Inheritance - a sequel to Shelter

A Moment of Calm - Reyna

We'll head down as soon as Rachel wakes up and I can convince her to eat something.

Thanks, Piper. Take care and let me know if anything else happens.

Reyna closes the text window and stares at the wallpaper on her phone, frowning.

She, Rachel, and Piper have only been using technology for the past year as monster activity has declined to the point that avoiding it seemed like overkill. It's also made it a lot easier to stay in touch. Rachel smiles back at her from behind the icons on the screen. Time seems to have flown by and Reyna has reached the end of her career as praetor.

It's kind of strange, the idea of attending University with Piper and Rachel. She'll only be a year and a half behind them, but starting out from the bottom and working her way to the top is something Reyna hasn't had to do for years. More worrisome still is Piper's news that Rachel's oracle powers have started up again, repeating the prophecy from a couple of years ago on top of Hazel's confession earlier in the day.

Hazel was having doubts she'd be able to rise to the expectations of the praetorship. Apparently her father had stripped her of her Underworld powers. Why Pluto would find such an action necessary is a question that makes Reyna's skin crawl. Something is wrong in the godly realm; she can feel it in the air, but the fact remains that it's time to step down. Unless the gods themselves turn up and demand action from the 12th Legion Fulminata, Reyna is expected to walk away and allow the new leadership to find its feet.

Her screen has gone black and she swipes her thumb across it again, recalling Rachel's face. She can't help wondering how things will work out between them after spending the past year apart. Rachel and Piper had both insisted on taking year round courses in order to finish their degrees quickly. Arts and humanities seem to be right up their alleys and Reyna doesn't doubt they will make huge strides toward making the future a better place for mortals and demigods alike. But still...

Does she have a place at such a school? She's a soldier, a warrior. She's trained to make change through conquering her foes, not through higher learning. And her relationship with Rachel ... Rachel has told her that lesbianism isn't a huge deal at Berkeley, that there's a large LGBT community there, but Reyna wonders how honest Rachel is being with herself. Neither of them identified as bisexual prior to hooking up with each other. Reyna hadn't seen that coming at all... She knows Rachel, as an artist, had always had an appreciation for women's bodies, but she'd only ever had crushes on guys prior to Reyna.

She can't deny her relationship with Rachel has been amazing and it's probably just because it's been so long since they've seen each other that these doubts are creeping in. Reyna tells herself that she's just not going to worry about it, and then another thought strikes. If Rachel hadn't taken the Oracle and sworn off men, would they have ended up together. Is Reyna only Rachel's 'next best thing'?

"Reyna?"

Reyna fumbles the phone and looks up, startled. It's only Frank. She slips her phone into her pocket. "Zhang, you startled me."