For the first few days of baby Dianas life Hippolyta had barely put her down, not that she was able to do very much else in those early stages, her body was still hurting from giving birth. Even for an amazon it had been a brutal trial bringing the child into the world and she needed rest. Still she could barely keep her eyes off her little girl, even on this great island Hippolyta thought her princess was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

Her needs were very simple in the beginning, sleeping, feeding, changing and being held close were the only things she needed and Hippolyta was glad to be able to do them, if she wasn't in her little cot then she would be in a sling the queen had fashioned from a sheet of cloth to wrap around her so that the baby could be kept close to the breast. Feeding was the most precious time for the two, not just for Hippolyta to be able to feed her child from her breast, but the bonding experience too, it was like her love was flowing out of her and into her baby, it was wonderful.

"There you are my love" She said to her as the baby was suckling "I have plenty of milk to make you strong".

Antiope was an almost constant companion to the two, having delegated much of her soldiers training to Menalippe for the time being so that she could attend to her sister and her niece. Antiope loved that little girl almost as much as her sister, and she wasn't the only one. There had been much celebrating on the island ever since the news had spread amongst the women that their princess had been born, most of them had not seen a baby since they lived amongst men, countless years ago now, they had forgotten what one looked like and they were all yearning to see her.

"Is it really true?" one woman had whispered

"I heard it crying from outside the palace" another had said

"It's been so long since I've seen one" spoke one more

Antiope had entered her sisters bedchamber to attend to the pair, she found her sister asleep whilst her niece was in her cot, awake and content, gazing around as far as her tiny eyes could go.

"Hello my little one" Antiope said to the little girl, she offered her one of her fingers and the baby grasped it and tugged at it with all her strength, not letting it go.

"You're so strong already Diana, I know you'll be a fierce amazon one day" she told her with a smile

"Antiope…." Hippolyta murmured, stirring from her sleep. "Won't you at least wait until she can walk before turning her into a warrior?"

The general turned to face her sister, amused at her comment. "As you wish dear sister".

The queen tried sitting up but her body was still aching, she grimaced and Antiope came to help her, propping her up against the pillows. "Here, you need to rest; your body must heal".

Hippolyta sighed, honestly this was ridiculous she thought, she was an amazon, the queen of the amazons in fact, and she felt like a caged animal being confined to bed rest like this, she should be out amongst her people.
Although, having said that the thought of mounting a horse and riding it over the stony pathways of her island made her wince. Absolutely no horse riding for a while.

The two of them sat discussing what had been happening on the island since the Princesses birth, Antiope told her of the celebrations the women had been partaking in and how the women had spoken of nothing else but this new baby for the past few days. They wanted to see their Princess, that was clear to Hippolyta.

"Would you do something for me?" Hippolyta said, looking over at her baby girl in the cot.

"Of course, anything" Antiope told her

"Take Diana outside, take her to the people, I want them to see her". Hippolyta said, entrusting her sister with the most precious thing in the world to her.

"It would be an honour my queen". Antiope told her sister, rising and walking over to the cot again. As gently as she could she placed her strong hands around the tiny girl and picked her up, cradling her close to her chest. Antiope was the fiercest warrior on the whole of Themyscira, but as she held her baby niece in her arms she was only full of love and a need to protect this little girl, she knew she would love this child as if she were her own for the rest of time.

"I'll take good care of her I swear" Antiope said

"I know you will" Hippolyta replied

And so it was that Antiope took her baby niece, the Princess of Themyscira, outside of the palace walls for the first time. "This is your home Diana" Antiope told the baby girl, "Themyscira. Isn't it beautiful? It's almost as beautiful as you" she said as the child adjusted her eyes to the sunlight.

Antiope took her through the marketplace, to the fields where her soldiers trained and to many other parts of the island to show the women their princess, and it was the most remarkable thing. Many of the women stopped what they were doing entirely to gaze at the child, they crowded with a respectful distance around Antiope to get a look of the tiny girl and some of the women were reduced to tears at the sight of her, even the toughest of Antiopes soldiers felt moved beyond all reason to see the only baby that would ever live on the Island.

"Praise the Gods its true" Antiope heard Artemis say as she clapped eyes on Diana, and there was much more to be heard from the women as the tour continued.

"It's a baby, a real baby"

"I thought I would never see one again"

"She's beautiful"

Even when little Diana began to cry the women couldn't help but be amazed by the sound of it

"Such noise it makes, such wonderful noise"

"What's her name?" One woman asked

"Yes, tell us her name? We must know the Princesses name!" Came cheers from the people around her

"Diana" Antiope announced to a crowd of women, "Her name is Diana".

I have an idea for a third chapter, I'll hopefully get to writing it soon.