The boys were given an apartment towards the front of the inn, set up not unlike the barracks at Camp Jupiter- as Percy and Jason were quick to point out- and they quickly made themselves at home thanks to the hospitality of the sisters at the inn, which they learned was called Ecca. The girls were given their own little rooms within the complex near the sisters' permanent rooms, and also given everything they'd need for an extended stay in Athens. Within an hour after arrival, everyone had their own little corner of the peaceful inn.

That is, except for Thalia, who was given the entire second floor of the sisters' own building so they could worship her 24/7.

Which, the huntress had no problems with.

"I'm not quite sure if the Artemis of this time is recruiting or not, but before I go home I'll be sure to at least try and contact her," Thalia promised the sisters at dinner that night, in which everything was rather simply made yet fabulously delicious. It was unanimously decided that the sisters' made this honey-and-rose-water bread that beat out chocolate cake and even blue chocolate chip cookies.

It seemed to momentarily pain Percy to admit it before he helped himself to thirds.

"I know I would be honored to join the hunters," Ada chirped happily, who hadn't left Thalia's side once regaining consciousness, "But I know most of us would prefer a simple, mortal life, devoted to Artemis here." She explained.

"Immortality is fine in theory, and we are all for the maiden values, but I would prefer to follow my parents and friends when my time comes." Said Tanya, an older woman who seemed to be largely in charge of running the inn. Tanya was one of the few sisters who'd actually dated and been courted by boys in her youth, before quickly deciding she'd rather be a maiden than be forced to marry someone. She was as bull-headed and snarky as Thalia, and she point-blank refused to bow to society's standards that she had to marry someone her parents picked for her, which is how she ended up here.

She, unlike some others at the inn, didn't mind boys, and actually found them amusing while talking about local Greek sports Jason and Frank had never heard of and hunting strategies with Annabeth and Thalia. She was easily fifty, most likely older, not beautiful like Ada and not dainty like the younger girls running here and there in their frilly white dresses, but she was awesome in a tom-boy kinda way.

Percy had a feeling that if she'd lived in the 21st century, she'd be that grandma that's still getting new tattoos and riding a Harley to her knitting circle.

In other words, the demigods loved her—boys and girls.

"And you mean to tell me he is your younger brother?" Ada asked curiously, looking from Jason to Thalia.

"Immortal," Thalia reminded her, pointing to herself. "But he's not. Technically at this point he's physically older but he'll always be my little brother, right Jace?" She said cheekily, and the blonde just rolled his eyes but didn't comment. Truthfully, he was starting to realize he loved all this down time he got to just sit and be a brother again. He hadn't realized how much he missed having a big sister, even if he'd been very young when they'd parted ways.

"And you three are cousins?" Ada pointed to the children of the eldest gods. "And everyone else would be nieces and neph-"

"It doesn't actually work like that." Annabeth cut her off upon seeing the many confused looks Ada was creating. "You see, gods don't have DNA…" She trailed off, seeing the sisters' baffled looks at to what DNA was. "Uh, ok so, gods aren't physically related to their children. We've got some divine attributes of them, but by blood were practically strangers." She explained.

"And while I think of Thalia and Nico as my cousins, it's not always like that with children of the oldest gods—they've been known to be on opposite sides of wars and stuff." Percy chimed in.

"And we most certainly didn't get along at first—none of us." Thalia pointed out. "I kept trying to kill Percy while he never missed an opportunity to argue or try and beat me at anything and Nico was just annoyingly happy until he started hating everyone and running away from us every chance he got." She ranted.

Percy and Nico gave her a scathing look but didn't comment on that either.

"It just so happens that we ended up getting along." Percy finished.

"What about Hazel and Jason? Are they not children of the eldest gods as well?" A sister asked with a slight frown.

The demigods froze and looked at each other for answers.

Finally, Annabeth gave in with a sigh. "Gods are… complicated, to say the least. Some gods have… different sides of their personalities, and when they have children as those alter egos, they have children that are their children but…" She trailed off, glancing at the Romans as if to silently ask how they wanted to handle this.

"For example," Jason spoke up, "Over the next few millennia between now and our time, Zeus will get another personality that a lot of people will call Jupiter. I'm a son of Jupiter, not Zeus, but since the people of this time don't know who Jupiter is, I said Zeus for simplicity's sake." He supplied.

"And over time some people will come to call a side of Hades 'Pluto'." Hazel offered. "I'm a daughter of Pluto, not Hades. Still, I consider Nico my brother all the same." She spared him a smile and he smiled weakly back.

"My father is Mars, who in this time if called Ares." Frank supplied, finishing that up.

"And so… the differences between siblings is the difference between these… personalities?" Tanya frown in consideration.

"No, not at all." Annabeth said firmly. "A lot of demigods act and look nothing like their godly parent, and yet some do. Percy here is a dead ringer for Poseidon, but Thalia looks almost nothing like Zeus, yet Thalia acts far more like her father than Percy does his."

"I don't?" Percy blurted out the same time Thalia scoffed at that synopsis.

"Sometimes you do, but overall you don't." Annabeth told her boyfriend with a sly smile. "Otherwise I wouldn't be able to put up with you, seeing as I do act a lot like my mother."

Percy frowned as he thought that over, then shrugged as he accepted it.

"You mother is…?" Tanya prompted.

