Personal Business Chapter 7
Her flight to Themyscira had been unsettling. While she felt she understood the problem with her emotions, Diana wasn't sure how to go about resolving them. The wisdom of Athena was fine for settling disputes or figuring out most problems, but when it came to dealing with relationships it really wasn't all that helpful. Wisdom was the mastery of reason and mastery over emotions. Her predicament was emotional and therefore outside the realm of wisdom. I am the master of my emotions, my emotions don't rule me.
To add even more complexity, while flying, over Diana began to doubt the wisdom of asking advice from her mother. Hippolyta tended to be prejudiced against men. Considering her experiences, she had good reason. Face it Diana, you are just afraid that she will give you counsel that you do not like.
With that thought, she found herself about to land in the main square. It would be rude not to take a few moments to greet her sisters and she had a feeling that she would not be disposed towards greeting them after speaking with her mother. So, Diana found herself greeting old friends as she strolled towards the palace.
Moments, that seemed like hours, later, she stood in front of the main entrance of her mother's palace. The royal guard on duty was her friend Adina, who was looking at Diana with barely suppressed excitement. Something was going on, but she was in no mood to try to figure out what right now.
“Hail Adina, I wish to speak with my mother, Hippolyta.” A little abrupt, but Diana was feeling anxious right now.
Adina seemed to take no notice of the Princess' agitated state and replied. “Greetings, Princess Diana. I will announce you.”
“I will announce myself. Please stand aside.”
Adina did not move. “Your highness, it is my duty to announce all visitors. However, since your matter seems urgent, I will escort you in. Follow me.”
She turned on her heel and strode toward the throne room. All Diana could do was follow. Besides, Adina was right. All visitors, even the princess, must be announced to the queen before being granted an audience in the throne room. Protocol must always be followed except in dire emergencies.
The guard stopped, as did Diana. The queen was finishing up with the last petitioner of the day and they had to wait. Soon, the petitioner exited and Adina stepped to the front of the throne.
“My Queen, Princess Diana requests an audience with her mother, Hippolyta.” Hippolyta nodded and the guard moved off to the side of the throne.
The queen, bedecked in her formal robes today, rose from her throne and glided towards her sitting room. “Come, Diana, and we will talk.” Diana followed her mother while Adina watched with interest. Diana noted this, too. Adina was acting as if something was going on that Diana wasn't aware of. I don't want to know.
The two women embraced before sitting down. It was a warm embrace, as they hadn't seen each other often of late. Diana had not been visiting home as often as she might. She felt a tinge of guilt at the thought.
Once seated, Hippolyta looked Diana over critically. “You look well, daughter. From your expression, however, I cannot tell if you are angry or merely confused.”
“Mother, I think it is both, which is why I came to seek your advice.”
Hippolyta smiled. “Well, it seems that no one asks the queen for advice lately, but yet this is the second time in a week that the advice of Diana's mother has been requested.”
At Diana's perplexed look, she explained. “Your friend Kal-El was here a week ago today also seeking my counsel.”
“WHAT!!” Diana rose from her chair in a rage.
Her mother eyed Diana narrowly and did not deign to raise her voice. “Daughter, we are not dealing with each other as queen and subject at the moment, but I am still your mother. Sit down and mind your tongue.” The command in her voice was quiet, but unmistakeable. Whether acting as a queen or as a mother, Hippolyta expected to be obeyed.
A somewhat contrite daughter responded “I'm sorry, Mother.” Again, Diana took her seat.
Hippolyta sighed. “I have heard that your temper has been short of late, and I regret to see that it is true.”
“Yes, mother, I am dealing with some inner turmoil and I have not been as steady as I would wish. However, before we discuss that it would please me greatly to know why Kal was here.”
“Well, Diana, I don't know if I can tell you. I believe we were speaking in confidence.”
“Mother!”
“Now that I think on it, daughter, he never said that what we discussed was a secret.”
“And...what did he ask?”
“Oh, he merely asked me whether having a relationship with you would interfere with your duties.” She said this airily as if it were but a trifle thing.
