The solstice party was in full swing. The room the half-bloods were led to was stadium sized, open roofed and decorated with a mix of marble and greenery. There was live music. There were tables and tables of food. There was a poetry recitation in one corner, a swimming pool in another. There were games. There was dancing. There were lights, everywhere. The snow fell down, melting to nothing long before it reached the partiers, lit in the flames of torches. It was a celebration of the gods, and it was well worth the climb up the mountain to reach it. It was just too bad that most of the partiers had no mood to party.
There was an odd stillness. The people were there and the music was playing and everything was laid out ready, but only a few were actually enjoying themselves. Instead of laughter and play and dance, everyone stood in huddles and whispered. This party wasn't for Olympus at large, it was for the Council and their family. Everyone here was family to Hermes. His aunts and uncles. His brothers and sisters. His cousins. Those who hadn't seen what happened felt his absence, and the absence of Apollo and Dionysus. And Zeus.
Travis didn't know what to think. He had never had to worry about his dad, not really, not in the medical sense. Maybe a little during the battle, but the gods were so far off then, and his siblings and friends so close, that he didn't have the time or energy to extend his worry to some unseen deity off in the sky somewhere. Anyway, if Hermes had fallen, Travis would have probably fallen too, so there was no point in worrying, and falling isn't the end for a god. As far as Travis knew, there was pretty much nothing Hermes couldn't bounce back from, given time.
"Hermes overworks himself all the time," Lady Artemis tried to reassure them, her tone light and fond and indulgent. "He probably just needs to sleep."
"Travis pushes himself too hard, too," Conner agreed. "Last time I tried to visit, I found him passed out under a table in the commons."
"That was finals week!" Travis protested. "I was taking a power nap in between study sessions!"
There were laughs in response, maybe more than they would have gotten in normal circumstances, everyone on edge and it coming out in giggles at any chance.
Dionysus did not dramatically stagger into the room and demand attention, did not silence what small conversations were being attempted, did not stop the music or the recitations in the corners. He calmly walked in and very quietly went from person to person to have a quiet word. But where he walked… silence followed.
Travis noticed, because he was on edge and that made him feel battle ready, uncomfortably alert. He saw when the god entered because he was watching for him. Him, or Apollo, or Zeus. Or, even better, Hermes. So while Lady Artemis smiled at Conner, and the nearest children giggled over Travis's apparent sleeping habits, Travis's eyes were on the god, waiting for him to approach, to share his news. And when Dionysus instead went to others, Travis watched.
"Hey," said Conner, tugging at Travis's sleeve, when Travis went still and quiet for a bit too long, "We should get some food, yeah?"
They probably should. It would put the younger kids at ease over the strangeness of the evening. Someone should get to have the promised fun time of the Winter Solstice, and they were the cabin leaders, the ones to guide them.
"Yeah," Travis agreed, quietly.
Artemis smiled, but her attention had gone to her brother, too. Only for a moment. Then she turned her head back to the kids and smiled. "You should all enjoy the sweets."
Feeling like doing just about anything other than eating sugar infested pastries, Travis forced himself over to a table, trying to lead by example, and gathered some fruit onto a plate. The spread was an odd mix of super fancy and formal, and school dance in a gym, with silver and golden platters of delicacies on tables covered in expensive table clothes, but with paper plates and plastic silverware for them to use. Drinks were self-serving; pick up a cup and request what one wanted. Travis grabbed one of those, too, and considered his options.
"Champagne," he said, a joke, really, something he did every year. Whatever enchantment or invisible servers were involved with the cups, the children were never able to request alcohol. There were more nervous giggles.
Except, to Travis's surprise, a golden liquid instantly filled his cup. He stared at it, a bit dumbfounded.
"Everything alright?" Lady Artemis asked, coming up alongside him. She had cup, too, the liquid in it a bit more amber than golden.
"I… it gave me champagne?" Travis answered, then mentally kicked himself. He somehow actually got real champagne and the first thing he did was tell on himself to the nearest adult? But Artemis just shrugged, looking unconcerned.
"You're over eighteen now, are you not?"
"… drinking age is 21," Travis felt obligated to explain, even as some internal voice kept shouting at him to shut up. Artemis still looked unconcerned. Quickly, before he could talk himself out of the situation, he tried a sip. It was… fizzy and bitter, and he couldn't help but make a face.
"No way," Conner said, staring at his drink, and then, holding his own cup, "wine."
Nothing happened to his cup.
"Sorry bro, guess you aren't 'old enough' yet," Travis said, feeling suddenly smug in spite of everything, neatly distracted from his previous worries as he held his cup up with a grin he knew to be infuriating, over the other kids heads. He took another sip, this time succeeding in hiding his response to the bitter taste.
