Chapter 16 - The Trouble with Mothers

As her mother was engaging in her sad but futile attempt at reconciliation, her daughter and her own best friend found themselves alone in the very room in which A-ko's mother had grown up. The two teenage girls - afflicted with all the problems and worries other girls their age have, plus a host of others that no others could even dream about -- lay side-by-side in bed talking.

Waiting for the return of the original owner of the room, A-ko and C-ko talked quietly about today's events between themselves. C-ko took her friend by the hand and asked her, "A - er, Martha, do you think anyone could be listening in on us now?"

"According to Mom, it would be an insult and an affront to Amazon honor, so I doubt if we're being spied on." A-ko then added, "I'm glad you came along, C-ko. I don't think I could go through with all of this without you here with me."

C-ko was silent for a moment as she debated with herself how to answer her friend; she then decided to speak up. "I hope you don't take this in the wrong way, but your grandma is scary!"

"No kidding," said A-ko. "But that shouldn't bother you; she likes you. lt's me she has no use for."

C-ko asked her friend, "Why do you say that'?"

"The way she kept harping on the fact that Mama was pregnant with me before she was married, and all of those other personal questions!" answered A-ko.

"I think it was Artemis who started all of that garbage. What I noticed was the way your grandma kept staring at you while Artemis said it."

"Like how?" asked A-ko.

"Like she was studying how you reacted to everything that was going on around you."

"Let my grandmother stare at me until her eyes fall out. Today I was thinking of my father and all the nasty things these Amazons say about him. It's not just them, I'm afraid," answered A-ko. "Sadly, he believed that with the possible exception of his father, his biological mother and the rest of his home world would not have approved of him or the way he turned out."

"But why?" asked C-ko. "After everything he did for the world? Surely they would have approved of that!"

"No. My other ancestors, the Kryptonians, were so cold and so unemotional that they make the Vulcans from Star Trek look like party animals in comparison!"

"They sound like a bunch of icky stupidheads." She thought about it for a minute, then threw her small arms around her friend, and was in turn hugged by A-ko. Holding each other tight, C-ko said, "Let's promise to always be friends."

A-ko grinned broadly before telling C-ko, "Absolutely."

They were disturbed by a sound from the balcony which only ears like A-ko's and the rest of her family could hear. Peering into the darkness and seeing what only she could see, the redhead watched as her mother suddenly appeared on the balcony.

Entering the room and seeing that the two teens were awake, Diana asked them, "What are youyoung terrors still doing up?

"Talking about what happened tonight and waiting for you," said her daughter. A-ko then added, "How did your little meeting work out, Mama?"

"Not well at all, baby - not well at all," she answered as she flopped down on the edge of her bed, more from regret than fatigue. She slowly began to undress. Changing into her Amazon sleeping shift, A-ko's mother stood up and moved to stand next to her daughter's bed. Tucking both of her charges under their covers, she made sure to kiss them both before she stood up straight.

"Sorry that I'm not doing this as well as your father does it, baby," said her mother.

A-ko looked up and gave her a sweet smile. "You did fine, Mama; after all, Papa has had a lot more practice then you!"

Diana bent over and gave her daughter a final kiss before she straightened up and said with a sad smile, "That's all right, baby. I miss him too." She retired to her own bed and crawled in under the covers. She then turned to her two charges and told them both, "Your grandma is right about one thing - days do indeed start early around here." With a final good night to A-ko and C-ko, Diana - wife, mother, Amazon ex-princess, and hero - rolled over and went to sleep.

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The day did indeed begin early on Paradise Island as A-ko's mother managed to awaken her daughter and her friend just as the sun's first rays were breaking over the horizon. A half hour later, after a quick trip to the bathroom and a even quicker wash-up, A-ko and C-ko were busy exploring Diana's old childhood room as they waited for the ex-princess to finish dressing and lead them down to breakfast. Diana was just finishing tying up the last of her sandals when A-ko rushed up to her, holding a masked helmet in her hands. "What is this, Mama?"

