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Chapter Text

The Justice League had spotted the craft heading towards earth days before. Just a small, single person spaceship that had appeared as a tiny blip on the Hall of Justice monitor. This was unusual, but not unheard of for the heroes of Earth. Thanks to prominent League members like Superman, Martian Manhunter and the Green Lantern, extraterrestrials did have a tendency to visit the planet from time to time.

However, as the craft got closer, things started to get stranger. There was only a single life sign onboard, and it was faint, refusing to answer hailing messages in any Earth languages or frequencies.

“Could they be hostile?” Batman asked, watching the monitor. The vessel was definitely coming to Earth and would enter the atmosphere in the next few hours on its current route.

“Possible, but unlikely.” Wonder Woman wound the coil of her magic lasso of truth tight, preparing to head out the moment they knew where the ship was heading. “A signal as weak as that could mean someone in some form of stasis.”

“That could mean they aren’t actively controlling the ship, right?” The Flash said through a bite from a massive chocolate bar. ”So we don’t even know if Earth is their intended target?”

“No, Barry.” Superman said as he flew closer to the screen and examined the shape of the ship. “We are definitely the intended target. The thruster has corrected course several times… Could be an auto pilot though.” The Man of Steel frowned. Something about this seemed very familiar.

“Passing the ISS now.” Batman said, hitting a few keys on the computer. “We should have a visual now.”

The monitor changed from radar to video and Superman stumbled back. “Oh my god…!”

“Clark? What’s wrong?” Diana asked, putting a hand on her friend’s shoulder.

“That ship… it’s Kryptonian!”
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The Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter had met the ship as it entered the planet’s atmosphere and brought it down gently to Earth in an open field in Russia, miles away from any civilians.

Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman were there minutes afterwards, with the Flash remaining at the Hall in case of any other emergencies. “Have you felt anything, John?!” Clark asked, flying up to the Manhunter, anxious for answers.

“Very little through the ship.” He responded in his deep calm voice. “But I do sense fear. Anger. Hurt. We will know more soon.” He stepped back as a hissing noise came from the ship as the hatch was slowly opened, vapour obscuring the interior.

Suddenly a foot kicked out of smoke, striking the hatch, and breaking it clean off the ship. A figure, little more than a blue blur ran from the ship and towards the approaching heroes. The figure jumped for Batman first, effortlessly knocking the batarangs from his raised hand and knocking him to the ground before trying to make a run for it, screaming strange words in an alien language.

“After her!” Bruce wheezed from the ground.

“Wait!” Clark said, holding up a hand to stop his teammates. He recognized the language from the Kryptonian archives in the Fortress of Solitude. “She’s speaking Kryptonian! I think I can tell what she’s saying!”

“By the Gods…!” breathed Diana, as she helped Batman to his feet.

“She’s calling for her mother and father.” said Clark. “We are dealing with a lost child.”

“A lost child that almost broke my arm!” Batman grumbled, glaring in the direction of the mysterious visitor.

“That’s enough, Batman! I’ll handle this!” Diana flew off after the retreating figure. She didn’t need Amazonian hunting skills to track this new arrival. Their heavy, hard foot falls left a very obvious path. Flying quickly behind the alien, who did indeed seem very small the closer she got to her, Wonder Woman was able to throw the Lasso of Truth over her quarry and pull it tight.

“Ahh! What the heck!” A girl's voice called as the fugitive hit the ground, her arms pulled tight to her sides. She struggled and writhed for freedom, but the rope was too strong.

“Calm down, child. We mean you no harm.” Diana landed and approached her stunned captive. “We only wish to speak to you.”

“Who are you and how are you speaking Kryptonian?”

Diana finally got a good look at the alien. It was indeed a young girl, little more than a teenager with short blond hair, clad in a very familiar outfit of blue and red. Diana was only more surprised to see the red and yellow S emblazoned on the girl’s chest. She recovered quickly. She had a task to do. “My name is Diana. We are speaking because of the magic of this rope. It has the power of truth. One cannot lie while bound in it, but it also allows us to understand one another. You are on the planet Earth. Do you know how you got here?”

The young woman slowly shook her head, but she didn’t speak. While they were talking, Superman gently landed a few feet away. Both Clark and the newcomer had seen each other and locked eyes, not believing the existence of the other.

“My god… Who are you and why are you wearing that emblem?” Clark asked in hushed wonder.

“What did the big blue one say?” The blonde asked Diana. “Why can I understand you but not him? And how in the name of Flamebird did he get that crest?!”

Diana motioned for Clark to come closer. “Hold the rope, then she can understand you too.”

Clark did as she asked. Suddenly, both Clark and the girl found themselves asking each other the same questions at the same time.
“Where did you get that emblem?”
“It belongs to my family.”
“YOUR family’s!?”
“That’s not possible!”

The other league members watched, bewildered, from a distance. “Is this really possible?” Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern asked, knowing how much another Kryptonian on Earth could change the world.

“More than possible, Hal.” The Martian commented. “There’s only one way two people could possibly be that in sync…”

One final time, Superman and the child spoke in unison. “What is your name?”

They were quiet for a moment before the girl spoke, “Kara Zor-El.” She stated, maintaining fixed eye-contact.

“Kal El.” Clark replied softly.

