Chapter 11 - Old Friends and Hard Words

"Listen here, Mr. Smartypants. If I could remember your name, I'd use it. My son called me up a few days ago bawling about needing money."

Mitsuko Daitokuji rolled her eyes as the person on the other line went on and on. "No, I don't want to talk to that lunkhead. If I wanted to talk to him, I would be doing so instead of wasting my time listening to your twaddle. You're the financial whiz-bang in this company, or at least that's what your title says. So wake up and tell me what Hikaru was moaning and whining about."

"Well, Mrs. Daitokuji," the Director of Commerce replied. "It seems that the other Mrs. Daitokuji - the former Captain - "

"I know who that drunken alien floozy is, you fool jackass!"

"Sorry, Ma'am. She - wants to develop and build a second-generation ENDY."

"That's the light-speed ship she originally built for us?"

"Yes, Ma'am, it is. She wants to add a number of upgrades. But there's one big drawback."

"Which is?"

"It's going to cost the Daitokuji Financial Group thirteen billion dollars. And I expect Mr. Daitokuji called you because, as the holding company's majority shareholder, you'd have to authorize that size expenditure."

There was a long silence on the other end of the line. The executive was afraid to break it.

"Will we make money from our investment of capital? Or will we break even?"

"We'll definitely make a profit, Ma'am. We factored in a built-in obsolescence factor of about four years into the earlier ships. They'll crap out - excuse me - start having major problems within a year or two, and we'll advise their owners to replace them."

"Buyers like whom?"

"Well. Let me think. The United States Government. Russia. Iran. Japan. The Earth Defense Force. Plus, we had about twenty-seven private citizens - billionaires, mostly - who bought them for their own use." The man chuckled. "I'd like to see Ted Turner zinging around at light-speed!"

"Only if that cracker reached escape velocity and kept going," she snapped. "I heard one of his old satellites smashed into one of our buildings. Shameful. I've given instructions for us to bring suit immediately."

Another long silence. "Ma'am?"

"Yes?"

"What's your pleasure?"

"Authorize it."

"Whaaaaaat?"

"I can't stand my idiot son or his trashy wife, but the little girl is all right. A feisty girl, in fact. You know what that means?"

"No, Ma'am."

"It means someone who's smart and who isn't afraid to speak her mind. That being the case, I have only one condition attached to my authorization."

"And what's that, Ma'am?"

"Name the damn thing 'Alana.' "

CLICK!

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The trip had not taken long, not that Themyscira - or Paradise Island, as it was more commonly known by most outsiders - was near. It wouldn't be accurate to say that it was very far either. In fact, it was neither close nor far from any known location, because Themyscira existed nowhere and everywhere at once.

If one was to begin looking for the Amazon Homeland, as good a place as any would have been in the South Atlantic - in the region the ignorant or the more gullible called the Bermuda Triangle.

It is a place where for centuries there have been strange stories of missing ships and planes, of wooden-hulled ghost ships, and eerie mists covering islands not found on any map. It is a place where compasses almost never point north and where radios regularly go "on the fritz", refusing to work.

This is where one would begin the search for Paradise Island, legendary land of the Immortal Amazons - the place which A-ko's mother Diana once called home - or did until the day she discovered for herself what mortal women almost always discover for themselves in time. This is the call of one's heart

that tells a woman - or a man, for that matter - where his or her true home lies.

Diana had found her true home in the arms and the love of a refugee from a far-off dead world, and in the daughter who was the product of that love. This same daughter was at that moment standing next to her on the deck of the boat that was taking the one-time Amazon princess and her child back to the Homeland. This was the place where Diana had grown up, and the home of the woman she once and would always call her mother - the same mother Diana still loved, no matter how deep and how wide the gulf which had separated them for so many years had become.

The women on the oars and at the tiller were of the highest skill, and had soon had docked the ship alongside the small wharf located on the south side of the island. Soon as the boat was tied up, A-ko's mother jumped onto the dock and then onto dry land.

She slowly sank down to her knees, and - taking a handful of her native soil - picked it up and held it cupped in the palm of her hands, close to her face. There she stayed, too moved to speak and too emotionally drained to move.

