Searching For Serenity

Chapter 5

Percy
Kluane national park
I continued walking the way Artemis had come, hoping to stumble into her hunters' camp sooner or later. She has woken a few different times and still she has yet to speak a word. I know that Alaska is supposed to be beyond the gods influence and therefore control, leaving them nearly powerless. Do they fade if they die here? I'm not sure, and I doubt anyone else knows for certain, but I'm not willing to be the first to find out. I'm not willing test Artemis's ability to survive these conditions in her weakened state.
I can heal her cuts and bruises, but if she has any internal injuries, then that's beyond me. To make matters worse I must've missed the blizzard advisory, because holy shit I can barely see my hand in front of my face and the snow is up to my shins. Artemis hasn't woken up in the last hour and has been shaking terribly, even with my thick winter coat her lips are unsettlingly blue.
I'm really starting to worry about her. I'm trying to get across the border before I find some short term shelter in hopes that she'll start to recover her strength.
Will she immediately start getting better? How do I know when I'm across the border? Will I be able to get a fire started? So many questions and to which none I have the answer for.
All I can do is push on and hope to come across a cluster of sizable rocks or some other natural shelter. I would like to find us some food if at all possible, but there's about a snowball's chance in Tartarus of that happening.
I kept going for what felt like hours. Every step more and more challenging. I've tripped countless times, and managed to avoid dropping Artemis so far, but really that's no guarantee it won't happen.
I have to be close. I have to be, I thought trying to reassure myself and push the panic that was forcing it's way into me out of my wind.
Okay, we're stopping at the first sight of anything resembling shelter, I thought giving up on pushing further in this weather.
Normally I'm not that guy, the one who would give up, but this is too much. I'm going to push myself too far and I'm going to be in the same boat as Artemis. This is making the harsh weather me and Pontus put up with on the boat look mild and that's saying something.
I started reminiscing on me and Pontus's time together while keeping my eyes on a swivel searching for our safe haven. Polk had always made slight remarks and riddles that should've set my alarm bells ringing. Looking back on it I don't know how I didn't see it, and I'm kind of glad I didn't, although part of me is annoyed that I was lied to. I'm not sure what would've happened if I had known who he really was. Would I have still spent that time with him? I doubt it, and for that I'm grateful. During my time with him I gained a great man as a teacher and friend and there's nothing in my life I would trade that for. Even if it is annoying thinking back on when he would flash his shit eating grin that should've let me know that this man knows so much more than he's letting on.
You really are a crazy old fart, I thought, careful not to include Pontus into it.
Still shuffling through the frozen pines of the taiga I stepped up an incline, to find it iced over. I stepped around the side to block the incoming snow from my vision and I saw it. A natural set of large stones that lay in the shape of teepee. It would be extremely cold, but at least at we would be out of the brunt of the weather.
Close to the ground the rocks split open and I sat Artemis on the ground and slid her through. It was tight, really tight. I crawled passed Artemis and when I get through the first couple feet it started to open up. I could still barely see, but I could stand all the way up and just barely brush my head against the ceiling. Satisfied, I laid on my stomach and began pulling Artemis the rest of the way through the compact passageway.
Once she was all the way in I set her as far back from the entrance as I could. There wasn't much to do besides sit around and wait, so that's what I did. It felt like an eternity sitting on the cold, rough stone floor, but I knew really it had only been twenty minutes or so. As miserable as I was, I was restless. I needed to do something.
I got up and made my way to the dimly lit passageway and got down on my stomach to see that the snowfall had slowed, not by a lot, but enough that I could see further than a few feet. I decided I'd crawl out and look around to see if I could find some decent wood for a fire.
I made my way outside to find that not only had the snow slowed, but the wind as well.
Maybe we're nearing the end of this storm, I thought hopefully.
Of course as soon as I thought that the wind picked up with a roaring gust of wind that seemed to tell me to get fucked. Almost like those hags heard my hopeful wishes and just couldn't let me get away with it that easily. I sighed and stepped away from the entrance still determined to get some warmth for me and Artemis.
It was surprising how much fallen wood I was able to find considering it was buried in multiple feet of snow. I made quick work of any wood that was too lard to fit through the opening with Riptide. I made a couple trips stocking wood beside the entrance, all the while trying to come up with a way to dry the out the wood. I didn't worry about getting too much as I wasn't even sure if my idea would work.
As I finished my last trip the snow started to pick up once again.
I guess this is a good time to get back inside.
I got down on my knees and threw about a quarter of the wood I'd stockpiled in the tunnel ahead of me. I followed, pushing the wood from behind until I reached the opening.
I sat on the ground with my back towards a still seemingly unconscious Goddess of the Moon. I set the wood in front of me and picked up one of the larger logs and tried to imagine all the frozen moisture within unthawing and soon it felt wet. I willed the moisture out of the wood, leeching the water out of the fibers of the wood. Soon all of my wood was bone dry and I began cutting some of it into smaller pieces and shaving off some thin threads for my kindling.
