"No? What do you mean 'NO'? We're you even listening to what Storm was saying the whole while?" Deniz sounded exasperated and angry. But Storm hadn't uttered a word. He was intently looking at Percy, waiting for him to explain.

Percy awkwardly cleared his throat, "With all due respect for the risk your taking for us sir, I cannot make myself to take a name. I do not wish to be known as someone I'm not. I wish to rise through my own talents and abilities and... make a name for my own." 

"You're in the teenage fever kid. The entire world seems conquerable. You'll regret it later, and there will be nothing you can do to change it." Deniz tried making him understand, but Storm raised his hand, asking for silence. "You have been raised away from civilization Caspian. You do not know how deep and.. illogical these stigmas are. Are you sure you want to be known without a family name?" Percy nodded after a few seconds of hesitation. 

"Very well then, it's settled. I cannot force you into doing anything, but can merely advice you. I truly hope you are doing the right thing soldier-to-be. I hope to not see regret in your eyes the next time we meet, whenever that is. You can continue to the hall with your comrades, Caspian." Percy muttered a quick, 'You will not, sir." before giving him a quick bow.

Just before he lost sight of them, Percy turned back and asked. "Will I be treated any differently it I join your cohort, Major General?" he called out. 

"You'll have to be the best of the best soldier to get a pick of your own kid, stop dreaming!!" Deniz muttered. Storm just smiled at him and said, "Make no mistake, prejudices are very much prevalent in our cohort too. But it is one of the best place you'll find. You'll be treated no differently than I would treat Deniz here." 

Deniz eyes widened up at this. "That is not a reassurance I will cling my hopes to Casp." he warmed direly. Storm smacked his head lightly and both of them cackled up. Percy smiled at them and turned back, making his way to the training hall. 

******

The training arena was more like an indoor stadium. The damage from the recent battle could be seen at the southern end, where a part of the arena had collapsed. But other than that, it was intact. There was enough seats to fit in more than five thousand merpeople at a time. 

All the volunteers who had wanted to be soldiers had been divided into groups of ten. A parchment was being passed around to note down the team number and it's members. Their team was the thirty-second team, which consisted of six boys and four girls. 

When the parchment came to them, a boy who had the physique of a rugby player, Ryan, took hold of the parchment and started asking for their names. Gilly Thallassa, Murial Shelley, Sabrina of House Eldoris, Nori Yara, Augustus Waters, Aron Waters, Jordan Zelva, Ryan of House Murigen, Zale of House Morgan, and finally he said, "Caspian". "Caspian what?  He further enquired. "Just Caspian." Percy replied firmly. 

A sneer broke on his face, "Look, look guys, we have a bastard amongst us." he called out. "My father will be terribly displeased when he learns that I will be sharing barracks with a bastard." one quipped up acidly, the one who was Augustus Waters. "My father too." added Aaron Waters, as though the two of them didn't share the same father. Zale just shrugged in indifference. Jordan wasn't even paying attention to their conversation, he was already polishing his golden sword.  

Though the girls weren't as vocal at the boys, disgust was clearly written on Nori's and Murial's face. The others just looked apprehensive. "Too late to change things now." he found himself thinking, when their attention was called on by three mermen, two mermen and an ichthyocentaurs, half brothers of centaurs and mermen, to be exact. 

The fish pony guy was old with grey hair and the beginnings of a pot belly. He had a pale blue tail which slightly blended with grey. "You are all survivors of the Second Titan War, hence you are no strangers to death and misery. We have lost nearly forty percentage of our population, soldiers mostly, to save our father land. Now, the king calls upon you, citizens barely of age, to fill their shoes in battle. We've only got three days to train you newbies before all the main troops at the capital split up and go in different ways to fulfill their duties. You are all supposed to go with them. So learn as much as you can in the next three days and try not to die when you get into a real battle." 

 He stepped aside for one of the younger merman to brief them about their training program. "Since you'll been through a tiring journey, you'll all be shown to your accommodations now. We expect you to freshen up and arrive at the training hall at midday sharp. You'll receive further instructions then." he stated. The first few groups were already herding out of the arena. "By the way, I'm George, and I'll  be mentoring for the first twenty teams. Bythos, our mentor here, will be mentoring the next twenty teams and Bill here, will be mentoring the last twenty teams."

 The entire hall fell into silence before erupting into whispers at once. 

"Did he just say Bill, like 'The Bill'?"

 "Is he the legendary Bill?" 

"Awe, I want him to be mentoring me, not some stupid old guy." Zale muttered under his breath. Ryan pointed at Percy, "We just met him now, and he already brings bad luck wherever he goes." he sneered, Aaron and Augustus right behind him. Percy just rolled his eyes at them. The girls just looked at each other, but decided to put as much as distance they could put between him and themselves. Percy walked at the very back of the line preferring to keep his distance too.

