Disclaimer: I do not own Justice League or Justice League Unlimited. I merely write this for my own entertainment and the entertainment of others.
A to Z, an Anthology
Xylograph
Antigone, warrior, Amazon of Themyscira, and woodcarver stared at her latest creation. A warm, dry breeze swept through her workshop.
The carving was to be a gift for Queen Hippolyta, in celebration of her daughter's first anniversary of her arrival among the Amazons. The carving was still very indistinct, as Antigone had barely begun it. It was proving more difficult than she had initially anticipated. Right now one side of the wood block had vague shapes that would become arms and legs, but something just didn't quite seem right.
Antigone would be the first to say that her talents as a carver were god-given, she just did not quite know which god. Hephaestus, perhaps, with his penchant for creating things? Though, Hephaestus was more inclined to use wood for kindling than carving. She sometimes thought that another god might have been responsible for her talents if only for what her carvings sometimes became. When she was much younger, she had done a bust carving of a man. It had been quite a scandal at the time to her teacher, and so Antigone rarely mentioned the bust to anyone.
Years later, however, when the Amazons had chosen to go to the aide of the Trojans in their war against the Mycenaeans, Antigone had gone as well – and received an enormous shock. When they had come to Troy, chance had given Antigone an opportunity to meet the king of the Trojans, Priam. Her eyes had laid upon the weary old man, weighed heavily by the death of his beloved son, Hector, and Antigone had found herself staring at the man who had inspired that bust she had created so many years ago – without even laying eyes upon him.
It had been fate, perhaps prophecy. Which meant the god of prophecy had had a hand in it. Apollo, twin brother to the huntress, Artemis.
Point in fact, the bust was not the only carving that had turned out to be prophetic. Antigone had made a carving of a man and a woman, he dark-haired and bearded and she blonde and wise-looking. Antigone later identified them as Hades and Hippolyta. She had somehow predicted the relationship that would consign the Amazons to stand guard at the gate to Tartarus for all eternity.
Antigone took a deep breath and raised her tools to the block again, shaking her head. Now was not the time for introspection. The celebration was tomorrow evening, leaving her with a limited amount of time to finish her gift for Queen Hippolyta and Princess Diana.
She worked for hours, barely stopping to rest. Her hands moved of their own accord, her mind grew hazy with half-formed images…
… a dark-haired woman in the armor of Athena…
… a mysterious, shadowed man, his arms crossed in a gesture of stubbornness…
… two figures dancing together in a large room…
… two figures standing on a rooftop, content in one another's presence…
… the woman in a bed, a swaddled bundle in her arms, the man sitting next to her, smiling…
When Antigone finished, she stared at her work and swallowed hard. There was no way she could present this work to the queen. Shaking her head in frustration, she picked up the carving and set it aside with many of her other works. She then chose a new block of wood to begin again.
She refused to look at the first carving again, lest she be forced to give voice to the knowledge in her heart.
Princess Diana was not meant to remain on Themyscira forever. Her destiny lay in Man's World, to stand side by side with a man. To love that man.
The queen would not be pleased. Antigone wished Apollo would not foist such knowledge upon her.
Xylograph: n. wood engraving; print from a wood engraving.