Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics, Wonder Woman, or any other Wonder Woman characters. I make no money from publishing this story.
Green eyes sparkled like shifting moonlight over water. "It has been
a while since we played such games with mankind."
Zeus smiled. "Too long, if you ask me."
"I'm not sure I approve. The amazons have long been faithful to us.
My waters have kept their island secure for centuries of their
worship."
"So did my skies, and how did this upstart girl show her appreciation?"
Artemis sighed. "We've been through this before."
"It is happening, Brother. The amazon travels through Tartarus as we
speak. Now is your rightful turn to choose a challenge for her.
Right after me."
Something stirred in the depths of Poseidon's sunken eyes. "You
wanted her to fail. Yet she survived your attempt to break her.
Interesting."
"She... had a fair chance. And got lucky. But will you really pose
a challenge, or go easy on her, Brother?"
Poseidon snorted in derision, echoing the vast cetaceans. "The sea
is never easy. Woe on those who forget that. Brother."
The golden trident began to glow.
Diana stopped. The two amulet fragments in her grip were glowing
brighter; light surrounded first her hand and then grew into a nimbus
that enveloped her completely.
When the light withdrew, the Amazon Princess was somewhere else.
The gloom of the caverns deep below Themyscira was gone. She stood
instead on a lichen-covered boulder overlooking a steep drop to the
coastline, where dark waves bathed the sharp rocks under a clear blue
sky.
She climbed down to the shore, and after careful examination of her
surroundings, left the tattered remains of her clothing alongside her
diminished bundle of supplies. Cautiously, she bathed in the icy
waters, welcoming the cold on her skin, carrying her lasso on a
shoulder and holding tight the two amulets pieces, secure in a pouch
made from her damaged bustier.
When exiting the waters, she found that her armored clothes had been
restored to pristine condition.
She muttered a brief thanks to the gods. She was being watched, of
course, but how closely?
Following the wordless tug of the amulet along the rocky coastline,
she came to a settlement nestled against the stone walls, with homes
ranging from modest huts to fancier places with ornately carved
facades. Various fishing boats of assorted sizes were tied at the low
wharf below. Sails were furled, and nets hung, unattended. No one
could be seen moving about the place. She called out, and no voice
answered, but as she walked closer, soon there was the faint murmur of
people's voices, just past the farthest rock outcropping.
Following the sound, she came to an wave-lapped flat surrounded by
towering sheer rockfaces that plummeted straight to the tumultuous
waters, the only access to a wave-lapped rocky ledge provided by a
narrow passage fractured into the rock. A crowd of several hundred
gathered there, near large, lighted braziers, their voices overlapping
in a cacophony of excitement and lamentation, underscored by the
steady beating of two large drums of stretched sharkskin by brawny
men. A thin old man began to address then with well-practiced
cadence, his words flowing between the drum beats. Behind him, two
spear-bearing men in stiff leather armor flanked a young blonde girl,
whose slender arms were extended above her head, wrists bound by heavy
metal manacles to thick, rust-stained metal rings firmly embedded into
the rock. Her tanned skin, from neck to ankles, was covered with
delicate swirling patterns of painted purple and blue, and between the
peaks of her young breasts hung the many loops of an elaborate
necklace of gaudy stones, matching the headdress gathering the long
locks of golden hair.
"-And blessed be this most beautiful maiden whose devout behavior
shall bring honor to her house, as it brings peace to our people-!"
"STOP."
The drums grew silent. All eyes turned to the newly arrived amazon
princess in shock, and people cringed away as she strode forward
resolutely.
Assorted guardsmen leveled shaky spears at the tall, sable-tressed
beauty, while the priest proved his mettle by speaking. "What-Who are
you? What are you doing here?"
The dialect resembled some Mycenean variations Diana had studied in
her youth. "I am Diana of the Amazons of Themyscira. I am on a quest
for the gods of Olympus." She spoke slowly, careful to make herself
understood in her best approximation of their grammar and syntax.
"What are you doing to that girl?"
The crowd erupted in multiple cries and arguments, but the priest
silenced them imperiously. "LIES! THERE IS NO OLYMPUS ANYMORE!"
"No Olympus?"
"THE OLD GODS ARE LONG GONE! NOW THERE IS ONLY THE KRAKEN!"
"-Kraken?"
