with a mumbled apology.
Hazel was just halfway through her coffee when she noticed a small group of boys staring at her, whispering to each other. None of them were legionaries—they all lacked the service tattoo—but she'd bet they were new arrivals. She didn't like the scrutiny, and worse, she wasn't sure why they were staring at her, which made her feel really self-conscious. She had to make an effort not to check that she hadn't spilled food on herself, which was stupid, because she knew that she hadn't. After maybe three minutes of their staring, one of them finally got up and made his way over to her.
"Can I help you?" She asked as politely as she could.
"You're Hazel Levesque, right?" The boy blurted out—then again, he looked to be her age, so she wasn't sure if it was hypocritical to call him a boy. "You were one of the demigods who defeated Terra?"
"I was there when Terra was defeated." Hazel corrected. "Leo Valdez and Piper McLean were the ones directly responsible for her defeat."
"Uh, right." He nodded. "But you were part of the prophecy, right? That means you helped defeat her."
"I literally cannot be any clearer—I was there when she was defeated. I helped get Leo and Piper to the point where they stopped her, but I didn't defeat her. I was nowhere near them when it happened." She told him pointedly. He rubbed the back of his neck.
"Right. Sorry." He muttered, before taking a deep breath. "I was wondering if—"
"Hazel!" She held in a sigh of relief as Frank ambled over, drink held in one hand, notebook in the other. He blinked as he saw the boy standing at her table and shot her a glance. She subtly shook her head. He gave the kid an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Tirone, but there's some official Tribune business going on here. You'll need to leave."
"But—" That was a mistake. Frank had been taking lessons from Percy in how to assert his leadership, and his face hardened immediately. It was all the warning he needed. "Yes sir. Sorry sir."
The teen scampered away, and Frank sat down across from her. "What was that about?"
"I honestly have no idea. He just came over, started asking questions about Terra, and then you showed up." She shrugged. "Thank you, by the way. That was pretty weird."
"Well…you are a hero of a prophecy." He waved vaguely. "I've had a few people approach me too. You haven't?"
"I've had people thank me, but nothing like that. It was like he wanted something but couldn't get around to asking it. Like I said, weird."
"Huh. Yeah, weird." Frank leaned forward and tapped the binder. "What do you think?"
"It's pretty well written, but I have some notes about the language and the implications behind it." She explained. "But honestly, that could just be me being biased because I'm going to be affected by this law."
"You think that the others should be allowed to choose whether they serve or not?" Frank guessed. "It makes sense to you, I know, because this is the oldest and most mature you've ever been—you think you know what you're talking about. I'm fifteen, and I think I know everything I need to, Percy is seventeen, and he…well, actually, that's not a good example, because Percy pretty much knows everything he needs to, but you get my point. We're at places in our lives where we think we know what's best for us, but we really kinda don't."
"I was part of a Great Prophecy, Frank." She said pointedly. "I think I should be able to decide whether or not I stay a part of the legion."
"Yeah, but the average fourteen-year-old is not you, Hazel." He reminded her, hiking a thumb over at the gaggle of boys watching them with rapt interest, and quickly glancing away when they realized they had been caught. "The average fourteen-year-old is them. You really want to stake the future of New Rome on them, now?"
"That's…okay, yes, that's a valid point." She conceded. "I just feel like it's ignoring the achievements that people like me made."
"It's not, though. All it's doing is preventing people like you from happening again, and is that really such a bad thing?" He asked her. "You know about Dominic Henderson."
It wasn't a question—everyone knew about Dominic Henderson. He was a son of Mars, Hazel's age, in the Fourth Cohort who had fought at Camp Half-Blood. When Percy had been dueling Alabaster Torrington, Dominic had tried to step in when it looked like the latter was getting the advantage and lost the ability to use his sword hand a result. He'd never fight in the legions again. Percy had been so devastated, and it probably wasn't long after that he had started working on the Lex Aevum Legionarium. It didn't take a genius to connect the two dots.
"Percy went ballistic afterwards, Hazel, and it was for a kid he barely knew." Frank continued. "He's not the only one, either—Leila literally slaughtered her way through a dozen cyclopes to get to Dominic. The Fourth went berserk and just about cleared the area. That kind of ferocity can be dangerous, and if every older legionary is too busy worrying about the teens of their cohort, then we're going to lose the professionalism that makes us the greatest fighting force in the world."
