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Before they could get off at a run, Mads stopped the two of them - everything in this place smelled about the same degree of awful to Leda, but Mads' had a keen sense of smell. So when Mads said to stop, Leda let the girl slide off of her back, and got herself ready, bracing for anything. Most likely a fight, though. A fight or an escape. Those were the only two options that they really had in Tartarus - fight or flight. It was constant survival mode, one where they could expect no allies, no aid.

When Mads waved her forward, Leda joined her at the cage exit, peering out - it only took her a second or so to see what Mads had found. Harpies. Leda frowned. There was a pack of them. Running past them wasn't without risk - even at Leda's speeds, monsters could sometimes keep up with her. But engaging them could also just draw more monsters to them. "Mmm. Are you feeling lucky?" Leda murmured.

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Maybe it wasn't completely logical, Nancy's hatred of Leandra. But anger had always been her fatal flaw. And so many things were out of her control. This was one small piece of the puzzle that Nancy had absolute control over - one small way that she could get retribution for everything that had happened, from the fall of New Rome to losing Mads. Besides, Leandra was dangerous. Too dangerous to be allowed to go simply into exile. And yet somehow unkillable.

A brief image flashed through Nancy's mind of Leandra, tied to a post as an eagle soared around her, stopping periodically to eat her innards, her body roasting under the glaring light of the sun.

She stared at the prisoner, her tongue still severed. Niah was quiet by her side. Shame prickled within her. Niah didn't have such vicious fantasies - she had control where Nancy did not. "Your trial is soon," Nancy said, breaking the silence. Her eyes narrowed, as she sunk into the comfort of her anger, leaving the shame behind - for the moment, at least. "I want you to know that for everything that is about to happen to you, you'll only have yourself to blame."

Her hands shook.

There was only one person she hated more than Leandra - only one person who carried more blame.

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@Kirah@Morose Leandra turned to look at Niah and Nancy as the two of them entered the tent, she couldn't really say or do anything with her tongue cut off, all she could do was make grunting sounds really. She simply turned and looked back in the corner of the room that she had been staring at. Leandra ate half of her food, and her up of water was in the corner of her cell as well to. Hercules looked at the woman who was in the cell and then over at Nancy. "She doesn't seem that threatening." He said, as Joany flew over and landed back onto Nancy's shoulders demanding attention. A few seconds later a member of the Senate poked their head into the tent looking at Niah and Nancy. "They Senate is ready now." They told the two of them, then they approached Niah producing a compass. "Also this came for you, not sure who sent it really." They told Niah.

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Kirstin nodded slightly she could understand she was a year round camper as well to, she rarely ever did go home and when she did it was only for holidays and whatnot to visit her family and that was about it. She wanted to make sure that her family was safe and they wouldn't get hurt because of her. Kristin would feel terrible if her family did end up getting hurt she looked out at the ocean seeing some of the campers were enjoying the warm water she did enjoy the beach.

"I can understand you not wanting to head back home, but the option is your if you ever do choose to go home sooner once all of this is all over." Kristin said as she went and sat down on the ground looking out into the ocean it was actually very relaxing as she looked at both Andy and Stella but mostly to Andy knowing that she had lost someone close to her during her quest. "We'll find her for sure." Kirstin said to Stella giving her a friendly smile hoping that'll cheer her up.

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Kiera listened to both Zeke, Demi and Alexios as the two talked. "I guess i'll see you later then Zeke." Kiera said to Zeke as he decided to leave the rest of them to go and attend the whole trial thing that the Romans were holding. Something that she didn't really have much interest in at all. Kiera went back to continuing with her breakfast as she looked between Demi and the party god for a moment it was a little bit weird to see that Demi had been betrothed to a god.

"It's okay you are a very cute party pooper." Alexios said as he snapped his fingers and a bouquet of flowers suddenly appeared and handed them to Demi giving him a loving smile. "Here found these for you on my way over and thought you'd like them." Alexios said giving Demi a loving smile hoping to win him over in some way he was glad that Zeke had left so he could spend more time with Demi alone.

