Chapter 14 - The Gifts

"WAAAAIL SUGAHPIE! How AAAAAAH YA, ya suhweeet ol' thaing!" Shinobu turned to look at Lorraine McTamoshanter, otherwise known to the fashion world as Lori McT. She and Sbinobu were rivals, and couldn't stand the sight of each other. Of course, that absolutely required at least one of them to come torment the other. A social occasion wouldn't be complete without it.

"LOVELY dress, dear," Shini sneered, staring at the pastel pink frou froued concoction that swirled around Lorraine like a froth of giant spun sugar cotton candy. "WhereEVER did you GET it?"

"Wail, it's mah own wuhk, Shinoe-boo hunnah. Thaink-keeew for noticin'."

"It makes my teeth ache to even look at it," she murmured. "And what ill wind blew you here, anyway?"

"And ah was about to ask yew the saime," the slender blonde returned. "Ab wuz inviatud heah by ma friend the Captain."

"Now, wouldn't that be a vision," Shinobu declared. "our exquisite hostess in a dress like the one you're wearing, Lori dear? Six feet of drunken she-male alien stuffed into a 1982 prom gown!"

"You kakamatandula," the Captain growled.

"Not drunken, Shini," Theram offered, shaking his index finger at her. "We're in recovery."

Immediately, Shinobu reminded herself to be on her best behavior. The guy was old, but he was hot - her favorite combination. "OHHHHH I AM S0-0-0-0-0-0 SORRY! Aychoo, can you possibly forgive me?" She batted her eyelashes to further entice Theram, who stood by nonplussed. And because she was wearing a pair of her patented Tammy Faye 'flutterby' lashes, her cigarette flared up with the fresh inflow of oxygen.

"Take it easy with those things, you dingbat!" the ex-Captain shouted. "I suppose you're going to try to sell Lori and me a pair, aren't you?"

"Why no, dear heart," Shinobu said sweetly. "You can't shine sh - "

"SHINOBU!" Theram barked. "That IS my only child!"

"My condolences, sir." She daintily placed her hands on his shoulders. "Care to dance?"

Shinobu and Theram went off to dance, and the Captain was left alone. Sighing, she marshaled her thoughts.

Guess I'd better get back in case one of the babies is pitching a fit. Sure hope that Hicky hasn't accidentally dropped one of them on her head –

She turned, practically tripping over her Bikreet baby's namesake. Aysha looked down into the wizened and hostile face of her mother-in-law.

"Well, lunkheaded son's woman. It was a pleasant ritual, even though it was heathen," said Mitsuko Daitokuji, squinting up at her.

"Thank - you," Aysha said, hesitantly. Was this old woman here to trash her party?

"Here's a card for little Mitsuko. Understand you gave her a middle name after her grandpa. He's a drunk too, isn't he? Too bad." She handed the Captain an envelope.

"Uh - thank - you, once again. And I appreciate your being so good to my Alana."

"Girl's a feisty one. So was I, in my youth." The old woman scanned her daughter-in-law's imposing physique. "My worthless son hasn't knocked you up again, has he?"

"No," Aysha replied, eyes wide behind her designer shades. "Not yet, at any rate."

"Thank God. You're cranking 'em out like an assembly line in Detroit. Two babes in two years. Lord have mercy." The dowager turned, shaking her head, and made her way down the path toward Alana and her sisters.

"It's the Cygnan Way," the former starship Captain called out after her.

"I know that, you cluck. Go forth and multiply, or some such equivalent pagan foolishness. I'm not stupid, you know."

"Yeah - you read the National Enquirer," Aysha replied under her breath. "I wouldn't use that rag to line a litter box - "

"What was that, alien?"

"Oh, forget it. And stop making fun of my religion. I don't make fun of yours."

"But why make your whelps feel even more different than they already do by cramming that old goddess stuff down their throats?" Hikaru's old mother snorted. "Why not give 'em a choice? They might just agree with me that all of this - " she waved her hand at the Temple - "is a lot of nonsense."

Captain drew herself up to her full - and imposing - height. "When your child is hungry, you don't ask her whether she wants candy or bread. When she's thirsty, you don't ask her if she wants milk or lemonade. And when she wants something to believe in, you don't ask her which of the galaxy's thousands of religions appeals to her. You give her bread - you give her milk - and you give her a faith. Period."

