Diana took it upon herself to learn every passageway in the palace they were currently residing in- The East Central Palace. Since then, she has found secret passageways that led her out of the palace. And using one of those passageways, she managed to enter through the palace secretly. There were guards around the palace of course but Diana was swift- very swift in escaping their sights. Finally, she was under her bedroom window. She took a deep breath and whistled towards the window. It didn't take long for someone to look out of the window.

"Diana?!"

"Mala the rope please!" she shouted in a very hushed tone

Mala did as she was told and took the rope from under Diana's bed. She let down the rope to Diana and she slowly but gently climbed the rope and onto her bedroom. Once she's climbed over the window, she immediately pulled the rope and slid it under her bed where it would remain hidden.

"Diana!" Mala crossed her arms in front of her chest, "I thought you said you'd be back immediately?!"

"But I am back immediately!" Diana argued as she quickly changed into proper clothes

"5 hours! You were gone for 5 hours Diana!" Mala sounded mad, "you had me worried for 5 hours!"

"Was it really that long?" Diana was surprised by the number of hours she was gone. Because to her, it felt as if she was only gone for a couple of minutes. It was as if time simply passed by her

Mala sighed, "Diana please you have to be more careful from getting caught! You're not in Themyscira anymore and as your mother said-"

"I know what my mother said" Diana halted from changing her clothes and looked at Mala, "I never forget what my mother always tells me Mala"

Diana continued changing. Mala could only watch her and feel guilty over what she just said. Mala knew that she was the only person Diana could really rely on when it came to sneaking out of the palaces and exploring the world outside the palace gates- to which Diana has spent her whole life confined under. Mala wanted to be more supportive but it seemed, the more they grew, the more fear would escalate inside her when it came to Diana. She'd seen Diana cry before- all the time when they were alone- and that was one thing she never wanted to see Diana do again.

Diana has finally changed into her proper clothes. As always, she simply left her worn clothes on the floor but hid her cloak under her bed as well. Mala was left to pick up Diana's clothes off the floor. Diana, on the other hand, sat on her bed, her head was down. Mala understood that she was upset. She sighed and sat next to her

"I'm sorry Diana" she put her hand on Diana's shoulder

Diana didn't answer immediately, "I know what my responsibilities are and what lies on stake if I fail. My mother and sisters rely on me to do what's right but… if I could have one bit of freedom…"

"I know" Mala hugged her, "that's why I'll do anything to help you gain just a little bit of that freedom Diana… even though you're too stubborn to follow my rules in exchange"

There was a small giggle from both of them but Mala continued, "Listen Diana, I will help you but you have to understand that you still have to follow some of my rules to help you"

Mala had a look of concern on her face and all Diana could do was reply with, "I understand… Thank you Mala"

Diana pulled Mala close to her and hugged her. Soon, Mala stood up from the bed as she continued to pick Diana's clothes and things off of the floor.

"So what happened during your exploration?" Mala asked

When Diana didn't respond, Mala looked up to see why. She suddenly saw that she was smiling. Mala didn't know how to respond to Diana's answer. Why was she smiling? Although she liked that she was.

"Why are you smiling?" Mala couldn't help but smile as well

It took Diana a while to look up and answer but when she finally did, she simply replied with, "Nothing"

Mala eyed her. She knew Diana well enough to know that there was something behind her rather unusual smile. Diana, in turn, tried to fight off her friend's glare but it was useless, she couldn't resist her demand. Diana knew she could trust her friend after all; she was the person who had been behind her since she realized her dream of being able to explore the world; and the person who she travelled with in escaping the palaces. They both shared the same dream when they were kids and in a way, they still did.

"I saw a magnificent meadow with a lake beside it!" Diana grinned as she jumped from her bed, "you should've seen it Mala! It was beautiful! There were dandelions and irises growing from the grasses! The water in the lake was so clear as well!"

Mala watched with a light feeling as Diana continued on with her story. She was glad to see Diana so happy and enthusiastic with her story about the adventure she just had.

"And Clark said that the water was safe-"

Wait

"Clark?" Diana stopped and looked at Mala with shock as Mala glared at her, "who is Clark?"

Diana didn't reply. She didn't know how to

"Diana?" Mala moved closer to her friend, "is it a man?"

Diana nodded. Mala showed a shocked expression.

"He was the person who saved me in the cave" Diana told her

"Is he Kryptonian?"

Diana shook her head, "He came from the planet Earth. He is one of the reporters that were sent to Krypton for a project introduced by the King and Queen of Krypton"

Mala then saw a slight smile that came from Diana as she spoke about him. She couldn't argue with her friend anymore

"I know I'm not supposed to get near men but he saved my life and I owe him my life because of it" Diana tried to explain, "the least thing I could do is to not show resentment against him just because he's a man and-"

"What is he like?" Mala asked as she sat next to Diana

Diana was relieved. She really thought she was going to receive an earful from Mala about her duties again.

"You're not mad?" she asked Mala

"Why will I be mad? You seem happy and I cannot go against that"

Diana hugged her friend, "Thank you"

"So?" Mala pulled herself away from Diana and looked at her, "what is he like?"

"He is…" Diana tried to find the right words to describe him, "unlike any man I have ever heard from my mother's or my teacher's teachings. He's gentle and sweet and he doesn't even know it" Diana almost laughed, "He respects me. His stories about Earth are captivating" she took Mala's hands, "Mala, it's as if whenever I'm with him, I couldn't help but… be enchanted"

Mala was surprised at how Diana spoke about the man. She never, for the life of her, expected Diana to speak about someone with such passion as she showed.