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Madalyne thought for a moment, if they fought them that could draw more monsters to them, but if they tried to flee the area they could also be spotted. This was a situation that they had encountered a few times since they had been trapped down in here as she looked over at Leda. "Lets take them out and we zip on out of here." Madalyne said as she slowly started to stand up, she could use her magic, but she wanted to at least make it look like that the monsters were attacked by one of their own which was also another common thing to see to.

"I'll shift and attack them, then you can mop up the rest." Madalyne said to Leda as she shifted into her werewolf form with ease and quickly attacked the pack of Harpies. There were six of them as the wolf managed to land on one of the Harpies Madalyne took a bite out of the one she landed on killing it instantly. Madalyne then pounced on the second one taking it out as quickly as well to, the remaining four Harpies started to screech and tried to flee.

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Andy nods at Stella's explanation of the words she had used. That makes sense. If you have two parents of the same gender you can call them the same name, like Mom or Dad, you have to use a different nickname to differentiate who you are talking to. It would be very confusing otherwise.

Andy takes off her shoes and socks letting her feet sink into the sand. She smiles sadly at Kristin appreciating the reassurance. "I'm sure we will." She nods agreeing. If they didn't...Andy doesn't want to think about those options. She wasn't the only one missing Mads, there were others that were upset. It wasn't just her though. She missed Arthur. With her birthday coming up she didn't know how she would spend it without him. He had made the birthday a good day. It had been the first she had liked.



"Appearances can be deceiving. She has 'allegedly' betrayed the whole of New Rome." The quotes around allegedly were obvious in Niah's voice. Her voice may not have been dripping with the venom she felt, but that was only because she knew she had to remain neutral. She'd do a proper read on Leandra during the trial and determine if she had broken her Oath to New Rome.

She took the offered item, a compass. Niah looked it over curious about it. Wondering if there were markings that she would recognize. She had a thought pop up that she hoped it wasn't cursed. It was too late she had already taken the compass. Niah frowned a little while examining it.

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She was glad that they were heading out now. The chaos and noise was getting to be a bit much for her, and she preferred it from that. Whatever was going on with the others or anything like that, she very much didn't care. At this point it was just nicer to get away from all of that and just enjoy the sun and all.

Hearing Isaac's question as they walked along, it took a moment for her to come up with a full answer. "I prefer to just sahrt o' set dere, lestenin to de water... 'earin de birds around me and de waves. It's always been calmin to me," she ended up responding to him. It was always a good thing to relax and not worry about anything. Forget all of your worries and all, it was nice. Though usually she tended to be by herself when she did that sort of thing though and not usually with other people at the time.

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Ezekiel walked into the space where the senate was meeting. He nodded acknowledgements to some of the people he recognized but mostly hurried to find a seat in the back. Ezekiel ran a nervous hand through his hair as he sat, glancing around to find Nancy, but he didn’t see his half-sister anywhere. She was probably just getting Leandra. His fingers twitched at his side, playing chords on the strings of an invisible guitar.

Would Nancy care that he was here? Or care that Alexios had returned with news about the doors of death? Or that the party god was still intent on winning Demetri over somehow? Ezekiel wasn’t really sure, but he knew she would care about the doors of death. All of that would have to wait until after the trial.

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Stella was glad they had reached the beach, and leaned down to remove her shoes and socks and held them in her left hands. She let the sand gently work between her toes as she took each step, and warm up the soles of her feet. She gently wiggled her toes with each step, and let the sensation warm her up, and comfort her. She was glad that she had the option to go home if she really wanted, but she wasn't really to leave Andy alone yet. Especially with her birthday coming up.

She sat down on the ground and gently pet Arbor and ran her hands along his back lovingly. She was glad for the reassurances that everything would work out, but would it? "Thank you Kristin. How are you doing, Andy? Wanna pet Arbor a bit?" She looked over at her friend, and gently tilted her head a bit. She could tell that there was something on her mind, but she didn't want to pry too deeply, make her feel like she had to talk.

