Here's my attempt at a fluffier, less angsty chapter. It's more or less an average morning with the Hunters.

I should probably mention that I haven't read Trials of Apollo and therefore won't be treating it as canon for Silver Bows. Parts of this chapter may conflict with ToA.

North Dakota, December 23rd, the winter after Blood of Olympus. Between Chapters 5 and 21. (After Lucia meets Maximiliana, but before Maximiliana dies.)

The Hunters were eating breakfast, finishing leftovers from the previous day. Everyone seemed to be off to a sleepy start. After taking down a small tribe of Cyclopes and then hunting some moose for a late supper as a light flurry of snow rapidly turned into a blizzard, they were understandably exhausted. As if that weren't enough, they were still mentally recovering from the solstice - from the anniversary of Zoë's death. Even the new girls who had joined after that winter felt its lasting effects. Everyone had been more careful than usual to not even mildly upset the goddess.

Lucia and Melissa had just returned from a quick scouting trip, looking around the area for signs of something suitable for lunch. They hadn't been thrilled about having to trek through the snow more than necessary, but none of the younger ones had particularly felt like going, which meant they had to be responsible and go scouting themselves.

"Well?" Artemis asked as they approached her and Demetria.

"The moose seem to be long gone," Lucia said. "There were no signs of anything large enough to feed all of us."

"We did see some children, though, having a snowball fight behind that hill to the north," Melissa added. "I doubt they'll come this far into the forest, but we should take care to avoid them."

Artemis nodded and then grinned. "For a moment, Melissa, I was afraid you were suggesting we eat the children."

Without missing a beat, Melissa replied in faux seriousness, "There's hardly enough meat on them to make it worth our while - Well, actually, there was that rather plump boy in the orange hat. What do you think, Lu?"

Lucia snorted, deciding to go along with it for now. "There would likely be too much fat, not enough meat… It would be better than squirrels, though."

Melissa nodded contemplatively, trying to suppress a smile as she turned to Artemis. "I suppose that's true, but if you'd like, my lady, we could go scout him out properly."

Artemis sighed, rolling her eyes at their admittedly poor attempt at a joke. "That would be quite unnecessary. Did you not come across any tracks whatsoever?"

Lucia shook her head. "The blizzard seems to have covered everything."

"But we didn't go out too far," Melissa said. "Only about five minutes away from here."

"We'll leave soon, then," Artemis decided. "I would like to find something fresh for lunch."

"Will we go south, my lady?" Thalia added in. She and Kassandra had been talking off to the side. Despite the two being quite unlike each other, Thalia being loud and fiery whereas Kassandra was quieter and cold, they had become rather close. That they were practically the same age and had joined only a week apart were most likely significant contributing factors to their odd friendship.

Artemis glanced at her. "For a while, yes - to give those children a wide berth. Then, I think we shall continue west."

"Oh." Thalia sounded somewhat disappointed.

"Did you wish to eat the children, as well?"

"My lady!" Demetria chided, but Artemis ignored her.

"Eat the - what?" Thalia said, looking genuinely confused as she shot Demetria a questioning glance. Clearly, she had missed the majority of the conversation. "Why would I - ?"

"Ah, good. I was becoming worried," Artemis said nonchalantly as Melissa and Lucia grinned sheepishly. "Is there any particular reason you do not want to head west?"

Thalia stared at them uncertainly for a moment. She exchanged a glance with Kassandra.

"I'm as lost as you are," Kassandra said, shaking her head.

"I would just rather go south," Thalia told Artemis.

"Because?" Artemis asked with a raised eyebrow.

Thalia shrugged. "I'm sick of all this snow. It's nothing, though, my lady."

Artemis sighed. "I suppose we could head south. Tell everyone to be ready to leave in an hour."

"Yes, my lady. Thank you," Thalia said in a voice of stifled disbelief. She must have known her reason for preferring to travel south had not been particularly persuasive.