"You've talked with Percy about this." She realised.
"Yeah, I was pretty upset when I read the first draft of the law, went straight to him." He nodded. "But he's right, Hazel. Gods, I can't imagine why no one had thought of this before. It just…it makes sense."
"I guess," she conceded reluctantly. "I don't have to like it, though."
"When have you ever known Percy to make a decision that everyone liked?" Frank countered. "It's just mostly been us who like them and others who don't. It was bound to happen eventually. Now, let's get down to the brass tacks. The sooner we bring this back to Percy, the sooner we can get on with our lives."
XXX
In the end, to her annoyance, there was no grand debate on the Lex Aevum Legionarium. Percy took their notes, thanked them for their input, and sent them back to Reyna, who then had them undertake the joyful task of keeping the legion running. That meant budget meetings, conferences with Senators, and orders passed along to the centurions. It was her job, and she loved it, but Hazel kind of wished that there was something else. Something more. She wasn't really used to idleness like this. Maybe it was because she was an officer now, but she felt like she was actually doing less than when she had been a legionary. She knew, objectively, that it wasn't true, that she was doing even more now then she had as a legionary, but the difference was that she wasn't doing anything physical, which was pretty much the life of the rank-and-file. It was all logistics and strategy.
There was something else going on, though. Percy was holding private meetings for hours with Reyna, the consuls and Greg Wulf, and she knew that Jason had been roped into a few of them via Iris Message because of Piper reaching out to complain to her about it, but whatever was being discussed, the six of them were keeping it incredibly close to the chest. Both the Eagle Party and the Populares were starting to get curious and frustrated, but Percy would simply shoot down any attempt to find out what he was up to. Even worse, Hazel and Frank had no way of knowing, because as part of Percy's plans to reintegrate some old traditions while moving past others, the Ludi Romani were being reinstated, and the two of them had been tasked with working alongside a committee of senators to organise them.
It was a lot of work, planning a week's worth of festivities, parades, and games, but she was actually enjoying it. It was fun. She was able to say what she thought, and the Senators didn't shoot her down immediately. By the time the games would come around, they'd have spent the better part of a month planning. But of course, just when things were becoming fun, they were pulled off the job, replaced by Michael and Larry. Reyna assured them that they hadn't done anything wrong, but they also weren't given any new jobs either, so clearly something had happened.
They got their answer the week before the games, summoned to Percy's new residence for the first time since it's official completion a month prior. Located outside of the Pomerium, the Domus Persei was part-house, part headquarters. Whereas the Principia was where the Legion was run from, the Domus Persei was where New Rome was run from. Outside, a rotating detachment from each cohort served as external security—no more than thirty legionaries, a squad from three cohorts present. Inside, security was handled by the Amazons and the Germani. It was one of the latter, a massive beast of a man named Tanca, who led them to Percy.
The Imperator was in his study, leaning over a map stretched across his desk, tracing his finger along some imaginary line. He glanced up when they entered and smiled tiredly. Hazel knew from Reyna that Percy had been sleeping more than before, but that didn't necessarily mean he was getting enough sleep.
"I'm glad you're both here. I've got a job for you."
"We live to serve, Imperator." She told him. "What can we do?"
"Either of you been to Kansas before?"
"Like I mentioned before, we briefly stopped there on our way east, but Frank and I didn't get off the Argo II." She explained. "Why?"
"We talked about Kansas already?" Percy frowned, before shaking his head. "Never mind. I'm sending you to a place called Lebanon in Kansas. It's a small town a couple miles away from the geographic centre of the United States. I want you, Hazel, to test the magical strength of the area. Frank, you're going to help Greg Wulf with a survey of the land—determine the defensibility, fertility, and anything else that he may need."
"Yes sir. May I ask why?"
"Sure, but I don't really have an answer for you outside of 'the gods said to,'" Percy shrugged, showing them the map. "It's flat land, mostly farmland. But they want us looking at it, they want us to consider moving there. I just don't know why. So, we'll do as we're told. If you find out something, let me know. If it's nothing…well, then I'm not sure why they have us looking into it."
