I promise I will finish my other stories, but I had a few of my reviewers request that I do some more moments of Jason's and Reyna's adult life, and well here it is! Well... here's one. I may write more if I have time. Enjoy!
Reyna should have known better than to leave her two year old daughter alone with her crazy Amazon Queen sister. She had only gone upstairs to put away some laundry, but apparently that was all the time Hylla needed.
"Now, repeat after me Cleo. Boys are bad," Hylla slowly enunciated.
Cleo's wide eyes were fixed on the cookie Hylla held out in front of her. "Boys are bad," she quickly repeated. Her little arms were reaching out in front as far as they could go, trying to take the cookie from her aunt.
"Very good Cleo," Hylla smiled awarding her with the cookie which Cleo quickly devoured.
Reyna stood in the doorway in a few moments taking in the whole scene. This was her sister.
"Will you please stop corrupting my daughter?"
"Corrupting?" Hylla sounded insulted. "I am not corrupting her. I am simply teaching her some basic survival skills."
Reyna rolled her eyes. "And do those skills include becoming an Amazon?"
"Perhaps," Hylla shrugged. "You say it as if it would be a bad thing."
"Joining the Amazons isn't exactly what I had in mind for Cleo," replied Reyna. In fact, it was the last thing she wanted for her only daughter.
Hylla glared at her. "There are worst things she could be. She could end up married like you."
Reyna sighed. Her sister has never been agreed with the life choices she made. Joining the Legion, marrying Jason and having a family were all choices her Amazon sister found unacceptable for her precious sister. "Wow, I am so lucky that the gods blessed me with a supportive sister such as you," Reyna said sarcastically.
"What? I haven't run my dragger through Jason's heart yet. How much more supportive can I get?"
Reyna just shook her head. There was no use arguing with her. Her sister was never going to change. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that Hylla was only going to be in town for a few more days.
"I am just saying that you should start thinking about Cleo's future. If you don't want her to join the Amazons then what do you want her to be? Surely, you don't want her to end up in the arms of some selfish, arrogant, son of…"
"Hello Hylla. Are you talking about me?" Jason grinned as he entered the room.
Hylla glared threatening at him before she took her seat next to Cleo. "Perhaps…"
"Hylla wants Cleo to join the Amazons," explained Reyna greeting her husband.
"Ummm no," Jason stated. He grabbed a cookie from the plate.
"Boys are bad!" Cleo yelled reaching for the cookie.
"What?" Jason asked staring at his daughter curiously.
"Hylla has been brainwashing her with cookies," explained Reyna.
"I am just trying to help her," Hylla explained.
"I see," said Jason thoughtfully. "Well, for once Hylla I completely agreed."
"What?" Reyna exclaimed.
"Very good, Cleo, boys are bad," Jason repeated awarding her with his cookie.
Reyna stared blankly at him while she tried to absorb what was happening. Even Hylla couldn't believe it. "What?"
"I agree with lesson plan. Please continue," replied Jason gesturing her with his hand.
"You can't be serious," said Reyna in a disapproving tone.
"I don't want her to become an Amazon or a Huntress for that matter," Jason explained. "But I do believe that she should stay away from boys at least until she is in her thirties maybe forties."
Reyna glared at him. "You do remember that I met you when I was twelve, right?"
"Exactly!" Jason answered. "And do you remember all the mess I dragged you into? Fighting sea monsters, traveling across the country in search of some ridiculous artifact, leading an army into battle….We were lucky we weren't killed."
"Well, that's what I have been trying to say this whole time," Hylla exclaimed. "Boys always led to trouble."
"Then we are finally in agreement," said Jason.
Hylla studied Jason very carefully. Her dark eyes didn't leave him. "Never mind. I take it back."
"What?" Jason and Reyna exclaimed together.
But Hylla ignored them. Instead she picked another cookie from the plate and waved in front of Cleo's face. "Cleo, you like boys don't you? Boys are nice."
"You can't do that!" Jason shouted. "You can't take back brainwashing. It's brainwashing!"
"I still don't understand why you want to," commented Reyna.
Hylla pointed the cookie at Jason. "I want him to suffer like I suffered. I wasn't able to keep my little sister from his dirty little hands, so now I want him to feel the hopelessness of not being able to protect his only daughter."
Jason glared at her. "You are positively evil."
"I know." Hylla smiled at herself. She place the cookie back in front of Cleo's face, and began the lesson again.
Reyna quickly snatched the cooking the cookie out of her sister's hand. "That's quite enough of that."
"What's your problem now?" Hylla asked.
"First of all, no one at this table dragged me into anything. Every decision I made about my life was made from my own free will. No one has ever or will ever make me do anything I didn't want to do or will want to do. Furthermore, my daughter will also be free to make her own decisions about her own life, without any further input from either one of you. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"
They both slowly nodded.
Reyna stood up from the table and picked up her daughter. "And no more cookies. You are going to make her sick." And with that, she marched out of the room without another word.
She held her daughter tightly as she climbed the stairs. "You know better than to listen to all that nonsense anyways. Don't you Cleo?"
Cleo smiled sweetly back at her.
"We both already know that you are going to grow to be praetor one day just like your mommy."
"Prat-Tor! Prat-tor!" Cleo quickly cried.
Reyna handed her the cookie with her free hand, and she kissed her daughter's forehead. "Good girl."
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