"Oh, don't thank me yet," Artemis said with a sparkle in her eyes.

Thalia drew her eyebrows together.

"Never mind," Artemis said, smiling. "Off you go." She waved a dismissive hand in the direction of the other Hunters.

Thalia opened her mouth questioningly, but then she closed it and gave the goddess a quick bow of her head before heading over to Rachel and Ashley.

Kassandra hesitated a moment before nodding to Artemis and heading after the lieutenant.

Demetria looked up at Artemis, not appearing to be particularly amused. "Mistress… if I may ask, what are you planning?"

"Planning, my dear?" Artemis asked with a quirked eyebrow and an Apollo-like grin. "Whatever would I be planning?"

Demetria gave her a stern look. "I wouldn't know, my lady, which is why I asked."

"Not to worry, Demetria," Artemis said. "They - " She gestured at Lucia and Melissa without taking her gaze from Demetria. " - have simply given me a wonderful idea."

"Cannibalism?" Melissa inquired as Demetria raised her eyebrows.

"Don't be silly, Melissa," Artemis said, still grinning. She stood up and readjusted her coat. "We shall take a moment to enjoy the winter weather before we head south."

"Enjoy it how?" Lucia said tentatively.

Artemis merely winked and turned away to go speak with Allie, Briana, and Rebecca.

"I hate it when she does that," Melissa grumbled under her breath, but Lucia could hear the underlying affection in her tone.

"As much as I dislike it," Demetria muttered, "'tis rather good to see her behaving childishly again. It has been quite a while."

Lucia nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, but you might want to be more careful, De."

"Careful?"

"You reprimanded her. Twice."

"Hmm, I did, didn't I?" Demetria frowned. "Well, someone must keep her from setting a bad example. Gods know our lieutenant - nothing against her, of course - is still not entirely up to that task just yet."

"True," Melissa said, "but Lu does have a point. Lady Artemis still isn't quite herself."

"Have a little more faith in her, both of you," Demetria admonished. "At worst, she'll tell me not to reprimand her again."

Lucia blinked. "Of course. I didn't mean to imply she would - "

" - I know," Demetria interrupted. "Rest assured I am and will continue to be careful not to overstep any lines. I believe I am well-attuned to her sensibilities."

Melissa glanced between Lucia and Demetria. She nodded. "Good."

Just then, Artemis returned to them, still wearing that horribly mischievous expression. "Would you three mind it terribly if I dragged you into my little scheme?"

"No, my lady," Lucia answered automatically as her sisters likewise shook their heads hesitantly, "but I would like to know what this scheme is."

Artemis bent down to retrieve some snow. "Just a moment, dear. Have no fear; it is quite harmless." She was packing the snow between her hands, glancing over in Thalia's direction. "I do apologize in advance, though."

Lucia flicked her eyes over at the snow in Artemis's hands again with dawning realization. Oh, you've got to be joking. It was a snowball.

And Artemis threw it at Thalia before Lucia could voice an objection.

The lieutenant tensed and began to turn around slowly. Then, a snowball came flying from Allie's direction. Artemis and Demetria nimbly sidestepped it. Lucia's reflexes were, unfortunately, a tad too slow and the snow collided with her neck, some of it slipping down the collar of her coat.

"Was that really necessary?" Lucia hissed through gritted teeth, glancing at Artemis as she felt the melting ice slide further down her skin.

"Yes. It made me appear more innocent," Artemis explained casually, looking smug.

Lucia huffed and irritably wiped off what snow she could. Then, she shifted her gaze to glare over in Allie's direction.

The daughter of Hermes and her two accomplices were giggling, ducking behind a tent as a snowball flew over their heads. The source of said snowball was an angry-looking Monica, who also now had bits of snow in her blonde hair.

Briana retaliated by launching another snowball just to Thalia's left, causing the lieutenant to move her accusatory gaze away from the goddess, and Briana's snowball hit Mia, who had been much too distracted to dodge as she had been in the midst of giggles, attempting to make a quip at Monica's poor reflexes.

