Diana felt oddly relieved, as she walked down to the path that led to the beach. Things between her and her mother hadn't exactly cleared up as much as she would have loved, but she would have to make it work. She had mulled over it for so long that probably not even the most heartfelt confession from her mother would be enough to fill the void in her soul.

Maybe in a couple hundred years she would learn to live with it, with the fact that deep down she was the product of an exchange of favors. And yes, she could live with that, it didn't matter much in the end, her mother had always loved her and her sisters in arms were the best family she could ever hope to live in, what still made her feel like something was amiss was the reticence of both her parents to answer her questions.

It had made her feel abandoned. Zeus had all the time in the world to come and clear things up with her, it took him ninety nine years to come forward. Gods… it was stupid, but she felt like the stereotypical teenager that feels as if her parents couldn't understand her.

And maybe that was the case, her parents didn't understand her. Zeus, being a deity, couldn't understand the struggle of someone who was only half as such and the same went for her mother, who wouldn't understand how it felt to be half a goddess, even though she had raised her.

Good thing she had decided to take the long way down, since it helped her process the conversation she just had with her mother and calm down a little, so when she got to the place where Steve had set up camp, she wasn't as distressed anymore. And as she walked closer to the place, she could hear more clearly the words of the conversation going on between Steve and Penthiselea.

"...and you know the best thing about the future? The little things. Back in my day, everything was damn difficult. Even getting from point A from point B. It took me nearly an hour each morning to get to school, and another hour to ride back. Now? Pff, it's so easy to go anywhere! Oh, don't get me started on the quality of food."

"It helps a lot that Diana is a wonderful cook! The Queen made sure she would know how to survive in any situation, from open war to little day to day things and she learned how to cook perfectly."

"Yes!" he exclaimed. "She's so great at cooking, I need to work out double not to get fat! I wish I was a quarter as good as her, sometimes I feel like I'm just good at adding Nutella to toasted bread."

"What's Nutella?" asked the soldier.

"It's a spread made of nuts, chocolate and some other things," explained Diana, finally walking into the light cast by the fire. "It's delicious and extremely unhealthy. I see you two are getting along quite well!"

"He has his moments, I have to say," replied Penthiselea with a subtle laugh in her voice. "How are you doing?"

"Fine, I guess. I just have a lot to think about. You can go and rest, I'll take care of him."

Nodding, the Amazon gathered her weapons and stood. "Thanks Diana. Any orders from your mother or Menalippe?"

"Yes, she wants to see him to the training grounds tomorrow. For now I'm in charge of him, you don't need to worry about him."

"Oh I'm not worried about him, I'm quite sure you're indeed in charge of him."

Behind them, Steve laughed, and Diana instinctively rolled her eyes. "Yes, Penthiselea, I'm in charge. Thanks for trusting him enough to talk to him. It means a lot to me"

"He can be pretty convincing, and contrary to my previous experience, he's a good man," she revealed as she jumped on her horse. "Goodnight Diana. And goodnight to you Steve. I guess I'll see you around tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Penthiselea. I'll do my best not to hinder your training tomorrow."

"You better, we don't use dummies!"

She spurned the horse and rode away towards the city, leaving them alone. "So?" asked Steve behind her. "I'm allowed to the training grounds?"

Diana nodded. "Yes, for tomorrow. Mother said she wants to take a good look at you, and how you behave around us, before she decides to talk to you face to face," she explained.

"Fair enough. So? You two talked?"

Dragging the now free chair, she set it beside his and sat down. "Yes, we talked. Menalippe said she brought some wine down, did you drink it all?"

"Uh? Oh, no, I barely touched it." He turned and picked an earthenware bottle from the sand. "I was just keeping it away from the fire, no one likes warm wine unless it's mulled." He poured a good amount in a cup and handed it to her. "That bad?"

She shook her head as she drank. "Not really, no. Just… inconclusive? She confirmed what Zeus said, that it was an exchange of favors."

"Then why didn't she tell you earlier?" he asked, pouring some wine for himself.

"Turns out she was ashamed because she enjoyed it," she revealed. "She was basically slut-shaming herself, on her own."

"Let me get this straight, because I'm a little confused. The Amazons are basically the total cultural opposite of slut shaming… and their queen has spent the last… how long?"