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Location: Camp Half-Blood

Skills: N/A

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Sera gave a tiny wave of goodbye when Zeke left as she listen to Alexios and Demi speak about the death doors. "Soo question or maybe actually questionsssss....um what are the Doors of Death? Is it like the Gates of Hell? Where you walk through and never get out? Or can you get back out of them?" Tilting her head slightly with the confusion of a puppy dog basically. She still had lots to learn about, so of course she'd be questioning everything, all the demigod knew was that it was rather important to get to those Doors for the prophecy if she could recall correctly.

"Awww, those are such pretty flowers!" Sera always found flowers beautiful and almost wished she was a daughter of Demeter since they got to enjoy the ways of horticulture more than anyone. Maybe she could try taking care of a tiny pot of flowers with some help. Thoughts for another day. Right now she should be paying attention to the topic at hand.

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Demi smiled as the flowers appeared in Alexios' hands. Taking them and handing them towards Sera to take a closer look.”I didn't realize flowers grew in…actually where do gods go when then appear from one location to another? Is there a land in between? A realm of power held by some god of travel or something. I mean god's are all broken down into semantics in the end right? We have my uncle the Lord of the Dead, but good old Thanny is the the one of Death. So it stands that while Hermes is the god of Travellers, perhaps there's one of Travel itself.” He began to think before eating the rest of his meal before turning his attention back towards Sera.

”From what I've gathered, they're a tool to be used by Thanatos, The God of Death. It's like a doorway into some place deeper and more horrific than the Underworld, Tartarus. Where monsters go when they day and I guess come back from? From the sounds of it you can get out from there just as well as get in via the Doors, but why it hasn't been done before is beyond me. I don't know the mechanics of it all but I intend to ask Thanny-Boi when we meet him.” Demi said, answering Seras question before raising an eyebrow at Kiera as he was about to tease. ”You exciiiited? I mean, I know Nance and Zeke are focusing on the whole Roman rescue, but isn't your girlfriend also coming back? Good old Rainbow Brite herself. I bet it'll feel great to be reunited again.”

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Leda nodded in agreement with Mads' plan - it was sound enough. They'd attack, and then run from the scene as fast as they (Leda, really) could. Mads would begin with an assault in wolf form, surprising the pack of Harpies, and then Leda could rush in with Ultraviolet and carve them up, turning them into shreds. She took a breath, watching silently as Mads turned into her wolf form, pouncing on the pack - biting one and killing it, before springing onto another. It was a magnificent act of brutality and savagery, and Leda counted the spaces between heartbeats, before taking up her sword and sprinting to join the fray.

The first swing of her sword was clean, slashing up through the midsection and across the harpie's chest, the monster exploding into sand around her, the angered winds of Tartarus - partially kicked up from Leda's own run - spattering them against her face. But she didn't stop, ducking beneath an attempted attack, before swinging her blade once more, another of the harpies meeting their temporary fate.

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Nancy clenched her jaw at Niah's use of the word allegedly. It stung like a snake's bite, a flash of red hot pain followed by a cooling venom. She knew why Niah phrased it like that - that Leandra's trial hadn't happened yet, that she had not been convicted, that she was only accused... But Nancy didn't care. She knew that Leandra was guilty. Niah knew it, too. If it hadn't been for this half-assed immortality Leandra had stumbled her way into, she would be dead by Nancy's hand. And if Nancy had the means to do so, she would have killed her a thousand times more until death finally took.

"There's nothing alleged about the things she's done," Nancy said darkly.

Her body felt restless, her fingers tense, buzzing with energy. Her anger was only interrupted by a member of the Senate entering the tent, saying that it was time. Nancy nodded. Her eyes darted towards Leandra, and then followed her gaze to the cup of water in the corner of her cell. Nancy's left eye twitched slightly, and before she had even finished the thought, she walked forward and kicked the cup, spilling the water onto the ground. Just because Leandra was unable to die did not mean she was immune to suffering.

