Chapter Text
When Zeus, or Jupiter, she supposes had punished her husband’s continued act of defiance by banishing him from Olympus and assigning him as a charge over the Greek demigods out east that had apparently not been enough to quell him.
She’s not sure what the king of the gods expected.
Dionysus is a god of chaos, his cult infamous for defying and existing outside of the powers of the time, did he think his son would take any punishments or limitations well? Even in his downgraded position her slighted husband kept acting out against him.
So Zeus decided to strike back at him again. This time in a more indirect yet personal way.
By separating them and assigning her the same ordeal.
A revenge meant to no doubt double as a warning. Any punishment to you can be extended to others.
Now where Dionysus was in charge of the godlings out east she was in charge of those out west.
Only she wasn’t nearly as put off by the idea as he was, or as she thinks Lord Zeus was hoping for.
To him locking a god in their power and keeping them from the supposed glory of Olympus, only to then make them lower themselves to help young mortal half-gods should be an insufferable experience.
But unlike other gods Ariadne was mortal before her marriage, and even in their divinity her husband and her had shared aspects so close to mankind that through millennia as a goddess she was never able to shake that memory of it.
Of what it felt like to be that young and vulnerable to the world around you, how terrifying and thrilling it all was.
It was an existence she could never bring herself to look down on, not when she knew it so personally.
When she first arrives at New Rome she’s, surprised.
She knew the Roman camp was different from the Greek. Hades, it was different enough to warrant separating the two entirely just in case they decided to break out into war about it again.
Camp Jupiter had inherited the more centralized organization of their predecessors and expanded a permanent city with the use of a standing army. Much different than Camp Half-Blood’s idea of a temporary summer camp with individually celebrated heroes.
She had expected stricter discipline, more coordinated scheduling, maybe even some practice drills or training with some of the veterans in the city. But she had also prepared for, anticipated even, many similarities. She thought of her husband's complaints about his charges; the campfires, leading the camp activities, dealing with stupid, petty fights.
What she didn’t expect was to show up to a military training ground supervised entirely by children.
She had thought it was a joke at first, or some sort of weird camp tradition. Where the adults take a step back for a little bit and let the older campers practice some leadership roles while the younger campers play along.
But as those first few days of observation passed without any intervention or changes she was beginning to think that this might just be how Camp Jupiter ran. That is was normal day to day life.
It baffled her!
She knew New Rome relied on its standing army to help keep it safe but to start training so young?
Even their forebears didn’t draft anyone until they were seventeen, and from what she could see that seemed to be the age of some of the older campers out there. She had expected this many younger campers from the Greek camp, who didn't have the option to remain in a protected city until they were old enough, but not here.
She needed answers, she had to be missing something.
“Terminus.” She walked up to one of the gods' boundary stones.
“Hey! That is no proper way to address-” He paused, the anger on his marble face melting into surprise as he turned sculpted eyes her way.
“Lady Li- Lady Ariadne.” He corrected, face finally settling into a well -stony- expression after noticing her chosen form.
She nodded at him, smiling just a bit to herself at his obvious displeasure. Knowing that as a strictly Roman god he wouldn’t like it, but Ariadne preferred this incarnation. So much of herself had changed when the pantheon had, once important aspects of herself lost.
In this form she was a goddess of paths, of choices and freedoms. Something she felt might be needed here.
“Lord Jupiter has assigned me to watch over these campers,” ignoring Terminus’ aghast look she continued, “to mentor them, guide them.” Smile dropping from her face she finishes, “and I have a few questions for you.”
It was worse than she was expecting.
Camp Jupiter wasn’t just some military training camp, it was the military.
After confirming with Terminus that yes, this was normally how the camp ran. Yes, that was the actual army, and no, the adult population of New Rome did not suddenly die off leaving only kids and teenagers left to defend it. The only question she could ask was why? That and who? Who thought this was a good idea?
