"With you it's different.
I can see the rest of my life before my eyes and that scares me a little. Men don't tame my wild heart but somehow I crossed your path and have never been the same since."
- Nikki Rowe
Diana stood shocked by her mother's admission…
In the palace kitchens, Myri and Kara sat down to have a small snack. "Kara, you have barely said anything since you arrived, what is wrong, my daughter?" Kara sat, staring at the cut pear, cheese and honey on her plate, pushing it around with her fingers. She was quiet and when she looked up at her mother, the look of concern and worry that filled her eyes caused Myri to gasp. She reached across the table and took her daughter's hands, "what is it, Little One?"
"He's alive, mama," Kara whispered, suddenly sounding much younger than her twenty-one years. "My cousin Kal-El is alive, but-but he doesn't want to learn anything about our world."
"This bothers you?" Myri asked, knowing the answer, but waiting for her daughter to put it into words.
"It does," Kara admitted, her forehead crinkling in thought, "but it shouldn't." She paused and pushed her pear into the honey, watching as the gold puddle slowly wrapped itself around the fruit. "It's his decision, his choice. He never knew Krypton, but he-he is going to be a father and she will never understand where he came from or why she is different."
"Kara, he came to Earth as an infant, correct?" She continued, without allowing an answer, "so he was raised as a human. He grew up with their customs, religions, and social norms. We accepted you as you are, you were also older, with beliefs of your own. Is he a good man?"
Kara nodded, smiling at her lesson, "he is, he is also very stubborn and a horrible fighter."
"Says a captain of the Queen's elite. That's not a very fair comparison, is it Kara?" Myri smiled, softening the rebuke.
"No mother," Kara hung her head, smiling, but taking the lesson in stride. "There were other warriors as well."
"All men?" Myri asked.
"Yes mother, all men, and I think one of them may be younger than me, I'm not sure," Kara answered, "his name is Barry and he was as fast as Hermes, perhaps even faster; I'm not sure I could beat him in a race. Then there's Victor; Hephaestus would think a golem escaped from his forge. Diana and Bruce said he is a cyborg, some sort of adaptive science, he even has weapons that form from his armor."
"Bruce?" Myri questioned.
"He dresses like one of Hades' demons, mother, and he fights like…" Kara paused to think, "if I didn't have my gifts, I'm not sure I could beat him in a fair fight."
"You fight to win, Kara, not to be fair," her mother spoke, parroting her lessons from Naomi.
"I know, mother, but he is smart too, almost as good a tactician as Alexandra," Kara explained.
"That is quite a compliment," Myri responded, reassessing her opinion of Kara's demon.
Kara stood then and pulled Tarie from her waist, "there was one more, mama," she stated, biting her lip, "an Atlantean, a son of Poseidon." She rolled the sword in her hand, "he gave me this."
Myri took the sword and saw the coin embedded in her hilt. Her breath caught for a moment and a look of shock washed over her face for a split second. "Kara, have you ever seen Astra's sword?"
Thinking she had done something wrong, Kara's voice dropped to a whisper, "no, mama. Why?"
"Ask her to let you see Aotpo. She has-a coin just like this one."
"What?" Kara asked, surprise evident in her voice.
Upstairs in the Throne Room…
"Diana?" Hippolyta whispered, "speak to me, daughter."
Diana had been standing, hugging herself on the balcony for the last fifteen minutes. She turned to her mother, her brown eyes still wide from surprise, "She died for me, without me ever knowing the truth. That's why you gave me her headpiece?"
Lyta nodded and approached her daughter slowly, arms outstretched, offering support, and a safe haven. "You have to understand, Diana. We never meant to hurt you, we saw things differently."
Diana looked at Hippolyta, confusion creasing her brow. "You saw me as a child and she saw me as a what?" Diana snapped, "a weapon!"
Hippolyta stopped, she rubbed her face with her hands and looked out over the water, "no Diana, she saw you as a child who had to be protected at all cost." She cast another look over the water and turned back to face her daughter, "we differed in how to protect you. I wanted to hide you, never let you fight, never let your powers come to light. Antiope, she wanted you to learn…" Hippolyta stood silent as Diana stared at her.
Diana was a child again, she felt herself drawing the bow back, the feathers tickling her cheek, and her arm shaking as she held the string taut. "Control your breathing, Diana. It affects your aim. Control your breathing," Antiope whispered.