Mia's expression darkened. "Oh, it's on, kid!" She immediately reached for some snow.

"Snowball fight!" Jade declared, pulling Sam down with her to take cover by a tree. They immediately began to scoop up some snow.

The older Hunters nearly simultaneously looked over at Artemis for permission. It took less than a second for all of them to process the expression on Artemis's face.

It was admittedly more than a bit humorous the way they all suddenly ducked for cover, hiding behind trunks of trees or their camping chairs. Even Thalia, despite her dislike of the snow, had let Kassandra pull her down between two chairs.

Demetria had sensibly tugged Lucia away behind a tree as Artemis did likewise with Melissa.

There was complete chaos for several seconds as the battle erupted.

"Well-played, my lady," Melissa complimented as she observed the flying snow. "I don't think they realize you started it."

A snowball slammed into their tree.

Artemis glanced up at Melissa, smirking from where she was crouching behind the tree rather than standing like the Hunter. "Thank you, Mel."

Lucia rolled her eyes and exchanged looks with Demetria.

Demetria sighed and crouched to pick up some snow. She handed it to Lucia and grabbed some more for herself. "Is there anyone in particular whom you would like to target?" she asked nonchalantly as if this were a regular occurrence.

"No," Lucia replied simply, somewhat in awe of how quickly Demetria had adapted to the situation.

"Free-for-all, it is," Demetria said with a shrug. She took careful aim and threw her newly-made snowball.

Lucia simply threw hers without taking aim. She wasn't particularly enthusiastic about this, but she had to put in some modicum of effort; Artemis would be displeased if she sat out and did not take this opportunity to have "fun."

Around half an hour later, Lucia found herself beside Thalia, crouching behind one of their partially-collapsed tents as they tried to catch their breath.

"I'm really sick of all this snow," Thalia grumbled.

Lucia had, to her own surprise, become rather engrossed in the snowball fight and was admittedly having fun, but she couldn't resist smirking at Thalia's complaint. "You know, if you hadn't had said anything about it earlier, she probably wouldn't have come up with it."

Thalia gave her a sideways look that seemed too tired of the situation to be properly irked. "So, she was the one who started it?"

"None of us would do so without permission," Lucia said. "Well, I don't know about the youngsters, of course."

Thalia huffed. Her eyes were narrowed as she stared into the distance. "Let me get this straight," she began, glancing at Lucia. "You're saying she started a snowball fight just because I don't like snow?"

"It was a contributing factor, I think, yes," Lucia replied. Artemis had certainly gotten the idea from Melissa's mention of the mortal children, but it hadn't been until Thalia had expressed her dislike of the snow that Artemis had gotten that mischievous look in her eyes.

Thalia grimaced, but then she sighed, rolling her eyes.

"It may be a lesson of sorts to be content with all forms of weather, but I do think she truly meant for it to be fun," Lucia added, inclining her head at Artemis. "I mean, look at her. She's clearly enjoying herself."

Thalia followed Lucia's gaze to where Artemis was in the center of the fray, grinning as if she were an average twelve-year-old girl without any responsibilities or cares whatsoever. Lucia was glad for her. Ever since Artemis had picked up the scent of the Ophiotaurus all those years ago, she had been much too concerned about the future to relax, to be herself. It was good to see her comfortable again.

Lucia ducked as a snowball from Isabel came flying towards her and Thalia. Thalia cringed as if resigned to being hit, but the snow flew harmlessly over Lucia's head instead. Lucia slumped further down to sit with her back to the tent, intending to rest for a moment.

Thalia looked over at where the snow had collided against a tree with surprising force. When she turned her attention back over the tent, her eyes widened and she reached down to tap Lucia's shoulder.

"What?" Lucia asked irritably. Was a moment's rest too much to ask for?

"Um," Thalia said, now tugging Lucia's sleeve insistently. "You might want to see this."

