"To not do what you can to protect someone, that's cowardly."
― Jodi Lynn Anderson, Tiger Lily
Kara stood up from her stool and walked towards the exit of the tent. Sweeping back the curtain, she emerged to the cheers of her sisters causing a blush to rise to her cheeks. With her head down she moved towards the weapons rack and handed her swords to Naomi.
"When did you start to carry two?" She asked, then looked at the handle of the sheathed sword and went speechless.
"Astra honored me by asking me to wield Aotpo in her stead," Kara responded, raising her eyes to those of her teacher. Then she whispered, "is Zyvesh angry with me?"
"Why would she be angry, Little One?" Naomi asked while biting the inside of her cheek, to stop herself from laughing.
"I-I kissed Diana, in front of everyone," Kara whispered even lower.
Naomi couldn't hold the laughter in, "she wasn't angry, she said we should add that maneuver to the training regime."
Kara blushed brightly and dropped her head, "oh Rao, I will never live this down."
Naomi selected two training swords from Kara's rack and compared the weights to Tarie and Aotpo. Satisfied, she handed the swords to Kara, "here, Little One." Kara took the swords and stepped back, swinging the swords in slow arcs, getting a feel for the weight and balance.
"These are perfect, Naomi," Kara said, smiling wickedly as she put the swords through their paces, "now I just have to beat her."
"If it doesn't work out in your favor, you can always kiss her again," Naomi laughed.
Kara's head dropped and she shuffled away, moving towards the center of the training grounds. Her head jerked up as the crowd started to cheer and she turned and watched Diana emerge from her tent. The Amazon princess caught the warrior's eyes and after running her tongue along her lower lip, smiled at Kara.
"She's embarrassed, Diana," Naomi said as Diana handed over her sword and shield. They were replaced with a practice sword, the one Diana had used before she left the island.
As she handled the sword, Diana looked at Kara, "Why? The kiss?"
"Yes, the kiss. Not because she beat you with it, but because it was in public view of everyone," Naomi said, pulling Diana's attention back to her.
Diana selected a practice shield, "so she cheated to win, but is more embarrassed because she kissed me in public."
"It was not cheating, your highness, she did what was necessary to win, as she has been taught," Naomi smirked, "the fact that you reacted with shock proves only one thing."
Diana looked the trainer in the eyes, "and what is that, Naomi?"
"That you have feelings for her as well," the larger woman smirked.
Diana's mouth dropped open and she turned to walk towards the practice field. She brought her hand up to her lips, smiling at the still warm feeling the kiss brought to her chest. "Is she good?"
"She is as good as me, Diana, and she is using two swords," Naomi answered honestly.
Diana stopped and looked back, "like Antiope?"
Naomi nodded, and watched the princess swallow, hard.
Gotham City
Bruce was squatting on the edge of a warehouse near the docks on the western bank of Gotham Harbor watching and waiting. In his hands, he was using a scanning device that Victor and his father had developed to read the energy waves that Steppenwolf had used to teleport during their earlier encounters.
The light crashed down through the sky, and the boomtube, as they had started to call it materialized fifty feet from Bruce's location. He tensed and waited as two forms stepped out of the light, both armed with spears.
"Victor, you got it right, two scouts just emerged," Bruce whispered into the communicator.
"Need any assistance, Batman?" Victor asked.
"Negative, I have help from a friend of mine who just came in from Bludhaven," Bruce responded calmly.
Kara took a deep breath as she watched Diana approach. The princess moved with graceful confidence. She carried her practice sword in her right hand, gently swinging it back and forth, and looked at Kara with her brown eyes. The breath rushed from Kara's lungs as her competitor smiled wickedly at her and entered the sparring area.
Naomi followed, bringing the two women together in the middle of the field, she quietly explained the rules. "Three points win, no attacks to the head are allowed. Weapon contact is the only way to score and it must be a killing blow." She looked at each woman, "are the rules clear?"
"Yes, trainer," the two women answered in unison.
"You begin on the queen's command," Naomi smiled.
