"If you don't like our company."
"That's not fair!"
"I'm going to find Fields." She pushed past him and stormed away, hitting the tetherball as she passed. If the daughter of Athena had had an opponent, she'd have beat them in one go.
₪₪₪
That afternoon they burned Beckendorf's burial shroud. Even though it was made of fine chain link, it still melted easily among the coals, turning into golden smoke that rose into the sky. The flames, which always reflected the campers' mood, burned black, all together making a striking picture when Ash stepped forward to give the rites. Annabeth left without a word to Percy, but he stuck around to go over to where Clarisse and Ash flanked a shuddering Silena Beauregard.
"Hey, Silena, I'm really sorry."
She sniffled. Clarisse glared, but that was pretty commonplace. Chris, who was standing nearby, simply wouldn't make eye contact; Ash knew that he still felt guilty for being on Kronos' side up until Clarisse had rescued him from the Labyrinth last year.
Percy cleared his throat. "Silena, you know, Beckendorf carried your picture. He looked at it right before we went into battle. You... meant a lot to him. You made the last year the best of his life."
Silena began to sob, causing Ash to fret and bring her closer.
"Good work, Percy," Clarisse muttered.
"No, it's okay," Silena sniffled. "Th-thank you, Percy. I should go."
"You want company?" Ash asked, but Aphrodite's daughter just shook her head and ran off.
"She's stronger than she looks," Clarisse muttered to herself, but Ash nodded in agreement. "She'll survive."
"You could help with that," Percy suggested. "You could honor Beckendorf's memory by fighting with us."
Ash gave him a half-commiserating, half-exasperated look as Clarisse went for the knife that wasn't there anymore, left on the ping-pong table in the Big House.
"Not my problem," she growled. "My cabin doesn't get honor, I don't fight."
"All right," Percy sighed. "I didn't want to bring this up, but you owe me one. Owe us one." He motioned between himself and Ash. "You'd be rotting in a Cyclops's cave in the Sea of Monsters if it wasn't for us."
Clarisse clenched her jaw, lip wobbling slightly. "Any other favor, Percy. Not this. The Ares cabin has been dissed too many times. And don't think I don't know what people say about me behind my back."
Percy looked like he wanted to say something more when Ash stepped forward and put a hand on his arm. He took a deep breath but kept going anyways. "So what, you're just going to let Kronos crush us?"
"If you want my help so bad, tell Apollo to give us the chariot."
"You're such a big baby," Percy finally snapped.
Ash and Chris both had to hold their respective persons back. "Whoa, guys," the son of Hermes said. "You know, Claré, maybe he's got a point."
She sneered at him. "Not you too!" She stalked off with Chris at her heels. "Hey, wait! I just meant– Clarisse, wait!"
The two remaining demigods watched the last sparks from Beckendorf's fire curl into the afternoon sky. Then Ash sighed and tugged on Percy's hand, pulling him toward the sword-fighting arena.
"Let's go visit Mrs. O'Leary. She misses you."
₪₪₪
So somehow going to feed Mrs. O'Leary led them into the forest, which led them into a conversation about Grover with Juniper and the old council satyr Leneus, and then Nico appeared out of nowhere as he usually tends to do, so that was how one child of the sea and two children of the Underworld could be found having a picnic with Hestia, goddess of the hearth. Yeah, even Ash wasn't too firm on the timeline either, but that was how her life usually went anyways.