Watching her friend's mother, C-ko asked, "Is your mom sick?"

"No - praying," explained A-ko. "She is offering her prayers to the gods she has always worshipped to protect this land, and to show her gratitude for allowing her to return home once again." A-ko then added, "Or, perhaps a better explanation would be that she is simply homesick. This is the first time Mama has

been back home in close to fifteen years. So I guess she has all the right in the world to be a little emotional about returning."

"I guess after a month here with you, I will feel the same way when I come back home to my mama and papa," observed C-ko.

"I think we both will," added A-ko.

It was then that A-ko's mother, her prayers ended, stood up and made her way to the two girls as they waited for her on the dock. It was A-ko who spoke first as soon as her mother joined them.

"How do you feel, Mama?"

"Good; it's good to be home. Even if it is only for a short time!"

A-ko looked up at her mother and, with a sad face and even sadder voice, told her, "I'm sorry, Mama."

"For what, Baby?" asked her mother as she knelt down in front of her. A-ko bowed her head, being unable to look her mother in the face. "If you hadn't gotten pregnant with me, you might still be living here with your mother and Sisters."

She took her daughter in her arms and told her, "Never think that! I left to be with the man I had always loved. My mother and Sisters couldn't bring themselves to accept that love. But I couldn't live without it, and neither could your father. And even if you were not conceived in marriage, always remember that you were conceived in love. You are the living proof of the love your parents have for one another. Always remember it and be proud of it, no matter what might happen here on this Island or anywhere else in the future!"

Mother and child threw their arms around one another as C-ko looked on, crying. It was after a moment or two that Philippus joined them on the wharf.

"I was wondering where you'd gone," said Diana.

"I thought you might want a few moments alone with your daughter, my one-time pupil."

Almost at once the two tall women were in each other's arms, cheek to cheek. And even if folklore said that it was impossible for Amazons to cry, their tears washed down their faces and mingled with those of her Sister.

Seeing the looks of disgust on the faces of the other Amazons around them, A-ko's mother pulled back and warned her friend, "It wouldn't pay for the Captain of the Royal Guard to be seen welcoming a traitor home."

"Not to me - never to me," said Philippus. "There are many here who believe the same way I do - who believe the call of one's heart is sometimes too strong to ignore."

"I wish my mother could understand that," said Diana.

"You're wrong, Diana," said Philippus. "Your mother knows it all too well. That's the trouble. Remember, I was there on that day long ago. I know what the results were, and what happened to your mother when she heard the call of her heart."

"And you also, old friend," added A-ko's mother.

"I never was betrayed by love. I never had the chance to know the joy of love on that day long ago - just the abuse," explained Philippus.

"But why do I and my husband have to pay for it now?" asked A-ko's mother.

"Enough dwelling on the past. It's time to think of the present and, most important, of all the future. Speaking of which, I see the future standing there at your side."

Putting her arm around her daughter's shoulder, A-ko's mother led her to stand before her old friend and teacher. "Philippus, this is my daughter Martha."

"Welcome to Themyscira, Martha. I hope you enjoy your stay with us," said Phillipus as she raised her arms to perform the Amazon greeting.

Realizing the honor being offered her, A-ko rushed to perform her part in the greeting ceremony by touching bracelets with her mother's old teacher. "Thank you for welcoming me, Philippus. My mother has often spoken to me about you."

Philippus smiled at the redhead and told her, "A current pupil of mine -- by the name of Zoey Valcuria - has often talked to me about you as well."

"Knowing Zoey as I do, they were probably all lies," replied A-ko with a big smile.

"On the contrary! She has spoken very highly of you. In fact, I think it was Zoey's stories that prompted your grandmother to offer you the invitation to visit her."

About this time, C-ko poked her head around the back of A-ko's mother to make her presence known. "And who is this?" asked Philippus.

"Excuse my bad manners! This is my daughter's best friend and traveling companion, C-ko."

"Please to meet ya," said C-ko as she stuck out her hand.

Phillipus was at first taken aback by the little blonde's behavior, then laughed. Putting out her hand, she took C-ko's and told her, "It's a pleasure to meet you too, C-ko."