Kara stared at him in disbelief. “Is this… is this some sort of sick joke? There’s no way… Kal El is my baby cousin, I just saw him a week ago! He’s only little! I was bouncing him on my knee!”

She started to panic, “Is this a dream? Yes! That must be it! That explains the familiar name, the black spiky monster and the hot lady with the magic rope!” She paused for a moment blushing, the magic of said rope making her say too much.

She took a deep breath and continued, “Please, tell me I’m dreaming. I’ll wake up back at home any moment now….”

Diana and Clark exchanged a glance. Maybe they would try a different tactic. “If this is a dream, do you remember what you were doing when you were last awake?”

Kara paused in thought. “I was talking to my dad… He…said he had a surprise for me…” She looked down at her outfit. “The ceremonial dress of our family. A gift for each of us at adulthood.” Her smile faltered as the rest of that fateful day came back to her. “He locked me in a pod, once I was dressed… Mom came and tried to stop him. They fought… they were hurt…”

Tears had begun rolling down her cheeks. “Mom said something about Uncle Jor’s crazy plan… and dad… something about keeping me safe… Oh... Oh no…!” She looked up at the strange adults all around her, sobbing without restraint, “What happened to them?”

Clark began to cry softly too and got down to her level, wrapping his strong arms around his cousin. The long sad story of their family could wait for a little while. For now, they were just two lost children of a dead planet taking comfort in the embrace of family.
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Having calmed down from the initial adrenaline rush of panic, from waking up in her strange surroundings, young Kara had gone with the others quietly. She knew she was far from home, in a very strange place, and these bizarre adults were her best way of finding out just what had happened. She trusted the pretty one called Diana, and the big one claiming to be Kal El, so she travelled away from the crash site with them in an unusual stealth ship.

Kara gazed out the window and saw another vessel, sharp and black like the angry dark creature, that seemed to be picking up the escape pod and flying off with it in a different direction. “Hey! Where’s he taking that?! That’s my dad’s ship!” She called out in Kryptonian to Clark in the seat across from her.

Kara still couldn’t believe this man with the massive chin was her baby cousin, even if he did resemble her uncle in a few ways. How come he was suddenly an adult? Who were his weird friends? Why did everyone else call him “Clark”? Nothing was making any sense. But he was definitely a Kryptonian and he spoke her language a little. Maybe they could communicate without the golden rope if they kept their sentences small and simple.

He did seem to understand and rushed to the window beside her, but he didn’t look concerned. Trying his best with his limited vocabulary, he responded haltingly in her tongue, “Friend take ship… watch at computer. Looked where you’ll be.”

She looked in horror at the man who had just butchered her language. “Friend?” She repeated, trying not to stare.

Clark wasn’t sure if there was a word in Kryptonian for “Bat”, so he tried his best to sign his meaning. He put his hands on either side of his head, his fingers up like the pointed ears and complimented the gesture with a moody pouty face.

Kara actually laughed at this; his meaning instantly clear. So, this guy wasn’t as dumb as his sentence structure implied. Still, it was clear they would get nowhere fast this way. “Rope.” She said simply, holding her arms up like they had been tied together in case he didn’t know the word.

He nodded and made a strange hand motion, fist clenched and thumb pointing up, before going to retrieve the length of golden rope from the pretty lady, who was piloting the vessel.

Clark held out the rope and Kara wrapped the end around her wrist. “There. This will be easier.” She said, feeling the magic flow through her. “Your accent was terrible!” She winced, the rope making her say more than she meant to, once again.

“Sorry.” chuckled Clark. “I’ve not had much practice with native speakers. Maybe you could give me a lesson sometime?” He immediately regretted saying this when he saw Kara’s smile fade.

“So it’s true? What Uncle Jor was saying about Krypton, before I left?” She turned to face Clark, with tears in her eyes. “Is it really gone? Are my parents...?” She could barely finish the sentence, unwilling to say aloud the unavoidable truth.

Clark gently placed a comforting hand on his cousin’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Kara. I can’t imagine what it must be like for you. I was so little when I left Krypton, I can’t even remember…”

“BUT HOW!?!” yelled Kara, pushing Clark’s hand away. “How are you…?!” She gestured wildly at the man’s form. “How are you like this!? Why did you say you were Kal El?! I saw him a few weeks ago! He’s only a baby! YOU CAN’T BE HIM!!”

“Kara, please!” said Clark, urgently. He didn’t want to have to restrain the child, but he knew how potentially dangerous a scared Kryptonian on Earth could be. “I’m not sure how, but I think something must’ve happened with your pod that’s caused… this!” He gestured back at the preteen.

“What are you talking about?” Kara asked, her voice quivering.

“I left Krypton the same time as you, Kara.” explained Clark. “Jor El, my birth father, placed me in a pod when I was just an infant. I’m now 27 years old. Krypton’s been gone for a long time.”

Kara shook her head. No,that couldn’t be right! She clearly remembered being placed in the pod, back on Krypton, mere hours ago. She had been watching her parents argue, right before the pod’s stasis system had… put her to sleep…

Realization dawned on the poor girl, as she collapsed into her cousin’s arms and sobbed. The Man of Steel didn’t know what to say. He had always dreamed of one day meeting one of his Kryptonian relatives, but he had never believed it would actually happen. A million questions were rushing through his mind, but at that moment, he couldn’t bring himself to focus on a single one. All he knew was that there was a child in front of him who had lost everything, and needed to be shown love and comfort, so that was what he did.