"What's it like?" his younger sister demanded, brow furrowed as she glared at his cup.
"Delicious," Travis lied, "Like… like sunlight." That was the kind of nonsense people said when describing alcoholic drinks, right?
So of course, just when Travis was actually starting to enjoy things, the god of wine and revelry calmly approached, and all at once all of Travis's over-alert nerves returned and his new enjoyment drained away. Conner looked at his brother, then turned, too, the smile he couldn't quite hide despite his jealousy fading away.
It wasn't just Dionysus. He had a whole host of gods trailing after him like the most solemn parade in existence. The whole group paused in front of Travis and the children that surrounded him, but no one spoke. Lord Dionysus was staring at Travis's cup, and frowning, and Travis had the strange passing thought that he was about to be given a lecture on drinking from the god of wine himself.
"Lord Dionysus," Travis said into the growing silence, bowing, putting the offending cup behind his back and trying not to spill it over himself. "Can you tell us anything about Lord Hermes?"
"He's fine, kid," Lord Dionysus answered. And he was lying. Travis was the son of Hermes, and a son of Hermes knew lying when he heard it, and this was a lie. Lord Dionysus clearly could tell he was caught out because he rolled his eyes a bit, and amended it to, "Will be fine. Just as soon as we do a little ceremony to help him out. You kids are going to make a sacrifice to him, just… will him good strength and all that. Will help him sleep off his own stupidity."
"Dad isn't stupid!" Julia objected loudly and indignantly, or started too before Conner got his hand over her mouth because you don't talk back to the gods. Not even a god they all knew as their camp director who had never made a serious attempt at smiting any of them. Actually, come to think of it, Travis couldn't remember any of the gods he'd ever met having a go at a kid for blurting something out. None of the gods made an attempt this time, either.
"Your dad," Lord Dionysus answered, with no sign of smiting whatsoever, "Decided it was a good idea to mix mortal energy drinks with divine nectar. Take it from me, kid, that is the definition of stupid."
"What he means," Artemis said, glaring at Dionysus with a pointed look, "Is that Hermes made an unwise choice, as we all do from time to time."
"Yeah, sure, that. Point is, we are going to fix it. By giving him some of our energy. Through your sacrifice. Then Hermes will sleep off his 'unwise choice' and we can all get back to partying. What is this, a funeral? Why is everyone just glumly standing around? Anyway… to the altar."
Feeling somehow annoyed and anxious at the same time, Travis allowed himself to be swept along towards the large fire at the center of the room where a young girl waited for them with a calm, kind smile. She looked familiar, like one of the campers Travis vaguely remembered about the camp, the sort of face he'd seen every day but somehow never talked to in all the years he'd been at camp.
"Lady Hestia," Lord Dionysus greeted her with a surprisingly graceful bow, considered he'd been walking in a drunken stagger to reach her, and she smiled and bowed back. Then Lord Dionysus turned and waved at the other gods that had followed.
"Right," he said, "Apollo said you are to put a bit of your energy into an object, anything I guess, but energy that relates closest to Hermes' realms. Go on, form a line."
No one moved. Very hesitantly, a hand went up among the gods. Travis half expected Lord Dionysus to give the poor goddess one of his patented looks of annoyance that all campers were so familiar with, but the god's expression was gentle when he said, "Yes? Question?"
"Excuse me, Lord Dionysus," the goddess in question murmured respectfully, "But… our brother is a very powerful god who rules over many domains… I am unsure if any overlap with my own small domain."
"Yes, you raise a point," Dionysus agreed, again, surprisingly mildly. "Jack of all trades, and all that… but that's just in our favor, I guess. Hey, Dad!"
For a moment, it seemed like Dionysus had passed into his own realm, speaking to no one, but a moment later a booming voice answered from nowhere.
"Yes? Have you arranged things, son?"
"Yeah, yeah, getting to that. Can you tell everyone what all Hermes is god of, just so, you know, the family knows what to share?"
There was a moment of silence, then the same voice came echoing throughout the room. At first, Travis thought it was magically projected somehow, until he noticed the fountains. The voice was coming from the fountains, all of them. Or not the fountains, but the rainbows they created. He couldn't see well from his position, but he could almost make out the reflection of a face in the nearest one. A neat trick, and Travis supposed that the king of the gods had no need for paying a drachma for the service.
