Percy was a nerd, and proud of it, and Vex loved him for both those things. And while she had hated school in Syngorn, she liked learning when it was something important. And here they had nothing but time to read the few books the inn had on the subject until they had them all but memorized. But book learning was never the same as practical experience. Yet one more reason to miss Zahra and Kash and hate that the inn had taken them away, when Vex's initial worries about becoming a mother had been eased by the thought she could 'practice' on her gods-babies first.

"At some point it's all 'learning as you go'. And I do have memories of our mother to guide me. And Percy and Vax and Trinket, and others here to help."