"You do not fool us! We know of no Themyscira. No other place
remains in the world where man may live but our nation. You must be
an evil spirit sent to confound us! BEGONE FOUL APPARITION, OR WE
SHALL DESTROY YOU FOR THE GLORY OF OUR LORD THE KRAKEN!"
"Are Kraken not creatures of the northern lands far from-?"
"SLAY THE DECEITFUL SPIRIT!"
The golden lasso tightened around the now unarmed guards, bundled back
to back against each other.
"Now stay still. I don't want to hurt anyone." Diana strode forward,
tossing aside the broken spears. People cowered in fear at her
proximity, but to his credit, the priest stood his ground before the
foreign woman who towered over all of them.
"YOUR EVIL POWERS DO NOT SCARE US! THE KRAKEN WILL PROTECT US!"
Diana stepped around him and approached the bound girl. "Do not be
afraid." She spoke soothingly, grabbing the heavy chains and easily
twisting the manacles open, freeing the captive's wrists. "Have they
hurt you?"
"N-No." The girl's voice was almost inaudible against the noise of
the sea. She was almost two heads shorter than Diana, and her pretty
face still held the softness of recent childhood. In the
multi-colored neckpiece, a small piece of golden ceramic glowed
softly, beckoning.
"Good. No one will. I will make sure of it."
"No... No-!"
"YOU WILL NOT-!"
Without looking away, Diana reached out and grabbed the priest's hand,
forcing him to drop the sharp piece of rock, before pushing him away
harmlessly.
"You need not fear these men, I can take you away from-"
"NO!"
With sudden desperate surge of strength, the girl pushed at Diana,
driving her back in surprise.
"YOU GO AWAY!"
Diana frowned. "I just want to help you."
The girl lunged forward again, trying to beat on Diana's chest with
her fists. "YOU WILL DOOM US! GO!"
"Doom you? Why would I-?"
She heard the noise of the churning waters before the people started screaming.
A long stalk of greenish flesh rose from the sea, the first of many.
The crowd panicked, running for the small exit passageway, while the
priest lifted his hands and began to mumble unintelligible
invocations. The nude girl's face blanched and she feel to her knees,
her voice and strength gone in sudden despair.
Dripping seawater and dark algae, the tentacle reached the rock walls
and began to slide over the surfaces, rippling and flapping, with
tentative searching motions, their ends tapering from the thickness of
a man's wrists to massive trunk-like stalks. For an instant, they
flailed in vain at the place where the girl had been bound, making the
metal rings and chains rattle, before slowly returning to their
exploratory motions, inching towards Diana and the young girl.
The thing had to be enormous, Diana realized, as she flew, tugging the
tied mass of writhing tentacles. More and more of the thickening limbs
came into view, struggling for release as she drew the creature far
away from land, its body not yet surfacing above the waves. Diana
hesitated at harming the kraken. It could be a mindless beast
following its instincts, unaware of the foolishness of a superstitious
people, knowing of the horrible ritual only the easy availability of
food. Yet it had to be stopped, and taught not to return.
When they were far enough from the coast, she began to fly in a tight
circle, twisting the tentacles against each other, like making a giant
braid. Faster and faster it circled, creating a whirlpool on the
sea's surface, which grew in width and violence more and more, until
the shell-covered body of the creature finally broke the surface,
rotating about the whirlpool's circumference like the weighted end of
a gigantic rotating sling. With a final grunt, Diana threw the
monster away, sending it skipping over the waves like an oversized
stone.
That should teach it.
Diana flew back to the sandy inlet, where the girl was still crying,
down on her knees.
"It's gone now," Diana said, landing softly. "You are safe."
"NO!" Her sobs grew louder. "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!"
"But-?"
"YOU HAVE RUINED EVERYTHING!"
Diana stood in a rocky outcropping, looking up at the clear night sky.
Though familiar, the star patterns were incomplete, and inconstant.
Large swathes of sky lacked their constellations for lengths of time,
and whole galaxies faded and reappeared randomly, as if the universe
were flickering in and out of synchronicity with this current part of
the world. Frowning, she looked down at the village, the homes
lighted by oil lamps.
They had thrown stones at her.
The priest had returned, leading a mob of fishermen, old and young,
and their wives and children, conquering their fear of the powerful
outsider through religious fervor. When she had tried to address
them, to explain that they were delivered from the monstrous sea
beast, they had thrown stones at her, cursing her, denouncing her for
her crime, for her faithlessness, for her interference. She had
dodged and blocked, and finally took to the air, unharmed, yet
frustrated.
