When Percy got to the area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean he sat down on the sandy bottom and tried to meditate. He hoped one of those song montages would start and he would learn all the soul-water swishing ways. All that really happened is that his ADHD brain got twitchy and Percy almost immediately gave up meditating.

Still, there was a lot to think about and just kinda process. Dismemberment. Cult. Prayers. Ash and fire. Becoming a god. His dad having a sex life. All equally horrifying things.

Also, his upcoming engagement? Oh man. Percy's quite sure he's not ready to get married. He's only met Julia a handful of times! What would Annabeth think? Percy will never know because she's not born yet. If he became a god he could wait for her, but then he'd be 2,000 years old and she'd be a teenager. Ew.

Ugh. Too many feelings. Time to poke some fish or something.

Percy swims further into the ocean until there was a sharp drop in the ocean floor. He swims down into the dark and doesn't come up for a few days. There is no one to talk to here, no one he could hurt except the fish. He tries to swish his soul, letting the less human parts of him drift through as he swims.

There are some cool fish down there: angler fish, big squids, starfish, a sperm whale. Nice. Poke, poke, poke.

Note to self: squids do not like being poked.

Also, on a completely unrelated note: squid ink stains your skin.

*
When Perseus sleeps, he hears prayers. People in Rome and Gaeta pray to him regularly. Perseus listens.

The people from the burning apartments and the firefighters pray to Perseus to thank him for putting out the flames. Gaius and Julia also pray to him. Gaius rambles about all the things he's doing and reading about, while Julia tells him what day it is and about what is happening in Rome. They've cleaned up the body of Celsus and Titus has announced that they'll start building a larger temple to Neptune, alongside a temple to Perseus in the place that the burnt apartment complex' are now.

Good. The small horse-based temple was a little insulting for the god of the seas, his father deserves better. When he gets back to Rome, Perseus should discuss what he wants his own temple to look like. It'll need a place for offerings and oil lamps. But does it need to be a classic temple? It could be a giant fountain! No wait, maybe a ship building harbor? Or a fire-station!

Swish. Swish.

*
Lucian was fishing off the coast of Lusitania. It was a peaceful day and Lucian has his fishing line in the water; he's already caught three fish. A seagull calls in the distance as he pulls out his lunch.

"You might want to head back to shore. There's a storm coming, and your boat would not survive a storm."

"My boat is fine. It's survived plenty of bad weather before" Lucian responded, taking another bite of his bread. He'd dipped it in some oil with cheese and –

Lucian jumps up, making his boat sway back and forth. There was a young man with a shock of white hair hanging on to the side of the boat. "By the gods! Let me help you up. How long have you been out here, young man?" Lucian asks, moving forward.

The boy laughs, and Lucian notices that his eyes were unnaturally green and one of his arms was black. This was no man. "I'm fine. Thank you for your concern. You should really head back to shore though, there's a storm coming. Not my doing, by the way, the winds are just playing around. Also, if you come back tomorrow, could you bring a bag of some kind and a glass vial? I have some stuff I want to carry around. I'll pay you for them," the god says.

"Of- Of course, my lord. What should I call you?"

"Perseus, son of Neptune," the god says with a grin, then falls back beneath the ocean. At first Lucian thinks he might have imagined it, but he rows back to shore anyway. When the storm hits less than an hour later Lucian sends a prayer to Perseus as thanks. The next day Lucian throws a flax woven bag and several glass vials into the sea. A crab climbs onto the side of his boat and drops three pearls from his crabby claws as payment.

*
When Percy pokes a clam, he can tell how annoyed the clam is. Clams don't have any thoughts though and only have very limited feelings: hunger, fear and annoyance. Percy's figures out that if a clam is annoyed, they have a pearl in them. Poke. Poke. Poke- oh, a pearl! He's going to give this to Julia as a thank you for being a good friend and walking him to the river after Percy saw that decapitated head.