"Bring the guards in - I'll help escort her personally," Nancy then ordered. She wasn't going to allow Leandra a chance to escape.

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@Kirah@Morose@KazAlkemi As Niah picked up the compass she would noticed that it was it was made out of a bonelike material, which also had a metallic like shine to it as well to. There was also another metal like trim which was imperial gold around the small glass which held the little needle in place which was also made of imperial gold however the directions that were north, south, east and west were in different rune like symbols. On the back of the compass also contained the same rune like symbols inscribed onto it which she wouldn't be able to identify.

Leandra flinched when some of the water splashed onto her slightly when Nancy kicked it. The senate member nodded as they left and a few seconds later two armed guards came in and unlocked Leandra's cell and escorted her out of the cell. They made sure that Leandra was handcuffed and she was escorted to the largest tent that the New Romans used for the Senate meetings. Once inside Zeke would see members of the senate from each of the five cohorts were entering now as well as Leandra, Hercules and the guards leading her inside.

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Isaac nodded as he sat down next to Janelle and looked up at the ocean seeing several Hippocampi in the distance breaching the water like dolphins which was always a sight to see Janelle would be able to hear them making horse like noises as well to. "So do you have any favorite dishes back from Ireland?" Isaac asked looking over at his half sister mostly curious he had never been there before really and was curious what their food was actually like over there.

"I'm doing alright just want to go back out there and see if we can save our friends." Kristin said as she sat down next to Stella and looked over at Arbor and smiled gently petting the plant wolf dog like creature. It was still a weird animal to see but Arbor was pretty cute actually. She turned to look at Andy for a moment, she knew that she had a birthday coming up but she wasn't really sure what day it actually was. "Hey Andy isn't your birthday coming up soon?" Kristin asked looking over at her.

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"Oh yeah I am excited to see Leda again and I want to bring her back home so badly." Kiera said she was more than ready and eager to save her girlfriend from Tartarus itself, she wished that she would have taken her place if she could have. Kiera's attention turned towards Alexios as Demi and Sera asked some questions about gods and the doors of death itself as well to.

"As long as we are alive and whatnot our job still does itself, though sometimes there are gods with similar abilities that could take up the role to in case something happens. Like Iris is another messenger god in case Hermes disappears or something she'd probably step up or something like that. And there are other pantheons out there who can do the job to I guess so lots and lots of backups to." Alexios said with a slight shrug. "Also it has happened before, actually." Alexios pointed to both Sera and Kiera. "Your older half brother Percy, and his girlfriend were trapped inside Tartarus itself for a time to which they were able to get out. I think the two of them are in college or something or whatever you mortals do for after school things when you are to old for it." Alexios said.

Kiera knew of her brother Percy who she still hadn't gotten to meet yet surprisingly though like Alexios said he was probably in college or something now anyway. But everyone in camp had brough him up at one point or another to and sometimes tried to compare her and Sera to him whenever he was brought up. "At least its been done before getting out of there anyway." Kiera said as she looked at Demi and Sera.

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Madalyne turned her head to see a Harpy trying to sneak up on Leda with it's talons out aimed to take her out or pick her up, she quickly bolted forward and pounced on the Harpy midflight and taking the monster to the ground. The Harpy would let out a loud screeching sound before it was cut off. Mads using her jaws to snap its neck and removing the Harpy's head clean off, it burst into dust some of the monster dust getting in her nose causing Mads to let out a snorting sneezing like sound.

The rest of the Harpy's would flee, as Mads slowly started to shift back into her human form she looked in the distance and could see a lot more Harpies in the distance flying over to them as the fleeing ones were going to meet the massive group. "I think we should get going now." Madalyne said to Leda as she made her way over to her fellow demigod. She started to notice bird like creatures now joining the group of Harpies which was way more than the two of them could handle alone.

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There were some faces Ezekiel recognized, thanks to Nancy, and he smiled politely at them before he looked towards the tent’s entrance. Zeke sat a little straighter as Leandra was brought in, followed by Niah and Nancy. Ezekiel even recognized the cyclops that walked in. His eyes, however, remained focused on Nancy.