As Superman embraced the crying child, Diana looked back from the cockpit with sadness in her eyes. “Great Hera…” she whispered in quiet prayer. “Please help us guide this lost child, safely. Show her your mercy and your love, for she needs it now more than ever.” The Princess of the Amazons finished her prayer, as the plane flew onwards towards home.
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The rest of the flight back to Washington DC and the Hall of Justice was mostly silent. Kara had a lot to think about, and none of it was good. Things weren’t helped by the fact the noise from the ship’s engines seemed to be getting louder all the time, and her eyes seemed sensitive to the light from this strange world’s sun.

Wanting to distract herself from the sensory overload, that she assumed was the start of some form of panic attack, she grabbed the rope and asked one of the most important questions she had. “Are we really the only Kryptonians left alive?”

Clark took hold of his end of the lasso once more and said, “No. I’ve met three other Kryptonians before. If they survived, there’s a small chance others might have too. They’d probably be on other planets, or in stasis like you were.”

“Well, that’s good to hear!” Kara said, feeling a small relief to be at least one fifth of her entire remaining culture, rather than one half. It wasn’t much, but it was an improvement, and there was still a chance for more Kryptonians to be out there, among the stars. “Who are the others? Are they on this planet too?”

Clark hated to let her down, but figured honesty was the best policy. “Well… they were here for a short while. But now they’re in the Phantom Zone…”

“The Phantom Zone?!” Kara repeated, certain that the rope must have translated incorrectly.

The Phantom Zone was a pocket dimension discovered by her Uncle Jor for the imprisonment of Kryptonian criminals. Kara shook her end of the lasso and tried again, “You did say the Phantom Zone?”

“Yes, that’s right. His name is Zod. With his wife Ursa and their muscle, Non, they tried to take over the planet. Trapping the three of them in the zone was the best way to stop them...” Clark trailed off as he noticed Kara’s entire body tense up.

“Zod...?” said Kara. “As in General Dru Zod?! The entire planet is gone and of all the people to survive-!” Her voice grew higher as she got more upset, and the noises made by the wind, engine and even people on the approaching ground were overwhelming her thoughts. She paused for a moment, “Excuse me...”

She let go of the rope and started screaming a loud stream of Kryptonian profanities and curses, as she stomped up and down the aisle of the invisible jet. Clark and Diana might not have understood the words, but the meaning was clear.

She let out a final scream and slammed her foot down hard enough to make the plane dip for a moment. The surprise upset the teenage girl’s balance and she fell back to her seat. She took a deep breath and said one more word in Kryptonian that Clark could understand, “Sorry.” She didn’t seem to know her own strength.

“We’re landing!” Diana called from the front. Even she had been shaken by the sudden “turbulence”. The jet hovered over the Hall of Justice as the roof opened up and it was lowered gently into the hanger.

Kara looked out of the window as the jet lowered. She caught a brief glimpse of the city lights in the distance. The architecture was so strange and different from anything on Krypton, but beautiful in it’s own way. As the jet entered the hanger, Kara spotted her father’s pod lying on the floor next to the sharp, black ship, piloted by Kal’s “friend”.

Kara turned to her cousin. “Kal, is this where you live?” She couldn’t help but wonder what her cousin had been up to for the last 27 years.

Clark chuckled. “No, this is just where me and my friends gather to…” He paused, trying to think of how best to describe the role of the Justice League. “Well, let’s just say we work together to try and help the people of this world. Oh, and you can call me “Clark”.”

“Clark?” said Kara. The word sounded so strange in her mouth. “Why would I call you that?”

“It’s the name my parents gave me.” explained Clark. “My Earth parents, that is. Jonathan and Martha Kent. They found my pod when it first landed on Earth when I was a baby. They took me in and raised me as their son. When I was old enough, they showed me the ship that I arrived in, and I learned about my Kryptonian heritage…”

“So… most of your life you had no idea you were different from the people around you?” She thought about that for a moment and what it would mean.

“Well… as I got older, there were a few hints I wasn’t human. I’ll explain it later.” He got up from his seat and helped Kara up from hers. As they exited the vehicle, Diana nearly tripped on the unexpected new dent in her ship’s floor.

Kara, making her way out of the vessel, found herself in a wide hall with a high ceiling. In the center of the room was a massive table with many chairs, and along the walls were large computers, strange vehicles and clear displays of colorful costumes. “What did you say your friends do here, Kal…I mean...Clark?”

Before Clark could answer, he looked up as two figures floated down through the closing hanger doors. Kara recognized them as the other strangers from when she had first emerged from her pod. One was clearly not from this planet, with green skin, red eyes and completely bald. The alien stared at Kara as he landed gently in front of her, making her feel slightly uneasy, as if he could read her thoughts.

The other stranger looked more like a regular Earthling, though his outfit immediately drew Kara’s attention. “You!” she gasped, “You’re a Green Lantern! I thought you guys were made up!”

The man smiled when he heard the title. “Well, always nice to meet a fan.” He gave a small salute. “Hal Jordan, Protector of Sector 2814, at your service.”

Kara blinked in surprise. Had he just answered in Kryptonian?