"Hem!" the old woman snorted again, smiling slightly and turning away from her daughter-in-law. Without another word, she headed down the path toward the Mansion.

"Oh no! Here she comes!" Atina seized Alana's upper arm. "What should we do?"

The four alien girls and Biko stood next to the enormous buffet table, which held enough Japanese and Cygnan food to feed the Earth Defense Force for a week (well, not quite for a week).

"Oh God," Biko breathed. She had been having a dismal time of it anyway. C-ko had more or less ignored her in favor of that blockheaded A-ko.

And now here comes Grannie to rip my head off! Terrific. Bring it on. What else can go wrong?

"Don't worry," Alana answered, smiling. She ran over to the old woman and took her hand. "Come and meet my sisters, Grandmother!"

"Alien spawn," she grumbled, but not loud enough for Alana to hear. "Well, don't drag me, girl. I'm slower than cold molasses these days."

The Cygnettes stood up straight and silent as Mitsuko Daitokuji surveyed them one by one. "None of you are as pretty as this one," she said, jerking her thumb at Alana. "Different daddies. It figures."

"But Grandmother - if you are on a search mission for years in space, you never go back to where you'd been. How would you see a man you loved again? Even if you could, you couldn't bring him on the ship."

"I know, child. The 'Cygnan Way' or some such nonsense. Well, who's this one?" She took Atina's chin in her hand. The girl held her breath as the old woman scrutinized her oval face, green eyes, and long straight green hair.

"That's Atina."

"And this one?" "Arisa."

"Ditch the butch cut, child. And who's this little dickens with the gun?"

"That's Akana. She loves armaments, Grandmother."

Akana stuck out her pointed little chin and pouched her lower lip. There was no way she was going to take any grief from this nasty old bag.

"You're a likely enough imp. Well. Here's Biko too, I see."

Biko stood her ground as defiantly as Akana. She wore one of her pinafore dresses and a pair of black patent leather shoes. Her hair was drawn back in a soft ponytail.

"You'd better hope that scowl doesn't freeze on your face."

"Or I'll end up looking like you, dear Grandmother?"

The girls gasped.

"About time you showed a little spunk. High time. Well. Here's cards for each one of you. Nothing in 'em, just a little message of congratulations on your new sister. Half-sister, I should say. You're mother's a caution. Tss."

Mitsuko shook her head again, and handed out envelopes - identical to the one she gave to the ex-Captain for Mitsuko - to all the alien girls. "Here," she said to Atina. "This one is for that other little half-breed."

"Shiiko," the girl replied. "Named for our Princess."

"Ob yes. That lamebrained little simp with the daisies. Are you aliens sure she's not an idiot child? Seems so to me." She turned to Alana. "Time for me to go. My arthritis is dealing me fits. Walk me to my limousine, and don't yank my arm out of its socket this time."

"Not until you say hello to Biko," Alana said solemnly, taking the girl's hand in her own. "I don't care how you feel about her dad. There's no need to punish her for it. She's very smart and I think she wouldn't be so mean if people would just give her - a chance."

Mitsuko chortled as Biko sputtered. "Well. You've a better heart than I do, girl." She reached into her purse and brought out an envelope for the blue-haired girl. It had her name on it.

"Don't force yourself, Grandmother," Biko snapped, yanking her hand away from Alana.

"No cause to be so damn snotty to her. That's your trouble. People try to help you and you spit in their eye. It's a very bad trait. You don't want to end up like me, do you?"

Biko's jaw dropped.

"Don't be so shocked. Self-knowledge is essential. I know who and what I am. I'm not proud of it, but it's too late to change it now. Now, take the envelope. Take it. Are you afraid?"

Biko took the envelope. Her hand dropped to her side, but her eyes held her grandmother's gaze.

"Well, then. I will take my leave."

"Don't you want to say hello to your son?" said Alana.

"No. No, I don't. It'd just send my blood pressure skyrocketing. If he asks, however, tell him that if he decides to visit me again I might not have him thrown off the property. I'll have to decide, of course, depending on how much he annoys me at the time - "

"Yes, Grandmother," said Alana. "Let's go."

"Where are we going next week, did you say?"

"I thought I'd try to navigate what you Terrans call the Oort Cloud."

"The what?"