Lucia rolled her eyes and got up onto a knee to look over the tent.

It was oddly dead silent. Everyone was watching Artemis apprehensively. There was snow slowly sliding down the side of her face. She looked stunned, just like about everyone else. Hitting her arm or leg was perfectly acceptable - she was a relatively reasonable goddess, after all - but to go so far as to hit her face… It had to have been unintentional. Even though she was relatively reasonable, she was still a goddess. And goddesses tended not to suffer indignities lightly.

"What do I do?" Thalia whispered frantically.

Lucia didn't know. If Artemis was finally back to normal, if she was really back, it would be part of the fun. "…Wait."

Lucia had barely managed to get the word out before Artemis burst into laughter, brushing the snow off her cheek. Thalia sighed in relief and Lucia waited another second so she could more subtly release the breath she had been holding. Within moments, everyone seemed to be laughing along with the goddess.

"See?" Lucia said, smiling, but she made note that no one had owned up to the throw. "Nothing to worry about."

"You knew she wouldn't be mad?"

Lucia considered this. She had hoped Artemis wouldn't be upset. She hoped Artemis's actions would prove that their dark age was over. But she couldn't resist attempting to come off as wiser than Thalia was. "She started it. She doesn't exactly have the right to be mad and she knows it."

"Right," Thalia said, still eyeing the goddess carefully.

"Don't worry," Lucia said, trying to sound more confident - most certainly to make Thalia feel better and not at all to emphasize her own superior understanding of Artemis and the Hunt (or so she told herself). "It takes years to truly figure her out. And she hasn't entirely been herself with all the Titan and Giant stuff going on. It'll take some more time."

Thalia didn't reply.

Lucia scanned the other Hunters; half of them were already reaching down for more snow, looking eager to continue the snowball fight.

"Er, Lady Artemis!" Anne called abruptly from where she was still partly taking cover behind a larger tree with Isabel.

Artemis inclined her head, still smiling. "Yes?"

"We, er, have a guest," Anne said somewhat awkwardly as she glanced behind her.

"A gue…?" Artemis trailed off, suddenly going deathly pale as the so-called guest stepped forward past Anne.

"Who is that?" Thalia whispered urgently to Lucia. Her bow was in her hand and she already had an arrow halfway nocked.

Lucia suppressed the urge to roll her eyes as she put her hand on Thalia's wrist and made her lower the bow. "That would be the Lady Leto."

Thalia spared her a quick irritated glance. "Lady Le - who?"

"How do you not - Oh, never mind," Lucia said, trying to pay more attention to Leto, who was now approaching Artemis.

"Sweetheart!" Leto greeted.

In a matter of seconds, Artemis went from being unusually pale to blushing a deep shade of red as Leto enveloped her in a hug.

"H-Hello, Mother," Artemis managed to say, looking rather mortified. She raised an arm to very briefly return the embrace before attempting to pull away.

"She's her mom?" Thalia hissed at Lucia in disbelief.

"Shh! I want to know why she's here," Lucia snapped back, but a part of her sympathized with Thalia's disbelief. Leto was certainly not what one would expect from the mother of Artemis: Leto, in her preferred form, appeared as an older, grey-haired mortal woman with kind green eyes and a gently wrinkled face. More often than not, she would be dressed rather extravagantly, adorned with various jewels and wearing a considerable amount of makeup.

"I came as soon as I heard!" Leto said, tightening her hold on the poor younger goddess as the Hunters tried to hide their amused smiles.

Artemis once more attempted to escape Leto's grip. "Mother - "

"Oh, Arty, sweetheart, Apollo's been saying such terrible things!" Leto continued. She kissed the top of Artemis's head. "He says you've been kidnapped! By that Atlas brute! I always knew he was an awful, no good lowlife, that Iapetus spawn!"

