Author's Note: This Reyna chapter was also too long, so I split it into two parts.
Thank you for reading!
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Although she was pretending to sleep, Reyna watched the other passengers and airline staff carefully to make sure that none of them were monsters in disguise. No one stood out to her, but that didn't mean they were safe.
Reyna didn't relax until they reached their cruising altitude at 30,000 feet. She looked around at the other passengers. None of them were paying attention. The woman next to Reyna, in the aisle seat, was asleep.
"Reyna," Annabeth said. "I'm ready to talk about the quest."
"Okay," said Reyna. "Right here? On an airplane surrounded by people?"
"I know how to manipulate the Mist," said Annabeth.
"Right, of course you do. You're perfect."
"The Fates are cruel," Annabeth put in. "Everyone knows that."
"Lots of people think that. It's an opinion, not a fact."
"Well, okay. Lots of people think the Fates are cruel."
Reyna frowned. "The Fates are harsh, but they're fair."
"I agree that they're harsh," said Annabeth. "They're definitely not fair. Is it fair that children have to die because three thousand year old disagreements haven't been resolved yet?"
"What's your quest about, Annabeth?"
"I want you to accept the premise that the Fates are cruel first."
"Are we talking about the Fates or the gods?" asked Reyna, the annoyance growing in her voice. She looked around at the other passengers to make sure they weren't listening. "You started talking about the Fates and now we're talking about Olympians sending their kids on quests."
"They work together."
"Well, I think that the gods are powerful because the Fates have deemed them worthy. The gods are fair rulers."
"Reyna, are you saying that because you're afraid of the gods or is it what you really believe?"
Gods, Annabeth was annoying. Not in a genuinely annoying way, though, it was kind of endearing. Kind of. "I honestly believe this. I've met my fair share of gods, Annabeth. You know? They're good."
"We think that the gods are powerful because they wield powers of nature over us that can kill us. Their powers are derived as a result of their birth. They got their powers simply by being born. They didn't have to earn them through merit."
It took some time for Reyna to translate Annabeth's argument into English: the gods are powerful because of their superhuman powers; that's not fair. She countered, "The Fates are the ones who gave them their powers. So the Fates have deemed them worthy of power."
"If that's the case, maybe the Fates are not good judges of character. Many gods are evil. For example, Zeus committed, um...violent...crimes...against women repeatedly. He's never lost a wink of sleep over those crimes. He's still in charge of Mount Olympus. Tell me, Reyna, is that fair?"
"He did those things thousands of years ago, Annabeth. He's changed since then. We shouldn't punish people for crimes that they committed a long time ago."
"Okay, but we've empowered a violent criminal and put him in charge of Mount Olympus. Is that really what you want?"
"He's not a violent criminal anymore."
"Yes, but he was in those days. The Fates saw fit to keep him in power while he committed horrific crimes. Is that fair?"
"What are you saying? We should throw the gods into a giant pit from which they can never escape?"
"No! Oh gods, no. I'm saying that the gods aren't fit to rule over us. So..."
"So...you want to overthrow them?" Reyna asked.
Annabeth's gray eyes turned stormy and kind of scary, the way they did whenever her emotions became intense. "Yes."
Reyna fell silent. She wiped her hands on her pants. "Annabeth, don't be crazy." Her voice quivered once. Maybe it was the airplane shaking. "The gods are the only immortal rulers over nature. Without them, the world will fall into chaos."
"No, it won't. A council of minor gods, demigods, monsters, and mortals should replace the Olympians as rulers. We'd need to change how we choose leaders, of course. I mean, at Camp Half-Blood, we've fallen into the trap of allowing the demigods with the most power over the natural world to become leaders. Powerful demigods wield power over the elements as a result of their birth, not their merit."
"Wait, Annabeth. I've met these gods. They're good."
