Welcoming Feast
Annabeth is late. And unhappy.
Actually, she has better words in her dictionary to describe how she felt: mad, annoyed, angry. Disgruntled.
For several millennia, she thought all the problems that came with Zeus and her mother, Athena, were gone, that she would no longer need to see the faces of those who had hurt her so much. Years of pain, of quests, of lost loved ones, memories of spiders, silk and weaving and their consequences flashing through her mind.
Which explained why she was so ready to put those two in jail, and so reluctant to leave them to Malcom. But Konnos decided to stay with him so Annabeth wasn’t complaining. Even if they were probably going to pin over each other the entire time, she hopes they’ll actually do their job.
By the Fates, she’s late. Her wife would definitely tell her that her preferred outfit is way too much for this event, but oh well. Annabeth likes to be fancy and Piper can do nothing about it other than admire her dress.
To be perfectly honest, said dress is a marvel. One of her siblings learned weaving and made it for her with the help of one of the Hephaestus kids.
The dress itself was a pretty white, the soft silk draping past her shoulders and gathering under her chest, attached together by some slim chains. The fabric then flowed all the way past her tummy to a few inches above the ground. A gold circlet rested on her head, while her feet were encased in her military boots from her previous outfit.
“Pipes will have a field day with this combination,” Annabeth thinks as she steps out of her temple.
The Welcoming Feast is held in Hestia’s temple, an open space that reminds every one of the core value of Celestis. She doesn’t have to walk far from her temple on Artemis’ side.
The main temples to the Celestials are divided in two: the Sun side, and the Moon side, with Apollo and Artemis obviously leading them. The sides don’t do anything except give the placement of the temples on the Temple Hill and the seats in the council room, but usually they do have some semblance of reasoning for their side.
For example, Percy, Rachel and Will were very obviously on Apollo’s side, each for being his lover, his oracle and his son. Nico, Thalia and Annabeth were on Artemis’ side for other reasons: Thalia for her connection to the Hunt, Annabeth because she fell under the Moon’s domain of maidens, and Nico for his association to the night.
If Apollo’s side usually ended up with more boys and Artemis’ with more girls, then that was no one’s business.
As she approaches the Hestia’s temple, she notices a group of people hurrying, like her, towards her destination.
The first, in the front, is someone she recognizes easily: Piper! Her wife had pearls beaded into the braids Annabeth usually made for her, with a coral crown atop her head. Ironically, her dress is even fancier than Annabeth’s, white with soft pink accents here and there. Her eyes shine under the setting sun, and Annabeth has to pull herself out of it to continue running.
She even saw her before heading to meet Thalia this afternoon, why is she still awed by her?! Not that she’s complaining too much, her wife is jaw dropping-ly gorgeous.
The second has black hair that glows a dark blue under the setting sun, highlights moving like waves as he sprinted. His sea green eyes looked the same as ever, the same as before their ascent, if you forgot the fact the sclera was completely black. Fins sprouted from his head, the same sea green as his scales and eyes. The man wore Atlantean wear a deep blue, contrasting his gold armor. A gold earring resembling a sun hung from one of his head fins. His laurel wreath on his head was turquoise, mixed with pink corals. This was obviously Atlantis’ resident hero, Percy.
By the Fates, it had been a long time since she had seen him. He was very busy with Atlantis, and when Apollo wanted to see him, the Sun usually went underwater instead of Percy heading to Celestis.
Atlantis was an architectural marvel, and by not being the one who designed it, Annabeth kept finding literal and figurative pearls of inspiration everywhere she goes. That’s why she likes it so much down there: other than the fact she can see her wife, it’s calming and ethereal in a completely different way from Celestis or, Fates forbid, New Sparta. That city was just a glorified military base. Not that it doesn’t have its perks.
Beckendorf is running behind, Silena on his shoulders. Everyone knows she can run faster than everyone else (except some of the Hermes kids) but Beckendorf does not care: he likes his wife in his shoulders or in his arms, his argument that they both died and he’s holding on to make sure he doesn’t leave her again. From talking to Piper, Annabeth knows Silena secretly enjoys being held too.