She could face the kraken, or any such monster. But how could she
fight a people's faith in an undeserving god?
Bare feet met stone a dozen paces behind her.
"Do not be afraid," she said, spreading her open hands in a gesture of
reassurance as she turned. He was clearly in his early teens, and his
eyes darted nervously up from Diana's feet only in brief, hesitant
glances. "I am not your enemy," she added.
His voice faltered twice before he mustered enough courage. "Are
you... Are you a goddess?"
She smiled faintly. "A goddess? No, I am just a woman."
"But you... you flew. Like a bird." He glanced up again for an
instant. "And your... your face, your..."
"I wield gifts of power. That doesn't mean I'm not-"
"Are you here to... to fight our god-?"
"Not if I can-"
"Or to wed him?"
"What-?"
"We offer brides. Every year. We give... our best, our most lovely
maidens. But it's never satisfied. Always needs more. Again and
again. But you..." He fell to his knees. "You must be a goddess.
You have to be. Your beauty... and power, you..." Flickering light
appeared and began to approach, and the young man grew even more
nervous, continuing in a hurry. "If you marry the Kraken, it will
surely be satisfied! How not? You are a goddess! It is fitting! We
then would... She could..."
"DO NOT BLASPHEME!"
Torch in hand, the old priest marched at them, the fire lighting the
anger in his face. The young man dared not look up from the ground.
"HOW DARE YOU-! BE GONE! NOW!"
The youngster jumped up and hurried away, not looking back.
The torch shock as the priest still trembled with fury. "The young...
are weak."
Diana walked closer. "He said that your-"
The priest shook a hand in denial. "Why... Why are you here? To
temp our young into heresy?"
"I only want to help."
"Help... who?"
"Help the girl. Help all of you."
"By attacking our god? Attacking our way of life?"
"The kraken is not a god."
"What kind of being are you to speak such heresy? Are you here to
test our faith?"
"No, I just-"
"Our god is real, and powerful!" His gnarled hands quivered with
anger. "We have known its wrath! How can we doubt it-?"
"It is real, and powerful, yes. But it's just a monster, a powerful,
dangerous sea creature. Why would you worship such-?"
"Why do you worship yours? Are they not just other dangerous,
powerful creatures? Aren't they all?"
Diana was taken aback for a moment. "It is not the same."
"Can any mortal judge the gods? Gods just ARE!"
"What kind of god would demand a human sacrifice? Ask for a child's life?"
"A cruel, merciless god! What other kind is there? What
other kind has there ever been-? Are the gods you worship any
different?"
Diana could not bring herself to state a flat denial. "Not all gods
are the same. The goddesses of Olympus-"
He laughed, loudly, mirthlessly. "The Olympians? Where were they
when the world was broken?"
"Broken-?"
"The father of my father was but a boy, yet he remembered the
sundering of the world! The lightning, and the fires, and the waves.
A war, he said it was. The seas and skies clashed with the ground,
and the world was broken. It grew small, and empty, and we had
nowhere to go. Everything was gone, swallowed by the waves, but for
the remains of our nation. Where were the Olympians then? When we
were stranded here?"
"Merciful Hera, how-? Was it during the Gigantomachy?"
"The what?"
"The War of the Giants." She shuddered. The chthonic remnants of the
old powers had risen one last time against Olympus, only to be
vanquished. She had learned of it as an epic tale of victory, of the
Olympians triumphing against the last of the old, dark order, but what
had the fallout been among the common people? "That was ages ago."
"I don't know. We were just fishermen. So many died. Drowned.
Burned. Those few of us who survived almost starved, at first. The
world changed, shrunk. Only this land and the seas remained. The
seas... and the kraken."
"A... larger world remains beyond this place. My world. Olympus
still stands in it."
"It does? And what good does it do us?" He grimaced, bitterly. "Why
were we banished? Which was our crime?"
"I don't... I don't know." This place was a fragment of the ancient
world, lost in time as well as space. The gods had sent her here, so
they had to know about these people, about their being cast out of
reality, collateral damage in the wars of higher powers. "I am sorry.
I..."
"We all are. But we manage. We survive. Rock not the vessel, my
father taught me, lest we all fall and drown. My father was priest
before me, like his was, and so on, back to The Sundering. Rules were
set down, in Sacred Scrolls, rules to obey. Rules to survive." He
looked at her imploringly. "Go, woman, if woman is what you are. Go
back to where you came from. And leave us. Leave us to our rules."