Annabeth opened her mouth to answer and then froze. "Oh, well… you see, there is something else you have to understand about the gods: my mother is one of the maiden goddesses, therefore technically can't have children; however, my siblings and I were born out of pure thought alone, not conceived traditionally, so my mother doesn't actually break her vow to have kids." She explained carefully. She remembered the way the Roman's reacted in distaste when they'd first heard a maiden goddess had children.

"Pure thought? You must be a daughter of Athena then." Tanya connected, taking it in stride while the other girls looked slightly unnerved by that strange logic.

"The city will react rather strongly to that, I think." A younger girl, only about twelve or thirteen and who had remained quiet up until now offered. Retta, they thought her name was.

"It was named after Athena, for olives or something like that, right?" Percy glanced at his girlfriend for conformation, who rolled her eyes.

"And olive tree, barnacle brains, but yes. That's why our parents hate each other." She smiled in amusement.

"And I still say they must've really liked olives then." He said with a shrug and Annabeth half sighed, half laughed.

"Olives are a very good crop," Ada offered, stopping as Thalia rested a slightly restraining hand on her shoulder.

"Don't get involved, they bicker like their parents," The Lieutenant muttered, loud enough for others to hear but unobtrusive enough that the arguing couple didn't pay her much notice.

"See! Its profit, not that they actually like them!" Percy said and Annabeth shot him an exasperated look.

"It's only profit if someone is buying them and therefore eating them. Just because you don't like them-!"

"I think my dad might strike me dead if I did, and same for you and your mother if you didn't."

"They would not, and olives are actually healthy for you, not to mention olive oil has been proven to extend your life-"

"Healthy, yeah, but they taste horrible. And why would we care: surely monsters are a bigger threat than clogged arteries?"

"You never know! We could live to be old, and if you die of a heart attack while I'm over here enjoying my olive oil and some nice healthy fish-"

"Don't. Just… don't. I know you only bring that up to freak me out."

"Only because it works so well…"

"I would think you would prefer fish." Tanya said in interest, the only one brave enough to come between the two's banter.

Percy looked downright horrified.

"I don't eat things I can talk to." He said with a creeped-out shudder, earning himself smirks from the demigods and fascinated looks from the mortals.

"You can speak with fish?" Ada said eagerly.

He shrugged, blushing a little as he realized he was at the center of attention again. "Uh, yeah… if it lives in the ocean, chances are I can talk to it. Giant crabs apparently not included." He added on randomly, apparently to himself. They all gave him a rather strange look for a moment before continuing on.

"Hm." Tanya said, seeming to be highly amused by Percy in general. "I can't wait to hear what the city says when they hear about a son of Poseidon and a daughter of Athena together. The traditionalists typically react the best to these sort of things. I would pay good coin to see their expressions." She announced, grinning in a way that had the Stoll brothers idolizing her.

"I'm thinking we can have some fun with that." Thalia agreed with a wicked grin.

"A son and daughter of Zeus would definitely alarm them as well." Retta offered up quietly. "They tend to be rather… um…"

"Pompous." Tanya sniffed dryly. "I would love to see them knocked down a peg or two. I only regret I was not attending council this afternoon to witness you against the council."

"I'm in." Nico smirked while Jason smiled hesitantly at his sister laughing loudly at the prospect.

"I would just like to see the city." Hazel said quietly. "Perhaps wander the markets…" Although she was Roman, having Nico as a brother had sparked her interest—as well as her regret—for all things Greek. Even seeing this place in its prime, she felt her heart pang with sadness that it would all be burned away some day in the future.

Frank seemed to sense this and nodded silently along with her.

"Well I wanna go back to that forge!" Leo declared, and Piper face palmed.

"You already scared him off by sticking your hand in that forge!" She scolded him, but he didn't look abashed.

"Well now I can go and tell him it was normal for me!" He shot right back. "Gods I'd love to see how they made these weapons that last a thousand years! Killer craftsmanship right there, and I want in!"

Travis tilted his head excitedly. "You know, maybe we could-!"

"No."

"But Annabeth-!"

"No! If you're doing something, I don't want to hear about it!" The daughter of Athena cut the younger brother off simply.

"You were always telling us the importance of not getting caught." Leo offered to the brothers, who considered that briefly before nodding to each other distractedly.

"Wise words." Tanya nodded stiffly. "And in that spirit, speak with me after dinner. There is one place you two might be intrigued to visit." She said knowingly to the boys who beamed.

Piper frowned deeply while Annabeth pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Maybe the gods didn't think this through…" Piper said carefully.

"It's Apollo, does he ever?" Thalia snarked.

"But my mother was involved, they had to have!" Annabeth insisted although she was frowning doubtfully at the grinning twins too.

"Really? Then why do I have a feeling Athens is going to burn down a few thousand years early?" Piper muttered.

"Not my fault." Leo said automatically, only half hearing the statement.

"Not you, them!" Piper pointed the grinning brothers out (who were watching this conversation looking highly amused), and Leo blinked.

"Oh. Oh. Yeah, definitely not my fault but something's definitely ending up broken. Hey! Maybe I could fix it and then some archeologist will find it in like a thousand years with Team Leo V. written on the bottom-!"

"Please don't." Jason sighed, but his laughing grin detracted from it.

Tanya chuckled under her breath. "I look forward to these next few weeks…"