The Gift of the Lethe

Awake at Last

Nadia is hurled into awareness with a jolt, her eyes blinking rapidly at the light. Blurry shapes cross into her vision, shifting in and out of sight. She blinks, trying to make sense of her surroundings, and the blurs slowly begin to come into focus. Two people, both looking almost identical, one of them younger and one of them older.

She pushes herself up into a sitting position so she can see them better. The older man has a smear of blue below his waist, and it takes her a moment to distinguish it as a tail, like in the stories her mother used to tell her. She shakes her head. Stories? She doesn't remember any stories. Where did that thought come from?

He feels familiar, like she must have seen him before, but she hasn't? She doesn't remember it. The younger man says something to the older, quietly enough that Nadia can't tell what she is saying. But she can hear the man's response, although it is hard for her to understand. The unfamiliarity of the speech causes her to instinctually cringe away from the two, against the surface at her back.

"Eighteen, I believe."

Nadia's brow furrows and she snaps at the two of them, her voice taking on a hint of hysterics. "Who are you? Where am I? What's going on?"

The man raises his hands and speaks again in the strange speech. "Be calm, Nadia. I know you're confused, and I will explain everything in a moment. But you need to calm down. You're instinctually slipping into Ancient Greek right now, your brain is hardwired for that. But you do know English. It's the language your mother raised you with."

Nadia frowns. Her mother? An image appears in her mind, a young woman with curly hair and blue-gray eyes, the color of slate. A word filters through with the image. Seadrop, in the strange tongue. But she doesn't understand. Why does she have memories that are also not there at all? Why is nothing concrete? She feels like her mind is slipping away, but to where? Nadia shakes her head and frowns, trying to pick apart the new language. The two men wait patiently for her to figure it out, until she is comfortable enough to speak.

"Who are you? Where am I?"

"I'm Poseidon, your father. This is your brother, Perseus Jackson. We are currently in your brother Triton's palace, it was the closest to where we found you. Do you know who you are?"

"I'm . . . Nadia, I think." It doesn't sound entirely right, but it's the only piece she has.

Poseidon motions to the edge the cot and Nadia scoots back to allow him to sit. "Your name is Nadia Pallas Arien, and you are a half-blood. Half-human, and half-god. When you were two years old, your mother was killed because she refused to send you away. To protect you, my wife and I placed you inside a stasis crystal, a form of suspended animation, to protect you. It would also slow your growth as time passed so that while we were waiting, we wouldn't lose too much time. But these crystals aren't meant for long-term use, and your crystal was stolen many years ago. Percy found it and we brought you here to wake you."

"How long-"

"Over sixty years."

Nadia looks down at her hands. He said she was put in the crystal at two years old, but she feels far older than that. "How old am I now?"

"You look to be around eighteen years old. I'm sorry for the loss of your childhood."

Nadia mutters into her hands, switching back to the first language she spoke in. The one he called Ancient Greek? "It's not like I can miss it." She glances up, noticing a small smirk on Poseidon's face. "Is that why I don't have clear memories?"

"Yes. You seem to be acclimating well despite that though, despite it being very soon to determine."

Nadia shrugs. "I don't know why. I was dreaming the entire time though. Perhaps that helped?"

Poseidon scrutinizes her. "Morpheus could have helped you learn what you could, but it still doesn't entirely add up."

Nadia shrugs. "What do I do now?"

"You could stay with Amphitrite and myself for a while to acclimate, you could go to Camp Half-Blood to train, or-"

Percy cuts in. "What about me and Annabeth? I could ask if she'd be okay with Nadia staying over."

Nadia glances at him. "Who's Annabeth?"

She can see Percy flush. "Annabeth is my fiancée. She's a daughter of Athena."

Nadia mouths the name. Athena. It feels similar to something she knows, a tickling sensation at the back of her mind, but it also feels just a little different. She goes to smile at Percy but freezes when someone enters the room, her eyes locking onto their features in a flash of familiarity. The newcomer has blue-tinted skin and a green tail, his features similar to Poseidon's.

She blinks, he has two tails, not one. His face is identical to Poseidon's, with the only difference in his eyes and hair. His eyes are a softer green, more like mint than the blue-green shade that Percy and Poseidon shared. His hair is the same dark green shade as seaweed - when has she ever seen seaweed? - rather than the black hair of Poseidon and Percy. He sends a dark look Percy's way and then turns to Poseidon, overlooking Nadia entirely.

"Why have all my healers been removed from the infirmary?"

Poseidon gives him a sharp look, but his voice is calm. "Because there was a private matter, Triton. As you would have seen if you deigned to look around the room."

Triton slowly turns toward Nadia, his eyes widening at the sight of her. A frown instantly tugs at her lips. Did she do something wrong?

"Why are you staring at me?"

Nadia tilts her head, nibbling on her lip. "You look familiar, and I'm trying to figure out why, but my head is blank."

Triton looks to be unnerved by that. "Why is your head blank?"

"Because I have no memories."

"Why do you have no memories?"

Poseidon cuts in. "She was in a stasis crystal for seventy years, and she went in at two years old. She never got a chance to make memories."

Triton nods. "I'm sorry then. But if you don't have any memories, how would you find me familiar?"

Nadia goes to shrug, but Poseidon answers again. "She met you just before we put her inside the stasis crystal. But even then, she seemed very attached to you."

Triton takes another look at Nadia. "You were the limpet child?"

She flushes. Sure, she doesn't know what exactly they're referring to, but. . . no, a flash of memory. Emotions on his face-anger, pain? Sadness too. If she looks, she can see it on his face now, too. There are shadows.

"You're sad."

Triton startles. "What?"

Nadia tilts her head, scrutinizing him, and the understanding comes unbidden. "You're sad. Your heart is heavy and cracked. It needs to heal, but you won't let it. You need to let the pain go, or the approaching chance won't come. You need to take that first step towards healing. Please. Don't let it consume you. You must look to the future, not to the pain of the past. Unless you do that, she won't come back. She can't." As the words spill out, Nadia can feel herself speaking faster and faster, and her throat chokes up with tears and she can't breathe and why is this happening?

Triton just stares at her, his face hardening. "You know nothing." He looks to his father. "I don't want her staying here."

When he leaves the room, Nadia bursts into tears as the feeling of despair and heartbreak overwhelms her. She doesn't know why she's feeling it, but she is, and it is strong. Poseidon reaches out to pull her into a hug and Percy says something to Poseidon, his voice soft.

"I'll talk to Annabeth."

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Poor Nadia is quite a bit disoriented, isn't she? What do you think of her . . . headspace, I guess? What do you think of her interaction with Triton at the end? What was going on? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~ Goddess of Fate, signing out