They hadn’t talked much, only brief conversations here and there. Zeke was mostly around to run with her, shoot with her, or spar with her — when she allowed him to. His hands twitched while he watched them walk in, anxious energy that he couldn’t dispel. Briefly, his mind wandered to Demetri. Then Alexios by default. He frowned at the middle space he stared into before reality brought him back to the present.

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Andy froze a bit when asked about her birthday. Then she straightened and nodded. "Yeah, the seventh. I'll be twelve." Twelve didn't feel like a big year. Thirteen would mean more, and it seemed an eternity away.

"I don't like my birthday though." Andy said honestly. "Before coming here they were never great. I liked last year." She didn't say it was because of Arthur. She didn't know when or if he'd return to camp.



Niah frowned at the compass. She didn't recognize the symbols, and that concerned her. A mysterious item showing up that she didn't know anything about was concerning. Niah wanted to ask the Legionnaire follow-up questions but now wasn't the time. For now, she pocketed it.

"I agree. However, due process." Niah responded. She went into the Senate hall. Niah took her seat. She was a Senator. As she took her seat Niah let her Power of Oaths sweep through her.

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She had to stop and think for a moment about the foods from back home, "I mean, Ireland does 'ave sahme crahssover food wise wit de UK, so dere are sahme cahnnections dere. Would it surprise you to know a laht o' defferent foods invahlve pahtatoes?" she explained simply, listening to the water around them. "Fahr instance shepherds pie is one dat also links to de UK and Nahrthern Ireland, but dere are ahther foods dat are mahre just Irish."

"Me mom taught me 'ow to make sahme dings, usually de sempler dings to make it easier around a ketchen fahr me. Like soda bread ahr boxty, whech are basically potato pancakes dat sahrt o' din." Those were nice memories to look back on now, the different things that her mom made back home. "Colcannon was anahther one she made, whech is basically mashed potatoes, usually sahme green vegetable like cabbage ahr sahmethin like dat and a few ahther dings."

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Stella looked over at her friend and raised her brow a bit. The fact that she didn't like her birthday until last year, that didn't seem like a good time. She gently pet Arbor lovingly and scratched behind his ear softly, and nuzzled up against him lovingly. She was trying to think of something she could do to help make her friend's birthday better. Arbor nuzzled into the pets he was getting and murred happily, relaxing more at that point.

"Would us doing something for your birthday help make it better? I could try making my dad's cake... ...if I got access to the kitchens. Wait where can we cook? I know we have the right ingredients, as we have plenty of strawberries. I'm sure someone won't mind if I use a few for a cake." Stella smiled softly as she looked at her friend, and leaned up against her knees a bit.

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More harpies fell by Mads' hand, the rest of them electing to flee, and Leda allowed herself a smile. Sure, the scenery had changed, but this part of her (after)life hadn't. She was still a demigod, and these were still monsters. Even in Tartarus, they died the same. And it wasn't even the first time that her ally was someone who could ostensibly be considered a monster themself - she'd worked with cyclopses before, a werewolf wasn't really that different. Both of them had a reputation for eating demigods, after all. "Bloody cowards," she said, shaking her head

But even from this distance, Leda could see that the harpies weren't just running - they were getting back up. More harpies were on the horizon, a giant hoard rushing to meet the stragglers. "Yeah, can't say I love that," she grimaced. She knew what happened when monsters died in Tartarus. She had no idea what would happen to a demigod's ghost. And Leda didn't intend to find out. "C'mon then, hop on." She muttered a silent prayer to Iris under her breath.

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Nancy only took her eyes off of Leandra for a split second, her brown eyes smoldering with barely contained rage. She was so close to being able to finally dispense something that amounted to justice, but a deep paranoia had filled her, motivating her every move. As much as she wanted to sentence Leandra to the most horrible fate she could imagine, she was afraid - afraid that Leandra would find a way to weasel out of it again, that she wouldn't face the consequences of betraying New Rome and all of its inhabitants. If Nancy had to personally escort Leandra to the Underworld in order for her to be held accountable, then she would - gladly. Even at the cost of her own life.