Diana and Kara grasped wrists and stood, waiting.
Hippolyta looked out over her Amazons, then down at two pieces of her heart, "Diana? Kara? Are you both prepared?"
The two women turned their heads, looking up at the queen, not releasing their hands, "we are."
"Then, begin," the queen ordered.
At the queen's command, the two women released each other's arms and stepped back, preparing their weapons.
Kara slid back three steps, both swords gripped loosely in her hands. She was not flamboyant, there was no spinning of the swords, she relaxed into her stance, watching Diana intently.
Diana took a single step back, her shield sliding into her left hand and her right gripping her sword. She spun the sword once, testing its weight once again, and setting her legs apart, ready to defend Kara's first attack.
The women circled, and Diana feinted several times, trying to goad Kara into making the first move, hoping the blonde's impatience would give her an opening. However, Kara was unperturbed, unflinching. She reminded Diana so much of Antiope at this moment, Diana was feeling slightly overwhelmed by the image and her concentration dropped for just a moment.
Kara saw the flicker of uncertainty in Diana's eyes and moved forward, leading with her right hand, she swung in a short arc and brought the sword up and around. She smiled as Diana blocked with her shield. Instead of bringing up her other sword, Kara pivoted, spinning at superhuman speed, and brought her right hand around, expecting Diana to block.
The princess caught the first attack on her shield and expected the second to come up. She was concentrating so hard on Kara's left hand she almost failed to see Kara pivot and bring her right hand up and around, she started to duck…
'She's not going to drop in time', Kara's mind clicked and in mid-swing, she stopped. The sword hovered mere centimeters from the princess's head, held perfectly level by the captain. "My apologies, your highness, I expected you to duck quicker."
Diana's eyes flicked to the right, seeing how close Kara's sword was to her face. She shivered, not in fear, but in awe of the woman's control. "Apology accepted, captain." Then she stepped back, settled herself, taking a deep breath. Then she attacked, leading with her shield and following with her sword. Her moves were fluid, like a dancer's, she moved easily from one attack to another, but every move was parried by the blonde in front of her.
Kara smiled, watching Diana attack. 'She moves like a true sword dancer,' she thought to herself. Then she saw a weakness in the princess's attack. Diana led the next attack with her shield, just as she had been taught. The move worked well enough on a normal Amazon, but not Kara. She slipped to the right, sidestepping the attack and bringing her left sword up towards Diana's kidney, a killing blow.
"Point," Naomi yelled.
The woman never stopped, and Diana spun away from the attack, bringing her sword up and around to strike at Kara's chest, aiming for the sigil in the middle of her chest. A chest that was no longer there. Kara's second killing blow took Diana in the side of the chest, surprising the dark-haired woman.
"Point 2," Naomi said.
Kara drew back, well out of reach, in order to give Diana a chance to center herself. She looked across the field and saw the frustration in those beautiful brown eyes. She took another step back, reminding herself who she was facing, Diana wasn't just any amazon, she was the princess and the woman who had defeated a god, but she also was no longer used to fighting someone who had been trained in Amazon combat.
Diana stared at the blue eyes studying her, she felt as if she was being measured, and was suddenly unsure of whether she was worthy to be on the field with an Amazon of Kara's ability. 'I'm outclassed here, it has been too long since I fought someone with an Amazon's skill,' Diana thought to herself. Then she shook her head, clearing the negative thoughts, and stepping into her stance.
Kara smiled, and raised her swords, she watched Diana's feet shift, and planted her own feet. She closed her eyes, willing away the sounds from her sisters, she listened to Diana's heartbeat calm, heard her palm close around the leather of the practice sword, and then the earth shifted as the grass whispered its movement and Diana moved forward to attack.
Kara's eyes never opened as she blocked Diana's downward swing, bringing her left hand up, the tip of her practice sword striking the woman in the chest. They froze as Naomi called out.
"Point, Diana," Naomi called out, "Point 3, Kara. Winner, Kara."