Just then, two chariots matching teams pulled up alongside a horse and wagon. "What's all this for?" asked A-ko's mother.

Phillipus answered, "The horse and wagon are to take the luggage to the Palace, and the war chariots are to allow you to arrive in a style fitting an Amazon princess."

"Language like that might get you into trouble, old friend," said Diana.

Philippus then added, "Besides. I want to see if you can still handle a team of horses the way I taught you. Or has married life to that big man of yours turned you soft?"

Choosing a chariot pulled by a pair of matching black studs, Diana, A ko, and C-ko climbed aboard. After showing her daughter where to hold on, how to absorb the shock with her legs, and telling her to watch out for C-ko, A-ko's mother picked up the reins and waited for Philippus to pull up alongside her in the other chariot.

"Remember the road to the Palace?" asked Philippus.

"I can travel it with my eyes closed," A-ko's mother answered. "Then lead the way," said Philippus.

With that, A-ko's mother snapped the reins and the matching pair of horses leaped forward as if one. At first A-ko's mother held the horses back, not sure if she still had the skill to control them. Soon, she discovered for herself that the old saying about riding bicycles also pertained to war chariots.

With that, she urged the team into a brisk trot, then into a full gallop. Moaning, C-ko held on with her eyes closed for dear life. A-ko, on the other hand had a big smile on her face as her red hair blew behind her into the wind. She was enjoying herself and proved it by screaming, "YAHOO!" as the countryside blurred past her.

A-ko would have completely lost herself in the ride if it hadn't been for the concern she had for C-ko's safety. She proved it by always keeping a strong arm around her friend as she stood in front of her.

The long straight road soon ran past marble buildings and courtyards. As they went, A-ko's mother pointed out to her daughter and C-ko the libraries and temples at which she had studied and prayed as she grew from girlhood into her womanhood.

Finally, they came to a large imposing building, with tall marbled columns and well-manicured hanging gardens, the sight of which took the girls' breath away. A-ko's mother was silent as she halted the chariot in front of the long steps that led to her mother's palace - the same palace in which she had grown up, and the same palace she had once considered her home.

A-ko noticed the strange look on her mother's face - a mixture of memory and fear, pride and nostalgia. "You all right, Mama?" she asked.

"I'm fine, Baby; I'm just remembering what all of this once meant to me."

They stepped down from the chariot just as Philippus pulled up alongside them. She jumped down from her own chariot and, walking over to where A-ko and her family were waiting,

said, "You're as good as ever, my Sister. Sharing your life with a man must agree with you."

"Depends on the man," answered Diana. "Lucky for me I have the very best!"

"Speaking of which, how is that big lug of yours?" asked Philippus. A-ko's mother replied, "I keep him in line."

"Bet he still keeps a smile on your face," said Philippus.

A-ko watched as her mother answered by grinning and nodding her head yes.

"You knew my papa?" interrupted A-ko.

Her mother was about to scold her for her bad manners when Philippus cut her off in turn. "Knew him? I knew your father when you were nothing but a sparkle in your mother's eye." She then added, "In fact, I believe he is the one who was responsible for putting it there in the first place."

As her mother blushed, A-ko giggled, Philippus laughed, and C-ko stood by, bewildered.

After she bad finished laughing, Philippus pulled her sword and handed it hilt-first to A-ko. As she did so, she said, "You might find this of interest. If you study the blade, you will see where I broke it on your father's nearly-invulnerable hide."

Suddenly A-ko's face turned dark with rage. "You tried to kill my father?"

Philippus smiled. "I can see that red hair of hers is no bluff! It is also good to know that our good Queen and her granddaughter have something in common beside your mother."

"It's true enough that my daughter has a temper - a temper that she is supposed to be learning to curb," said her mother as she admonished her child's rude behavior.

"You still haven't told me why you tried to hurt my papa!"

"That, little girl, we will discuss after your mother takes her leave of us," said Philippus as she stared into the fourteen-year-old's defiant face. Turning back to her friend, she told her, "Wait here a moment or two while I go ahead and announce you." As A-ko's mother nodded her head yes, Philippus asked A-ko, "If that is all right with you."

"I don't care what you do, you - !"