The anger was all consuming, dominating her every thought, and the flames were only smothered for a brief second as she met Zeke's gaze. She ought to have reflected on the distance that had grown between them, about her regrets in pushing him away, the same thing she was doing to Niah. But instead, all Nancy could realize as their eyes met was that Zeke must have the same anger inside of him too - that the rage was the true thing she had inherited from their father.

That few things were as punishing as the gaze of the sun.

She took her place at the head of the room, and cleared her throat. "This trial is now in session." She then read off the charges levied against Leandra. One of which was the crime of breaking the oath Leandra had sworn to the Legion - the sacramentum. "How do you plead, Leandra?"

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”Maybe we can do something for Leda when she gets back. Bring her her favorite snacks or flowers or something to greet her with at the gates before we have a full celebration back at camp. I can't imagine the food in Tartarus is any good. What do monsters eat anyways?” Demi thought aloud as he tried to focus on anything but the trial currently taking place. It didn't sit right with him, none of it did. But he wasn't there, he wasn't a Roman, he had no place to speak. Or at least that's what he imagined Nancy would say to him if he even tried to male an appearance at the trial.

”So redundancies after redundancies after redundancies. And yet the gods still can't find the time to claim their children at the appropriate age or even aid on quests. Really it sounds like they have nothing but free time and just pretend to be busy.” Demi remarked as Alexios essentially mentioned that the jobs could run on autopilot should it need be. Though he figured that was more true for say, the God of Parties, rather than The God of Death. Surely that required an active role. ”Percy this, Percy that, is there anything that kid didn't do? Seriously campers won't stop yapping about him the first chance they get. When Leda comes back it'll be her everyone will talk about. After all she's gonna have made it from Tartarus and back too right? She'll be a right ledge.”

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Location: Camp Half-Blood

Skills: N/A

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Holding the flowers as she checks them out closely. "A god of the dead and a god of death. Guess its like...micromanaging in a way. Since theres two gods doing basically almost the same exact job just with different responsibilities." That was one way to look at the jobs that each god was dedicated for. "Oh! Well that'd be nice! Giving gifts to Leda that she'd enjoy upon her returns. Probably put a smile on her face. I bet the Underworld is just a big damper on anyone's mood. I mean its full of the dead. Plus they're more in the area where the monsters are right? That's probably big headache to deal with." She's holding the flowers back out for Demi to take since they are his little gift that Alexios gave.

Everyone in camp blabbering about a demigod that did lots of quests? Yeah that sounded about right. Percy, dad had mentioned him if she recalled. Seraphina was curious about her older brother. Did they have any other demigod siblings that where still alive? Or where they all long gone? "I'd talk about that. I mean coming out of Tartarus is definitely a big thing to talk about for years after."

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@Kirah@Morose@KazAlkemi Niah unfortunately wouldn't be able to get a read on any oath breakers within the Senate tent. As members of the Senate were finally all gathered in attendance taking their seats, usually the members of the New Roman Senate were active members of the legion, usually the centurions, New Rome's Augur who was present, the Preators or the Pontifex Maximus which New Rome didn't have currently. As Leandra was seated in front of the entire Senate, a member of the Legion was volunteered to be the voice for Leandra due to her unable to talk thanks to Nancy. She was given a paper and pen to write down whatever she needed to be said as she wrote it down and handed it over to the legionnaire. "She pleads not guilty." They said as he approached Nancy and handed her the written response to her.

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Kristin looked at Andy for a moment she felt bad that Andy didn't really enjoy her birthdays which usually everyone around camp usually did enjoy. "If you want we can throw you a party or something." Kristin said to Andy giving her a friendly smile. "And like Stella said we can bake you a cake as well, there is a kitchen in the Big House i'm sure Chiron and Mr. D wouldn't mind us using the kitchen for a little bit to make the cake." She said to Stella.

