Two updates in a week? WATCH ME GO! And join me friends, as we return TO THE LAND OF FEELINGS!

-rosa

Chapter Seven: Hearth and Home

Diana wrestled her disappointment to the backburner of her mind, shoved it into the box with the vulnerable part of her that was still reeling from Aphrodite's traumatic challenge. She knew some of Bruce's story, after all; the shooting that killed his parents, the death of Jason Todd, Barbara Gordon's injury... it didn't take a huge leap of logic to assume that Bruce, as silent and stony as he was, still feared those near him getting hurt. His solution was simple and ruthless: he prevented people from breaking through the barriers around his heart. She knew this, yet she'd put him on the spot, put her heart in his hands. Now he could decide what to do, and all these feelings could stay in the box.

Diana breathed in and out a few times, slow and deliberate, remembering Antiope's training. Then she stepped out of the hallway into the dining room. And even Diana, exhausted and sad as she was, couldn't help the smile.

In the charming dining room, a table draped in white and covered with dishes and sparkling crystal dishes stood in the center. Behind it, a brick fireplace housed a blazing fire, which offered a dancing glow on the walls and somehow, didn't overheat the room. Hestia was fussing over baffled Menalippe while Hermes took in the sight of the Mediterranean feast with glee. He looked up, saw Diana, and his smile went flat. Perhaps her face gave more away than she'd intended. She remembered how it was all going into the box and offered Hermes a smile as she hovered by the table. His frown deepened.

"Have a seat, sister!" he urged. "Here, to the right of Hestia. I'll go get our flying rodent." And he strode purposely back down the hall.

Hestia straightened, satisfied that Menalippe was comfortable. Her smile was infectious, and Diana couldn't help but return it, feeling the joy of the expression this time. "My lady Hestia, you honor us with your kindness."

Hestia waved that away with a dismissive sound. "It's my joy, Diana, my joy to have you in my home. Please, sit next to me, the place of honor! Here, right across from your aunt, dear. Hermes will be next to her, and Bruce Wayne will be there, next to you. A lovely party we make, yes?"

Diana's smile turned wry as she settled into her chair. "Yes, my lady. Thank you for your hospitality."

"Tut," Hestia said, studying Diana, then Menalippe in turn. She frowned at their armor, then waved her hand. A flash of light and Menalippe wore a reddish-brown Grecian gown, her hair tumbling down over her shoulders. Diana blinked, glanced down. She found herself dressed in the white and gold ceremonial gown she wore to religious festivals and other formal occasions on Themyscira. The Lasso of Hestia featured as an elaborate sash at her waist. She could feel the weight of a golden crown of laurels resting on her head, her reward for winning the tournament of champions long ago. She reached across the table to Menalippe, holding her hand, feeling nostalgic.

Menalippe squeezed her fingers. "Your mother would be so proud, Diana. You look magnificent."

Diana smirked, settling into her chair. She hadn't eaten a meal, sat a table set quite like this since she left Themyscira. "So sentimental, my dear aunt. You and I both know, I look the same as ever." She spread the cloth napkin over her lap, hoping to protect the gown before returning it to Hestia.

Her aunt studied her across the table, series as ever. Diana felt small and vulnerable under those eyes. "No, my child," Menalippe said quietly. "You are changed. You look like your mother now- your features are the same, but your eyes, the way you carry yourself. You remind me of her." Menalippe pressed her lips together. "And Antiope, your teacher. She would be so proud, Diana."

Diana swallowed, working at the lump in her throat. "I miss them both. Seeing you, Menalippe, reminds me of home."

"Home!" Hestia cried. "Just what we want to talk about. Come, boys, sit, sit sit." She gestured, and Diana turned over her shoulder to watch Bruce and Hermes come on. Hermes floated over the table to settle in the chair next to Menalippe. Hestia tutted at Bruce, waved a hand, and when the lighted faded, Diana took in the sight of Bruce clothed in a sharp black and grey tuxedo; the jacket's cut was modern, two bold red stripes on the lapel. As out of sorts as she felt about Bruce, Diana could not help appreciating the cut of the suit, could not help offering him a smile and a welcoming gesture to the chair next to her.

Bruce Wayne might be very comfortable at dinner parties, but that was a field he knew; Olympus, Diana suspected, had kept Bruce on edge simply for it's unfamiliarity and unpredictability. After all, he hated magic. She touched his shoulder, very briefly, and said, "Relax, Bruce. I will keep you safe."

