KARINA WAS THE FIRST PERSON AWAKE THAT MORNING, she usually always is. but that's because she always watches the sun rise every morning from the edge of the tiber river.

karina thinks of sunrises as the beginning of a book. that book being the rest of the day and night. in the beginning of a book, it's always like the good before the bad. you hear about all the happy things that are happening in a certain persons life-their lifestyle, their friends, their significant other, all of the nice and happy things that have happened. it's the build up of joyful experiences the author gives you before you get into the action, the bad and sometimes scary stuff.

she also correlates it to life. as a child, you're grown up in this pure and exciting world that's full of sunshine and rainbows and everything so new that you never notice the cruel and harsh reality until you're older. when you're older, life seems to drag on more, losing it's bright colors that you used to see from it. you start experiencing the horrible and painful reality of life, and you just wish you could be in the beginning of the book again, where everything was different.

so, the sunrise is sort of the nice, soft build up to all of the surprises and bad things the rest of the day might give you, and karina wants to enjoy that good part of the day just in case she might to be able to experience any more for the rest of it.

karina watched as the different shades of orange, red, and yellow tinted the sky, causing her face to have a warm glow to it. she admired how to beams of light casted an orange hue onto the blue water of the river, making it look like a tie-dye mixture of blue, orange, and red.

as the sun reached higher over the horizon, she reached her hand out in front of her, lifting it in the direct path of the sun, letting the orange streams of light pass through her fingers and onto her face. she smiled at the warm heat from the sun, and put her hand down, letting it run through her honey-brown hair.

karina never keeps track of time when watching the sunrise, she knows when it's time to go when the sun no longer tints the sky with its beautiful shades of orange, and instead rising higher into sky, causing the atmosphere to turn to its normal blue.

she must've been there for about an hour, when hazel came walking up to her, standing beside her.

"i knew i'd find you here." hazel said, looking down at her. karina looked up at her and smiled, patting the grass next to her.

hazel complied and took a seat next to her, watching the last bit of the sunrise fade away into the sky.

"there's going to be a senate meeting soon, you should probably get changed." hazel spoke softly, knowing this is a time where karina is most at peace with herself.

karina smiled slightly and chuckled. "yeah, i don't think they want me showing up in my scooby-doo pajama pants." she said, looking down at her outfit.

hazel giggled and looked to her and patted her knee. "come on, go get changed so we can get to breakfast early and get those mini pancakes."

karina looked to her with excited eyes. "i forgot about those! okay, okay, let's go!" she scrambled to her feet, grabbing hazel's hand as well, pulling her up hastily.

they jogged back to the barracks quickly, so karina could get on her proper praetor attire.

she slipped on some black mom jeans that were ripped on the knees, her usual camp shirt, and some old white converse that she had painted sunflowers on. she quickly put her hair into a ponytail, with a small braid going around one side her head and tying it in the back. and finally she grabbed her normal praetorian robes and slid it on with ease, letting the smooth fabric sit on her shoulders, and walked out the door to find hazel, who was standing with her arms crossed right outside the barracks.

she smiled at karina and they made their way to the pavilion.

when they arrived, karina saw that percy and frank were already there, with heaps of food on their plates. hazel started to walk over to them, but when she saw that karina wasn't following, she stopped and turned around, to see where she was.

"i should probably sit with reyna this time. i haven't sat up there in weeks, and it probably looks unprofessional at this point. but i'll see you at the meeting." karina said, starting to make her way over to the praetor table.

hazel nodded and gave her one last smile before turning and going to sit with the others.

when karina made it to the table, reyna looked up to her with an eyebrow raised. "oh, so you finally decide to join me."

karina chuckled and sat down, sipping on her cup of coffee that a lare had given her. "i'm sorry, but you're kind of boring sometimes." karina admitted, shrugging her shoulders.

reyna gave her a pointed look, obviously offended. "i'm not boring! i-i talk about fun stuff."

karina scoffed. "since when is talking about battle strategies and combat plans fun?"

reyna pursed her lips, tapping her fingers against her cup of orange juice. "okay, fine, i don't necessarily talk about interesting stuff. but i can still be fun!" she defended.

karina decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and agree with her. "yeah, yeah, sure. but you need to step out of your comfort zone sometime, you need to do something adventurous and crazy. you need to feel alive."

reyna considered this, taking in her words. "maybe you're right, nina. but there's no time for that now. right now we need to focus on what's at stake." and with that she stood to announce that the senate will now convene in the city, and all the folks in togas got up to leave.