Holding it tenderly in her hands, A-ko's mother turned it over slowly, and as she did so told her daughter, "That is the mask and helmet I wore to win the right to become my Nation's ambassador to the outside world."

"You had to compete to become Wonder Woman, Mama?" asked A-ko.

"The answer is yes, and your grandmother the Queen had also forbidden me to compete for the position with the rest of my Sisters."

"But you went ahead and competed anyway, didn't you?" asked A-ko. "Is that why you were masked, Mama?"

"Lucky for me, all of us who competed wore masks," answered her mother.

"Why, Mama?"

"We competed masked so that no Sister would hesitate from competing against a Sister, or be afraid to land a blow against her very best friend," explained her mother.

"I'll bet Grandma was mad when she found out you disobeyed her," said A-ko.

"Very, very angry,'' said her mother. "But she was trapped, and instead gave me her blessings as I became our people's ambassador to Man's world."

"Is that when you first met Papa?"

"That was a little later on," she answered. "It was in Washington, D.C. - during that horrible Godfrey affair - that I first set eyes on your father."

"Was he married to Lois then?" asked A-ko.

"No, not yet. He was still single at the time, and was someone I found myself attracted to even at that time. So, when the crisis was over and he came in my direction to talk, your brave mother ran away like a shy girl in a schoolyard!"

A-ko was dumbfounded. She thought there was nothing from which her mother would run, let alone be afraid of. And yet here she sat, telling her different. "But why, Mama?"

Her mother smiled and told her daughter, "Because I was totally ignorant when it came to questions of men and women. Besides - at the time, I thought your father was a God who had come to Earth because his power rivaled that of the very Gods I myself worshiped!" She touched her daughter's cheek and told her, "That is what attracted me to your father at the time. I fell in love with him later, when I realized the moral code by which he lived was superior to that of the very Gods worshiped by my own people."

Seeing the troubled look on her daughter's face, Diana stood up and, taking A-ko and C-ko by the hand, said, "I'm hungry - let's go get some breakfast!"

"Now you're talking," said C-ko. Soon the two teenage girls and the ex-princess of the Amazons found themselves standing in the hallway outside one of the Amazon communal dining rooms. With Diana saying," Heads up and walk proud!", the three of them marched in, staring straight ahead and with their heads held high. They ignored the stares and whispers, and marched straight ahead until an imposing dark-skinned woman stood up and gestured for them to join her.

Stopping in front of where she stood, Philippus greeted her one-time pupil in the time-honored Amazon greeting, followed by an affectionate hug. Philippus once again performed the Amazon greeting with her friend's daughter. Soon, another woman joined them and A-ko watched as her mother welcomed her with a smile and a hug. After A-ko touched bracelets with the new arrival, her mother introduced her to A -ko.

"You already met Philippus on board the boat. This is my other close friend, Cassandra."

A-ko's smiling face soon darkened as she dropped her arms and snarled. "Are you the so-called friend who slashed my mother in the leg while she was in Boston?"

"I only did my duty both as an Amazon and a friend," Cassandra explained.

"Well, you may be an Amazon, but you will never be a friend of mine," growled A-ko. A-ko felt her mother's strong grip on her arm.

"Martha Kent, you apologize to Cassandra this instant!"

"No, never!" snarled the redhead. "I won't shake the hand that held the weapon that was used to try to take my mother's life!"

"I see that red hair of hers is no ideal boast," said Cassandra.

"Yes, my friend; she does have a temper - a temper that she is supposed to be learning how to control," said Diana. Taking A-ko by the wrist once again, her mother told her, "Look at these two women; no matter what you have heard or what you think they have done or should have done. Without Donna or Zoey here when I am gone, if you need help for any reason, they are the two - along with your grandmother - you should seek out. I not only trust them with my own life, but once I'm gone, with yours as well."

With that said and done, Diana told her, "Now sit down and have your breakfast."

It was then that C-ko decided to stick out her hand and shout," Hi! My name is C -ko!" The two Amazon warriors laughed out loud at her cheerful and friendly manner as they took C-ko's hand in greeting.