"That's my job," Hermes retorted. "But yes, relax. She won't let us get to the food until you do."

"Quiet, nephew!" Hestia chided, a warm smile belying her words. "Welcome, Bruce Wayne, to Olympus. Welcome, General Menalippe. Welcome, Diana, Princess of Themyscira, champion of the Amazons. My nephew Hermes and I are glad to welcome you here. We offer you food and a safe place to rest before you begin the final challenges. And I, too, have a test for you as well, my niece. But first! Let us eat and be merry! But not merry enough to catch my nephew Dionysus's attention." Her eyes twinkled, as a mischievous aunt's eyes would. "Just enough for this place to feel like home once more."

"Enough, honored aunt!" Hermes cried. "Let us eat, I beg you!"

Hestia laughed, a warm and rolling sound. "Be at ease and eat, my children."

And, as if she was gathered around the long table in the palace with all her sisters on a high feast day, Diana felt truly relaxed, truly comfortable in her skin, home. She closed her eyes for a moment to relish the sensation of her homesickness, her confusion about Bruce, her sadness about Steve, to melt off her shoulders into the peace of home.

"What is this magic?" Bruce breathed next to her, looking stunned. "I feel like I have never felt in my life." He met her eyes, and she felt no compunction about grabbing his hand, squeezing it. He didn't pull away, closed his eyes in startled relief.

"You have felt this before, Bruce," Diana said softly, compassion for him welling up in her and spreading to her fingers. She touched his face with her free hand. "But it has been so long, I know, so long since you truly felt at home. I know because for me, it has been so much longer."

She leaned in close, closed her other hand around his so that she gripped his hand with both of hers, like a prayer. "I watched my aunt die, so she could save me. Bruce, I know. I know it is not the same as what you suffered. I was already centuries old then, and my people are a race of warriors, not raised to fear to death. You were a child. I know I cannot truly know the pain you suffered; I know, as you do, that this magic is not the same as having your parents back. I know your mission is to fight so that no more children in Gotham will ever know that pain. But know, Bruce, that you are not alone. I have felt the weight of wars on my shoulders; I have watched those precious to me die, as you have."

Diana gestured to the table, to Hestia, Menalippe, and Hermes, who were talking and laughing, eating and drinking, as they had no cares or burdens in the world. "This magic, the blessing of Hestia, will fade soon. You will remember the weight of your mission, the pain of your ever-present grief and how this magic is not as good as having your parents live. I will remember again how truly and terribly alone I feel in Man's world, how much my heart still stings from Aphrodite's challenge, how much I miss my mother. And you! You will even remember your apprehension about the feelings I shared with you."

Here, Diana grinned, a innocent and wide smile that crinkled the delicate skin at the corner of her eyes. Bruce felt his breath literally escape him, pass through his parted lip in a slow exhale. She laughed, embracing the magic giving her such joy.

"And I will remember that I- though they say I am Themyscira's greatest warrior and I may even have to replace Superman as Earth's champion!- I will remember again that I am feeling very vulnerable next to you, very on edge as I wait for you to decide what to do with the heart I placed in your hands. It will be very awkward, I'm sure." She laughed again, and the sound seemed to be a cool balm on Bruce's heart. Her hands squeezed his own once more. "But until then, let us simply be. Yes?"

Bruce couldn't help it. He grinned, squeezed her hand back. Even leaned down to kiss her knuckles, delighting her. "Princess," he said, bowing over her hands. "Your wish is my command. Now pass the potatoes."

Rolling her eyes and laughing, she passed the potatoes.

XXX

The dinner proceeded with all the noise, comfort, laughter, and veiled chaos of home. Bruce teased Menalippe for setting her spear by her chair, Hermes ribbed Bruce for the weapons he'd no doubt found a way to conceal in the suit he'd magically been clothed in, and Diana laughed at them all. She leaned into Hestia, letting her head rest on the goddesses shoulder, not caring that it tipped the golden crown of laurels on her head off-center. She watched as the dishes from dessert cleared away by magic, feeling a contentment she hadn't felt in far too long.

"My lady Hestia," she said, eyes closed. "I thank you. It has been an age since I felt like I was at home."

Hestia sighed , a content yet sad sound.

"I know, child. I hope you will continue to call upon me to bless every new place you call home. I will do what little I can from my place behind the veil."

"Thank you," Diana breathed, already imagining the shine she would make in her Paris apartment.