Terminus did not know exactly when the tradition started. As an immortal the centuries can all start to melt together, but at some point the 12th Legion had been forced to rely on children to shore up their ranks and over time -and by skirting the progress of child labor laws- like many traditions the history behind it was forgotten while the practice stuck.
Now each Roman child was taken, tested by Lupa, and expected to serve a decade as a legionnaire, only to retire as a young adult.
New Rome, a city filled with experienced veterans, was protected by a constant army of children guided only by themselves and a stone god.
She was forbidden from acting against New Rome’s laws otherwise she would’ve just torn the whole thing down then and there in the anger she felt.
She knows that may be hypocritical of her. After all is what the gods do so different? She didn't know. What she did know was exactly how it felt to be abandoned by your fellow men, and she hated it.
She couldn’t end the cycle here, not directly anyway. She only could help care for her new charges, ease the burden placed on them for now. Besides, she is a goddess of paths. She is sure there are always other ways to get what she wants.
It had been more difficult than she expected, taking authority over the Legion.
First it had been handling the awe struck campers. She had never interacted this closely with any of the Roman demigods, most gods haven’t.
They accepted their offerings, expected the proper feasting days, and sent messages to be deciphered by their augurs. But most if not all had never met a god outside of Terminus. Their reactions ranged from awe inspired to downright terrified that took weeks of uncomfortable cohabitation to wear off.
Once the initial veneration had died down some there was dealing with the suspicion.
She had introduced herself with her Roman name and they always referred to her as such, but she could see their hesitation. Whether it was residual discomfort from a sudden new godly presence in their lives or because they understood on some level that she wasn’t exactly who she said she was she couldn’t say.
Needless to say It had taken them a while to warm up to her.
They listened to the new basic rules she had laid out in the beginning, even if some of them grumbled about it. ‘Sorry Sophie I know you already used one at the Wolf House but you’re not training with a real sword until you’re at least ten’
Other, more meaningful things she had to put much more work into accomplishing. Things like trying to connect with them.
She didn’t want to just be an enforcer, she wanted to play a more active role than she knew her husband took, she wanted them to trust in her. She remembers how far that went to help ease that fear always present in a mortal life. And how isolating it was to be without it.
The younger ones took no time at all to start jabbering her ear off with just about every thought that ran through their minds. It nearly overwhelmed her, but she also found herself enjoying it more than she ever thought she would. It reminded her of her own childhood, in the days before Minos had destroyed their family when she would ramble to Daedalus for what felt like hours about new inventions or the design for her then unfinished dancing path.
The older ones were much more reluctant. So she started by reaching out for small things; complaints about so-and-so, annoyance at who messed up the formation that day, turns out there were still plenty of petty teenage fights amongst the army.
Eventually, after a good deal of time some began reaching out to her instead.
Overall she was settling into this new mentor role pretty well, and after almost a year there she’s already grown more fond of her charges than she had thought possible. She knew the ins and the outs of every activity and could handle whatever her campers decided to throw her way.
That’s when he arrived.
It started out a fairly normal morning, she was speaking with one of the older legionnaires about his potential career paths, a topic she found she had quite the skill in, when a small figure bolted past their feet and ducked underneath one of the barracks.
Closely following behind were two of her centurions, still dressed in full armor from their guard duty and panting as they came to a stop in front of her.
“New arrival” One of them, Danielle, managed to huff out at her questioning look.
“And he’s so much faster than he looks” Her partner, Jake, wheezed, still hunched over.
She turned her attention to the barrack building their new camper had hid under. She’s dealt with new arrivals from Lupa before. Usually they’re a little bit wild coming straight from the Wolf House but this was unusual.
A yell and some cursing erupted from the other side of the building and all four of them rushed to the other side to find another of her centurion’s Morgan holding a small snarling blonde child out at arms length by the back of a ragged shirt.
What?
“Is this him?!” she asked the two centurions beside her, both who nodded. Danielle focused on Morgan.
“Why are you holding him like that?” She asked.
“He bit me!” He exclaimed, flashing the indents on his hand.
Oh what has that she-wolf brought her.