"No they aren't. They've consistently overstepped boundaries by forcing their children to go on dangerous quests on their behalf. Did you know that Poseidon told Percy that his birth was the result of a 'mistake?' That mistake being, 'Whoops, I've cheated on my wife for the past three thousand years!' We need to stop giving the gods power. They keep abusing it to prey on mortals. We can't allow this to keep happening. The gods' reign has to end."
"Percy told me about the Titan War. You sound like Luke. He thought the gods were flawed too. He wanted to overthrow the gods too."
"I'm not Luke," said Annabeth. Her voice was tight. "He wanted to empower the Titans, a force even worse than the gods. I want to empower demigods. You. Me. Anyone worthy of rule. Anyone who sought wisdom before power."
The idea of being in charge instead of the Olympians shocked Reyna. She wanted no part of it. "But what about nature? Like, if the goddess of springtime isn't around, what will happen to spring?"
"There are other gods outside of Greco-Roman mythology," said Annabeth. "They can deal with controlling nature, you know."
Reyna's military experience put up alarm bells at that. She thought about how dictators often grabbed power. "What if the other gods are just as cruel? What if they're worse and we create a power vacuum where the cruelest of gods is able to grab power?"
"We have to start somewhere," said Annabeth. "We won't let an outside god rule us. That's why we are on this quest. I have to figure out what happens with the other gods if Greek and Roman gods are eliminated."
"This seems like it could take years to figure out."
"Maybe. My hope is that we'll rule ourselves with a council of demigods or other worthy rulers. Anyway, I have a plan for the negative scenarios..."
"This is all very convoluted," Reyna said. "Besides, that's not our duty. Demigods aren't meant to rule. Demigods should slay monsters to protect society, not question the motives of gods."
"Have you read Plato?"
Reyna had to think about it. Her life of running from pirates and manias hadn't left a lot of time for philosophy. She sometimes felt a little insecure when other people brought up books that they were reading because she spent more time on her feet and fighting than sitting in a cozy nook, reading a book. Part of her thought that no one ever accomplished anything great while reading. Another part of Reyna thought that readers were more capable of accomplishing greatness.
"No," said Reyna.
"Plato's Republic argues that people with true knowledge of morality and the best means of ruling gained that knowledge by seeking wisdom, not power. He argued that wise people, not people who desire power for the sake of power, should be rulers. Reyna, I have worked all my life to gain wisdom."
"That's good," said Reyna. "You're living up to your potential."
"What is the point of all of it? Why do I read so much? Why do I learn so much? Why do I dedicate myself to wisdom? It's no good keeping all of the knowledge and learning locked up in my head. I can use my wisdom to make the world a better place. I can be in charge of Olympus."
"That's your hubris talking, Annabeth," said Reyna, feeling almost sorry for her friend. Her fatal flaw was what caused her to think that she could run the world. "You don't really think that."
"That's what I thought at first," said Annabeth softly. "But hubris is part of the Cosmic Lie. I know I'm intelligent. That's the gods' problem with me. It's easy to rule over simpletons. It's more difficult to rule over beings who are more intelligent and moral than yourself."
"What? You're saying hubris isn't real?"
"Hubris is a story that the gods tell us to keep us in line," said Annabeth. "When Arachne wove the tapestries, the gods said that her belief that she could beat my mother was her downfall. They said hubris was her downfall. But I saw her tapestries. They were more beautiful than anything on Mount Olympus. She was a better weaver than my mother. She knew she was better than my mom and she was. Is that hubris? Or is that just the truth?"
"If you're arguing hubris doesn't exist, you must think you don't have a fatal flaw," Reyna scoffed. "The idea you think you're infallible is definitely a side effect of hubris."
"That's what the gods want you to think. It's circular logic."
"Annabeth..."
"Arachne's downfall came because she challenged the gods, yes. But the problem wasn't Arachne's hubris. The problem was the gods' jealousy. They're vindictive and cruel. We shouldn't tolerate being ruled by jealous, vindictive, cruel immortals just because we're afraid of their cruelty."
(scene continues in next chapter)