Years later, she was holding a sword sparring with Naomi. She swung high, kicked low, and missed an easy block. "Again Diana. Control your movements, do not allow your enemy to control you, you control the fight," Antiope said, as she approached the two warriors.
She jumped forward again, and now she was facing Antiope herself. Attack, block, step back, breathe, attack, block, breath, attack, attack. "That's right my child, control the field of battle, never let that control slip."
Every fight, every lesson, they were always about the same thing, the same word rattled through her head…
"It was about control," Diana whispered, "Antiope was teaching me to control my gifts, because if I didn't, Ares would find us." Then she paused and took a tentative step towards her mother, "that's why you let me go, isn't it?"
Hippolyta smirked, "As the queen, it was my duty to the island, as your mother I would have asked you to stay. If I had, Diana, would you have stopped your quest?"
Diana smiled back, "No, I suppose not." She took another step forward and grasped her mother's wrist, their bracers clanging together, "I miss her mother, every day I miss her."
"Why don't we visit the one place on the island you will feel closer to her," Hippolyta suggested, her sadness evident in her voice.
"The training grounds?" Diana smiled.
"We'll ride the northern road so you can see more of your home," Lyta said as she took her daughter's hand and they headed towards the stables.
"Astra?" Kara gasped, "Astra has a sword? She has a coin?"
"Yes, but that is her story to tell, not mine." Myrrina smiled, knowing exactly where this was headed.
"Can we go, mother? Please can we go see her, right now?" Kara begged.
Myri looked into the wide pleading eyes of her daughter, "of course." Then she squeaked as Kara scooped her into her arms and flew out of the kitchen towards the observatory.
Diana and Hippolyta looked up as they heard a familiar voice cry, "Kara!"
"She lacks patience," Diana laughed as she shook her head. "Has her flying always been so effortless?"
"I will show you the tree she hit the first time she tried to land as we ride," Hippolyta laughed out loud. "We have been trying to teach the child patience since she came here. Her first hunt, she killed two boars with one shot."
Diana looked at her mother, mouth open in surprise as they entered the stables, "Did she break Astra's mark?"
Her mother's grin said it all, as she entered the stall containing her horse, "Diana, take Hope, she requires exercise."
Diana looked to the stall containing Hope and saw Kara's symbol emblazoned on the door. "You too, mother?" She whispered.
Kara gently settled down outside the observatory and still holding her mother in her arms, knocked on the door. From behind the door, she heard the sound of shuffling feet, then a voice called out, "come in, Kara."
"How does she do that, mother?" Kara whispered as she opened the door.
Astra smiled as she looked directly at Kara with her sightless eyes, "it's a gift that has developed because of my loss of sight. I can recognize your smell, the sound of your feet as they touch the grass outside, the pattern of your knock."
Kara's smile grew as she placed her mother in a comfortable chair and walked towards Astra's open arms. "I missed you, Auntie," she murmured into the woman's shoulder as they embraced.
"Now, tell your Auntie why you came to visit your first day back," Astra asked with a wide grin on her face.
Drawing Tarie again, Kara placed the hilt in Astra's hand, "there is something we share." Kara bit her lower lip as she watched surprise dawn on the face of the woman who had shared the night sky with her so many times.
"Kara?" Astra breathlessly asked, "where did you get this?"
"From an Atlantean that shared the battlefield with me," Kara spoke quietly.
"Atlan?" Astra asked, a slight blush rising to her cheeks.
"No Auntie, his name is Arthur," Kara watched the woman, "he is the son of Queen Atlanna of Atlantis and Tom Curry, a human."
"And so the day will come; when my blood will unite the surface and the sea…," Astra swallowed hard as she sat at the table, a look of shock on her face.
"Astra? Astra are you okay?" Kara cried out, dropping to her knees beside the dark-haired woman.
"Upstairs, Kara…" Astra paused to swallow, "behind the star chart, there is a panel. Bring me what's behind it, please."
Kara blurred into motion as she shot up the stairs and reached the chart. She folded it back and noticed the panel immediately. She opened it and stood dazed for a moment as she stared at Aotpo, a black bladed sword with a pearl hilt. The sword was beautiful, but it was the coin in the center of the blade that held her attention the most. It matched the one on her sword perfectly.
Diana and Hippolyta had made their way out of the city. Lyta noticed the stares and looked sideways at her daughter.
"I sense some anger, mother, or jealousy," she said as she looked over her sisters. Most seemed happy to see her, but others looked at her hungrily.
