north

xiii, cursive

Piper wakes up on the beach, all her muscles aching. She tries to get to her feet and groans at the strain it causes her. She gives up and flops back onto the sand. The tide tickles her feet, the rising sun casting a warm, pink glow over the waves. The daughter of Aphrodite closes her eyes and tries to remember just how she ended up here.

After Hazel, Percy, and Reyna returned from Split, none of them were in much of a talking mood. She wanted to confide in Leo her vision of the prophecy, something that occurred to her alone with katoptris.

It made sense that Leo and Jason were fire and storm, respectively. She knew the three of them had to finish what they started with their first quest and defeat Gaea; back when it was smooth sailing atop Festus' bronze hide, her best friend and boyfriend and herself against the world. Strange, how her father being in mortal danger was the easiest time Piper had as a demigod.

She was still worrying over the logistics of the 'fall'. Prophecies are too interpretable for a reason. It drives heroes mad on their quests. They get lost in the what-ifs, lose sight of their mission, and fall on those sharp words.

She wanted Leo's company but he kept avoiding her eye. He had been for a while, actually, especially after the eidolon possessed him in New Rome. He was always skittish, but his isolation got worse and worse. She could feel his hesitant heart. Hesitant to open up, to accept their acceptance. He was powerful and he didn't want to hurt anyone.

"We already suffer from your cooking, so I think we'll be all right," Jason always joked. Then Leo would get red and push him and Piper would laugh. She loved her boys. Loved Leo and loved Jason.

Sort of. No, she did, very much. But that was still a complicated matter.

She walked up on deck shivering, looking for Leo, but her eyes fell on Reyna first. The praetor leaned over the edge of the deck, her dark braid falling over her broad shoulder. She seemed incredibly tired. She hadn't talked to anyone since she got on board, apart from a few words with Percy. He seemed the only one she was comfortable talking with. She was even avoiding Annabeth, who seemed to be the only one able to ever get through to her.

She seemed so cold and alone. Piper wanted to help, somehow. She could feel her cracked heart. After all, Jason was her friend first. She risked everything to cross the Atlantic and help them. Her leadership, her people... Piper could risk a little discomfort to at least thank her. So she swallowed her fear and approached.

"How are you holding up?" Piper asked quietly.

Reyna blinked snowflakes from her black eyes. She glanced quickly at Piper, perhaps expecting her to run off. But after a tense pause, she unwound enough to reply, "Fine."

Piper fiddled with the hem of her shirt. "I, uh... wanted to thank you. For coming to help us."

"It's as much for the safety of my camp as it is yours," Reyna replied coolly. "But you're welcome." She rapped her knuckles against the weathered wood of the Argo II. Her gaze was fixated on the stormy sea below. "Are you worried about Jason?"

The question caught her off guard. It wasn't a challenge for his affections. It was cautious, timid. She was trying to engage. "Yeah, pretty worried. He can take care of himself, but... Still." Piper rubbed her wrists. She tries to give back and asks, "Are you?"

To her surprise, there was no gap in her answer. "Yes. More worried for Nico, perhaps, but still. Worried for him." Reyna gauged her for a reaction. The cold wasn't what made Piper shiver; those dark eyes pierced her very heart.

"I'm not jealous," she blurt. "Of you and Jason." She would have felt that as soon as she first set sights on her in New Rome. Piper couldn't sense names or specific thoughts, but she could feel things. The swell of blue that rose in Annabeth's chest whenever she talked about Percy while he was missing. She felt Reyna's fondness for Jason when they landed, of course, but it wasn't a romantic one. It was a longing for his companionship. He was her partner and Hera snatched him up, erased his memories. And erased Reyna and Jason from each other's lives. "And I'm not mad at you either, or anything like that. I... He was your best friend. You must miss him."