I laid the branches down on my bed of kindling and put three larger pieces of wood leaning into each other of the assembled bedding. I followed that up with three logs in the gaps left by the large strips. I broke out my flint and steel, striking sparks into a small gap onto my kindling. Soon I had a smolder and I got down on my chest once again and gently blew into it. Soon the fire was jumping onto the branches and after a couple of minutes later there was a light illuminating the previously dark set of stones that we were calling shelter. Fingers of fire started to lick at the sides of the large logs and I knew that my work was done.
I sat by the fire, soaking in the warmth, when out of the corner of my eye I saw another person sit down a couple feet off to my left, equally close to the fire. After a few seconds I looked over at her to find myself staring into those eyes that absolutely blew me away. I'd met Artemis a few good times and never had I had these thoughts, although I'm willing to bet that was my love of Annabeth blinding me to the Goddess's beauty. The more I stared the finer details started to make themselves known. Even after being beaten and dragged through the elements her dark auburn hair fell perfectly, with her ears poking through the sides. Her facial features still pink from the agonizing cold that had set in still looked faultless. The normally serious goddess had smile lines that threatened to crease her light skin, showing that she had another side of her personality that I'm willing to bet not too many people have seen, or at least lived to tell the tale.
"How did you do that?" She asked and nodded to the remaining stack of wood that I've yet to add to the fire.
"What do you mean?"
She rolled her eyes, "I mean how did you dry that wood out? How do you still have your powers? I know the limitations of demigods and gods are different but I figured you would still be without powers."
Realization hit me, she must've been watching me ever since I got back in.
"Oh well we might be in Canada by now, I was trying to get you back across so you could heal but I have no way of knowing. And yes, you would think, but when I had my memory wiped I ended up on a quest to Alaska to free Death and I was still able to use my powers then, even if they were a little weaker than normal. But between you and me I've met someone out here and I'm pretty sure my powers transcend what should be possible through the gods anymore."
I saw a flicker of an unknown emotion flash across her face before it was replaced by one of confusion, "What does you finding a lover have anything to do with your powers?" She asked sounding impatient.
I let out a quick laugh, "Who said anything about it being 'a lover?'"
"Well then who did you meet out here?"
"Do you just want the full story?"
She stared at me with a look somewhere between curiosity and anger, "I guess we don't have anything better to do and I'd like to know what you were doing while I was wasting my life away looking for you."
Ohh, so that's where the animosity lies. Oops...
I cleared my throw, "Well...Im sorry about that. I meant for people to think me de-"
"But why?! Why would you do that to everyone? Are you really such a self absorbed asshole that you don't care about all the people that missed you," She replied obviously fuming, shaking, though it wasn't cold anymore.
I stared down at the floor, "I planned on coming back," I muttered. She began to open her mouth and I cut her off, "Since I was twelve I've rarely done anything just for myself. I was always needed by the gods to do their bidding, and after the war and Annabeth I didn't really have anything tying me down so I tried my hand at starting a new life away from it all. I came to Alaska and met a maniacal old man and ended up working as his deckhand for a couple years."
She stared at me wide eyed, like I'd lost it. "So you gave up a hero's life to go fishing?" She asked incredulously.
"Haha, yeah, I guess so," I replied still staring at the floor. I started to tell her about some of the trips we went on and how me and Polk had began to get close and now we had an almost father-son-like relationship.
Surprisingly Artemis was a good listener despite being the goddess who didn't have time for anyone, especially men, or as she would call us 'boys.' As annoyed as she was with she eventually started to seem like she had some sympathy and some semblance of understanding as to why I did what I did.
I talked for what felt like hours before getting to the point of ending our last trip before Polk told me his secret and told me of the Fates plans for myself. I told her of my plan to go to Kluane and how Polk helped me with the skiff before saying goodbye.
She, thinking this was the end of the story, cut in, "Sounds like you met a good male, far and few between," with a hint of respect.
I just looked at her with an eyebrow raised, "You have no idea, but what is it with you and hating males?" I questioned with a little bit of my anger slipping through.
"You males are filthy pigs, who have urges that lead to the broken hearts of maidens," she sneered in reply.
"You think that all of us are this way?! I've been with one girl my entire life and I never would've done anything to break to her heart! By the way if you think that males can only break a woman's heart and not the other way around then you are delus-,"
I was cut off by Artemis's hand shooting to her side and in it a hunting knife had appeared.
"Y-you dare to call me, a goddess, delusional?!"
I immediately started to question whether I had gone too far.
"I-Im sorr-,"
"Save it." She cut me off while sheathing her knife and going to sit on the far wall away from the fire.
Well that was kind of nice while it lasted I guess.