Kara opened her eyes, and she smiled as she saw what Diana had done. The blonde was blocking the leading edge of Diana's shield, not the sword, and while Kara's blow would have killed in battle, so would have Diana's as blues eyes looked down and saw the tip of the princess's sword resting above her breast.
"Excellent move your highness, I was expecting a high attack," Kara smiled as she stood up and looked deep into Diana's brown eyes.
"Antiope would be proud, Kara Zor-El," Diana smiled, watching the blue eyes widen, "I know that I am."
Kara bowed, "thank you, your highness."
Diana smiled and dropped her shield hand down to grasp Kara's wrist, lifting it above their heads. "My sisters, I give you, our champion, Kara Zor-El, daughter of Myrinna."
A cheer rolled through the crowd, causing Kara to blush brightly, but out of the corner of her eye, she could see Myri's pride as her mother smiled down at her.
The Kent Farm, Smallville, weeks later
Clark walked through the barn explaining everything that had to be done regularly to the young woman trailing behind him. As he reached the end of the tour he turned and asked, "So what do you think? Are you interested in the job?"
The young woman looked at Superman and nodded, "yes, Sir."
"You can call me, Clark," the large man said as he held out his hand.
"Lash," the Fury responded as she shook his hand.
Star City, weeks later
Barry Allen reported to the Forensic Lab of the Star City Police Department, to look into a few masked vigilante attacks on some of the city's known criminal elements.
"You must be Barry Allen?" the distinguished older man asked as the door closed behind the shy-looking young man. "You were recommended by a friend of ours in Gotham. He says you seem to be an expert on the new meta-human vigilantes."
"I don't know about being an expert," Barry answered in an aw-shucks tone, "but I'll do my best to see what I can help with."
"This is all the evidence we currently have," the forensic expert said as he opened a sealed case, revealing a green arrow.
Several weeks had passed and Kara and Diana had been spending most of their waking hours together, except today. Diana watched the captain exit the dining hall, trying to figure out what was wrong. She stood to leave and was stopped by Alexandra and Cassandra, both asking questions about the world of man. Diana answered their questions as politely as possible, then headed for the exit, determined to find the blue-eyed beauty.
Kara stood, looking over the ocean, watching as the sun started to set. She smiled as familiar footsteps sounded on the grass behind her and turned, holding out her hand.
Diana graciously accepted the hand and stepped beside the blonde, "why are you out here by yourself, Kara?"
"The sunsets remind me of Krypton," she smiled, "the colors and the quiet, they bring back memories of days with my Aunt Astra when we would watch Rao set from the balcony of her home in the hills of Argo."
"Do you miss it, Kara?" the princess asked.
"I do," Kara answered, "but the memory no longer brings tears. I've accepted my place in Krypton's story. My family is still here," she pointed to her heart, "they always will be, but Rao has graced me with Myri, Astra and Zyvesh. He has granted me a new home with my sisters and has-has brought you into my life." She bit her lip at the admission.
Diana swept a loose curl from Kara's face and tucked it behind her ear, losing herself in the deep blue hues of Kara's eyes, "Kara?"
"Diana," Kara spoke in a whisper, her heart beating loud in her ears, "I-I…"
Kara turned and faced the ocean again, trying to calm herself. She wanted this so badly, but for once in her life, she was completely unsure of how to proceed. She hugged herself tightly, silently praying for guidance from all the goddesses and Rao, himself.
Diana smiled at the back of the woman's head, and slowly wrapped her arms around Kara's waist, resting her head on the woman's shoulder. "Kara," she whispered, "it's okay, my sweet."
Kara leaned gently into Diana's hold, feeling the warmth that radiated out, almost like flying close to the sun. She felt herself being energized, and she smiled as the mark on her shoulder flared in agreement. This was not a mistake, fate had brought her and Diana together for a reason. She turned in the strong arms slowly wrapping her arms around the neck of the woman she was falling in love with so quickly. She didn't speak, she didn't think, her hands tangled in the dark hair and pulled the brown eyes closer to her. The last thing she saw as her eyes slowly closed was Diana's own eyes sliding shut.