Diana paused. She felt Mala's stare on her and felt uncomfortable. Even still, she gave her a childish smile and asked, "What's wrong?"

Mala didn't reply. Instead, she gave her a huge grin. Diana suddenly felt rather uncomfortable with the sudden grin.

"Mala?" Diana eyed her

"I'm just really happy for you Diana" she told her, "it's been a while since I saw you smile like that"

There was a mixture of warmth and concern in Mala's eyes and Diana noticed it immediately. Mala had been Diana's friend since they were children: they played together, trained together, talked with each other about everything and especially, went on adventures together. They both treated each other more than just friends, but blood sisters.

Diana moved closer to her and hugged her. As they tightly hugged each other Diana whispered to her, "Thank you"

Suddenly, Mala pushed Diana from her and looked at her, "That reminds me… You have to get ready for tonight"

"Tonight?"

"Remember?" Mala raised her eyebrows to her, "tonight is the noble's party. It's your chance to find a suitable and honest husband… as per the Goddess' demands"

"Husband…."

Clark quickly changed into his normal clothes as soon as he arrived in their hotel room. He had remembered enough of the pathway he took from the hotel and towards the meadow for him to have arrived safely and quickly back. He threw his cloak and dirty boots under his bed and put on a simple white shirt and jeans- enough to make it look like as if he had been doing nothing in the hotel room.

Suddenly, he heard a clicking noise from their door and sure enough, both Lois and Jimmy came in the room. Jimmy had a rather annoyed look on his face while Lois had the face of content. Clark deduced it might've been because of the amount of bags he had to carry while Lois only carried two. As soon as the door behind them slid close, Jimmy immediately dropped the bags on the floor with a huge sigh.

"Hey Smallville" Lois greeted, "how was your day?"

"Really?" Clark raised an eyebrow to her, "I've been under house arrest the whole day"

"Sorry" she put down her bags as well, "it's that bad huh?"

Clark shrugged his shoulders, "It was okay"

In actual fact, it was more than okay for Clark. It was one of the best days he's ever had. Not being able to explore was too aggravating for Clark so he decided to escape into the woods where he met Diana again. From then on, his day was fixated with a light-hearted feeling in his heart. He couldn't have been happier to spend the day with the woman he had not stopped thinking about and in such a beautiful place- the meadow that sat as a jewel inside the forest. He wanted to go back to the meadow in hopes that he would see her again because he didn't want that day to end.

"So how about you? How was your day?" Clark asked the two

"Great!" Lois grinned

"Terrible!" Jimmy groaned

"Why?" Clark asked again, slightly confused by the difference of opinion

"Yeah what was so terrible about it?" Lois turned to Jimmy, "I thought you had fun"

"If you count having to chase around you all day to make sure you don't get into trouble and having to carry your enormous amounts of shopping bags," Jimmy began to complain, "then you have a very funny idea of the word 'fun' Lois"

"Lighten up Jimmy" Lois patted him on the back, "we ended up going to a lot of shops right? Besides all that carrying is good for your muscles! You need it"

Jimmy shot her a look, "I didn't get to buy a lot because you kept moving to different places immediately Lois. Besides we kept going to shops that didn't really spark a lot of interests for me… and what do you mean I need muscles?" Jimmy pointed his index finger to her with a rather failed threatening look, "I'll have you know, I go to the gym at least once a week"

Lois raised him any eyebrow

"I mean they're not as big as CKs" he looked at Clark with envy, "but still… they're quite…" he looked at his biceps and tensed it, "decent"

Lois couldn't help but laugh. Jimmy blushed but he glared at Lois with a blank expression. Clark, on the other hand, couldn't bring himself to laugh since he thought it was a shame to laugh at Jimmy after that… comment. Also, he had no right to laugh since he really didn't do anything to make his muscles bigger except maybe from his chores.

"Laugh all you want" Jimmy decided to ignore her and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Soon after Lois had stopped laughing, he turned around to her and asked- still with an annoyed expression, "Why did you take so long in those meaningless shops anyway Lois? Those shops were expensive and only had clothes and accessories for rich Kryptonians. And where did you get that money anyway? You only had two days to exchange your money into Kryptonian currency before we left"

"You have too many questions Jimmy" Lois waved her hand to him as she walked towards one of the bags with a fancier design than the rest, she was digging through the stuff inside, "I had a lot of money saved up way before the programme was introduced and since the currency exchange here is quite high, I mean the Kryptonians don't really need all those money anyway I don't think, I was able to gather up a lot of money." Lois finally managed to gather up all of the clothing from the bags, "And it took me long in those shops because I had to pick specific clothing for you two as well. I mean I'm not quite sure of your sizes so I had to improvise. Thank God I can get a refund if it didn't fit but then there'll be no time-"

"Wait wait wait" Jimmy interrupted her, "why did you need to buy us those fancy clothes?"

Both Clark and Jimmy looked at Lois with confusion. What was she planning by buying all those expensive clothes for them, they didn't know. Clark thought it maybe as a gift- a fancy gift at that- but Jimmy thought otherwise. Jimmy knew how bad Lois was when it came to gifts- Jimmy bought Lois two tickets to a Monster rally tournament for her birthday while she bought him… a coffee mug for his birthday the year after.

Lois threw Clark and Jimmy their clothes. Both Jimmy and Clark looked at each of them. They were fancy Kryptonian clothing with some jewels embedded on their chest.

"You're going to need them" Lois put her hands on her hips and grinned at them, "you have to get ready soon"

"For what?" Clark asked, finally nervous of the mystery from Lois

"We're going to a party"

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