Long Past Dawn

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.

Here I am again, thinking about some stupid dream...

'You shouldn't assume everything is just a dream."

No. That was just a dream. Jikan is dead and that was just a dream.

I grip the reins in my hands tighter and lead the horse over to a large rock on the beach. I climb on top of the rock and place my right foot into the stirrup. People do this on TV all the time, right? How hard can it be?

I swing my left leg over the saddle and... I lad facing the wrong way in the saddle, facing the tail.

In the background, I hear Lyra snort in laughter as my cheeks turn red.

I try to climb off the horse but somehow I'm tangled in the reins and before I know it the horse has taken off, with me still facing backward in the saddle.

Whatever god there is up there they've given up on me.

I try to turn around in the saddle to grab the reins and maybe stop this before things get more out of hand but I can't seem to grab them.

Damnit, come on Dawn you can do this!

I try again and this time I somehow manage to snag some of the reins. I jerk the reins as hard as I can and let out a sigh of relief only for it to turn into a scream when I'm bucked out of the saddle, over the mare's head and onto the sand.

After a few seconds of lying on the sand, I see Lyra's face appear above mine, worry clouds her eyes.

I just lie in the sand as my cheeks turn red from embarrassment, they only seem to turn redder when Hippolyta appears above me, still on her horse.

Then I think about how stupid I must look right now, covered in sand, after being bucked from a horse I was riding backward.

When I think of that I can't hold it in any longer, I let out a loud peel of laughter as Lyra looks at me as if I've lost my mind.

I push myself up off the sand and try to brush some of the corse grains off me, along with the small amount of seaweed that stuck to me.

"I think," Hippolyta says, and I think I hear laughter in her tone but I'm not sure. "That is all we have time for today."

After she says that she turns her horse around and rides off, only stopping to lead the black mare with her.

Lyra and I share a look and once it seems that Hippolyta is far enough away we break out in laughter. "When... When you mounted the poot mare the wrong way I just knew that was gonna happen," Lyra gasps in between her laughter.

"Yeah, did you see how she bucked me too?" I reply, holding my sides.

Together we walk down the beach, talking and laughing about how stupid the whole thing was.

For all the fun I'm having here on Themyscira, I can't help but think back to my old life in New York.

And a part of me can't help but wonder what my life would have been like if I had met Lyra at school, would we be friends? Maybe we would go shopping together, text until midnight, watch movies at the theater, and maybe even go to Coney Island when the weather was good.

After everything that's happened, I still want to go back.

Lyra must see my expression darken because she smiles and leads me up a little rocky path in the cliffside, once over the top of it we're in a grassy field with olive trees encasing it on three sides, the fourth facing the ocean. Eulalia and Anastasia wave to us from the center of the field and from what I can tell, mostly from the giant basket Eulalia is carrying, that they have lunch.

I smirk at Lyra and she smirks back before we start running as fast as we can towards them, with the cool breeze propelling us forward all I can think about is the thought of food. And for the first time in a long time, I realize that I'm having fun.

I beat Lyra to the others by a hair's breadth, we're both panting and sweaty but we're both laughing.

The four of us set out a blanket which I immediately topple onto the second it's on the ground.

We all laugh and the Eulalia and Anastasia bring out the food from the basket, fresh fruit, bread, tarts, and even some meat are what we have. Unsurprisingly it's amazing.

Halfway through the meal, Eulalia and Anastasia bring out more honey wine along with a dessert of sweet berries and cream. We spend the rest of the afternoon talking and eating as we gaze out over the ocean and swap stories.

"So then, Dawn," Eulalia says as she swaps glances with Anastasia. "How was your first day of training?"

Lyra almost spits her honey wine out when she hears the question and we both laugh as we remember the sence on the beach.

"Oh, you'll never believe what happened," Lyra says, trying to speak in between her uncontrollable laughter.

"Well?" Anastasia says, curiosity sparks in her eyes.

"I was thrown off a horse," I say as my ears turn red.

But my embarrassment turns to laughter at Anastasia's and Eulalia's faces.

"Oh but that's not even the best part," Lyra says, she's laughing so hard that I think I can see tears. "She was riding Dimitra."

Anastasia and Eulalia break out in laughter. In between her laughter, Eulalia somehow manages to make out words, "On Dimitra? Dawn whatever did you do?"

My ears turn red again as we all sit there laughing, Anastasia looks me up and down before falling onto her back in laughter, "You must be a real special one Dawn to get Dimitra to kick, she's the calmest horse on the island!"

I laugh, maybe it's the honey wine but somehow I have a feeling that things will get better. "Don't know maybe I'm just lucky."