The Legend of Percy: Book 2 - Through Grief

16. Monsters, Martial Arts and Wrestling (I Get My Butt Kicked)

Percy let his ice canoe trundle along the river, with a frozen gemsbok bull carcass at the front. He still really didn't know what to think about the princess.

At first, he'd just been trying to show her a better path. Continuing the work of Mai and Ty Lee on Team Save Azula. But he could tell that what was happening was slightly different. He'd thought his teasing was just to get her out of her shell, to stop her from hiding behind a royal façade and to challenge her beliefs. But with how her teasing back had affected him, he thought that it might've been different.

As he slightly raised the water to pass over the rapids once more, he couldn't get the girl out of his mind. It was partially helped by the fact that, as he came to his own beach, there was no sign of her anywhere.

Percy threw the animal over his shoulder, its cold body pressed against his shirt, and walked up to the clearing. He passed by a tied-up and very hungry looking mongoose dragon so he sliced off a bit of meat for it and defrosted it before continuing on.

The midday sun was just passing through the leaves directly overhead as he moved between shaded areas. He came upon his clearing with the outdoor firepit around the side of his cabin. Siosi sat curled up in front of the stairs.

'Back so soon?' She greeted him oh so kindly.

Percy threw down the meat just at the edge of the open area, freezing it even further under the shade of a tree.

"Yeah, it wasn't too difficult."

'That looks like a pretty tough catch.'

He looked at his companion with an eyebrow raised. It was a rather large animal, but he didn't really know if it would be good to eat.

"Oh yeah? Tough meat or were you giving me a compliment?"

'Definitely tough meat, dumbass.'

That's what I thought. He sighed.

"So, where's your new best friend?" He asked her.

'Ooo still so salty, sea boy.' She chuckled at him. 'Don't get too jealous over there.'

The demigod rolled his eyes.

'She just walked off.' She finally answered.

"Did she leave?" He asked curiously, although it seemed that Siosi interpreted his inquisitiveness as something else.

'No, she didn't bring any of her stuff with her. I think she just went to explore.' She replied. 'Your crush hasn't left you.'

"Hey! I don't have a-"

'Hi Princess!' Siosi squawked.

It took all of Percy's willpower to not whip his head around to look. He just stopped what he was about to do to their food to look at the ostrich horse. The joking distraction done by the Stolls many times over being something he refused to be caught out with again.

"Yeah, you're not going to get me with that."

The frustrating bird kept its beak firmly pointed out of the clearing and away from him.

"What's she not going to get you with?"

Azula's voice came to him from right where Siosi was looking.

Instead of looking at her, he just lowered his head in resignation as he heard the cackling laughter from his friend.

"Nothing." He muttered, shaking his head.

"Right." She said, disbelievingly. "So is that our food?"

Percy turned to face her. He was immediately thankful that she'd changed out of the bikini. The distraction it had caused him made everything just that little bit more difficult and he knew that was his own dam fault. Her flowing hair was still left down, fluttering quite nicely in the light breeze.