Grover and Percy hit it off in two minutes. Frank was showing Percy around the pastures when Grover came over to say hi. His curly hair  had grown longer since the summer and he fingered his panpipes as he smiled at Frank. "How is it going with your pretty shepherdess?"

     Frank's face turned as red as one of Helios' sacred cows. "Uhhh. . ." he managed.

     "I'm Grover by the way," Grover said, flashing Percy a smile.

      "Hello Grover," Percy said. "I'm Percy. Are you a farmer from around here?"

    Grover nodded. "My wife, Juniper, and I grow grapes and have a herd of goats."

"They have the biggest herd in all of Lesbos," Frank said.

Grover smiled. "I'm not sure if that's true, but they're certainly the best. My family's herd started out with the goat my grandfather won at a festival of Dionysus for his tragedy about Io."

"Your grandfather is a tragedian?" Percy asked. "Annabeth would love to meet him."

Grover's shoulders slackened. "My grandfather had been buried for quite some years. He died from the plague."

"My condolences," Percy said. "I am glad to have met you either way."

Grover smiled. "You're a city boy who had probably won athletic contests and hails from a prestigious family. Why do you flatter a mere goatherd?"

Percy grinned. "You're wearing a blue tunic. Also, you seem pretty down to earth."

That was true. Grover farmed not just to make a living, but simply because he loved it. He tilled and tended the earth, saying that it fertilized his soul as well as the soil. His favorite deities were nature gods: Demeter, Pan, Persephone, and Dionysus, as well as the myriad of naiads, dryads, satyrs, and nymphs of the Lesbian countryside. "Have you ever been to Eleusis?" Grover asked.

     Percy shook his head and Grover sighed. "I've never had a more profound experience in my life. I went with my wife shortly after we were married for the annual mysteries. I dare not reveal them, but I urge you to go yourself."

      Percy smiled. "I should like to some day."

       "It's the best decision you could every make," Grover told him.

    Frank had heard worshippers of Demeter says the Mysteries promised redemption after death. Though Eleusis was in Athens, people from all over flocked there for the annual rites if they had the means of doing so. Frank sighed. Maybe if he won prestige through an athletic contest, he could find a ship to take him there, but what event could he win? He was just a clumsy ox and he had neither the money nor the means to procure horse's and a chariot.

      After inspecting the pasture, Percy bade goodbye to Grover and asked to see Frank's goats. He cheered up at this and introduced Percy to his herd, proud that it had doubled in size in the past three years. He also showed Percy how he used his panpipes to guide the herd. "Wow," Percy said. "That's amazing."

     Frank found himself blushing again. "My goats are very intelligent and they respond to music well. I think it calms them."

      He and Percy began talking and they were soon spilling out their life stories. Frank spoke of his father's early death and how his grandmother was always expecting more out of him. "That's gotta be hard," Percy said. "My mother doesn't really care how stupid my tutors think I am as long as I'm alive."

Frank laughed. "My mother always tells me that I can be anything, but it doesn't feel like that."

Percy looked at him. "What do you want to be?"

Frank blinked. He was so used to his grandmother telling him he needed to be more like his father that Percy's question surprised him. What did he want to be? In his mind, he saw himself five years from now: exchanging smiles with Hazel as they watched their firstborn take their first steps.

He blinked and the image disappeared, replaced by the sight of his beloved. Hazel was walking towards them, a woven basket in her arms. "I brought a midday meal for you two," she said, sitting down on the grass beside them. "The bread isn't blue, Percy, but it's hearty and good."

Frank smiled. "Is that goat cheese I see in your basket?"

Hazel smiled in return. "Your favorite: our parents traded earlier today. I also got apples for us."

She tossed one to Frank and he caught it. It was crisp and sweet, the taste dancing on his tongue. Percy picked up one from the basket and admired it. Then, he looked up with a mischievous expression. "So, how long have you two loved each other?"

Frank accidentally spat out the piece of apple he had bitten. Hazel started blushing and fanning herself despite the cold weather. "We're not — we're not betrothed or anything."

"It's a pity," Percy said. "You two care about each other a lot."

Frank blinked. "How do you know?"

"Grover asked you about the pretty shepherdess," Percy said. "So I put two and two together."

Frank was stunned. Percy might say some pretty dumb things, but he was actually fairly smart. "How about we discuss other things?" Hazel said, breaking the tension. "Frank, I went horse-riding yesterday."

"I saw that," Frank said, thinking of how powerful she had looked on horseback with her cheeks flushed with pleasure and her eyes aglow.

"Blackjack is a great steed," Percy said. "He's one of my prizewinning stallions. He's won races at the Pythian, Nemean, and Corinthian games. He even won second place at the Olympic Games last year."

The Olympic Games were the most prestigious and well-known of the Panhellenic Games. "Whoa," Hazel said, her eyes shining.

Frank couldn't help feeling a little jealous of Percy. He was the son of a wealthy landowner who had already made himself a name by winning chariot races. He was everything Frank's grandmother expected of him and Frank couldn't help wondering if Hazel preferred Percy over him.