I decided to go bring in the rest of the wood to occupy myself for some time. After I brought it in and drained the moisture from it Artemis came up to sit by me once again. She wordlessly started to help me by separating the larger logs into smaller ones.
"I'm s-sor-ry I got so worked up," she said in a sad voice looking down at the log she was holding against the hard ground.
"No, it's fine. I should be sorry, I was the one who started getting an attitude. I just wanted to know what you had against me and the other males."
"Well thank you for the apology, but I really shouldn't have lost my temper like that, that's not like me. And...you...don't really fit into my idea of a typical male. You are one of the few males that has ever earned my respect and even fewer that I would call a 'man'," she said in a small voice, before continuing, "I've always had these thoughts about men since I've started my hunt. Almost all my hunters have stories about them being physically, mentally, and emotionally abused by males. I'd never experienced this myself...until Orion. The tales that you would've heard told a story of me being smitten by a hunter of similar capacity to myself and my brother, being protective, tricked me into killing him. While it's partially true it's far from the whole truth. I did respect Orion for his abilities and he seemed to be a genuine good guy, but I had no feelings for him. What the tale leaves out is that he had raped a number of women before meeting me, and he had tried to rape Phoebe before I killed him, but I didn't know that at the time. I was saddened at his death and furious with Apollo so I put him among the stars to live eternally. Apollo later told me the full story along with Phoebe and that was when I truly started hating males," she explained looking sad.
I felt the need to try to comfort her, I scooted closer to her and hesitantly out my arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. She hesitated for a second, before allowing herself to be pulled into the half hug, "Ar-Artemis, Im sorry I asked. I didn't know."
"No, really it's fine. It sometimes helps to get stuff off my chest," she mumbled. Then I saw her eyes give a sideways look at my shoulder where she was pressed by my arm around her. "Umm Percy.."
"Oh! I am...uhh..sorry," I choked out while quickly removing my arm and starting to scoot away.
"No really Percy it's fine, I'd say after saving my life more than once that we could be considered...friends..?" She replied, sounding more like a question than a statement. She hurriedly scooted over, leaving me with a blush on my face. In the firelight it was hard to tell but it looked like she might be blushing as well, a line of questioning I wisely decided to leave unspoken.
"Sooo...um you never explained how meeting a crazy old man and working a fishing boat has had anything to do with your powers," she said trying to release the awkward tension with a giggle.
Did THE Artemis just giggle? Wow my life just keeps getting weirder and weirder.
"Um well I was about to get to that before I was oh so rudely interrupted," I said with a grin and wink in her direction, to which she put on a mock offended expression with traces of that blindingly beautiful smile. "But to my surprise it turned out that my new best friend had a secret. A big one. Right before I was about to leave he told me his secret. Turns out the 'crazy old man' is actually the primordial god Pontus."
I started laughing at Artemis's expression which was one of total shock.
"Bu-but no one has seen or heard from Pontus since before I was born! The gods had thought him faded!"
"I know! So imagine my surprise when he asked me to be his champion and his only direct tie to the world under the influence of the gods. He blessed me with his power, giving me power far beyond what I was used to. I can feel that I've only started to dip into my new powers, but from what I can tell I have less limitations than most demigods or even gods. My powers seem to have no limitations to where and when I can and can't use them, as long as I'm near water. If my fifth grade teacher wasn't lying then I should be just fine anywhere I go on Earth," I said with a chuckle.
"Wow. The Council is gonna freak when they hear this. My father is gonna have a conniption fit, I wouldn't be surprised if he sets a vote to try to have you killed again. Not only that but your father is going to be extremely jealous, he has been looking for Pontus for millennia!"
"Ohhh I'm not too worried about my dad, he would never hurt me," I said with another chuckle, "To be honest I'm not too worried about your pops neither, before I left Pontus told me that the Fates had something big in store for me and I doubt they would let a paranoid King of Gods get in the way of that. Besides, I don't plan on telling them the part about Pontus, at least not yet. I would appreciate it if you'd keep this between me and you until Im ready. Is that something you could do?"
"I guess we'll see soon enough when I drag you by your mess of hair back to Olympus," she said with a smirk and a shove against my shoulder.
"Well can we at least wait for this weather to stop?" I asked hopefully.
"I think we're gonna have to, I'm still weak and not too ready to jump back into the conditions that almost killed me. When it clears up we can head back to my camp and pick up my hunters before heading to Olympus. I can feel we're a little over sixteen miles away, so that must mean we're extremely close to the border."
"So I guess we'll just have to wait," I replied with a nod.
We sat there in silence, listening to the crackle of the fire pinging back and forth off the stone walls and the gusting wind outside of our shelter.
"I don't suppose you brought anything to eat with you did ya?" I asked only to receive a glare from the goddess with her hand on her grumbling stomach.