I'm truly sorry for the delay of this chapter, but my work&sports schedule has been ghastly these past few weeks. Betweeen my job during the day and the dojo by night, I barely had the time to sit down and write. I'll try to be faster in the future, but I'm leaving for Berlin this weekend and I don't really think I'll get much work done there. Be patient.

Hippolyta took her own sweet time to return from the banquet. It almost looked like she was stalling on purpose, leaving Diana up in the keep to wait for her, all alone, just to make her sweat a little bit, just like when she did something wrong when she was a child. Which happened fairly often. She sat in her old room, on the bed where she had spent many nights letting her mind wander through her fantasies of war, of joining her sisters in battle when Ares would rise again and strike humanity, alone with her thoughts. Little did Young Diana know that all the time the Amazons had been preparing themselves for battle, Ares had changed tactic and was letting men and women do all the work, inspiring them from the darkest corner of their minds.

Taking a deep breath, she turned towards the large shelves that lined one of the walls, filled with books, rolls of papyruses and random parchment sheets held together by twine that was now strained by many years of use. Those shelves held everything she knew about the world, up until Steve crashed on the island. Back when she was a child she thought those books contained everything she needed to know about humanity and growing into adulthood that concept stuck, to the point she was blinded by it.

How different could things have gone, back in 1918, if her eyes and mind hadn't been so occluded by all this antique knowledge that mattered no more?

With a remorseful chuckle, she passed her fingertips on the spines of the books, on the handles of the papyruses and the jagged rolls of parchment scrolls, threading lightly over the old and frail items, until she found the wooden enchanted board her mother had used to tell her the story of the Amazons and the War of the Gods. Smiling, albeit wryly, she pulled the board out and opened it. It looked so much smaller now that she was an adult, but it was still a wonderful piece of art in its own way. She had no idea who had made it, who had enchanted it so the images, almost likelike, would slowly move and morph into the different chapters of the story, but whoever had they been, they were skilled. Very skilled.

When the story reached the part where Zeus struck Ares down, she gently closed it and put it back on the shelf. "These books need an update…" she exclaimed to herself.

"Yes," came her mother's voice from the doorway. "They need it. Most of it is outdated, as you have demonstrated."

She was standing, a step away from the doorstep, as if she was afraid to walk in. "You can come, you know?"

"Not without your permission," she stated. "Remember the rule: you can walk in a room only with the permission of the owner of said room."

That had been one of her childhood staples. Never go somewhere you're not invited. It made her laugh a little, considering the very bad habit of bursting through doors and walls she had developed while rushing to battle. "How about we take this to the armory?" she proposed.

Her mother nodded. "Neutral ground. Good idea. And in case I feel the sudden urge to beat you, I'll just need to grab a stick."

Diana wasn't expecting that kind of quipping from her mother, she had to admit it. "And where does that come from?"

"Contrary to popular belief on this island I have a sense of humor, Diana. I just don't feel like I need to put it on show every moment of my life."

"Like the fact you used to drink many mighty warriors under the table in the good old days?"

Hippolyta grunted, softly. "He told you that, didn't he?"

"He told me many things, Mother," replied Diana as they walked towards the big tower where the real weapons used in battle were kept. "But he also told me to reach out to you, get your side of the story."

Her mother nodded, solemnly, but she didn't say anything, at least for a long while. They walked in complete silence, broken only by the soft thump of their steps on the dirt road that led to the octagonal building that protected the armory. Diana wanted so much to ask her questions and be done with it, but she knew this was going to be a long, exhausting night. Frustrating too. What she was going to discuss with her mother wasn't something that could be liquidated with a quick yes or no type of question, there were going to be many long moments of silence, like this one.

When they reached the door, Hippolyta pushed it open and let her in. It had been almost a century since Diana had last set foot in that building, and she hadn't walked in through the main door. There was a long table and some chairs scattered around the main room, where people could grab their weapons, clean them and sharp them before battle. They gathered a chair each and sat on the opposite sides of the table, facing each other, like two warriors ready to wage war against one another, with only a thick slab of wood darkened by the heavy use to stop them. The torches hanging from the wall projected dark, trembling shadows around them.

Diana kind of wished she had brought something to drink. Something strong.

