Chapter 6: Hearth

Prytaneum

Hearth​

I left the Hephaestus Familia store even more confused than I'd entered but with at least some idea of where to go next. I could honestly say I still had no idea what was going on, but I'd gotten some leads at least, the gods being the biggest one. I still wasn't entirely sure what this whole Familia thing was about or how it tied into anything, but as long as it led me to the gods, it'd lead me to answers.

Assuming that they were the gods, of course. Given some of the general weirdness I'd noticed so far, I suppose it was possible that they weren't. Generally, the gods weren't really appreciative of mockery or imitation from those in the know, but if they were gone then it was possible that someone had chosen to take advantage of their absence. I was still reeling from the possibility that I might have been gone for fifteen years, but if it was true…well, I could only imagine what might have happened. I hadn't seen anything that made me think that was the case yet, but I reminded myself to keep an open mind.

Either way, I'd probably find out when I caught up with Hestia, which would hopefully be soon. I'd been a little surprised to know that Wayland seemed to know exactly where Hestia was, something he seemed a little exasperated by. He'd sounded a little confused about why I wanted to know, but had told me she lived in an abandoned Church built between North-West Main Street and West Main Street and had even explained how that worked.

Apparently, Orario had been built around the Dungeon. The massive tower in the center of the city, Babel, had been built above the entrance and served as the headquarters of the Guild, a group that seemed to run the city, though I wasn't sure how or why. Around the tower were eight main streets that served various purposes. The Hephaestus Familia's shop—or at least the one I'd entered; Wayland had mentioned there being more—was on North-West Main Street, or 'Adventurer's Street.' Wayland had told me that if I walked around the area, I'd find her eventually and that I'd be able to recognize her as a goddess on sight.

That had seemed a little vague to me, so I'd tried asking for a more descriptive, uh, description, but he'd just sighed and muttered something about her not looking like much of a goddess. That hadn't made a lot of sense to me, but then, I was used to the gods defying my expectations; when it wasn't time to lay waste to his enemies, my dad usually wore Hawaiian shirts and shorts. Well, even beyond that, most of the gods I'd met had spent the last four years of my life wearing away at my expectations.

Still, it bothered me a little bit, not that I had any right to talk. Like most people, I'd dismissed Hestia without even realizing it when I first came to camp and hadn't given her any thought until recently. Now that I knew her better, though…well, I guess it annoyed me a bit. Of all the goddesses I'd met, Hestia might have helped me the most and I considered her a friend.

Nonetheless, I thanked Wayland for all his help and left to look for her—which mainly meant I wandered around West and North-West Main Street for a while and hoped I got lucky. While it would have been nice if I immediately found what I was looking for, I wasn't particularly surprised that it didn't work out that way. Well, though I was getting a bit hungry, it was a fairly nice day for walking around, so I didn't mind it much.

At least, not until a shiver went down my spine.

I stopped in place, getting a bad feeling—the type I usually got when there was a monster sizing me up for its next meal. My instinctive response was to reach for my weapons, turn around, and attack, but while demigod instincts had a lot going for them, they weren't perfect. They didn't usually account for circumstances or tactics, which is why Chiron trained us so hard. As such, instead of turning around and trying to start a fight in the middle of a street full of people or doing anything that might give away my awareness of my watcher, I kept myself relaxed even as my heart rate picked up.

First things first, I had to make sure nothing dangerous happened to the people on the street. I looked over my options, which sadly consisted mainly of narrow alleyways. Don't get me wrong; alleys were nice in a lot of ways. If a bunch of monsters were attacking you, for example, you could lead them down a narrow path to make them come at you one at a time. On the other hand, if you found yourself in serious trouble, running down an alley was always a risky proposition if you didn't know the area. If they saw through your attempt and came at you from both sides or if the alley didn't lead anywhere, it'll be a little late to regret it once the monsters start eating you.

In my neighborhood, I was familiar with every twist, turn, shortcut, and dead-end around and had gotten comfortable using them to deal with the periodic monster attacks. There were a few places where I could turn a chase around on a pursuer and there was this one fire escape I'd used to catch someone from above something like five times.

But here in an unfamiliar area? I'd be taking my life in my hands if I chose a place at random.

But there wasn't much choice. I was getting some serious heebie-jeebies which told me that whatever was after me was bad. I walked past two alleys that didn't seem to lead anywhere and then darted into a third the moment I realized I could see North-West Street on the other side, hoping that Mr. Monster didn't have enough friends to pincer attack me with.

I was halfway down the street when I realized I wasn't being followed—or, at least, that I could hear anyone following me, which was somewhat less reassuring. I risked a glance back and confirmed that there didn't seem to be anyone around and then glanced above me to make sure I wasn't falling for my own trick. Allowing for the possibility of something invisible trying to kill me, which has happened a few times, there didn't seem to be anyone here. Even the shivers were gone.

Weird. Was I actually not being chased? It was rare to see a monster willing to just leave me be.