“Oh, you might be wondering how we’re talking.” Hal grinned, holding up his hand to display his power ring. “This thing also works as a universal translator. Saves me a lot of trouble.” He turned to his alien companion. “That reminds me. John, you wanna do your thing?”

The bald green alien said something in an unrecognizable language, before looking back at Kara.

Feeling slightly unnerved, Kara looked to Clark for support. Her cousin smiled back at her. “It’s okay, Kara” he assured her. “John’s a friend of ours, and he says he can set up a telepathic link so that we can all understand each other. He just needs your permission first.”

She stared between the strange men around her. “You… want me to let him inside my brain? Are you serious? Can’t I just keep holding the rope?”

Diana took hold of the lasso to join the conversation, “I am going to need this back eventually, Kara. Being able to talk freely will help everyone here.” She held out a section of the rope to John to give him the chance to reassure her personally.

The green man took the rope and spoke in a slow, deep and oddly soothing voice. “Greetings, Kara Zor-El. I am J’onn J’onzz of the planet Mars. I swear to you by the red sands of my world that my telepathic link will not invade your thoughts or memories.”

Kara stared at the Martian a moment longer. Then she remembered what Diana had said about the lasso making it impossible to lie, and she nodded her approval. “Okay, J’onn. Go ahead.”

The green man’s eyes briefly glowed a brighter shade of red and he let go of the rope. “It is done.”

“Really? That’s it?” Kara asked, surprised she could still understand him. She hadn’t felt a thing.

“Good.” Another deep voice said from behind them. Kara turned to see the black angry creature moving towards them. “Now that the connection is up, we can move forward more easily. Sorry I’m late. I had to make a quick stop in Gotham.”

“Batman! Wait for me!” A higher voice called out and a smaller figure ran out of the black ship. Kara was expecting another little black beast, but instead saw a human child, a boy slightly younger than Kara wearing a brightly colored outfit running to meet them, with a huge dopey smile on his face.

“What in the name of Nightwing…?” Kara muttered to herself, curious how two people so different could seem to be working together. “Clark, why does the black monster have a small child with him? Is he the beast’s thrall? Or perhaps the creature is his pet?”

There was a ringing silence in the hall and Kara turned slowly redder as she remembered that everyone in the room could understand her now. The silence was finally broken by the boisterous laughter of the colorful child, and soon after, Clark and Diana joined in. The Green Lantern was trying his best to not laugh and even the Martian smiled just a little.

“Bruce, just show her. It’ll be the easiest explanation.” Clark asked once he had stopped laughing.

The creature sighed and brought his hands up to his face. He pulled back the black skin to reveal a very human face. Hard and a bit grim, but human. “Oh… so it was just a helmet and armor…” Kara couldn’t help but feel silly for not realizing it sooner.

The one called Batman, or Bruce according to Clark, looked at Kara with a serious expression. “I suppose any malicious intention would have been revealed by the lasso.” He said, staring at Kara as if she was carrying a deadly weapon. “Still, another Kryptonian could be cause for concern, for numerous reasons.”

“Hey!” Kara snapped. “What’s that supposed to mean?!”

Suddenly, there was a loud cracking sound accompanied by two brief flashes of light. Two more figures had suddenly appeared in the hall with unbelievable speed. One was wearing a bright red outfit with gold accents, while the other was a red-haired boy, roughly Kara’s age, wearing a similarly patterned outfit, with the colours reversed.

The boy who had accompanied Batman waved at the fast kid in the gold outfit. “Hey Wally!” he called out. “Look who Bats and Supes found in Russia!” He pointed at Kara.

The kid named Wally was suddenly across the room and standing next to his friend, in the blink of an eye. There had been a brief few nanoseconds where Kara glimpsed a golden blur moving between the two points, but the boy’s running was almost instantaneous. “What?! How did he…?!” Kara gasped.

“Whoa!” said Wally, smiling at Kara in awe. “Hey there! Are you like… Superman’s sidekick or something?”

“Sidekick?” She repeated in confusion. “Superman?” She asked Clark, guessing correctly that the term referred to him.

“Another title this world has given me. Sidekicks are young partners in our work.” Clark explained, trying to give Wally a look without directly telling him to tone it down.

“So many strange names you have for things on this planet… And strange people.” Her gaze returned to the red-haired one who seemed incapable of sitting still. “Are all humans as fast as this one?”

“Not exactly. Wally here is a special case.” The small boy in the cape said, not seeing the proud smile on the golden one’s face. “In fact, everyone here is a special case among humans in one way or another.”

Kara started thinking about what everyone had said. “Strange exceptional people working together… You people, you’re heroes aren’t you? Like the old stories about Nightwing and Flamebird from Krypton…” She froze, saying the name of her planet had brought it all back to her after a momentary reprieve. “Krypton… Oh Elders! What am I gonna do?!”

“You could join me and Robin!” Wally said excitedly, not knowing all the details of Kara’s story. “We’ve been thinking of starting a team of our own for a while now and it’d be great to have you…”

“Shut up!!” The blonde screamed, glaring at the fast-talking idiot. She would have said more, but at that moment her eyes glowed red and a powerful blast of fiery red energy shot out of them.

Kara leaped back in shock. The smoke cleared a moment later, leaving Kara staring at a red-hot hole in the wall behind where the speedster had been. “What… just happened…?!” Kara whispered in silent wonder.