"Mother, I - "

"Just what in Hades were you thinking?" Leto demanded, now holding Artemis by the shoulders at arm's-length. "Leaving your girls behind and wandering around all alone! That was exceedingly foolish, Arty!"

"Mother!" Artemis was still blushing, but she now also seemed to be considerably irritated.

"And how many times must I tell you? It's Mom, not Mother," Leto chided lightheartedly, finally releasing Artemis. "Apollo calls me Mom. Mother sounds so nastily formal. Why can't you be just a little more like your brother, sweetheart?"

Artemis opened her mouth indignantly, but she promptly shut it without retorting. When she regained her composure and spoke a few seconds later, her voice was deceptively calm. "Firstly, that was years ago. Secondly, as you can see, I am perfectly fine now, so there is no need to fuss. And, thirdly, I - I am sorry. Mom."

"Years ago?" Leto echoed. "But Apollo said it was just before the winter solstice!"

"Yes, years ago, just before the winter solstice. It's an annual event," Artemis pointed out.

"That is true… and it has been ages since Apollo visited." Leto counted on her fingers, frowning. However, she quickly shook it off and hugged Artemis again. "I'm just so glad you're alright!"

"Moth - Mom, please, that's enough," Artemis complained. She successfully twisted away from Leto, glancing at the Hunters. "Perhaps you should greet Catherine."

Catherine had been shaking her head empathetically, but when Leto turned to face her, she forced a convincingly warm smile and bowed her head. "Hey, Gran."

Leto went over to embrace her and kiss her cheek. "Cat! How are you, sweetheart?"

"I'm well," Catherine answered, glancing around for a way to avoid becoming prey to Leto's pestering questions and not-quite-compliments. "I don't think you've had a chance to meet Mia yet, have you? She's a daughter of Apollo, too."

Mia went somewhat wide-eyed as Catherine gestured at her. She glanced between Catherine and Artemis before tentatively raising a hand and waving to Leto. "Um, hi."

"Hello!" Leto replied excitedly, approaching Mia. "Oh, you look just like your father! Has anyone told you?"

"Yeah - Apollo mentioned it. Ma'am," Mia said with some veiled bitterness. Lucia knew Mia still hadn't quite forgiven Apollo for never visiting her until she became a Hunter shortly after the Battle of Manhattan.

"Sweetheart, weren't you listening to what I told Arty earlier?" Leto chided.

A couple yards away, Artemis blushed again at the nickname. Most of the older Hunters had slowly gone to stand behind her, partly to give her some moral support and partly to increase the likelihood of Leto's attention remaining focused on Artemis rather than them. (Lucia had begun to pull Thalia along to join them.) It was never a good idea to attract Leto's attention. It was best to let Artemis handle it.

"I dislike such nasty formalities," Leto continued to Mia. "Please, do call me something more casual: Gran, Granny, Nana, Abuela, anything. Leto is just fine, too."

Mia nodded awkwardly as Monica tried not to snigger behind her. "Yeah, alright."

"And who's this?" Leto inquired, cocking her head to regard Monica.

"Oh, I'm Monica Hellewege, ma'am."

"Are you all deaf?" Leto asked the group at large, sounding mildly peeved. "Had I not just said I dislike formalities?"

"Sorry," Monica replied, blushing. "It's just that I'm not your grandchild or anything."

Leto made a displeased face, but she nodded grudgingly. "Indeed, indeed. You're one of Athena's, aren't you?"

Lucia cringed at Leto's wording. One of Athena's, indeed. Monica and her twin sister, Caroline, had joined around the same time as Mia and Ashley. (They were the four girls who had been chosen by Zeus to become Hunters as part of the promise he had made to Thalia after the defeat of Kronos. No one had joined since the four of them.) Caroline, however, had been killed by Orion on Puerto Rico as he had fled, chasing after the Roman praetor. Monica was indeed one now.

"Yes, ma'am," Monica replied automatically, seemingly too flustered by Leto's attention to consider Leto's wording, much less to be hurt by it. "Oh - sorry."