A hermit crab in a conch shell has taken to following Percy around. Which is ridiculous because hermit crabs cannot walk or swim very fast. Percy will swim away and not see the thing for hours. Then he'll take a nap at the bottom of the sea and wake up to the Hermit Crab crawling up his arm. The second time Percy saw the crab he told it that if it pinched Percy, Percy will eat it. The crab has not pinched Percy yet, so Percy decided it was now his pet.

Percy has decided to call him Mr. Pinchy.

Mr. Pinchy is very stupid. He has very few thoughts and his main emotions are: eat? EAT! Pinch? PINCH!

It's great.

Percy asks a fisherman to bring him a bag for the pearls and some glass vials and gets Mr. Pinchy to deliver the pearls as payment. He finds that one squid again and was able to scare it and harvest the ink into a glass vial for Gaius without staining his arm black this time. Ink apparently is close enough to water that Percy can swish it into a vial.

*
'So. Murder,' Percy thinks as he drifts at the surface of the sea.

Murder is bad. Generally. But Mom killed Smelly Gabe and that was a great move. Smelly Gabe deserved to die. Did Celsus deserve to die? Percy doesn't think so. Celsus insulted Percy's mom and was just generally an unlikable guy. Percy just graduated middle school; he's heard a hundred "your mama" jokes and never killed anyone for it. What would Annabeth think? He should tell his cult that they are not allowed to murder people on his behalf.

Percy is a soldier. Maybe he pretends to be a middle schooler, but all Demigods are soldiers to some extent if only for mere survival. He's killed plenty of monsters. Monsters with thoughts and feeling and a desire to eat Demigod flesh. But they were trying to kill Percy, Celsus wasn't; also, monsters don't die, they are reincarnated in Tartarus. And they don't bleed.

Human souls also go to the underworld. You could say the fields of Asphodel are better than Tartarus.

It's different though.

Is it? Not all monsters bleed gold. What if someone tried to hurt his friends?

Percy would kill anyone who tried.

Swish. Swish.

Gaius hoped no one saw that his hands were shaking. This was his first-time public speaking and there were a lot of eyes on him. Gaius had studied and practiced for this. He had memorized the gestures of Cicero and written and re-written this speech. Gaius was dressed in his white toga, standing on a wooden box in front of the temple of Neptune. The 100 days of games in celebration of the opening of the Flavian Amphitheater were still ongoing despite the disturbance ten days ago. A race was scheduled to be held in the Circus Maximus in an hour, so a few people were gathering but not a full crowd.

Gaius took a deep breath, stood up straight, held his hand out for silence, "Romans! I am here to tell you of the day I met Perseus Fillius Neptunus!" People looked up, and Gaius pressed his thumb gently against the tip of his middle finger in the gesture to indicate the beginning of a speech. His hands shook slightly. "Though my shocked soul both recoils and rejoices, my tongue shall tell the tale. My uncle was at that time with the fleet under his command at Misenum. On that fall day, at about one in the afternoon, my mother desired us to observe a cloud which appeared of very unusual size and shape originating from Mount Vesuvius," Gaius starts his tale.

He orates, with the best of his limited ability, the tale of the eruption of Vesuvius. He tells of how his uncle had gone to his ships to organize a rescue operation but had never returned. He tells of the earthquakes that nearly toppled their house. He tells the crowd of the ash that rained from the sky and how the shoreline retreated as the earth shook. He tells about leaving Misenum on foot with a crowd of terrified people behind them.

He tells the now growing crowd about the ash cloud that descended upon them and blocked out all light. "Through the darkness my mother had seen a glowing orb of liquid rock fall from the sky and impact the ground a short distance from where we walked. As we approached, the orb broke apart to reveal a beautiful young man who was unburnt by the heat of the burning rock. At first, we thought him dead but then I saw him breath and we knew we had discovered a god."

Gaius went on to tell of Perseus' miracles. How a stream had followed him as he lay unconscious, how he had saved so many people from Herculaum by keeping them safe under the waters and how he controlled the ships to pick up Gaius and the people of Misenum to deliver them to safety. Finally, Gaius spoke about how Perseus protected the refugees in Gaeta after the eruption by building apartments and fishing for crabs.