Carefully, I put my back to the wall and edged towards the entrance of the alleyway. When I was at the very corner, I look a deep breath and risked a glance out, hoping nothing was waiting right around the corner. The street seemed calm, indicating there was nothing normal people could notice as wrong. I didn't see any hulking beasts, either. But…

My eyes tracked up to the window of a building and I froze. I couldn't see what was on the other side of it, the sun's reflection on the glass hiding whatever was behind it from sight. But the feeling returned, my instincts warning me of danger, and I pulled myself back into the alley as quickly as I could and hoped I hadn't been spotted looking. I didn't know a lot of monsters that liked to hang out in cafes, but…titan? God? I wasn't sure who's attention I'd caught, but I was fairly certain it was bad news.

Discretions the better part of not dying, I decided before heading back down the alley towards North-West Main Street. Whatever it was hadn't done anything yet, so best to just avoid it if I could and not start any trouble. For now, I had bigger things to worry about, anyway; I still needed to find—

—A goddess. The moment I exited the alleyway, the thought flashed across my mind. I'd just been scanning the street warily, looking out for signs of hidden threats, when I glanced at a girl and knew—knew—she was a goddess. It was a feeling I was familiar, but she radiated divinity in a way that drew attention even if it wasn't especially exaggerated, and I stopped to look at her.

Was it her? Or rather, didn't it have to be her? How many goddesses could there be walking around North-West Main Street?

The first thing I noticed was that she was small; four feet and some change. For a moment, I thought she'd taken the form of a young girl again—while she could vary her form like any of the gods, that seemed to be the form she favored outside of Olympus. But, uh, well…at a second glance, that seemed unlikely for various reasons. She wore a tight white dress and a blue ribbon that I carefully avoided paying too much attention to, and her hair was up in two tails. At the moment, she was animatedly discussing something with an older looking man who laughed and then seemed to decline before walking away, leaving her looking dejected. The only words I'd heard were 'Familia' and 'No,' but it was enough to get a rough idea of what seemed to be happening.

She was different, I thought, not sure why that surprised me. While I could tell from a glance that she was a goddess, the looked very different from how she had last time I saw her, however long ago that truly was. The burning eyes I'd come to associate with Hestia had turned to normal blue and the brown linen shawl was gone. And though a few seconds of observation were hardly enough to go on, she seemed to act differently, too. If I had to guess, she seemed sadder. Lonelier.

I don't know what I'd expected, but it hadn't been this.

But maybe it should have been. It had been stupid of my not to think about it after what I learned of Hephaestus, but could the destruction of the thrones and stuff have been the cause of this? If the gods had been destroyed in some form along with their thrones, then maybe they'd come back differently. The gods had changed a lot over the years, I knew that much—part of the way they followed Western Civilization, I guess. If you broke those ties or if things changed in the world…could they be changed by it? Or had they been changed by it?

If so, I had to wonder…was I the cause of this? Hestia…there hadn't been a lot of time to think about it at the time, but she'd sacrificed herself to give me a chance. She hadn't had a throne for Kronos to destroy like the other's had—not that I thought that would have truly protected her from her father's wrath if he'd won—but she'd destroyed herself for my sake. Whatever had happened to her, then, was my responsibility.

Or maybe I should say that we were friends so it didn't matter if it was my responsibility or not.

I approached slowly, taking a breath.

"Hello," I greeted the depressed looking goddess, startling her somewhat in the process. "Are you okay?"

"Ah?" She asked, turning around quickly to look at me before smiling. It wasn't entirely forced, but didn't seem wholly sincere, either. "Ah, yes, I'm fine. Thank you for asking!"

I nodded but sat down next to her. At six feet tall, I had the better part of two feet on her and it showed even sitting down.

"You're the goddess Hestia, right?" I asked, double checking just in case.

"Ah, you've heard of me?" She replied, puffing up her chest in pride and happiness.

"Of course," I said. "I may not know much about this city, but I know a little bit about the gods, at least. I think."

"Oh?" Hestia wondered. "Are you new in Orario, um…?"

"Percy Jackson," I answered, noting a bit worriedly that she showed no sign of recognizing the name. That…didn't imply anything good. "Just got here today, actually. It's a strange place, isn't it?"

Hestia giggled before looking up, smile at once fond and sad.

"It is," She said. "I'm fairly new as well; I only came down a little while ago."

"Not what you expected?" I guessed.

"Mm," She hummed in answer.

"I know what that's like," I said empathetically. "This place wasn't what I expected, either."

Hestia glanced at me at that, tilting her head to the side.

"Why'd you come to Orario?" She asked, glancing over my torn armor. "Did you want to become an Adventurer?"

"Not really," I admitted. "I was looking for someone, I suppose."

"Who?"

I sighed and closed my eyes.

"My father and some lost friends," I answered before remembering my story. "My father was part of Poseidon's Familia, I think. I didn't really know him very well, but…"

I shrugged.

"Poseidon…" Hestia furrowed her eyebrows before abruptly wincing. "Ah. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," I assured her. "I don't even know what happened to him. I don't suppose you…?"

"I knew Poseidon back in Heaven," She mused. "And I heard he'd come back. But…I don't really know much about what happened back then. I'm sorry."

"Came back?" I asked, surprised. "Do you mean…I mean, I heard the Poseidon Familia was destroyed so I assumed he had died."