“And you told him...?”
“I told him the truth. I told him that I did not see how having such a relationship would help you in your mission.”
“Mother!” Diana began to rise from her chair in anger, then sat back down as Hippolyta merely pointed towards her and then the chair. Her rebuke did not need to be repeated.
I cannot believe she told him that! But then, what else would she expect from her mother. She could not even imagine what went through Kal's mind when he was told this. This could ruin everything before she could even talk to him. She felt like screaming, but denied the impulse. She must maintain control of herself.
Hippolyta watched her daughter with some amusement, though she was careful to show nothing of the sort. Her daughter was finally ready to admit she was in love, but the man is tying her in knots by not doing or saying anything to indicate his own feelings. The man was a marvel, but he could really use some lessons in assertiveness. Hippolyta could feel for her daughter, but at the same time she couldn't remember the last time she had enjoyed herself this much.
“Perhaps, daughter, it is time to tell me why you have come. You were unaware that the Kryptonian had been here, so that could not have been the reason, yet I sense that your suffering is in regards to him. You care for this man?”
“Yes, mother, I do. I—I--”
“You are in love with him.” It wasn't a question, but Diana answered it anyway.
“Yes, mother.”
“Then say it.”
It wasn't quite as hard to say as she had imagined. “I'm in love with Kal, mother, and I don't know what to do.”
“Don't know what to do? Didn't we discuss the story of the randy fauns when you were thirteen?”
“Mother! That's not what I'm talking about and you know it.”
“Yes, I know, dear. Then what exactly is the problem?” My, this is so much fun!
“He has not declared his feelings one way or the other. He has been grieving for his wife for a long time and has gone away for awhile in order to sort out his thoughts. In the meantime, as you have noted already, I have not been dealing with this well myself.”
“Why did you not declare yourself to him instead of waiting? Has my Diana gone off into the world as a confident, wise woman only to return as a some shy damsel out of a story?”
Diana found that she could not look her mother in the eye. “I was afraid that he would not feel the same as I.”
“My daughter, afraid? Diana, Princess of Themyscira who has faced down the wrath of Ares himself. Afraid? Of a man's opinion? I cannot find it in myself to believe this.”
Finally, looking at Hippolyta, she tried to explain. “But mother, I—I...” Finally the light went on in Diana's head. “No, you are right, mother. It's not his fault that I am distraught. It is my own doing, because I would not face my own fears. I let those fears overcome me, and I will allow it no longer.” The confidence in her voice was heartening.
Sometimes a mother must remind her daughter just who she is.
Diana gave her a wry smile. “Why do I get the feeling that you already knew why I was here and were just playing some perverse game with me?”
Hippolyta put a hand on her breast and put on an expression of feigned shock. “Why daughter, how could you think your own mother capable of such a thing?”
Diana laughed aloud. “Mother, you have spies everywhere and know things that you really should not know. The whole island is aware of that. And, yes, you are quite capable of such a thing.”
“For the sake of peace between us then, let us pretend that I have no idea why you have come, except to speak to your mother whom you have not seen in so long.”
The dutiful daughter cringed inwardly at the mild rebuke. Verbally jousting with her mother was an exercise in futility. She got the advice she was seeking—or, rather she was led to the correct answer by her canny mother. Either way, she felt more relaxed than she had for some time. It was time to make up for those visits she never made.
Her mother turned the subject to other things, and they both enjoyed a pleasant conversation for the next hour or so.
Finally, it was time to leave. With Adina looking on, mother and daughter embraced before Diana took to the sky.
As they kept an eye toward the retreating princess, the queen commented casually, “One day we will see something on the island that we haven't seen in centuries. A wedding.”
“Do you think so, your Highness?”
“Oh, I'm quite sure. What kind of odds do you suppose you can find on that wager, Adina?” With that, the queen went back into the throne room to await her next visitor, while a dumbstruck Adina tried to recover her wits. Are there any secrets that the queen does not know?
