The Purple Ray.

The purple light was… Serene. Peaceful. She could feel it wash over her like a gentle touch, one that massaged and soothed every ache she had in her body. The purple ray has been with her people for centuries, as a means of healing, thanks to her daughter’s ingenuity and unflappable kindness. Every time it was used, her people would walk away unblemished, their physical scars gone, their emotional scars faded, like bad memories slowly being forgotten. She had personally seen the most gravely injured and utterly broken be brought towards the purple ray, and come out whole, complete, at peace. To lay in the presence of the purple ray’s light was like being blanketed over with the healing power of love itself.

Opening her eyes and bringing her hands up to see, the queen opened and closed her leathered, frail looking fingers and sighed deeply. Crossing her hands over her heart, Queen Hippolyta sat up and turned to look to the others in the healing room. Many of her people were beside themselves, some sitting against the wall, rocking back and forth muttering to themselves, while others cried and wailed. Trying multiple sessions in the hopes of their appearance being restored and waking to find those hopes dashed.

On her way out, the queen straightened herself, trying to maintain her dignity as her eyes fell upon her people’s despair. Seeing them in such misery pulled at her heart, some were so ashamed of their appearance they bound their faces in sashes and hoods, some covered themselves completely, horrified to be reminded of how hideous they had been turned into.

“Stop already! It’s my turn!”

Turning her attention to two of her sisters in arms, she watched as they fought over a lounger where the light continued to bask over. Both women grappled with one another, their blistered and aged faces were masks of jealousy and rage.

“You HAD your chance Myrina, the ray did you no favours.” Hissed Patrice, the dark-haired woman was haggard, her body a tapestry of pain and misery. “Perhaps sister, you should wear a linen sack over your head like the rest who are ashamed to look in a MIRROR!”

“Witch!”

“COWARD!”

“Sisters, that is enough.”

The tone was firm, her voice could be heard even by the rest of the amazons in the halls of healing even over their own sobbing and bickering. Immediately stopping to look up at their queen and realise what they had been doing. Many stood up immediately, bowing as best they could, while others stood stunned, unable to process the situation they were caught in. Seeing Myrina and Patrice finally catch themselves and stand straight, to salute and bow, Hippolyta could see the damage had been done, and more so. When they both looked up to see their queen, their appearance had become even more ravaged. New lines and crows’ feet blemished their eyes, their teeth now overgrown and uneven, like the chops of some slobbering animal.

“You are Amazons, the chosen of the gods, warriors without equal. And yet you squabble over your appearance, drunk on your own vanity.”

Caught off guard, the two Amazons traded looks, ashamed of their actions as were the rest in the halls of healing. Frowning, Patrice scowled. “The Man from the outside realm cursed us my Queen.”

Allowing her shoulders to slowly sink, the Queen looked down, silent, she looked to all her warriors, each of them with looks of horror, despair, and anger, before bringing her gaze back to the warrior woman, her sisters looking on for their queen’s response.

“No… We were not cursed, we were punished, by our Goddess of Justice.” Turning, Hippolyta left the chamber. “And rightly so…”

Stepping out into the open air to find her consort at the bottom of the steps, it did not surprise her that Phillipus wore a hood to obscure her face. Once her queen had reached the bottom step, she bowed but did not take her queen’s offered hand, only to hug herself as the two continued down the path of the royal ground of the palace.

“Has my daughter awoken?”

“Yes, Atla informed me she is currently walking the grounds as we speak.” Seeing her queen’s appearance had not changed, Phillipus gave a smile as best she could. “I take it the purple ray did not work?”

Nodding, the queen held herself high and made her way down the cobblestone walkway to the central gardens. “This affliction is a punishment my love. Perhaps… Perhaps this is something that we must live with from here on out.”

“If that is the case, why was your daughter spared this fate?”

“All the more reason to speak with her when I have the chance.”

*

Making her way down the garden paths of her mother’s palace to the rest of her home, Diana could see the rest of her mother’s groundskeepers and guards standing at alert, still bearing the marred, aged looks on their faces, robbed of their beauty and grace, now a punishment as she understood it after her talk with Boston. But the last thing he said still lingered in her mind.

“Beauty is skin deep… But not anymore.”

Looking up from her troubled thoughts, she found her mother and consort ahead of the path, the two looking up to her and waving as Diana hurried towards the two hugged her mother, holding the woman tightly in her embrace and then swiftly bowed graciously once she separated from her.

“Mother.”

“Daughter.”

Looking up, it pained her heart to see the two greatest of her people made frail looking, crone-like and twisted. Her mother bore the lines, grooves, and shallow hanging flesh of a mortal woman in her 90s, blemished with leathered skin, sunken eyes and hair made sickly and frayed. Phillipus’s face was obscured by a sash and hood, but even if she could not see the woman’s features, Diana knew why she wore what she did.