The world stopped as their lips met. She felt her body pulled forward as the slight distance between them closed and Diana lifted her off the ground. Kara's arms bent as she pulled the princess's head in tighter, crushing their lips together. They made no sound, none that either of them could hear, but slowly as the kiss continued, Kara could feel their heartbeats merge into one steady beat. Just for a moment, their souls were one.
The kiss ended minutes later and the two women stood and stared breathlessly into one another's eyes, the world forgotten around them.
The sun was rising and Kara and Diana were still sitting on the cliff watching the sun's light flicker on the waves below them. They had talked and kissed some more throughout the night. Diana answered Kara's questions about Antiope, the world of man, and her adventures. At the same time, Diana discovered that Kara was ecstatic to find someone so interested in her homeworld. As the sun started to rise, she and Kara grew silent, holding hands and leaning against one another. Kara's head turned and her eyes started to glow bright red as footsteps sounded behind them, and she moved at superspeed, putting her body between the new arrivals and her princess.
"Hold, Captain Zor-El," Athena commanded, "we are not here to bring harm to you or Diana."
Kara's eyes slowly reverted to their normal cerulean color and she blushed at her reaction, "I-I apologize," she said as she bowed.
Aphrodite pushed past her sister and lifted Kara's chin with her dainty fingers, "no apology is expected, Kara," she smiled, "you were merely protecting that which you deem worthy."
Kara's features scrunched up, the scar above her eyes crinkling at the word, "worthy?"
"Of your love, dear captain," Aphrodite said in a whisper.
"Oh!" Kara blushed, looking back over her shoulder at her smiling princess.
Persephone cleared her throat, "We apologize, Kara, but this is, unfortunately, not a social visit. We need to discuss something with you and Diana, something that will change the course of the island's history, forever."
"We need to rejoin the world of men," Diana spoke, her words carrying with them an enormous weight.
"We agree, Diana. Hera herself has sent us to speak in her absence," Athena said, "you must ask your mother to call together the council."
"You will need another ally as well, one that Kara has already become friends with," Artemis smiled, "your Atlantean will need some assistance in the near future, Kara."
"Arthur? Is he okay?" Kara's voice was panicked.
"Relax, Kara," Aphrodite laughed, "Artemis is being dramatic again. Your Atlantean is fine, he is on a quest to take the throne, but the way is fraught with peril, and the fates have seen a point where he will need your assistance."
"You must wait though, Kara Zor-El, you must wait for him to ask," Persephone warned, "you cannot rush into this blindly."
"Yes ma'am," Kara said, turning to look over the ocean…
Beneath the Sahara Desert, Northern Africa
The message completed, Mera, the red-headed princess of Xebel turned to Arthur, "how do we get out of here?"
Arthur looked around, there was no exit, no path to the surface that he could see. "I don't know," he answered, frustrated. His hand reached into the pocket of his pants and he felt the weight of the Atlantean coin, "maybe?" He thought aloud. He pulled the coin from his pocket and held it up in the light.
"Arthur, that's a summoning coin?" Mera gasped, "where did you get that, who has the matching coin?"
Arthur rolled the coin from finger to finger, "I didn't tell you about Kara did I, the Amazon that came to help us battle Steppenwolf?"
"No, you didn't tell me about some Amazon that you gave a summoning coin to!" Mera snapped a little more harshly than she meant.
Arthur was moving towards the trench he and Mera had almost fallen into, smiling at Mera's tone. The signals he was getting from the redhead were driving him nuts. One moment she was insulting him, then at moments like now, she seemed almost possessive of him.
"Do you even know how that thing works?" Mera called out to him, "Amazon's can't fly, how is she going to help?"
Arthur turned to her, "Kara is not your typical Amazon," he laughed. He placed the coin in his palm and concentrated on the image of the little blonde, and whispered, "Kara, I need your help, Little Sister."