Her mother's grip on her shoulder cut A-ko off mid-sentence. "Don't you ever talk to Philippus like that ever again."

Philippus laughed and shook her head as she walked up the Palace steps to announce the arrival of the Queen's daughter and granddaughter.

C-ko looked up at Diana. "Did she actually try and hurt Mr. Ma - I mean, Mr. Kent?"

"It was a long time ago, and under far different circumstances," answered A-ko's mother.

"Well, I still don't like her," said A-ko.

"That's strange. Your father does."

"What?" asked A-ko. "How could he after she-"

"If you want to hear the answer, ask your father's and my friend Philippus," answered her mother.

Before A-ko could ask any more questions, Diana instructed both girls that it was time to go, and started up the steps with A-ko and C-ko tailing behind her. They entered an alcove and waited there to be announced. As they waited, Diana asked her daughter, "Remember what you are supposed to do?"

"Yes, Mama!" A-ko slipped her hand into her mother's and was surprised to feel it trembling. She asked her, "Mama, are you trembling?"

Her mother looked down at her. "It's time you learn, Baby, that no matter how old you are or how long you have been away, whenever you stand before or confront your parents you still feel like a child."

A-ko wasn't sure what her mother meant; perhaps this was because she kept seeing all the dirty looks her mother got whenever one of the tall woman warriors walked by. All A-ko knew was that she hated it.

Suddenly, she was shaken from her musing by the opening of two massive bronze doors in front of them. Just before they started forward, A-ko's mother told her daughter, "Chin up. Hold your head high and march forward with your chest out."

"Easy for you to say, Mama," laughed A-ko as she teased her mother about her ample charms.

With that and with C-ko in tow, the trio stepped forward and marched down the long corridor past the marble columns that held up the vaulted roof. They neither looked left or right, mother and daughter marching side by side, stride for stride and step for step, until finally they entered the great reception hall of the Amazon Nation.

They continued marching side by side until they were ten feet in front of the royal dais. There mother and daughter dropped to one knee, bowed their heads, and crossed their heart with their right fist, and waited.

Soon they heard a voice - a voice filled with power and conviction, a voice that said, "Stand, my wayward daughter. You no longer have the right to perform the Amazon salute."

A-ko's mother did as she was told and stood up. A-ko made a movement to join her, but was pushed back down by her mother's hand as she said, "Stay down until you are released."

"If my mother isn't good enough to perform their moldy old groveling ceremony, then neither am I," A-ko whispered in response. Although the girl said she would do as instructed, her mother heard the rage in her voice.

A-ko's grandmother Hippolyta stepped down from her throne and made her way to where A-ko knelt. Standing in front of her she said, "Arise, girl, and let me see your face."

A-ko did as she was told and stared defiantly into the face of the grandmother she had never met. As she stood at attention, Hippolyta began slowly walking around her, studying every inch of her body and form.

Hippolyta remarked, "The girl seems fit enough; a bit soft, perhaps. I see she still has some of her baby fat. But after a few weeks with us, we should be able to knock that off of her." She began to laugh softly and was soon joined by the assembled Amazons in the great hall. The laughter only stopped when she added, "All in all, we are pleased with the girl."

Being unable to contain her temper any longer, A-ko told her grandmother, "I also have all of my own teeth. Do you want to count them?"

It was her mother who admonished her by saying, "Martha Kent! Keep a civil tongue in your head."

"What do you expect, Mama? She's inspecting me like she's getting ready to buy a horse.

And I always thought what you did when buying one is to check its teeth."

Hippolyta laughed out loud. "So! The child has some spirit after all. It's good to see that her Sire hasn't been able to breed it all out of her yet!"

A-ko snapped her head around to stare into her grandmother's face before she told her, "FATHER! I have a FATHER! And a father I love! If you're going to talk about him that way, I'd just as soon go home."

The Queen broke out in a deep heartfelt laugh."So, you're fresh, too! Good, I like that! You might have some possibilities yet." Spying C-ko, she then asked, "And who is this?"

Poking her head from behind A-ko's mother where she had been hiding, the blonde said, "My name is C-ko."