“I have spoken with Boston Brand mother.”

“The man who cursed us?” Phillipus asked, her tone firm and accusatory.

“Not a curse… Not a punishment… A lesson, this… All of this is meant to teach a lesson.” She gestured to the rest of her amazon sisters, each hiding their appearance but keeping to their duties.

Crossing her arms, Phillipus looked out to the suffering of the amazons and back to Diana. “If there is a lesson to this princess, we are blind to it.”

“Indeed, what did he tell you?”

Breathing steadily, Diana looked back at that conversation between her and her friend possessing her sister. “Beauty… WAS skin deep, but now it is a mirror to our inner selves, we are now a reflection of our best and worse actions.”

“What is that supposed to…?

A scream cut off the Queen’s open thoughts, alerting the guards who immediately took to arms and ran to where the cry came from. Without needing to trade looks, the royal family quickly ran to join them. Coming up to the source of the scream, Diana found it came from the royal stables, where a crowd of anxious guards and palace tenants tried to calm the horses and kangaroos to make way for their queen and princess.

“What’s going on?”

The guard, her face wrapped in a veil and hood, looked to her Princess, and narrowed her eyes. “The stablewomen were tending to the Queen’s horses when Episteme flew into a panic, she’s inside the stables now and refuses to exit.”

“Let me speak to her.”

Bowing, the guard let Diana pass. Letting the princess enter the stables alone and find Episteme herself while they tended to some of the horses who were spooked minutes earlier. Once inside, Diana found the sky lights had been closed, making the interior dark and difficult to see. Some of the horses nickered in Diana’s presence or stuck their heads out of their pens to sniff at her. Immediately recognising her as she paused to let them sniff at her hand and gently scritch under their chins.

“Episteme? Are you in here?”

Even though she did not hear an answer, she could hear the woman whimper at the far corner of the stable. Slowly approaching, Diana found an upturned bucket filled with feed for the roos, where one of the rideable kangaroos nibbled at while two others laid down where she could make out the amazon woman hunched up with her knees obscuring her hooded face. There she found the two roos nosing the woman, licking her face as she wept, but even in her anguish she brought her hands up to scratch and sooth the two animals nuzzling her.

“Please… Don’t look at me.” She whispered. “I’m hideous!”

Approaching to crouch in front of the woman, Diana extended her hand to the Amazon caretaker. “Please Episteme, tell me what happened.”

Pulling herself up more tightly, the woman kept her features hidden in the dark. “I… I was feeding the roos, just after I had brushed and tended to her highness’s steeds, Kallus… Kallus had been in dour spirits of late, so I snuck in an apple for her to nibble on.” She gestured to the Roo whose snout she patted gently, the animal licking at her hooded face. “Then… Then I felt it, that feeling when the ghost man cursed us, I could feel my body change, my skin crawl. I got scared… Please don’t look at me.”

Still offering her hand, Diana knelt and smiled down to the woman. “Episteme, it's alright, no matter what you appear, you are still my sister. What befell us… Was a punishment, but also a test. A test we are ALL facing together, so you are not alone.” Still hearing Episteme whimper, she did hear the woman pause and look up, her face still obscured by the hood she wore in the dark. “You think yourself hideous, but I know you were the first to eagerly want to tend to the Queen’s stables every day, when the others scoffed at the idea as beneath them. I’ve seen how the horses and roos come to you even without being called to do so. They do not judge you, neither will your sisters. So please, come with me.”

Hesitantly, the woman reached out and grabbed hold of Diana’s hand.

*

The Amazons outside stood and watched as they found their princess slowly come out of the stables with Episteme pressed close to her, the woman’s arms around Diana’s waist and her hooded head leaning against her shoulder.

Gathered around, the guards and their Queen watched as Wonder Woman stopped in the open and hugged Episteme, whispering that everything would be alright. Only to hear Aello stamp her spear to the ground to get everyone’s attention.

“So, did we enjoy the extra attention our little outburst demanded?” Hissed the woman, her cracked lips, and broken teeth in a rictus sneer back at her princess and the stablemaster. “There are NO excuses amongst my amazons at arms, you should always show discipline. Perhaps time in latrine duty shall reinforce your sense… Of…”

Stunned silent as the rest of the amazons were, they watched as Episteme pulled down her hood and unwrapped the sash she wore around her face. The moment she did, her long black hair flowed out from behind her in the light breeze, full, healthy, and vibrant as silk. Her face was beautiful, the elderly wrinkles were gone, the rot in her mouth replaced with perfect teeth and plump lips, the milky lifelessness in her eyes now vibrant and a sparkling sky-blue. Eyes that looked out to the rest of her sisterhood who stared paralysed in silent disbelief. Her appearance had been completely restored. Looking back at Episteme who looked on her sisterhood in shock, Diana was beside herself.

“How?"