"Some of your sisters wish to see the outside world, they-they are bored, the Island never changes and they are warriors, with no war to fight," Hippolyta admitted.
"What about you, mother?" Diana asked, knowing there was a conversation coming, and wondering to herself how it would go.
"It's my responsibility as queen to protect the Island and your sisters, to uphold the laws of the council and the goddesses," her mother answered.
They rode in silence for some time, until they reached the olive grove. Hippolyta brought her mount to a slow halt and pointed, "See those two trees?"
Diana looked, "the ones growing together, all gnarled and split?"
"Those are the ones Kara crashed into," she laughed. Diana joined her in laughter and they continued their ride.
Kara made her way downstairs slowly holding the sword reverently in her right hand. She headed directly to the outstretched hand of Astra and placed the sword in her palm.
"Sit down child, and I will tell you the story of this coin…" Astra said as Aotpo started to glow in her hand.
There came a time, when Steppenwolf, the destroyer of worlds, had come to Earth. We were on the verge of collapse…
Your Queen, Hippolyta brought together all the world, the Kingdoms of Atlantis, and the tribes of men. She convinced Zeus himself to join the fight and because of her leadership, we had help from beyond the stars.
We fought as a world, a desperate world, but we fought together to drive him back. Aotpo, she drew so much blood that day.
Astra looked up from her memories, her eyes closed like she was in pain…
Near the end of the battle, one of those Furies, women warriors from another world. They aimed some sort of energy weapon at King Atlan. I saw what was about to happen and I brought my sword down through the weapon, saving his life.
That coin, it was pressed into her blade by Hephaestus himself, it and Atlan's face were the last things I saw before my…
"The weapon took your vision," Kara choked back tears, not wanting to dishonor the heroic woman sitting before her.
"It didn't take just my vision Kara," Astra said. "All Amazon's are warriors, and I cannot fight anymore."
Kara grabbed Astra's hand, "you are still a warrior, Auntie. You will always be one of my heroes."
"Kara, take her, take Aotpo. Let her taste battle again," Astra smiled, "please child, for me."
Kara gripped the sword in her hand and looked at her mother. Myri smiled and nodded, giving Kara all the reassurance that she needed.
Diana and her mother reached the training ground and sat astride their horses, looking at all the activities going on. Slowly, the warriors started to look up at their queen and their princess, and Diana could hear her name whispered among their ranks.
"She's back?" Diana heard over and over again.
Finally, Naomi screamed, "halt!" As the echo rolled through the grounds, all activity ceased and the trainer looked up at the princess, "Diana, would you care to join us, to show us what you have learned in a man's world?"
Diana sat up at her full height at the challenge in Naomi's voice, beside her, Hippolyta looked around at her amazons, seeing the wonder in their eyes, the awe at an Amazon who had left and returned in defiance of the laws of their goddesses.
Diana dismounted Hope and handed the reins off to her mother. She approached the edge of the shallow valley that contained the training grounds and stepped off the edge, dropping the nine and a half meters to the ground, landing with a crash, and kneeling to absorb the impact. As she stood, she saw Naomi smile, remembering the day Antiope had entered the same way, in order to frighten a very young Amazon on her first day in this sacred place. She stepped towards the weapons rack and lifted a practice sword sitting alone on the bottom-most hooks. She noticed the blade was heavier than normal and seemed to be used by someone who was left-handed. She bent her head, hiding her smile from everyone, 'you as well, Athena.'
"She may be exactly what you need, Goddess of Truth," Athena whispered as Diana swung the sword, getting a feel for the balance and grip.
"Did that entrance scare you when you were younger, Diana?" Naomi asked, her tone soft and teasing.
"It was absolutely the most terrifying thing I had ever seen," Diana answered; a tinge of sadness in her features.
"She would do it the same way all over again, princess," Naomi said, watching as Diana's features softened. "She loved you with all her heart, and would be honored that you wear her sigil."
Diana looked up towards her mother, turning away from her sisters as she blinked away the tears that threatened to flow. 'She is a part of you, control your emotions, every fight, every foe, control the flow, control the field…,' she thought to herself, 'control yourself.'
Diana turned back towards the center of the field and walked towards Naomi, she was no longer Princess Diana, the child, the untested warrior that had left the island so many decades ago. She was Wonder Woman, the champion of a man's world and she was the goddess of truth.
