Chapter Three – The Royal Family
Myrina stood before Queen Hippolyta, her general Phillipus and a few of Phillipus's best warriors. Behind her, Grail had received a text message.
Grail stared at the message that Vanessa sent.
Vanessa loved to use emojis. One day, Grail joked that Vanessa could make a whole language out of just emojis.
So, Vanessa did just that.
Each emoji represented a letter.
Grail read the message.
Queen used mom to lure you two there. Be careful of queen. Mom said queen, you and Myrina amazons. I don't care who you are, you always my best friend. Mom and I go back to America. Will contact you later.
Grail usually laughed when she read one of Vanessa's emoji coded messages. But she didn't laugh when she read this message. Instead, she felt a chill go down her spine.
Grail was snapped out of her thoughts by a commanding voice.
"Hello Myrina," the woman sitting in the armchair greeted her mother.
The Amazons spoke Ionian Greek, an ancient Greek dialect. Myrina had insisted on teaching the language to Grail. They would speak it at home or when they didn't want others listening in on their conversation. Grail had thought that it was useless to learn the language especially if they didn't plan to ever return to Themyscira.
But apparently, she would have to use it anyway.
Grail remained silent. Professor Kapatelis had called the woman sitting before them, "your majesty." Vanessa had referred to a queen in her coded message. Most likely the woman sitting before them was Queen Hippolyta, the ruler that her mother used to serve. Her mother had told her many stories about the Queen of Themyscira. While the queen was a capable ruler, she was also sometimes a rather ruthless one.
Hippolyta smiled at her. But the smile did not reach her eyes. "And this must be your daughter. She looks to be only a year older than my Donna," Hippolyta gestured towards the woman who looked just like her. Donna smiled politely at them, but like her mother, her smile also did not reach her eyes.
"How did you find us?" Myrina demanded.
Hippolyta sighed, "You were known as Myrina the Black. The name that you had been using is Myrina Black. There aren't many Myrina Blacks in Greece. Of course, I also had some help." The queen gestured towards the two women who had opened the door. They turned away in shame.
Myrina had recognized Menalippe and Penelope the moment they opened the door. Without a doubt, the queen had forced them to look for her.
Myrina gently patted Menalippe's belly. "What's her name?" she whispered.
"Zina, she's the queen's personal assistant," Menalippe whispered back.
"What do you want from me?" Myrina turned back towards the queen.
"Nothing, I simply wished to see you again," Hippolyta said evenly.
There was a long silence.
Hippolyta sighed. She turned towards one of her warriors. "Go get my assistant."
The warrior bowed and retreated into one of the many rooms in the suite. She returned with a pretty young woman with strawberry blond hair and intelligent blue eyes.
"My queen, you called for me?"
Hippolyta gestured at Menalippe and Penelope who immediately rushed forward to embrace their daughter.
"Zina!"
Myrina watched as Menalippe and Penelope pulled their daughter to the side.
Hippolyta ignored them and turned towards Myrina and Grail.
"We have many rooms, why don't you stay here for the night?" Hippolyta said.
Myrina sensed Grail starting to use her powers, but she quickly grabbed her daughter's hand to stop her.
Hippolyta must have sensed something too.
"Actually, I've changed my mind. Let us all sleep in the same room. This room is quite big. We will bring in pillows and blankets from the other rooms."
Grail couldn't quite figure out what was going on.
She lay on the expensive carpeted floor of a presidential hotel suite that was a few times bigger than the apartment that she lived in. Her mother lay, fully alert, to her left, while the queen's daughter, Donna, lay to her right.
"How long have you been in Man's World?" Donna asked.
From her mannerisms to her way of speech, everything about Donna indicated royalty. She was a beautiful and captivating woman. Many people had told Grail that she was good looking. Her own mother was a fierce beautiful woman. But Donna was another level of beauty. Looking at her was like looking at the stars in the night sky—a beauty that was so far away, it was unreachable.
"Um. Man's World?" Grail asked.
"Yes, this world. What do you call it?" Donna asked.
"Well, this world is made up of many different countries. Hundreds of countries each with their own culture and history. We have some matriarchal societies too, so I wouldn't call the entire world 'Man's World.'" Grail replied.
"My mother said that you and your mother disappeared two decades ago," Donna continued.
"I mean my earliest memory was living in Greece. As far as I know, I'm been living here my entire life. I grew up here, made friends here, and went to school here," Grail chose her words carefully.
Grail quickly changed the subject, "Donna, you're the queen's daughter? Are you a princess?"
Donna nodded. "Yes. I am Donna, Princess of Themyscira."
