[center][hr][hr] [img]https://i.ibb.co/C3bm9WLY/Shiathari-5.png[/img][/center] [hr][hr] [right][b][i]...o n e w e e k a g o…[/i][/b][/right] It was a hotel they'd stayed at before, a few years ago, when Lennie was first applying to universities, touring them, interviewing. McGill was in Montreal, but Quebec City had drawn them in instead. At least Ava had always made sure her daughter learned both languages of Canada, and it served her well both for applying at McGill and in vacationing in Quebec City. They had gotten along well on that trip, mostly, except when Lennie had refused again to even speak to the department heads for music or medicine. She pushed away that annoying thread of guilt that refused to abate. They had traveled frequently, even beyond just how often they had moved around. Her time at university had been one of her longest stretches of staying in one city. And even then, each holiday or summer break had meant taking off with her mother, across Canada or down to the States, a quick trip to London or Paris - though they were unfathomably snobby about her French. She lounged in one one the suite’s plush lounge chairs, bare legs dangling over one of the arms. A groan pushed out of her throat and her head bounced against the opposite chair arm. [color=fafad2]“Why even bother?”[/color] Guilt from what had happened and what could never happen pulled her down, pushed her one way then the other. She had been languishing in the luxury of the Fairmont for two weeks now. Her mother’s estate had been settled, her funeral already just a memory. The words bounced around the empty room, meant for no one other than to put meaning to the dreadful feeling that embraced her, smothered her. Why bother with her mom’s final request - no - not request, instructions - no - orders? Why bother finally embracing the pieces of her tied to a father who couldn't ever bother to show up, not even once, in her entire life. Not once, even with how lovesick her mother was twenty years later. Not once, when she was left alone to carry on. [color=fafad2]“What else am I going to do?”[/color] She answered her thoughts aloud. Her final year at university was over before it ever began, though they had offered her a year deferral due to trauma. Maybe she could return to that, it annoyed her to be so close and yet not finish it properly. A year of travel first, one party to another, continue the high life like her mother had always done. Then back to McGill and finish undergrad even if it… [b]“Die, probably.”[/b] The voice came suddenly, with a bright figure blinking into being. Elena had time to fling herself forward from the chair to her feet, her heart in her throat, when recognition triggered. Even if she had never seen him before, there was no mistaking the man, the god before her. [b]“Very slow. You need the training.”[/b] The man looked her over, his voice a beautiful music that should have been pleasant and soothing. It probably would have been to anyone else, even tainted heavily with judgement. Lennie frowned. Now? Now is when he shows up without even a hello or how are you doing or sorry for your loss? The words couldn't form in time, her mouth dry and tongue refusing to form the many rebuttals that coursed through her mind. She could only stare at him, eyes wide, arms crossed against her abdomen, mouth slightly agape. She hadn’t even brushed her hair that day, it was in a mess of a bundle that threatened to come undone at the slightest movement. [b]“You're taking too long. You cannot be late.”[/b] His voice still dripped with judgement, other than his tone, his body was loose and he looked at her with all the disinterest of meeting a new intern or something. Still, it sounded like a threat to her, more than a warning. [b]“Here.”[/b] He extended a hand that was now wrapped around a glimmering roll of paper. [b]“The Camp is not easy to find, don't disappoint me.”[/b] He turned away the moment Lennie took the scroll from him. Her mouth finally caught up with the raging thoughts. [color=fafad2]“That's it?”[/color] She hated the way that squeaked out, disappointment laced through a simple question. [color=fafad2]“That's all you have to say to me?”[/color] [b]“Yes. Goodbye, Elena.”[/b] He was gone, the room darker without his brilliance. Midday sun still poured into the room through the wide open curtains, but it felt dim and drab now, as her eyes readjusted. Her heart raced, thumping against her chest with a dying surge of adrenaline. Her mother had known about the camp, how? It was a question she had tried hard to ignore ever since that stupid email appeared in her inbox. She had known and hidden it, hidden how she had learned about it, until it was too late for them to have an explosive weeks-long argument about it. [color=fafad2]“Well fuck you too mom. Dad. Both of you.”[/color] Rage-filled tears threatened to spill out. Lennie’s hands squeezed the roll and for a brief moment she considered tossing it in the trash and leaving regardless of what Apollo said. Slow? She wasn't slow. She wasn't disappointing. Who was he to say that as if he had ever been around to know just what she was capable of? Lennie looked at the scattered bits of her life throughout the suite and let out a long sigh. A challenge was a challenge even if she didn't want it to be. It would pick and scrape at her until she just did the thing to prove she could. So she would. [hr][hr] [right][b][i]...n o w…[/i][/b][sup]outside camp[/sup][/right] [hr] The rest of her trip had been uneventful. The flight to Athens International had been long enough that she had a couple of nice naps in between watching trashy new releases. The wine hadn’t hurt either. From Athens she took a couple of puddle jumper flights until she landed on the island her mother’s instructions had contained. It hadn’t been hard to see which direction to go next, even without her da-Apollo’s instructions. The mountain loomed over the island, and quickly enough it surrounded her. The last few miles took longer than the rest of her journey to the camp. Lennie pushed herself the rest of the way, the scroll Apollo had given her had been nothing more than a compass that she trusted pointed not north but to Camp Athens. It took her a winding path up the mountain. The weather turned colder, though nothing quite like the winters spent in Alberta or Calgary. Snow began to fall and then the ground was covered with a deep blanket of white. She was glad she had bought hiking gear in town before taking off. She wasn’t sure if it was her head or not, but at a certain point, something felt different. She trudged on, checking the compass every so often to ensure she was still going in the right direction. The wall that appeared at the horizon told her she had. She crumpled the scroll into her backpack, if she couldn’t find her way from here, she really would be a disappointment. No one seemed to be around, though she thought there were others that had gone this way from footprints still visible in the snow. The gate closed but left unmanned. [color=fafad2]“Anyone home?”[/color] She called out, her voice carried away and muffled by wind and snow. Lennie laughed dryly. All this distance to be stopped at a gate? Her eyes darted around the gate where it met the wall, looking for an intercom box or alarm, or…something. The small metal box finally caught her attention. She pulled off a thick glove to feel around, her thumb landing against a cold smooth glass surface. A buzz followed by the creak of metal told her it had been that simple. And weird, definitely weird. She walked through the gates, buildings ahead of her, she made her way towards the largest, calling out in a half-sing-song manner again. [color=fafad2]“Hellooooo!”[/color]