Craig Winter met Nike while he was in America coaching world-renowned athletes. She approached him after he had finished teaching an up-and-coming sprinter, and asked him out for coffee. The two instantly connected over their love of good sport and while they were watching a Red Sox baseball game, Nike announced to Craig that she was pregnant. Nine months later, she gave birth to Azalea Winter, and explained to Craig exactly whom she was and who Azalea was going to be.
Craig took all the information in slowly and finally accepted the truth that their daughter would be a demigod. Nike was overjoyed and gave him a package for their baby that she explained, would become Azalea’s first weapon. She pulled a silver armband with a bronze double-bladed dagger motif on it out of a blue velvet box and slid it onto Azalea’s arm. She told Craig how the dagger would react to her touch in battle, and that it could never come off. The band adjusted to fit her arm and stayed put. Nike grinned. Craig took Azalea home to his and Nike’s New York apartment as soon as he could and set up her room there.
Disaster struck. Nike dissapeared one day. Craig was devastated, and even though he knew the truth, he felt like Nike had abandoned him with the baby as she had never said her final goodbye. He moved out of New York to Maine to escape his memories. Baby Azalea was only one month old.
In Maine, Craig became a tree farmer and every weekend he would take Azalea to look at the trees. When Azalea started school she became the athletic girl; the girl who would always participate in sport and excel no matter what. Craig enrolled Azalea in martial arts and began teaching her how to climb trees.
When Azalea was 8, she was diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD. Craig wasn’t surprised, as Nike had warned him about it, but Azalea was devastated. At 10, Azalea had already become a high level black belt in martial arts and was referred to a ninjitsu school where students would be able to train with weapons and learn the art of stealth. She became their top student and was adept at handling all weapons.
One night, while Craig was inspecting the trees on his farm, Azalea sat by herself, out of sight of her father. A woman approached her and asked for directions. The woman was dressed in a black shroud that trailed to the ground and covered her face. As Azalea jumped down from where she was sitting to help the woman, she ripped her shroud off to reveal that she a thick snake tail from the waist down. The woman’s eyes glowed red and she lunged at Azalea, gashing her upper arm near the armband. Azalea moved her hand to cover the wound, and lightly brushed the dagger motif on her armband. It tingled slightly, and began to grow. At full size, Azalea held a double-bladed, celestial bronze dagger in her hand. The woman hissed at the dagger, and coiled back to gain momentum for a strike, but before she could injure Azalea again, Azalea leapt onto the woman and stabbed the dagger into the woman’s heart. The woman shrieked, and turned to a pile a golden dust.
That was Azalea’s first monster attack. She was only 10. She never told her father, as she thought he wouldn’t want to know. Azalea began growing into her powers and monsters began attacking more frequently. When Azalea was at the tree farm, she taught herself to leap from tree to tree in massive bounds and basic aerial combat moves. At the ninja school, she became more and more proficient in all weapons; especially her custom made double chained Kama. She even ordered bespoke ninja robes to move easily and silently in.
When Azalea was fourteen, a manticore attacked her while her father was home. Because of all her previous monster attacks, Azalea defeated the beast with her dagger with ease, but her father was shaken and drove Azalea to Camp Half-Blood that night. She had only had time to pack basic things like her ninja robes, her Kama, and a spare pair of jeans. When her father walked her to the arch to Camp Half-Blood, he said goodbye, kissed her on the cheek and walked away.
Azalea walked through the arch and was greeted by a blazing symbol floating above her head and a satyr that lead her to her new brothers and sisters in Nike’s cabin and her new life as a demigod.
Azalea Winter 