Gaius ended the speech by saying that he was a mere humble observer of Perseus' great miracles. Gaius stepped down among applause from the now larger crowd. Though his stomach felt as if it had a whole beehive buzzing inside it, Gaius was quite proud of himself. Next time he'll tell the crowd about Perseus the boy, instead of just Perseus the god.

A senator who had been listening to his speech, Lucius Otho Titianus, approached Gaius and compliments his rhetoric skills. The man asks if Gaius would like to come to dinner with the man's family tomorrow night to discuss rhetoric and Perseus. Gaius was happy to accept.

*
While swimming through the Atlantic poking at the occasional fish, a group of dolphins approaches him. They are swimming very quickly. "Volcano boy!" they call him excitedly.

"My name is Percy," Percy says.

"Okay Volcano-Percy! Do you kill Sea Serpents? Because one has been trying to eat us for a while!" One of the dolphins with long scars down his back says.

Percy pulls out Riptide, "Of course!" Percy says. He has never actually killed a sea serpent by himself, but he'd been part of a demigod group that killed a big pink one back at the lake in camp half blood. He'd also scared off a crocodile-headed serpent when he was chasing down the stolen chariot once. So he'll be fine.

The pod of dolphins keeps swimming. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" one of the smaller ones says as he swims past.

Percy prepares himself but he does not need to wait long. A large sickly yellow serpent with the face of a moray eel swam toward him, mouth open. Its spotted skin is covered in a layer of slick and its teeth are like shards on broken glass. Except they are the size of Percy's arm.

Percy swims up and away from the jaws as it tries to swallow him whole. The serpent is fast, and its slippery body avoids the swing of Percy's sword. Percy tries to swish his soul, letting it flow into a larger container. Or maybe he's pouring it out of a container and letting it flow through the water.

Perseus grips Riptide tightly and pulls the current toward him. The Serpent slows from the unfavorable flow and Perseus catches up to it. Approaching it from behind, Percy plunges Riptide into its body. Perseus tries to pull riptide through the skin to cut the creature open but the gel-like slime that covers the creature slows the blade and make it difficult to cut the skin beneath. Perseus wishes he had taken a spear from the Praetorian camp.

The serpent turns, contorting its body unnaturally so his face it now next to the tail Riptide is still embedded in. The Serpent opens its mouth of jagged teeth and Perseus swims forward. He uses the water around him to increase his speed and swim past the beast's teeth. The Serpent is quick, and manages to close its mouth on one of Perseus' legs, cutting a wide gash from knee to ancle.

The mouth closes and it's pitch dark. The monster's teeth point inward, making it near impossible to swim outward. Luckily, that's not Perseus' plan. The creature's tongue comes up to try to push Perseus into its throat. Percy pulls out Riptide, flips the quill into a sword and plunges it into the roof of the creature's mouth.

The creature's roar is almost deafening. His tongue tries to push Perseus to the side, into the sharp inward facing jagged teeth. Perseus holds onto Riptide and pulls the blade through flesh and bone. Perseus feels the creature's skull crack. The tongue is a powerful muscle and the Monster's tongue pushes Perseus toward the jagged teeth desperately.

Percy pulls at the water around him. He wants to use it to push the tongue away but there is not much water inside a closed mouth. Perseus pulls. The acid in the creature's stomach responds, coming up its throat and burning the creature's mouth. Another roar and the tongue moves away, allowing Perseus to stab again into the cut he had previously made.

The creature bursts into gold dust. Perseus breaths wonderful seawater. He picks up the trophy, a large jagged tooth about the size of Perseus's arm. The dolphins return to thank their prince and celebrate with a bunch of flips. Perseus spends some time with the creatures before letting himself flow back into his more contained human form.

*
Akhon Djoser had lived through some vicious storms before and this one would be no different. It was best to focus on your oar strokes and not to think too much about how high the waves were getting. Every wave that hit the boat would splash cold salt water over the side and onto Akhon. His oar mate who was supposed to be helping Akhon row lets go of the oar. Akhon swears loudly.