Uh, Arthur was rubbing off her way too much for her own sake.

"What do you want to know?" asked Hippolyta.

"More like what I need to know," she replied. "First of all, why keep me in the dark for so long? It has been one hundred years, I've come back many times and you never wanted to answer my questions. Why now?"

"Pride, I guess. The lengths I went to have you Diana… I'm not proud of them. Some would call me a prostitute. I gave my body to Zeus so he would have a weapon and I would have a daughter. And then I came up with the lie about sculpting you with clay and him breathing life into it so you would live. I lied for so long that I started believing it was the truth. And when you left… then came back knowing the truth, I didn't want to admit it. To myself, mostly," she explained, oddly at ease, even though she was talking about something she apparently wasn't proud of. "Zeus offered me something I desired, in exchange for your abilities, in case Ares hadn't died at the end of the war."

"So it was nothing more than an economic exchange. As he said, he wanted a weapon, you wanted a daughter, one small sacrifice and you would both have what you wanted, no strings attached."

"Oh, the strings were more than attached, Diana. They weren't even strings. They were thick ropes, tied in a noose hanging from my neck. That noose was cut loose only when you definitely defeated Ares, fulfilling the purpose you were born for. That doesn't mean it stopped choking me though."

"Well, what about me? What about the fact that once I fulfilled the purpose I was born for, as you said, I was left hanging myself? I had no place in Man's World, I gathered that pretty quickly. I couldn't come back, and it was only because of your magnanimity that I was allowed back on the island, though clearly not welcomed. What was I supposed to do, uh? Have you and Zeus thought about the consequences of bringing someone to life, just because you two wanted something? Yes, he got a weapon, you got a daughter, but what about me?"

Hippolyta nodded, gravely. "I admit we hadn't thought about it. Despite everything though, it seems like you have found your place in Man's World no matter what. You could have stayed, I told you that, long ago."

"And as I replied, long ago, no thanks. I prefer spending my life where I have no place but I'm welcomed, than where I do have a place, but people resent me."

"Oh come on, Diana!" Hippolyta exclaimed. "No one resents you! There are some people that… would have preferred I had adhered to the rules I set, but no one resents you!"

Diana chuckled. "They would never say anything negative about me in front of you, Mother. There's a small but pretty vocal group out there that resents me for leaving, resents me for coming back, and now I bet they want to murder me in my sleep because I brought Steve with me!"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Can't say I don't understand a certain reasoning behind the last motive."

That hurt more than all the lies she had been told in her life. "He's not a threat," she seethed through clenched teeth.

"I didn't say he was," replied Hippolyta. "But he can perceived as such by many. After all, you remember what happened last time he was here."

Diana was exasperated. Her mother was being so difficult and hardheaded she had no idea how the hell she was going to even make a small dent in her beliefs. "You talk about that like he intentionally crashed here! He was running away from the Germans, not willingly leading them here!"

"I don't care, Diana!" she exclaimed, banging her hands on the table, eyes wide and face scrunched in a tight, angry grimace. "He brought war where there was peace. He convinced you to run away from home with his misleading words and…"

"Misleading?" Diana almost screamed. "Misleading? How many times have I described what I saw? How many times do I have to tell you that there were people crawling in the icy mud, bullets flying over their heads, weapons that poisoned the very air they breathed… and that was only one of the many places where people fought for no reason at all if not the greed of glory of few men. You saw it last year, the world you remember… it doesn't exist anymore, for a thousands of good men and women there are ten evil people that still honor the dreadful heritage Ares left when I killed him, and now they're way more efficient at killing each other I can't…" She stopped midsentence, took a deep, steadying breath and shook her head. "Steve didn't mislead me. More like he downplayed it. The situation was so much worse than just the war, it was society as a whole that was corrupted, people were barking at each other like rabid dogs, minorities were oppressed, to an extent they still are in more subtle but constant ways… As a man of his time he knew the world was wrong but alone he had no power to change it. He did the best he could."

Her mother didn't reply. Not immediately at least, she just stared at her, arms folded across her chest. "I thought you had already outlived your naive stage, Diana, but I guess I was wrong."

