The day had been good so far. Percy had spent a couple hours with his dad, talking about his time in Alaska, that he got into therapy and was feeling better now. He had to leave out that he did therapy with a god but at least he could reaffirm to his dad that he was doing better now. On the other hand his dad told him how things had been in the sea, on Olympus and with his friends. Some of them at least given that Poseidon didn't keep a close eye on camp ever since they piqued his ire.
By the end they just talked about fish, something they did occasionally. It was a weird thing to even think about much less do but Percy had spent many hours doing fish politics and fish migration theorising with his dad. And also just guessing which fish would win in a fight, that kinda snuck in there. As it just so happened though, when they just got into the specifics of coral reefs and their inhabitants, a message arrived for his dad. The silver colour of the light it came with already gave away who sent it and sure enough, his father told him that Artemis would meet him at her palace in an hour.
So he went there. Well, he tried. He got lost and had to ask Hestia at a hearth he stumbled upon. But then he went there. Apparently Artemis had her palace constructed rather late given how she was born a while after Olympus was founded, causing it to be a fair distance away from his father's palace. He took a mental note to thank Hestia later and maybe also just talk to her again. She was one of the few gods he could confidently say he had missed while he was away.
At least her palace was still close enough for him to not be late, that would have been a terrible look for him. As he got closer to her palace however, he started to become awfully conscious about just how much could go wrong. He didn't know how Artemis would react to his presence, the last time he had caused her to have a literal breakdown. What if she still tried to kill him? Actually, her oath was probably still in effect unless Zeus retracted his order. Would she just hate him? Would Thalia hate him now?
Percy knew that he was overthinking and he was also aware of how pointless these questions are, having asked himself them a couple times already without ever finding a decisive answer. But he couldn't help himself. While his ADHD was removed when he became immortal, he was simply nervous now. As he got stuck in his head, he almost ran head first into the door of Artemis's palace, only stopping inches before it.
At least the little surprise distracted him. He took a step back again, wondering if he should just knock or if he should wait until an hour had actually passed since he was early right now. This was promptly cut short as the door opened and allowed him inside. He couldn't see Artemis yet so apparently gods have door opening magic. As Percy stepped inside, he could see and feel the difference between his father's palace and Artemis's own. The very air smelled of nature, the walls were decorated with silver and green, representing her core domains. And there was a tree in the middle of the living room on which Artemis had seated herself.
As he approached her, she slowly got up before jumping down and landing gracefully. He carefully looked her up and down, not wanting to give the wrong impression. She looked a little older than when he first met her, which was good because he'd feel criminal for discussing his marriage while she looked eleven. Her eyes shone with a cold silver and while he was sure she had not gotten over her impeding marriage yet, she looked composed now. The same was true for her entire body. While it was perhaps aided by the fact that her older form was also taller and more mature in its presence, her posture was a far cry from the pained mess it had been yesterday. It looked guarded, sure, but her hurt wasn't just projected outwards anymore. He still chose not to comment on that and sat down, eyes drifting to look at hers.
After a moment of silence Artemis spoke up. "You wanted to meet me, Perseus, so shouldn't you tell me what you want from me." Her voice was apathetic, no indication of how she felt present inside of it. The best Percy could make out was that it was guarded and that it lacked the utter fury he had feared from her. "Ah, yes, uhm…I just…I wanted to clean the air between us a little before…you know, I go to the hunt with you and…yeah"
Okay, that was smooth. Very smooth, Percy. Of course he had just about forgotten how he wanted to start the conversation immediately as it started. However his awkwardness failed to draw a reaction from Artemis, a simple nod was all he got. "Then tell me why you came back. Surely your trip to Alaska was a result of our engagement, no?"
Percy couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief that Artemis was even willing to talk to him at all. He had half expected her to just bombard him with spite and hate. "Dad told me about the engagement when it was brought up, yes. I didn't know it was passed in council despite my absence until a week ago though. I…I don't like the prospect of the marriage any more than you do but I also have people I need to protect. I couldn't stay away."
This did get a reaction out of the moon goddess. Her eyes betrayed curiosity for a moment, together with what he'd carefully guess to be some form of respect. This was quickly replaced with a more grim look though. "You don't blame me for this situation despite my place on the council…I take it, you know of my oath."
She didn't need to say which oath, they both knew what this was about. So Percy nodded. "Then I must warn you that my oath will require me to kill you the moment we get married and the ancient laws stop protecting you. I do not wish to spend eternity hunting my husband and you won't be able to protect anyone either then, so do you have a solution to that?"
This time her eyes did a much poorer job hiding her emotions, despair and hope clearly mixed with each other. He couldn't help but feel sorry for her, trapped by her own father so cruelly. "I do but it will have to wait until after we leave Olympus…Ze- your father would stop it otherwise." He remembered just in time that immortals could observe conversations when their name is uttered.