“You nearly blasted Wally with heat vision!” The boy called Robin yelled from across the room. Wally had scooped up the shorter boy and ran him to safety with his super-speed. The boys were still clinging to each other.

“That was scary… but kinda awesome.” Wally admitted, in no hurry to let go of his friend.

Kara looked around, worriedly. The Green Lantern and the one called Batman had adopted combat stances. The older speedster had rushed over to his companion to make sure he was ok, and J’onn and Diana were staring at Kara with serious expressions.

“I… I’m sorry… I didn’t…” Kara felt terrified, as she thought about all the strange things that had happened since she had arrived on the planet. Running across the wilderness at an incredible speed, hearing all those strange noises in the jet, stamping her foot to create that dent, and now shooting heat blasts from her eyes! “What’s happening to me!?!” Kara cried, as panic began to rise inside her.

She turned around and saw Clark staring at her, looking extremely concerned and almost...guilty? “Kara… I’m sorry…” he said. “I should have told you earlier, but there was just so much I had to say…”

“What do you mean, Kal?!” Kara’s voice was shaking with fear and confusion. “What’s the matter with me?!” she cried.

“Nothing’s wrong!” Clark reassured her, gently pulling Kara into an embrace. “You’re just… undergoing some changes…”

“Changes?” Kara repeated. “What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“I’ll show you.” Clark said, before looking at the other heroes. “We’ll be back soon. Don’t worry, I’m just gonna talk to her.” He smiled down at Kara. “Hold on tight.” he whispered.

Kara was about to ask her cousin what he meant but quickly got her answer when she felt herself being lifted into the air. With a small shriek, Kara grabbed onto Clark, when she noticed that he was the one lifting her.

“What…? How…? Are you…?” Kara gasped as Clark lifted her up into the air towards the ceiling. As they reached the top, a small hatch automatically opened and they flew out into the night sky.

Once again, Kara was awestruck by the skyline of the strange alien city surrounding them. Only this time, she was also distracted by the fact that her cousin was somehow able to fly, without any apparent use of a jet pack or levitation tech.

“Let’s go somewhere quieter.” said Clark with a smile. “I’ll explain what being on Earth means for Kryptonians like us.”
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It was both a relief and a disappointment for Kara, that Clark only had to fly a mile or so away from the somewhat pretentiously named “Hall of Justice”. She had been amazed by the experience of soaring through the air and watching the strange city far below, but it had also been a little frightening being so high up, with only Clark to stop her from falling. This wasn’t helped by the already long list of reasons for Kara to feel uncertain and afraid.

They soon landed on the roof of a large structure, which according to Clark, was known as the “Lincoln Memorial”. Kara had no clue who this “Lincoln” person was, but judging by the large statue of an important looking figure on a throne, which Kara had spotted before they landed, she felt it was a safe guess that he was someone incredibly important to the people of this world. Perhaps he was a superhero too? Maybe her cousin could introduce her?

As soon as they had landed, Clark had reassured Kara that they wouldn’t be interrupted. It was still a few hours before sunrise, and nobody would think to look for them up on the roof. He then proceeded to explain all the strange things that had happened since Kara had set foot on Earth, as well as why people called him Superman, and how he was able to fly.

According to Clark, the radiation emitted by the Earth’s sun was of a vastly different nature to Krypton’s. This radiation had a strange effect on the biology of Kryptonians, causing their cells to mutate and develop fantastic abilities! Growing up on Earth, Clark had been gifted incredible strength, invulnerability, and enhanced hearing and sight, along with x-ray vision, heat vision, freeze breath and the ability to fly.

He theorized that since Kara’s ship had been travelling through the local star system for quite some time before landing, she would have soaked up massive amounts of radiation, unfiltered by the Earth’s atmosphere. She was already beginning to develop her own strange powers, like the ones Clark had, and much more quickly than the years it had taken for the young boy growing up in Kansas.

Kara listened and watched as Clark demonstrated some more of his abilities. He floated up into the air, before shooting off into the night at a high speed, nearly knocking Kara to the floor. A few seconds passed before Clark returned, now carrying a large boulder.

“What?!” said Kara, bewildered. “Where did you get that?”

“It’s from a nearby park, about a mile west of here.” Clark explained, casually. “I’m only burrowing it so that we can do a little practice.”

Kara didn’t appreciate how flippant her cousin had been with the fact that he had seemingly flown a mile away and brought back a heavy chunk of rock, all in a matter of seconds. “What do you mean practice?” she asked.

Clark placed the rock gently down on the roof in front of Kara. “I want you to try and lift this.” He said, calmly.

Kara stared at her cousin, then at the rock, and then back to Clark. The boulder was almost as big as she was, and probably weighed a lot more. “What?” Kara placed her hand on the rock and felt it’s cold rough surface. “There’s no way…”

Clark simply smiled. “Just give it a try. I believe in you, Kara.”

Kara nervously slid her hands into the crevices in the boulder’s underside, and lifted. At first, she felt the resistance of the boulder’s weight, as gravity and the logical side of Kara’s brain thought, “This thing weighs a ton! How am I supposed to even shift it?!”