"So Naomi, you want to see what I have learned?" Diana smiled wickedly as she looked towards the woman in front of her. "I remember you being much taller though."
Naomi laughed and lifted the reinforced spear she used for sparring with Kara and spun it in a circle. Diana smiled, spinning the sword in her hand and walking leisurely to cover the last bit of distance between herself and the trainer.
Kara had made tea for Astra and her mother when there was a knock on the door. "Come in, Nia," Astra called out.
The breathless woman threw open the door, drew in a breath, and spoke quickly, "Naomi is facing Diana on the sparring field…"
"What, when?" Kara asked.
"Right now, the whole city is headed that way," Nia smiled, "If we hurry, we will be able to watch it all." She looked right at Kara, making sure the woman knew what she meant.
Looking first at Astra, then at her mother, she watched as both women nodded, she smiled, "Are you two going to join us?"
Astra smiled, "The princess has returned and is being asked to prove herself, even without my eyes I am not missing this."
"Can you carry all three of us, daughter?" Myri asked.
"Mother," Kara scoffed, "easily."
"And slowly, young lady," Myri warned.
"Not too slowly, Myri, we don't want to miss anything," Astra smiled.
Kara told Nia to hold on around her neck, then gathered Astra and her mother in her arms. "Hold on, Nia," she reminded the woman as she slowly lifted off, heading in the direction of the grounds.
Diana was watching as Naomi continued to spin the spear, "are you just going to continue to fan me with your weapon, Naomi?"
"No, of course not, princess," Naomi answered, 'but I was waiting for our guests to all arrive.'
Diana heard the wind rise and looked up, taking her eyes off of Naomi, seeing the blonde Kryptonian gently lower herself and her passengers to the ground. She was so distracted by the smile on Kara's face, she barely heard the wind around her opponent's spear as it struck her sharply in the backside.
Kara winced as she saw Diana grimace, not from pain, but the strike to her pride.
"Even our youngest Amazon knows better than to turn her back on her enemy," Naomi teased, knowing the trick wouldn't work a second time, "perhaps the princess has forgotten her lessons."
Diana turned around and a smirk came to her lips, "perhaps I could teach you a few new ones, or our youngest amazon." She stopped talking, swallowing hard as she realized she had inadvertently just challenged Kara to enter the ring.
Kara bit her lip and looked up at Hippolyta, still seated on her horse. Lyta nodded her approval and Kara stood, tall and proud, "I accept the challenge."
Kara rose over the ranks of her sisters and floated forward, then slowly settled onto the training ground. "What would you teach me, your highness?" Kara smiled, her eyes crinkling in quiet laughter, "archery, wrestling, weapons?"
Biting the inside of her lip, Diana couldn't help but admire Kara's audacity, "how about all three, Little One." She smirked at the nickname she had heard everyone on the island using.
Kara cringed at the nickname, her cheeks warming as she started to blush. "Very well, your highness." Then she licked her lips and smiled as she bowed to her princess.
Diana shuddered as she watched Kara's tongue wash over her own lips, goosebumps forming on her arms. 'Great Hera' she thought to herself, then shook her head 'focus Diana, focus and control.'
The area above the training grounds was crowded as Diana and Kara emerged from separate tents, both dressed in training leathers and sandals.
Hippolyta was seated in the royal pavilion, with Myri, Astra, and the council members. She stood and looked down at the two women standing before her. "Daughters of Themyscira, a challenge has been made," she said, looking down as Diana nodded. "Is this challenge accepted?" She looked at Kara as she asked the question.
Kara nodded her head, "yes, your highness."
"The challenge is made and accepted, three events, Archery, Wrestling, and Weapons. Best two of the three events shall be the victor," Hippolyta cried out over the roars of the crowd.
The two women approached the archery range, Diana was carrying Antiope's bow and Kara was carrying her own, one she had made with her hands after breaking so many while hunting. Naomi stepped forward, "ten arrows sisters, closest to bullseye after each round wins. The challenged can choose to shoot first or last."
"First!" Kara smiled, jamming her arrows into the ground at her feet.
Diana rubbed her fingers across the fletches of the arrows in her quiver, drawing out her arrow, watching as Kara notched her first arrow and drew back her bow, her muscles flexing as the Kryptonian metal resisted her pull. Diana held her breath for a moment as her eyes locked on the strong looking back of the blonde.
