The gods kicked us out of the Throne Room once Annabeth had made her argument, claiming they needed to debate the arguments that were made before making a decision. It did seem like they actually were arguing about it, because as we busied ourselves outside thunder crashed more than once.

Annabeth wandered off into a nearby garden, still in sight of the doors to the building, and Rachel and I sat next to each other on the steps.

"Do you think we have this?" She asked, fiddling absentmindedly with her shoelace.

I paused, thinking. "Honestly? I think we do, but when have we ever been able to guess what the gods think about things?"

Rachel snorted and leaned back on her elbows. "True... what if they say no?"

"I'll fight them." I drew water from the fountain in the garden Annabeth was in, making it spiral over the two of us.

Rachel slapped my arm. "I know that's a joke, Comet, but don't you dare. Even if we can't be together I don't want to lose you."

I chuckled and nodded, forming the water into a ball. "Alright, alright."

She leaned her head on my shoulder, watching what I was doing as I slowly pulled sections of the water away from the ball. "What are you making?"

I shrugged, glancing up at it. "Nothing in particular. Just... practicing. Keeping myself on my toes."

"What do you mean?" Rachel raised her eyebrows.

"Well... do you ever do one type of art for a really long time and then go back to another, and find out that your brain is a little rusty at it just because you've been away so long?"

She paused, tilting her head. "Kind of. I mean, I can see what you're trying to get at."

I nodded. "I spend so much time throwing waves around, dragging huge reserves of water and energy with my power, and sometimes it's a good thing to just sit back and re-attune myself with the little things. Simple water control, manipulation, that kind of stuff."

To prove my point, I let my water creation sink to my hand and held it out to her. Rachel laughed at the little comet spinning above my palm and reached out, poking it gently. I made it whirl faster and she snorted.

"I wished I had superpowers when I was a little girl." She looked up at me. "I wanted to be able to fly. Go places I'd never been. Be able to just leave when I wanted and forget my worries... although, ten year old me was more worried about her classmates hating her than anything."

"You could always ask Jason to take you somewhere. With Piper's permission." I joked.

Rachel shook her head, chuckling. "That's not the same, but I see your point."

She looked down at her hands suddenly. "When I met you for the first time, and realized that there were people in the world who had the powers I wanted, I was a little upset."

I nodded slowly.

"Then," she smiled, looking up and making a gesture to what was around us. "All of this happened, me becoming the oracle, coming to Camp Half-Blood, all of that, and I realized, I do have a superpower. One that a lot of demigods probably wish they could have."

"Normalcy." We looked up to see Annabeth standing there. I wasn't sure how much she'd heard, but she nodded at Rachel. "You're not wrong."

Rachel grinned. "Grass is greener, I guess."

Annabeth nodded, then looked up as the huge doors to the Throne Room scraped open behind us.

I sent the little water comet shooting back to the fountain and stood up, taking Rachel's hand as we turned to face whichever god had come to get us.

Aphrodite cooed just a little bit, and beckoned with one perfectly manicured hand. "Come now, we've made a decision and it's time for you to hear it."

I squeezed Rachel's hand reassuringly as Annabeth once again led us up the stairs and into the building.

Several gods were slumped sullenly in their seats, but I had no clue who was on our side and who wasn't so it didn't help. I glanced at Rachel and smiled as I saw her head held high, eyes flashing defiantly.

"Percy Haley Jackson and Rachel Elizabeth Dare."

Hera's voice boomed over the room. She seemed very happy with the outcome, but that didn't ease my concerns as I looked at her.

"You have made quite a few arguments concerning your relationship, and its validity. While these arguments were sound and interesting, there was quite a split in this room over deciding to grant your request."

"I assume you've come to an agreement?"

She shot me an annoyed look before nodding and sweeping her arms wide.

"Under the conditions that Miss Chase argued, you are going to be allowed to pursue a relationship, under heavy scrutiny of several gods."