Hazel thought it was weird that the gods would keep silent about something so important, but then again, according to Annabeth, the gods only talked to their children when it was very, very important. Visits from Olympians were uncommon in New Rome as well, but Lupa served as their representative for a reason, and anytime the gods made a decision, she was tasked with informing them. So while it was a big deal to see the gods, it was fairly common to hear from them. It was…not that way with the Greeks. She could understand why some of them felt bitter as a result, but hearing about how many of them had turned traitor and supported Saturn? It was insane. Bryce Lawrence was the first Roman demigod to turn against the gods in hundreds of years, and that was only after he was issued a Damnatio Memoriae, not why it was issued.
Frank seemed to have come to a similar conclusion that she had.
"Do you think it's…our Gods making this decision?" He asked Percy, who cocked his head to the side.
"Yeah. It's them, that much is obvious." He assured them. "Like I said—I just don't know why. They didn't feel the need to share."
"When do we leave?"
"End of the week. Reyna knows, so she'll start winding down on assignments so that you're clear for departure. You should also have some new colleagues when you return, which will make the workload even easier." Percy said. "You've been carrying more than your weight for a few months now."
"You've found the others?" Hazel asked, excitement bubbling in her chest. She had been looking forward to having more Tribunes from the moment Percy had announced it. "They've said yes?"
"I've put my feelers out and they've shown interest, but no one has been explicitly offered the role yet." He told her with a small grin. "Don't worry, Hazel, you'll have your playmates soon enough."
"Hey!"
"Now scram, kids. Papa Percy has a lot of work to do."
"Thank you, sir," Frank said, tapping Hazel on her back before leading them out.
"I'm fourteen, not four!" Hazel protested once they were out in the waiting room. Kyle glanced up from his desk where he was filing paperwork and grinned at her. "What?"
"Don't take it personally, I think the Imperator is just stressed." He told them. "He unironically called me 'son' yesterday and I think it nearly melted his brain as he realised what he had done."
"Do you know what's going on?"
"Maybe more than you." Kyle shrugged. "But not as much as the Imperator. If I wanted to, I could probably piece it all together, but I like my job, and I don't want to lose it just yet, so I won't."
"Yeah, you're finishing up your time soon, aren't you?" Frank asked. "End of the year, right?"
"Officially, yes," he nodded. "But I may stick around to help train whoever replaces me. The Imperator hasn't decided on someone yet, so who knows."
"Really?" Hazel frowned. It wasn't like Percy to be unprepared for something, even if it was months away.
"Yeah. He's been looking at candidates for a while, but no decision yet. No idea why." Kyle said, before glancing down at his desk. "Sorry guys, I've got to prep the Imperator for his next meeting. Finances, ugh, I'm not going to miss this part of the job."
"No worries, man." Frank assured him. "Good luck."
"You too, with whatever you're doing now." Kyle replied. Hazel waved at him as they left.
It was amazing, seeing the change between who Kyle used to be and who he was now. He had arrived not long after Hazel did, and she had thoroughly disliked his attitude, even if he was never overtly rude to her. But she had heard the stories and the rhetoric before. And then, one day, he was just…gone from the Legion. No one knew where he was until he suddenly showed up beside Percy during a meeting, taking notes and listening intently.
Whatever Percy had him doing seemed to have changed his tone very quickly, because it wasn't long before Kyle was the one shutting down children of Bellona espousing their 'destiny' to lead the Legion. And when someone as close to Percy as Kyle was told you to shut up, it was in your best interest to do so. That much power might've gone to his head, but Hazel hadn't heard him raise his voice to anyone once—an impressive feat for someone in his position, even more so for the fact that he was fourteen. Even Hazel had yelled at people when she lost her temper.
"Come on." Frank told her. "We've got some time to burn before dinner, and I need a spar."
"You always beat me!" She complained, but Frank just grinned at her.
"Yeah, but you're getting better, so it's a win for both of us. C'mon."
XXX
With the expansion of the legion, the dining pavilion had been expanded as well, nearly doubled in size to account for all the new recruits. That meant that it was pretty easy to get lost in the rows of tables if a person wasn't paying attention—which was exactly what happened to Hazel. She had gotten distracted talking with Lavinia, who was complaining about Dakota giving her more and more responsibilities, and suddenly realised that after she had left, she had wandered over to the Third Cohort's area, not towards the Officer Table. She let out a soft sigh and began making her way over.