"She is your granddaughter's friend and traveling companion, as is her right under Amazon law," explained Diana.

"You're correct, Daughter; too bad you don't respect all Amazon law!"

"I do, Mother,'' said Diana. "At least the ones that are subject to an even higher law."

"And just what would that other law be?" asked Hippolyta.

"Love, Mama - perhaps the strongest law of all," she answered.

"Aren't you confusing love with lust, child?" asked the Queen.

"I'm fortunate enough to have someone who not only offers but also shares both of these with me, along with other things," answered A-ko's mother.

A-ko's grandmother climbed back up the steps to her throne and sat down. When she was settled, she told her daughter Diana," Your old rooms are waiting for you and your daughter. Join me for dinner tonight in my quarters. I'm sure you remember the way." She then added, "And bring that fresh disrespectful child along with you. I like her. And don't forget her friend either."

With that, Hippolyta stood up, dismissed the Court, and disappeared down a corridor. As the crowd in the hall started to clear out, A-ko's mother turned to her. "Well, Baby, do you want to stay?"

A-ko looked around at the Amazons - staring at them as they passed - at the vaulted ceilings - and at the great works of art that covered the walls of the great hall.

She said, "I'll stay!"

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Two weeks had passed since Mitsuko Daitokuji's telephone call to the Director of Commerce. He had communicated her message at an emergency meeting hastily assembled the next day. The news had been met with shock at first, and then delight, by her son and daughter-in law.

The downstairs maid approached Mrs. Daitokuji and bowed. "Ma'am, there are some people here to see you."

"Well, who? Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves?"

"Uh. No, Ma'am. It's your son, I believe, and - "

"You believe? Woman, everyone in this stinking country knows his sneaky mug! Well, no point in having him stand out there in the rain." Within a few moments, Aysheia and Hikaru stood before her.

"Well, look at what Hell disgorged just to torment me in my sunset years."

"I'm glad to see you too, Mother."

"Well, sit yourselves down. You don't look so good, Son. Getting a little paunchy, and stringy under the chin to boot. And if that creature's belly wasn't bulging, I would have taken her for a man. What were you thinking, Hikaru Teru? Pitiful!"

Knowing beforehand that an argument would be futile, the former alien starship Captain and her industrialist tycoon sat down. Both felt at that moment that they had magically regressed to roughly age eleven or twelve, and that they had just been caught doing something awful.

"Mother, I - "

"No point in thanking me for voting that funding, Hikaru Teru. It's strictly a financial judgment call on my part. If that green-headed scarecrow sitting next to you can manage to build it, we'll make a tidy profit."

"I will build it. Have no qualms on that part."

"Well, good. Isn't that fine? Is that all for today, kids?"

"Mother - " Hikaru began. "I want to - "

"Wanting isn't getting, Son, as I told you and your sister half a million times growing up," she said. "I don't like you and you don't like me, and that's not going to change, not at this late date."

"Will you shut your head?" the ex-Captain shrieked, her hands curled into claws before her. "Holy Mother Cybele. Your tongue is an affliction!"

The old woman chuckled. You're a feisty one too, girl, she thought, although I'll never give you the satisfaction of saying so -

Hikaru continued. "Alana wanted to spend some time with you this afternoon. She has a surprise for you, although why she'd want to surprise you is beyond my earthly comprehension."

"She wants to give me a treat because I told her stories. In fact, I told her stories I've never told you. Well. That's all right. Leave the child and hit the road."

"There's just one more thing," the Captain said, standing up with Hikaru's hand clutched tightly in hers, her stomach roiling. "We've decided to name the new baby after you. There's no reason for it, other than my husband has some fond memories of you and him, when he was a little boy. We don't expect anything."

"And you'll get nothing, either," the old woman replied. "You can name the kid after a shopping center if it's your pleasure."

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Now safely inside HIKI-1, the former Captain began to sputter like an old engine. "Why did she say - How can she be so - I'm going to strangle that - ohhhhhhh HICKEEEEEEEE!" She burst into angry tears.

"Don't waste your energy, my dear. What does your Program say? 'Accept the things you cannot change'? Well," he said, thumbing toward his mother's Mansion as it receded into the distance, "there's one of them."