On Themyscira
Diana was fussing over her formal robes, trying to get them to fall correctly, causing Kara to laugh. The sound of the blonde's laughter caused the tension to loosen in the princess's shoulders and she turned, admiring the woman standing in her armor, silver gleaming in the
sunlight coming through the door to the balcony. She took a deep breath and walked over to Kara. "Do I look okay?" She asked, her voice shaking a tiny bit.
Kara's lips rolled into a large grin, "Diana," she pushed a stray hair off the princess's face, and held her gaze, "you look amazing."
Diana blushed, "I've never spoken to the council like this before, never as an equal."
Kara lightly kissed Diana's cheek, "you will be wonderful, and mother is going to stand with us."
"We have the support of most of the council, it is my mother I'm worried about. The only other time we disagreed about something so strongly, I left the island," she smiled weakly.
"Your mother will see the logic of opening the island, even Hera stands with us, with the threat that is coming, we have to do this," Kara said, her voice full of passion.
"Thank you, my sweet," Diana whispered as she pulled Kara forward into a hug.
"I'll be here for you, always," the blonde smiled, "your highness." Then she moved her head back and was about to pull Diana's face towards her when Tarie started to hum, and Arthur's words were echoed through the chamber.
An image of the desert entered Kara's mind and she felt a pull as she held Tarie in her palm. "Diana, he's trapped, in a large desert."
"Aphrodite said he would ask for help, Kara." Diana smiled sadly, "you need to go, my sweet."
"But the council, your mother," Kara tried to argue.
"Are my concern, you have to make sure he is safe," the princess explained, "the council will be my quest, and saving the future King of Atlantis, will be yours."
Kara's eyes filled with concern, "you shouldn't have to face this alone…," then she paused, and reached up to her left arm and removed her cuff, one she had made for herself years before, and presented it to Diana.
Diana's smile was all Kara needed to see to know she'd made the right choice. The Amazonian princess took off her own and fitted Kara's onto her arm, squeezing slightly to make sure it stayed in place. She stepped close to her Kryptonian and placed her own around Kara's upper arm. "Now we have a piece of one another," Diana spoke as she reached for Kara's hands and pulled them to her waist.
Kara needed no more encouragement and slid her hands behind Diana's back, pulling her close and sighed as their lips met and she felt fingers slide through her blonde hair.
The kiss ended, much too soon, and Diana looked into Kara's eyes, "go, my sweet. Save our friend and come back to me."
"Tell mother, I'll be back," Kara implored.
"Of course," Diana smiled, as Kara's lips brushed her cheek again, and then...she was gone.
Kara rocketed into the sky, feeling the pull from Arthur's coin through Tarie's hilt. She shot through the barrier, through the storm, and into the clouds, pausing only long enough to get her bearings, then turned towards the ocean of sand known as the Sahara.
Diana watched until Kara disappeared, then turned on her heel and exited her chambers, preparing for a battle she'd never expected to fight. She made her way gracefully down the stairs and paused at the doors to the council chambers to take a deep breath. She looked to the guards and nodded.
The doors opened and Alexandra announced Diana's arrival as the princess made her way to the center of the hall and took a seat in the front row, facing her mother, directly beside Myri.
"Diana, where is Kara?" Myri asked, a tinge of worry in her voice.
Diana leaned and whispered into Myri's ear, "she was called away to help Arthur Curry outside the barrier, she had to go quickly, Myri."
Myri gripped Diana's hand and saw Kara's armband. She gave Diana a small smile, "she left part of herself with you?"
Diana felt the band on her arm, still radiating heat from being on Kara's arm, "would you like to wear it?"
Myri reached beneath her robes and pulled out a small pendant on a silver chain, "No, I have one close to my heart," she answered and watched Diana's reaction, "Kara makes sure that those she loves always know she is with them."
Kara was moving fast, faster than ever before, letting the sword in her hand lead her on, she started to slow as the pulsing feeling started to speed up, becoming almost constant throbbing in her palm. She set down slowly, closing her eyes and focusing on her mark, on Arthur's face, and on the coin. "Arthur, where are you? I'm here but I don't see you." She said to the wind.
