Cordelia had planned her birthday months ago, and she’d initially opted for a small get together simply because a large celebration felt childish and overly indulgent now that she was in her thirties. With the day finally arrived, she was grateful for her restraint as the Spring Equinox attacks still loomed in everyone’s mind. Cordelia herself was certain she wouldn’t rest easy at least until another full moon passed without incident. Even once that happened, she was likely to return to the state of constant but low level anxiety she felt like she’d been existing in ever since Ines’ death. If she thought too hard about it, it worried Cordelia just how good she’d gotten at not being okay, but of course that just meant she didn’t think too hard about it.

These days she distracted herself, sometimes it was big things like work or friends or her siblings, but sometimes it was small things like learning a new song on the piano or spending time in the small garden behind her house. While Herbology had not been Cordelia’s favorite class at school, she’d found in recent years that she enjoyed gardening and the practice of cultivating beauty just for beauty’s sake. Cordelia was glad today was an unseasonably warm day with a rare clear sky, allowing the guests to spill out the back door and enjoy the daffodils and crocuses. 

This was where she found Annabeth, alone enough for Cordelia to approach her about something that had been stewing in the back of her mind since the equinox. “I know it’s just so gauche to bring up work at a party but I did want to ask you a question about the DMLE.” Cordelia smiled at Annabeth. She knew the other woman didn’t really care about what was or wasn’t proper by the standards of the society Cordelia grew up in, and that was one of the reasons she liked Annabeth so well.