"The place where your comets originate. It's quite a distance away from Pluto, but it's technically still within your System."

"Therefore, you still have permission to go there."

"You got it.''

"Goodbye, Grandma," Akana whispered, desperately fighting the urge to suck her thumb.

The Cygnettes' eyes grew huge.

"Goodbye, child."

Holding Alana's arm, the old lady turned and hobbled down the path, where the alien girl made sure she was safely delivered into the care of her chauffeur.

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"Well, let's have a look at this card, then, Hikaru-sama," the former Captain sighed. "It wouldn't surprise me if it said 'Happy Bikreet and May Your Soul Rot'."

She tore open the manila envelope and took out a cream-colored note with "Daitokuji" written on its cover in Japanese characters. She didn't know in which alphabet, but supposed it didn't matter. She opened the note; something fell out, which she caught with her free band and unfolded.

"Oh dear Holy Mother," the Captain whispered.

"WHAT?" Hikaru sputtered, certain that the note contained only the best of his mother's finest insults. Wordlessly, she handed him both the note and the paper it contained.

Hikaru read it, squinting (he was too vain to wear his bifocals in public).

"Just because I have a bone to pick with you people is no reason to fail to wish my Namesake Child a happy life. This is is for her, mind. Don't be sticking it in your own account. And for God's sake, don't spend it on that intergalactic go-kart you're putting together with toad spit and waxed paper. Best regards Mitsuko Daitokuji"

Hikaru opened the paper.

"Dear God," he breathed.

It was a check for two million dollars.

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"Oh, Grandmother!" Alana gasped, having returned and been the first to open her envelope. She started to cry.

"I don't believe this!" Arisa whispered.

Each girl held a card identical to the one opened by their mother. There were no handwritten notes within; the cards were blank. However, they all contained similar pieces of paper.

They were checks on the Bank of Japan, written in a spidery old-lady hand, for one million dollars each. The old woman had even spelled their complicated alien names correctly.

Biko began to cry as well. Ashamed of her weakness and unable to face the Cygnettes' comments (not that the alien girls would ever torment her for it), the blue-haired girl ran to the Mansion.

Her note and envelope fluttered to the ground; Alana ran to pick it up before the breeze sent it flying. She glanced at the check, which had been made out in the same amount as theirs, and then read the note silently.

"Sometimes I forget that you are our legacy to the future. The weight of this family's fortune will fall upon your shoulders someday. When it does, I want you to remember me kindly.

Your Grandmother"

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Turning her attention back to her granddaughter, A-ko's grandmother asked her, "So, child - tell me what you think of your visit to Themyscira so far."

"I haven't seen all that much of it," answered A-ko. "But the little I have seen so far is almost exactly like Mama described it to me, only more so."

"So your mother has taught you about her people, their traditions, customs, laws and Gods?"

"Yes, Grandmother," said A-ko as she switched from the English - which everyone had been using so far - to Homeric Greek, the native language of the Amazon Nation.

Impressed, Hippolyta told her granddaughter, "You speak our language surprisingly well, child."

"My mother makes a very fine teacher."

"When your mother was first sent to Man's world, it was as a teacher as well as ambassador - an ambassador who would teach that world the Amazonian belief in peace and love. But what I want to know is - has she taught you to respect and honor the traditions of her people and what we, as those people, do to honor the Gods, girl?"

A-ko looked first at her own mother before she told her grandmother, "I've knelt at my mother's side and burnt the incense in front of the altar to her gods. My father made it for her."

"Is that true?" Hippolyta asked her estranged daughter.

"Which part, Mother?" asked Diana. "Your granddaughter's religious devotion, or the fact that it was my husband who prepared a place in our home for me to practice my religious beliefs?"

"Both!" said Hippolyta.

But before her own mother could answer, A-ko told her, "Both are true, Grandmother, but it is equally true that every Sunday I attend church with my father before we have our 'Daddy-Daughter' day!"

"'Daddy-Daughter' day?" asked her grandmother.

"Yes," Diana responded. "It's the one day each week A-ko's father has tried his best to put aside for his daughter. After church, they spend the rest of the day exploring the world and discovering who they are - and, most important of all, strengthening their relationship as father and daughter."