"Marcus you bastard with a hairy ball sack, you better pick the oar back up right now," Akhon shouted over the sound of the storm, the drumbeat, and one hundred groaning men.

Marcus- that absolute bastard – was holding his crab-shell necklace and whispering prayers. Akhon wanted to strangle him and his bloody Roman gods. One of the down sides to taking a job rowing the grain ships from Alexandria, Egypt to Rome was all the bloody Romans that also had the job. Marcus was a new hire and had spent the trip to Alexanria nearly crying and praying to some horse-shit new Roman god of crabs every time it rained even a little.

The oar was designed for two men to row, and if you got out of time with the rowers in front and behind you your oars would collide. This could mess up everybody or even break the oar and Akhon was not going to lose his job just because Marcus was a superstitious Roman bastard. Akhon's muscles strained trying to keep time by himself.

Akhon was going to strangle Marcus.

There was a loud thump that shook the ship, as if the ship had hit something. Akhon hopes it was some floating debris and not a rock. Marcus – the bastard- finally grabbed back onto the oar just as the waves calmed down. They calmed down very quickly actually. Akhon had never felt a storm calm this quickly before. Looking over the side of the ship, Akhon saw a ring of calm water around their ship surrounded by the rage of a storm.

There was another sound, this time it was a knocking sound. Knock knock knock. As if something was hammering on the underside of the ship. Or as if someone was knocking, trying to get in. Akhon wondered if they had not hit something, but if something had hit THEM. There was a shout from behind them and the row commander ordered a halt, stopping his drumbeat.

Once they had pulled their oar in, Akhon realized just how smooth the waves were. They were not merely in the eye of the storm. This was something unnatural. He shared a look with Marcus, who looked similarly confused.

The knocking came back. This time it was closer to where Akhon was sitting. Knock knock knock. This didn't sound like the ship was bumping into something. This sounded alive. Almost as if… almost as if someone was hammering on the bottom of the ship. Then there was a single wave rising starboard side that crashed over the side of the ship. Akhon braced for the shaking and spray of the water, but the wave flowed painlessly over the deck of the ship. It had deposited something onboard.

The figure looks human aside from his eyes that glow green in the dim light of the storm and the purple lined cape that seemed to follow him and drape itself over his shoulders. There was a conk shell with claws that had clamped itself onto the figure's cloak. The being looks across the now silent sailors.

"Is Marcus here?" The creature asks.

Akhon turns to stare at Marcus. What had the bastard done now? Had he pissed off a god?

Marcus grips his crab shell necklace, stands up and bows, "That would be me, Lord Perseus."

Lord Perseus smiles in the dim light of the storm. "Yours was the first prayer I ever heard; did you know that? I don't always answer, but I hear all your prayers. I also nailed a fin-like keel to the bottom of your wobbly vessel. It's not ideal, I had to scavenge some wood from a nearby shipwreck, and it would be better if it was a part of the ship's spine. A full central keel would be best, but you can't add those after the ship's been built. Still, the fin-like keels should help stabilize this ship until Rome builds better ones. You'll have to be more careful near shallow waters though."

Akhon has no idea what a 'keel' is but isn't about to ask either. "Tell me Marcus, have we met before?" the god asks.

'Is this the crab god Marcus had been talking about?' Akhon wonders. Perseus was a lot more human looking than Akhon had imagined. Marcus had said the god was born from a volcano so Akhon had imagined something more monstrous with a crab head. Many of the Egyptian gods had animal heads.

"We have, my Lord. You gave me a crab in Gaeta and built an apartment for my family after our home was destroyed," Marcus answers.

"I should visit Gaeta again," the god says, "maybe for the anniversary of the eruption." Then the god shakes his head, "You should lower anchor and pull down your sails for a few hours. Some of the wind spirits are fighting about something stupid and I haven't been able to convince them to stop. So the storm may last a while, but it shouldn't be severe enough to tip the ship. You might as well wait the storm out a bit."

"Yes my Lord," Marcus says, "Gaeta would celebrate your arrival most honorably if you came to visit."