"Nine hundred years, give or take a few."

"Wait, you're nine hundred years old? Wow… No, let's not go down that road, I don't even want to think about it. You mean that for nine hundred years she's been reticent to talk about your parentage… because she was ashamed of having enjoyed sex?" He paused, scratching his beard as he looked into the fire in front of them. "Makes no sense to me."

"You think it makes sense to me? I don't really know what to say, I have the feeling I'll never get the whole truth, but for now I guess it will have to be enough," she explained. "It's not much, but it's something. It's better than before."

Steve gave her a quick nod. "As long as you're fine with it, it's alright by me. Did your mother say anything about me?"

"Yes, that she thinks you're too good to be true, from how I'm describing you, and that she wants to observe how you act tomorrow at the training grounds, before she decides if you're worthy of a holding a private conversation with her."

Shrugging his shoulders, he smiled. "I'll do my best to be the best guest you've ever had on the island."

"Ah," she chuckled. "The only guest we've had on this island, Gods excluded." Diana took a long, deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Come on, let's get to bed. The training today kind of knocked my socks off, I'm not used to this regiment anymore."

"You still have quite a backlog of lost sleep, I'm not surprised you're tired. Let's see what happens tomorrow."

Steve had a hard time waking up the next morning, or better at the asscrack of dawn. He was an early riser, but hell getting out a comfortable bed before the sun rose above the sea, and abandon the cozyness of cuddling with Diana so early? That was simply a crime.

Nevertheless, he pushed himself off the bed, dressed in the most comfortable clothes he had brought with him, slipped in his running shoes and followed Diana as she jogged up the hill to the training grounds for the early morning drills. Still bleary eyed and slightly grumpy for the lack of coffee, Steve was made to stand on a cliff behind Menalippe as she commanded the early morning exercises all the fighting Amazons did, every morning. To his merely mortal point of view, though he technically wasn't a mortal anymore, it looked like the most gruelling training he had ever seen. No wonder Diana never got tired when she hit the gym, while he was reduced to a stinky, sweaty mop of flesh and bones.

One hour later, with the sun finally up, the Amazons finally were allowed to stop training for a while and have breakfast, brought to them by the many cooks that provided food for the soldiers. They sat at long tables, cavalry beside footsoldiers, lancers shoulders to shoulders with hoplites, commanders sharing trays of food and jugs of drinks with their subordinates. Suddenly he realized how idiotic Man's World separation between soldiers and generals must have looked like to Diana, when he had brought her to London. She came from a society where the lines that separated the most humble soldier from the commander in gilded armor weren't just blurry, they were nonexistent. And he had taken her, completely forgetting to prepare her, into a world that not only separated soldier from commander, sometimes with oceans between them, but also shut every possible door for women who wanted to do more for the world than just sitting quietly and just be what society wanted them to be.

Deep down, he felt like the biggest idiot in the world.

But as she looked at Diana now, he couldn't help but feel a sense of wonder deep in his heart. There she sat, a goddess among divine creatures, sitting among her sisters in arms and treated like she was just one of the many, not special at all. As they ate what was served on the large trays in front of them - some kind of pancake called tagenites sprinkled with honey, and wheat gruel that some consumed with the addition of honey and others with more savory condiments - they spoke of their ideas for the day, the training they were going to do and other menial matters. All Steve could do though was sitting there beside Diana, one end of her Lasso wrapped around his ankle so he could understand them, and eat in reverential silence, as the others didn't know he was actually listening.

"What do you think we'll be doing today?" asked one of the soldiers.

"I have no idea what the General has prepared, I just wish she'd let us train with the lance. I'm out of practice," replied a woman sitting in front of him. "I wouldn't mind some training with spears too, but the lance will be more than welcomed."

"What about you Diana? Is there anything you'd like to train in today?"

She quickly swallowed a spoonful of gruel. "Shield technique," she said. "I could use some training with the shield. I think I'm getting sloppy with it, and that I rely too much on my sword."

Sloppy? He thought. What the hell is she talking about?

"Yes, that would be a good training for today. How's your horseback fighting?"

"I live in an age where horses have lost their significance in battle and they're not used anymore, but I would love to train in horseback fighting too."