Diana struggled for an answer. Could she take these people back to
the real Earth, away from this place? Could they fit in a world that
had changed so much?
"I cannot. I have a quest to fulfill, and must move forward. I have
been commanded to-"
The priest nodded. "We must all fulfill our duties." He extended his
hand, and a small ceramic fragment glowed faintly in the open palm.
"I saw your eyes follow this. Take it. Take it and go."
Diana stared, unsure. "I don't think I can just do that. I must earn
it. And I don't-"
"Go, and you will earn our gratitude."
Hesitatingly, she took the offered amulet fragment, broken, like
these people, like their world. In her hand, its glow faded, and it
grew dark and cold. She shook her head, and handed it back. "It
cannot be that easy."
"Our god will know that you remain here. It will stay away. And so
will the fish. Our nets will be empty and so will our bellies. Will
you doom us to starve?"
"I do not want that." There had to be a way. "Could I... make peace
with... your god?"
"There is only one way to peace."
Diana's jaw tightened. "The sacrifice?"
"The Offering."
The young man tended his nets sullenly, despondently. His eyes were
downcast; the clear sky and bright sun held no joy for him anymore.
But something came for him from the sky.
He would have yelled in horror if he could find his voice, as he was
taken, high into the sky, where no man could ever venture, the realm
of the birds, and of the foreign goddess.
"You love her, don't you?"
Through the fear, he understood, and nodded.
"Tell me about the Sacred Scrolls," the goddess said. "Tell me everything."
The blond girl cried softly, trembling, huddled in the bed, uncaring
about the fine trappings and the rich meal set near. It had taken all
her courage to walk straight the last time. How could she do it
again? How could she be expected to do it twice? She cursed
silently, at her people, who had chosen her, and at her god, who had
not taken her, and most of all, at the foreign monster, the one who
had interfered, prolonging her suffering, forcing her to live in fear
for longer than any other Offering before her. What had she done to
deserve such cruel punishment? Had she not kept herself pure, despite
her longings, despite her love?
It would be over the next morning, as it should have been two days
past, but she would face yet another night of abject terror and
regret.
Suddenly, the door opened, despite dawn still being distant, and a
tall figure walked in.
The girl scrambled back, horrified. It was her. The foreign monster.
Her torturer.
"Don't scream," a familiar voice whispered, and from behind the
monster, her beloved appeared. She broke down in tears again at
seeing him. She had said her goodbyes in her heart. How could she
endure this further torture?
"You-You can't be here!"
"But he is," the monster in woman's guise said. She touched his arm,
and the blonde almost shrieked. How dare the cruel one touch him,
when even that she had denied herself, once the choice had been known?
Had they done more? Had her impossible, obscene body known more of
his touch? More than she ever had, ever would? She fell down crying,
desolate, furious at the injustice of the world.
Then she was in his arms, his hands running through her hair, his voice
soothing music to her ears.
"No. No. I can't. We can't. You know! Just like I do! The
Offering must have never known any man born of Earth!"
Then she felt the other's touch as well, gentle and wise, asking her
body to relax, to surrender.
"Yes. The Offering."
Diana merely encouraged, touching gently, stroking and guiding. Her
mouth met the young girl's often, and taught her the many ways to
kiss. She also showed him where and how to caress, how to best
dispel the young girl's fear and reluctance, yet always left his
touch for the girl alone. When the two ultimately joined, she held
the girl's hand and nuzzled at her ear, whispering words of assurance,
welcoming her to womanhood.
The sun spread its warmth over the village as the crowd moved towards
the Sacred Abode of the Offering, the weary priest leading the way.
Suddenly, he staggered back, his strength faltering, as he saw the
guards, still tied and unconscious. The door to the ceremonial hut
opened and to his horror, the Offering walked out, not alone. Her
hair was disheveled, as was his, and their skins showed more than just
the red of shame.
"-What have you done-? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"
The crowd erupted in cries and curses. Spears were raised towards the
two young lovers.
The young man moved to stand before the girl. "Father, please, we..."
The priest ignored his son's words, shaken by outrage and despair.
"YOU HAVE SINNED! YOU HAVE-!"
"They have loved each other. As they longed to." A third person
strode out. "True love is never a sin."