Hestia shifted in her chair, prompting Diana to sit up straight. Ever a princess, she straightened her crown and smoothed her hair without realizing she was doing it, and she took in the scene with pleasure. Bruce and Menalippe had teamed up and were debating Hermes on some topic...something about Diana's speed and the blessing of Artemis? Diana chuckled to herself, rolling her eyes like an older sister at misbehaving siblings, enjoying Hermes's dramatic outrage as he debated back.

"Come, children!" Hestia said, standing. The pink silk of her gown tumbled down to the floor. "Let us visit the garden before the sun sets."

Everyone stood without thinking much of it, continuing their debate as they followed Hestia out of the back door and into a backyard bursting with flowers, sparkling fireflies, and a shaded picnic table with blooming ivy dangling from the roof covering it.

"Have a seat, everyone! Diana," Hestia said, quietly now. "Will you walk with me?"

Diana agreed, following hestia to the back of the small yard where two large trees-chaste trees!- grew high and arced toward one another, their higher branches entwining and creating an archway.

"Menalippe brought me a bouquet of these blooms," Diana said, touching one, "to help prove she was who she appeared to be. Was that really only yesterday? I have never seen these trees grow elsewhere, nowhere outside of Themyscira."

Hestia said, "That's because they don't."

Diana blinked. Hestia reached for her hand and together, they watched as the archway formed by the two trees filled with white light and then, the light clarified into an image Diana recognized immediately- the training grounds of the Amazons, in a flat place between Themyscira's peaks. Diana felt her knees tremble as she recognized her mother among them, walking through the sparring women with Phillipus at her side.

"Can it be?" Diana breathed.

"I have only enough power for one person to pass through and in one direction, Diana. I am Hestia; this is a way home."

Diana's hand trembled as she reached for the light in the doorway, then rested her hand on one of the trees instead, leaning on it for balance. Her mother looked the same, yet, even more solemn than she had.

"You must have great faith in me, my lady Hestia. I hope I may deserve it." And in a strained voice, gripping the tree, she cried, "Menalippe!"

In seconds, Menalippe appeared on her right, spear at the ready. Diana sensed rather than saw Bruce coalesce silently at her left, just behind her.

Menalippe gasped, dropping her spear.

"Themyscira," Bruce whispered.

"For one hundred years, I searched." Diana's voice shook like her hands did, like she was struggling to carry a heavy weight. "I sailed. I flew. I swam and nearly drowned. And I always failed. Now, a way lies home. But not for me." Diana turned to Menalippe and grabbed her hands, hard enough to make the older Amazon wince. Her eyes shone. "For you, Menalippe."

"No!" Menalippe cried, struggling to free her hands and failing. "No, Princess, I beg you. I cannot return, not without you."

Diana smiled through the tears. "There is magic for only one person, in only one direction, dear aunt. People have not believed in the old gods in too long, Menalippe."

The older woman let out a frustrated cry, again trying to free her hands from Diana's grip, failing once more. "No!" she snarled it this time, shifting tactics. "No, I won't do it!"

"This is your test?" Bruce demanded of Hestia, the haunted look in Diana's eyes sparking his anger. He did not bother to hide his outrage for he was not a pious man.

Hestia nodded, her expression grieved. "It must be done. Home is more than a place."

Diana's sadness turned fierce in her eyes at Menalippe's angry refusal. "Would you not go if I ordered you, General?" she challenged, shaking her aunt's arms once, still gripping her hands.

"I would!" cried Menalippe, desperately now. "Of course I would, so please, do not order me from your side! In you, I see Antiope. She lives in you, in your expressions, your love, your ferocity, and the world is bearable for me once more. Please, Your Highness, I beg you!"

Diana held fast, her face pinching as she fought her tears back. Her mouth went flat. "And would you have me watch you die, Menalippe?!" she demanded. "Like I watched Antiope die? Would you have me watch you slowly meet your death knowing that this time, I could have stopped it?!"

Silence descended on the garden.

"You figured it out," Menalippe said, stunned. She stopped her struggles.

"Of course she did," Bruce returned gently, feeling how his place with Menalippe had reversed. "Of course she did. Wisdom of Athena."

Diana, still gripping her aunt's hands, knelt before her. Menalippe visibly flinched at this reversal, trying to pull Diana back to her feed. Again, she failed.