Then Kara looked at her hands, and saw that they were still moving! She could feel the cold, hard stone on her palms and fingertips, but none of the strain of having a ton of rock pressing down against her. The boulder clearly should have been heavy enough to squash her flat, but all that weight simply... no longer mattered to Kara!

“What in the name of Flamebird…” she whispered in quiet awe. Tempted by an idea, she gingerly let go of the rock with her left hand and was shocked to see she could still hold it in her right, with almost no effort. A smile came to her face and she laughed, throwing the stone high up into the air and catching it with her other hand. “This is amazing!” She called out, throwing and catching it a few more times, “This is incredible! This is…”

She stopped mid-sentence and missed the rock coming down. She barely even registered the loud crash as the bolder fell off the roof and broke on the stones below. “This is not good! You mean to tell me that Zod and his goons had powers like this when they got to this planet too? Oh elders, that’s bad! That’s very very bad!”

“Kara, calm down!” Clark said, trying not to worry too much about the damage to a national monument that his cousin had just caused. “They’re locked up tight remember? And if they break out, I beat them before and I can beat them again.”

Kara didn’t stop though. “But they aren’t the only threats to this world are they, Kal? Your other friends have powers too, there are bad humans with abilities as well aren’t there?”

He nodded and sighed. “It’s true. There are threats of all shapes and sizes that me and my friends in the Justice League fight. Human, alien, magical, machine, or monster. I have seen it all.”

Kara looked at her hands, once amazed by their power, now she was frightened. “Am I a threat too, Kal? Am I a danger to those around me?”

Clark was silent for a moment. “I won’t lie to you, cousin. All of us with powers can do harm if we don’t keep them under control.” He looked over the edge of the monument at the crushed and cracked stone that would have been full of people hours before. “But we don’t need to be afraid of that power.” He looked up at her and extended his hand to her. “Kara Zor-El, let us help you. Let us train you. And in time, you could get the control to have a normal life among the people of this world.”

“And if I wanted to join you in protecting this world from Zod and those like him?” She asked, looking at his proffered hand, awaiting his answer before taking it.

“Then I would say, welcome to the Justice League, Kara.” They smiled and shook hands. After a moment Clark called to the night air, “I know you’re there, Batman!”

Kara looked up and around her, surprised to see Batman had snuck up behind them both. “Where did you come from!?”

“Don’t mind him, Kara. He does these kinds of things all the time.” Clark chuckled. “You heard all of that Bruce?”

“Heard and saw.” He answered in an annoyed tone, “You really couldn’t have caught the rock before it hit the ground?”

“I’m sorry! There was a lot going on!” Clark had the good taste to look embarrassed, knowing his friend would have to pay to fix the damages.

“How are you feeling now, Miss Zor-El?” Another voice asked from the night before Diana flew in from the darkness to land beside the men.

“Diana, you were listening too?” Clark asked, surprised he had caught Bruce but missed her.

“Oh sure, most of us are around here somewhere.” She waved him off casually, “You know J’onn at least had to stay close-by or you’d lose the mental connection.”

Both Kryptonians were surprised that a pigeon flew up from the memorial and transformed into the large green man who gave a little wave.

Batman grumbled, “You were down there, and you didn’t catch the stone either J’onn? Do you people think I’m made of money!”

The Martian looked blankly at his friend, “You are personally and privately funding teleportation technology and building a space station, and you complain about fixing broken stairs? If you are not made of money, then I believe no human is.”

“There’s a difference…” It was all he could say, still recovering from the fact his quiet friend had said something very close to a joke. The man in black sighed. “So “Supergirl” here has decided to join the good fight?”

“Supergirl?” Kara repeated. Were they being serious? Were they giving her a nickname already? “Can’t I be Superwoman?”

Diana smiled and nodded her approval, liking this girl more all the time. “Maybe once you’re a little older and a little more seasoned. For now, little sister, you first need to learn control over your powers, then you’d need to know the ways of the wider world. Only then do I think you would be truly ready to join us as a fully-fledged hero.”

“When can I start?” Kara said immediately, wanting to jump right into the fray.

Diana paused in thought. “Well let’s see… to train you, you’d need a quiet place with lots of room and sunlight away from prying eyes…” She smiled. “If you and Clark will follow me back to the Hall, I think I might know the perfect place.”

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Back at the Hall of Justice, Diana sat with Kara at a small table. They were waiting for Clark to finish discussing the matter of repairing the stone steps with Batman. J’onn was over by one of the windows, and appeared to be meditating, though the telepathic translation link still seemed to be working.

After a minute or two, the boy called Robin came in and offered Kara a large mug of a hot beverage with a strange white foam covering the top. “Here. I thought you could use this.” He set the tankard sized mug down in front of her.

Kara was surprised to see her family crest on the side of the mug. Yet another item to add to the ever-growing list of things to question her cousin about. She wanted to ask what the strange beverage was, but that felt ungrateful, so she just said, “Thank you, Robin… I… I’m sorry about earlier.”

Robin smiled back at her. This boy seemed to radiate positivity in a way that Kara had never seen before. “Don’t worry about it. Wally did much worse when he was getting used to his powers.”

“Oh, Wally!” Kara winced, as she remembered the other boy she had almost incinerated. “Please, apologize to him too when you see him. I still feel bad for giving you and your boyfriend such a scare…” Not sure what else to say she took a sip of the drink. Her eyes bulged in their sockets. She had never tasted something as rich and sweet as this!

