Themyscira. An island of paradise. The place Diana called home.
She looked away from the waterfall before her, where many of her fellow Amazons frolicked in the deep black waters beneath the cascade, and urged her mare to take the path toward the beach. Though Diana could fly, she enjoyed the act of riding, of finding synergy with another living being. Her mind, her emotions, bonded with the horse. Their hearts thundered together as the made their way toward the beach where they would ride for hours, never tiring, never knowing injury, only knowing freedom and joy.
Or so Diana had hoped. Instead she was brought up short by the sound of a rams horn. The only time she heard that sound was when her mother, Hippolyta, summoned her, which was rare indeed. There were no scheduled meetings, and they’d enjoyed breakfast together, so Diana doubted her mother was longing for quality time over a cup of steaming brew. Wondering what was going on, Diana turned up the cobblestone path that led to her mother’s dwelling and dismounted at the bottom of the steps.
“Go, girl,” she told the horse who’d answered her call for a ride. “Run free.”
With a snort and an affectionate nudge, the animal turned and went alone for her run on the beach, though Diana could sense its disappointment that they would not be riding together.
The queen refused to have too grand a palace. She abhorred pretension, always had, and wanted not just her people’s respect, but their love. Besides, as far as Hippolyta was concerned, a grand palace would clash with the natural environment of Themyscira.
Diana nodded to the greetings of the other Amazon’s who went about the work of keeping the queen’s home clean and orderly. It was unpaid work, since money and possessions meant nothing on Themyscira, but the women who did it were appreciated, and that was payment enough. For them it was a labor of love, labor that everyone, even Diana, shared in.
The queen was standing before a tall mirror that was unlike any other mirror Diana had ever seen. It was a magical mirror that was capable of looking out onto any place in the world. Very few people knew how to contact this mirror, however. Usually only the gods, Aphrodite especially, ever bothered. However, there was one man who knew the secret, and before Diana could see around her mother, she could hear his voice.
“I need Diana. It’s urgent.”
“Steve?”
Diana heard her mother’s long-suffering sigh as she rushed around and rudely insinuated herself between her mother and Steve’s image.
Time had been kind to him, though Steve had aged considerably. Diana could still see her old friend, the only man she’d ever truly loved, and he was still regal and handsome with gray hair and deeply lined skin. Her heart swelled with love for him, and a longing to see him again.
“Steve…”
“Hello, Diana,” Steve said, smiling at her. His image was so clear it was as though he were standing right before her. She wished she could reach out and touch him. “You’re as lovely as you were the day you left.”
“Thank you. Steve, why have you waited so long to call?”
Diana had been keenly aware of how many years had passed. She would have gone back sooner, but she’d discovered that Steve had married, and had a son. He’d moved on with his life, even after discovering her secret, and apparently he’d managed to fare very well without needing her to rescue him.
“I’ll leave the two of you,” Hippolyta said. Her exit was perfectly silent, as though she had chosen to glide, rather than walk, out of the room.
“It’s complicated, Diana. There were so many times I stood before this mirror and started to make contact, but every time I backed out.”
“Why?”
“I knew you’d never come back to the outside world, not with me married and raising a family. You wouldn’t have a reason to.”
“I would have come, even if it meant looking at you from afar.”
“And I would have given up everything to be with you,” he said. “Everything. But you can see what time has done to me, Diana. A man has no place on Themyscira, and you would have had to watch me grow old, and die. I wanted to spare you that pain. Let’s face it…could we have ever been just friends, after that night in…well…”
Diana remembered their one night together all too well. Even with his advanced years, she would fly back to him and have as many nights as possible with him while they still could.
“Diana, I need you. Forgive me for waiting to call for only a favor.”
“Anything Steve. What can I do?”
“You remember Antony Furst?”
Diana felt her stomach tighten unpleasantly at the mention of the name. “Yes.”
“He escaped from prison in 1983, and was never heard from since. The Inter-Agency Defense Command literally searched the world for him, but he managed to evade capture. I hunted for him during my entire tenure as Head of the agency. I never had any luck. Then he found me..and Tom.”
“Tom?”
“My son. He was on assignment in
Diana shivered in horror at the idea. “She didn’t know who he was?”
“I never brought work home. I kept her isolated from my life with the IADC. I wanted to keep her safe.”
“What happened?”
“Furst told us he had Tom, and that he would contact me when he was ready to bargain. He just wanted to show me how much power he had over me. If I’d called the police, or called for backup from the agency…”
“I know, Steve. He would have killed your son. I’m on my way to your place now.”
“No time, Diana. I’m traveling now, on my way to the location Furst gave me to meet for negotiations for Tom’s release. He’s in Grayson Highland’s park in
“Do you have backup?”
“Only you. I’m not taking any chances.”
“I’ll be there, Steve, as soon as possible.”
“Diana.”
“Yes?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
He stared hard at her, as though trying to commit every angle of her face to memory, to burn it into the gray matter of his brain, and then broke communication. Steve’s farewell bothered Diana. He spoke as though he didn’t plan to see her again. He spoke as though he were a man about to die, and he were wrapping up loose ends.
Diana raced from the mirror room and into her mother’s drawing room, where there several canvases waiting for the queen and Diana to complete.
“So,” Hippolyta said knowingly. “You’re leaving. Again.”
“Mother, I have to. Steve and his family are in grave danger—”
The queen held up a hand, silencing Diana. “No need to explain.” Hippolyta looked back at Diana. “I know what it means to be in love, Diana. Come. We have preparations to make to send you back out into the world of men, and from the sound of things, very little time.”
Moving with inhuman speed, Hippolyta all but disappeared from the room, with Diana close on her heels.
More to come
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