Riordanverse One Shots

A Lesson on Centaurs (Greco-Roman)

Requested by: nobody
I got this idea from a meme about Chiron teaching Percy about himself.

Chiron smiled to himself as he approached the classroom. He always enjoyed teaching. That was after all, what he had chosen to do for eternity. But this particular class was a very special one. It held his favorite students, Penny Ranger and Percy Jackson.

Granted they were not remarkable students by any means. In fact, it could be argued that they were the school's worst students. Both had ADHD and dyslexia, making it very difficult for them to pay attention or grasp the concept of his lessons. Penny seemed to remember some things slightly better than Percy and some of the subjects they had covered did seem to truly interest her, but the results were still the same.

But Chiron didn't like them for their grades. He liked them because, despite all these difficulties, they still tried their best. Where other teachers saw problematic kids, Chiron saw a pair of children who had a good heart but were dealt a bad hand.

He also knew something most people did not. The so called issues Percy and Penny had to deal with were something he had seen before with very special kids: demigods. He was almost sure that Percy and Penny were demigods as well.

Yet another reason why he enjoyed teaching them.

As soon as he entered the classroom, all noise quieted down. He smiled. It was good to see that the students had learned to respect his authority as a teacher. In fact, he only recalled having to raise his voice in class once. Though he also suspected it was because many of the students enjoyed his classes as well.

"Good morning, class." Chiron said as he wheeled his chair over to his desk.

No one really answered, but that was expected. He smiled as he pulled a few textbooks from a bag he had brought with him.

"As you all know, we're going to be talking about something a bit older than the Roman Empire today. We'll be talking about Ancient Greece and its mythology. Today's lesson in particular, will be about a favorite subject of mine."

He paused for dramatic effect.

"We're going to talk about the centaur Chiron, along with the many heroes he trained." he announced.

There was a lot of hushed whispering and shrugging as the students tried to figure out who that might be. He noticed Percy frowning in confusion and Penny mumbling to herself while counting with her fingers as both tried to remember who he was talking about.

Chiron grinned when he saw Grover Underwood choking on a piece of paper. He of course knew Grover was a satyr, seeing as he had been the one to send him to Yancy in search of half-bloods (demigods). The poor satyr appeared to have been startled by the lesson's subject. An expected result.

"Now, let's start with the basics. Who knows what a centaur is?"

Chiron scanned the classroom looking for someone to answer. Or rather pretending to look. He already knew who to ask.

"Penny, can you tell us what it is?"

Penny frowned as she tried to remember.

"It's a mythical creature that is half man and half... goat?" she said nervously.

There were some sniggers from those who did know the answer. Chiron chuckled a bit to himself.

"I'm afraid what you've just described is a satyr. But yes, a centaur is half man."

He turned to Percy.

"Percy, do you know what the other half is?" he asked.

Percy's eyebrows practically joined together as he did his best to remember.

"Horse. It's half horse, right?" he eventually answered.

Chiron smiled widely.

"Yes, Percy. A centaur is half man and half horse. And Chiron was a very special centaur."