“Uhh… Wally and I aren’t dating.” Kara looked up from drinking the liquid happiness to see Robin’s face had turned very red.

“Oh, I’m sorry! Did I use the wrong word?” She asked, hoping she could fake ignorance of Earth culture to get out of this gaff.

“Yeah, I think you must have!” His voice was a little louder as the embarrassed junior hero made his way to the door. “Anyways, welcome to Earth, Kara! Enjoy the hot cocoa!” He ducked out of the room almost as quickly as his speedy friend.

“There I go again…” She sighed but smiled at the mug, “Hot cocoa?”

“Good, isn’t it? Lots of kids drink it when they’re cold, or sometimes just for comfort.” Diana explained, “If you think that’s good, wait till you try ice cream!”

“Or apple pie.” Clark added, entering and taking his seat.

“And don’t worry about that other slip up.” Diana leaned in conspiratorially, “You aren’t the first person to make that connection with those two. I think they’re the last ones to realize they like each other.”

“At least that’s one thing that is the same between Earth and Krypton. Boys in love are completely clueless.” She chuckled, taking another sip of the drink.

“Oh, girls aren’t immune to that either. Trust me.” Diana laughed, thinking of how oblivious the girls back home could be. “That brings me back to the offer I wanted to make to you. But first, Clark! Didn’t you say you had a plan for Kara too?”

The larger Kryptonian nervously rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ll be honest, the best I can think of is for her to move in with Ma and Pa. They’re out in the country, not many people to see her… She’d probably have to train by night out there and it’d be slow work…Plus, I’d need to talk with them about it first...”

“That’s about what I thought.” Diana said, turning her attention to the young girl. “Kara, I come from an island nation called Themyscira. My people, the Amazons, are proud and powerful warriors and, if I say so myself, made of stronger stuff than most normal humans. We could train you to use your powers in a quiet, beautiful place where the prying eyes of the rest of the world wouldn’t know about you until you were ready.”

She considered the two offers. A quiet place in the country with Clark’s Earth family, or an island far away with strangers. “I don’t know… It sounds like a lovely place…”

Diana took a guess at something she had felt about this young girl. “Did I mention that the Amazon warriors are all women?”

“What?”

“Tropical island of warrior women… lots of young girls your age to make friends with…” Her smile widened as she saw Kara’s cheeks turn pink all but confirming her suspicions.

Clark smiled at his friend. That felt like a dirty trick to get Kara to pick Diana’s option, but he couldn’t deny the better social opportunities she’d have in Themyscira over Smallville.

“That… actually sounds like a lot of fun…” She took a breath to gather herself. “Alright. I’m in!” Maybe this planet wouldn’t be so bad. It would be some time before it felt like home, but Kara was determined. After all, if her baby cousin could become a hero great enough to be known as Superman, how hard would it be for her to achieve the same greatness?

“Alright, Earth…” Kara thought to herself. “Get ready to meet... Supergirl!”

Chapter Text

Kara Zor-El’s first week on the planet known as Earth was probably about as welcoming as she could have realistically hoped it would be. While she still struggled to come to terms with the fact that her entire planet and most of her family were gone, it helped to know that her cousin was there to support her, and that her new life on Earth came with many wonderfully exciting prospects. It was more than enough to keep her mind from dwelling on the loss, at least for now.

After spending her first night at the Hall of Justice, Kara had been informed that the woman known as Diana had left early to inform her people that Kara would soon be coming to live with them. That had helped to distract the young teen from thinking too much about all that she had lost. Nothing could stop her from being excited at the idea of visiting an island paradise filled with beautiful, strong female warriors.

After two more days of living in secret in the Hall of Justice, Clark had decided to move Kara to a new place to stay. Somewhere he called his “Fortress of Solitude.”
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It had been a long quiet trip in Batman’s strange black aircraft. Kara, Clark, the Batman, and J’onn the Martian to help them to communicate, all travelled to a vast frozen tundra, even more barren looking than the place Kara had crash landed. She had worried for a moment, thinking that this inhospitable landscape was maybe the site of a great prison colony, but her concerns vanished when she saw the Fortress.

Crystals! The entire fortress was made of glistening, beautiful, Kryptonian crystals! It was as if she had found the home of a long lost friend in this cold, desolate wasteland. She fought to keep back the tears as memories flooded her mind. Everything from the grain of the stone to the light glittering off it, was welcoming and familiar to her in ways she couldn’t express.

Kara was silent, unable to vocalise her emotions as the ship flew into the main concourse of the Fortress. The interior was almost identical to her Uncle Jor’s old laboratory, with a large crystalline computer console at the far end of the room. There were many other items of decoration and furniture, of both Earth and Kryptonian origin, that had evidently been added over the years.

She also spotted the space-pod that had brought her to Earth in the first place, along with a more sleek, if somewhat weathered ship, which she assumed was the pod that had brought her cousin to Earth years before. Kara still couldn’t quite comprehend what had happened to her in between leaving Krypton and arriving on Earth. To her, it had merely been a few hours of stasis-induced sleep, but to everyone else, she had been floating through space for the past 27 years!

“Do you like it Kara?” Clark asked softly, after he had allowed his cousin a moment to take in the scale of the facility. “My father sent all of this to Earth with me. I still haven’t managed to figure out how everything works, but you are welcome to everything here.”