"You Hunters can be so infuriatingly stubborn at times," Leto said, glancing over at Artemis and the older half of the Hunt. "None of you ever seem to address me properly. You know, Arty, they get that from you. I understand formality's necessary up in the high and mighty Olympian council, but we're all family here. This formal nonsense is ridiculous. If only you'd loosen up a bit... Honestly, this has never been a problem with Apollo."

Artemis's forcibly polite smile had gradually turned into a very offended look through the course of Leto's speech. "Mother..."

Leto ignored her and scanned over Rachel, Ashley, Jade, Sam, Briana and Rebecca who were still bunched together where they had formed a joint defense against the older Hunters. "A lot of unfamiliar faces, I see. And where has Zoë gone off to? Are Phoebe and Elaia with her?"

There was silence for a few seconds as Leto raised her eyebrows and the Hunters glanced amongst themselves, looking for someone willing to answer the Titaness aloud.

"They... are dead," Artemis finally said relatively quietly, but still loud enough for the statement to be easily heard. She looked rather ashamed now. She avoided her mother's gaze.

"Dead? Zoë, Zoë Nightshade - dead?" Leto questioned, putting a hand to her heart. "And Phoebe of Sparta? And little Elaia? Dead? Are you certain?"

Artemis winced, but did not reply.

Lucia expected Demetria to speak up - Thalia may have formally had the most authority after Artemis, but it was Demetria who had the most seniority those days - but Demetria merely shuffled a step closer to Artemis silently.

It was Melissa who finally said, "Yes, my lady. There's no doubt."

"I can personally attest to it, Lady Leto," Lucia added, taking a step forward.

Leto turned to regard Lucia with narrowed eyes. "You're still here, are you?"

"...Yes," Lucia said uncertainly. "Why wouldn't I - ?"

"I heard from Aunt Rhea," Leto interrupted, "that you have a child with Zeus."

"Jupiter," Lucia corrected without thinking. "I mean, I don't - I didn't - That is - " She blanked. She simply couldn't think of a way to simplify the existence of her daughter into something concise that Leto could immediately grasp.

"Lucia remains one of my most trusted Hunters, Mother," Artemis said, going over to stand beside Lucia as Lucia shrunk back, feeling very uncomfortable now. "The rest is unimportant."

"Oh, I see!" Leto said, smiling warmly. "So, you are loosening up, after all! You're finally thinking of changing your rules! Does that mean I can expect some grandchildren in the near future?"

Artemis sighed and shook her head. "No, Mother. I said nothing of the sort."

Lucia knew Artemis was relieved, though. The matter of Artemis having children inevitably came up every time Leto visited. It was an easily manageable topic - well, at any rate, it was much more manageable than the large amount of fatalities suffered by the Hunters in recent years.

"Not that your Hunters aren't absolutely adorable!" Leto continued, grabbing hold of Catherine and Mia, who were nearest to her, and giving them one-armed hugs to emphasize her point. "And I love them to pieces! But just imagine how cute some little you's would be, running around, chasing rabbits and hugging bears and whatnot!"

"Undoubtedly cute," Artemis agreed, sounding as though she were speaking to a child, "but I should think Apollo provides you with more than enough grandchildren to keep you occupied."

"Yes, well, Apollo simply isn't you, sweetheart," Leto replied, smiling reassuringly. "It's not that I don't respect your decision to be an eternal maiden - "

Lydia scoffed from where she was standing in Melissa's shadow, but at a look from Artemis, she proceeded to mask her scoff with a shy yet convincing cough. Demetria patted her back.

" - because I do," Leto went on, apparently not noticing Lydia's brief interruption, "but an old woman can dream, can't she?"

"Of course, Mother."

"Oh, they'd truly be so cute, though! Just look at you!" Leto gushed. "You really ought to reconsider, Arty."

"Yes, Mom," Artemis intoned patiently. "As always, I'll reconsider, but it is highly unlikely that I will change my mind."