Their barracks were nothing but tents with their team number hanging on it. All of them chose a makeshift bed as soon as they went in. Since all the members of the barrack were supposed to be staying together, the girls column was separated from the boys by a veil. Ryan and Zale were fighting over the bunk which had the only window beside it. Jordan had occupied the bunk in the furthest corner. And just his luck, there were five beds on each side. "The bastard can share beds with the girls, sissy that he is." Augustus called out, and all the boys started laughing at that. Percy chose to ignore them all. 

He requested permission to enter the girls column, for he knew his mum would want him to do so, as he grabbed hold of the small pouch of his from the lot of possessions. He had completely forgotten about the bag. Inside it lay his riptide, the wristwatch shield given by Tyson and a few drachmas. He safely put it under the pillow, out of sight for the prying eyes and quickly changed into the uniform provided. He could feel the eyes of the girls on him as they stopped whatever they were doing, feeling slightly embarrassed. He left before he could become the butt of any more jokes. 

Percy wasn't exactly tired as he had been sufficiently rested, though he had to admit, he did feel a bit drained, aftereffects of the poison, he mused. But what  troubled him deeply was the way he was treated for being a bastard. He had expected some difficulties, but this... This was a whole new level of discrimination. To be blamed as being a bearer of bad omens. As though he had told the Bill guy not to mentor him.

 He didn't even see what was so special about the guy. Sure, he was handsome with his neon green eyes, grass green skin, brown hair and navy blue tail, but he looked like a laid back guy. Not someone he would label 'legendary'.

Percy could see the main entrance of the palace from where he stood. His father was just a few yards away form him, at max a mile. Maybe in the throne room, or in his personal chambers in the northern side of the palace, if the maps pasted around were right. He had stayed in one of those rooms after the Andromeda explosion. 

Yet, he couldn't feel the slightest hum of the magic in the walls, nor in the water, being this close to him in his own realm. He wondered if Poseidon would recognize him in this form. If he was powerful and strong enough to do some magic. If he was guessing correctly, it had only been two days since the dream he had seen and judging from the fact that water healing wasn't functioning to its fullest, he wasn't hopeful. 

All around him teens were jostling around, getting comfortable in their temporary quarters, making new friends and discussing strategies. He even heard a few of them boosting about that Bill would be mentoring them. Not all the people at the arena had come with them, Percy realised as he saw teens just relaxing about near their tents. 

He gathered from the bits and pieces of conversations he heard as he walked around aimlessly was that a few of them had reached the capital a day ago with the scouts from the west. The southern scouts had arrived yesterday evening followed by the northern scouts, with whom he had come. A few of them who had come to the capital on their own had been staying in the tents for even longer. They had been given clearance to train with practice weapons until now. The official training began from today. By coincidence, they had arrived just on time. 

But he didn't dare approach anyone around. The lesser the people around knew him for a bastard, the lesser he would feel isolated, he theorised. He wished he could talk to Annabeth, but he wasn't sure if she was still angry with him or not. It had just been a day since they fought and she did need some time to cool down. 

Making an iris message was a bit complicated underwater, and there were just too many people around. He didn't want to get caught. He wasn't sure people here knew about it or used it as frequently as demigods. But he felt compelled to at least inform her that he planned to extend his stay, and pass on the message to his mom and Paul. He was reminded of the small letter his father had seen him years ago written on a piece of paper 'Brace yourself '. He immediately fetched himself a paper and ink. People here still used feathers to write. After some great difficulty, he had managed to write two line. 

"Hey Wise Girl, I'm fine here, have run into minimum trouble for now. I'll be staying here for the week. I know... I'm sorry. Please pass on this message to mom and Paul. Love you lots, P. " he signed.

He assured himself that a week of missing school wouldn't affect him that much with Wise Girl there to help him out. With a childish urge overcoming him, her folded the parchment into a paper rocket. He found himself saying. "Go to Montauk beach. Wait and go to Annabeth only. Or mom, I mean Sally or Paul, and maybe Grover if you find him first." he instructed. The rocket went out of sight within seconds. He hoped it really understood what he had said. 

Only after all this did Percy realise that most of the tents were now empty. There were only twenty minutes left to midday. Cursing himself for his absentmindedness, he went to their tent. Thankfully, the others had already left. Making sure no one was outside, he willed himself to use his powers. He shifted the veil such that his bed, which was just beside the entrance, was outside the veil. Though he wouldn't be getting the privacy the boys were getting from the girls, as his bunk would be in open view to all of them, it didn't bother Percy much. This was the best solution he could think of. 

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