Uh, that could be interesting… he said to himself as he took a long sip of milk from his cup. To him, being a witness to the Amazon's training regime, even for just one day and less than twentyfour hours after having arrived, felt like a privilege and he wanted to learn as much as he could about their warfare tactics and training regime.

Some minutes later, when almost all plates were empty and the hungry stomachs sated, Menalippe stood and silence fell on the huge crowd of warriors. "Today's training regime!" she announced. "Footsoldiers will train in basics!"

"Looks like Diana is getting her wishes granted!" exclaimed one of the women behind them.

"Cavalry will train in evasive tactics!"

"But not Kasia!" said the same voice, talking about the other Amazon that wanted to train with the lance.

"Oh shut up, lances can be used as an evasive tactic!"

A short-lived moment of hilarity coursed through the table and Steve barely managed to make it look like he hadn't understood what they were talking about, before Menalippe called for silence again. "This goes for the morning session. After lunch cavalry will take care of training the new horses while the others will train in hand to hand combat. Understood?"

An affirmative yell raised from the tables. "Good. Now you may have noticed we have a guest today. He's here by our Queen's order, with the solemn promise he won't hinder our training. He's here to observe, but he's also here to be observed, so keep a close eye on him. Just don't hurt him in any way if he does nothing to invoke your ire." Another burst of laughter exploded around him and he felt Diana's hand on his back, as if to say you'll be fine. "And in any case just go and bother Diana if he turns out to be an idiot, got it? Now go back to work, or do I have to remind you how badly we performed with Steppenwolf last year?"

With that, everyone sprung from their seat, gathered their weapons and proceeded to walk to the training grounds. With a quick flick of her wrist, Diana untangled the lasso from his ankle so he could move without stumbling with every step he took and hooked it to the strip of leather tied to her belt. "I swear to my grandfather's grave I'm going back to the boat!" he exclaimed as he followed her. "If I have to be such a nuisance I'll take myself out of the situation. On my own accord!"

"Give them time, Steve. Just… don't make them angry and you'll be fine."

"Diana, come on, my presence is enough to make them angry. My existence is enough to make them angry, the fact that I still breathe is enough to piss them off. Some of them won't be happy until I exhale my last dying breath! I can give them all the time in the world but… they're immortal! They can hold a grudge on me for as long as they want!"

"Last time we checked, you were immortal too, as long as I'm alive or we're together. You can give them time too!"

Baffled beyond belief, Steve found it really hard to get a decent comeback. And in the end, it was lame all the same. "I don't want to wait that long," he mumbled with a slight pout.

It didn't matter what he thought though, the warriors were going to train, whether they accented his presence or not. At first he decided to stand in a corner and observe from a distance, constantly keeping Diana in his line of sight. From his little corner, he tried to keep track of all the activity going on in front of him and he had a really hard time doing so. There was so many interesting actions being displayed before his eyes he could barely keep track of the bigger picture, let alone the little details, no matter how hard he tried.

Until Menalippe, walking among the small different groups of warriors training with each other, noticed his struggle and the apparently clear look of curiosity printed on his face and moved towards him. "Want to come with me during rounds?"

Her voice broke his deep state of concentration and he jolted on his feet, startled.. "Uh, what?" he asked.

The general gave him a quick smile. "You're curious, I can see that. But you don't want to intrude, I can see that too. Come with me, so you can see better whatever interests you."

Steve was sure his eyes sparkled like those of a child in front of Christmas presents as he jogged towards her. "Thanks General, I really appreciate it. It's just that… everything is just so… I don't know, so different from what I know, but it also looks so effective!"

"We haven't been training for thousands of years only to train with less than effective tactics, don't you think?"

"Fair enough. It's just… when I did my own training I was taught so many things that were actually useless in battle… here everything is so perfectly timed and executed! I mean, look there!" He pointed at a small group of warriors training together in a tight circle, one standing inside it with a shield deflecting deadly sword strikes from her sisters in arms around her. "I'm not a trained swordfighter so I can't really judge, but that is… amazing!"

Menalippe took a moment to judge him, staring at him with an intense gaze from head to toe. "You didn't seem so eager, when you first landed here."