The crowd gasped. The foreign woman, the intruder, wore the
ceremonial headress and necklace, and her tall, nude body was covered
with the ritual patterns of paint.
The priest blanched. "What sacrilege is this? How-?"
"You said I could make peace with your god. Through the Offering."
"But the Chosen-!"
"Is no longer eligible, as you can see. A substitute is needed, and I
volunteer. I will make the peace you needed. I will be the
Offering."
The crowd muttered and growled in doubt. The priest shook his head,
trying to sort his world back into sense.
"But the Scrolls. The Rules..."
Diana smiled, and recited the Rules as set in the village's sacred
Scrolls, speaking loud and clear, in perfect recollection. "The
Chosen can be replaced by a volunteer only if deemed equally suitable.
Suitable to deserve being a god's bride," she repeated. "Am I
suitable? Am I beautiful enough for your god?"
The crowd grew silent. Eyes, male and female alike, were fixed on the
lovely Amazon Princess, on her long legs and shapely hips, on her
slender waist and large, proud breasts, on her delicate features and
the dazzling eyes that challenged them to deny her.
The priest fought the dryness in his throat. "The Offering... must
also be... Must have never..."
Diana nodded, and smiled. "No man born of Earth has ever known my body."
The priest stared in disbelief, and the crowd muttered. She was too
beautiful, too alluring, too obviously sexual for their accepting her
words at face value. Diana understood, and offered her lasso to the
priest, placing its coiled length on his hand, while she still gripped
it.
"The Lasso of Truth allows no deceit."
The priest's eyes spread wide, as the power surged through him and her alike.
"But... You..." His voice failed against the truth in her assertion.
She hid nothing, and he saw she had indeed known sex, with other
women, females almost as beautiful as her, with a male who was much
more than just a man, born far among the stars, a fearsome god of
distant darkness whose shadow made him shiver, and a bestial creature
that could hardly be called a man.
"No man born of Earth," he ratified out loud, and his hands shook
with the barest hint of hope. Hope he had never imagined rekindled.
She had already been chosen once by one god, one whose mere shadow
made him shiver. Even beyond the literal reading of the Rules, could
any other mortal ever be more fit to wed a god, in power and beauty?
The priest could not deny the truth. There was no doubt.
"She-She is worthy."
The drumming went on, relentless, while Diana waited, feet spread
proudly apart, her arms raised above her head, with wrists held by
chains that she could snap at any instant. But she chose not to,
waiting, bound not by metal but by her word, by the sworn oath she had
taken out of respect for these people and their faith, misplaced as it
was. Waiting for the kraken.
Her lasso was coiled tight around her right arm, from elbow to
shoulder, and secured between its loops was a small pouch of netting
that held two pieces of softly glowing ceramic. The lasso glowed
golden as well, in echo to their pulsing.
Finally, the water churned violently in advance warning, and the wait
was over. Long, flexible stalks of wet flesh broke the sea's surface,
reaching for the amazon princess.
The two young lovers watched in horror and forlorn hope, as the long,
grasping arms found their target, seizing it, coiling around the
athletic arms and legs, the slender waist and buxom torso, squeezing
and tugging at the firm flesh with undeniable urgency. The young girl
sought refuge in her love's arms and began to cry. She had seen this
before. She had feared its happening on her own body. She had
imagined how the kraken would probe and taste her undeserving body and
then tear it to pieces, to be consumed as mere meat, fit only to feed
the lowest of hungers.
And now it would happen to the brave, beautiful stranger who had saved
her, who had given her back her life, who had taught her love, who had
taken her place.
The prehensile limbs tightened around her body, dripping seawater as
they slid, rubbing, tugging and probing, the myriad sucker mouths on
the inner surface clamping hungrily on her flesh, leaving red sucker
marks on her soft skin. She grimaced as her breasts were roughly
grasped and squeezed, pulled and kneaded, while the sucker mouths
seemed to target the sensitive vicinity of her aureoles and nipples.
Her legs were powerfully tugged apart at the ankles, spreading her,
before a thick, wet tentacle slid first over her right hip and then
down her groin. The limb rubbed back and forth as it moved over and
past her mound, grinding roughly against her loins, turning about in
slow corkscrew fashion, until the line of suckers aligned with her
most delicate flesh. The tentacle grinded with insistent strength
against her, the thinner tip forcing its way between her tense ass
cheeks, while the rest, tapering into greater thickness, pressed and
rubbed at the silken folds all the way up to her mound, the suckers
working like dozens of ravenous mouths, clasping on her. Tasting her.
