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To say that the last few days had been hectic would be an understatement, which is why despite the fact it had been almost a week since Gaia was defeated, they were only having their first counsellors meeting now. While there had been a number of emergency meetings during that time, many of them with the Romans, those had involved many campers and there hadn't been any time for one of their traditional meetings where the head counsellors sat around the ping pong table and discussed the less pressing but nonetheless important matters of Camp Half Blood going forward.
It was as the counsellors gathered outside the big house, wanting to enjoy the last rays of summer sunshine as much as they could before going inside, that Percy learned of another change that had occurred while he'd been gone.
He was still getting caught up on the time he'd been missing, and while thankfully there hadn't been any drastic changes, he wanted to know everything that had happened in his absence. His mom and Paul had gladly caught him up on their life the past few months, and his friends at camp were just as eager to help him feel as if he'd never been gone at all.
The biggest change was the new campers that had joined, and slowly but surely he was getting acquainted with each one of them, making sure they'd settled in and were happy at camp. It helped that Percy had always been a summer camper, which he thought helped him not to feel as sad about missing out on some of the small changes at camp as he would have had he been a year round camper.
Still, it had been a busy few days so as the counselors gathered he looked around and asked in confusion, “Where's Drew?”
“Oh,” Annabeth said from beside him, “did I not tell you? Drew handed over the head counselor position to Piper when she got back from their first quest.”
He'd noticed Piper and Jason talking a few feet away but he'd figured Piper was just keeping her boyfriend company until he had to join the meeting. He guessed he wasn't that surprised though, given that Drew hadn't wanted the position.
A few of the others had heard his brief exchange with Annabeth and they all turned to Piper when they heard her laugh a little.
“Well,” she said, “she didn't exactly hand it to me, I challenged her for it.”
Percy liked Piper, he'd gained respect for everyone who'd been on the Argo with him and he'd seen her handle herself well during the quest. He was also grateful to her for the friendship she'd provided Annabeth when he'd been missing. But he'd also noticed Piper could be a little judgemental and didn't seem to be as self aware as she thought she was, and he felt like that was reflected in the way she'd spoken that sentence.
He looked at Annabeth in confusion, asking for an explanation, but she looked just as confused as him. Catching his look, she shrugged and said, “I was out looking for you when they got back. When I returned, someone just told me Piper was head counselor now. I don't know the details.”
They weren't the only people looking confused.
“Wait,” said Travis, “you challenged Drew and won?”
Everyone was all gathered around now, realising they didn't actually know what had happened. They'd all just figured Drew had stepped down as soon as someone else had come along who could lead the cabin, knowing she'd never actually wanted the position.
Piper shifted her feet, looking a little uncomfortable at all the sudden attention. She shrugged. “Well, yeah. I got back from my quest and Drew was being a bit-, she was being mean to everyone in the cabin, so I challenged her for the position and she didn't even have the guts to fight me. She backed down straight away.”
The older counselors exchanged some wary looks like “who's gonna tell her?”
“Um, Piper,” Annabeth started carefully, “I don't think Drew didn't fight you because she was scared she couldn't take you.”
Will nodded. “Drew's like me. She got the position in the middle of a war when Silena died. Trust me, it doesn't matter who you are or how much you like bossing others around, no one wants a role like that shoved on them when it means the death of a sibling, especially not in the middle of a battle.”
Piper and the newer counselors looked shocked, but all the older ones just looked sad. Like this was a fact of life they'd been dealing with for years.
“But,” Piper said, looking utterly confused, “It's Drew. She doesn't know how to fight or do anything other than worry about her make-up.”
Piper must have realised this was the wrong thing to say immediately, given how angry all the others suddenly looked.
“Careful,” growled Clarisse. “You may think you're some great hero now because of the quest you just went on, but you weren't here for the last war. You don't know what we all went through and you do not have any right to criticise those who fought in that war. Just because we've had to go through a second one, doesn't mean any of us will ever forget the first. Drew fought in that. She risked her life to help and when Silena died, she stood up and took the responsibility, despite the fact she was grieving and in shock. So don't you dare insult her abilities as a fighter.”
Those who didn't know Clarisse very well were shocked, but the others didn't look at all surprised. Not even the Stoll's made a joke about her defending the Aphrodite campers, because they all agreed with her.
“Or her bravery,” added Katie, “at the start of the battle there were only forty of us. We got reinforcements during, but in the beginning that's all we had, facing down an army of monsters. We all thought we were going to die, even Drew, but she still had the guts to stay and was willing to give her life if needed. She's just as much a hero as anyone else.”
“Drew can fight,” Percy told Piper. “She may prefer to sit out most capture the flag games, but don't let that fool you. I've trained her myself and I don't mean to insult you Piper, because you're a great fighter yourself, but Drew has a lot more experience than you. I've seen you fight and train and you've been improving with each practice session, but I can estimate what your skill level was and I’m sure if she'd wanted to, Drew could have defeated you. She's been training at camp for years and she has real battle experience, you'd just gotten here.”
“During the Battle of Manhattan I saw her take on a whole group of Empousai herself,” said Jake, who was taking the place as Hephaestus's head camper again in Leo's absence, and the others nodded, adding comments about some of the things she'd done.
Piper looked completely flabbergasted. “I didn't think you'd all jump to her defense like this,” she said honestly, “I mean, she can be so horrible…”
Once again the reactions of the other campers weren't what she expected. They all looked sad.