"Hazel!" Someone called out, and she slowed to a halt, glancing around to see who had said her name. A probatio about her age stood from where he was sitting. "You are Hazel, right? Hazel Levesque?"
"That's Tribune Levesque to you, probie!" A decanus—Matt…something—called over to them. "And leave her alone, she's got more important things to deal with than you."
"It's okay Matt, I'm not bothered" Hazel said, turning to the probatio. "Can I help you with something?"
"I mean, nothing legion related." He said, leaning against the table and smiling up at her. She didn't like that smile at all. "I'm Tyler. Quinn. From Texas."
"Nice to meet you, Tyler Quinn from Texas." She replied politely. "I'm sorry, but if I can't help you with anything to do with the Legion, I have to go. Any questions about non-legion matters should be discussed with your Centurion, and if I'm needed, I'll be brought in. Excuse me."
Hazel made to turn, but a hand wrapped around her wrist. She froze immediately, not turning towards Tyler. Instead, her eyes locked onto Percy, who was already out of his seat. "Let go of me."
"Hey, we're just talking, right? It's no big—"
Percy was almost around the table, so Hazel reacted instinctively. She broke Tyler's grip with a flick of her wrist, grabbed the back of his head, and slammed it down into the table. He let out a cry of pain, while the other legionaries around them let out a cheer.
"Here's some advice," Hazel told him. "Ignoring the fact that I am an officer, never touch a girl without her permission, Tyler Quinn from Texas. The next time you do, they may not be as gentle as I was."
"Y'u bro'e my no'e!"
"Good." Percy's voice was level and calm as he approached, Hank and Reyna on either side of him. The Centurion of the Third was sweating profusely, eyes blown wide, while Reyna just grinned at Hazel. "Maybe it'll serve as a reminder what not to do in the future. You alright, Hazel?"
"I'm fine, Percy, really." She promised. "I had it under control."
"That's putting it mildly." Reyna snickered, before holding her hand out. "Come on, let's go get you some dinner."
She took the offered hand and let Reyna lead her away from the table. Percy stared at Tyler for a moment longer before turning to Hank. No words were exchanged, but the Centurion nodded solemnly. Percy turned and joined them a moment later. Hazel watched as Tyler was singled out and led away by Hank, who looked moments away from losing his temper. Once they were at the table and she had assured Frank that she was okay, Percy leaned in.
"Hazel," he began, before stopping and blinking. "Yeah, no, okay, I'm just going to ask this, and please don't take it the wrong way."
"Okay?"
"Did you slam that kid's head into the table because you were worried what I was going to do to him, or because you wanted to?"
"Uh…"
"First one, then."
"Yes?"
"You do know that I wouldn't have actually hurt him, right?" He asked her. "Scared him enough to make him crap his pants, certainly, but not harm him."
"I…wasn't sure what you'd do, actually." She admitted. "So I sort of…acted first?"
"Well…I can't fault her logic on that." Reyna told Percy. "You can become…unpredictable when your favourites are in troubles."
"Favourites? Oh, gods, you're really making me sound way kinglier than I am."
"Percy, I love you to death, but you have favourites." Reyna rolled her eyes. "Me, naturally. Hazel and Frank, Jason, Michael, Leila—it's an accepted fact at this point. Get over it."
"Okay, but we do know I wasn't going to deck some stupid fourteen-year-old, right?" Percy glanced around. "I'm not mad that Hazel did it, but I personally wasn't going to. We're on the same page there, yeah?"
"Yes, I know you weren't going to hit a stupid teenager, Percy." Reyna shook her head in amusement. "But Hazel probably still did him a favour by dealing with him before you did."
"Probably, yes." Percy agreed. "As long as we all know I wasn't going to hit him. What did he want, anyway?"
"I don't know." Hazel admitted. "He never actually said. Something about non-legion stuff. I told him to talk to his centurion."
Percy and Reyna exchanged glances then.
"What?"
"I'll tell you when you're—ow, hey!" Percy started to say before Reyna elbowed him in the side. "Fine, okay. Hazel, that was a very bad attempt at flirting with you."