karina, reyna, and octavian led the procession of senators out of camp, with reyna's metal greyhounds dashing back and forth along the road. karina saw percy, hazel and frank trailing along in the back, ao she turned around and flashed them a smile and wave, to which they all returned. she also noticed nico in the group, wearing a black yoga and talking to gwen. he to waved at her, and gave a small smile before going back to his conversation.

dakota stumbled along in his red-speckled robe. a lot of other senators always had trouble with their togas, too-hiking up their hems, trying to keep the cloth from slipping off their shoulders. karina was glad she only had to wear her praetorian robes over her clothes.

as they got closer to the city, karina always liked to appreciate how beautiful it was. the tiled roofs and gold domes gleamed in the sun. gardens bloomed with honeysuckle and roses. the central plaza was paved in white and gray stone, decorated with statues, fountains, and, gilded columns. in the surrounding neighborhoods, cobblestone streets were lined with freshly painted town houses, shops, cafés, and parks. in the distance rose the coliseum and the horse racing area.

once they had reached the city limits, they all slowed down in front of terminus, a white marble statue-a life-size muscular man with curly hair, no arms, and an irritated expression. karina sighed and reluctantly turned her attention to him.

"single file, please!" the statue said. "have your IDs ready."

i got in line behind reyna and took off my necklace, reluctantly putting it in the tray, and lifted my robes to get ready to show him my arm.

"gwendolyn, senator, fifth cohort, yes. nico di angelo, ambassador of pluto-very well. reyna, karina, praetors, of course. hank, senator, third cohort-oh, nice shoes hank! ah, who have we here?"

karina turned around at the statues question, and saw that frank, hazel, and percy were the last ones.

"terminus," hazel said. "this is percy jackson. percy, this is terminus, the god of boundaries.

"new, eh?" said the god. "yes, probatio tablet. fine. ah, weapon in your pocket? take it out!"

karina had no idea how he could tell, but she just went along with it.

"quite dangerous," terminus said. "leave it in the tray. wait, where's my assistant? julia!"

karina smiled at the mention of the little girl. she peeked out from behind the base of the statue. she had pigtails, a pink dress, and an impish grin with two missing teeth.

"julia?" terminus glanced behind him, and julia scurried in the other direction. "where did that girl go?"

terminus looked to karina with a glint in his eye. "praetor karina, would you mind fetching julia, she seems to listen to you far more than me."

karina smiled. "of course."

she walked over to where julia's new hiding place was, and snuck up behind her quietly.

"i. . .got you!" karina said, quickly grabbing the girls sides and lifting her up, shaking her body.

julia giggled and squealed in delight, poking karina's cheeks.

"how's my favorite six year old doing?" karina asked julia, a bright smile on her face, making her dimples show.

julia nodded with a cheeky grin plastered on her face. "great! i even did my own hair today!" she pulled her two pigtails from behind her and lifted up to show karina, who gasped excitedly and gave her a high five.

"that's what i'm talking about, jules! they look so so pretty." karina gushed, running her free hand through the pigtails.

"okay, ready to go be the best servant ever?" karina asked.

"yes!" julia said. karina nodded and re-positioned julia on her hip and walked back to terminus, only to see everyone staring at her. most of them were smiling, but some had looks of confusion. the dead silence wasn't helping either.

a blush rose to her cheeks. "what?"

"yeah, what?" julia spoke quietly, her arms wrapped around karina's neck and the side of her head pressed up against karina's.

she looked to percy, who was staring at her with a look she couldn't quite comprehend, but he was smiling. before she could say anything else, terminus spoke up and said. "oh, there you are, front and center. bring the tray."

karina put julia down and she brushed off her dress. she picked up a tray and presented it to percy, who was still staring at karina dreamily. karina blushed and looked to him, pointing down at julia. he blinked and a small blush rose up his neck, but he tried brush it off and looked down at the tray she presented him.

on the tray were several paring knives, a corkscrew, an oversized container of sun lotion, and a water bottle.

"you can pick up your weapon on the way out," terminus said. "julia will take good care of it. she's a trained professional."

the little girl nodded. "pro-fess-ion-al." she said each syllable carefully, like she'd been practicing.

julia turned to karina with a toothy grin. "i said that right, right?" she tilted her head on the second 'right.'

karina nodded proudly. "yep. see, i told you that practice makes perfect!"

julia giggled and karina looked up to percy, who seemed to be having his doubts about handing a deadly weapon to a kid.