"I know, I know," Leto said. "Reconsideration is all I ask for."

Artemis nodded, glancing around at the Hunters. "Well, Mother, if that's all, we really must get going. We were just about to leave when you arrived."

Leto gave her a reproving look. "Come now, Artemis, I taught you better than that. It's very rude to rid yourself of a guest in such a way. And you know better than to lie. I saw with my own eyes that you weren't in any hurry to leave."

Artemis blushed faintly. "... I take it you wish to stay for a while?"

"Unless it would inconvenience you, of course," Leto said kindly, but there was a steely sort of challenge in her eyes.

Artemis looked rather miserable as she weighed her options. She exchanged a look with Thalia, who shrugged unhelpfully. Demetria inclined her head at Leto. Anne smiled encouragingly. Isabel nodded.

Lucia avoided meeting Artemis's eyes when she sensed that the goddess was looking at her for her input. Lucia wanted Leto gone now - the mention of Maximiliana had made her uneasy - but she seriously doubted Artemis would insult her mother further by forcing her to leave, so she chose not to blatantly show her opinion.

"It would be no inconvenience, Mother," Artemis said politely, just as Lucia had predicted, "but we truly do intend to depart within a couple hours at most in search of lunch."

"Of course, of course," Leto said. "I'll not stay long."

Artemis nodded. "...Would you join me for a walk? The girls can make our camp more presentable while we speak."

The Hunters eyed the lopsided tents, fallen chairs, and scattered possessions - plates, forks, knives, some napkins, a cellphone or two owned by the newer girls - unhappily. It would take a while to reorganize things.

"As you wish, sweetheart," Leto replied, "but I do want to spend some time with your Hunters - I have presents!"

"Presents?" Allie questioned excitedly.

"Indeed!" Leto said, smiling warmly.

Allie grinned and began whispering with Rebecca and Briana.

"Yes, yes, we can get to that when we return," Artemis said, rather tiredly. "Thalia?"

Thalia inclined her head. "My lady?"

"Have all this - " Artemis gestured around the clearing. " - cleaned up. We don't want to litter."

"Yes, my lady," Thalia responded.

"And, Thalia - "

They exchanged a meaningful look.

"Understood, my lady," Thalia said with a mischievous smirk.

"Thalia," Artemis said sternly with a slight scowl.

"I'll handle it," Thalia promised, trying to sound more serious.

Artemis didn't look very reassured, but she nodded. She took Leto's arm and led her away.

Thalia turned to regard the Hunters. "Alright, you heard her. Let's just fix the tents and straighten out the chairs. We'll worry about the trash after the big stuff's taken care of."

With a collective sigh, they got to work. Lucia, Melissa, and Demetria went over to help Thalia with one of the tents.

"What was that all about?" Melissa asked Thalia.

Thalia still had a vaguely smug look on her face. "What was what all about?"

"What did Lady Artemis tell you?"

"Oh, she just doesn't want to be stuck with Leto for longer than necessary. She wants me to rescue her within ten minutes."

Melissa narrowed her eyes. "Then what was the problem?"

"I might've had the idea not to help her - you know, as payback for the snowball she threw at me."

Lucia exchanged a look with Demetria.

"You should do as she says," Melissa said.

"It's not like I won't do it," Thalia said somewhat defensively. "I'll just wait until the last possible moment. Let her wonder whether or not I'll do it."

Melissa, even though she looked unhappy, didn't seem to have a reply to that.

Lucia opened her mouth, knowing she should probably say something, but promptly shut it when Demetria shook her head in a way that suggested it wouldn't be worth the potential argument. Lucia inclined her head at Demetria in a way she hoped would say something along the lines of, Fine. Why don't you say something, then?

Demetria glanced at Thalia, then at Lucia, back to Thalia, and sighed. "Thalia, you shouldn't test her, not when her mother is around. For all their disagreements, Lady Artemis does value Leto's affection and opinions. And Leto is a bit... hypocritical. She will not be pleased if she sees that we are free to disrespect Lady Artemis."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Leto was right, though. We really need to loosen up. Seriously."

Demetria gave her one of those eerily Artemis-like no nonsense looks. Melissa was doing a fairly good impression as well, but in Lucia's humble opinion, Demetria was the only Hunter who could really pull off that look.

"Fine," Thalia groaned. "I promise I'll be a good little lieutenant and obey the goddess to the letter. Happy?"

"Mostly," Demetria replied, smiling kindly. "Your attitude remains a little disconcerting."

"Disconcerting?" Thalia repeated.

"Oh, that's nothing," Lucia interjected before Demetria could reply, deciding this was as good a time as any to tease Thalia. She simply couldn't resist. "De, can you believe that she didn't know who Leto is?"

Demetria raised her eyebrows, giving Thalia a disbelieving look.

"Of course I knew who she is!" Thalia retorted, shooting Lucia a quick glare. "I just didn't expect her to look like - to be like that. I didn't even know she was still alive."

"Understandable, I suppose," Demetria said. "Lady Artemis does take more after Lord Zeus." She cast Lucia a somewhat annoyed look. "And don't bait her, Lucia. 'Tis not necessary. She's clearly not in the mood for banter."

"Sorry," Lucia mumbled, feeling herself blush slightly. Did she really have to be chastised the one time she poked some fun at Thalia?

"It's alright," Thalia said. She turned away from the tent they had just put away. "Hey, Sandra!"

Kassandra looked over at her. "Yeah?"

"Are you wearing your watch?" Thalia asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Let me know when it's - Hang on." Thalia looked around at Demetria, Melissa, and Lucia. "Would you agree to seven minutes from now?"

Lucia and Melissa shrugged, but Demetria nodded.

"Alright, seven minutes from now, Sandra," Thalia said.

"Got it."

They lapsed into silence for a while until Demetria sighed.

Lucia followed her gaze to where Rachel and Ashley seemed to have gotten their tent stuck halfway between its normal form and its compact form.

"Excuse me while I go assist Rachel and Ashley. Play nicely," Demetria said, giving Lucia and Melissa stern looks as she walked away to help the dryads.

"Don't we always?" Melissa called after her.

Demetria probably rolled her eyes, but she kept her back turned, so Lucia didn't know for certain.

"We're nice, aren't we?" Melissa asked Lucia.

"Oh, undoubtedly," Lucia agreed. "We're just not terribly excessive about it."

"That's one way to put it," Thalia muttered under her breath.

Melissa laughed and stood on her tiptoes to comfortably put her arm around Thalia's shoulders. "Come now, lieutenant, there's no need to be so grouchy."

Thalia regarded her out the corner of her eye.

"Besides, we're the grouchy ones," Melissa said, gesturing at herself and Lucia with her free hand. "You can't just copy us."

"The snow's getting to me," Thalia said. "I'll stop being grouchy once we leave. But in the meantime, why don't you two get back to following orders?"

"I'm wounded, lieutenant," Melissa replied, placing her hand over her heart. "Can't you humor us?"

"Perhaps that's enough, Mel," Lucia said carefully. She didn't want to offend Melissa, but she could see that Demetria had been right about Thalia's mood; Melissa's attempts to pull Thalia into some playful banter were backfiring.

Melissa sighed and removed her arm from Thalia's shoulders. "Yes, you're probably right. Sorry."

Thalia nodded in acceptance of Melissa's apology.

"Come on," Lucia said to Melissa. She glanced around, trying to find an excuse to take her away from Thalia. "Lydia looks like she needs company."

"Yeah," Melissa agreed, following Lucia's gaze to where Lydia was observing Allie, Briana, and Rebecca with narrowed eyes, likely once again upset that the new girls had stolen away her friend.

Lucia offered Thalia a smile before she led Melissa away.

Thanks for reading!