BOWIE DIDNT TAKE LONG TO REGAIN CONCIOUSNESS AFTER PASSING OUT. she woke up in the infirmary, sitting up and breathing heavily. she looked down at her right arm, which had previously been clawed and mauled almost down to the bone in certain parts. it looked mostly fine now ----- she supposed the apollo kids were quick to heal her.
"bowie!" she felt something wrap itself around her and it didn't take long to realise it was grover, who was bleating happily. it was like he forgot that last time he hugged her, she made the threat of gutting him. but she ended up patting his back lightly.
"hey, grover," she said, "wheres. . ." she looked around the infirmary and caught a glimpse of percy in one of the beds.
"you've been out for about half a day." grover said, "I thought you weren't going to wake up ----- the birds really hurt you." his brows pinched together from worry, "sorry for dragging you into this mess, bowie." he said apologetically, "I can buy you a cactus to make up for it."
"uh, its fine." she said, only slightly confused about grover's offer to but a cactus as an apology gift ----- wouldn't that be more hurtful than apologetic, considering a cactus could hurt someone. "how much ambrosia did they have to give me to heal this?" she gestured to her right arm, where, if she looked at it for a few seconds too long, she could almost see the hanging flesh of her arm, like it had been last night. she didn't exactly understand how she managed to keep a straight face through so much of last night, let alone run about half a mile to the cabin.
"Quite alot." grover responded, "I was conscious by the time they got you and percy in here. you started steaming a bit as they fed you, so I don't think they completely healed you." grover looked at her really sadly.
bowie felt guilty at how worried he was about her. "well, I feel much better now. killing those birds was pretty satisfying, I have to admit." she cracked her knuckles, "so, can I leave the infirmary yet? I wanna go do training."
grover shook his head, "you probably shouldn't. you are still recovering." he looked over at percy, who was unconscious. "he killed the. . . yeah."
bowie's face scrunched up, "yeahhh, I passed out when we got here. . . i think he killed it with its own horn or something ----- that's pretty cool, to be honest."
grover didn't exactly seem to share her opinion but he didn't say anything against it.
"anyway, I'm done recovering." she said, moving and starting to get out of her infirmary bed, "I will see you around, grover." she gave him a little head pat.
"bowie, you really shouldn't ----- "
she shot him a glare, "I'm. done. recovering." she repeated, a bit slower and a bit firmer this time. she never liked spending long in the infirmary, and tried to avoid going there in general.
grover nodded nervously, "r - right." it was clear he wasn't going to argue with bowie.
she stood up and stretched her limbs, "hey, wheres my axe?" she looked around the room for her weapon.
"it may have been. . . stepped on." grover said, "it's outside the borders, if you want me to come with you to find it ----- "
"it's fine." she said, because grover was being way too apologetic for her liking ----- she never saw the point in apologies half the time. "I'll just go grab a new weapon."
which was a shame, really. she'd grown rather fond of her axe. maybe, with luck, she'd be able to find a similar one to it. the axe was a very useful weapon, and very easy for her to handle. and it did a pretty good job of when she had to slaughter all the stymphalian birds yesterday.
saying goodbye to grover by giving him a pat on the head, she left the infirmary. it was a nice day at camp halfblood, warm and sunny. she was glad they had the power to control the weather, she wouldn't want to be faced with the constant storms and rain of zeus's creation. she'd had enough rain in the last few weeks to last her a lifetime.
what happened yesterday lingered in her head, like a bad memory. being a demigod was very much a thing of kill or be killed, everyone who was a demigod knew that well. After all, how many demigods had died because they refused to resort to violence against a monster? a countless amount, that's how many.
bowie had butchered about thirty of the birds yesterday, because that was instinct for her in battle ----- any child of ares instinctively had some barbaric mannerisms when it came to fighting and bowie was no exception. she still remembered it so clearly: cutting of beaks, severing wings off from bodies, her teeth become fangs and ripping the birds apart. she almost became the wolf yesterday. again.
which wasn't really something she liked. she was becoming more merciless in her fights against monsters, she noticed. it was only a matter of time before she transformed into the wolf. again.
and given what she did do to the birds yesterday, she felt like she had no place to judge percy for what he did to the Minotaur but. . .
there was a part of her that felt like he was very cruel about it. most demigods would just stab it or whatever. he ripped its horn off its head, and used that very same horn to kill the minotaur. that was pretty cruel.
but bowie felt she really could not judge him, she probably would've done the same. if she was more confident in her wolf power, she would've ripped it to shreds with her teeth and claws, growling and howling.
also her best friend was kind of a killer himself, so she really shouldn't be against people who kill monsters cruelly. ethan was very. . . remorseless when he massacred monsters ----- he had told her about how he would sometimes purposely stab it in the wrong place just so it suffered a bit more.
talk about psychopathic behaviour.
but she preferred not to think of ethan as some psychopath, murdering machine. especially when he was standing right in front of her.