Grail could sense Phillipus looking in her direction. Phillipus was the top general of Themyscira. She was one of the few Amazons who could beat Myrina in combat. Her mother respected the general, but she was also wary of her. Phillipus followed Hippolyta's orders without question. There were rumors that the two were secret lovers.
"The only princess?" The general seemed to be narrowing her eyes at Grail.
"Well…no, I have an older sister, Diana," Donna smiled genuinely. Her face lit up at the mention of her sister. She pulled out a photograph of herself hugging another woman.
Somehow this Diana was even more beautiful than Donna. She had a type of beauty that could captivate someone and seize their heart.
The queen, despite her ruthlessness, was able to give birth to two very lovely daughters. Grail internally applauded the queen for that.
"She's very pretty," Grail commented politely.
"Yes, my mother sculpted her out of clay and prayed to the gods who brought her to life. She was the first child on Themyscira. My mother told me that she purposely sculpted her to look like my aunt Antiope whom we lost all those years ago in the Great War," Donna gently brushed her fingers over the image of her sister. Grail knew the story. It was one that her own mother had told her many times before. While Diana was the first child, Grail was the second child born on Themyscira.
"You're very close to your sister," Grail said.
"Yes, when I was born, she crawled up to me and wrapped her arms around me. She was my first friend and my very best friend," Donna said proudly.
They were silent for a moment. Then Donna broke the silence.
"I was born when my mother used these magical baby stones. Since my mother was my only parent, that is why I look just like her," Donna turned towards Grail, "I believe your mother was the one who found the stones. When she presented the magical stones to my mother, you were already born. But the magical stones lost power after a few days."
Grail still remembered that she was the one who created the magical baby stones and the reason why she created them in the first place. She remained silent.
Donna leaned very close to her and whispered in her ear, "How did your mother find those stones?"
"I don't know," Grail replied automatically.
Donna frowned.
"Are you lying to me?" her breath brushed Grail's ear.
Grail inched away.
Donna inched closer.
"Your face is too close to mine," Grail said a little too forcefully. She didn't mean to sound angry. She was just nervous.
"I'm sorry," Donna stopped inching closer, "Is that impolite in this society?"
Grail didn't reply. Instead, she quickly turned around and faced her mother. Myrina's eyes were closed, but Grail knew that she wasn't asleep.
Grail dove into the safety of her mother's embrace. Her mother held her tight the entire night.
No one slept well that night.
After a sleepless night. They woke up the following morning to find that the queen, her general, her warriors, and the princess were already fully awake and dressed.
"We will contact you if we need to," Hippolyta handed Myrina a satellite phone, "Do not lose this phone, it was quite troublesome to procure it."
The unsaid threat was obvious. The phone was also a tracking device. If she tried to dispose of it, there would be consequences.
"Though, if you wish to visit us, we have two buildings, one in Athens and the other in Sinop. Penelope and Donna will be in charge of our Athens building while Menalippe and Diana will be in charge of the Sinop property," Hippolyta continued. Menalippe and Penelope tearfully embraced each other, their daughter in between them.
Hippolyta continued to ignore them.
"Diana is already at the Sinop property. It would be good for her to learn how to manage our Sinop operations," she turned towards Menalippe, "Menalippe, I trust that you will be teaching her everything she needs to know?"
Menalippe nodded and bowed.
"Yes, my queen."
"Very well. The rest of us will be returning to Themyscira," Hippolyta rose from her seat.
Phillipus spoke up, "What about that professor and her daughter?"
"Professor K and her daughter needed to go back home. They said that something came up," Grail replied.
Phillipus narrowed her eyes at her. But Hippolyta simply waved her hand.
"They are not important. Menalippe, Penelope, I trust that you two will look after my daughters."
"Yes, my queen." The two Amazons bowed respectfully towards their queen.
They went up onto the roof where Hippolyta and her Amazons boarded a large helicopter. Phillipus took the pilot's seat. Menalippe kissed her daughter and grasped Penelope's hand before she broke away and climbed into the helicopter. Without ceremony, the door slid shut and the helicopter pulled away.
Penelope took her daughter's hand and turned towards Donna, "Princess, we must go too."
Donna nodded. "Lead the way."
The entire group was silent on the elevator ride down. Penelope gripped her daughter's hand and Myrina stood very close to Grail.
A rental van was already parked across the street from the hotel entrance, waiting for them. Penelope climbed into the driver's seat and waited for the other four Amazons to climb into the van.
Grail recognized the route that they were taking. They were heading into the same neighborhood that she and her mother lived in.
Then they pulled up in front of the building that Grail had purchased and rented out a few months ago.
Grail felt her stomach drop.
