[ Claire smiles at the compliment, tucks away the knowledge about her father, and then takes a breath, letting it out softly. After tracking Annabeth's movement to her arm, her eyes drop to her coffee mug, lips pursed a bit in thought at the question. ] I think what you and Percy have is different—better—than what I had my first go at marriage. I think you have something that's much stronger, even at your age.

[ Annabeth is living a life that's nothing like Claire's was, she isn't marrying for assurance and peace of mind for a dying uncle instead of love. ]

I married young for the wrong reasons. I think the threat of war made a lot of people do things they may not have. I married Frank and then we both went our separate ways within...oh, about a year? War was declared and we both shipped off. And after, when we were changed by everything we'd seen and done through five years of hell—[ Claire looks at Annabeth and offers an almost sheepish one-shouldered shrug. ]—we were strangers again. And then I accidentally traveled in time.

[ Claire has told this story before, she isn't shy about it anymore, not when so many others have stories odder than hers. ]

I didn't choose to go, people here have explained that I must have stepped through an unchecked portal to the 18th century. I did choose to stay, though. I fell in love, which I hadn't counted on. It's how I realized I...respected Frank, I loved that he made me feel taken care of. But I wasn't in love with him.

[ She never knows what any given person will think; leaving a husband behind to wonder while she builds a new life so far away he couldn't have even fathomed it. And now, here she is doing it again in Abraxas. ]

I've seen the way you light up when you talk about Percy. [ She offers a warm smile. She never felt that, exactly, for Frank. ] I think it's wonderful.