Diana shrugged. “Sometimes, gentleness is not what is needed.” And that was a firm belief Diana held. Sometimes firmness was all there could be, and Diana had been in that position as well. A sorrow that they did not feel free to be soft, but then, perhaps it was simply not in their nature. Hippolyta and Antiope had been sisters, for example, but Hippolyta had surely been the softer of the two, great warrior though she was.
She had a little more information that she did not realize she had forgotten to pass along to Thor. If the bubble burst here, none of them would remember any of it. There had been some few residents that had left and returned, and they’d supposedly returned exactly where they’d left, with no memory of this place... or the people in it. Diana had learned that earlier in the evening, only a few hours before her first “panic attack”.
“Oh.” She paused, surprised. For some reason, she hadn’t expected to be asked, and she considered it for a short time. When she looked back up at Thor, her dark eyes shone with pride, which was not often on Diana’s face. “Long ago, when the Amazons were imprisoned, our Queen Hippolyta fought to free us. I was not nearly yet born, but that is our history. As I mentioned.” She fumbled a bit as she realized she’d told him that already, but it mattered for the rest of the story he’d asked for. “One of our warriors in that battle was named Asteria. I do not personally know much about her, but it was said that at one point in the battle, just as the Amazons were attempting to escape to the Isle of Paradise that Zeus created for them, the humans were winning.”
Diana was still walking, her hand linked in Thor’s, but her eyes were a bit misty as she thought about this ancient tale, and where it was leading. That fierce pride was still on her face, and well it should be. “All the other Amazons melted down their armor, such as was left, and crafted for Asteria a set of golden armor with wings. She alone stood against every force of Man on the battlefield while her sisters escaped.” Silly as it might be after all this time, seeing the scene in her mind’s eye that she had imagined since childhood still brought tears to her eyes and gave her goosebumps. “No one ever told me that she died. They never saw her again, but perhaps she simply could not find Themyscira. She had stayed behind, after all. So after the War, when I wanted nothing more from humans and to give them nothing for a time, I went looking for my sister. And I found her armor, Thor. I have worn it only once, and it is the greatest honor I could ever hope to achieve.” Diana had looked back at him by then, and she looked exactly as she had the day she had found Asteria’s armor, thrilled and overwhelmed and entirely otherworldly.