Chapter Text
Regaining my godhood did not fill me with the satisfaction I thought it would. I miss my children at Camp Half Blood. I miss my spunky friend Lavinia and the resilient residents of Camp Jupiter, my family at the Waystation. But most of all, I missed a certain bossy daughter of Demeter.
Oh Meg, what troubles have you gotten up to while I was away...
Never in my immortal life did the Palace of the Sun seem so suffocating and intolerable. After throwing away yet another gaudy statue of my likeness, I decided that was enough for the day.
Slinging my ukulele over my shoulder, I went into the labyrinthine garden of Olympus, intending to clear my mind. Fortunately, it seemed like no one was around.
“Ah!” I turned a corner and promptly bumped into Old Gray Eyes. Great, I once again broke the first law of Percy Jackson. With a deafening clang, her thermos splashed its content right all over my front. My Led Zeppelin T-shirt was now soaked with scalding hot coffee.
I started to apologize but Athena simply sighed before waving her hand and the mess vanished. She pointed at the nearest bench and said “Sit.”
With best interests in mind for the state of my well being, I complied. I wasn’t in the mood for getting attacked by a parliament of owls again. For those of you who have never experienced this before, consider yourself lucky.
I had tried to tell Athena on multiple occasions that the name Duolingo simply was not poetic enough, but of course she wouldn’t listen! The personality of her foul pet didn’t help matters either, but I had wisely kept my mouth shut.
Athena got right to the point. Some things never change I suppose. “You should take a break from Olympus brother.”
“I— what?” That felt like a punch right in the gut. And I should know. I’ve had that happen to me multiple times throughout in the past.
Athena’s stormy eyes seemed to be pulling out every single one of my insecurities from my soul and dissecting them down to the tiniest detail. I did not like it. One bit.
“You’ve been neglecting your duties. The Muses have been complaining about you deserting them at your weekly music gathering. You haven’t even thrown one single extravagant gathering to celebrate your return to godhood,”
I opened my mouth to protest but she barreled on.
“Hermes has told me that he has been receiving many complaints from other sun gods about your slacking off. Just this morning Amaterasu sent a messenger demanding a personal audience with you if you continue to keep this up.”
I recoiled in shock. Amaterasu? I haven’t seen her since the last gathering of the sun gods. If I remember correctly, Frey had been hitting on her until she had enough and shoved her sword Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi somewhere that shall not be named.
“Oh. In that case I’ll go give her messenger a note to bring back then,” I started to stand up but Athena shook her head sharply, clearly not finished.
“You can do that later. Bringing back my original point, you have changed drastically from your time as a mortal. Whether that is a good or bad thing remains to be seen. So far, the only Olympians you’ve visited by choice are your mother and Artemis. I believe the wisest decision for you is to take a temporary leave from your divine home and visit your ones on earth. It may help clear your head.”
Her council finished, she rose from the bench and vanished in a flash of gray light, leaving behind the faint scent of ancient texts and warm coffee.
I lost track of the time as I sat there, pondering over Athena’s words. Finally, I stood, my mind made up.
It was time to visit the Waystation.