The Gift of the Lethe

A Duel of Cousins

Pallas presses on the owl at the base of her sword and it returns to the charm form, allowing her to cross back to where Thalia had deposited the weapons and pick up the metal-tipped staffs. She turns back to Thalia.

"Shall we?"

Thalia lightly tosses her sword to the side and accepts the staff Pallas throws toward her. She twists it, shuffling her hands towards the center of the staff. Pallas quickly moves to stop her, pushing her hands apart.

"Don't put your hands there, you want them a bit farther apart. If you have them close like that, it will be far too easy for me to knock that staff out of your hands."

Thalia looks down at the staff. "Huh."

Pallas gives Thalia's stance another sweeping glance and steps back, positioning her hands upon her own staff. Then she lunges, jabbing one end of the staff towards Thalia's side. Thalia leans back, letting the staff sweep over her head. With her own staff, she aims for Pallas' knees.

With a quick retraction, Pallas plants the butt of the staff on the ground in front of her, blocking Thalia's move. Then, before Thalia can pull her weapon back, Pallas kicks her foot out, dislodging the weapon from Thalia's grip. She bends down to pick it up, handing it back to Thalia to start again.

Thalia lunges first this time, the metal tip of her staff aimed right for her stomach. It takes Pallas half a second to bat it aside, blocking Thalia's next move. She's slower than she normally is, but that's on purpose. She isn't in one of her duels with Athena, she doesn't need to go all out. What she does need is the practice, and to not have another flashback.

She can't trust her spears, they're sure to set her off. But maybe the staffs, with a slower pace than when she practices with Athena, that may work. She hopes so, at least. Sensing Pallas' momentary distraction, Thalia tries her sweeping move again. Pallas catches on too slowly to escape it the way she did before, but she manages to step back and out of the range of Thalia's staff.

Then she retaliates, jabbing once, twice, and then blocking Thalia attempt to reach her once more. Thalia grins, her eyes sparking. Not sparkling, it's something more than that. She lunges again, and when the staff touches against Pallas', she almost drops it. Pallas' hand spasms at the electricity running through it, but she doesn't let go. Instead, Pallas jerks her staff back and glares at Thalia.

"No using powers, Thalia!"

"Sorry. It happens when I get too into it."

Pallas lifts an eyebrow. "Really. I'm sure you were channeling a lot of electricity for it to reach me through wood. Keep an eye on it."

"I'll try."

Pallas huffs and lifts her staff again, lunging. Thalia bats her staff aside and then angles her staff for Pallas' side. Her throat tightens in fear, but she controls herself enough to bat the staff aside. Thalia tries again, angling for the other side. As it nears Pallas, she freezes. The tip of the staff makes contact with her side, hard.

Hard enough for her to cry out in pain. But she doesn't say anything. She doesn't even move. She can't. The staff going for her side, it brought back the memory of another weapon. A spear biting into her flesh. With more pain than this staff gave her, but she can feel it. She's back there, and it's all she sees.

Pallas is stuck in the moment of impact. Feeling it over and over again. The hands on her arms are Athena's, her gaze shocked at what has just happened. The voice shouting her name, Athena trying to keep her conscious. But the shaking, the shaking doesn't make sense. She has a spear jutting out of her body, why is she being shaken? Someone else touches her and it almost feels like her father's hands, the memory of them.

But no. The touch is too light. She blinks, and her vision splits. Half memory, and half not. In the not-memory, Thalia is standing in front of her, and Artemis is beside her. Artemis says something, and though Pallas can't register what it was, she slides further out of the memory. Artemis does it again.

"Pallas, listen. What do you hear? Tell me what you hear."

Music in the trees, people in the camp. Shouting in her memory - but no, that isn't real. Is it? She isn't there. Not anymore.

"Birds. Wind in the leaves. Laughter?"

"Can you give me two more, Pallas?"

"Rustling- animals in the forest? Water trickling. Is there a stream nearby?"

"There is. How are you feeling?"

Pallas sags, closing her eyes. The memory is gone, but she can still feel the echoes. "Better?"

Artemis nods, giving Pallas a small smile. "That's good. No more sparring for the day, alright?"

"Okay."

Artemis steps back, turning towards the rest of the camp and leaving Pallas with Thalia. The girl is looking down at the ground now that Pallas is back to herself, pointedly looking anywhere but at Pallas.

Pallas frowns. "Thalia?"

She raises blue eyes, darkened in sorrow. "It's my fault."

"No. No! I knew this could happen, Thalia. It has happened before. Yes, I was hoping it wouldn't. But it's not your fault at all, Thalia. Don't blame yourself."

"And why not? It's true."

Pallas tosses her hands into the air. "Why can no one listen when I say to not blame themself? I am here for healing! That is going to involve pain too!"

Thalia gapes at her and lifts a hand. "Okay, okay."
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What did you think of this? What's going up happen next? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~ Goddess of Fate, signing out