"Menalippe," Diana said. "My dear aunt. You have faced something no Amazon ever faced-not even I." Her smile was wistful, and Bruce's chest ached. "You have faced the relentless approach of death in all the months you have searched for me, seeing your body age in a way none of us ever has. I am proud of you. You bravery inspires me. No one could have known that our island was the source, not even I. I am not an Amazon quite like the rest of you," Diana said, remembering how hurt she'd been when her mother had said it, not knowing what it meant.

She attempted to smile at herself as the old pain flared. "I didn't know. I would have sent a warning, somehow. Now you can, Menalippe. You warn our sisters of this consequence of leaving the island; you can protect my mother while I cannot. This is your mission. You have served me well, my dear aunt, for so long. Will you stop now?"

Diana lost a rare battle, this one to her tears. One fell from her chin, onto her aunt's hands where she gripped them and kissed them. "Please, Menalippe. If you will not do this for yourself, please; do it for me."

Menalippe, having failed to move Diana three times, fell to her knees in front of her niece. "Would you not have me with you?" she whispered, vulnerable.

Diana finally released Menalippe's hands so she could pull her aunt into a hug, right there where they knelt. Menalippe trembled in her arms. "Of course, I yearn for you to be with me as much as I yearn to return home with you." The lasso glowed from where it wrapped around Diana's waist with the force of this truth.

She pulled back, holding Menalippe by the shoulders. "But this is the test, and my mission is not complete; Bruce, he says something bigger is coming. Only you can make it back to my mother to warn her to be on her guard. I cannot; Patriarch's World is vulnerable without Kal-El. I must remain. It is my mission." She kissed her aunt on the cheek. "Menalippe, I could not save Antiope; let me save you."

Menalippe, one of the fiercest warriors among all the Amazons, leaned forward, rested her forehead on her Princess's shoulder, and wept.

Diana held her, and after a moment, whispered, "Antiope lives on in the fields of Elysian, just as she lives on in me. And not just me; you can find her back on the island, you know. See?"

Menalippe lifted her head, looked toward the glowing archway, and found herself gazing at a close up of Queen Hippolyta's face. The Queen had styled her hair in the same way Antiope often had, and her face, fierce and flushed with exertion, had jumped from her mount to join in the training. The fierce smile she gave Phillipus as she dodged the other woman's attack was Antiope's smile.

Menalippe breathed the Queen's name.

Diana stood, helped Menalippe to her feet. "Are you ready, General? She needs you. I need you."

Menalippe sucked in a deep breath through her nose, grabbed her spear, and straightened. She glanced back at Hestia. "My armor, please, my lady?"

Hestia produced the armor from thin air. "Keep the gown, Amazon, as a gift from me," Hestia implored. "And Menalippe: tell the Amazons that I live, that the old gods survived. With the force of their belief, one day, this way home will be open again."

Menalippe squared her shoulders, finally, accepting her missions. "Yes, my lady Hestia. I will do as you say."

She turned to Hermes, who, serious for once, offered her a return salute.

"You will keep them safe, my Lord?"

He nodded solemnly. "Or be forsworn. My solemn vow."

Menalippe shifted her gaze to Bruce. Bruce tried not to wither in the face of all the warnings and threats the Amazon was sending with her eyes. When Diana coughed, Menalippe relaxed her glare, sighing. She shook her head, finally giving Bruce a true smile and offering her hand to shake his. He did so, returning the tight squeeze; they grinned at each other.

"You're not half bad, Bruce Wayne," she said, "for a man."

"May I be worthy of such praise," he said dryly, relishing Diana's laugh. "Be well, Menalippe. It was an honor."

"Gods protect you, Bruce Wayne," she said.

"And you," he replied.

And then, Menalippe turned to Diana. She opened her arms, and Diana walked into her embrace, the only child of Themyscira once more.

"Be strong, sun and stars," Menalippe whispered, as she knew Hippolyta would if she could. "Until we meet again."

Diana hugged her aunt hard, kissed her cheek, and, slowly now, let go.

"My love goes with you, Menalippe. Share it with my mother; tell her I miss her." Diana steadied herself, straightening and offering Menalippe a final salute. "This is not goodbye," Diana ordered. "Now, go."

Menalippe smiled, "Yes, Princess." And with a deep breath, Menalippe faced the doorway to Themyscira and stepped through. A bright flash of blinded them all, and then, when the light faded, the two trees were simply trees.

The sun set on Olympus as Bruce gently took Diana's hand in his.