"Well if I'm naive you're blind, Mother. You don't know what it is to live out there, and you don't know him. You barely spoke to him except to interrogate him, last time. This morning you just banished him to the boat, you didn't even tried to talk to him. By the way, he had predicted it."

"What?"

Diana shrugged. "All of it, actually. The angry reactions to his presence, you banishing him to the boat… He came prepared, two thirds of his suitcase were filled with books, so he could keep himself entertained while waiting for me. He knew what he was going to face and he did it with pride and dignity. And he did it for me."

"For you?"

"Yes, for me. I didn't want to come. Last January… A big fire broke out in the city we live in. He wasn't in town, he was out in the United States because of his job and… I cracked. I couldn't save an elderly couple, I have no idea how many other died before I could get there… I didn't take it well. While Steve tried to cheer me up a little bit, or at least make me feel a little less guilty, he mentioned coming here and getting your side of the story, since I now had Zeus' one. I told him I didn't feel welcome, but he poked and prodded me for months until I relented. And he knew he wouldn't be welcomed. And he was ready to accept it, to be treated like the most infamous enemy of the Amazons, so I would have the chance to talk to you, and clear things between us."

"Oh…" Hippolyta looked genuinely surprised. "He willingly agreed to come despite knowing I would most probably banish him to the boat?"

Diana nodded. "He insisted, actually. He said I needed to know your side of the story, other than Zeus', and face those who think I don't deserve to be allowed back to the island and that if I didn't do it sooner rather than later, I would regret it not too far down the line. Also, he would like to talk to you in person."

"About what?"

"I didn't ask, he didn't tell," she lied. "I just know he wants to talk to you."

Tight lipped, Hippolyta nodded. "I'll think about it. So, getting back on track. What do you want to know?"

"Everything," she replied. "From the very moment either of you came up with this crazy idea to the last time you saw Zeus. And don't spare the details, I'm a big girl, I can take it."

Sighing, her mother nodded. "As you wish. It happened a couple of centuries after the end of the war. If I haven't completely lost track of time, roughly nine hundred years ago. One day he came to me and proposed a deal I found very hard to refuse. He was right, I wanted a daughter, and he wanted a weapon. At the time, it seemed a sound plan, and in hindsight, it was indeed. We both got what we wanted, it was a sacrifice of one night for me. I haven't seen him for centuries, until some months ago. That's the story. He came with an idea that required my collaboration, I accepted."

"Wow, bam wham thank you ma'am, uh?"

"Excuse me?"

Realizing she had used a figure of speech her mother wasn't familiar with, Diana shook her head and tried to suppress a smile. "Nothing, it's just a saying of Man's World, it refers to quick one-night-stands. Just that."

"I see. I was surprised to see him though, some months back. He hasn't changed a bit, despite the different clothing. He spoke highly of you, said he had fun, talking to you, after the initial scare. He said something about being terrorized, that meeting you scared the shit out of him."

"So he said," Diana confirmed. "He came to my workplace, under the pretence of making a large donation to the museum from his personal collection of artifacts and…"

"Hey, Diana, slow down a little bit. I still have to grasp what you're doing these days to support yourself. Start from the beginning: what's your job?"

Her mother knew how life worked outside the magical curtain that kept the island hidden, Diana had explained it down to the last detail in the past, but through the years she had changed job a number of times, and she had got the job at the Louvre only seven years before. She dared to take a look at her mother and she did look interested about her life. At least those parts that didn't include Steve.

"The world has changed, technology has evolved, but that doesn't mean that what was left from ancient times has been destroyed. There are people who actively work to preserve the heritage of the past, they keep things as whole as they can, often gathering them in special buildings they call museums. I work in one of the most famous museums of the world, I oversee the section dedicated to Ancient Greece and the Middle East," she quickly explained. "It's not uncommon that private collectors come to us to get rid of parts of their collections because they have too many objects and can't find room for new things. That's what Zeus did. He came as a collector, which he is actually, those items he wanted to donate, he sent them for real and they're amazing, he kept the appearance for a while, before he dropped it and…" She sighed and shook her head. "I almost lost it, I truly wanted to hit him, hard."

"Why?"

