You Give Liberty a Bad Name (a Percy Jackson AU)

Bricks and Breeches

Pennsylvania: August 12, 1776

  Piper grew used to her new routine. Every morning she would wake up to the sound of grumbling soldiers and then go around and offer to make breakfast for them. Sometimes they would let her share their food in return for her services, but other times they would snap at her when she finished.

    Next, Piper would gather up laundry and take it to a nearby river. She would kneel beside the riverbank and soak the clothes in the running water. Then, she would take a bar of soap and use it to lift grime and rub stains from the garments. Next, she would rinse the clothes before wringing them out and laying them on flat rocks to dry in the sun.

      The work was hard, but Piper enjoyed it. Her dry, cracked hands were a sign that she wasn't a prostitute anymore. When her knees grew sore from kneeling down to do laundry, she reminded herself that she was more free than she ever had been. Piper knew it wasn't an easy life, but it was an improvement and she relished in the kind of ordinary life she had never been allowed.

When she washed laundry, she would be soothed by the gurgle of the river and charmed by the pretty birdsong. When she laid out clothes to dry, her eyes would be amazed by the tall, sturdy trees. They were so strong and steady; Piper wished she could be like them.

After she finished laundry, Piper would return it to men. Sometimes, while laundry dried she would mend tears in the soldiers' clothing. Ares sometimes asked Piper to help take care of wounded or sick soldiers. He also asked her to teach the men to shave, which had been semi-successful.

Once, when three soldiers came down with smallpox, Piper volunteered to take care of them. Her mother had gotten her inoculated as a child to protect her in the only way she could. It had hurt, but now Piper was grateful for it. It made her useful. Here, she was more than a body — she was worth more than a few coins.

One day, Piper has just finished delivering the completed laundry when she heard shouts. She looked up and saw two men carrying a third between them. The men looked strained, their mouths tight and their shoulders trembling, so Piper made her way towards them.

"Here, I'll help," Piper said.

She helped relieve some of the men's burden and they carried the man, who Piper realized was Jason, to one of the medic's tents.

"What happened?" the medic asked after they laid Jason down.

"We were scouting near a town," one of the soldiers, a man with cherry-red lips and bloodshot eyes said.

He stopped speaking and took a swig from his flask. Piper smelled wine on his breathe. The other man, a tall, thin blonde, began to speak.

"Some of the villagers grew angry when I asked if they were loyal to the king," the man said. "They threw bricks at us. We ran, but one of them hit Jason on the forehead."

"I'll take care of him," the medic promised. "Don't worry. This may be a head injury, but it doesn't appear serious. He will recover."