"Wait!" They heard screamed out, and Kara released her draw, still holding the arrow as she and Diana turned towards the voice, seeing Alexandra running towards the training fields.
"Alexandra is everything…," Kara started as the woman ran by her and wrapped Diana in a tight embrace, locking her mouth on the lips of the tall, dark-haired warrior.
"I always knew you would find your way back, Diana," Alexandra whispered breathlessly.
The kiss ended so quickly that Kara was unsure whether or not Diana enjoyed it, but she could feel the heat rising in her cheeks, a sign that she was angry. She turned away from the statuesque woman and drew back her bow, trying to focus on the target. Her breathing was ragged and coming in sharp, angry draws. She tried to steady her aim, but all she kept seeing was Alexandra's arms wrapped around Diana's neck. Her focus collapsed and the arrow flew towards the target, missing it completely and burying itself up to the feathers in the rock wall, four meters past where she had been aiming.
Not a sound could be heard from the women watching the event, Kara never missed. All eyes focused on the young blonde, waiting for the anger they were sure would come.
Over the silence, Kara heard a laugh, "Little One, you can do so much better. You are a friend of the huntress and a sister of the sun, make me and my brother proud."
Kara took a deep breath and felt herself calm down. Then she turned to Diana, "Your turn, princess." Diana bit her lip at Kara's controlled speech and listened as she whispered to Alexandra, "leave the field, Alexandra unless you plan to join the challenge."
Alexandra smiled apologetically to Kara, "sorry, Kara. I didn't realize."
"Go, Alexandra, please," Kara pleaded to her friend before something else was blurted out.
Diana's eyes softened at Kara's tone, and she smiled at Alexandra, "it is good to see you, Alexandra, but it has been a long time, and-I'm not the same person that left the island so many decades ago."
Alexandra went to step away, then turned and stepped to Kara, wrapping her arms around her, "sisters always."
Kara breathed in Alexandra scent, a mix of pine and cinnamon, "sisters forever."
Alexandra moved away from the two women and the contest continued.
Arrow after arrow struck the center of the target until each only had one arrow left. Kara could not win, only tie and that was if Diana missed the target completely. Diana's last arrow struck the wood dead center, shattering two arrows.
Kara smiled at the arrow and lifted her bow, she closed her eyes and thought about what she wanted to do. She opened her beautiful blue eyes and heard nothing, nothing but the wind around her and the grass as it moved back and forth. She focused on the feathered end of Diana's last arrow and drew back slowly, feeling every centimeter as the arrow came to a rest next to her cheek. One last breath in, then slowly she released it. As the last of the air left her lungs, she released the arrow, giving it an extra push, just as she had done when she killed the two boars in her first hunt. The arrow flew straight and true, piercing the center of Diana's arrow, sliding down the shaft and striking the bullseye, ripping the wood circle from its moors and driving back to the wall behind it, held in place by her last arrow. She turned and smiled sweetly at Diana as all her sisters leaped to their feet cheering the final shot.
On the wind, Diana and Kara heard Artemis whisper, "that is the way to release an arrow."
"Do any of our sisters know your trick, Kara Zor-El?" Diana smiled a look of curiosity on her face.
"What trick is that, your highness?" Kara blushed.
Kara and Diana made their way towards the center of the training grounds, where Naomi had drawn a large circle for them to wrestle in. Before entering the chalked area, Kara slid her feet from her sandals and set them to the rest on the ground. Diana watched and smiled, as Kara's toes curled in the grass and her blue eyes fluttered closed. The blonde looked as if she would start to glow and Diana could feel the heat rise into her cheeks as she stood silently and stared, unable to form a coherent thought.
Kara's eyes opened and she heard Diana's breathing catch. This caused her to smile and then she whispered, "focus Princess."
Diana smirked, "thank you for the advice, Captain. I will remember that next time we go hunting."
Kara covered her heart with her hand, "your aim is true, your highness, you pierce my heart with your words." A smile came to her lips as she spoke, and Diana felt the heat rise to her cheeks again.
Naomi approached the two women, rolling her eyes dramatically, "are you two going to simply bore us to death with your flirting?" She watched as two mouths opened, speechless, then continued, "or are you going to spar?"
The two women sucked in their breath and entered the chalk circle. They stood face to face for a moment, then they heard Naomi yell, "begin!"
Kara dropped into a traditional Amazonian stance and watched as Diana entered some sort of martial stance she didn't recognize. She stepped back, waiting for Diana to make the first move.
