— KAHLANI —
OUT OF ALL THE THINGS Kahlani hated about camp, it was Luke Castellan, son of Hermes.
She was a daughter of Hephaestus, god of the forge and fire. Normally friendships she saw were children of Hephaestus and Hermes. And Kahlani knew why. Hermes had ideas for pranks, Hephaestus kids can build them within minutes. Hephaestus kids were rather sucky at flirting, but they were charmers nonetheless, along with being excellent innovators.
But something about Luke...it pissed her off.
It wasn't like she had a whole vendetta against the guy, it was just she found him irritating to hang around. Sure, almost every camper liked him, but she didn't.
She would rather spend her time with the younger campers. They were more fun to hang around. Ever since she had gotten to camp at sixteen, she had gained a love for younger campers. Kahlani hated how some parents were shitty to their own kids, so she became their mother figure. Someone they could look up to.
She was head counselor of Cabin 9, normally working the forges and isolating herself. She only participated in camp activities when she was forced to get out and bask in the sunlight.
Today was one of those days when she had to get up and do something other than losing time to her innovations. Kahlani had waken up at ten am.
The usual happened: she brushed her teeth, did her hair in a ponytail (though it was difficult, with 4A hair, but when you were mixed it happens!), got changed into a random outfit, and got out of the cabin for once in the continuous three weeks she spent cooped up in her head counselor's room making blueprints for her innovations and building them.
Kahlani strolled around camp grounds, humming while drumming her hands on her thighs, her eyes darting all around camp.
And it just so happened she bumped into a familiar face.
"Luke." Kahlani muttered, but it sounded more like a hiss rather than an actual mutter. She looked up at the son of Hermes with some annoyance in her eyes.
"Me!" Luke said back, opening his arms and making a smirk that would've made any girl scoff.
Luke had black curls falling messily on his head and in front of his eyes. Stars in his dark brown eyes said a whole mood with their looks. His five camp beads represented the five summers he'd been at camp, and it did bring out the lean muscle in him, Kahlani wouldn't lie.
"Got any reason you're strolling around camp mindlessly?" Luke said with a chuckle, the gleam in his eyes never leaving.
Kahlani let a fake-polite smile creep up onto her face. "Doing something other than playing mindless pranks on the campers?"
Luke had a sneer on his face now, and Kahlani would say it almost looked tempting. She wanted to piss him off more, get him all riled up.
"I would be, but I have actual other things in mind to do, unlike a certain daughter of Hephaestus." Luke stated, a smirk instead of a usual sneer.
Kahlani scoffed, and she did a once-over to Luke with a hint of distaste. "Tell me when you're ready to start acting maturely."
Before Luke could say another word, Kahlani left him off.
—
NORMALLY, SHE WOULD BE hanging out with the younger campers at the usual time in the sunny afternoon.
But she went for something different: sparring.
Kahlani got a sword from the crusty shed, and she head over to the sparring arena, where she spotted campers sparring each other or camp counselors giving campers advice on their techniques and all that.
Kahlani found herself walking over to a spot in front of a training dummy, and she prepared herself to strike.
She slashed and dodged (even though the training dummy didn't have a life of its own, but WHATEVER!), working herself to prepare sparring with an enemy or attacking a monster who craved demigod like a sacred crop.
As she finished off her session, sweating like a waterfall and stretching out limbs, she heard a voice behind her.
"Your posture needs improvement."
Kahlani whipped her head to see Luke Castellan, twirling around a sword of his own — Backbiter — as he approached her with cautious steps.
"Your arms are lower than they should be." Luke raised her arms by the upper part. Who knew Luke had such cold hands? It made Kahlani shiver.
"Holy fucking shit, why the hell are your hands colder than the Arctic?" Kahlani asked, turning her head to face Luke, who was chuckling at her choice of wording.
"And why are you hotter than the Sahara Desert?" Luke retorted.
Hephaestus kids somewhat had a hotter-than-average body temperature, and it didn't help Kahlani was born with fire-bending, meaning she could manipulate fire and also have a body temperature that made anyone sweat whenever they hugged up to her.
But she thought he meant something else, so she turned fully to face him. "Excuse me?"
"Wait, n-no, I mean your body temperature. It's flaming—" Luke waved his hands wildly to defend himself, but Kahlani wasn't having it.
"Whatever, I need a break from this." Kahlani murmured.
When Luke left her alone, she thought about the interaction as she sparred with the non-living training dummy in front of her. The way Luke smirked when she turned to look at him completely. The way he laughed when she remarked about his cold body temperature. His hand placement as he adjusted her sparring stance. And the same stars he had in those eyes.
Gods, why was she observing such irrelevant details?
"I'm goin' insane..." Kahlani murmured, as she decapitated the head of her non-living opponent.
Kahlani dropped her sword and took a breather. Then her mind wandered back to the bickering she always used to have with Luke. The teasing words they would both exchange, the sparring matches they'd have to release their irritation out on each other.
Shit, was she falling in love...?
Kahlani shook the thought out of her head, and she looked up at the starry night sky that had brewed in the time she spent.
The stars in the sky reminded her of the ones that shone in Luke's irises.
✯ ~~~ ✯
'Hold on,
You've got stars in your eyes,
So let's paint the sky...'
