Son of Love and Fire

Chapter 5

The next morning was spent with Hestia explaining all she knew and had found out about forging and crafting weapons and together they had decided that they would need a forge to build any weapons. Perseus decided that he wanted to build a proper building out of stone like the ones he had heard some of the birds talk about when they told him of the outside world.

As a result, Hestia and Perseus headed up to the mine in order to dig out more stone for construction. In the beginning they tried using the same method as before but found that they couldn't use it to collect larger building blocks of stone, so they found that they had to mine it by hand.

The next few weeks were spent as Perseus dug out a large amount of properly squared stones where Hestia would then use her fire to smooth the edges of the blocks to make them clean and perfectly smooth. Over this time the relationship between the two had grown immensely and they were almost inseparable apart from when Hestia went back to Olympus each night and Percy would continue the mining. By this time the pile of ores had increased a little bit and the two believed they had enough stones to build with. Hestia then told Perseus that she thought it would be best if they made designs so that they could get it right like she had seen mortals and some of her family do around Olympus. Perseus agreed so the next morning Hestia brought over lots of paper along with quills and ink to use.

The next week was spent designing and redesigning and then refining until the two had found what they both thought to be the perfect plans, so they set to work. Over the next few months the two began construction with Hestia overseeing the plans and making sure everything was right and Perseus did all the heavy lifting much to his own insistence, first they laid out groundwork which was made of piling up lots of the rubble from the previous mining and surrounding it in a wooden border before packing it up with mortar and adding smooth flat stones to form up the floor in order to keep out the cold from the earth and avoid water running across the clearing they were building in. The next step was putting up a wooden frame work that was made up of wooden planks that would surround the outside, then they place the large stones that were about half a meter long and 30 cm high and wide. The stones would be put together with more of the mortar and built up the surrounding walls. The building was constructed as a rectangle where one end was a circle and was about 12 meters long and 8 meters wide with an opening on one of the long sides where there would be a canopy that went out a few meters on top of the slab of flooring with steps leading down off it. The roof on the rectangle was triangular meeting a point in the middle although the circle at the end went up almost twice the height and had a chimney outlet to let out the smoke from the furnace fire set up in a hearth fashion at the back of the circle.

After putting in the walls Perseus put up the wooden framing or the roof whilst Hestia crafted roof tiles that were then installed by her whilst Perseus built the Hearth inside and finished the walling of the chimney and put the roof on that. Perseus then got to work on crafting a set of large double doors for the side of the forge that he crafted intricate images of the forest across much like his bow he had made as Hestia finished the roofing. Perseus then got to installing the doors on hinges he had crafted rudimentarily from the fire he put in the forge's hearth and some of the strong heavy ores he had found that Hestia told him was iron. As Perseus did this Hestia crafted the thick canvas that she then attached to the sides of the forge above the doors to the strong wooden poles out in front of it that was pulled taut, being the perfect size for the canopy. After they both finished these tasks they installed some wooden furniture like shelves that they installed into holes chiselled into the stone walls and racks to hang anything from weapons to clothing. They also made a table and a few chairs to use.

Hestia had also insisted a bed in hopes that Perseus would at least sleep a little, so they had made one with a mattress filled with feathers of birds Perseus had hunted over the months. They had also crafted and installed a crafting block of the most solid stone they had found that had been rounded on one end with a flat top to work metal on (Metal anvils weren't used then). They had also made a few buckets that could fill a small well of water in the circle that had been dedicated as the crafting part of the forge that had a piece of wood that could be removed to drain dirty water back out of the forge into the stream that ran close by where the water would be collected from.

Upon finishing all this after many months of hard work on both their part the two stood very proud of all they had done, Hestia was especially at what she had achieved without outright using her powers like all the rest of her family would do. The inside and out were simplistic, apart from the intricately carved door, and showed a simple beauty that portrayed an efficient yet comfortable place.

"Time for the last step Perseus" Hestia spoke up as the two had been standing outside looking at their work with pride in silence for a while now. Jolting out of his stupor Percy raised his hands and as he did the nature around answered in kind. Animals form all around came to observe what was happening, wolves would stand beside their prey but all they did was watch what the young godling that they shared the island with did. Gradually vines grew from the ground twirling around the wooden planks that framed the stone forge and the wooden poles that held out the canopy. As this happened moss began to grow on the south facing stone, in the end the forge looked as if it belonged there, a part of the nature itself, it was covered in lush green plants but didn't look like a neglected ruin, rather a building that was part of the environment and would stay so for many years to come. Hestia then waled inside and used her powers to create a hearth fire in the forge that would never go out and provide the perfect heat for forging while only heating the room to a comfortable temperature. They both took a step back again and admired the finished product, the building gave off a homey vibe and looked like the place where you could live happily ever after like in the stories Hestia told Perseus a few times when he had been working hard for a few weeks and she made him get some sleep regardless of his arguments for not needing it.

"Its magnificent" Perseus said in awe looking at what they had done.

"I would be content to live here forever, thanks for doing this with me nephew" Hestia spoke up.

"No problem, it was great, and I couldn't have done it without you" Perseus said with the smile that had hardly left his face since he got to know his aunt.

Hestia's face grew more serious and she kneeled in front of Perseus to get to his 7-year-old height from the 30-year-old form she was in, when she got on his level, she placed a hand on his cheek and looked into his eyes.

Despite the seriousness Perseus saw in her, almost orange glowing, brown eyes he could see the nervousness behind them which in turn made him nervous.

"Perseus you have brought more joy to my life in these few months then I have had in so long, you made me feel safe when no one else could, you gave me the thing I wanted most, a family. So, Perseus would you do me the honour of being my champion and adopted son. I have no desire to replace Aphrodite, your mother but would you have me too?" Hestia asked and held her breath as she waited for a reply, fearing that she would lose the person she had come to love as if he was her own son.

Tears welled up in Perseus' eyes and he leapt forward pulling Hestia into a tight hug and mumbled his reply into her shoulder, "I would be honoured to be your champion and I would love to be your son, mom. You have made me just as happy now that I have family with me." Perseus responded with a smile on his face and tears of joy wetting his new mothers dress.

Hestia pulled back with the biggest smile he had ever seen and said, "I Hestia goddess of the Hearth, Family and Home claim Perseus to be my champion and my son, I bless him with the full powers of my first-born."

Perseus was shocked as Hestia had told him, as she taught him all about the godly and mortal world, that the first born of a god that is a demigod would inherit the gods full powers and had in rare cases the potential to become as strong as their parent, "I accept" Perseus said as the shock wore off his face bringing back his bright smile.

"I guess now that we're done with the forge it is time to begin with actually forging, I'm looking forward too it, I'll see you tomorrow morning my son, after inheriting all that power you are going to need some rest so get some sleep, I love you."

"Ok I'll get some sleep, I'll see you tomorrow, I love you, mom"