"hey, bowie."
"ethan!" she hugged him, tightly, "I missed you. everything was so chaotic while I was gone ----- I have so much to tell you and you probably won't believe half of it."
ethan looked away, "so, is it true? that kid in the infirmary killed the minotaur? I went to get a look at him, he's pretty scrawny looking."
bowie frowned, "well, I saw him kill it. . . kind of. I was basically passed out. got ambushed by those stupid birds and me and grover had to run like half a mile while I killed them. and the Minotaur stepped on my axe so it's broken."
"why didn't you turn into your wolf? you could've killed the Minotaur easily that way. that infirmary kid, whatever his name is, he probably got lucky. did you help him?"
in normal circumstances, bowie would feel happy that ethan was praising her fighting techniques but she just didn't feel pleased at the moment. she supposed she was still pretty tired from her injuries from the birds.
"listen, ethan, I'm tired. I might just go back to my cabin for a bit." she then looked around, "hey, wheres viktor? I thought he would've been with you." she was trying to see if she could catch a glimpse of the dark haired russian boy somewhere.
"he's sleeping, I think." ethan said, not seeming overly bothered that viktor wasn't there, "I don't care, he's been getting on my nerves while you've been gone. he talks too much."
bowie's face scrunched up a tiny bit. viktor wasn't really that bad. sure he talked alot but most demigods did do that when they got to camp halfbloood, they were excited about this entire new world. and viktor seemed pretty nice.
"oh," she said, "well. . ." she trailed off, not really knowing what to say, "well, I'm gonna head back to my cabin now. I'll see you later, yeah?"
ethan nodded, "sure."
BOWIE SPENT THE NEXT DAY AND A HALF BEING LAZY. After killing a bunch of birds and having that encounter with the Minotaur, she thought she deserved the chance to lay in her bunk and sleep. and also do fighting, which wasn't really lazy but she wasn't going at it as much as normal, so she considered it "lazy training".
percy had been out for about two days now, and she was wondering when he'd wake up. though, she supposed after killing the Minotaur when you don't actually know you're a demigod yet would take alot out of you. bowie didn't have much experience with big monsters like that, since she tended not to leave camp halfblood unless she had to.
apparently viktor really liked sleeping because she had seem him about once since she got back. they walked around camp and talked about random stuff, and ethan avoided going up to bowie because viktor was there. seriously, what was his problem with the son of demeter? he seemed fine with viktor a few weeks ago, and now he hated him.
but that wasn't important at the moment, bowie reminded herself as she headed to the infirmary. she wanted to go see if percy was awake yet. grover had barely left his side, she assumed, since she hadn't seen the satyr wandering around camp yet.
by the time she got to the infirmary, percy had woken up. finally. he was mid conversation with grover about something.
"The Minotaur," she heard percy say.
"um, percy, it isn't exactly a good idea ----- "
" thats what he's called in the greek myths, isn't it?" percy demanded, "the Minotaur. half man, half bull."
"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" bowie asked, stepping into the infirmary, "cause I can go if I am."
"no, it's fine." grover said.
she looked at percy and frowned, "you've been out for two days, percy. do you remember anything that happened?" she took off the leather jacket she was wearing and put it on the back of a chair.
"my mum. is she really. . ." percy looked down somberly.
bowie swallowed, she wasn't exactly good at comforting people. let alone comforting people when someone they loved had died.
"I'm sorry," Grover sniffled. "I'm a failure. I - I'm the worst satyr in the world."
He moaned, stomping his foot so hard it came off. well, his converse hi - top came off. the inside was stuffed with Styrofoam, except for a hoof - shaped hole. "oh styx!" he mumbled. thunder rolled across the clear sky as he struggled to get his hoof back into his shoe.
"it wasn't your fault." percy said, trying to reassure grover.
"Yes, it was. I was supposed to protect you."
"so was I, grover and I'm not beating myself up about it." bowie crossed her arms, "go take some deep breaths and ----- I don't know. go punch some stuff, that's what clarisse always tells me to do."
"clarisse is scary." grover commented. bowie nodded her head in agreement.
"Did my mother ask either of you to protect me?"
"No. But that's my job. I'm a keeper. At least. . . I was."
"and I just showed up because violence might've been needed." bowie added, "it was needed ----- its always needed."
