Daughter of Wine

Leo

We all look at each other in confusion.

"Mellie," Calli speaks quietly. "Is he... always like that?"

She smiles sheepishly. "Well, you know what they say. If you don't like his mood, wait five minutes. That expression 'whichever way the wind blows,' that was based on him."

"And that thing about a sea monster." Jason continues. "Was I here before?"

Mellie blushes. "I'm sorry, I don't remember. I'm Mr. Aeolus's new assistant. I've been with him longer than most, but still, not that long."

"How long do his assistants usually last?" Piper asks her.

Oh," Mellie thinks for a moment. "I've been doing this for... twelve hours?"

A voice blares from the speakers. "And now, weather every twelve minutes! Here's your forecaster for Olympian Weather, the OW! channel, Aeolus!"

Lights blaze on Aeolus, who stands in front of his screen. "Hello Olympus! Aeolus, master of the winds here, with weather every twelve minutes! We'll have a low-pressure system moving over Florida today, so expect milder temperatures since Demeter wishes to spare the citrus farmers!" The screen is blank, but on the monitors, he's standing in front of a US map with animated smiley suns and frowning storm clouds. "Along the eastern seaboard- oh, hold on." He taps his earpiece. "Sorry folks! Poseidon is angry with Miami today, so it looks like that Florida freeze is back on! Sorry, Demeter. Over in the Midwest, I'm not sure what St. Louis did to offend Zeus, but you can expect winter storms! Boreas himself is being called down to punish the area with ice. Bad news Missouri! No, wait. Hephaestus feels sorry for central Missouri, so you all will have much more moderate temperatures and sunny skies."

He keeps going, changing his report ten times for each god that wants to have a say.

"This can't be right." Jason whispers. "Weather isn't this random."

Mellie smirks. "And how often are the mortal weathermen right? They talk about fronts and air pressure and moisture, but the weather surprises them all the time. At least Aeolus tells us why it's so unpredictable. Very hard job, trying to appease all these gods at once. It's enough to drive anyone..."

She trails off, but the word floats in the air. Insane.

"And that's the weather!" Aeolus concludes. "See you in twelve minutes, because I'm sure it'll change!"

The lights shut off, and just for a moment, Aeolus looks exhausted. But then his face changes back to his crazy grin. "So, you brought me some rogue storm spirits. I suppose... thanks! And did you want something else? I assume so. Demigods always do."

Mellie pipes up again. "Um, sir, this is Zeus's son."

"Yes, yes. I know that. I said I remembered him from before."

"But sir, they're from Olympus."

Aeolus looks stunned. Then he laughs so abruptly, Calli jumps. "You mean you're here on behalf of your father this time? Finally! I knew they would send someone to renegotiate my contract!"

"Um, what?"

"Oh, thank goodness!" Aeolus sighs with relief. "It's been what, three thousand years since Zeus made me master of the winds. Not that I'm ungrateful, of course! But really, my contract is so vague. Obviously I'm immortal, but master of the winds, what does that mean? Am I a nature spirit? A demigod? A god? I want to be god of the winds, because the benefits are so much better. Can we start with that?"

Jason looks incredibly confused.

"Dude," I say. "You think we're here to promote you?"

"You are, then?" Aeolus grins. "Marvelous! I mean, I think I've shown quite a bit of initiative with the weather channel, eh? And of course, I'm in the press all the time. So many books have been written about me. Into Thin Air, Gone With The Wind-"