"Little Sister, we are below ground, in the kingdom of the Deserters, it is under you." Arthur's whisper came through the coin.
Kara levitated up off the sand and started to scan the ground beneath her. She spotted a weak spot on the surface and focused, searching through layers and twists and turns. Her eyes saw the redhead and she quickly found Arthur. She sheathed Tarie and rotated her body and blasted through the surface, shooting quickly through the maze of slides. In less than a minute she was hovering before the large Atlantean and the small woman she was so sure must be Mera. She stepped from the air, directly onto the ledge, and held out her arm, "Captain Kara Zor-El, of the Queen's Elite."
Mera smiled at the formal greeting, and grasped the woman's hand, noticing immediately that it was like gripping Arthur's hard muscles. "Y'Mera Xebella Challa, princess of Xebel, and citizen of Atlantis."
"My regards, your highness," Kara said solemnly as she bowed. As she stood, she felt a crushing hug as Arthur wrapped his large arms around her waist and lifted her off the ground.
"Little Sister, you came! They worked!" He smiled broadly.
Kara couldn't help but smile back, "How did you end up here and why would you jump in a hole? You can't fly," she laughed.
Arthur set her down, "we are looking for King Atlan's trident and her," he pointed to Mera, "GPS led us here, it wasn't part of the plan to be trapped."
"You are the true heir Arthur, our marks tell us that," Kara exclaimed, earning a surprised look from Mera.
"What mark?" Mera asked, agitated by the scene playing out before her.
Kara turned her back to Mera, her mark clearly visible as she pulled her cape to the side. Mera reached out, her fingers grazing the symbol on Kara's back. "Be careful," Arthur said, but it was too late, as Mera was pulled into Kara's mind…
Kara saw…
Rebellion and her father's shame
A marriage of convenience and not of love
A mother who was no longer of this world, pride in her voice for the daughter she was
Gold eyes and wild hair…
Mera saw…
Power, the strength of a sun
Acceptance, a woman who had found her place
Family, the eyes of a mother, and sisters
Love, the brown eyes of a princess
Mera gasped at the images and staggered. Arthur caught her, reminding her to breathe, to relax.
"I apologize, your highness," Kara bowed, "I didn't know it would have that effect on you."
Mera smiled, "I carry a mark as well," she lifted her sleeve and revealed a small mark, a dolphin, under her skin, that seemed to move as Kara watched it.
"You are one of the daughters of Amphitrite," Kara smiled. She asked excitedly, "can you really manipulate water?"
"I can," Mera smiled at Kara, then looked to Aquaman, "I like this surface dweller, Arthur."
Diana stood to address the council, she took a deep breath and felt Myri squeeze her hand. She walked forward, closed her eyes, and then opened them slowly, looking directly at her mother…
"The world of Man is under attack, be it by their own kind or the machinations of beings from beyond the stars, they are trapped in a war many of them barely understand, much less are able to defend themselves against. We have been cut off for far too long," she paused to let the words sink in, then continued. "It's our duty, as Amazons to defend the weak, to put ourselves between danger and the innocent. We cannot do that here on Themyscira, we must return to the world of men."
The whispers and murmurs started silently, spreading quickly to roars of protest and acceptance.
Hippolyta stood regally, and looked her daughter in the eye, "you would have me put our nation at risk to save the world of man."
"It is our duty, your highness," Diana answered, to resounding cheers from all her sisters.
"Our duty! Is to our Amazons, princess," Hippolyta responded, and the room quieted.
Diana took a deep breath, and turned away from her mother, brushing the fingers of her hand over Kara's armband, she released her breath and spoke to her sisters, "We train for war, we train to defend the innocent. What war is coming to our world, we are protected, by our goddesses, by Hera herself, yet still, we train for war. That war is coming, regardless of whether we are out there," she pointed towards the window, "or sitting here on our island watching the world of Man burn around them." She pivoted, walking towards her mother, "Steppenwolf was a test, a test we almost failed."
