Long Past Dawn

I step out of the bathroom feeling refreshed.

I slip on one of the dresses and throws on a cloak and walk over to the window. I sit on the ledge and quietly watch the activity down below, just like I used to do in my apartment in New York. But this wasn't Manhattan I'm looking out over with its heavy traffic, police sirens, crowds, and shops. It was Themyscira.

The light breeze blowing through my hair is sweet and warm, not polluted like New York's smoggy air. I watch Amazons, as I now know them, on the sandy beaches. Young children squeal in glee as they run down the streets. Down in a square, Amazons walked and talked together as casually as people in her own world would. Everywhere I look I see amazing things. But watching the world below only added to the feeling that things would never be normal again.

Down below me, I watch the waves roll and crash below and feel my mind slowly drift away with the tide.

A knock on the door wakes me from my trance and I turn towards the door to see a middle-aged woman with an old scar running from the top of her lip through to the bottom.

I look at the woman, wondering why she's here. "I'm here to get you for training." She says as if reading my mind.

I nod and get up to follow her.

I shiver as a cold wind hits me, even here it seems that Fall is setting in.

The woman only stops walking when we get to the center of a large field, the grass swaying around our feet like a restless beast.

In the field I notice another girl around my age, I don't recognize her from the feast though. The woman turns to the girl and takes two wooden swords from her. Suddenly I have a very clear idea of what we'll be doing.

The woman throws the sword at me and I'm somehow able to catch it. She nods in approval. "Now then, my name is Diana and I have been appointed to teach you."

I look at the wooden sword in her hand and then the one in mine, with her it looks like a weapon that packs a punch but with me, it looks like a little kid holding a stick.

"Now then let's start," The words are barely out of her mouth before she's lunging at me, her sword pointed for the blow.

I throw up the sword for a block and the sound of it resounds through the field. But Diana doesn't miss a step, she aims two more blows which I somehow manage to block before with the speed of a cheetah she speeds behind me and knocks the back of my knees, sending me to my knees.

I spin around to look up at her, "Hey! That's cheating!"

Diana looks me straight in the eye and for a moment I feel like she actually sees me. She extends her hand to me, "First lesson, tame your demons before you become one."

I don't take her hand but get u myself and get myself ready for round two. I'm not going to let her win.

Diana smirks before getting into a fighting stance, this time right before she lungs she says to me, "Act don't react."

This time I see the move coming and am able to duck before the wood blade passes inches from where my head was.

I spin low on my heels before sweeping her feet out from under her, for a second I think I've won but she rolls onto her back and gets back up again, this time I swing the wooden sword and the force of the blow against her's cracks through the air.

Diana grins at me and I immediately have the feeling I've lost, as soon as the thought comes to mind I feel, for the second time today, my feet being kicked out from underneath me.

I fall to the ground with a thud as I stare up at Diana in growing annoyance. Diana smiles and again gives me a hand that I again don't take.

"When fighting," Diana says as I dust myself off, "Have a purpose if you aim to kill then you will kill, if you aim to wound then you will wound. But when you don't know what you are aiming for then you will most certainly lose."

We continue like that for a while, somehow I always lose against Diana.

By the end of two hours, I'm looking at the sparkling Diana in envy while I'm covered in bruises of all different colors and mud from all my falls.

Diana looks me over before once again offering me her hand, so far I've never taken it.

I push myself up, panting, sweating and pretty close to dropping from exhaustion. I hold tight onto the sword and try not to let her see me shaking but Diana shakes her head, "We'll end it here, go get changed and bathed, someone will look for you shortly fo your next lesson."

Next lesson? I inwardly groan at the thought of defending myself from more onslaught.

But still, I head back in the direction of my room, thinking about the warm bath that's waiting for me when I get there.

The first thing I do when I step into the room is quickly get out of my muddy clothes and head into the bath. Fifteen minutes later there isn't a speck of mud left on me as I get dressed into something clean.

Pretty much the second the clean fur cloak touches my shoulders there's a knock on the door. This time I'm surprised that's it's Lyra and not Diana.

"I'm here to get you for Hippolyta." I try to hide my surprise that Hippolyta is calling for me. But I nod and follow Lyra out of the room and down onto the white sand beach that so far I've only seen from my window.

Up ahead I see Queen Hippolyta seated on a white mare, she looks every bit the part of the Amazon's queen.

I notice that next to her is a black mare and for a second I'm reminded of last night's dream but I shake away the feeling. A dream is a dream.

We walk closer and Hippolyta hands me the reins of the black mare to me, "I'll be teaching you riding from now on."

I nod and stroke the mare's nose, it's as soft as velvet but there's no connection like there was in the dream.