: BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! From here on I will be writing this story with my new co-author KopyKitty whose first chapter is below. I will be keeping you up-to-date on whose chapters are whose. Enjoy and review:

Niera weaved in and out of the water, letting the salty sea pull itself through her hair. For several long minutes, she swam here and there, riding the waves and swimming underneath them. Achilles ad the men looked on in something slightly short of wonder. She was an unusual woman, no doubt. Finally, she let a wave push her backward, and she placed her bare feet in the wet, sandy bottom. She flattened her hair with her hands, smiling despite herself. She had wanted to do that for quite sometime. She was facing west, away from Achilles and she was just about to dive back in when she looked over her shoulder to see him waving her back. Another man, a herald no doubt, was standing next to him with a pair of horses. From pure curiously, Niera walked slowly back to the beach, stopping to brace herself against on coming waves occasionally.

"What's going on?" she asked Achilles, squinting her eyes with suspicion. Achilles glanced to his friend Odysseus, who smiled his legendary smile. Niera could not say it was a welcoming expression for her part. Earlier, while Niera was swimming, Odysseus came about and spoke onto Achilles of the arrival of a Trojan party. The two friends suggested to one another that they bring the girl. If none of the Greeks knew who she was, perhaps the Trojan's gift from the Gods would…

"Get on," said Achilles gruffly, mounting one of his intelligent horses.

"Going for a romantic ride on the beach are we?" asked Niera sarcastically. She put her foot in a stirrup, and was about to mount the other steed, when Odysseus put his hand on her shoulder.

"This is my mount." Niera pulled her foot away. Odysseus mounted and rode in a little circle, almost as if flexing his legs before a run, all though the horse would be doing any of that.

"Then where do I ride?" Achilles patted his horse's hindquarters. Niera took a second to comprehend, before she stepped back. "I'd much rather just walk than get on the same horse as you."

Achilles shrugged.

"Suit yourself. I bothers me not to have a wet teenager walking as opposed to riding with me." Niera sneered and walked along side the horses. Walking got hard, because her jeans were now heavy, and her wet shirt and hair clung to her skin. They passed several men, who looked at her in an unnerving stare. But they said and did nothing as Achilles' gaze washed over them. Eventually, the party of three made it to the meeting hall. Here they turned and made more inward to where some Greek leaders and Trojan leaders were meeting. The Achaeans were standing on foot, while the Trojans of horseback. They seemed very, regal and graceful up on their mounts, almost as if they and their horses had melted into one. If a rider was to so much as look back at the city, his horse might even take a few steps to make it easier for him. Their party was of four men, and a woman whose blue hood had fallen across her shoulders were rich brown locks tumbled. She was chatting silently with a muscular man, with thick brown curls and a short brown beard. A slightly younger man, with black curls and no beard was glaring at Menelaus from behind his father's shoulder. Priam, who the man must have been, was speaking with Agamemnon and Menelaus. The fourth man looked like something of a war general was conversing with Calchus. Most of them looked up when Achilles and Odysseus entered, but went back to their work. Something about that woman… girl seemed familiar to Niera. She squinted at her. She had a define jaw, with high-cheekbones and full-lips. Her gray eyes were bordered with thick, long lashes. Her hair was pulled back to keep hair from her eyes, yet two sprigs still fell in her eyes. The sun glanced off a golden headpiece of leaves. Suddenly it hit her hard.

"DIANA?" Everyone turned quickly in her direction, and Diana's eyes flashed on recognition. Niera could hardly believe it. Diana was her cousin, born two months before her, and they were related on their mothers' sides. Sure they had had rough times but she'd get her out. She pushed between Achilles' horses and clung to her cousin's leg.

"Diana, I can't believe you're here! I thought I was alone, the only one! You have to buy me, Diana! You must, they're keeping me as a slave and keep hounding me for information and I can't take another second of it!"

There was a pause as Niera saw Diana in a new image, her crown shining like that of a Christ-like figure. So much relief washed through Niera she could hardly stand it. It would all be all right now… but it was several seconds before Niera realized the look of hate Diana gave her. A sudden force pushed Niera away, strong like an ocean wave, but it was the mount of Hector. He and his horse pushed themselves between the cousins. His sword was drawn defensively, and Niera looked up at Diana with a look of fake innocence and curiosity.

"I'm sorry… have we met?" she asked.