"Well, first because he made me waste precious time. I had to cut short an important meeting with a client because I was waiting for him. Second, because he just drops by like nothing ever happened, nearly one hundred years late?" Diana was quickly losing control of her composure, but she didn't care, not at this point, not after so much time of simply sucking it up and let all the doubts fester in the deepest corner of her mind, creating monsters that lived on their own, feeding off her subconscious. "I needed to talk to him in 1918, not in 2017! It didn't help that I had been asking the same questions to you for ages and you always deflected them all!"

Hippolyta looked down, visibly ashamed, but said nothing. She clearly had never thought about the consequences her behavior would have on her daughter, about the fact that even the daughter of a God could feel insecure sometimes. "You never helped me, not on this matter! How do you think I felt, learning I'm the daughter of a god? And most of all learning it from the God I was supposed to kill, who turns out to be my half brother? Sure, even the sculpted from clay thing sounds a little preposterous now that I think of it, but I trusted you. You could have told me the truth, about my father. Just hide the fact I was meant to kill Ares, if need arose!"

"It's not that easy, Diana. You were supposed to kill Ares in a different way, in open war, not in a duel. We thought we would see him only after he had gathered an army and charged against the Gods once again, not hide for so long and inspire mortals to move war against one another, in order to gain more power. It was an outcome we hadn't predicted."

"Then thank you," she spit out. "For letting me go without knowing my true potential. How many things do you think would have been different now, if I had known that?"

"How fast do you think Ares would have found you, if you had known?" replied Hippolyta. "Diana, I know the plan doesn't seem as sound as we saw it, from your perspective, but it was the best we could come up with at the time. Diana, listen to me. What we did… it was nothing more than an exchange of favors between consenting adults. Nothing more, nothing less. I don't know what you were expecting, to be honest, there's nothing to say."

Not that, of course. Diana felt actually a little let down. Her mother's version didn't seem different from Zeus' , he too had spoken of an exchange of favors, but she was expecting something more. Have I idealized this whole thing all this time, to the point the truth sounds like another lie? She asked herself, pondering over her mother's words. She had spent the last one hundred years wondering, making up things to fill a void, had she convinced herself that her own fabrications were the truth, to the point she couldn't believe the real deal?

"Then why did you say you weren't proud of it?" she asked.

"Doesn't it sound a little like prostitution to you?" replied Hippolyta, with a sardonic grin printed on her face. "I caved in, to a plan that in the beginning I didn't approve of, just because Zeus promised me a daughter. He paid me for my services, just not with coins, but by granting me a wish."

"By that reasoning, every sexual relation is an exchange of favors akin to prostitution. Even those that don't include any form of payment. One may seek a sexual encounter for the sake of pleasure alone, isn't it a form of favor exchange?" Diana noticed a quick twitch in her mother's jaw. "The way I see it, it's not prostitution at all. Just two consenting adults seeking a way to achieve a goal. The fact that your goal was a living, breathing person you willingly kept in the dark about your plan is another matter entirely, but I think I understand your reasoning, even though it may be filtered through my experience in Man's World."

"I'm glad you understand," she said. "But I would like to hear your opinion, no matter how filtered through your experiences."

"Very well…" Diana took a deep breath before she spoke. "I think you feel ashamed because you enjoyed it. And there's nothing wrong about it. You always taught me that sex isn't something shameful unless used as a weapon to coerce other people, or abused as a form of power to impose on someone else. You haven't been coerced or forced, it was consensual even though detached, romantically speaking. He promised you something and you went on with it, willingly. But you're not ashamed of the sex itself, or the fact that you did it to satisfy your maternal instinct or that it would imply that I would become nothing more than a weapon in the eyes of many people on this island. You're ashamed because you enjoyed it!"

"It could be. Still, it isn't something I'm not proud of. I relented, I gave in to an idea I wouldn't agree on because Zeus knew what I wanted and he could give it to me. And yes, I'm ashamed because I enjoyed it. A lot!"

"But what's wrong with enjoying sex?" exclaimed Diana. "Isn't it a little hypocritical of you? You spent years, decades if not centuries of my life telling me that sex is never something to be ashamed of. And then, the one time you had sex with someone for the biological reason it exists, you suddenly turn into a prude? Mother, that's nonsensical! Just admit you enjoyed it and be done with it! You'll certainly live a lot better with your conscience! I know I do live a lot better with myself, since I'm never ashamed of any sexual encounter I've ever had."