Leo is sprinting and panting hard in the back, and as much as he has tried to clean himself there is clear signs of him not having cleaned well, mainly the grease over his nose. Annabeth thinks is being underwater must clean that off normally, but apparently not, as even when she’s visiting Piper Leo always seems to have grease somewhere.
Her wife notices her as they both arrive in front of the temple. It’s one of Annabeth’s preferred creations, if not for the pure love she put in it, and despite it being the first one built, it holds up to all the other designs she has come up with.
“Annie! Are we late?” Piper says, hair still a little wet from navigating through the water. It pearls on her curls, and she tries to shake it off like a dog.
“No, Percy is supposed to give a speech, remember? Because he’s head of the representation of Atlantis? Apollo and Artemis won’t start without him.” She shakes her head fondly. Percy is power walking to the steps of the temple, but his expression is of pure glee. Piper shoots her outfit a quick glance.
“Yes, I remember. Now what on Artemis’ name are you wearing?! It’s so fancy, no need for that!” Annabeth lets out a laugh before she takes Piper’s hand.
“You say that as if your outfit isn’t fancier than mine. Come on, you don’t want to arrive after Leo, right?”
Piper laughs from beside her as Leo lets out an offended sound behind them. They climb up the small flight of stairs leading up to the temple, and enter the festive space.
Hestia’s temple is big, probably the biggest, and has a giant hearth in the middle, alongside many chairs to sit and relax next to the fire. However, when the Welcoming Feast is held, those chairs are brought around tables, one for each group of people invited.
The first one Annabeth spots as she enters is Celestis’ table, arguably the biggest. Celestials, Astrals and Immortals alike are chatting softly. Some kids already look bored. Apollo and Artemis are at the very end, looking around, presumably to know when to start.
Annabeth’s table is right next to it. Clarisse and Reyna are bent over a battle plan which they will no doubt ask her about after. New Sparta’s table is lively but orderly, with many weapons lying on the ground or on the chairs’ sides. They know better than to do that, it’s a hazard, they know Annabeth will tell them off later, but nobody cares right now, and so she doesn’t either.
As she tries to reach her table, she passes by New Grove’s. Grover and Kataris are respectively speaking to satyrs and nymphs. The table is made of wood, vines climbing all over it. With the way New Grove’s representatives move around it, it’s as if the table is alive.
Next to the nature table is the Wind palace’s floating one. Not by much, mind you, just enough for the short table to be the same height as the others. Some people are flying over the table, some levitating like their table. Jason has his head in his hands as the Stolls try to sneak a whoopy cushion on Butch’s chair. It doesn’t work, but they won’t stop.
Piper stops next to her, greeting the other people at Atlantis’ table. Leo and Beckendorf are both playing with their tools, and Silena is looking over her husband’s shoulder to see. Percy is playing with Riptide in pen form as he reads a crumpled paper, probably his speech.
Next to that table is the Underworld’s, still sometimes called like that despite its ruler’ insistence on it being called the Evernight. Nico is sitting at the end, a soft grin on his face as he talks to Hazel. Lou Ellen is weaving a spell, probably one to wake up Clovis, and Cecil is is trying to ignore all the messages he’s getting of souls trying to call him to move on to the afterlife. Annabeth only knows this by his constant whining about it, though Hazel has said he really does like his job.
The last table Annabeth spots before joining her New Spartan friends is the guest table. Most of the time, it hosts kings and celebrities the Celestials wanted to invite. This time, it only has the Olympians. Their table is tense as they glance at her. She ignores them in favor of waving to Thalia on the table behind.
At last, she reaches her table, and slumps down next to Reyna and barely manages to stop a groan. The General turns towards her.
“Annabeth.”
“General.”
“Do you have any kind of idea on why exactly the Olympians are back? I’d rather them not be here.” She says, glancing hatefully at them. As head of security of Celestis, Reyna does not like intruders, and these even more as they came without warning.
“Well, we just moved back to Greece, so the land might have brought them back by some remnant of power or something. The Olympians started in Greece, remember? They have a special connection to this place.” Annabeth tries to remember what her mother had told her in the prison. It was just a theory, and it had shocked Annabeth that her mother had not known anything else.
