The Gift of the Lethe

Is Owl Paparazzi a Thing?

Pallas sits at the edge of the water, kicking her feet so they skim and splash across the surface of the lake. The soft lap of the water against the shore makes a soothing sound, but it still doesn't settle the gnawing edge at the back of her mind, the tiny thing that tells her there is something she needs to do. She doesn't know what it is, exactly, but there's something there. Someone has to know what it is, someone besides herself.

Nothing else could explain how Percy and Annabeth keep looking at her like they know something, they've been doing so for the past three days. If only they would tell her what it was. She huffs and falls back against the shoreline at her back, staring up into the blue sky. There are a few clouds that drift across the sky, sped up in their movements by the wind that sends the trees behind her rustling.

"What am I forgetting?" Then she snorts. "Why am I talking to the sky? It isn't going to talk back."

She closes her eyes to listen to the water, only for them to fly open when a weight rests on her chest. She cranes her head up to peer at whatever it is, finding an owl to be resting just below her rib cage. It cocks its head at her and she frowns.

"Is there a reason you landed on me? I'm quite confident that I don't look like a branch, nor is it dark enough for you to be out and about, little owl."

The owl hoots, the sound somehow giving off a sense of delight, not to mention the fact that she somehow understands it. "I found her!"

Pallas frowns at the owl. "I have two questions. One, how do I understand you? Two, is there a reason you're so excited about finding me? Scratch that- I have three questions. Three, why are you trying to find me at all?"

"You are Pallas, mate of our Lady Athena. She blesses you!"

"Okay . . ."

The curl of wind that brushes over her face informs her of the approaching birds just as the owls land around her, presumably summoned by their friend. They crowd around her so tightly that she can feel their feathers press against her skin as they chatter to one another, flickers of their conversation reaching Pallas' ears.

"What's she doing down here?"

"-a quest?"

The rest of the owls chorus in. "On a quest, on a quest!"

Pallas frowns at them, her gaze flickering between the owl on her chest and the ones around her. "What's this talk of a quest?"

"You're on a quest, aren't you?"

One of the other owls chimes in to answer the first. "Yes, she is. A wing-friend of mine heard them talking about it a few nights ago. What's the quest about, Lady Pallas?"

Pallas opens her mouth to speak, only to be cut off by another owl. "Apples. I heard about apples. With sunshine!"

Apples with sunshine? What could that mean? The image of an apple with metallic flesh flashes through her mind, along with that push from the silent part of her that has been itching away in the back of her head. It's enough to give her a good idea that the owls are telling her what she's been forgetting.

"Excuse me, do you mean golden apples?"

"Yes yes yes!"

"Where would I find golden apples?"

The owl perching on her left arm shudders, its feathers puffing up. "We don't go there. Wing-friends get eaten by dragon."

"Dragon?"

The owl hops, digging its talons into the skin of her arm. "Yes yes! Dragon is mean. We can't go near garden. Bad things happen if we do."

One of the owls next to it pipes up. "My clutch-mate got eaten! Lady Pallas protects us?"

Pallas blinks at how the owl had changed the subject. "I don't understand."

"You have Lady Athena's favour. Can you protect us from dragon?"

"I'm not sure. Where is the dragon?"

"We lead you! But when night is here and it's time for hunt. This night."

The owl nibbles at her arm before turning to take flight, a single feather fluttering back down to rest on Pallas' chest. The rest of the owls follow, still sharing news back and forth. Pallas slumps back, resting her head on the grassy ground.

"Wow. They really are gossips."

She bursts into giggles at that, even if she doesn't know why it's so funny. When the fit of laughter subsides, she pushes to her feet, grabbing at the feather as it flutters down. After another moment of watching the lake, she turns away to start walking back to Percy and Annabeth's apartment. It seems that she'll need to tell them that she's going somewhere tonight, even if she isn't quite sure of her destination yet.

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What do you think of Pallas' paparazzi? Is it a clever way to get around no one helping her, or do you think it wouldn't work? What do you think will happen next? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~ Goddess of Fate, signing out