Apples and Oranges

The path back to the city was a relatively short one from the mountains. It gave Diana time to process what she had seen and learned. ALL her people had been affected by Boston’s wish, there was no doubt of that now, and as a result, her people were now **** to look as terrible as their worst actions. To see how truly UGLY, they were on the inside. But… Apparently that was not true for all. Episteme was spared, so was she. That gave her a semblance of hope, that her sisterhood could be restored to their former glory. The question was how to achieve that hope.

Walking the path through the Queen’s orchards on her way back, she could see her sisters picking fruit for the morning’s feast. Apples, oranges, pears, and olives. Most of their food was grown here, along with fields nearby for other foods not found when hunting out into the forests. Sitting on ladders or holding baskets of produce, Wonder Woman passed by the farmhands who picked the fruit from the trees to bring to the markets. All of them looked frail and withered, still wearing scarfs or hoods to hide their faces from each other, too ashamed of their own appearance.

Stopping, Diana spotted one farm hand weeping against the tree, hunched close with her knees up to her face and wiping her eyes with the back of her boney hands. That is until another farm hand spotted her and offered an apple. Sitting up to stand and taking the offered fruit, the amazon smiled despite herself and kissed the other woman on the forehead. The two quickly gasped as they shuddered, the apple dropped to the ground as they both began to change. The tell-tale crick and crack of bones could be heard as the two stumbled, catching themselves against the tree to steady their feet. Taking their scarfs off slowly, they were both surprised to find they had been restored. So overjoyed, they embraced each other and laughed out loud… Which drew the attention of the farm mistress.

“DID I SAY YOU COULD STOP? Your rest is at meal, like everyone else!” The only one wearing garb of the guard, the orchard mistress glared back at the two who stood surprised their lapse had garnered her attention.

“Orchard mistress, we were just…”

“No excuses! You shall be censored 2 days fasting for your lapse in… AaaaaaaRGH.”

Shivering and falling into a rigor pose, the woman groaned as her back hunched and her fingers became lanky and thin. Her stance became crooked, as if her bones had become misshapen, and clumps of hair fell from her already balding scalp. Haggard and snapping her attention to the others who looked on her in shock and horror, the woman’s face was a permanent sneer of rage as her pale eyes darted from one shocked sister staring to the next. “WHAT ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT?! BACK TO WORK.”

“No!”

Turning to face who called her out, the orchard keeper gasped and tried to stand straight as best she could, her grimace faltering at the sight of her princess approaching the elderly looking woman and stand right in front of her.

“Your majesty, w-what brings you out here to my orchard?”

“I had sought to gain wisdom from the Oracles in our current plight, to find a solution abroad that might help, but it would seem the answer is closer to home than I had realised.” Turning to approach the couple sitting, both amazons quickly stood and straightened their garb, lowering their gaze as their princess stood in front of them with a warm smile. Their beauty had been restored, youthful, vibrant, and shying their eyes away from the smiling princess who took their hands in hers and rubbed her thumbs over the back of their hands. “I declare your censor lifted.”

Feeling the orchard keeper bristle at her authority being undermined, Diana turned her attention back to the hunched over woman who remained silent but kept a firm stance.

“Penelope, why are the farm hands held to such a draconian standard?”

Her eyes shifting, the crone didn’t know how to respond. “We… We are warriors your highness, all our deeds must be as precise off the battlefield as on it.”

“Our people are in crisis Penelope, the consequences of our deeds and actions are now being written on our flesh as it would our character.”

“We cannot be faulty in our duties my princess. There can be no excuses. A single lapse in action can be an opening for defeat by an enemy! Out there, the battlefield is Man’s World, the enemy is man itself. But out here, in this orchard, the enemy is TIME! And I will not be defeated by it”

Narrowing her eyes, Diana stared back at the now emboldened Penelope, the crone clenching her hands tightly as she gave a brave front. Looking to her sisters who had stopped in their picking to watch the interaction, Diana’s resolve softened.

“Everyone, I declare today a holiday, return to your homes, return to your sisters, and when you can, return and finish what you started at your own pace.”

Slightly taken back, the farm hands looked to each other and slowly gathered their things, bringing what they had picked already and gathered them to the carriage brought in to bring their haul back to the city. Bowing as they passed Diana and making their way back into the city, Penelope was beside herself in impotent rage.

“M-my princess, they are tasked to collect the bounty to be brought into the city, we have a quota to finish. I will not fail in my…”

Resting her hands at her sides, Diana shook her head, snapping her attention back at Penelope, who stood shaking with rage in front of her princess. “You are not at war Penelope; you’re just picking apples; I’m trying to save my people. MY enemy is despair, my enemy is grief. And I cannot succeed in MY task if my sisters are punished for trying to save themselves.”

Breathing sharply at the rebuke and trying and failing to retain her composure, Penelope watched as Princess Diana picked up an apple from the nearest basket and handed it to the old woman. “And in the future sister, show some kindness, it costs you nothing, and you may find you might earn a title OTHER than cruel task master amongst our sisterhood.”

Placing the apple in the woman’s hand, Wonder Woman continued her way up the path to the city, joining the farm hands who had gathered around the two who had regained their lost youth and beauty.

Penelope however remained behind, staring down at the glossy green skinned fruit like she had been slapped across the face. Sneering and glaring down at the apple, blood trickled down her lower lip as she crushed the fruit in her frail looking hand and tossed it across the orchard.