Sitting down at the table, Cassandra told A-ko, "I challenged your mother in Boston because I was both honor- and duty-bound to do so." She then added, "I also did what I did because I knew I couldn't beat her, and that with me, she'd face an honorable challenge and not a sneak attack."

Turning to face her mother, A-ko watched as she silently nodded her head yes. Turning back to Cassandra, A-ko told her, "I'm sorry for acting the way I did. Ever since one of my mother's so-called 'Sisters' used a sad story and my mother's kindness to stick a knife in her back on a New Year's Eve, I don't fully trust Amazons any longer - even if I have been training most of my life to become one."

"Was that the day Artemis came back with one hand in a cast and the other with a bad burn?" asked Phillipus.

"Yes - a gift of the girl's sire," said Cassandra.

"Father!" A-ko interrupted.

"I'm sorry - 'father'," Cassandra corrected herself. "In any case, if it had been anyone but the girl's father who had his type of power, she would have come back without a head," Cassandra then added.

For the rest of the meal, in spite of the many stares from the gathered Amazons, A-ko and C-ko ate their breakfast and listened to the stories her mother and her two friends shared.

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"Ma'am, are you ready to go?"

"Yes." Mitsuko turned her head painfully. The arthritis in her cervical spine hurt dreadfully. Maybe that's why I'm so stinking mean, she thought.

Something caught her eye although it was difficult to see through the smoked limo windows. She heard a knock, and rolled down her window. There stood her son, holding an infant in one arm and a toddler in the other.

"Oh good grief," she whispered. She nodded at her chauffeur, who opened her door.

"Well?"

"Mother. I wanted to show you my daughters. This is Shiiko, and - "

"I know their names, you knucklehead!"

"We can't thank you enough for your generous gifts."

"That's right. You can't. I could've waited until I was dead before you saw any of my dough, but that way I'd be deprived of seeing you grovel in gratitude. Hand over the new pipsqueak."

Hikaru bent, carefully transferring the infant to his mother's arms. "It's been years since I've held a baby," she said. "Since Biko's birth, I believe. God knows Shinobu never put one in my arms. Woman's useless." She smiled at the infant. "Your alien sot's a good breeder, Hikaru Teru; I'll give her that."

"A good mother, you mean."

"I said what I meant. I don't need you correcting me, boy."

She looked into the baby's sweet face. "Blue eyes. Odd shade of hair - sort of a - what? Aquamarine?"

"Yes. That's what you get when you mix lavender with green," the billionaire said.

"Well, she's a keeper. She is indeed." She tapped Mitsuko on her nose. The infant grasped her finger and held on tightly. "She looks like Biko, you know. Not quite as pretty, with that scarecrow mother of hers, but it's a near thing. Here. Give us the other one."

With the baby handed back to her father and after Shiiko was seated gently on the old woman's lap, Mitsuko smoothed the child's hair. "Same coloring exactly. Why didn't you invite me to her Buckwheat, or whatever those space women call it?

"Bikreet, Mother. We didn't because at the time, you'd more or less disinherited me."

"Ah, yes. Well. I suppose that's a good enough reason." The little girl smiled at her, then grasped her string of pearls, fascinated.

"Yes, child. Those belonged to my mother-in-law. They're natural pearls, not those awful cultured pearls. You like those?" She removed them from her neck and handed them to the little girl.

"No, Mother," Hikaru said. "You hold onto them."

"I'll do what I damn well feel like, Hikaru Teru. I'll fling 'em in the nearest dumpster if I have a mind to. I'm not going to live forever, Son. That's occurred to me recently, and more times than I care to recall."

The child turned toward the window and held up her hands, one of them still clutching the rope of pearls. Mitsuko looked up to see her mother reaching for her. "Come, baby," the Captain said. "Grandmother must be tired."

"Grandmother is just fine, thank you very much. Come and sit with me for a minute. Hikaru, take this child and buy her a decent dress. Not one of those outer space things, either. And pay for it yourself. Don't dip into her money. Don't you dare."

"Yes, Mother."

Captain got on the other side of the limousine and sat down, drawing her long white skirt around her legs.

"Close the door," Mitsuko snapped. "Were you brought up in a barn?"