Another tentacle moved to her face, its tip sliding over her chin to
seek her mouth, but she twisted her face from side to side in refusal.
The tentacles became even more feverish in their pulling and
squeezing, the thick one between her legs grinded her outer labia into
spreading, exposing her inner flesh to the suckers, and other
tentacles joined in, their tapered tips poking and probing, seeking
access to the promise of even stronger, deeper tastes. Diana gasped
as one powerful limb tightened viciously around her long neck, but
gritted her teeth close as another tip sought her mouth. The wet,
salty flesh rubbed against her lips but her teeth remained closed, as
did her innermost secrets. But she would afford the creature no easy
access. The limbs grabbing her arms and legs pulled with monstrous
strength, conveying the creature's annoyance, its power more than
enough to have torn apart a normal woman. But Diana was not a normal
woman. She was Wonder Woman.
"GO ON! TAKE ME! TAKE ME NOW!"
To the crowd's astonishment, in a sudden burst of monstrous strength,
the multiple tentacles pulled the Offering away from the rocky wall,
the heavy chains breaking apart like dry algae, before drawing her to
the water, to vanish beneath the frothing surface.
The tentacles tore her headdress and necklace away, but the lasso
looped around her upper arm held, and she felt the pulsing of the
amulet fragments grow stronger, even as she was pulled deeper and
deeper into the water, while the creature's grip grew more urgent,
more demanding. She knew better than to fight the grasping arms,
knowing she had to wait, wait to be taken deeper, taken to the core.
The priest stood speechless, while many others feel to their knees and cried.
"She was taken. Alive and willing. The Offering is... accepted." He
found his strength at last, and raised his arms high above his head.
"THE OFFERING IS ACCEPTED!"
Cheers and cries of joy filled the air, covering the young blonde's sobs.
"THE KRAKEN HAS CHOSEN ITS BRIDE! TAKEN HER DEEP, INTO THE SACRED
DARKNESS WHERE MAN MAY NOT GO! LONG AND FRUITFUL SHALL BE THEIR
UNION!"
Away from the rocky shore, water burst upwards, erupting violently
with a flash of golden light.
The priest yelled louder: "THE GOD AND ITS BRIDE HAVE BECOME ONE!
LET US ALWAYS REMEMBER THE TIME OF THE CHOOSING AND THE TAKING!
FOREVER SHALL WE BASK IN THEIR BLESSINGS!"
The blonder girl smiled through her tears, shaken by uncertainty, but
warmed by gratitude and relief.
The old priest turned to her and her beloved, and his brows furrowed.
"You two betrayed our trust. You must now be punished."
The young man did not flinch. "Father, I-"
"Silence. You will know now a lifetime of punishment, forced to
endure each other, as husband and wife." The old priest's stern
expression broke into a weary, but happy smile. "That shall teach
you."
Her beloved hugged her tightly, and she looked up, secure in his love.
He had touched her, and her alone, even with the beautiful stranger
by their side. She would never doubt his devotion, as she would never
forget the brave, lovely stranger, and the heartbreaking pleasure of
her touch.
Scattered on the ocean floor, the myriad remains of the kraken would
not rot, and drew plentiful fish to the bay, for many, many excellent
catch seasons.
"You did not break her, either."
"She did well." The trident's glow faded. "She showed proper
respect. That is just what the sea demands."
Zeus snorted in displeasure. "Respect? What respect did she-?"
Poseidon stood, his robes flowing like seawater about him. "I rather
like her, this Princess of the Amazons. Strong. Adaptable. With
unfathomed depths. I shall keep my eye on her."
"Oh, I'm sure you will." Hera smiled cynically. "And think of her
depths, too. You are all the same."
Athena strode forward. "Diana has won her second Challenge."
Poseidon assented, and none challenged the assertion.
"Our other uncle is not here." Athena turned to Hera. "Will the
Queen of Olympus do the honors now?"
Hera pursed her thin lips. "I must... decide with greater care. Let
another choose now."
Athena looked about. "Brothers? Sisters? Who shall test Diana next?"
Aphrodite and Ares stared at each other, smiling, each unwilling to
show their hand too early.
With a faint smile, Hermes stood up, spinning his metal helmet in his
hands. "I can think of something quick."