Daughter of Olympus - [Leo Valdez xF!Oc]

I Miss Ten Seconds Ago When I Didn't Know This Guy Existed

The palace is a wild mix of a TV studio and Greek architecture, Ara doesn't feel particularly threatened by it, just weirded out.

"That's bizarre," Piper points at the satellites ahead.

"Guess you can't get cable on a floating island," Leo says bemusedly. "Dang, check this guy's front yard."

"One section for each of the four wind gods," Jason says in awe. "Four cardinal directions."

"A garden for every season," Ara hums. "I'd love to live in Autumn."

"Big fan of cardigans?" Piper grins. 

"Actually, the color palette matches up with my skin tone," Ara jokes.

Piper squints a little. "Funny, I would've taken you for a pastel fangirl."

Ara wrinkles her nose. "Drew ruined those for me. All the good things in life have vibrant colors in them! The lava wall, those blue gummies mom buys, green..." Her voice dies down, a memory causing her to lose focus.

 "Like pasture," Hedge points out. "You guys mind—"

"Go ahead," Jason allows him.

"Just please, for the love of Pan, don't try to fight any wind spirits!" Ara implores, reacting as the satyr goes away.

"Hello!" A transparent lady shows up out of nowhere. "Are you from Lord Zeus? We've been expecting you."

"Are you a ghost?" Jason blurts out.

"I'm an aura, sir," the lady pouts. "A wind nymph, as you might expect, working for the lord of the winds. My name is Mellie. We don't have ghosts."

"No, of course you don't! My friend simply mistook you for Helen of Troy, the most beautiful mortal of all time. It's an easy mistake," Piper lies.

"Oh..." the nymph blushes. "Well, then. So you are from Zeus?"

"Er, I'm the son of Zeus, yeah."

"And you're Ara Jackson? Daughter of Olympus?" Mellie turns to her, noticing the silver glow Ara still has around her.

"So they tell me, yes," the girl tilts her head, trying to figure out whether Mellie is a cloud or a projection.

"Excellent! Please, right this way." She floats forward. "We're out of prime time now, so that's good. I can fit you in right before his 11:12 spot."

"Um, okay," Jason glances at Ara, and she nods encouragingly.

As they keep moving, they stop to let a harpy pass by. Ara beams, pointing at her the same way people point at cows on the road. "Harpy!"

"Not an aura?" Jason's expression is vastly different from Ara's.

"That's a harpy, of course. Our, ah, ugly stepsisters, I suppose you would say. Don't you have harpies on Olympus?"

"We have them at camp!" The more time she spends outside, the happier Ara gets when she encounters something familiar. "They're fun when they're not trying to eat you."

"What?" Leo steps back.

"They're spirits of violent gusts, unlike us aurai," Mellie nods like that's a perfectly normal thing to say. "We're all gentle breezes."

"'Course you are," Jason agrees casually.

"So," Piper steps in, "you were taking us to see Aeolus?"

"We have a few minutes before he starts," Mellie floats into another room. "He probably won't kill you if we go in now. Come along!"

They're so distracted by what they find inside, that Leo doesn't notice there's no floor. Jason saves him from visiting the Underworld unannounced. "Holy—! Hey, Mellie, a little warning next time!"