"Um, is this the Themyscira office in Greece?" Grail asked hesitantly.
"Yes, this is where we plan to set up an office to gather information and to share our knowledge," Zina replied.
"Um…do you know the owner of the building?" Grail asked.
Zina raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you purchase this building a few months ago?"
Grail realized that they had been watching her.
Donna was the first to climb out of the minivan. Myrina nudged Grail off as well. Zina already got the hint and climbed off by herself.
"Penelope and I will be going to get some food. Since you own this building, go and show Donna and Zina around," Myrina said, before she pulled the van door closed and the van took off.
They waited until Donna, Grail, and Zina faded away in the background before they started talking.
"This van isn't bugged. I made sure of it," Penelope said.
"I know, I checked while we were riding it," Myrina replied.
"The queen has been watching you for years. Ever since Grail started going to school. She already knows everything," Penelope stared straight ahead as she continued driving.
"I'm sorry, Menalippe and I couldn't reach out to you. The queen had already interrogated us many times with the Lasso of Truth. We couldn't contact you at all."
"I understand," Myrina said quietly.
"Right after you left, everyone started showing up at the palace to use the magical baby stones. Two months later, half the island was pregnant. The queen was pregnant as well."
"No one knew why the stones lost their power a week after you found them. The Queen's Circle was searching for you. They didn't think that childbirth was a good thing, and they wanted to interrogate you to find out more about the origins of the stones."
"But they couldn't find you. Everyone assumed that since Diana was the first child on the island, and the magical stones appeared after she did, that the stones were somehow connected to her."
"But the Queen's Circle said that childbirth would destroy the Amazonian way of life. They tried to assassinate the princess."
"Alkyone was sentenced to death. The other three were spared from death but imprisoned somewhere on the island. I have no idea where they are. Only the queen knows."
Myrina understood. The Queen's Circle, despite their idiotic fanatism, were incredibly loyal to the queen. The queen still had her use for them.
"After Donna, the queen's second child, was born, there was a schism amongst the people. Some people believed that Diana, who was born from clay, was unnatural, and that Donna who was born directly from the queen should inherit the throne instead. Others credited Diana with giving them the ability to bear children, even if it was temporary."
"Since the queen couldn't find you anywhere, she knew that you had left Themyscira. We were brought in for interrogation."
Myrina closed her eyes.
"I'm sorry."
"And so are we. We told the queen everything."
There was a pause. They had reached a red traffic light.
"Everyone else assumed that you presented the magical baby stones on behalf of the queen because you were one of her most loyal servants. The queen never told anyone the true origins of the magical stones. She allowed Diana to retain credit for them."
"For years she debated whether she should go out to look for you, but she didn't want to risk losing more of her people. Then, one day, both princesses decided to leave the island to look around."
"They managed to discover the old U.S. military base in Sinop, Turkey. They made several trips back to the military base. The queen didn't find out until one day, they skipped their classes, and the queen ordered an island-wide search. The two princesses were a bit surprised to find the queen and all of her guards waiting for them on the shores. The queen was furious at first, but then she realized that even if one left Themyscira, one could still return."
"For the past decade, we have been covertly gathering information about Man's World. We were surprised to see the advances in technology and laws. We weren't surprised to see that the world was still mostly patriarchal."
"When our queen revealed the existence of Themyscira a few months ago, only a history professor, Julia Kapatelis, and two American reporters, Lois Lane and Clark Kent were interested in our country. Lane and Kent published a rather well written article about our history and our culture."
Myrina frowned in confusion. "Those two Daily Planet reporters are well known. If they had published such an article, I would have seen it."
"Right before the article was to be published, the newspaper editor decided to replace the story with something else," Penelope explained.
"Man's World was not interested in a country of women using outdated tools. Even with our sorceresses and magic, Man's World's technology is still far ahead of our own. In order for us to obtain the new technology offered by Man's World, we needed something that we can trade."
"Even after so many years, men still loved gold. Strangely, they loved our old pottery even more. The items that we sold were more than enough to purchase the land that the old military base was on. We also discovered that Man's World needs energy more than anything else. So, after purchasing our new land, we demolished the old military base and built a solar power station in its place. Of course, Magala and her sorceresses used some of their magic to make sure that the power station would always have sunlight."
Myrina recalled that Magala was the chief sorceress on the island. Her magical power was second to none on Themyscira. She was also a recluse and answered only to the queen. Myrina had only seen her a few times during her centuries on the island.
Penelope continued, "With the offer of money, there were hordes of experienced engineers, scientists, and businessmen willing to work for us and help us export our electricity. There was more demand than we could supply. We ended up building four more power stations."