"What?"
"See, I wanted to wait until you were older, but I guess saving the world will have that effect." He sighed dramatically. "When a demigod does something super-badass, like taking part in a Great Prophecy, they suddenly become like, fifty times more interesting and attractive to other people. Some of these people will try to get close to them because of this, hoping that they can be the one to snag a Hero—that's with a capital 'h' by the way—as a boyfriend or girlfriend. It happened to Jason after Othrys and might have happened to me if I weren't dating Reyna already. And no one tried it with her for the same reason."
"Because of you?"
"What? No, because of Reyna." He laughed. "You think I'm scary? She's next level."
"Gee, thanks Percy."
"You're not offended by that and don't pretend to be." Percy said with a roll of his eyes and a smirk. "I think it's super attractive."
"He was flirting with me?" Hazel interrupted…whatever that was.
"Yeah, or at least trying to set up the foundation to do it properly." Percy shrugged. "We've seen it before."
"Wait, Haze, that guy at the Café Drusilla," Frank finally chipped in. "He was acting weird too, right?"
"This has already happened?" Percy frowned. "Nope. Nuh-uh. Don't like that. Carita, do you think I can pass a 'don't flirt with Hazel' bill?"
"Can you?" Reyna shrugged. "Yes. Should you? No. You're not her dad."
"He might thank me."
"And I might slap you, so weigh your decisions carefully." Reyna pointed a finger at him, before turning back to Hazel. "I wouldn't worry so much about it. Boys will be a lot more careful now that they have to risk getting their noses broken if they talk to you. Still, be smart, be responsible. If the bothering becomes too much, let me know, and we'll work something out. Otherwise…it's part of growing up—learning who's being sincere and who isn't."
"Thank you." Hazel said quietly. "Both of you."
"Hey, we're cousins." Percy grinned, slinging an arm around her. "We've got to stick together."
"He's out of line, but he's right." Reyna told her. "We've got to stick together. It'll get easier. Speaking of sticking together, you ready to leave?"
"For Kansas? I've started preparing what I'll need to pack, but I wasn't planning on actually doing it for a few days."
Percy and Reyna exchanged glances again, having a silent conversation. After a few moments, the Legate conceded defeat with a quiet sigh.
"There's no rush. Just make sure you're ready to leave the day before. No last minute packing."
"Yes, Legate." Hazel nodded solemnly. Reyna sighed again.
"You're lucky I like you so much, Hazel."
"You know…" Percy mused, "looking at it, I think Hazel might be everyone's favourite."
"She's my favourite." Frank offered.
Hazel buried her face in her hands.
It was going to be one of those nights.
MMXXII
Huh. New year. Weird how that happened. I've finished this chapter as of 1/14/22, and have no idea when it's going to be posted. We're continuing the story with the Lex Aevum Legionarium, the Legionary Age Law, and Percy's task to look into Kansas. The next chapter will, at this point of my writing, follow Frank and Hazel in Kansas doing their assigned tasks, respectively. That may change as of writing this chapter, but who knows.
As always, leave a review letting me know what you think or send me a PM.
Friendly reminder that I have a discord channel! Code is aQyrha34Pu
Cheers, CombatTombat
EDIT 1/5/23
So yeah, this chapter was written a long time ago, but that's not what this is for. I just wanted to pop in and address something I've seen asked quite frequently about this story. Imperator: Parabellum is a sequel to Filii Deorum, but it's not the sequel to Filii Deorum. That has the distinct pleasure of being Imperator: Invictus, which will be written after this story is complete. Parabellum is a sort of interlude between Filii Deorum and Invictus to set up the events of the latter. An extended prologue, if you will. It didn't make sense to include the events in either Filii Deorum or in Invictus, so it became its own thing. That's why it's only going to be ten chapters. So,
Tldr: Parabellum is a short interlude sequel to set up Invictus, but Imperator: Invictus, is the conclusion of the Imperator series.
ALSO: this is the last chapter you'll be receiving of this story until it is complete, but it's been a full year since I opened my discord server to the public so I thought I would be nice and share it. Going forward, no more Parabellum until I finish the story. Sorry, but them's the breaks.
Cheers!