Lights Will Guide You Home

Lia had been waiting all day for this moment. She was excited and thoroughly enjoyed the summers because usually they had campfires. They still had them during other times of the year, but during the summer months they were more common. The daughter of Iris had been working in the strawberry fields all morning and afternoon. She loved caring and tending to the fruit in the fields and it definitely provided much needed distraction.

Taking care of the strawberries wasn't always easy. She often found if she talked to them it perked them up and when they were ready for harvest they tasted even sweeter than they did if she hadn't. It sounds a bit crazy, but Lia was very keen on taking care of the plants to the best of her abilities. Often times she had been asked if she was a child of Demeter or Persephone, but she'd always quickly dismiss them.

Regardless, now the sun was beginning to fall and campers had already made their way over from the dinning pavilion. Lia had a skip in her step as she hummed a tune making her way over to the Amphitheater. When she got there she saw a boy sitting there by himself and she walked up to him with a bright smile on her face. No one deserved to be without company! Lia was going to provide that for him. She took a seat next to him and looked over.

"Hi! I'm Lia! How about you? You know tonight really is a nice night. You can see the stars out tonight. I could probably point out some of the constellations to you too!" The daughter of Iris said rambling on about things like she usually did.

Robert was still trying to settle into what being a "demigod" was. One day he was a human, living a great life. Valedictorian of his class, and heading into what would surely be a great college career. Far before this year was even half over, Harvard had accepted him, praising him on his early-life accomplishments. Then, somehow, in one single day, everything was turned upside down. Only a week after graduation, Robert was face to face with some terrifying ghoul creatures. His only savior being a crazy looking man with goat legs. At that point, Robert was assuming hallucinations were the only explanation.

Apparently not.

Tonight had him looking to the sky for answers, or, the stars. Not that he felt he'd find anything the tens and thousands of star watchers had seen before. But researching the consolations was a good way to pass time, and he certainly wasn't looking to waste precious school time taking astronomy classes. Late at night, when he couldn't sleep, he'd look outside of the Athena cabin and star gaze. As horrible as it was to be a demigod, Camp Half Blood had the most clear night sky.

A girl approached him, which wasn't usual. In a mortal place, it wasn't the most strange thing. Common practice in this place was heavy cliche though, it seemed. Only strong personalities. He couldn't tell why everyone who was a demigod was more attractive than average folks. Guess it was the curse of godly genes. "Show me." He said, slowly deciding to welcome her over. He was curious as to how much she knew, and why she knew it.

When the demigod beside her asked for him to show her, her face lit up. "Ooh, okay! Sure!" She said very excited. It wasn't very often she got people to even talk to her. For the most part they were weirded out by her, but she knew most people just weren't comfortable with what they didn't understand. The rainbow haired girl didn't think twice about it and let things like that go. There was no use for being upset about something she had no control over. Her motto in life was to stay positive and to spread happiness, no matter the cost.

"Well, I can point out the most basic ones that everyone usually knows, or so majority. But the big dipper and the little dipper." She said pointing to each one. "They kind of look like deep spoons in my opinion. But what people don't usually know about them, is that they aren't constellations on their own." Lia said getting to the good part of basic constellations. "The big dipper, you see is part of a bigger constellation known as Ursa Major. Then to follow suite, the little dipper is the same thing, not a constellation, but is part of the constellation known as Ursa Minor. The big bear and the little bear! What's really cool to me is that Ursa Minor has the north star, Polaris!" The daughter of Iris had loved looking at the stars. Often times her father would take her out of the city so she could look at them and often times he taught her along with a book that he had with them. It was one of her favourite hobbies, to just look at stars and find constellations.

Robert didn't go to private school or anything like that, but he was positive that even if he'd went to the most prestigious school in this world, you wouldn't see someone get so excited over astrology. It didn't annoy him, but it did make him wonder how it must have felt to be able to enjoy all of the little things in life so much.

"The Big Dipper is referenced in the original old testament, as the Seven Stars, it's also portrayed in Alaska's flag." He told her, taking a second to glance back from the sky to her. He rose a brow looking at her, she was so excited, it was almost ency-inducing. Not that it mattered; hopefully he'd be out of Camp soon enough. "People usually think it was the ancient Greeks that began the study of the stars, but it was actually a Babylonian study thousands of years before it was Greek." Robert finished. Was that treason? He hoped it wasn't treason. Would that even be what the gods would call it?