"What?"

"Oh, never mind. I forget you don't hail from here. I wanted to talk to you."

"If you intend to tear into me again, I'm leaving. Let's have that understood right up front."

"You're a tough one, aren't you? Well. I've probably done my fill of that already, woman. Look here."

Aysha looked at her hesitantly. Mitsuko cupped her chin with her hand; the former Captain closed her eyes.

"What's the matter? What's wrong with you? Can't stand to be seen?"

"I don't like it. I'm not very pretty. And I know already that you think I'm ugly, so what's the point?"

"Open your eyes and look at me. Or don't you have the courage?"

Aysha's eyes snapped open, fire in them.

"That's better. I understand you've been an engineer, a pilot, a navigator - first in your class or something, back whenever. Is that right?"

"Yes."

"Hm. Hope your girls take after you, at least in the brains department. If it weren't for computers, your husband wouldn't be able to count his pocket change. When he adds two and two, he comes up with five and a half."

Captain smirked.

"Oh my God, she actually cracked a smile and her face didn't shatter in my hand! That's better. Listen to me now." Mitsuko pushed Aysha's hair off her forehead. "You have your failings -you have many - but so do I. You've got more courage than most. You've survived things that most people wouldn't. And even though you're not likely to make the front cover of Vogue - "

"But I was on the cover of Vogue, Mitsuko. I'm surprised. Thought you never missed an issue."

"Ohhh,yes! When you were big as a house. Maternity fashions. Hah! Can't say that women all over the world went galloping out to snatch that issue off the shelves. But, I stand corrected, as they say. Must give you your due." The old woman shrugged. "I never even made the back pages. Too damn short to be a model. You're not. Lord Almighty, you must have just kept growing and forgot to stop."

"Actually, I'm not even considered tall by Cygnan standards."

"I'll bet. What bruisers. God Almighty! Most people want to cross the street when they see one of you gals coming. Scary."

"We are not. We're not machines, or animals, or - creatures, as you like to call us. We're humanoids, like yourselves."

"Well, forgive my ignorance, woman. But let's face facts here. You're not exactly the kind of woman I would have picked as a daughter, you know."

"Don't be such a hypocrite, Mitsuko. You don't consider me a daughter. You even hate Shinobu!"

"No, I don't. I don't hate either one of you."

"You do a decent impression of it."

"I suppose I do. But I didn't invite you in here to make small talk."

"What do you want, then?"

"I wanted to make an observation, that's all."

"Nobody's stopping you."

"My son's kind of been off his nut since his first wife died. Junko. Lovely girl. Not like you."

"No," Captain said. "Not like me."

"Stop that. You look at me, now. What I was trying to say was that he hadn't been right in the head since he lost her. Didn't even go out with any of the fine ladies who would have made good matches for him. I tried, believe me."

Captain shrugged, and looked out the limousine window.

"Just sat in his damn house, figuring out new and better ways to screw people over. And ignoring that poor child as well. My Lord. She let you love her?"

"No."

"Doesn't surprise me. I don't think that girl will ever be right. Since my son hooked up with you, he's been - well, more like he used to be, years ago. Before he turned into a cackling maniac that annoyed the hell out of everyone. Man drove me crazy. Did everyone. Seems he's more settled these days. He hasn't proposed any hostile takeovers since you two hooked up. Loves his little girls. Cute as cut-buttons, both of them."

"Thank you, M - , er, Mitsu - "

"ls that the only thing you can think of to call me?"

"I'm afraid to call you - Mother. Next time you decide to rip away at me, it'll hurt all the more. As you're so fond of saying, I'm not stupid."

"I know that. But if you're of a mind to do so, I won't haul off and clop you across the face. Hear?"

Aysha dropped her head. By the trembling of her broad shoulders, Mitsuko could tell that she was crying.

"Hey. Hey now."

The alien clapped her hands over her face and sobbed. Memories of her own mother flooded over her for the first time in a long while. My mother loved me. She cherished my life. She died for me. And all you can do is make me feel even uglier and more worthless than I usually do.

