"Fish make me puke," Silena said.

      "Are you still having morning sickness?" Annabeth asked.

     Silena nodded. She looked pale and there were dark circles underneath her eyes. Running a household while pregnant wasn't easy — even with her husband's support. Annabeth had come over to catch up with her friend, but she now found herself helping prepare dinner. She wasn't mad about it; it gave her more time to catch up.

     "Although," Silena said. "Morning sickness is not an entirely accurate name. My nausea likes to spend all day with me."

     "Sounds like it's trying to enter into matrimony with you," Annabeth joked.

    Silena's brown eyes widened and then she laughed. "You are not the innocent priestess everyone thinks you are."

    Annabeth snorted. "Who thinks I'm innocent? I know more about the world than most men. I can read and write and I preside over rituals."

      Silena shrugged. "There are things we women will never truly know like war."

     "I know about war," Annabeth said. "I've read about it."

      "But it's not the same," Silena argued. "Reading about something snd experiencing it — those are two different things."

     Annabeth shook her head. "They are more similar than you realize. Think of it: reading is like listening to a bard sing. If the material is good, then you can actually imagine yourself there. A skillful bard or poet will bring words to life. They let you experience things you otherwise might never encounter. I've never fought in a battle, but I've heard the bards sing of the exploits at Troy and Thebes and I think I could design a winning battle strategy."

    Silena smiled. "I don't doubt that. Now, are you going to help me or will I have to make this whole soup by myself?"

    The two women got started with it. Annabeth went outside to fetch water since the pregnancy was weighing heavily on Silena. She would be delivering a child within a month or so. Annabeth drew water from the well and returned, pouring it into the bronze cauldron Silena used for cooking. It was a wedding gift and one of her most prized possessions. It was beautiful and simple way and Silena used it daily.

       As the water began to heat, Silena and Annabeth started cutting up leeks to flavor the soup. Silena hummed at she worked, glowing with contentment. Annabeth envied her friend's ease. She felt restless even as she feverishly worked to dice up the vegetables. Her mind wandered to Percy and the promise he had made. "How do you stand it?" she finally asked.

    Silena, who was now dropping the sliced leeks into the soup, paused first moment and looked up. "Stand what?" she asked before finishing her task.

      "Stand being married," Annabeth clarified. "You're expected to spend all day cleaning and cooking and once your baby is born you'll have to feed it and care for it. Men think they have it hard working in the fields, but wives work too — you're just shut up inside."

    Silena blinked. "I'm not sure if you can understand it if you've never loved someone."

     "But you barely knew Beckendorf when you were married," Annabeth said. "It was hardly a love match."

     "True," Silena said, "but I've grown to love him since. Right now he's trading at the marketplace and usually he brings home a special treat for me. He bought me ribbons to put in my hair and sometimes he'll buy a jar of honey or freshly baked bread, so I don't have to do it myself."

   Annabeth blinked. She liked Percy and the idea of spending time with him was amazing, but seeing how exhausted Silena looked was really putting her off marriage. What were some hair ribbons and honey when it cost your freedom? She didn't voice this, though, because she knew Silena had had little say in the matter of marriage. "And since the nausea began," Silena continued, "Charlie has been buying food that sits well with me. I told him I was craving figs one day and he got me them later that evening. He's been helping out when I'm too exhausted and he draws bathes for me now that I'm pregnant."

    She smiled. "He seems to enjoy it, so I think some of this special treatment will last. Annabeth, when I wake up and see him asleep next me — there are no words that can adequately describe his happy it makes me."

       Annabeth wanted to tell her friend that love was a trap, but that would make her a hypocrite. How could she judge Silena for loving her husband when she longed to be with Percy? Her thoughts were broken off by a startled grunt.

    Annabeth looked up to see Silena gritting her teeth. She uttered another grunt and then a yelp. "What's wrong?" Annabeth asked.

      "I think the baby is coming," Silena groaned.

      "But it's not supposed to come for a month," Annabeth said.

    Her friend's eyes were found with fear. "I'll get a midwife," Annabeth promised. "I'll be as fast as I can. Don't birth the baby until we return!"

     "I don't think I have much say in that," Silena retorted, her tone uncharacteristically sharp.

    Annabeth ignored it, running from the house and heading to the house of Eileithyia. She found the woman squatting in her garden. "Eileithyia!" Annabeth said. "It's an emergency. Silena is giving birth!"

    The woman stood up. She was in her early forties and had an uncommon mixture of wisdom and energy. She grabbed some herbs and then ran alongside Annabeth to Silena's house. The dark-haired woman was having visible contractions now. "Squat," Eileithyia instructed. "The baby will be coming soon. When your contractions are just a bit closer, push with all your might."

    Silena's brow was shining with sweat and her large eyes found Annabeth, wide with fear. Annabeth hated seeing her friend like this. She started pacing until the midwife told her to stop, so she picked up wringing her skirt until Eileithyia instructed her to dampen a rag.

    Glad to have something to do, Annabeth hurried outside. Silena's house was located near the sea, so Annabeth went down to the shore and dunked the rag in seawater. As she made her way back up, she saw Beckendorf with a sack slung over one shoulder. Seeing her, his brow furrowed. "Is Silena alright?" he asked, glancing at the wet rag in her hands, water dripping onto the ground.

"She's in labor," Annabeth replied.

Beckendorf ran to his house like a man possessed. Annabeth followed him and saw that Silena was now breathing like she'd just finished a long run. Annabeth pressed the wet rag against her friend's forehead. Silena screamed as a spasm of pain overcame her body. Beckendorf was beside her, holding her hand to provide silent encouragement, while Eileithyia continued offering advice.

Annabeth here's being this useless. The poems she read hadn't said much about childbirth. Silena gave a blood-curling scream louder than any before. "Push!" Eileithyia urged her.

Silena gritted her teeth and pushed. A small shape fell to the ground and the midwife caught it. She removed the embryonic sack and handed Silena the baby. It was red, wrinkled, and small even for a newborn, but Silena's eyes melted at the sight of it. "You have a daughter," the midwife said.

Beckendorf smiled. "She's lovely."

"Make sure to let your wife rest," Eileithyia instructed. "She and the baby should have bed rest for the first five to seven days. You will have to help out more with household duties while your wife recovers. Childbirth isn't easy."

Beckendorf nodded. "I will do as you say. She is my wife who has given me a baby and there is nothing more precious in the world than the two of them."

Annabeth blinked, overcome by emotion. Maybe marriage wasn't always so bad after all.