A trip to the library

The walk back to the city was pleasant, many of the farmhands swarmed around their two compatriots as they blushed and hid their faces behind their hands yet unable to keep smiling at all the attention. Entering the city gates, the guards instantly stepped aside and let their princess inside with their people.

Walking down the cobblestone road, she could still see groups of amazons sitting together, some keeping each other company to keep from being consumed by their own despair. Still gnarled and hideous looking. Stepping away from the farmhands who now returned to their homes to contemplate their free time, Diana approached a trio of amazons sitting silently, smiling as she leaned forward to extend a hand in greeting, only to find them quickly stand to their feet and nervously shy away or turn their faces away in shame of themselves.

“Greetings sisters, how fare you?”

Unable to answer, save to bow their heads, the three quickly departed, excusing themselves as they practically scurried away from Diana. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard one of them hiss a rebuke of their princess being perfect. Disheartened, she looked up to find she was at the front steps of the city’s library, a smile returning to her lips as she made her way inside to speak with an old friend.

Crossing through the arched entrance, Diana’s smile beamed as she took in the library’s interior. Rows upon rows of shelves and racks filled to the brim with scrolls and tomes dating back to the island’s beginning and even older still. Making her way deeper inside, Diana breathed in the scents of aged and well-preserved parchment and blinked when she heard movement deeper in the libraries, her smile almost constant as she knew who it was, who she had come to see.

“Alexa? Are you here?”

Her voice echoed across the library’s halls, something that made the footsteps sound more active as she heard whoever it was make their way out from where they were and poke their head from the side of a case of books.

“Shhhh… This is a library my princess! We must keep standards in these harsh times. If you have needed me there is an annoyingly loud gong at the door that can be heard everywhere in the library.”

Laughing with joy, Diana approached her friend as she took a step away from the bookcase to hug the princess. “Alexa my dear friend, how fares you in all this?”

Pulling away, the librarian of Themyscira’s appearance said more than words would. Sparkling blue eyes, heart shaped face with narrow cheeks and plump lips curled into a soft smile, framed with luxurious red hair that cascaded down her shoulders and lower back like the autumn leaves of a willow. Her figure tall and strong with healthy curves that filled the white robes she wore. Resting their hands together, Alexa bowed as the two giggled at the formality.

“You have been restored sister, when did this happen?”

“I have been offering books to those that needed a distraction from what had happened the previous night, if not to take their minds off their current appearance, then at the very least learn something new.” She said, turning to go back to where she was when she was called out and gestured for Diana to follow her. “The moment I offered the first scroll to one of my visitors, I… Felt it, like a shiver run up my skin when stepping out on a cold day. Imagine my surprise when I found my hands restored, more so when I found a mirror to see the rest of me.”

Leading her to her corner of the library, it became obvious with the pile of scrolls on the floor that Diana had caught the woman in reorganising the library. Shaking her head and smiling at that, Diana’s smile slowly faded as she became more candid with the woman.

“I had gone to the oracles for insight on how to resolve the wish, the spell that has afflicted our people. It has become obvious now that compassion and empathy is the course to take in restoring who we are on the inside as well as the outside. But I also have my doubts.”

“Such as?” Alexa asked, crouched on the polished marble floor as she checked the labels of the scrolls she was organising.

“I had always assumed my people and sisters were above petty concepts like jealousy and hatred, that was why I had begged my mother to join the United Nations of the outside world, so that we would not be isolated, and that we could share in our enlightenment. Boston… Has shown me a side of my people I was either blind or ignorant to.”

“Probably to themselves too.” Explained Alexa, placing scrolls on the shelf in the order they were meant to. “We have lived in peace in our paradise for centuries, even millennia. But that peace only existed because nothing changed. Change can bring out some ugly emotions. Personally? I had HOPED that your little endeavour would add new books to the library… I’ve already read every scroll and book we possess from cover to cover thrice over.”

Looking over the grand archways of the library and the rows upon rows of books and scrolls all around her, Diana made a face and sighed. “I had hoped to try...”

Smiling in earnest, the red-haired beauty handed a scroll to Diana. “Here, take this, since the oracles gave you such a cloudy future, maybe a story from the past might offer some insight.”

“Oh?” Seeing the title of the scroll, Diana squinted her eyes in curiosity. “The fable of Eros and Psyche.”

Nodding, Alexa turned and went back to work. “You might like it, at the very least it gives me room to fit some other records in its place.”

“Thank you, sister, may we meet again soon.” Seeing Alexa wave without looking over her shoulder, Diana left the library with her scroll under her arm. Once outside, overhead, the princess could see dark clouds roll in from the east out across the bay, seeing a storm brewing in. holding her gift more tightly in her hand, the princess quickened her pace to return to her palace quarters before the storm would hit.

“Best to pick up the pace. If I am fortunate, the storm will be brief, and I can read in peace.”

*

The storm appeared light at first, a slight drizzle out in the ocean. But that drizzle had become a torrential downpour that left the three in the boat to scramble throwing buckets of rainwater out of the fishing boat.

“SON! CAN YOU SEE THE SHORELINE?” Called out the elder of the three, scooping up another bucket worth of water to toss over the side and keep their raft from sinking. His grandson helping as best he could with his own bucket as he cried out, losing his balance when the boat lurched.

“NO…” The man cried out over the waves and screaming winds. Squinting as water got into his eyes. “ALL I SEE IS BAD WEATHER AND REALLY ANGRY WATERS!”

“DADDY?” called out the young boy, spitting out water after a wave overwhelmed the boat. The engine sputtered and coughed smoke as sea water seeped in. “I’M SCARED!”

Turning to see his boy grab hold of the ladder to the steering deck after the wave overtook the main deck. The man stepped down from the wheel to hoist the young boy up close to keep safe. The wind and waves were so loud, he had to yell out just for his son to hear him.

“IT’S OKAY SON. I’M HERE”

Looking around for something that might lead to safety, ANYTHING, it was looking more and more grim by the minute. The storm had come out of nowhere and had hit hard when his family were out in the water. Things looked bleak, until he spotted something. A spot of green in the distance that wasn’t there before.

“HEY DAD, YOU SEE THAT?”

Looking up and wincing from the pain in his knees and back, the older of the three brought his hand over his eyes to block out the storm winds to see out starboard from their little fishing boat. Seeing what looked like an island out in the distance.

“LAND!”

Getting his hands on the steering wheel, the man at the wheel turned the ship in the direction of the spot of land and pushed the throttle as hard as he could.