"We'll see. I will make no promises as I've found promises to be too restraining. But it is good to see you again Marcus. Try to stay safe, yeah?" The god says. Then the god just jumps over the side of the ship casually, as if falling into open waters would not be a death sentence to any other creature. The water that had splashed into the ship with his arrival flowed with him, leaving the sailors within strangely dry.

Everyone in the ship is staring at Marcus.

"You got any more of those god-summoning crab-shell necklaces, Marcus, old buddy?" Akhon asks.

*
"Halt right there, young man," a voice calls out to Percy as he's swimming his way up the river. Percy turns to find a bearded Roman god with curly hair. The god is wearing what Percy is starting to suspect is "the water god style" of being largely shirtless and just having a toga loosely draped around your legs. Percy should really introduce him to the concept of belts because this guy's skirt-thing is really only one good stretch away from falling down.

"Hello," Percy says, "You must be the river god."

"Yes! I am! Tiberinus, god of the Tiber. And you must be the new brat who thinks he can go around commanding my waters without so much as a 'by your leave'!" Tiberinus says, arms crossed.

"That would be me," Percy agreed, "I put out a fire in Rome. I wouldn't have been able to do it without your wonderful river water. It's just such amazing water. Look how strongly it flows! It was just absolutely perfect for putting out fires in Rome."

Tiberinus is apparently not immune to flattery as he grins and looks around proudly at the flowing river around them, "The Tiber is wonderful, isn't it?"

"One of the best rivers I have ever swam in," Percy says, "The waters are strong and full of life." Also full of poop, but Percy doesn't mention that.

Thoroughly flattered, Tiberinus smiles proudly, "My wife will be pleased that you put out a fire in her son's city. Little Romulus was always so proud of his town. Would you like to join my wife and I for lunch? We can discuss how it is that a demi-god is pulling water away from my amazing river so easily."

So Percy finds himself sitting on the muddy banks of the Tiber about halfway between the ocean and Rome having lunch with the river god and his wife Rhea Silvia, who is apparently the mother of Rome's founder king. The one who got pregnant by seeing the shape of a penis in smoke. Rhea is wearing a silk dress and has her hair up in a complex braid pattern. The Rhea and Tiberinus are very much in love. Tiberinus keeps his head in his wife's lap and she seems to enjoy braiding and unbraiding his curly hair.

It's a bit early for lunch, but Percy skipped breakfast so he doesn't mind. Tiberinus had a cornucopia that was full of fish, grains, olives and grapes; he pours some of the food out onto a picnic blanket Rhea had woven. They eat and chat about Rome and about Percy. Rhea Silvia is very interested in all the goings on of her son's city.

Percy mentions he needs to head back to Rome today because there's a celebration for his father going on and Percy said he would be back by then. Tiberinus stops. "It's Neptunalia today," the river god says.

"Yeah," Percy agrees, "A celebration for Neptune, my dad."

Tiberinus is even nicer after that.

"I didn't know Romulus was half river god," Percy says after a few minutes. The two gods look confused.

"He's not?" Rhea says, "My sons Romulus and Remus are the son of Mars. He was born before I met Tiberinus. One of the reasons I fell in love with Tiberinus is because he saved my babies from drowning and delivered them to a she-wolf who kept them fed. My man is sexy and kind." Rhea and Tiberinus make kissy sounds at each other without actually kissing. Percy wasn't sure where he was supposed to look.

"But aren't you a river god Rhea?" Percy asks after they stop making kissy sounds.

"I only became a god after I died. I was a legacy of Venus and apparently my sons worshipped me as they built their city, making me one of the protective spirits of Rome. So here I am," Rhea Silvia says. Percy looks up.

"You became a god?" he asks, "I think I am as well. Do you have any advice?"

"Marry someone who is sexy and kind." More kissy sounds.

"Any… um… other advice?"

"Try not to lose track of who you were. Gods are…" Rhea searches for words, "only partially physical. Humans are contained within their bodies, but when you become a god, you are a part of your domains. A part of me will always be connected to Rome and to the Tiber River."

