Jason Graces first quest was when he was 6. He went with two, much older demigods.
They made his life hell, angry that this kid, this weird, still sorta feral kid who so desperately wanted their approval was with them, hindering them. Jason still wasn’t perfect, wasn’t polished enough and people expected more from a son of Jupiter, even if he was the age of your average 1st grader. But they also hated how Jason got a quest only 2 years after showing up at Camp, most people never got that lucky. He’d probably get many more. They sneered at him, guessed he was lapping up the attention . What kid wouldn’t want to be given such special treatment?
They pushed him around, left him as monster bait, and anytime he did something good (which was often) they laughed about how they were going to take the credit. Any failure was blamed on him.
Jason felt weird about it. They were his superior, and talking against them was breaking the rules. The wolf house and camp Jupiter both agreed that rules were essential and Jason had to follow them. But this felt so, so unfair. He was used to unfair though, used to older kids using him as a punching bag. It happened all the time, for 2 years. He didn’t know if the wolf house was any better. But this was what happened to sons of Jupiter, right? He was meant to be strong.
But it was hard… so hard. He wasn’t going to nope, or cry, Lupa lurked in his brain and snarled and bit whenever he tried. Lupa lived in his head and kept him in line, that’s what it felt like. The memory of the wolf house acting like a guard.
The quest was successful, and all three of them were heroes. Jason was told that many more quests were to come. This is how you make a hero. A hero of Olympus and a worthy son. A worthy champion.
You can’t make a hero child without rebuilding. This rebuilding requires breakage.
