Royal breakfast

Looking around the grand arching dome of the feasting room of the palace, Harper eyed the murals and paintings that took up the ceiling and walls of the dining hall. Many of which he was too young to understand. There were some showing hundreds of warrior women on horseback running towards something. Another of a lady holding a stick over her head with dozens of others with their fist up in the air for… Some reason. The wall in front of him even had the biggest dinner plate he had ever seen with a pair of forks crossed behind it. He wondered if there were giants on the island that needed a dinner plate and forks so big before a similar plate was gently placed before him with a small loaf of freshly baked bread, sliced fruit and what looked like a clay mug of soup that steamed as it sat.

His father’s hand rubbed his back to encourage him to take a bite of his breakfast as the Queen, Princess and other amazons he recognised sat around the round table and nibbled away at their meal. Smiling down at his son as he bit at a slice of grapefruit, Gary looked to the queen when he heard her clear her throat. They were all sitting around a low, round table without chairs, the table surrounded by soft rugs where they all sat on the floor comfortably.

It still surprised him that the stunningly beautiful woman smiling back at his father was the same elderly crone they first met at the beach… OR that Wonder Woman was her daughter. She looked so young; he almost confused them both for sisters rather than mother and daughter. Their resemblance was uncanny.

“Are you enjoying our breakfast Mr Thracy?” The Queen asked, her voice smooth and inviting as she folded her hands in her lap and looked his direction.

“Uhm… Y-yes, didn’t think to find apples and oranges on an island like this.”

Phillipus smiled and pointed over to the sliced fruit Harper was nibbling on. “The fruit of course is grown locally, though your father informed us you are more used to eating fish for a meal?”

Turning his gaze to his father who sat a seat away with Alexa sitting between them, the man was halfway done with the grapefruit rind in his mouth, shrugging back to his son as he pulled a sip of his drink. “Dad… you didn’t tell her about that incident with the shrimp, did you?”

“No… I only told her highness over der I used to work a fishin trolley.”

“What’s this about shrimp?” Asked Diana, leaning over to the side in curiosity.

“Yes, did something happen?” Asked Alexa, leaning over until she obscured Gary’s view of his father behind her. Her eyes open in eager curiosity and her smile pleasant.

“Well when I was…” Looking up at the three woman in front of him and back to Alexa, the man shook his head and tried to nip it in the bud. “You know what? Uhm… It wasn’t too big of a deal.”

“Daddy chocked on a shrimp and got punched by a pirate!” Called out Harper, making his father and grandfather give him a dirty look while Diana hid her smile behind the back of her hand. As did Hippolyta and Phillipus who watched with barely restrained mirth watching the man try to playfully scold his son by tickling him as he ate his breakfast.

“Shhh, we promised not to talk about that.” Seeing the queen raise an eyebrow with her smile growing wider, Gary slumped his shoulders and shook his head. “Alright, I’ll tell you…”

Breathing in and exhaling out a deep breath, Gary explained the story.

“About a year back, we went to dad’s spot in the market to get ourselves a bite to eat for lunch and pay pops a visit.” He explained, pointing over to his father. “Dad and Harper ordered some halibut to eat and Olivia and I…” For a moment the man paused before catching himself again. “Well, we ordered linguine with shrimp. It was pretty good, but after the fourth or fifth bite I had a shrimp go down the wrong pipe.”

“Yeah…” Phin interrupted. “He started **** on that thing and turned more and more blue by the second. No one knew what to do so I slapped him in the back, and he spat that thing right out.”

Crossing his arms and resting a hand over his face, Gary proceeded t tell the story. “Yes, and it fell down the back of the shirt of a big fisherman sitting across from us. I didn’t catch his name, but I did catch his right hook.”

Phin nodded, looking down and shrugging again as he noticed the women at the table looked a bit confused. “One-eyed Pete’s a sailor at our dock who got his name due to a sailing accident. Lost his eye and his temper along with it.”

“How terrible!” Winced Alexa, resting a gentle hand on the man’s shoulder as he tried to hide his embarrassment.

“I woke up in the hospital with a black eye… Sorry dad, but I don’t think I’ll eat there again.”

Those at the table chuckled a bit at that, with Diana giving the man an understanding smile.

“Why did you not fight back?” Asked Phillipus, eyeing the man in curiosity. “Anyone would understand that was just an accident, AND you were under duress.”

“Well…” Gary scratch at the back of his head as he remembered that incident. “I’m just a pencil pusher, I’m not much of a fighter.”

“Pencil…?” The woman asked, tilting her head and looking to her Queen and the princess for an explanation.

“It means he’s… A scribe where he comes from.” Answered Diana, eating a slice of apple from her plate.

“Oh?” Piped in Alexa, leaning forward with her fingers meshed as she eyed the man with renewed curiosity. “So, you are a writer?”

“Well…” Turning to look back at the woman, Gary found himself lingering a bit too long looking into her soft blue eyes and at her lips. It was then, He realised he was staring and opted to look down at his meal, murmuring out his answer. “Just… Tax reports.”