"All in Turkey?" Myrina asked.
"Yes, land is cheap there. Labor is even cheaper," Penelope made a turn.
Myrina was silent for a moment.
"You said that the queen had been watching us since my daughter started school…but why now? Why reach out to us now?"
"Because of the princesses," Penelope made another turn. She was purposely driving around in circles so that they would have more time to talk.
"Diana and Donna are both competing for the position of crown princess. Half the island supports Diana, while the other half supports Donna. It doesn't matter who is crowned the next in line to the throne, because there will always be half an island of warriors who are unhappy."
"The queen prefers Donna, because she is obedient and does everything that the queen tells her to do. She is a bit exasperated by Diana since she is more rebellious," Penelope made yet another turn.
"I don't know if you've heard of Wonder Woman. That's our Diana."
Myrina knew about Wonder Woman. The first time she saw her on television, she immediately knew that she was an Amazon. Wonder Woman wore an Amazonian cuirass, metal arm guards, metal toed boots, metal shin guards, and a Corinthian metal helmet. The armor was strong, thin and lightweight—armor reserved for high-ranking Amazons. Myrina could tell that the sword and shield that Wonder Woman carried was infused with magic.
Wonder Woman also had the Lasso of Truth tied to her waist.
The Lasso of Truth would not work if it was stolen, so Hippolyta must have willingly handed it over to this Amazonian warrior. Since Myrina was unaware that Hippolyta had later given birth to Donna, she assumed that this warrior was most likely Diana. It would make more sense for Hippolyta to give the prized Lasso of Truth to her own daughter than to someone else.
But Wonder Woman operated mostly in America. Myrina and Grail were in Greece, so Myrina didn't think too much about her.
"It wouldn't make sense for Diana to inherit the throne, if she's already preoccupied with her superheroine duties. So, to sway the Amazons towards Donna, the queen has to prove that she is better than Diana."
Penelope held up one of Grail's superpower stickers. Myrina sighed when she saw them.
"We just had a Contest to determine who would be the next crown princess. Donna won the Contest with the help of these. No one expected her to have the power of flight and teleportation. No one expected her to have the ability to heal others. Nearly all of the Amazons, even Diana's friends, now support Donna as the next in line to the throne."
"But the powers from the stickers are temporary…so the queen wants to have a constant supply of them?" Myrina asked.
"Yes."
Myrina clenched her fists until her knuckles were white.
"Not in the way you're thinking," Penelope explained, "She wants Donna to marry Grail."
"What?" Myrina released her fists in surprise.
"The marriage would ensure Grail's cooperation. Also, a child with her would hypothetically have Grail's powers. That would secure Donna's rule," Penelope explained.
Penelope pulled up in front of the Chinese restaurant that Grail often frequents. Myrina frowned.
"Go and make your order," Penelope opened the van door.
Half an hour later, Myrina silently sat in the van with a large order of Chinese food. She had bought five cartons of vegetable fried rice, four cartons of chicken and broccoli with rice, a carton of vegetable fried noodles, and a deboned and sliced roast chicken. While the Amazons do not need to eat while on Themyscira, outside of the island, they needed a good amount of food to sustain their energy.
"The queen has an entire file on you and Grail," Penelope explained, "Your preferences, where Grail went to school, her friends, your friends, where you work. The queen was disappointed to find her best assassin carrying metal beams all day long. So, she sent a real estate agent to convince Grail to buy that building and rent it out to us."
"And the stickers?"
"That was your daughter's idea. We were going to offer her a job at our Athens office," Penelope was heading back to the Themyscira office building.
"Grail happens to be friends with Julia Kapatelis's daughter."
"We reached out to Julia Kapatelis. It was hard getting people to give us their attention. We knew that this professor would be interested. Even more so when we later revealed that her daughter's best friend and her mother were Amazons."
Penelope chuckled.
"Your daughter has a very loyal friend. A few of the queen's spies tried to befriend Vanessa Kapatelis and squeeze information out of her. She refused to give any information and instead fought with us. Of course, Amazonian blood runs hot, so the spies did retaliate before the queen ordered them back to Themyscira."
Myrina recalled a moment last year when Vanessa showed up at their home with dirtied clothes and blood stains on her face. Myrina had noticed that despite the stains, Vanessa had no wounds on her. Grail and Myrina had asked her what happened. Vanessa told them that a few people were asking about them and she responded by punching them in the face. Then those people beat her up before they received a phone call and ran off.
"Those spies almost took an innocent life," Myrina pointed out.
"Vanessa Kapatelis is a metahuman."
Myrina frowned.
"What?"