There was a sickening silence. Though Diana's words sounded sincere to the men, nothing had ever sounded colder or harsher to Niera. For a moment, her heart had leapt from the ashes of misery and despair of hopeless… only to be thrown down hard of the ground as though being pulled by a rubber band.

"Niera… it's Niera! Diana!" Niera sputtered, and everyone looked in turn to Diana.

"Ah, Niera… tell me girl, who is your master?"

"I am." Said Achilles, pulling Niera to him by her shoulders, almost defensively.

"Achilles, correct?" he nodded. Paris glanced at his brother, and the others fell silent. "I suggest you keep an eye on her, Achaean warrior." She looked uncomfortable for a second. "Your seer," she said, teasing the word to Agamemnon, who had evidently mentioned her, "has been a burden to the gods since they have created her. In the land from where I come…I did know her… for my time. But do not put faith in her predictions, dear enemy…" Diana's voice went dark, "For in all the time she has been, she has been known for her insane notions, vicious actions, and misleading, manipulating lies. Now, Father, if we are finished with your business, I wish to leave this place." Priam nodded and re-mounted his horse. Niera watched in disbelief as Diana started to laugh and chat with Paris. Hector gave Achilles a killer look and turned away. Niera stared in silent disbelief, as they rode away. Yet even if as they set off at a gallop, Diana made a sharp turn, rising dust in the air. She looked back and her horse rose in a 'High-ho-Silver' and blew Niera a sarcastic kiss. Then her horse turned more, slammed his hooves on the ground and rode off, raising more dust.

Anger mounted Niera in a flash and all she could do was yell as loud as she could:

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHH!"

Then she fell to her knees and felt very weak.

Achilles stood over her for a moment, watching Diana go. Despite himself, he believed Niera, and thought very lowly of Princess Diana. In any case, if the rumors were true, he'd meet her again in the heat of battle.

The guards opened the city gates and let in the Royals.

"So," said Hector, "where have you really met that girl?"

"What do you mean?" asked Diana, raising an eyebrow.

"Sister, do not try and act as though I do not know you better than any person on this side of Styx."

Diana smiled sadly. If only he knew.

"Okay, I admit it. She's my cousin. But Hector, I turned her freedom down and I would do it again because…" she paused slightly, watching a brown eagle fly over head. "… because she killed my elder brother."

Hector looked at her anxiously. She had only mentioned her late brother once or twice. And one time it had just been around when he first met her, six years ago…

"Diana, what's the matter? Does this palace displease you?" asked Hector. The young lady who had appeared in Apollo's Sacred Garden was seated behind a pillar and hugging her knees. When she first arrived, she had at once requested paper, and pulled out from a pocket, three strange wooden sticks and a gray blob. She called them her 'pencils and eraser'. They were strange to the people, but with them, she could make her magic! Just like the legendary artists of Athens… she could draw images so realistic and accurate, it was like looking into a portal. Sometimes, she drew more silly, unrealistic creations. Sometimes she would draw the other royals, or the Gods and Goddesses, and her favorite characters to draw were Pegasus and Cerberus. And she could tell stories about them so confidently, no one had once doubted she had met them. And other times she would draw other people, whose pictures she would only show to Hector… and she would tell stories about them. When he asked her if she had met them, she smiled sadly and sad she always wished she could, but they lived and remained only inside her. Most of their stories were general though, and she could not tell too much about them. And sometimes she would show her old dogs and horse, whom she always missed.

Tears splattered the drawing of Poseidon and his winged horses, and the one of a cloaked, black haired youth with strange circles in front of his eyes, a lightning bolt shaped scar, and strange outfit. For before her was a halfway drawn image of a boy. His face was erased again, and again, and smeared and some lines were drawn over so many times in frustration it ripped through.

"I c-c-can't remember h-how h-he looks!" sobbed Diana, burying her face in her hands. "H-he's my b-b-brother Jake. He d-d-died, and I can't even r-remember his face enough to d-d-draw it!"

She had wailed for a straight hour, even after her eyes ran dry. Hector sat next to her the entire time, his hand on her shoulder. Slowly, she lifted a pencil and eraser and started to adjust the drawing. Finally, when she finished, she held it up and Hector saw a mirror image of himself.

"I don't want to have her here," snarled Diana. She turned and faced Hector, smiling suddenly. "Now let's get our armor on. Priam isn't about to let his gift from Apollo sit out of battle. Besides, I need to beat some Achaeans!"

Hector laughed. She liked fighting, but he knew she didn't like killing.