"Does the difference between being a god and a human mess with your mind?"

"Oh" Rhea says, "I know that feeling. It does recede a bit after you fully become a god. But there will always be times when I am a bit more spirit and a bit less conscious, and there will be times like this where I feel almost human. Try not to be one of those gods who completely lose themselves in their domains- they get a bit weird. If things get very bad you can always talk to Bacchus, he knows a thing or two about going crazy during ascension."

Percy couldn't think of a single scenario where he would ask camp counselor Dionysus for life advice. Ever. But Percy is trying not to insult gods out loud anymore, so he eats some grapes instead.

"So Perseus, do you have any romantic interests?" Rhea asks.

"Uuuhhh… Maybe?" Percy says.

"Oooh!" Tiberinus says, grinning, "Do tell. Love trouble, eh? Have you tried taking your shirt off?"

"Um. No. There was this girl, right? And I really like her, but I have no idea if she likes me. Then she kissed me. But she said it's for luck, so I don't know if that means she like-likes me or not. You know?"

"You're not sure if she likes you? After she kissed you?" Rhea asks.

"A true mystery," Tiberinus says with a laugh.

"She said it was for luck! But if she does like me, does that mean we're dating? What if she is - uuuhhh- not technically alive at the moment, and we might never see each other again. Are we still dating?"

"Oh wow. That took an unexpected turn," Tiberinus says somberly.

"And what if there was this other girl. And um. She is alive? And I think her dad wants me to marry her for political reasons? And I get that. It's very Roman. She's pretty cool. She picked up sword fighting really fast and it's easy to talk to her. If I don't marry her, her dad might get annoyed at me or see me as a politic threat, right? That would probably be bad. And if I do marry her, I might become Augustus of Rome? Which, I don't know how to feel about. On one hand, I could build so many ships and travel around the Mediterranean meeting cool people, on the other hand, I'd probably have to do a lot of paperwork and wear purple."

"Those are your main concerns?" Rhea asks.

"I mean Titus is only in his fifties. I don't actually have to worry about being Augustus anytime soon! I have plenty of time to grow up and learn politics and stuff. But I don't want to marry Julia for politics. That just feels wrong, you know?" Percy says, "What do I do?"

Rhea and Tiberinus look at each other. Then Rhea says, "It's fairly clear that you're not over the first girl. I've known several people who got married almost immediately after the death of their first husband. When your ability to feed your children is dependent on a marriage, a second marriage is just practical. But if you don't have any kids that are going to starve to death, it might be a good idea to hold off on any marriages until after you've had some time to grieve."

"Annabeth isn't dead!" Percy shouts, his hands curl into fists. The clouds darken.

Tiberinus sits up. "Ok," he says calmly, raising his hand up, "She's not dead. But will you see her again any time soon?"

"No," Percy reluctantly admits.

"Then you are still grieving a relationship. Even if this Annabeth is definitely not dead," Tiberinus says.

By that definition Percy should be grieving a lot of relationships. Which is ridiculous because everyone is fine. Everything is fine, and there is nothing to be sad about. No need to investigate further.

"Have you tried talking to the daughter of the Augustus about what she thinks about this situation?" Tiberinus asks.

"No," Percy admits.

"Maybe start there," Tiberinus says, "and if you do want to flirt, take your shirt off. Being shirtless always helps when you're flirting." Rhea nods in agreement very enthusiastically. Percy isn't sure how to feel about that. Not long after that he says his goodbyes and goes back to the river to continue on his journey to Rome.

*
It was Neptunalia, and people were expecting Perseus to show up today. The Roman festival celebrating Neptune was held on the 23rd of July in order to ask Neptune to keep the rivers and spring flowing during the dryest time in the summer.

Julia had prayed to Perseus, lighting a candle at a small alter and everything, to let him know that she was going to be on Tiber Island during Neptunalia. Tiber Island is called that because it's in the Tiber River, which in turn is named after Tiberinus. Romans are very creative.