“Look,” Connor said, “don't get me wrong, Drew has always been kind of difficult. She plays into the whole Aphrodite kid stereotype and sometimes she can take it a bit far, especially if its in retaliation to a prank or something, but she's not a bad person.”
Nico, of all people, nodded. “That's true. Anytime I've showed up here after everyone realised I was a son of Hades, she never treated me badly because of it. She used to insult my clothes and look, or whatever, but as strange as it sounds that was actually nice because I knew she did the same to everyone else, so when she did it to me I didn't feel like I was being ostracised for being a Hades kid.”
Everyone looked a little surprised that Nico had confessed this, but they nodded like it made sense.
“I don't get it,” Piper said honestly. “Since I got here, she's been really horrible. Her rules in the Aphrodite cabin are insane. She wanted to make it a rule that we all had to break someone's heart or something, and you say she was grieving her sister but the way she speaks about her sounds like she hated her.”
Once again, the sadness and grief in the other counselor's eyes took Piper by surprise.
“Silena was a hero,” Clarisse growled. “Everyone here knows that, including Drew. If she didn't, I'd impale her with my spear in a second.” Then, to Piper's surprise, the anger faded from Clarisse’s eyes and she sighed. “Drew is still grieving. Since the war, she's been dealing by pushing everyone away. At first we tried to help her, but we realised that it's not something we can force. She needs to come to terms with it on her own. It's easier for her to cope with Silena’s death if she tells herself she hates her. It's easier to comprehend the fact that she died if she thinks that it was because she broke some dumb rule about not breaking her boyfriend's heart, rather than the truth that we were all expected to fight a war when we were just kids.”
“Honestly,” Pollux said, speaking for the first time, “the way Drew is coping, as horrible as it makes her seem, isn't even that bad in comparison to some people.”
There were a few grim nods and dark mutters of agreement.
“Look Piper,” Annabeth tried to explain, “this war with Gaia has been tough, but honestly, you need to understand that the last one with the Titans was worse.”
At the astounded looks on the newer counselors' faces, Percy nodded. “It's true,” he said, “and I'm saying that even with what Annabeth, Nico and I went through.” He didn't say the word Tartarus, but they all heard it. “Obviously on an individual level that's incomparable, but for the camp as a whole? That war destroyed us. It went on for years. We were supposed to be kids but that war turned us all into soldiers. I know people died in this war with Gaia, but we didn't lose any from Camp Half Blood and even counting everyone else, the casualties were low. But during the Titan war, we got used to losing people regularly. Burning shrouds for our friends became a part of camp life. The only reason there's so many campers here now is that at the end of the Titan war the gods promised to claim all their kids and send them to camp, so there was a huge influx of campers. But by the end of the war, there were only twenty-four of us.”
“Twenty-four,” whispered Jason in horror, the look on his face reflected on all the newer counselors.
“That's not the worst part,” said Annabeth. “This war with Gaia, I know we were afraid we'd have to fight the Romans and face other demigods, but it never came to that. Throughout the war our only enemies were monsters and giants. But during the Titan war, there were demigods on both sides.”
“You had to fight other demigods?” Piper choked out.
Travis nodded. “Can you imagine what it's like to stand on one side of a battle, looking at the faces of people you grew up with on the other? People who slept in your cabin and who you shared meals with and played capture the flag with and who you were friends with? Knowing that as you fought them, you had no choice but to fight for your life because if you dropped your guard for even a second, they'd kill you?”
“And after the battle,” Will added, his usually happy face so filled with grief and anger he was almost unrecognisable, “can you imagine what it's like to gather up the bodies of your loved ones? To make shrouds for siblings you know you'll never see again? To hold the hand of a friend you've known since you were a kid while they die, knowing their injuries are too bad, that there's nothing you can do to heal them? I know you don't like Drew, Piper, but you have a sibling who is alive and breathing and who you have the chance to get to know. For those of us who lost siblings we loved during the war, it seems like you're wasting a chance we would give anything to have again.”
“So,” Annabeth said softly, “I know she hasn't made the best first impression, but I think you need to reconsider your view of Drew. She isn't a terrible person, she's hurting. And I know she was worse with you than she's been with anyone else, but don't forget that you're a new camper. She probably felt like you were trying to replace Silena. Plus, she's a year round camper. She doesn't have a home to go back to during the school year. I know things aren't perfect with your dad, but I'm pretty sure part of the reason she was so mean about him was because she was jealous that you even had a mortal parent to care about you.”
For the first time since this conversation started, Piper started to realise that she might not be as right as she thought she was.
“Maybe,” Percy said, “take this as an opportunity to start again with her. She could use some support. You're the head councillor of your cabin, you have a responsibility to look after your siblings. And that includes Drew.”
“I-,” Piper wasn't even sure what to say, there was so much to process. “Okay,” she said, nodding, “I'll, I'll try and reach out to her.”
The others nodded and just like that, as if the conversation had never happened, they headed inside to start the counsellor meeting, joking and laughing, and Piper and the other newer counsellors were only just starting to realise how little they understood about everything their friends and siblings had been through. They'd learned one thing though; the bond between the older campers from the first war was stronger than they'd realised. It was obvious they'd all stand up for each other, no matter what. No one was going to make the mistake of insulting one of them in front of the others again.