"but why. . ." percy trailed off and his eyes went all unfocused.
"don't strain yourself ----- here." grover helped percy to hold his glass and put the straw to his lips.
percy drank some of the drink.
"Was it good?" Grover asked.
percy nodded.
"What did it taste like?" He sounded so wistful.
"Sorry," percy said. "I should've let you taste."
His eyes got wide. "No! That's not what I meant. I just. . . wondered."
"Chocolate-chip cookies," percy replied "My mom's. Homemade."
"yummy. though, I prefer apple pie." bowie commented, "I'm hungry now ----- wheres viktor when you need him?"
grover and percy both ignored her.
"how do you feel?" grover sighed.
"Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred yards."
"I'd pay to watch that. dye her hair to a different colour while you're at it." bowie grumbled, "don't wanna have the same coloured hair as a bitch."
once again, percy and grover both ignored her.
"That's good. I don't think you could risk drinking any more of that stuff." Grover said.
"What do you mean?"
He took the empty glass from percy gingerly, as if it were dynamite, and set it back on the table.
"come on, chiron and Mr D are waiting."
they helped get percy to the big house, as he stumbled along, legs shaking. he was holding the Minotaur horn the entire way.
down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from eachother at a card table. a blonde haired girl ( who bowie recognised as annabeth, a daughter of athena ----- all the kids who were year rounders/came to camp at a very young age were all familiar with eachother ) wad leaning on the porch rail next to them.
"thats Mr D." grover mummured, pointing to one of the men, "he's the camp director so be polite. the girl, that's annabeth chase. she's just a camper but she's been here longer than just about anybody. and you already know Chiron. . ."
"Mr. Brunner!" Percy cried out.
"Ah, good, Percy," chiron said. "Now we have four for pinochle."
bowie looked between the two men, "you're talking about grover and percy, right? I'm not playing pinochle." she said, "my hand is burnt."
Chiron looked at her, "your hand looks fine, bowie."
"check it again after the campfire." she said, smiling. "it'll be burnt then."
Chiron raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything else. he offered percy a chair to the right of Mr D, who looked at him either bloodshot eyes and heaved great sigh.
"Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half - Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."
"Uh, thanks." Percy said, scooting a little farther away from him.
"Annabeth?" Chiron called out. annabeth came forwards. "This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven. . . for now."
Annabeth nodded, "sure, chiron."
she looked at percy thoughtfully, eyes flicking between his face and the Minotaur horn in his hand. "you drool when you sleep." she said simply, before sprinting off down the lawn, her blonde hair flying behind her.
from beside percy, bowie let out a laugh.
"so, you, uh, you work here, Mr Brunner?" percy asked chiron.
"Not Mr. Brunner. I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron."
"Okay." Percy said, sounding really confused. he looked at Mr D, "And Mr. D . . . does that stand for something?"
Mr. D stopped shuffling the cards. "Young man, names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason."
"Oh. Right. Sorry." Percy said, though he didn't really sound that sorry at all.
"I must say, Percy," Chiron broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."
"House call?"
"My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to. . . ah, take a leave of absence."
"did you order a hit man on him?" bowie asked, eyes wide, "cause that's totally cool if you did, chiron. but next time, save your money and ask me to do it ----- I promise I wont make a mess."
Chiron looked at bowie, "bowie. I am not going to ask you to kill people. ever."
bowie shrugged her shoulders, "suit yourself, horse man."
"bowie, you scare me." grover stated, completely seriously. "please stop talking about killing things ----- its really unsettling."
"You came to Yancy just to teach me?" Percy asked.
Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first. We contacted your mother, let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much
to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test."
"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"
"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair.
"You do know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed percy suspiciously. he cast a glance to bowie who started cradling one of her hands and pulling a pained face ----- if she was going to pretend her hand was burnt, she'd have to commit to the role.
"I'm afraid not." percy said, giving bowie a funny look.
"I'm afraid not, sir," Mr D.
"Sir," percy repeated, through gritted teeth.
"Well," Mr D began, "it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all civilized young men to know the rules."
"I'm sure the boy can learn," Chiron said.
"Please," percy said, "what is this place? What am I doing here? Mr. Brun ----- Chiron, why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach me?"
Mr. D snorted. "I asked the same question."
The camp director dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile.
"Percy," chiron said. "Did your mother tell you nothing?"
"She said . . . She told me she was afraid to send me here, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably couldn't leave. She wanted to keep me close to her."
"Typical," Mr. D said. "That's how they usually get killed. Young man, are you bidding or not?"
"what?" percy asked, completely dumbfounded.