Artemis on the other hand no longer bothered to hide her hope. That or she was just doing an extremely poor job at it. "Then I'll wait for that…do you have any needs for the next three months? Any places you need to go? Where does your mother live?" Now it was Percy's turn to give away emotions, his body flinching involuntarily at the last question. Something that Artemis didn't miss, a small frown covering her face in response.
"I wanted to go see my old friends from the two camps, Annabeth and Nico, the seven…though I'm not sure where all of them are living right now…as for my mother, she died two years ago." At the last part, Artemis flinched a bit herself. He supposed she knew well how it felt to lose one's mother. "I'm sorry, I didn't know…"
"It's okay, I…I learned to accept it. She died just before I went to Alaska so…I had the time I needed to come to terms with it." Once more he could hear the strain in his own voice, something that would accompany him for a long time whenever that day came up. All he got in response from Artemis was a small nod, a small sympathetic smile grazing her features.
What followed was a moment of silence, one he didn't mind too much. It helped him calm back down. Artemis seemed to also contemplate something opposite of him, coming to a conclusion as she broke the silence again. "Perseus…I know you love Athena's daughter Annabeth but please do not…"
Artemis stopped herself mid-sentence, not knowing how to finish her request without either sounding weak or cruel. Percy on the other hand could tell what she was getting at and for a moment he felt appalled by the very suggestion. It lasted only for a moment though as he remembered that his would be a marriage between gods, something where unfaithfulness was beyond common. In addition Artemis probably hadn't cared for any rumors that may have spread when he and Annabeth broke up so she might think that they were still a couple. And while neither he nor Artemis had feelings for the other, he could still understand the fear of ending up like Hera.
"Artemis, while there may be no love in our relationship I will still not go sleeping around! Annabeth and I broke up years ago, all she is to me is a friend, one that I owe an apology to for just disappearing like I did. Even if it's just a marriage on paper, I don't plan to be unfaithful to you."
At least with Artemis he didn't need to ask her to return the gesture. Her gaze returned to a kinder one, the uncertainty that marred it before disappearing again. "It seems I know rather little about your current situation…you said you had people to protect, who is that referring to? Surely my lieutenant won't need your protection after all."
She sure was good at picking the hardest topics to talk about. At least he was spared of having to talk about the wedding itself but that was about it. "Well…she does. When Annabeth and I were…down there…we met him. The pit incarnate. He's waking up and bringing war with him…I can't run from that."
This reaction was the clearest he had seen from the goddess. Her face paled, fear palpable in her eyes now. For a moment she seemed stuck in her head, not moving and staring into the distance. Then she snapped back, fixing him with her gaze. The previous kindness was gone, replaced with determination and…something angry. He wasn't sure what that was, it looked threatening though. "How sure are you? And how long do you reckon he'll take to wake up?"
It seemed that any talk about their marriage was now over, the presented issue more important to both him and Artemis. "I'm certain and it'll take a decade, maybe two for him to wake. But he'll start sending monsters before that and I had to warn them about it. He's smarter than Gaia, he'll just slowly overwhelm us with his army."
"So you are trying to buy us time…for what? Do you have a plan beyond that?" She seemed to be almost apprehensive of his actions, as if she didn't want to survive longer just for the sake of it. Was that a thing for immortals? "What's wrong with buying time for the sake of it?"
Before he knew it, his thoughts had been said out loud, catching Artemis off-guard. Her eyes widened for a moment before she narrowed them again. "Tartarus is the boogeyman of gods, the monster my mother used to tell me stories about. If we buy time just to fight him in vain thereafter then I'd rather just die quicker instead. That way we'll at least be spared a special seat in his torture."
That was unsettling to hear. Percy kinda expected gods to have a different view on death than mortals had, Void being a perfect example of this. But to see Artemis willing to die just to avoid confronting Tartarus was…a wake-up call. One he didn't know how to feel about. "That's…" He couldn't bring himself to say stupid. Or anything negative. Was she really wrong? If there was no hope to win and staying alive only worsened the suffering afterwards then…was she wrong? He wasn't sure. "I have something that can give us a chance. I can't tell you exactly what it is yet but…Tartarus has more enemies than just Olympus."
She didn't like that answer. Her silver eyes narrowed at him, seizing him up in an attempt to find more information. But he couldn't tell her more, he wasn't allowed to reveal Void to anyone and he just didn't know the plan yet. He just couldn't tell Artemis that since it would discourage her. "I see…" She didn't say it but Percy could hear the slight disappointment in her voice. "We seem to have gone a bit off topic. How do you plan for tomorrow to go?"