"I've been training all over the world, Kara, don't recognize the style, do you?" Diana asked, then answered for Kara, "You don't, I can see it in those lovely blue eyes. It's called Krav Maga. I picked it up from a young woman in Israel a few decades ago."
Kara continued circling, looking for an opening, and trying to control her instinct to simply attack. She was also trying to control the blush in her cheeks from Diana's comment about her eyes. The young Amazon moved from right to left, looking for any weakness, noticing every curve of the dark-haired woman's body as she shifted her stance to match Kara's movements.
Diana noticed Kara's eyes as she moved from position to position. "See something you like, Captain," she laughed, "I believe someone told me that my sisters still chase what they want."
Kara huffed, her own words used against her, and noticed Diana's legs shift. She picked her moment and shot forward, reaching out to wrap her arms around those long limbs.
Diana had seen the shift in Kara's muscles and sidestepped the attack, bringing her hand down across the blonde's backside and pushing her towards the chalk line in order to disqualify her.
Kara saw the line and planted her feet into the ground, stopping her forward momentum and sidestepping the attack she could feel coming from the rear.
Diana's follow up attack missed as Kara copied her move. As her body moved by the Kryptonian's, she felt herself lifted into the air and brought back down quickly, landing on her back with Kara's body on top of hers.
"Point!" Naomi yelled.
Kara stood and held her hand out to help Diana up. She shuddered as their palms touched, but still let a few words slip out, "You need to speak to your teacher, it didn't really work out this time."
Diana's eyes narrowed for a moment, "she didn't know I would be fighting a superpowered woman with Amazonian training." Then she dazzled Kara with an amazing smile and, still gripping her hand, flipped the unsuspecting blonde onto her back, and kneeled onto her shoulder.
"Point!" Naomi yelled again, 'next point wins the match."
Both women were on their feet in an instant. Kara narrowed her eyes as Diana changed stances yet again, going through a series of movements, one pose followed by another. She huffed out a breath and tried to time the counts between moves.
Diana watched as Kara's blue eyes focused on her movements and smiled brightly, changing the tempo of her kata, speeding up and slowing down at random times.
Kara's face scrunched in frustration until she couldn't take it anymore. She shot forward and grabbed the brunette around the waist, preparing to lift her and pin her quickly. Diana countered the move, using her slight height advantage to block the move, locking her leg around Kara's.
"By Zeus, you are strong," Kara grunted, as Diana's arm snaked between them and she started to bend the blonde back, over her knee.
"So are you, Kara," Diana smiled, her face mere inches from her opponents. "At least you fight fair."
Myri's words from earlier, rolled through her daughter's brain, 'fight to win, not to be fair.' Kara smiled back at Diana and her arm reached up and wrapped itself around the neck of the Amazon princess, pulling her face closer. "Remember what I said about going after what we want, Diana?" Kara asked as she pulled Diana's face closer. Her lips pressed lightly at the edge of Diana's mouth. Then they were gone and Diana was still with shock, staring into the mischief filled blue eyes smiling at her.
"Point, and match!" Naomi shouted with a smile, as Diana looked around, unsure of when her shoulders had touched the ground.
Kara's face was still close, and she heard Diana purr, "you may get exactly what you are chasing, Kara."
Kara swallowed hard as she blushed brightly, surprised by her forwardness.
Kara returned to her tent, to refocus, she hadn't planned what had happened, and then the words of the princess kept bouncing through her mind, 'you may get exactly what you are chasing…'
"Kara, are you okay?" She heard Nia's soft voice ask.
Her eyes wide, she turned to her friend, "I-I just kissed her. In front of the whole city and Zyvesh." Her face fell into her hands, "Oh Rao, what was I thinking?"
"From what I saw, you weren't," Nia snickered. "Not to mention, now Alexandra thinks you are angry with her."
"What, why?" Kara asked, surprised.
"She and Diana, they were together before those men came to the island, and she didn't know you two were…," Nia started.
"We aren't, at least I don't think we are," Kara said, confusing herself. "I-I have been interested in Diana, sorry, her highness since…"
"You came to the island, Kara," Nia interjected. "I know, we have talked about this over and over again."
"What am I going to do now?" Kara asked, looking directly at her friend.
"You are going to go back out on that field and face her in weapons sparring," Nia smiled, "and try not to kiss her this time."
"Ugh," Kara grunted as she dropped her head into her hands again.