Reyna hums next to her, leaving Annabeth to wander in her mind. Not for long, as when the last of the guests enter, Apollo and Artemis stood up, clapping their hands in sync to get everyone’s attention. Silence fell in the temple.
“Welcome, welcome back, one and all, to this edition of our welcoming feast!” Apollo cheers as a round of happiness makes the central hearth burn brighter. “It’s once again time to reunite and reconnect again, because we all know at least one person who would stay holed up in their kingdom if it wasn’t for this feast.”
Snickers are heard throughout the temple, some people sending glances and glares at others. Annabeth gets some. They stop when Artemis speaks up.
“We’d like to thank some people before we start with the festivities.” People lean in to listen even closer.
“First, we’d like to thank New Sparta for once again protecting us. There was an attack on the Gates recently, though nothing compared to those in the past, and our soldiers stood strong. Thank you.”
Claps echoed as Annabeth’s table cheered, some raising their weapons. Annabeth sent them a hard glare.
“Thank you to the Wind Palace for all those messages sent and the wonderful weather we’ve had these past years. Thank you to New Grove for taking care and restoring the wild places, as per Lord Pan’s wishes.”
The floating and nature tables cheered, as others clapped again, even louder than last time. Annabeth spotted Nico putting some earplugs in.
“Thank you to Atlantis for all the weapons and resources they have created and exported. They are the base of our subsistence.” Apollo continued, sending the Atlantis table a look before once again, the temple roared to life.
“Thank you to the Evernight for maintaining peace and order in the balance between life and death, and for not giving us a zombie apocalypse.” Laughter resounded across the walls, and Annabeth joined in.
“Thank you to all of those in Celestis who make this place so lovely and lively, to those who take care of us each day, of those of us who watch over our future.” Apollo mentioned, shooting glances to Will and Rachel at their table.
“Thank you to Thalia’s Hunt for keeping the amount of monsters and annoying men at a minimum.” Says Artemis, a small smile upon her lips.
“As you all know, we’ve just moved again. So I’d like to invite Perseus of Atlantis over here for his part of the speech.” Apollo says, live seeping into his tone as he says his lover’s name. Lovebirds, truly, Annabeth thinks. Or lovefish.
Percy stands up nervously, looking a little skittish as he approaches where the Sun and Moon are. But the closer he gets, the more confident he seems, and the taller he stands.
“Hello everyone! Nice to see all of you who I haven’t seen in a while, since you know, I’ve kinda been deep under water, both figuratively and literally.” Chuckles bubble out of Annabeth throat. She isn’t the only one, as laughter springs out between the white columns of the temple.
“Now, Greece. Lovely place, no? Last time I went here, i fought against the earth itself. Fun times, no? Anyways, the heart of the west is back here again, maybe it was nostalgic or something? I don’t know?”
Again, Percy makes everyone laugh. He’s always been good at that, and helps everyone get their minds off all that’s happened over the last few years. Attacks, battles, ambushes. New Sparta was hit the worst, being Celestis’ defenses. Yet here they are, still standing strong, and Annabeth couldn’t be prouder of her team.
“Of course, Greece isn’t just where I fought with the Seven and our allies. It’s where we come from, the origin of Olympus. It’s where people started believing in Greek mythology, where city states rose to glory. It’s where the foundations of many things such as language, numbers, stories come from.”
Indeed, Greece wasn’t just another place where the heart of Civilization had moved, no. It was the first time it came back to a place e after moving. Annabeth wonders if it truly has anything to do with the Olympians being back. Maybe, maybe not. Maybe it’s just the Fates pulling strings again.
“And so I’d like to raise a toast to this new age, and to the guests it brought with it.”
Awkward cheers echo as they look towards the Olympians. Nobody is truly happy to see them again.
Suddenly, a loud fart noise was heard, echoing through the hall. Percy had just sat down again, accidentally sitting in the whoopy cushion the Stolls had tried to put on Butch’s chair earlier. Apparently, they had failed, because they had moved on to Percy instead.
The cheery atmosphere came back with all the laughter that ripped through the silence. People got up, started talking, and soon the tables and arrangements were mere suggestions.
Annabeth was getting up to talk to Piper when she saw the Olympians do the same, Aphrodite beelining over to her wife.
She sighs. Let the show begin.