A-ko smiled. "Last week, Papa took me swimming with a pod of blue whales in the Bering Sea, and the week before that, we visited the JLA watchtower on the moon - and even visited the spot where Neil Armstrong first stepped out on the lunar surface."

"But aren't you and that man risking confusing the child in her spiritual beliefs?" asked the Queen.

"Her father and I have agreed that she will be exposed to both faiths, and leave it up to her to choose which religion to follow when she turns eighteen."

"I wasn't sure that during your stay you'd be joining in your true family's religious life; it's good to know that I was mistaken," said A-ko's grandmother.

A-ko suddenly got a strange look on her face as she told her grandmother, "I would be both honored and happy to take part in our people's religious devotions. But you should know that a large portion of what I consider my true family is in the form of my father, who at this moment happens to be waiting for my mother and I in the Fortress of Solitude."

"Is that where you call home, child?" asked her grandmother.

"Only when it's time to visit Santa," interrupted C-ko.

"And the rest of the time?" asked the Amazon Queen as she turned to C -ko.

A-ko and her mother looked at each other as C-ko told her best friend's grandmother, "Right down the street from where I live."

"And where do you live, little one?" asked A-ko's grandmother.

"With my parents," the little blonde answered triumphantly.

Hippolyta smiled. "I see someone has been drilling you on what to say."

"No - what not to say," C-ko explained.

"My daughter's best friend is well-versed in keeping family secrets, Mother."

"Often the best way to judge a person's character is in the worthiness of the trust they have put in their friends," observed Hippolyta. "It pleases me to know that my granddaughter has a friend that is worthy of such faith!"

"Speaking of friends, I thought I would have seen Zoey already, Grandmother-"

"Zoey has been the one that I've spoken most often about you, Granddaughter, even more than your Aunt Donna."

"I was looking forward to spending some time with Zoey and Aunt Donna while I'm must admit that I'm disappointed that I haven't seen them here yet," replied A-ko.

"And you won't," said Hippolyta. "Zoey has passed her Rite of Passage and is considered an Amazon. She and Donna are on a diplomatic mission to the United Nations for the next few weeks."

Neither girl had to study Diana's face very long to see how upset she was at this news. She had been counting on A-ko's Aunt Donna and Zoey to ease her stay on Paradise Island. Now both Magamis knew that when Diana left in three days' time, it would just be A-ko and C ko alone here on the island.

"Do you think it was very wise for you to arrange their absence, Mother?" asked Diana.

The Amazon Queen replied, "What makes you think I arranged it?"

"You are the Queen, Mother - who else but you would have had the final say about such a thing? I just want to know why you wanted my daughter's friend and family gone while she's here."

Hippolyta smiled. "Selfishness on my part. I want to spend time alone with my granddaughter, to get to know her. If she has a problem, I want her to come to me, not Donna or Zoey."

"It's good to be the Queen," said C-ko sarcastically.

Turning to C-ko, the Queen of the Amazons gave her a scowl before telling her, "What I did, I did as a grandmother - not as queen!"

Diana frowned. "As my daughter's grandmother, you would have known you didn't have to go through all of that, if you hadn't let your own tragic past color the objectivity of your present - most of all when it comes to the concept of sharing my life with the man who loves me."

"I will not sit here and be lectured by my own disobedient child," said Hippolyta.

A-ko watched the anguish in her mother's face as she said, "I thought after fifteen years there might be some hope you might have changed your mind about me, or at least modified your beliefs about my husband. I thought your wish to meet your granddaughter was another way for you to reach out to me - but you are still as stubborn as ever."

"And you are still as willful, disobedient and foolish as ever, child!"

"And I'm not you - and Clark is not Hercules. I wish you would finally realize that and accept the life we have created together - accept the truth that I'm happy and, in turn, be happy for me."

"But are you sure of this so-called marriage, Diana?" asked Hippolyta.

"The best proof I know of, Mother, is sitting across the table from you at this very moment," said Diana as she nodded in A-ko's direction.

"Is she the excuse you use to justify leaving your friends and family?" asked the Queen, nodding in the young redhead's direction.

"I had already begun thinking about leaving, Mother - because I knew you would not, or could not, accept what I felt for Clark."

"Yet, you didn't make your final break until after you had your little accident, Diana - !"

