Hestia remodels our cabin

When he opened his eyes, the room had been transformed beyond recognition. It seems some entity had seen fit to do a bit of remodelling whilst they were asleep. There were walls inside now, separating the boys from the girls. The walls were still white marble, with veins of celestial bronze, like lightning flowing through them. Looking around, there were four queen sized beds, one of which, he laid in, all with sky blue blankets. Above, there was a chandelier looking like an eagle, holding the light bulbs in its claws. There were two doors, one towards the entrance and one deeper into the cabin. Looking in that second door first, he found a bathroom, with a shower, a big bathtub and a toilet.

Back towards the other door, he opened it. The room he entered into was triangular with the Zeus statue standing at the Center of the hypotenuse. The door to the outside was on the side closer to the boys' room, whilst the wall on the girls' side was decorated with a couch and a 2x3 meter painting of Olympus. Thalia was sitting on the couch, her hands holding a teacup, which was steaming.

"Thalia, what happened?"

"Hestia happened. She is the goddess of the home, she appeared in the middle of the night, saying she couldn't let us live like that, so she took to remodelling the cabin. It was all over before I could protest, though I actually don't mind, Hestia has great sense for decoration" Thalia explained, taking another sip from her tea.

"Gotta remember to sacrifice something for her, as a thanks", he chuckled, "well, counselor, what is first on our agenda for the day?"

"Breakfast, after which we will do some swordfighting with the Hephaestus cabin, then some canoeing, followed by lunch, then archery and finally some time at the forges", she pointed at a pinwall on the wall, which had a list of activities on it for each day of the week. There was missing something though, "no Pegasus riding? Bummer, I like the wind through my hair"

Thalia got flustered, muttering something about it not fitting, before she turned around, "well, let's get to breakfast"

Alexander narrowed his eyes before shrugging, she probably had her reasons.

They walked through camp to the dining pavilion, sharing stories and laughing. Conversation with her was just so… easy, so natural. They continued talking even as they sat down to eat. Thalia shared that her brother had gone missing and how she missed him, whilst Alexander told her more in depth about his two quests. He had told her some of it already when she was a tree but one hour at a time wasn't sufficient to tell the story in its entirety. They soon walked into the arena, where Thalia took a sword from the rack and felt it in her hands, "not perfectly balanced but my blade is still being worked on, so this will have to do. Take a weapon, Alexander, lets see who is the better swordsman"

[quest: the winter overtakes the sky

Beat Thalia in your spar

Bonus objective: beat her in under ten minutes

Reward: one random attribute rank up

Bonus reward: 2 ranks in swordsmanship]

"I have my weapon with me", he willed snowstorm to take on sword form, "just swordsmanship or with powers too?"

"With powers, I want you to go all out!" She grinned sadistically.

"Okay, let's begin"

Immediately, Thalia threw a bolt of lightning at him, which he dodged with a roll. He countered with an ice javelin but she sliced it in two in mid air. Then, she rushed at him, sword swinging. They traded blows, clashing in the middle. Alexander was left defending, till there was a *ding*

Swordsmanship has ranked up to S+ rank

Within a millisecond, his technique become more refined and he clicked the watch, materialising his shield. She pulled up her's too and they continued clashing. She was stronger but he was faster and, with an unbalanced blade in her hands, she soon lost her grip and the sword fell to the ground. The quest was completed. It had been seven minutes, so he got the full rewards. He could feel his swordsmanship refining and reaching SS rank, "I win"

Thalia looked at him with disbelief, "you beat me?"

She stared, her mouth open and he could almost swear that there was a slight blush on her face, "again!"

The next fuel was even shorter, he had her disarmed in four minutes. That was the difference between S+ rank and SS rank. Their third bout, she won because she did the smart thing and kept throwing lightning at him. She couldn't beat him with pure swordsmanship, so she used her powers to level the playing field. He ate an ambrosia square and was back on his feet but they moved on to the next activity, canoeing, in which they raced against each other. Thalia won out, her extra strength was just too superior, "hah, not as great now", she celebrated. She needed that win after being humiliated like that in swordfighting. During lunch, Alexander specifically sacrificed to Hestia, "thanks for the remodelling"

"You are welcome", a girl sitting by the fire said. He had never seen her before. His eyes wandered up, above her head Hestia, "lady Hestia? It is an honor"

"All is good, I couldn't very well have let you sleep in the same room, boy and girl, it would've been indecent, though I suspect you will still sneak into each other's room from time to time, you two are so cute together", she chuckled and his face went red, though only for a split second, as gamer's mind went into effect, bringing a sense of calmness, "now go back to your little girlfriend, she is waiting"

"She is not my-" Hestia was gone and he walked back to the Zeus table.

"Took you long enough", she joked, "who were you sacrificing to, Koalemos?"

"Who?"

"The god of stupidity", she chuckled, taking a bite out of her steak.

"Percy's father?", he joked, causing Thalia to spit out her food, laughing.

"Good one"

In archery, they were about the same level of skill, with Thalia being marginally better. Finally, in the forges, they worked on statues. Little bronze statues of their fathers. Thalia's Zeus statue's eyes weren't both the same size and Alexander made the body way too small but it was still a lot of fun.