"don't worry, perce. julia is an expert on weapon handling. i'd let her hold mine anyday." karina said smiling down at julia.

percy looked at karina skeptically, still unsure. "the thing is," he said. "the pen returns to my pocket automatically, so even if i give it up-"

"not to worry," terminus assured him. "we'll make sure it doesn't wander off. won't we julia?"

"yes, mr. terminus."

reluctantly, percy put his pen on the tray.

"now, a few rules, since you're new," terminus said to percy. "you are entering the boundaries of the city proper. keep the peace inside the line. yield to chariot traffic while walking on public roads. when you get to the senate house, sit on the left-hand side. and, down there-do you see where i'm pointing?"

"um," percy said. "you don't have hands."

karina unintentionally snorted, but tried to conceal it into her palm, flashing percy an amused face.

karina knew that was a sore spot for terminus, and now percy had terminus out to get him. his marble face turned a dark shade of grey. "a smart aleck, eh? well, mr. rule flouter, right down there in the forum-julia, point for me, please-"

julia dutifully set down the security tray and pointed toward the main plaza.

"the shop with the blue awning," terminus continued, "that's the general store. they sell tape measures. buy one! i want those pants exactly one inch above the ankles and that hair regulation cut. and tuck your shirt in."

hazel said, "thank you, terminus. we need to get going."

"fine, fine, you may pass," the god said testily. "but stay on the right side of the road! and that rock right there-no, hazel, look where i'm pointing. that rock is entirely too close to that tree. move it two inches to the left."

hazel did what she was told, and karina gave julia one more hug, and they continued down the path, terminus still shouting orders at them while julia did cartwheels across the grass.

"is he always like that?" percy asked.

"no," karina admitted. "today he was laid back. usually he's manipulating rocks to be thrown at my face."

hazel gave karina a look and corrected her sentence. "he's usually more obsessive/compulsive."

"he inhabits every boundary stone around the city," frank said. "kind of our last line of defense if the city's attacked."

"terminus isn't so bad," hazel added, which a raised an eyebrow at. "just don't make him angry, or he'll force you to measure every blade of grass in the valley."

percy filed that information, and then looked to karina. "and the kid? julia? you and her seem close."

karina smiled. "yeah, whenever i'm in the city i take her to go get ice cream and braid her hair for her. she's a cutie. come on. we'd better catch up to the senators."

as they approached the forum, karina took in the sheer number of people there. college-age kids were hanging out at the fountain. several of them waved at karina and the senators as they passed. one guy in his late twenties stood at a bakery counter, flirting with a young woman who was buying coffee. an older couple was watching a little boy in diapers and a miniature camp jupiter shirt toddle after seagulls. merchants were opening their shops for the day, putting out signs in latin that advertised pottery, jewelry, and half-price tickets for the hippodrome.

"all of these people are demigods?" percy asked.

"or descended from demigods," hazel said. "like i told you, it's a good place to go to college or raise a family without worrying about monster attacks every day. maybe two, three hundred people live here? the veterans act as, like, advisors and reserve forces as needed, but mostly they're just citizens living their lives."

karina has always thought about what it would be like to spend the rest of her life here: getting an apartment in this tiny replica of rome, protected by the legion and terminus the OCD border god. she imagined holding hands with her significant other at a café. maybe when they were older, watching their own kid chase seagulls across the forum. . .

she shook the idea out of her head for now. she couldn't afford to indulge in that kind of thinking at the moment. camp jupiter was in danger. if juno was right, an attack was coming in less than five days. karina imagined the hordes of monsters descending into this valley.

if you don't succeed, mars had warned, there won't be any camp left to return to. rome will be overrun, its legacy lost forever.

she thought about julia, the families with kids, her friends in camp, percy, even those silly fauns. she didn't want to picture what might happen to them if this place was destroyed.

the senators made their way to a big white-domed-building on the west end of the forum. karina saw percy pause at the doorway, seeming hesitant to enter.

"everything okay, perce?" she asked.

he looked at her and flashed her a quick smile. "yep, perfect. let's go."

with that, they both took a deep breath and followed hazel and frank inside.

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okay so i'm like...in love with julia??? i really want to make her a bigger character for karina but i don't know how i'd incorporate her😩

n e ways i hope y'all liked the chapter. (: