The Olympian decision arrived in April, in the form of a formal notification to Chiron from Zeus's office — which was, in the specific bureaucratic character of Olympian correspondence, a thunderbolt stylus impression on heavyweight vellum that smelled of ozone and arrived with the specific weight of something that had been a long time coming.
He was not at camp when it arrived. He was in the hospital on a Thursday morning shift, running the transport round. He found out when Chiron called him at noon.
'The tradition house is approved,' Chiron said.
He was in the hospital corridor, between the elevator and the cardiac unit, holding his phone. He stood still for a moment.
'With conditions,' Chiron continued. 'The Olympians have approved the framework but not the specific non-Greek traditions. Each tradition that seeks inclusion must submit a formal petition reviewed by the relevant divine authority in that tradition and countersigned by a member of the Olympian council.'
'That is going to take years,' Kael said.
'Yes,' Chiron said. 'But the framework exists. The building can be constructed now. The petitions can be submitted and reviewed in parallel with the construction. The first traditions with clear divine authority advocates — Norse has Odin, who has been aware of Astrid for some time, and Celtic has the Dagda, who Chiron has been in contact with — may have approvals within the year.'
He thought about the structure of it. He thought about how long the Hecate cabin had taken, and how the multi-tradition version of the same argument was harder because there were more stakeholders in the divine world who had to agree. He thought: this is the correct outcome given the constraints. Not ideal. Not fast. Correct.
'Tell Marcus,' he said.
'I have already told Marcus,' Chiron said. 'He said, and I quote: good, now the real work begins. I thought you would recognize the sentiment.'
He thought: yes. That is exactly the sentiment. The approval is not the victory. The building is the victory. The approval is permission to build.
'When does construction start?' he said.
'Summer,' Chiron said. 'I want you involved in the design process. You and Marcus and Soraya if she's willing.'
'Soraya will want this more than any of us,' he said. 'It's a threshold architecture project on the largest scale she's ever worked with.' He paused. 'And yes. I'll be there.'
He finished his shift. On his way home he stopped at the Washington Square arch and stood there for a few minutes, looking at the park, feeling the city's shimmer around him.
He thought: Marcus's proposal. Filed last September. Decision in April. Seven months, which was, in the context of divine-administrative timelines, extremely fast. He thought: the Titan War and its aftermath had changed the gods' relationship to structural reform. They had seen what the old structure cost. They were, perhaps, more willing to acknowledge that the old structure was insufficient.
He thought: or they are simply responding to the evidence. Astrid and Declan and Fatima in the Hermes cabin. The reality of the problem made visible.
He thought: it does not matter why they decided. They decided. The house will be built.
[ TRADITION HOUSE — APPROVED ]
Decision: APPROVED (with conditions)
Date: April, Year 7
Timeline to construction: Summer, Year 7
CONDITIONS:
Framework approved — not specific traditions Each tradition: formal petition required
— Reviewed by relevant divine authority
— Countersigned by Olympian council member
Construction can begin immediately Petitions reviewed in parallel
CURRENT PETITION STATUS:
Norse: Odin aware — petition LIKELY fast
Celtic: Dagda contact made — petition IN PROCESS
Egyptian: Thoth petition — BEING DRAFTED (Marcus)
Islamic/Djinn: Fatima Al-Rashid — RESEARCHING
Vodou/Loa: Madame Moreau + Baron Samedi — TBD
DESIGN TEAM:
Chiron (overall)
Kael Alexander (tradition bridge)
Marcus Osei (Egyptian tradition)
Soraya (threshold architecture)
Marcus Osei response: 'Good.
Now the real work begins.'
This is the structural reform at the next scale.
The Hecate cabin was for one bloodline.
The tradition house is for every bloodline
the camp has not yet built for.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━