"Anything with potatoes is actually pretty good." Isaac said to Janelle giving her a smile as he listened to her. "They all sound really good honestly I would try it." Isaac told Janelle as he leaned back slightly while watching the ocean and stretched slightly he couldn't help but overhear Andy's conversation not to far from them. "I didn't know that Andy's birthday was coming up so soon." Isaac couldn't help but say.

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"Hey setting up parties and making everything work is hard sometimes, like ya know there are wedding parties, birthday parties, retirement parties, but those are pretty boring, prom, homecoming. It's a lot of work" Alexios said as he started to list all of the kinds of parties that he could think of. Kiera shook her head slightly as Alexios listed off just about every single kind of party that he could think of as she started to tune him out

"I heard from soneone that he and his girlfriend are out in college or something now." Kiera said to her sister as she started to think about her girlfriend, she wanted to shower Leda with hugs and kisses. But being trapped in Tartarus there was a lot of monsters everywhere down there. "I just can't wait to see and save her from that place." Kiera said sighing slightly as she leaned back slightly in her seat.

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Madalyne took a moment to see what else was on their way aside from the massive army of harpies, she noticed the birds were Stymphalian Birds. "Yep lets get on out of here." Madalyne said as she looked over at Leda and started to hop onto her friend's back, it was something that they had done a lot since being trapped down here. She felt bad that she had to hop onto Leda's back so much to get out of situations like these.

Leda would be able to speed them off and away from the harpies and the killer birds, eventually Leda would start to get very tired and she would have to stop soon, they covered some distance and now they were nearing the edges of what looked like a swamp. Mads noticed that Leda was starting to slow down and things seemed to be clear for now. "You can stop, and get some rest now things seem to be clear now." She told Leda.

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Ezekiel met his sister’s eyes for as long as she looked at him. He still saw a kinship there, but there was also distance. Zeke looked down at his feet until the trial was called to order. He shifted nervously in his seat, tapping his fingers against his leg in a silent rhythm. Zeke was sure this trial was going to be heated. He wasn’t sure how long it would go for without Leandra being able to speak, but he didn’t really know.

Ezekiel watched the senate members take their place and talk while the trial started. Of course, Leandra pleaded not guilty. Zeke’s eyes shifted to look at Nancy again. Stay calm, Nanc. Ripping her in half in front of everyone won’t win you any favours, even though it might feel good. He knew Nancy couldn’t hear him in his head, but it made Zeke feel better about being utterly useless.

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Andy appreciated that her friends wanted to do something for her birthday. However, she didn't want to even acknowledge its passing. She shifted, pressing against Chocolate. Could she balance quietly ignoring her birthday and her friends wanting to celebrate it? Why celebrate birthdays anyway? All they marked was another year, New Years was better for that.

"I don't know." She finally said after a few moments of silence. "I don't hate the idea of a small gathering, but I don't want to be the center of attention for everyone. I don't want a song. I don't want a lot of people." It was hard to limit who could be there. She knew she'd want her brother and Aunt (if they got her back). But really she wanted Arthur there.



The anger that radiated from Nancy was almost palpable. And Niah didn't blame her for it. She shifted uncomfortable as she realized she wasn't getting Oath Breaker from Leandra...were they wrong? She focused again on the woman, not daring to trust her first instinct.

If she found that Leandra hadn't broken her oath to Rome...what would that mean? Everything would change. Could Niah lie - and say she had broken the oath just to keep the peace? If she didn't sense a broken oath...was Leandra guilty? If she wasn't guilty of Oak Breaking what had happened? With Leandra's tongue removed it would be harder to get the full story. Niah's stomach twisted.

Then it was there. The oil slick feeling. The crack in the pavement. A hot spot in cool water. Explaining how Oath Breaking felt was hard to do correctly. It is like when a tooth has work done on it. The tooth is still there, but it feels different, wrong. And Leandra felt like that.

The twit in her stomach went away and the fear that maybe they were wrong dissipated. Leandra had broken an Oath.