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"I wish I was with you"
Ahalya Roy
As Artemis assured them that dawn was approaching, Ahalya couldn't help but scoff at the irony. It was anything but a picturesque sunrise. The world seemed colder and darker than ever, the snow blanketing the landscape with its icy grip. The windows of Westover Hall, once brightly lit, now stood ominously dark. Ahalya wondered if the oblivious teachers had even noticed their absence. Though she certainly didn't want to be there when they did. Typical.
Standing in the snow, shivering and feeling immensely uncomfortable in contrast to the seemingly unbothered Hunters, Ahalya observed as Artemis gazed intently into the eastern horizon. Bianca sat off to the side, engaged in a conversation with Nico (Yikes! Talk about new life-changing decisions discussed at the worst possible time). Ahalya could see the heaviness in his expression, signaling that Bianca was explaining her decision to join the Hunt. Ahalya understood why Bianca made that decision but couldn't help but feel that she had other options too.
Just as that scene unraveled, Thalia and Grover came closer to Percy (who somehow was standing beside her and making conversation), seeking to know what had transpired in Ahalya and Percy's meeting with the goddess, Grover paled at his words. The memory of the last visit from the Hunters clearly haunted him. (If Grover knew the whole thing, then she was eventually going to know about it). She would get to know an interesting story, and she would not even have to join a lesbian girls scout to know it. Well, that's a silver lining.
Thalia's disdain for Bianca's choice was evident as she grumbled, blaming Zoë for everything. Ahalya made a note of actually talking to her later, and no she was not going to back out, she hoped at least. Grover, however, seemed lost in his own realm, sighing dreamily as he mused about an eternity with Artemis. Thalia rolled her eyes, reminding him that Artemis would never reciprocate his love.
And from the looks of it, Thalia also had calmed down and was eyeing Ahalya as if she couldn't believe that she was standing right in front of her. Maybe she thought Ahalya was a figment of her imagination. Well, reality can be surprising, sometimes she supposed.
As the sky finally began to lighten, Percy still stood with Ahalya (she still did not know why) and couldn't help but voice his confusion. "You're, um, waiting for sunrise?" she asked, his tone laced with a hint of scepticism to Artemis.
It was good that the goddess had the same scepticism for her brother as Percy because Ahalya would have hated to see what would have happened to this boy if gods actually decided to smite him.