He felt bad for not telling her anything but it couldn't be helped and so he jumped at the chance to change the topic. "Well…is it possible to talk to Thalia alone first? I feel like explaining it to her first could help a lot."
Artemis seemed to contemplate it for a moment before nodding. "It seems like a good idea. I could take you to my tent and call her there first before making the announcement to the rest of the hunt." She became quiet for a moment, thinking to herself before looking back up at him. "When you stay with the hunt…you'll have a hard time. Most of the older hunters distrust men and the younger ones often still fear them so none of them will accept you easily. Some of them will go out of their way to make things harder for you, even if I tell them not to. Please…be strong and don't condemn them for it. And be gentle to the younger ones, some of them have only just begun healing."
Artemis sounded almost torn in her position despite the fact that her hunt was much closer to her than he was. It took Percy a moment but then he realised that she still felt guilty about what happened ages ago with his half-brother. About her hunt causing his death even though he had not done anything to deserve it. He knew that the hunters were at fault for it, at least partially. But he also knew that most of the ones that were around a millennia ago were no longer there. He couldn't hold their juniors accountable for that and he could definitely not hold it against little girls who were only just rescued from their own personal hell. "I will be careful, Artemis. Having you back me up is already more than I hoped for and…I promise I won't do anything to hurt them. At least not if I can help it." He added the second part at an afterthought, becoming aware of the fact that they might actually attack him at some point. "I can try to just stay out of your way as best as possible if that helps?"
Opposite to his expectations, Artemis grimaced at his offer. Percy was just about to ask her about it, his mouth already open, when she explained on her own. "I'd appreciate that, really. But you won't be able to stay out of our way. As per royal decree, your tent will be placed next to my own in the center of the hunt where anyone can see it."
Percy kept his mouth open for a full second, flabbergasted by the fact that just having her marry him still wasn't enough. Artemis hadn't said it directly but it was obvious that Hera had given that order. He wasn't sure whether that was to hurt him or Artemis but she probably wanted to hurt both of them anyways. "What a fucking bitch…" He muttered without thinking, his gaze snapping up as he heard a small snort from Artemis. "That she really is."
He couldn't help the small smile. While Artemis had shown some emotions during the conversation, this was the first time she did so willingly, even if it was brief. "At least I was able to stop her from putting you in my tent. Aphrodite probably told her to have us chained to the same bed every night." While her sarcasm was obvious, Percy couldn't help but shiver at the thought. He really didn't like that imagination.
Opposite of him Artemis gave a small chuckle at his reaction, enjoying his momentary plight. "Oh come on, like you find that thought any less horrifying." His retort itself was half-hearted, more banter than anything else. He was happy that the air between them was…amicable? She definitely didn't hate him and made amends to work around their situation as best as she could and that was all he could ask for.
He was about to say his goodbyes when the goddess spoke up once more. "Perseus, if anything happens between you and my hunters that you think goes too far, please tell me about it. While I most certainly won't love you like a wife normally does her husband, I would rather we at least stay on good terms including my hunt. I don't wish for us to become each others' curse."
This time once more, her silver eyes were not hiding her thoughts, sincerity shining brightly within them. Artemis meant every word she said and he appreciated that. "Of course. I will try my best to achieve that as well and…I can't help you to the extent that you can help me, but if there is something I can help with, feel free to rely on me. I would hate to just be a leech."
At this a small smile made its way back onto Artemis's face. "I will make sure to remember this, Perseus. Should I pick you up tomorrow then?" He stood up, returning the smile. "I'd appreciate that. I'll see you tomorrow then." He waved a quick goodbye before making his way back out of her palace and onto the streets of Olympus. Once there he headed back towards the center of the mountain where he knew his father's palace was located.
He was planning to stop at Hestia's place on the way, spotting the goddess at the hearth he had already encountered her at earlier. He had really missed his aunt, at least this one. So sitting down once more and talking to her, no matter how rudimentary the topic they talked about, calmed him. Or maybe it was just her presence. Either way, he found it very relaxing to just sit with Hestia at her palace and talk, so much so that he didn't even really notice when his eyes closed to welcome him into the realm of sleep.
So chapter 6 is done. I didn't write out the conversation between Percy and Hestia because it was supposed to just be catching up without any great change happening. Other than that Percy and Artemis had no real relationship prior to this so their conversation was obviously rather impersonal. There just is nothing between them other than obligation at this point.
As I said before, Artemis will definitely be mature in this in the sense that she knows where the blame for the situation lies and just tries to reach the best outcome given the cards she's been dealt. Next chapter will then feature the hunters, who will be less…fair. I'm not sure how exactly to write them yet so that chapter will probably take a little longer. Maybe.
Well, see you soon either way.
M