As Percy enters Rome via the river, he sees Julia is on the shores of the island on the southern tip. She is playing a lyre. Next to her, Titus is lounging under a shaded canopy made of branches in a full purple tunic. The two of them are having a picnic and are surrounded by about fifty Praetorian guards. Behind the guards are a lose crowd of people on Tiber Island who are also having food and sitting near the river under little huts made of branches to protect them from the harsh Italian summer sun. Sunscreen hasn't been invented yet so Percy imagines shade is extra important.

The bridge to Tiber Island is full of people. The bridge from Tiber Island to the other side of the river is full of people. The riversides near the island are full of people. There are a lot of people. Everyone is discretely watching their Augustus and his daughter. Waiting. Percy did not want to disappoint.

He swells the river as he swims forward so that he is in the middle of a large wave. Once the wave reaches the southern shore of Tiber Island, he pulls his arms apart and cuts the wave in two. Part of the wave continues on past the sides of the island upriver, but most of it splashes sideways over the riverbed. Percy can't help but laugh at the surprised screams and squeals as people get soaked. Percy had cleaned the water before making the wave so that he didn't splash mud and poop on people. It's a warm day, and they'll dry soon enough. There is a lot of poop in this river. Probably because of Rome.

Over the past two weeks the blood had been washed out of his toga, while the purple stripe remained strong. Whatever dye they'd used seemed pretty resistant to being washed out. Percy had been pulling the thing along behind him in the water like a cloak. But he was in Rome now, and when in Rome, do as Romans do. Percy stepped out of the wall of water he had summoned and onto Tiber Island. As he does, he gets the water to wrap the toga around him properly, then dries himself off. Riptide is tucked behind his ear as a quill and Mr. Pinchy is holding on to the side of his toga.

"Perseus Filius Neptunus," Titus says walking forward, "It is good to see you again. Welcome back to Rome." Titus, like everyone else on Tiber Island is soaked, but he seems more amused than annoyed.

Percy walked forward and shakes the Augustus' hand, drying him off in the process, "Hello Titus. It's good to be back." People around them cheer. Apparently Romans are big fans of handshakes? Or maybe they were worried Titus and Percy would be angry at each other for some reason. Another PR stunt, probably. Politics.

Percy then turns to Julia, who had stopped playing the lyre. She was also soaking wet and trying hard not to look annoyed about it. "Hello Julia," Percy says, "Thanks for helping me the other day. I got you something." Percy hands her the woven bag he got from the fisherman and in the process dries her off by pulling the water away from her in little floating swirls.

"Thank you, Perseus, what a nice bag."

"The present is inside the bag."

Julia opens the bag and pulls out a handful of pearls. She looks up at Percy with wide eyes. "Pearls?"

"Yeah. I tapped on a lot of annoyed clams."

Julia looked confused but looked back at the bag with awe, "This is amazing. Thank you, Perseus."

"You could probably sell it and buy a sword or something," Percy says.

"There are no weapons allowed in Rome," Titus says, "And you are definitely not allowed to have a weapon, Julia."

Julia looks a bit disappointed, but schools her features quickly. Percy points at Tiberius Alexander, who is gripping his spear very tightly and looks annoyed about being splashed by a wave. "He gets a weapon," Percy says.

"Tiberius Alexander is a soldier. He only gets weapons when he's on duty. That's different," Titus says. Percy will just have to sneak Julia a sword later, one she can hide in her dress. If senators can hide daggers, then so can princesses.

Percy looks around at the crowd surrounding Tiber Island. There were a lot of people here. Enough that he should be able to get his message across. "Titus, I think we have a lot to discuss, but we'll have to discuss later. I have an announcement to make to Rome. If you don't mind," Percy says. He'd probably make the announcement anyway, even if Titus did mind, but asking permission probably looks good.

"I can order a senate meeting be held," Titus says.

"No. The bridge will do."

Percy steps back into the Tiber River and lets to soul swish into a different shape. Like pouring a cup of water into a different container. But with your soul. Sort of. Perseus pulls the toga open and falls back into the river. He gathers a wave and swims to the bridge between Tiber River and Rome proper, leaping out of the wave and onto the bridge.