"Hermes is first and foremost a psychopomp and a shepherd, a guide for souls, people, and sheep. He is the herald of the gods, a god of messengers, roads, travel, crossing boundaries, of crossroads and entryways, of waysides and inns, of gambling, theft, deception and lies, of cunning, luck, wealth, commerce, merchants, discourse, debate, athletes, particularly running and wrestling, initiation, particularly in leading youths, fertility, a link between lesser gods and greater and between mortals and the gods. Also democracy, sailors, dreams, a guardian and a guide, a god of translation and language, of knowledge and learning, of music, of divination. He is the son of Zeus, and you all are my family, and he is connected to you through this bond if no other. Lend him what you can, I ask of you. Please."
There was a silence, after. Partly because that was an extremely long and rather overwhelming list; one that Travis hadn't fully known and Travis really should know, being his son. Since when did his dad have anything to do with sailors? Or fertility, for that matter? Also, no wonder his kids' talents were all over the place if they reflected so many different realms.
Partly it was because Zeus sounded so serious that it felt wrong to speak. And it made the entire situation feel more serious. Like Travis was right to be worried. Like things might go wrong with his dad if they mess this up.
The gods formed a line. The children another. Somehow, Travis was at the head, standing across from a youthful goddess, the one who had first asked after Hermes' realms. The Lady Hestia stood at the other side of the fire, tending to it.
"Go on," Lady Hestia said, her tone far more mature than her appearance. "Hebe, hand him the sacrifice."
It was almost anticlimactic, after those words, after the booming voice of Zeus, when the goddess in question shrugged and nervously offered him a plastic cup filled with something sparkly and pink.
"It's… it's strawberry lemonade. His favorite." She explained. "I put youth into it."
Travis accepted the cup. Feeling all the eyes of the vast room on him, and somehow sure that this moment was what was either going to help or hurt his dad, Travis turned to the fire.
"I sacrifice this to Lord Hermes," Travis said, somehow without letting out the sudden giggles that wanted to come into the silent and solemn and important moment. Then was an awkward moment when he wasn't sure if he should pour the drink in or toss everything in, drink and cup, and everyone was watching, and he really, really wanted to get this right. He lifted his hand to pour the drink, but hesitated again. "And to Lord Apollo, the protector and healer," he added, unprompted and not fully knowing himself where the urge came from.
He threw the cup into the fire whole.
Lady Hestia reached a hand into the fire, as if to catch it, but it was gone in the flames, as if it had never been, and instead she drew her hand upward, towards the sky.
There was a long moment of complete silence as everyone waited. For what, Travis had no idea. A sign it had worked? A sign it had gone wrong?
Hermes was not in the room to see either way, and all that happened was that the fire continued to burn. Travis started to shuffle away, to make room for the next kid, Conner in this instance, and the goddess who had given him the cup did the same.
"Well?" Dionysus demanded into the air, voice loud and carrying. "Should we continue?"
"Wait!" a voice called from one of the doors to the room, and suddenly Lord Appollo was running towards them, expression urgent. Travis looked at him, then glanced at Mr. D. The god's expression was disquieting. Not grumpy, nor drunk, nor any of the expressions Travis was used to. It was almost blank. It was… it was disturbingly similar to the expression he had after the death of his son.
"Wait," Apollo said, calmer now, slowing as he approached the fire. He held up a lyre, towards Conner. "My brother's realms have great crossover with my own; I gifted him several. Take this; I have put into it divination, music, shepherds, athletics, guiding, and guarding. It should… it should help."
Lord Dionysus said a word in Greek that had the younger kids giggling and the Lady Artemis glaring at him. Then, "Always with the dramatics! I thought you'd come to tell me he exploded after all!"
"What? No, no, it worked perfectly," Apollo explained, even as Travis tried to come to terms with 'exploded after all' because no one had mentioned that as a possibility of getting things wrong. Suddenly he was glad his turn had already gone before the possibility had been raised. "It's just… he crosses over with my realms more than most and I needed to share my own divine energy…"
"Whatever, just don't overdo it; one stupid brother keeling over is one too many."
Apollo gave the lyre to Conner. Conner tossed it into the fire. There was a moment of silence and everyone continued to stare. Apollo gently nudged Conner and whispered, "To Hermes."
"Er, right, to Hermes," Conner said, belatedly. Apollo beamed down at him, turned, and strode away just as suddenly as he'd appeared. The god made it almost out the door before he staggered a bit, grabbing the doorframe to steady himself.
"I told you not to overdo it!" Mr. D. shouted after him. Then, "Well, let's get a move on. To Hermes. And might as well add the idiot Apollo in there as well. You would not believe how bad a patient physicians make."
It was, all in all, one of the more interesting Solstice parties that Travis had ever attended.