We wandered the streets for about an hour to get our bearings before going into a nice little hole in the wall coffee shop. Nothing had come forth yet of a troubling nature so we continued to play it cool as two ordinary chicks in man's world. We had a pretend debate on who would pay for the coffees. "Oh I guess I'll do it," said Donna and presented the wonder card to the barista for the first time. She seemed skeptical that it would really work...but like any other amazing amazon item...it went right through. Donna took the card back from the barista with virtual reverence. "Told ya," I whispered into her ear. "You realize this could be the most powerful item of all time?" she said. I nodded. "That has crossed my mind on more than one occasion." We got our java shortly thereafter and found a cute small/tall table with stools to sit on. It was by a window. The New Yorkers went by us constantly outside in a place that never slept.
"I love New York," she said. I nodded slowly while looking down at my coffee. "But not you?" "It's a little big for my taste; especially now." "What do you prefer then?" "I like the island now that I'm 'older'. It wasn't always like that though." "What changed?" I leaned back and sighed. "Thousands of years in man's world. I've seen/done a lot." "And I'm just getting started with my superhero gig; I want to do everything fast so I can be a worldly badass like you." "But this is the perfect place for you to be in right now Donna." "Really?" "Yeah. You need time to experience being what a superhero is. You can't just be thrown into it." "There are times you have to improvise though..." "Well sure; but like me, I want you to have the experience of learning as you go." I thought a little more before speaking my thoughts better to her. "You see Donna, I had Athena as my teacher in my later youth, inasmuch as I had my mother and aunt in my younger years. But it wasn't until I journeyed with Athena that I saw patriarch's world...and truly came to know its ways...and how much our greatest enemy - my brother - had twisted all of that to fit his ends. The point is, I needed the time to understand all of that inasmuch as I could before flying head on into it. To fight an enemy like Ares, the dark lord, requires nothing less than that."
I not only had Donna thinking there, but I had her worried. "I'm not trying to overwhelm you..." This brought a grin back to her young face. "I know my queen - Diana. And I've already gotten a taste of his evil in London." I nodded. "I've started to read about your many exploits against him spanning these many centuries, but it will take forever to truly understand all of it." I nodded/smiled back at her. "That's exactly what I'm getting at Donna. It will all take time. Zeus created all things to happen in their natural fullness. Just let things happen as they should."
"I will." There was something else on her mind. "What is it?" "The girls were talking before we left... They want to worship you too Diana; not just follow you as your subjects." I leaned back on my stool and sighed. "I was afraid of this." "But why? You are the Greek god of truth." "I follow the gods now..." "That's not required Donna." "I know; but I do..." She shrugged. "And...I could worship you too..." This wasn't new for me, other than being a queen, but it was never easy. If allowed to go through in fuller form as Donna asserted the girls wanted, then it could create greater factionalism among us; especially Nione and Hera's followers... These things should be confined to man's world, not brought into enlightened amazonia's beating heart itself...
But looking into Donna's dark eyes I could only see what would now be reflected among many of the others. How had I not foreseen this? Then again, I hadn't been on the island much, soon to be continent. And the larger our numbers grew the greater the number for those factions as well... Mother had had it hard. I'd never deny that; but she hadn't been an Olympian too during her nonetheless historic rule. My rule had already become much more complicated...
