The War God's Daughter

INTERLUDE I - Part 1

INTERLUDE I - Part 1:

- Where Annabeth low-key stalks the enigma that is Amirah Collins -

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When Chiron approached Annabeth Chase and asked her to orient the new camper on the camp system and affairs, she was just eavesdropping on a nearby Appollo kid - Mike, if she remembers his name right - as he details the dramatic going-on just this morning.

It's ridiculous how the centaur can sneak up on her like that - with his hooves and all - but the blond-haired girl admits it's partly because she's preoccupied with Mike's news. Apparently, the new camper managed to take down a huge cyclops on her own near the border earlier and, Mike's exaggerated raving aside, the feat was impressive.

Even experienced campers would have difficulties facing monsters of that caliber on their own, and, from the way Mike tells it, the new camper's skill isn't anything to sniff at.

In fact, the Apollo camper even went as far as to say, that the girl's fighting style beats other veteran campers, like Luke, by a mile. Unrelenting, ruthless and impressive in its execution, Mike exclaims that the fight has been decided from the start.

It's definitely not on the hulking monster's favor.

(Annabeth wonders if it would be too much to hope for the new camper to be the one.)

"Annabeth." A familiar voice asks her in surprise - interrupting her musings. Annabeth looks up and nods as Connor, a Hermes camper she is on good terms with, falls into step beside her casually. "What are you doing here?"

"Connor." She smiles. "I wanted to talk to Luke. There's a new kid Chiron wanted me to orient and I wanted to get his view first before I met the new camper."

Connor frowns. "She's taking part in our sword-training today though."

"What?" Annabeth stops walking, cocking her head to the side curiously. She was sure the no injuries thing was hyperbolic. Apollo campers were prone to exaggerating, after all, and, even if the claim was true, the camper should have been tired out at least.

"I heard she fought a Cyclops earlier near the border, though," Annabeth says slowly. "Took care of it pretty thoroughly too if what I heard from the Apollo kids were right."

Connor furrows his brows in confusion and slows his pace. "Maybe they're exaggerating." He adjusts his hold in his sword. "The girl - Amirah was her name - looked fine to me. She participated in Luke's brutal exercises well enough. She even had the energy to lug around the heavy-ass sword no one really liked."

Annabeth hums, intrigued. "Maybe, you're right." She murmurs. "Thanks for the heads up, Connor."

"No problem." Connor nods and Annabeth watches him walk over to another camper before moving on to a better spot.

It seems observation would be the best option for now.

Shifting to a more comfortable position, Annabeth's sharp gray eyes rove over the people in the clearing intently. Her eyes pause briefly on to a tall, sandy-haired teen, Luke - head of the Hermes cabin and Annabeth's long-time friend - before she forced herself to find the new camper.

Unfortunately, (or fortunately who was she kidding), the camper is surprisingly elusive and her eyes snap back to Luke as they were wont to do lately.

She can feel her cheeks take up a faint blush when the light hits Luke just so and made his visage more...pleasant to the eyes than usual.

(Stupid hormones.)

"Everyone, huddle up," Luke announces loudly. "It's sparring day today."

Immediately, the clearing quieted. The older camper quirks his lips in amusement at the reaction but refrains from commenting on it. "As I have offered in the previous times we've done this, anyone could partner with me to test their mettle. No one actually does lately, but let's see. Does anyone want to?"