"I'm afraid there's too much to tell," Chiron said. "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient."
"the orientation film is always bad." bowie said, looking for a chair to sit down on, "no offence but it really is shit." she glanced at chiron, "can I use your wheelchair as a seat, chiron?"
percy looked at bowie, "you can't just ask someone that!"
"I just did, drooly boy."
Chiron sighed, "bowie, how about you be nice to percy?"
"that is me being nice, chiron."
"well, anyway, percy. I think its better if I explain thinks myself. you know your friend Grover is a satyr. you know that you've killed the minotaur." he gestured to the horn in the shoe box, "no small feat. what you may not know though, is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods, the greek gods that is, are very much alive"
percy's jaw literally dropped and he stared at everyone around the table in shock, as though he was waiting for someone to say just kidding!
"oh, a royal marriage. trick! trick!" Mr D yelled and then cackled as he tallied up his points.
"Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?"
"Eh? Oh, all right."
Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminum can and chewed it mournfully.
"Wait," percy told Chiron. "You're telling me there's such a thing as God."
"Well, now," Chiron said. "God ----- capital G, God. That's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical."
"Metaphysical? But you were just talking about ----- "
"Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter."
"Smaller?"
"Yes, quite. The gods we discussed in Latin class."
"Zeus," Percy said. "Hera. Apollo. You mean them." And there it was again ----- distant thunder on a cloudless day.
Bowie winced at the mention of apollo's name, "not the sunny boy, we do not talk about the sunny boy."
"young man," Mr D said, "I would really be less casual about throwing those names around, if I were you." he cast a glance at bowie, "and benjamin -----"
bowie threw her hands up in the air, "bowie! Benjamin isn't even remotely close, you ----- "
"same thing." Mr D said dismissively, interrupting her before she started spewing out insults at him, "calling them by a different thing doesn't mean they can't hear you."
"thats such stalker behaviour." bowie said, "listening in on the conversations of teenagers. there's a special word for men like that, and it's ----- "
"bowie." Chiron said sternly.
"whoops. sorry." she said, shrugging her shoulders ----- her voice held no traces of an apology at all.
"but the greek gods. . . they're stories." percy said, "they're myths, to explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. they're what people believed in before science."
"Science!" Mr. D scoffed. "And tell me, Perseus Jackson," percy flinched when Mr D said his full name, "what will people think of your 'science' two thousand years from now? Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals ----- they have absolutely no sense of perspective. They think they've come so-o-o far. And have they, Chiron? Look at this boy and tell me."
"Percy," Chiron said, "you may choose to believe or not, but the fact is that immortal means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying. Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time?"
"You mean, whether people believed in you or not," Percy said.
"Exactly," Chiron agreed. "If you were a god, how would you like being called a myth, an old story to explain lightning? What if I told you, Perseus Jackson, that someday people would call you a myth, just created to explain how little boys can get over losing their mothers?"
Percy's fists curled around the box with the Minotaur horn in it and he clenched his jaw, "I wouldn't like it. But I don't believe in gods."
"Oh, you'd better," Mr. D murmured. "Before one of them incinerates you."
Grover said, "p - please, sir. He's just lost his mother. He's in shock. bowie," he looked at the redheaded girl, "help me out here."
"it's mean to incerate people." bowie added, nodding a few times.
"Bad enough I'm confined to this miserable job, working with boys who don't even believe!" Mr D grumbled out. He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine.
Percy's jaw dropped again. bowie reached over and propped it closed.
"Mr D," Chiron warned. "your restrictions."
Mr. D looked at the wine and feigned surprise. "Dear me." He looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!"
More thunder.
Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his card game.
Chiron winked at percy. "Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off - limits."
"A wood nymph," percy repeated, still staring at the Diet Coke can like it was from outer space.
"Yes," Mr. D confessed. "Father loves to punish me. The first time, Prohibition. Ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years! The second time. . . well, she really was pretty, and I couldn't stay away. the second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for brats like you. 'Be a better influence,' he told me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.' Ha! Absolutely unfair."
"and. . ." percy stammered, "your father is. . . ?"
"di immortales, Chiron." Mr D said, "i thought you taught this boy the basics. my father is zeus, of course."
"his mum is some random mortal woman." bowie added on, "Mr Eagle man has affairs. lots of affairs."
Mr D gave her a funny look, "are you implying that my father has trouble staying faithful to his wife?"
"yes, sir." bowie said, suddenly becoming some kind of politeness monster.
Mr D nodded, "then you're completely right."
"you're. . . y - you're dionysius." percy said, having come to the realisation of who Mr D was, "the god of wine."