"You could say that," Hestia replied. "But death is different for us gods."

"Right," I said, sighing in relief. "Then he's alive? And in…Heaven?"

"Un," Hestia said, nodding with certainty before looking at me with eyes that belied her youthful appearance. "If you wanted to ask him about your father, that may not be possible. It can be very difficult for a god to get a chance to come down to this world. He must be busy working right now."

After a moment of hesitation, she shot me another look.

"If you want, though…it would be difficult, but it might be possible to pass on a message?" She said, though she sounded doubtful. "It would be very hard, but I could ask the next time I saw Hermes?"

"Thank you, Lady Hestia," I replied before shaking my head. "But it's fine as long as he's okay. I was worried when I heard about what had happened to him. If we happen to meet again, I'll ask him at that time."

And also, if you didn't recognize me, then there was a chance he wouldn't either. If I was right about the thrones and stuff and the gods had basically been reborn, then…uh…

I'd deal with that later, if I could. For now, I'd focus on what I could do.

Hestia nodded again, though she looked a bit confused.

"What about your friends?" She asked. "Are they in Orario, too?"

"I don't know," I answered truthfully. "But if they were anywhere, it would probably be here."

"Would you like me to help you look for them?" Hestia offered.

"You're very kind," I noted with a smile. "You don't even know me but you're willing to help so much."

"Of course," She said, smiling brightly at me. "Because you're a lost child and I'm a goddess."

Even knowing that she was far older than me, it was a little hard to take that seriously coming from her; she was just so tiny.

I appreciated it anyway.

"If they're here, we'll meet eventually," I mused. "But thank you."

"You'll be staying in Orario, then?" She guessed.

"I suppose so," I replied, nodding. "I'll need to figure some things out, though. Like I said, I'm new in town."

I considered it for a moment before looking at her.

"Hey, Lady Hestia—could you tell me a bit more about Orario?"

"Ah?" She asked, blinking before nodding assuredly. "Of course! What do you need to know?"

"What's an adventurer?" I asked. "You mentioned it before and I've heard others talk about it, too. I know the word means 'someone who goes on an adventure,' but it means something else here in Orario, right?"

Hestia blinked once, twice.

"You…" She began, sounding concerned. "You don't know what an Adventurer is?"

"Nope," I admitted easily. "Like I said, I'm new in town. And my mother tried to keep me away from stuff like that for a long time."

That didn't make her stop looking worried, but she seemed to accept the explanation.

"An Adventurer is a member of a God's Familia who explores the Dungeon," Hestia replied.

"What's a Familia?" I asked. "Or rather, what makes them different? They're a god's followers, right?"

"They're a god's family," She corrected. "They've received a god's Grace, after all."

After saying that, Hestia hunched over as if saddened by the own words. I remembered the conversation I'd seen her having earlier.

"Do you not have a Familia, Lady Hestia?" I asked.

"No," She whispered. "I can't find anyone who wants to become a part of my family. Everything I know about it is just what I've heard…"

When she saw my worried look at that, she forcibly brightened and took a bracing breath.

"Ah, about that! Percy, would you like to become a member of my Familia?" She asked as if expecting another rejection.

"Okay," I replied instead.

"Ah…eh!?" She made several weird noises, looking surprised and uncertain despite the image she'd tried to put up until now. "R-really? Is that really okay? Even if you join, it'd just be the two of us—is that really okay with you?"

I smiled at her, leaning back slightly.

I'd already thought this through, at least a little bit. If Adventurers were the ones that explored and faced the Dungeon beneath this city, then becoming one was probably a good idea if it'd help with that—and logically speaking, I'd be better off with a large Familia with lots of other Adventurers to aid me. This was especially true if Adventurers were, to some extent, like demigods, which I was getting mixed messaged on.

But…at the same time, having found her like this, I already knew I couldn't abandon her. Or rather, I wouldn't. I still remembered Zoe, who'd sacrificed her divine power to help a man that had left her behind. I still remembered what Mr. D had said about heroes and his wife and how Theseus—my half-brother, technically—had abandoned her when all was said and done. And I still remembered my mother and I, who'd been left behind.

It couldn't be helped when your father was a god. I knew that. It still hurt like hell. I knew that, too. And whether it was because of who I was or my fatal flaw or whatever else, I wouldn't abandon one of my friends.

I'd promised Hestia that I would remember her and she'd sacrificed enough that I couldn't think of her as anything but a friend, whether she remembered me right now or not. And from what she'd said and what I'd seen, she was alone. Speaking as someone who'd just found himself in a similar position, that sucked. A lot.

"To tell you the truth, I don't know anything about this stuff," I admitted. "I still don't know what you mean by Familia or a god's Grace. I came to Orario because I didn't have much choice in the matter and there's a lot I don't understand. But you're a very kind goddess and it seems like we're both alone. So…if it's okay despite all of that, can I join your Familia?"

She stared at me for a moment, expression still stunned, before finally starting to smile. It was a simple thing, pure and bright without anything hidden, and it made her look truly happy.

"Un," She said, confirming it with a nod. "Then let's be a family from now on."