"She's Silver Swan."
Silver Swan was a famous American superheroine with the power to: fly and scream ultrasonic sounds that could incapacitate her enemies. Her entire body, along with her metallic wings could withstand bullets and explosives.
She was also rather showy and often held concerts in front of thousands of adoring fans.
Myrina recalled a moment a few years ago when Vanessa had asked for Grail's opinion of Silver Swan.
"What about her?"
"Well, what do you think of her?" Vanessa showed her a video of Silver Swan dancing onstage and singing her latest hit song.
"Slutty."
"Slutty?!" Vanessa stood up, furious.
"I mean, if you're going to show off that much skin…" Grail pointed at Silver Swan's costume, consisting of: a metallic one-piece bathing suit, metallic wings and a metallic Venetian mask, "at least have a good figure. Those nonexistent—"
Grail was interrupted by an empty food carton crashing into the side of her head.
"Hey!"
The two started exchanging blows. Myrina personally pulled them apart.
At that time, Myrina thought that Vanessa was stronger than she had expected. She also thought that it was strange that she could exchange blows with her daughter. Amazons had superhuman strength, super durability, and super stamina. A fight between an Amazon and a human could easily turn deadly for the human.
Grail wasn't too worried when Myrina later lectured her, pointing out that Amazons were stronger than humans and could easily kill them if they were not careful.
"We're pretty sure your daughter knows. I don't think she approves of how Vanessa Kapatelis uses her powers, but it seems that she knows about her activities," Penelope continued.
"Could her powers be from my daughter?" Myrina asked. Penelope shook her head.
"No, it seems to be her own powers. We haven't seen her use any of Grail's usual powers. Her general opinion is that they are unreliable."
Myrina silently agreed.
Meanwhile, Grail was staring at the six-story building she had purchased a few months ago.
She had done a basic walkthrough of the building before she decided to purchase it and briefly again when she was closing the sale. The building was vacant and empty when she last saw it.
It had been transformed completely.
"Um…" Grail was now unfamiliar with her own building.
"We remodeled the entire building," Zina offered helpfully, "I'll show you around."
"The first two floors we turned into a museum," Zina showed them exhibitions of Amazonian weapons, armor, pottery, and tapestries.
Grail eyed the Amazonian armor.
"Are all Amazonian armor this bulky?" she asked.
Zina looked at the armor. "No, that's armor for the common Amazon. The queen, high ranking advisors, the military officers, and the queen's personal warriors are given special armor that is stronger and more lightweight."
Grail saw Donna watching her from the corner of her eyes.
Zina led them up the stairs.
"The third and fourth floors are our offices. Guards will be stationed at the stairwells and elevator entrances to prevent the general public from entering." Zina opened the doors to the offices, "We went for an open office layout."
Grail saw rows and rows of office tables each equipped with dual monitors, desktop computers, keyboards and mice. Expensive leather ergonomical chairs were neatly pushed into the tables.
"We turned the fifth and sixth floors into apartment units. Each unit is about 40 square meters. They're going to be for the Amazons sent to manage this office. The two floors can house up to 20 Amazons," Zina led them up to the sixth floor. The doors to the apartments were all open and the keys were in the locks. Grail curiously looked inside the apartments.
"Wow," Grail was impressed with the layouts. Despite being small, each unit had a kitchen, bathroom and living space. Donna merely nodded.
"Is it going to be a set team of Amazons managing this Athens office?" Grail asked. Zina seemed to hesitate, her eyes flickering to Donna and then back to Grail before she replied.
"The queen recommended that each Amazon does not spend more than 90 days in a one-year period outside of Themyscira. There…um…" Zina's eyes glanced at Donna again, "…are some Amazons that are ordered to follow the recommendation."
"I assume your parents and yourself?" Grail asked. Zina nodded.
"So, you'll be here for the next three months?"
"Two actually. I've already been here for a month overseeing the opening of this office."
"You seem really close to your parents."
Zina smiled. "Yes," she said softly.
Grail received a text message from her mother. She and Penelope had returned.
Moments later, all five of them sat in the third-floor office, eating brunch.
Grail noticed that her mother was looking at her strangely.
"Mother?"
Myrina wondered how to bring the news up to Grail.
"Finish your noodles," Myrina scooped some roast chicken into Grail's food carton.
Penelope and Zina remained silent. Donna had already finished her food.
"Thank you for the food, Myrina," Donna began, "There's another reason why I'm here." She turned towards Grail.
"My mother, the queen, had arranged for us to be married."
Grail stared at Donna. Then she stared at her mother, Penelope, and Zina.
All of them already knew. She was the last to know.
"What?"