Mr. D rolled his eyes. "What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, 'Well, duh!'?"
"y - yes, Mr. D."
"Then, well, duh! Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?"
"You're a god."
"Yes, child."
"A god. You."
"Would you like to test me, child?" he asked percy quietly.
"No. No, sir."
He turned back to his card game. "I believe I win."
"Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me."
Mr D sighed through his nose. He got up, and Grover rose, too.
"I'm tired," Mr. D said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing - along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, again, about your less than perfect performance on this assignment."
Grover's face beaded with sweat. "y - yes, sir."
Mr. D turned to me. "Cabin eleven, Percy Jackson. And mind your manners." He swept into the farmhouse, Grover following miserably.
"Will Grover be okay?" percy asked Chiron worriedly.
Chiron nodded, though he looked a bit troubled. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job. He's been. . . ah, grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus."
"Mount Olympus? You're telling me there really is a palace there?"
"Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. And then there's the home of the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, Percy, just as the gods do."
"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like. . . in America?"
"yep," bowie nodded, "empire state building, matter of fact. hey, chiron, am I still needed?"
chiron looked at her thoughtfully, "I suppose not. though perhaps you could show percy around later, maybe along with annabeth."
bowie nodded. "well, I'll see you around, drooly boy." she patted his shoulder and went off. percy watched her walk away.
though, it wasn't long before they saw eachother again.
because of clarisse.
for any new arrivals at camp, clarisse had a. . . ritual she liked to give them ----- a nice welcome to camp halfblood! except not really because she dunked your head in a dirty toilet. was it mean? absolutely. was bowie going to stop her from doing it? absolutely not. even though they were sisters, bowie didn't doubt for one second that if she interfered on clarisse's fun, that it would be her head in the toilet water.
and that just wasn't something that she was keen on happening, it was just her personal preference to not be swallowing dirty toilet water.
it had started when bowie was just walking around camp, on her way to grab a new weapon because she figured she'd need a new one. then she heard clarisse's voice shout out:
"well! a newbie!"
bowie looked over to check who clarisse's poor victim was today ------ it was percy. great. bowie had a feeling who percy's dad was, and if clarisse did attempt to dunk his head in the toilet and say, something happened with all the toilet water, her suspicions would be pretty much confirmed of who his godly parent was.
she saw that there was a conversation between clarisse, annabeth and percy before clarisse grabbed the boy by the neck and started dragging him towards the bathrooms. he started kicking and punching but the problem was, clarisse was extremely strong.
as much as bowie wanted to follow over to the bathroom, she was worried percy would ask her for help and if she did, clarisse would put her head in the toilet. she didn't fancy that happening, at all. so she slowly walked a bit closer, trying not to be spotted. because another possibility was that clarisse got her to join in, like she sometimes tried to. but bowie felt it was a tiny bit mean dunking kids heads in toilets.
she stood by the door, watching carefully at what was happening.
clarisse bent percy over on his knees and started to push his head towards the toilet bowl. percy strained to keep his head up, because he obviously didn't want his face shoved into the scummy toilet water.
then the plumbing started rumbling, the pipes shuddering. water shot out of the toilet, making an arc straight over his head and it hit clarisse straight in the face and it didn't stop. her friends went to help her but the other toilets exploded and blasted them back.
as soon as they all were pushed out the bathroom by the water, it all stopped. the entire bathroom was flooded. bowie stepped inside, trying to avoid stepping in any really wet parts.
Percy stood up and saw bowie. "oh, hi, bowie." his legs were shaking.
"how did you. . ." annabeth trailed off.
"I don't know."
"have fun dying, percy." bowie stated, "clarisse is not gonna let you live after this."
outside the bathroom clarisse and her friends were sprawled in the mud, and a bunch of other campers had gathered around to gawk. Clarisse's hair was flattened across her face. Her camouflage jacket was sopping and she smelled like sewage. She gave percy a look of absolute hatred.
"You are dead, new boy. You are totally dead."
percy grinned at her, "you want to gargle with toilet water again, clarisse?" he mocked her, "I suggest you close your mouth."
bowie winced as clarisse lunged at percy, teeth bared and had to be stopped by her friends who ended up dragging her back to the cabin. she was yelling, feet flailing.
bowie blinked, "ah, that's not good." she gave percy a shoulder pat, "I'm probably gonna go sort her out. bye, drooly boy." she waved as she ran after clarisse, back to cabin five. clarisse was going to be very pissed about this.
AUTHORS NOTE. . .
-----sorry if this seems rushed, I'm trying to speed through this part of the book so we can get onto the quest as soon as possible