𝐖𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐂! percy jackson

xiv. Praetor For Two Hours

━━ chapter twenty-four
praetor for two hours
(or around that)

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

    ━━So, Percy was today years old when he realised that the Feast of Fortuna had nothing to do with tuna. Which he was completely fine with. Like, seriously fine with. Fish aren't food!

    Campers, Amazons and Lares crowded the mess hall for a lavish dinner. Even the fauns were invited since they'd helped out by bandaging the wounded after the battle. Wind nymphs hovered around the room, delivering pizza, burgers, steaks, salads, Chinese food and burritos. Despite the exhausting battle, everyone was in good spirits. Causalities had been light, and the few campers who'd previously died and come back to life, like Fiona, hadn't been taken to the Underworld (which was honestly making him smile like an idiot), and no one complained. Colourful Amazon and Roman banners hung side by side from the rafters. The restored golden eagle stood proudly behind the praetor's table, and the walls were decorated with magical horns of plenty (cornucopias).

    The cohorts mingled freely with the Amazons, jumping from couch to couch as they pleased, and for once the soldiers of the Fifth were welcome everywhere. Percy changed seats so many times he lost track of his dinner. He tried to find some time with Fiona━preferably alone, so they could talk. Because they needed to talk. But everyone kept distracting him, pulling him away into a conversation (some people who practically hated him four days ago). Every time he found himself free, Fiona wasn't. Instead, she was chatting and sitting with her mother, who looked very much like her. Brown hair in loose curls, soft features and yet a look that told you that if you messed with them, you were going to be six feet under in seconds.

    Sometimes, Fiona would look over, see Percy and give him a bright smile and a wave, which wasn't something he'd think of her doing. But it was nice. It made him go red and hope he didn't have food in his teeth or something. To be honest, Percy had been scared. Fiona wanted to be praetor above anything━her ambition, she said, was her fatal flaw. And Percy wished for her to be praetor, too, because she would be amazing at it. The way she had commanded those shades back in Alaska? He had been stunned. He felt bad for being dubbed the new praetor. For not only had he stolen that role from Jason, and not actually want to be praetor, this was also Fiona's dream━and the fact that he was carried on a shield and not her angered him. So what it had to be a boy and a girl? Fiona deserved this place far more than he did.

    But if it was bothering her, she didn't show it. In fact, Fiona looked quite happy for him━really happy. Though he was sure that if she had seen Kinzie ask Percy out and him having to turn her down, she would have gotten very murderous very quick. When Percy's first stripe of service was burned into his skin, he managed not to scream: a trident for Neptune and SPQR with it. He suddenly panicked in thinking: Oh, gods, what will Mom think about me getting a tattoo?

    Hylla and Reyna shared a speech together, which Percy was sure a first in history: an Amazon and a Roman laughing and clinking drinks. But it made him smile. Reyna looked like a whole lot of years had aged off of her while being around her older sister.

    When dinner was finally over, and the entire legion got the night off, Percy could breathe. He and his friends drifted down to the city, which wasn't quite recovered from the battle, but the fires were out, most of the debris had been swept up, and the citizens were determined to celebrate. At the Pomerian Line, the statue of Terminus wore a paper party hat.

    "Welcome, praetor!" he said. "You need any giants' faces smashed while you're in town, just let me know."

    "Thanks, Terminus," Percy shared a glance with Fiona, who looked very amused. "I'll keep that in mind."