The sky was different.
Certainly not a different shade of blue no... But the stars were different, changing location and amount, with the familiar images that one could draw from their positions all but vanishing... She remembered occasionally taking Diana out to the balcony outside her room at night and showing her a particular grouping, spinning a tale of how the hunter was tracking the bull across the skies or how the maiden was fetching water for the baths.
She supposed she would learn to adapt. They both would.
Hippolyta had to shift the way she was carrying her precious daughter, the few belongings they had taken with them slung over her shoulder in two large leather and cloth bags.
Not being the naive woman she was before, she had naturally taken precautions. A sword was tucked in behind her back, hidden from view by their possessions, the familiar weight a comforting presence as she carried her child towards the unknown.
The slow twang of a guitar echoed in the pleasant silence in the cab of the truck as it trundled down the unpaved earthen road from main road Smallville to the Kent farm.
"Jon, maybe turn it down a little..." the woman in the passenger seat asked of her husband.
"What do you mean? This is the best part!"
"Yes but it seems our little passenger has been visited by the Sandman..." Martha Kent gestured vaguely to the sleeping little boy cuddled into the back seat, a bright crimson blanket delicately draped over him.
Sighing exaggeratedly with a wide and playful grin, Jonathan Kent acquiesced to his wife's request, the truck continuing along the path to home the music floating softly through the interior and out the partially open passenger window.
"Martha..."
"Yes Jon?"
As he raised a hand to point out of the windshield, her gaze was pulled from her husband's slightly confused face and followed his outstretched arm to the figure walking ahead of their lights.
A quick knowing look passed between the two as he sped up a little coming to a slow roll next to the woman carrying two large sacks on her back, and holding a young girl in her arms, wrapped up against the chill of the evening.
"Hey there," she addressed the stunning woman as she halted her steps and cautiously moved her free hand to her back coming to rest there, protectively propping the child on her opposite hip as a means to put herself between her daughter and the other two travellers, shielding her from the strangers.
"Hello," the woman replied, a little uneasy towards the couple in the truck.
"Where are you headed? Would you care for a lift?" Jon asked as his wife examined the clearly stunning woman by the light emitted from the cab of the truck. She was clad in what appeared to be brand new clothes judging by the uncut label sticking out from the side of her jeans, her white blouse already a bit dusty from her walk by the side of the dirt road along with two large metal bracers on her wrists.
"I am..." Hippolyta hesitated. She did not know these people, the gently smiling pair appeared welcoming but she had been fooled by seemingly polite gestures before. Then Diana woke, looking around her with sleep addled eyes (italics since it's in Latin/Greek) "Mama? Where are we, Mama?"
"It is alright, my child. Return to your dreams." Diana's sleepy gaze moved to the two people in the truck, eyes roaming to the back seat where she could see a red bundle of fabric before heeding her mother's words and nuzzled against her side as she closed her eyes once more and promptly fell asleep.
Turning back to the couple, the woman smiling kindly and the man giving her a friendly look, she cleared her throat as she addressed their previous question. "I am... Not quite sure where I am going..." she admitted quietly.
The couple shared a quick look at her words, the woman asking a wordless question and the man nodding almost imperceptibly at whom she judged to be his wife, before the woman turned smiling broadly. "You could come and stay with us. We have a spare room with plenty of space for both you and your daughter."
Hippolyta now had a decision to make... Trust this seemingly friendly couple, accepting their kind offer of lodging for the night or continue wandering in the dark of night. The promise of a warm bed however was not lost on her as Diana nuzzled closer in an attempt to absorb some of her mother's body-heat. Her eyes flicked to the road ahead and then back to the couple a question on her lips. "How-?"
"Far is it? Not too far, you can hop in with us and get out of the cold."
Glancing down the road she'd been travelling she gives a tense nod and moves forward halting slightly when the woman climbs out, getting into the back beside the red bundle, moving it across the backseat revealing the sleeping boy underneath, stopping in the middle before climbing in behind the man, opening the door across from her and patting the seat.
Slowly, still hesitantly cautious despite feeling the start of trust for the two, she moved forward sliding off their packs and placing them in the bed of the truck before moving Diana onto her left hip and climbing in, being sure to not jostle her too much during her sleep.
Once she was comfortably settled into the back with her daughter just barely touching the side of the sleeping boy as she lay curled up like a kitten against her mother's side. She gave the man a slight nod of approval the truck started moving forward once more.
"Pardon our manners; we seem to have forgotten to introduce ourselves. My name is Martha Kent, the man driving is my husband Jonathan," "Just call me Jon," "-and the tuckered out bundle of boundless energy here is our son Clark." The woman gestured first to herself, and then the man in front finally laying a tender hand on the dark head of hair apparently snoozing next to her, turning to Hippolyta and reaching a friendly hand over the sleeping children in greeting.
Having a small smile spread across her face at the loving bond these three people seemed to share, she clasped her outstretched hand firmly pointing to herself and her daughter in turn, "I am Hippolyta and this is my daughter, Diana."
"Nice to meet you... Hippolyta? That's Greek right?"
"Yes Jonathan... Yes, it is."
"You must've been travelling for a while now; the nearest airport is quite a ways out from our dear Smallville."
"Jon-" Martha's tone was undeniably a mixture of scolding and exasperation from her occasionally nosy husband.
"It is quite alright Martha. I must admit we have been on our journey for some time now." Hippolyta admitted her gaze not moving from her dreaming daughter.
"How old is she?"
"Just about to reach 7 summers."
"Oh! Our Clark just turned 7 today; we took him out celebrating. He finally conked out just as we were leaving."
They turned a bit wide too fast, Jon muttering a quick "Sorry," as they swerved, Hippolyta and Martha each attempting to keep their children stationary as they neared the final stretch. The Kent farm just a mile or two away.
The young boy, bleary eyed from the disturbance of his pre-home nap, eyed the girl that was fast asleep next to him cuddled into the woman who was undoubtedly her mother. Scooting slightly closer to the new arrival to his seat, he tiredly draped his silky red blanket on top of her, smiling when she sighed silently at the extra layer, already warm from his short evening nap. Lying back down on the seat once more he dreamed of stars whizzing past as he rocketed through the cosmos.