Mitsuko drew her close. "Now settle down, woman. No cause to blow a wheel on me."

"You don't understand," her daughter-in-law whispered in a harsh voice. "All my life, there's been no one to love me in the way I love my girls, except my own mother. And she was gone before I reached my teens."

"I heard about that."

"I guess I haven't been right in the head since, either. Maybe that's why I was a crazy drunk who did all those things your magazines talk about. I don't know any more. I'm tired of apologizing. If you can't show kindness to my husband or to my sweet children or even to me, just leave us alone. Can you do that?"

Mitsuko frowned but said nothing for a while, still smoothing Aysha's hair. "Truth be told, your tears don't bring me pleasure. So cry your fill, alien. It's not up to me to shame you for it."

"I am ashamed to weep in front of you. You see it as a sign of weakness. And I am not a weak woman."

"I understand that. But you need to understand something in return. I'm not the sort to -- apologize. That being the case, I need to ask if you'd do me the kindness of allowing me to fuss over your girls."

"You mean my 'half-breed whelps'?"

"Hard words from a hard old woman. Yes, I meant them, although not with those words in mind. But I also meant your other girls as well. Your skinny green-headed ones."

Captain nodded, avoiding eye contact with her mother-in-law.

"And if you're so inclined, I can even fuss over you. But not too often. That would be pushing things."

"Don't put yourself out, Lady."

Mitsuko held her by the shoulder and pulled an embroidered hanky from her pocketbook. "There, blow your nose. Can't have you running around your own party bawling your eyes out. Someone might get the idea that you and I had harsh words."

"I can't decide whether we did or didn't. l -"

"Get on out of here before you set me off squawking again." She kissed the Cygnan's forehead and gave her a little shove. "My eighty-first birthday's in March. Your lunkheaded husband knows the date, or ought to. Throw me a party and invite all your friends, except for that jackass who calls himself Mr. Mayor. And that pitiful sniveling creature who runs the EDF. If I see either of 'em, I'll turn around and get right back into the car."

Aysha broke into a small smile. "Understood."

"Send all those gals of yours along with Alana next week. We can all go see that Oat Cloud, or whatever the hell they call it."

"I will."

"Who knows. Maybe one of these days you'll be able to call me by that name you just about choked to death over a moment ago."

Aysheia said nothing. She lifted her strong chin and saw her husband standing outside the limousine. She smiled slightly and turned to Mitsuko. The old woman nodded. Momentarily relieved of both children by Deesha, Hikaru helped his wife out of the vehicle.

His mother stuck out her head immediately after her. "Hikaru Teru. Give this woman a breather, for God's sake. I don't want to come to another one of these shindigs next year."

"I will, Mother."

Captain jabbed him in the ribs.

"Soldier. Watch out for yourself and all those babies."

"I will, M - Mitsuko." She dipped her head.

"See you do. Driver!" The car's tires crackled on the gravel beneath them, and both Mitsuko and her limousine were out of sight in less than a minute.

"Well," Hikaru said, holding her hands and making as if he was examining them. "You still have all your fingers. Toes intact?" She looked down at her sandalled, emerald green-lacquered toes and wiggled them. "It wasn't my fingers and toes that concerned me in there, Hicky. I - I can't talk about it just now. All right?"

"Here, Cap'n," Dee said, handing Mitsuko to her mother. "Thank the Goddess, she's had a happy day of it."

"Dee?" she responded, squeezing the woman's big hand. "Sometimes I forget to tell you how much your friendship and help mean to me. Don't let me forget."

"Come this way, Ayshalita," Hikaru hissed in her ear. "Zuma's bad a few belts and he's heading this way. He wants you to design an armaments system for the 'Alana.'"

"He knows full well that selling my ship with military weapons systems would get me executed, that kakamatandis. Wantin' ain't gettin'," she replied, holding her youngest child and hugging her Sweet Hicky. "Maybe – just maybe – next time I see her, I'll call Mitsuko 'Mother'."

Hikaru's eyes grew wide. "Whatever you want is fine with me. Come on, maybe if we cut through the sushi tables we can avoid good ol' Mr. Director."