"I was nothing but a fool, I admit it. It's only fair after all, I made a mistake and misjudged you. After I saw what Diana could do though…"

"Ah, it's nice to see a man admitting he was wrong. I'm glad."

"General, if I may be honest… being a flick of a finger away from certain death changed the way I see life. It changed the way I value time, mostly. The fact that the Gods decided to tie my destiny to Diana's and grant me immortality as long as we are together, it doesn't change what happened to me. I was ready to die to stop a war and I would it again, a thousand times more. But I've survived, and I'm done being a foolish man who hides behind cockyness and old-fashioned male stupidity, I can admit when I'm wrong and I will do it. I will take credit when it's due, but this is not the case. I was wrong, I made many mistakes the first time I crashed here and this time I want to change the way you see me. All of you."

Menalippe chuckled and gently shook her head, smiling. "Gods… no wonder Diana's so smitten. Alright, I'll take your words as true and sincere, but that doesn't mean you're off my hook. Now come with me and try to be a good boy, people here train hard to fight harder, if you're going to disturb them, they'll easily shut you up with a freshly sharpened blade at your throat. Understood, Captain?"

Acting purely on instinct, he found himself standing up right at attention. "Yes sir!" he said, stern and quick, like a soldier.

"Oh, Hippolyta will love that! At ease, Captain, you're a guest here, not one of my soldiers. Just let me give you some advice: try not to make yourself look weak. Stand tall, you've done nothing wrong no matter what they tell you. Unfortunately, Antiope and others died when you arrived, but it wasn't your fault. You didn't shoot them, nor you wanted them dead. It took me a long while to come to terms with it, but it wasn't your fault. So don't act like you have to apologize for it, because you don't have to. It makes you look weak, and if there's something an Amazon, any Amazon for what I know, despise it's weakness. Now come, we have a lot to do."

Steve may have not been one of Menalippe's soldiers, but he was very aware of the fact that military hierarchy hadn't changed too much from the time the Amazons lived among men and his own days in the Navy. A lowly captain walking right beside a general wouldn't be seen that well, so he took great care to always walk a couple of steps behind her as he accompanied her in her rounds to check on her training warriors. As they were split in numerous smaller groups, she often stopped close to one or another in order to observe and possibly show them a way to improve their techniques. She was kind enough to do it in English, so he would understand, and he tried his best to keep up with her and retain every single new information he got. He also tried with all his might to not smile like a schoolboy standing in front of his teenage crush when they approached the group where Diana was training, to make the best impression he could.

He knew very well that he had hundreds, if not thousands pairs of murderous eyes trained on him, but those eyes were also trained on Diana, as they would judge her for every mistake he made, so he tried very hard not to make any.

Every step he took was carefully measured. Every word he spoke thought twice if not three times. He would actually speak only when talked to, as he preferred to remain silent and listen to what others said. More often than not, the Amazons were considerate enough to use English to speak when he was present, and when they wouldn't, Diana would quickly wrap her lasso around his wrist or ankle, so he would understand the same.

This routine lasted for a good week. He and Diana would wake up right before dawn and join the others in the morning routine. As they did their exercises, with Menalippe's consent he would go on his daily morning run, then breakfast, more training and so on, until the sun went down, they shared the last meal together with the Amazons then why would retire to the dock, to rest. A quiet routine, lather rinse repeat almost.

Until one night Hippolyta called for celebrations, with music and readings of poetry and dramas and so on. That meant shortened training in the afternoon, a more lavishing meal and a little more freedom before bedtime. But it was clear that Steve wasn't invited, he felt it on his skin, a sudden buzz of animosity in the air after days of watchful calmness on the Amazons' part. Therefor, as soon as he had finished his dinner, he quietly took leave.

"Are you sure you don't mind?" Diana asked him as he stood from the table.

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me, I'll be just fine. Stay here and have fun, I'll wait for you." He gently squeezed her shoulders and with a smile, turned towards the road and walked away. He truly didn't mind, being alone for a few hours to give her some time alone with her friends. Getting some time alone would do him good after all.