It was A-ko who ended this particular argument when she told her grandmother, "My conception might have been an accidental, Grandmother, but there was nothing accidental about the way I was born and most importantly raised. Because even I know - even as a punk fourteen-year-old kid - that it was the love they have for each other that allowed them to raise me in the loving way that they have."

"Perhaps I will never accept your parents' relationship, but there is one thing I must admit about this so-called marriage. It has managed to produce a young Amazon who is brave and honest enough to speak the truth - at least in the way she sees it. So, I must admit your parents' mistaken relationship isn't a total waste," admitted the Queen. "I see it is getting very late and, as your mother should have told you, the day starts early here."

A-ko was surprised when her grandmother kissed her good night, and after she did the same for C-ko, she had high hopes that her own mother would be equally bidden good night. But instead, she was forced to watch the uncomfortable scene as mother and daughter stood before one another. It nearly broke A-ko's heart as her mother waited for the embrace and good night kiss from her mother that never came. Instead they simply wished each other a good evening; immediately after that, Diana and her two young charges went out in the hall to make their way back to their own room.

They had gone less then twenty paces when A-ko's mother stopped and told her daughter, "Go on back to our rooms. There is someone I have to call on."

"I'll see C-ko into bed and come with you, Mama."

"No!" said Diana. "I have to see this Sister alone and on some very personal business, my daughter. I need you to look after your friend."

A-ko wanted to argue further but her mother was already gone, so instead she did as she was told. Taking C-ko by her hand, they returned to the room.

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Later that night as the Palace guards were being changed, Artemis entered her own quarters for the evening. The room was lit up from the full moon shining into the balcony window - that is, until a shadow blocked its brightness. Without bothering to turn, Artemis said to the unseen shadow, "Have you finally come to put an end to it?"

"Of a sort," said the shadow.

"Well, what will it be?" asked Artemis. "Sword, spear, axe - or would you prefer barehanded? I know I would. Take your choice. I'm ready to answer for New York."

"I'm not here to fight, Artemis," said Diana.

"Then what do you want from me, traitor?"

"I'm here to tell you I am sorry for blaming you for Cassie's death all those years ago. I had no right to blame you," said A-ko's mother.

"What?" asked Artemis.

"l'm trying to explain that I know you were only doing what you thought was your duty as Cassie's mentor and bodyguard. You thought her how to fight and even kill so she could wield the - "

"Oh no you don't!" said Artemis. "I taught Cassie how to fight and, most of all, how to survive. I did that by teaching her how to kill. It was from you that she learned to be soft. She wanted to be you - to become the new Wonder Girl - and it cost her her life. At the time I thought she would be the only way I would ever have a child in my life. But she died - died trying to be you - died trying to make you proud of her. She had wanted to be Wonder Girl so badly - to live and fight the way you did. It cost her her life, and I will always hate you for that."

Diana moved closer to her old rival, still remaining on guard as she went on, "Yes. Cassie died trying to be me. I blamed you, but I was wrong. She was bound and determined to be the new Wonder Girl and perhaps it was my fault - not yours - that she died."

"No perhaps about it; it was!" said Artemis. "She wanted to wield her power as you would, with the same weakness and the same kindness. And it killed her!"

"You lost someone who you thought as a daughter in all but name, but now, you have another daughter -- a daughter who is flesh of your flesh - and a daughter you are in danger of losing, as surely as you lost Cassie."

"Another lost daughter I can thank you for!" said Artemis.

"No, not this time. Zoey loves you and you love her, even if your original intention was to use her as a weapon against me and my daughter. Please, Artemis. Reach out to her before it is too late, before you and Zoey wind up like my mother and I have!"

"Are you done?" asked Artemis.

"Yes. Once again I'm telling you that I was wrong - that Cassie's death wasn't your fault."

"Good. Now get out. I still think if you hadn't turned her soft, she'd still be alive today. Someday you'll either answer for it, or be forced to put an end to my suffering - and I don't care so much in which way it goes!" She turned her back and flopped belly-first into her bed. As she did so, she told Diana to get out, stay out, and to bring a weapon the next time she paid such a visit.

Diana moved out on the balcony and, with her back to Artemis, said, "I'm sorry, Artemis - sorry we couldn't put an end to all this hate." With that, she leaped over the railing and landed twenty-five feet below, almost without a sound to mark her passing. She then slowly made her way back to her own room and to the daughter she loved.