"Yeah, I've heard of the seven stars, I can name them all too! Finding the constellations were always a fun thing I did with my dad and it's just a hobby I've continued since being here at camp. We really do have the best night sky out here! Makes me feel close to my dad though." Lia said a bit of her excited tone calming down a little bit as she talked more about her father. A lot of times she wondered if he had the time to go out and look at the stars. If he did, she wondered if they were looking at the same time.

"Oh right the names! Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar, and Alkaid! Ooh! Speaking of names I don't think I ever caught yours. Just to clarify, my name is Lia!" She said as she brushed a few locks of her rainbow hair out of her face. "You know, you sure know a lot about the history or stars. I'm guessing you like history, huh?"

Robert couldn't really relate to having a dad; his dad died far before he was old enough to remember anything. That didn't mean Robert felt empty or anything, he'd lived a great life so far, and hoped to keep moving forward. He took her context into consideration, formulating an educated guess as to who she was. Clearly, a demigod, as everyone else here was. She felt the sky here was superior to wherever she had been before, so he was assuming based on her accent and that, she wasn't from the south; at least, the belt of southern states before Arizona. California was hardly a southern mannered state.

"You're not catholic are you?" Robert asked, curiously. Sure, the seven stars appeared in both the old and new testament, but more Christian people existed in the world than Jewish people, and therefore, if she was religious, she was more likely a follower of the new testament. Not to mention, her hair seemed to be a good indicator that she wasn't of Jewish faith. Robert wondered what that might be like. A religious person, despite living in a mythological world.

"History is great, it's fascinating because of the eerie similar nature of events. But once you get passed the anomaly of everyone in the world doing the same thing, it's just remembering when what tribe did what, and how they were different in their endeavor." He explained. He placed his hand out to shake hers. "Robert." He replied.

It felt like the question came out of no where. Lia was a bit stunned by it, it wasn't the kind of question she thought was going to bed asked, but she just looked over to him. "No. My grandmother is Christian I believe, but I wasn't around her too much after a certain age in my life. So I don't really consider myself religious. Especially not after knowing all this exists." After speaking she had a light shrug. The daughter of Iris typically gave long winded answers to everything. It was just how she was. Lia loved to to talk.

"I agree! History was the one thing I loved to learn in school when I went. Well, that and art class. I love to draw, paint, sculpt, and I even did photography while outside of camp. Life isn't quite the same as it was, but you got to make the most of it. Now I tend to the strawberry fields all the time. Agriculture is quite fun. Oh, yes history though! Do you have a favourite time period? If so, why?" She asked, very curious to know the answer. She was hoping he did have a favourite, but she understood not everyone had one.  

"Nice to meet you Robert!" She said and took his hand in a soft, gentle, but firm grip for a hand shake.

"No. Well, maybe, if you count current events as a favorite time period. History has always been the same thing, repeated, only with the outside variables changed. If you look at the big picture, and compare it to other events, you can see mankind repeating itself, and sometimes guess what comes next. Statues being removed from public places is reminiscent of the American Revolutionary war. The lessening of Catholicism in prime Scandinavian areas is eerily similar to pre-Inquisition Spain." He explained. It was a strange topic, and probably wasn't going in directions she liked. Most of human history was warlike, and Robert has a pretty good suspicion that she wasn't exactly into violence. Then again, he'd seen stranger things lately.

Not catholic, firm handshake, committed dad, and an uncanny commitment to agriculture. He figured California or Florida would be a good guess. He figured there were still context clues to be found. "Do you have a favorite?" He asked her, he'd forgotten he'd come out to reconstruct constellations, still keeping his eyes on the rainbow haired girl.

Lia listened to Robert as he spoke. He was talking about current events and how a lot of things that were happening now were just like things that happened in the past. She nodded and understood his point. She wasn't the biggest fan of war or fighting, but acknowledged it happened. The daughter of Iris wasn't so naive as to think the world was all perfect and nothing bad happened, fights didn't happen. She wished that were the case, but it just wasn't so. Her own family to her knowledge weren't very good people.

"I like that answer. Not many people would go for that. Very different, you are Robert." She said with smile and her eyes wandered back up to the stars. The way they were so tiny up there and the way they twinkled always captured her attention. "I do have a favourite time in history. Russia in the early 1900s into the first world war. The Romanov family specifically was my favourite part."

After a few moments she found what she was looking for, "Oh! Then there's Orion's belt! It's a lot easier to see in the winter time. Fun fact ancient people often used Orion's belt to determine the season and usually when it was time to harvest things such as grapes."