"What about Steve? Isn't he a little bit jealous of this? Last time I met a man, he was pretty possessive of his wife, despite having lots of issues keeping himself from fucking everything that breathed."

"First, things have changed. Second, Steve isn't like that. Third… well, there's no third but no, he isn't jealous. He asked, out of curiosity, but the moment I mentioned that from my point of view he had been dead he laughed about it and outright stated he wasn't jealous and that he understood. After all, it's not like he was some kind of virgin when we met."

Hippolyta scoffed. "Gods, he seems too good to be true."

"If you met him, you'd know he isn't too good to be true."

With a sigh, the queen shook her head. "You really love him, uh?"

"So much I can't even find words to describe it. No, wait, actually there are words, I've read them in a book a long time ago, but you wouldn't like to hear them."

"Try me,"

"He is my ground, my favorite sound, my country road, my city street, my sky above, my only love, and the ground beneath my feet," she quoted the same part of the book that Clark had quoted describing Lois. It wasn't exactly the best way to describe what she felt about Steve, because despite his presence she was still herself, he wasn't the sole focal point of her life, but it was close enough. She just hoped her mother would see through the metaphor and wouldn't see it as she had completely submitted her will to him, because it wasn't the case. As much as their personalities complemented each other's, his character never annulled her own.

I should have quoted Drumming Song instead… she thought, when she noticed the not so subtle smirk that twisted her mother's expression.

Sighing again, Hippolyta stood. "Walk with me Diana. The air is getting too thin here, I'd prefer if we stepped outside."

With a silent nod, Diana did as told and they moved out of the tower. They walked in silence for a while, just enjoying the cool breeze coming from the sea. It hadn't been an overly hot day, but the cooling air was a relief nevertheless.

"Zeus gave me a quick summary, but tell me how he came back to life."

"Technically, he never died, but long story short, I have a friend who can run so fast he can travel back in time. He… he heard the story, felt bad for me and… brought him here. That's it."

"Uh… and how did he learned how to run so fast?"

Diana smiled. "He didn't learn, Mother. He was struck by a lightning and instead of being burned to a cinder, his body mutated and he gained the ability to run as fast as light. If not faster," she explained. "He still isn't sure about what happened, he just… became the fastest man alive. He's a sweet kid and he felt genuinely bad for what had happened, so he tried to make it better."

"Seems like he did! You're glowing, Diana, I don't think I've ever seen you so happy."

"I am, Mother. I'm truly happy. Steve is… I don't know… he's something else. I never felt anything like this for anyone, I told you, I can't even describe it. Oh, by the way… I made some friends in the past eleven years."

"Oh, that's nice. You've been complaining about that for decades, because you didn't feel like you could relate with most of the people in the world. What kind of friends did you make?"

The conversation moved away from the painful and uncomfortable matters of her birth and how she came to be and turned to more mundane matters, from her friends to her living arrangements to the state of humanity and the aftermath of the battle with Steppenwolf. Diana told her mother about the Justice League and how they were actively working on trying to prevent a second invasion and they constantly kept watch on the world, just in case. She told her about Barry and Victor, about how he still lived thanks to a Mother Box, and that her tales about the previous attempted invasion the Amazons, the Atlanteans and Humans fought off in the past had helped a little in their fight. She also told her about Superman, about how his sacrifice had brought a surge of hope in her and made her don her full gear once again after nearly one hundred years of ditching them in order to work in less flashy attires.

"I think his girlfriend was the first true friend I would really trust with my heart I managed to make after Etta died," she confessed in the end.

"Etta was the woman that helped you after the Great War, right?"

Diana nodded. "Yes, she helped me settle down, got me a place to live and helped me find a job. She introduced me to Man's World the best way she could and we remained friends until she died. Oh, and believe it or not, one of her descendants now works with me."

"Tell me about this Lois though. I'm curious, she seems like an interesting character."