People on the bridge scramble back. It's not a very tall bridge, but Perseus calms the waters of the river to make it quieter and raises his voice. He lets the soaking wet toga drape over his shoulders loosely and pulls Riptide from behind his ear. He flips it into a sword and the sun reflects of the bronze blade. People scramble back faster.

"People of Rome! I mean you no harm but bid you to listen," Perseus says.

"I always have my sword," Perseus says, then throws Riptide away into the river, "It's a magic sword, you see. It will always find its way back to me." Riptide disappears and Percy pulls it back out of his pocket. He flips the quill into a sword. "I always have it and I'm a pretty good fighter. Tiberius Alexander! You're a soldier and a general. You've met thousands of soldiers. You have seen me fight. What do you think, am I any good at fighting?"

From the island below, Tiberius Alexander glances steadily at the crowd of Romans now all staring at him "Yeah. He's not bad."

Perseus grins, "High praise from the Praetorian Prefect. Yet my sword is not the most dangerous part of me. I am the son of Neptune. The waters respond to my commands and my emotions." Perseus pulls the water from the river at multiple places along the riverbank. He lets the waters run through the crowd of Romans who quickly step out of the way. He pulls the water up to the bridge like a bunch of snakes, then pushed the water up like a geyser and lets it rain back into the river. Some people clap like they think it's a cool magic trick.

"When I was a child, a monster tried to kill my friend. I didn't have my sword yet, so I ripped the monster's horn off its head and used that to stab the beast until it stopped moving. Last week I killed a sea-monster by stabbing its skull from inside its mouth. I have killed far more dangerous things than an old man with a dagger," Perseus says. The crowd has gone quiet.

"What I am trying to say here, is that I am perfectly capable of murder my own enemies. If I want someone dead, I'll kill them myself. I do appreciate the sentiment of ripping apart Celsus. However, I do not want you to kill people on my behalf, not without my permission. Never do it again," Perseus says, eyes glowing. He lets the words echo and register through the crowd. Then lets himself flow back into his more human self.

"If we can agree on that, I think we'll get along great," Percy says, grinning, "Have a wonderful Neptunalia! I'll be sure to ask my dad to keep the streams flowing during the summer months." He then lets himself drop back to the river and swim back to Titus and Julia to join them on their picnic.

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Author's Notes:

The purple dye used by the Augustus, and used in smaller quantities by the nobles of Rome, is made from a very specific tiny shellfish and is basically the only dye in olden times that didn't fade with time or after washing. We have a lot of wash-safe dyes now-a-days that just didn't exist back then. So garments back then might be brightly colored when they were first made but they would fade with time or after washing them. "Imperial Purple" dye was super expensive and sought after was because it was A) hard to make and B) very bright and resistant to fading. Only the Augustus was allowed to have fully purple clothes. Only the Augustus could afford it, honestly.

Roman senators and fancy orators had hand gestures to help emphasize parts of their speeches. Some famous roman senators (such as Cicero) even wrote about exactly how to hold your hands during what parts of a speech. So part of learning roman rhetoric was having proper gestures. For example, touching your thumb to the tip of your middle finger at the start of a speech, or pointing your pointer finger up to emphasize a declaration. This was part of a larger Greco-Roman tradition of oration, but I choose to blame Cicero personally. That's right guys, Italian's constant gesturing as they talk is the fault of the Romans! Damn it Cicero!

Cicero is interesting. He lived ~150 years before this story in the age of Julius Ceasar. He was afraid Julius Ceasar would declare himself dictator (he did) and he thought Julius would destroy the republic (which he also did). Cicero wasn't wrong. He was just also not immune to daggers. Which is just bad planning if you are an enemy of Julius Ceasar. When Marc Antony and/or Octavian had him executed they cut off his head and his hands because of how iconic his hand gestures were.

Unlike Pliny the Younger, Percy does not use proper hand gestures because he has no training in proper technique. Noob.