Hoping to change the subject, the man looked up to Diana who appeared amused by Alexa’s interest in the man and he tried to speak up.

“So… Uhm… Wonder Woman?” Gary asked, getting Diana’s attention, and suddenly realising he forgot what he was going to ask her.

“Yes?” She asked back, her smile making him linger staring into her own ocean blue eyes longer than he should have and Gary found himself averting his gaze, fumbling with his loaf of break and breaking chunks off with his fingers as he tried to remember what he was going to ask her.

“I was going to ask… If its n-not too intrusive, w-what’s this all about? I mean… Some of the… Uhm, ladies look different than when we first got here.”

“Aw come ON son, ya don’t ask a lady about her looks!”

“Well what else am I going to talk about?! The weather?” Gary whispered back to the man.

Diana was about to explain when the Queen raised her hand.

“No, it is not an issue, it was unfair to have you be witnesses to what has transgressed our people upon your arrival without context or understanding.” Explained Hippolyta, looking down at her meal and stirring her broth with a wooden spoon. “Two days before your arrival, our people had returned from the shores of your country on a mission of peace and prosperity, and we had found… A stowaway.”

“A man had snuck onto our flag ship and travelled with us to our homeland.” Continued Phillipus in her Queen’s stead. “Our advisors decided he should be executed and had planned to burn him at a pyre during festivities.”

That had the two men at the table blink. “You were going to burn a man alive at the stake… Just for showing up in your backyard?”

Looking away, it was obvious the Queen and her company looked ashamed, even the guards at the doors leading to the dining hall looked sullen.

“He was no mere man Mr Thracy. There are beings in this world who act as heralds to the gods… Heralds who interact with the mortal realm in their stead. And we burned one alive.” Looking down in shame, the Queen folded her hands in her lap. “Our curse is to appear at face value our true intent. Whether we are kind… Or cruel.”

Stirring his broth with his spoon, Gary slowly nodded at that. “Well… That explains that one lady yesterday.”

“Oh?”

Diana knew what he was talking about. “Aello. She had **** a wager on Mr. Thracy in order for his family to eat. When he had won the wager, she had gone back on her deal.”

“The scary lady grew claws, rhar, rhar!” Harper called out, raising his hands up to his face to make a scary face with his hands. Something that worried Hippolyta and its implications.

“Where are Aello and the others now?”

“We don’t know mother, I think they’ve retreated to the woods.”

The doors to the dinning hall open to show Nubia and two of her guards enter, saluting their queen as they entered and stood behind the Thracy family where Nubia looked down and smiled down at Harper who grinned back up to the tall dark-skinned woman, remembering her from yesterday.

“Nubia, what do you have to report this morning?” Asked Hippolyta, pleased to find the woman fully restored to her former beauty.

“My Queen, my forces will be performing their training regiment today, sadly we have yet to find the rest of my sisters in arms. Aello, Ocypete and Alkyone. They along with some of their forces have NOT arrived for their morning exercises.”

Seeing Harper wave back to the woman, Nubia stepped aside and sat to join the family after the Queen had nodded and granted her permission to do so. Immediately Nubia had the boy in her lap, smiling as she tickled his sides and made him laugh. The act making Nubia shiver as her complexion smoothed, and she grew more beautiful as a result.

“Our curse has effected our own worse with some than others. Nubia, tell your forces to search for our wayward sisters and see to it they are aided in their troubled times, in the meantime, I have duties to perform…” Getting up to her feet, everyone else did the same as the Queen’s aides cleaned up after their meal, turning to Phin as he slowly got to his feet with some effort, the man found the woman’s hand outstretched for him to take. “Phillipus and I would appreciate company, if you wish to give it Mr. Thracy.”

A little taken back, the elderly man slowly took her hand and was surprised she had the strength to pull him up to his feet. “Uhm… Sure, I’d love to take a walk with you ladies.”

Tilting her shoulder with a warm smile, Hippolyta gave her consort a knowing smile as they took either side of the man and made their way out the room.

Gary, who had also gotten to his feet was surprised to feel an arm snake around his own, finding Alexa smiling back at him and tugging him away from the table just as she scrunched her face and gently pinched at her nose. “Perhaps you could use a clean up Mr. Thracy, we have a bath in the main palace our sisters use.”

“Kay…” The man responded, his face flush and red from Alexa’s proximity. Seeing his son with Nubia, the two were soon join by Diana who hoisted the boy up into her arms with ease.

“Go ahead Mr. Thracy, your son and father will be in good hands.” Offered Diana, she and Nubia laughing to themselves as Alexa nearly dragged him out of the room, going on about any writing in Man’s world he could offer her. Alone, the two Amazons looked to the small boy and smiled. “Would you like to see my sisters train Harper?”

Her response was Harper rapidly nodding his head, more than enough of a response for the two to take him with them to the training grounds.