"Oh Mother, she's more than that. She's… in some ways she's an Amazon, she just fights with words and not with weapons. She's a journalist, you know, I told you in the past what kind of profession that is right? And she's one of the best in the field. When she gets a whiff of something that could be even just remotely interesting or better, if she gets her hands on informations she thinks the public should know there's no way, come hell or high water, that she would stop digging until she gets down to the very truth. Gods… I had such a crush on her…"

"A crush?"

"Yeah, a crush… it's like… when you're attracted to someone but you're not exactly in love, it's something that can turn into love but in this case it's just that, a crush. Also, she was still grieving her boyfriend's death, I would have never even thought about trying anything with her."

"Out of respect, I understand. You're still friends though, right?"

Diana nodded again. "Yes, we are. We hear from each other regularly, almost every day. And I read everything she writes for her newspaper or her personal blog. I can say she's my best friend. Oh, also her boyfriend and Steve go along magnificently. Seems like coming back from the dead is a common theme these days."

"How long has Steve been back?" asked Hippolyta. She seemed interested, but not the way a ruler would be interested in an invasor, but more like a mother is interested in her daughter's boyfriend.

"A little less than ten months. He's made leaps and bounds in order to get used to this century, but the stop forward in time was easier on him than it was for me. Many of the technologies we have today is just the evolution of what he had in his time, but when I set foot in Man's World… we're talking about a couple of millennia of tech gap between Themyscira and them, so it was a little easier for him. Also, he's a spy, one of the requirements for that kind of occupation is quick thinking and ability to get used to new situations fairly quick so, I should have expected that."

"So I noticed. I was quite surprised when he landed here that he didn't question anything about our way of life. He actually seemed worried that we wouldn't be ready to face an invasion, in case the Great War arrived on our shores. Another thing that surprised me was the fact he never questioned my authority," she mused. "On the other hand, he was always extremely respectful of us and our way of life. Epione told me he was actually curious and interested, but always respectful."

Diana chuckled, loud. "Told you he's not just a man…"

In their mindless roaming, they reached a cliff that let them see the spot on the beach where Menalippe had allowed Steve to set up camp. From the height of their position, they could see him sitting in one of the folding chairs from the ship, deeply engrossed in a conversation with Penthiselea, who was his guard at the moment, as she sat in another of the chairs he had pulled from the boat. They couldn't hear what they were saying, but the noises carried by the wind were those of a playful discussion, with laughter and merry tones.

"I just hope he's not trying to dig his way into our ranks, to win them over so he can undermine them."

"He would never do such a thing. I'm fairly sure they're talking about military tactics and combat. They're both soldiers and Steve was very impressed with what he saw during the battle on the beach, against the Germans."

"You never told me that!"

"I never saw a good reason to do so. He was impressed enough that he actually took inspiration from a move he saw Menalippe and Antipe perform to help me get a man perched on a tower in Belgium, weeks later."

"Interesting…" mused her mother as she observed the quick exchange between her soldier and Steve, both of them laughing in their seats as they talked about the Gods knew what. "Take him to the training camps, tomorrow," she ordered then. "I want to observe him, before I decide if talking to him, face to face, is worth my time."

That was weird. Allowing a stranger, let alone a man, to the training grounds? "Are you sure?" asked Diana.

"Yes. He'll be under strict surveillance and you'll be hold accountable for any issues he may cause so keep him in check. It's time to retire now, for both of us. I'll see you tomorrow in the morning."

With that, she left. She didn't say anything more about the matter, she just left.

For a moment, Diana wished she had pockets to push her hands into, even though she wasn't exactly one to do such a thing in the first place, but she felt it would be appropriate, as a gesture. "Still better than nothing, in the end. Let's see how it goes tomorrow."

Two things. First, the book that was mentioned and quoted twice in this story is "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" by Salman Rushdie, a very recommended read. Not the easiest one, but I loved it. You may be familiar with the title because U2 wrote a song taking the lyrics from the very lines of this book, titled, of course, "The Ground Beneath Her Feet". It served as the main title of the movie "The Million Dollar Hotel", directed by Wim Wenders.
Second: I have this headcanon of Diana loving Florence + Machine so bear with me if I start quoting their songs in this story, because I loved them too.
Ah, last but not the least, a fun fact about F+TM: Florence Welch wrote To Be Human, which was sung by Sia and Labrinth for the soundtrack of Wonder Woman. I think it's destiny!