Chapter 60: Refresh

Prytaneum

Refresh​

"Percy, there you are!" Hestia called out excitedly, beaming at me as I leaned against the doorframe of our small house. Once she was certain she had my attention, she twirled in place, the glittering blue fabric of her dress glimmering in the light as she did. For once, her hair was down, her usual hair ties now serving a somewhat embroidery role as flourishes for her dress, but it was a bit…odd wasn't the word, but I wasn't used to it and it seemed to vastly change how she appeared. "How do I look?"

"Beautiful, Hestia," I said, smiling at the sight of her so happy. Despite the circumstances and as wary as she often tried to be, she truly seemed to enjoy the fact that we were going to a party. Or, perhaps, that I was keeping myself out of trouble for once. Or, maybe, that she finally had a real dress to wear and could go without feeling embarrassed, which I'd been told by Miach had been an issue before. Whatever the case, I was just glad she could relax for a while. I was as hard on her as I'd been on my mother and while I couldn't help but continue, I felt bad every time I saw her stay up late waiting for me.

Maybe taking a break was a good idea, I thought, for once without any doubts. I knew the lengths Hestia went to for me—had gone to for me—and I was glad to have a chance to pay her back in a way that actually mattered. I'd made the dress, sort of. Well, really, I'd just bought a dress and turned it into Undine Silk, but ever since Mystery ranked up, I'd had a bit more control of the process. When I was sewing magic into the fabric, I'd focused on the beauty of it, weaving into it the image of the sunrise over the sea in such a way that the fabric literally shown. My own suit—and I was wearing a suit and tie and polished shoes and everything, which was disconcerting to me on a spiritual level—was more subdued, but in a familiar, comforting way, like the darkness close to the bottom of the sea. There was almost a chill to it, like I was actually there, and it did a lot to set my mind at ease, which was something I expected I'd need tonight, seeing as I'd be jumping into a figurative snake pit.

Hopefully, I wouldn't be jumping into any literal snake pits, but one never really knew with the gods and Riptide was in my pocket, just in case, along with a few other necessities.

"Thank you," She said, beaming as she touching the fabric of her dress again and watched it, entranced as it almost seemed to ripple. I hadn't been entirely sure on the size, but Undine Silk both clung and stretched as a general rule, so neither of us seemed to have a problem. "You dress up nicely yourself, Percy."

I shrugged embarrassedly, still feeling a little awkward about that. It's not that I had anything against dress clothing, as such—in an ideal world, I could imagine myself wearing them a lot for my mother's sake, just like I could imagine studying hard and getting good grades and doing well at sports to bring home awards. All that was a nice thought, even if I knew my mom didn't really care about any of that stuff and that she was proud of me already; it was still something I'd always wanted to do and been incapable of, short of abusing the Mist and my own powers. So the whole suit thing? I could get it in an intellectual sense and even enjoy it.

In practice, however, I made a point not to wear anything I wasn't prepared for someone to try and kill me in. This whole ensemble looked good, but the dress shoes weren't made with running for one's life in mind and though the Undine Silk thankfully helped a lot, suites weren't designed with fighting or heavy exertion. To say nothing of this suit and tie—it was like wearing a death trap. If someone grabbed the tie in a fight and pulled it hard, things could get needlessly exciting, and it hung at my through like a constant reminder of that. And the jacket of the suit was long enough to grab and pull over my head, too, which reminded me uncomfortably of a Jackie Chan movie I'd seen once. If a fight did break out, I was tearing both of them off immediately, to hell with being in public.

Until then, though, I had to be prepared in other ways. Parties like this were a different kind of battlefield, even with the amount of backstabbing that was probably going on. A suit of silk wasn't as comforting as a suit of armor, but I was hoping it'd serve the same purpose here. Plus, the fact that both of us were wearing Undine Silk sent a particular kind of message.

"Thanks," I said, before extending a hand. "Shall we go? We don't want to be late."

"Let's," Hestia replied, still smiling as she intertwined an arm around mine. Or tried to, at least, before settling on taking my hand in her own. It couldn't really be helped because the usual arm-in-arm thing didn't work so well when my elbow was level with her forehead, even when I let my arms hand at my side. As is, she still had to raise her hand slightly to touch mine and it made her look especially small. I hoped nobody said anything that ruined her mood, because that'd ruin my mood too. "Miach and Naaza said they'd meet us there. It was nice what you did for them."

I nodded slowly, not entirely sure I agreed. I'd asked Miach if he was coming to the party and he'd originally said no, because he was both too busy working and couldn't afford anything to wear. I'd offered to deal with the latter, both for him and for the perpetually tired-looking Naaza, but while giving them a chance to relax as well had been part of it, the main reason was that I just wanted as many people there as possible who I was sure weren't out to get me. Although, the entire thing made me wonder…

"Do people dislike Miach for some reason?" I asked abruptly.

"Hm?" Hestia said, furrowing her eyebrows at me.

"Even with all the item drops I give him and all the potions he makes, he always seems to struggling with money," I said. "I know it's not true, but sometimes it almost feels like I'm his only customer. I was wondering if people disliked him for some reason."

"It is rather odd," She admitted after a moment of thought. "While it can't easy running such a business with only two people, both Miach and Naaza are very skilled. One would think they wouldn't have much trouble getting by, but…perhaps it's because of the competition?"

"You mean that…Dian Cecht Familia, right?" I asked after scrunching my face up trying to remember. "The other potion guys."

"Mm," Hestia confirmed. "Those two compete with one another even back in Heaven, but now Dian Cecht runs one of the largest Medicinal Familias in the city. Given their larger size and number of adventurers, it must be difficult for a smaller potion seller to make ends meet."

"Ah," I said with a nod, absently adjusting the cuff of my sleeve to partially bare Daedalus' bracelet. "I guess that makes sense."

"Although…part of it is probably Miach, too," Hestia said, heaving a sigh. "It's hard to hold it against him, he's perhaps too kindhearted to run a store. While I understand his desire to help people, as a business man, giving potions away freely to those in need probably makes things a bit…difficult for himself. Miach causes a lot of misunderstandings because of that, too…"

I chuckled, scratching the side of my head with a finger as I did.

"Well, I like that about Miach," I said. "I guess its fine since I cause enough trouble to keep him in business; I was just wondering if there was anything else behind it. It still seems a bit…"

"I know," Hestia said, squeezing my hand in what was probably meant to be reassurance. It was kind of hard to tell when I could barely feel it. "But everyone has their secrets, don't they?"

"I guess we're not really ones to talk, huh?" I asked, shaking my head and looking forward. After heading South from our house, we walked a ways down West Main before turning off into the side streets, heading towards the site of the banquet, near the Apollo Familia home.

"It's fine as long as you don't let things like that keep you from getting along with people, Percy," She said. "I'm glad you're close to Miach. He's a good friend."

"And he can help put me back together if I get in too much trouble," I joked and immediately regretted bringing my malformed sense of humor into things. But Hestia just laughed it off like she didn't know I was partially serious and smiled at me.

"That helps, too," She replied. As we drew near to our destination, I began to catch site of people I didn't recognize, but who I could tell were gods and goddesses, with a number glancing our way curiously. Ignoring them, Hestia's eyes seemed to find someone else and she lifted a gloved hand to wave excitedly. "Take! Take, over here!"