He took his time, walking slowly with the gravel crunching with each step, and enjoyed the cool breeze coming from the sea. It had been a good, tiring day. He had been invited to spar too, an invitation he had promptly accepted, only to regret it about two hours later. He knew for certain that the Amazons trained harder than any division he had been with, but hell they handled him like he was a punching bag. He was sore in places he had no idea they existed, but he was oddly glad about it, since finally some of the Amazons were accepting his presence, enough to at least acknowledge his role as a fellow soldier and ask him to train with them.

When he finally reached the dock, he amassed a large quantity of wood and proceeded to right a fire with the modern flint and tinder he had found on the boat, courtesy of Poseidon. Once the fire was finally lit and on its way to become self sufficient, he grabbed a chair and the book he was reading then, stretching his legs, reprised where he had left the day before.

He had no idea how much time he spent reading, he could vaguely hear the noises of a large crowd in the distance but most of the ruckus was covered by the gentle lapping of the water on the shore behind him, but the mix of the two sounds, along with the cracking of the fire, was oddly soothing, and with time he felt his sore muscles relax and the pain slowly go away.

Yes, it had been a good day.

And it looked like it was going to be a good night too. Despite the fact that the party was still raging up in town, Diana had come down. She had come around the area lit by the fire, but she had made no effort to hide herself, he saw her in the corner of his vision without effort, but said nothing.

When she loosely wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek, he felt his heart skip a beat or two, in a pleasant way. "Interesting read?"

"Yes, not bad. A little too wordy for my tastes, but it's not that bad."

"I agree. I read it when it came out, but I never understood the appeal. The story is interesting, but the way it's written? War And Peace flows better in my opinion."

Steve closed the book and let it fall beside the chair. "What about your party? Not interesting enough?"

She smiled against his cheek. "No, it was interesting. It's just that I've never been one for partying myself. I'd rather be down here with you."

"And what should we do, down here, all by ourselves?" he asked her, standing up and facing her. He pulled her close and turned so he could see her in the light of the fire. God, she was so beautiful.

"Oh, well, I can think of a lot of activities we could do all by ourselves…" she whispered in a sultry tone that made chills run down his spine as she played with the short hair on the nape of his neck, twisting the strands in a dire need of a trim.

"Really? Uh… let me see if I can think of something too…" And then he heard the distant sound of drums, coming from the citadel. "Oh that reminds me of a song!" he exclaimed.

Diana turned towards the source of the sound. "Which song?"

Steve thought hard to identify what song he was thinking about, but at the same time he grabbed her hand and, as she had said so long ago, started swaying, much to her entertainment. "Ah, there, got it! Accepting all I've done and said…"

She laughed, hard. "Oh no come on you know that song turns me into a puddle of emotions!" she yelled trying to shut him up.

She only managed to make him sing louder. "I want to stand and stare again…"

"Steve stop!" She was already teary-eyed. "Really, stop it!"

He pulled her even closer against him and kissed her, hard, one of those kiss that gets a lot of attention in public. Diana carded her fingers through his hair and moaned loud, before she pulled back. "Steve… if you keep singing I'll cry like a baby girl."

"Till there's nothing left out…"

Chuckling, she pushed him away. "Damn the day you learned how to use a computer…"

With a wide smile, he gently pulled her close to him again, his arms loose around her as she lay her head on his chest. He splayed his hands on her back, the stark difference between her naked skin and her thick leather armor made his fingertips singe with a strange, unknown sensation that traveled up his arms and to his heart, which he was ready to bet on that it was beating in tune with hers, following the rhythm of the music in their heads. "Oh, it remains there in your eyes Whatever comes and goes I will hear your silent call."

She shook her head and sniffled, hard. "I love you so much…"

Choking up a little bit himself, he just kept going. "And I will touch this tender wall," he singing softly in her ear, the flow of the music now unbroken by any external sound like the water or the fire. He could actually hear the song in his head, as if he was listening to it with his iPod. "Till I know I'm home again, in your eyes."

In case you're wondering which song Steve is singing, it's the extended version of In Your Eyes, by Peter Gabriel. To be specific, the live version from the Secret World Live DVD, recorded in Modena in 1993. I live 30 minutes away from Modena but I was 4 at the time, but I was lucky enough to be present on one of the two days when they recorded the Back To Front live DVD, on 21st and 22nd of October 2013. If you go and watch that DVD, I was somewhere there in the crowd crying my eyes out.