"Kara protected us," Hippolyta snapped, and then watched as Diana relaxed.
Her daughter bowed her head to Hippolyta, "Kara's Zyvesh is absolutely correct, Kara Zor-El defended us. We, the Amazons of Themyscira needed help from outside the barrier to protect our world and way of life." She turned and bowed her head to Myri, offering an apology she could not present to Kara herself. "An outsider saved us."
"Kara is an Amazon, Diana," Hippolyta's voice cracked, anger clouding her normal level head.
"She is not of the island, your highness, she can come and go as she sees. No other Amazon, other than myself, has ever been allowed to return," Diana said, holding her head high, "I am a daughter of Zeus, I am the Godkiller, and I speak the truth and you all know it." She swept her arms around the chamber to amplify her message.
Hippolyta sat heavily in her seat. "Diana," she pleaded.
Unshed tears welled in Diana's eyes at her mother's plaintive tone, "there is danger coming, something worse than Steppenwolf, something worse than the Mother Boxes, something that will end in our deaths and the death of this world. The fates have seen it and we must prepare, if that means rejoining the world of man, then we must."
The queen looked out over the audience, swinging her head from side to side, finally locking eyes, not with Diana, but Myrinna. She considered her words carefully before she spoke, the cost of her choices weighing heavily upon her shoulders. "The barrier was a gift to protect us, and as queen it is my decision that will bring it down," Hippolyta said in a low tone. "The Senate is in recess until tomorrow." Hippolyta pushed back her chair and walked from the room, never looking back.
Diana was about to follow her out when Myri stood and grasped her hand, "no, Diana. This decision is hers and hers alone."
Hippolyta opened the door of a bedroom that had not seen any visitor but herself in one hundred years. Antiope's armor still lay draped over the chair, her bed was still covered with her favorite bearskin blanket. Closing her eyes, Hippolyta could picture Antiope telling her exactly what Diana had just said. She sat on the end of the bed, looking out at the sunset, "Antiope, she's right, I have to bring down the barrier, I have to end our isolation."
She could almost hear the reply, 'then do so, Lyta. If you know in your heart it is the right thing to do, do it.'
"Our sisters?" She pleaded.
'Will accept the decision of their queen, they will follow you till the end of time,' a ghost whispered.
"We will not be able to hide again," Hippolyta said to the air.
Hours later, Lyta heard a knock at the door and rose. She padded softly across the floor, her sandals lying where she had tossed them as she sat and thought of the day's events.
"I thought I would find you here," Myri smiled as she leaned on her cane. The smile brightened as she was lifted off her feet and carried towards one of the comfortable chairs that adorned Antiope's chambers. "You spoil me, Lyta."
"You have been here for me on many occasions, my love," Hippolyta answered, "Speak your peace."
"Diana is right, Lyta," Myri said quietly, waiting for the argument that would ensue.
"I know," the queen responded with a huff, "her arguments reminded me of our debates."
"That's funny, I was thinking the same thing," Myrie laughed, "she sounds exactly like her mother."
Kara landed slowly on the island of Sicily and watched as Arthur gathered some clothes that would hide her armor and weapons. She dressed quickly and followed them through the marketplace. It was much like the market on Themyscira, but what held her attention was the children. She'd never seen so many, not since coming to Earth. 'This is worth defending,' she smiled to herself.
She also watched Mera and Arthur as they walked around, never touching, but never far apart. 'They are like Diana and me,' she thought to herself.
The big man pointed to the hilltop and Kara heard him tell Mera, "apparently it's up on the hill, a big castle."
They approached Kara and Arthur smiled, "you want to stay down here and explore Kara, we shouldn't be long."
Kara nodded and watched them walk away.
Hippolyta entered the chamber dressed in her most regal robes, the crown of her office sitting heavily on her head. She didn't sit, nor did she address the council, instead she faced Diana, "I have come to my decision…"
Everyone in the room held their breath…
"The barrier shall fall…"