Kara was broken out of her reminiscences and stared at her cousin in disbelief. “What do you mean you haven’t figured out how they work? I’ve been using them since I was a child.” She walked over to one of the dormant consoles and pressed two buttons on the sides, bringing the Kryptonian machine to life.

These computers had been fairly standard appliances on Krypton. Uncle Jor must’ve programmed the fortress to have more beginners' technology, so that his son would have an easier time learning how to use them. It was almost adorable that Clark still struggled with such simple tech.

Clark deflated a little, reminded of the time he had to help his dad set up his new VCR and how confused Pa had been by it. He was too young to feel this old. “Maybe you can help me learn how all of these work then.” He said, begrudgingly accepting his fate, yet still glad his only friends here to see this were both too stoic to actively mock him for it.

Kara smiled wider. “It should be easy to teach you. This first unit is a language software.” She held back a laugh as she looked at the information on the console screen. “Is this what you’ve been using to learn Kryptonian, Kal? You’ve had it stuck in beginners mode! No wonder you’re so rusty!”

She tapped a few keys, and quickly had the program working properly. “There! Should work a lot faster now!”

Deciding to test the software out, Kara spoke into a small receiver to the side of the screen. “My name is Kara Zor-El.” She spoke in her native Kryptonian. The machine played a synthesised clip of Kara’s voice, repeating her words back to her in Earth’s English.

“Impressive…” J’onn remarked in his deadpan voice, floating up behind Kara to admire the computer. “I surmise that, with the combination of our psychic link and this technology, we should have you speaking fluent English in no time.”

“Yeah!” Kara smiled up at the strange green man. “I bet I could learn Earth talk pretty quick! Then we wouldn’t even need the mind link anymore!” She paused as she considered her words. “Oh... No offence J’onn.”

The Martian Manhunter didn’t seem to be offended, but it was honestly hard to tell, as his face showed very little emotion. “Do not worry Kara Zor-El. It is good to know that you should be able to learn Earth languages at a much faster rate than we had previously hoped.”

“Hmm.” The Batman grunted from over in the corner, making Kara jump slightly. She had forgotten he was there, despite his all black attire in such a bright environment, he really did fade into the shadows surprisingly well. “That’s not the only thing you’re going to have to learn in order to live on Earth. Have we forgotten that she nearly incinerated both Kid Flash and Robin yesterday?”

“That’s enough, Bruce!” Clark said sternly. “She doesn’t need to hear that right now.”

Kara looked down at her feet, blocking out the adults’ words. She still felt guilty, and a little scared, about that particular incident. She still hadn’t fully processed the fact that she had developed incredible superpowers under Earth’s sun. Unlike Clark, who had gradually learned to control his powers as they had developed, Kara had awoken from over 25 years of status-sleep with her powers fully developed!

So far she had discovered that her physical strength and endurance, along with her hearing, had increased to unbelievable levels. She had also, as the Batman had just reminded her, discovered the ability to project red-hot beams of concentrated solar energy from her eyes! This ability scared her the most.

However, it wasn’t just fear and uncertainty that she felt as she thought about her new powers. She had been very excited to learn that, if she truly had developed all of the same powers as her cousin, then she would have also gained the ability to fly! Since learning this, she had been very eager for Clark to start giving her some basic lessons in controlling her powers.

“I’m happy to learn about my powers while I’m here!” said Kara, before her cousin argued any further with Batman. “We can do a little practice here before Themyscira, right?”

“Hmph…” Batman grunted as he exchanged a look with Clark, before turning and heading back to his ship.

“Don’t mind him.” Clark said, smiling at Kara. “Once he’s gotten to know you, he’s actually a really nice guy. Just takes him a while to trust most folks.”

“I guess…” Kara said sadly. “I mean… I don’t think almost blasting his kid was exactly the best first impression.”

Clark gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry about that. Dick’s an excitable kid, and much sturdier than he looks. Not to mention he’s quite the fan of mine!” Clark chuckled. “If anything, he’s probably honoured to have been there when you first discovered your powers.”

Slowly, Kara smiled back at Clark. “Seriously? You have fans?”

The two children of Krypton burst out laughing. It was the most Kara had laughed since her arrival on Earth, and Clark was determined to keep her spirits high.

“C’mon cuz!” He said, offering Kara his hand. “Lemme give you an exclusive tour of the place…”
________________________________________________________________

Clark and Kara spent the next hour touring around the Fortress of Solitude. Initially, Clark had been the one giving Kara a tour of his home-away-from-home, but the tables had soon turned as it became clear that Kara knew more about most of the Kryptonian technology there than Clark did. After a while, it started to become unclear who was giving the other a tour.

J’onn chose to stay in the main foyer, meditating, so that the telepathic link remained active. Batman, on the other hand, had left in his ship to return to his home city of Gotham. Kara didn’t mind too much. Being around the Batman had made her nervous, even before the incident with Robin.

After returning to the foyer from the trophy room (Clark had wanted to maintain his pride by showing Kara something that she would be unfamiliar with), the cousins noticed for the first time in hours that the Martian Manhunter was still there, meditating in midair.

“Oh, sorry J’onn!” Clark said, though his friend seemed unperturbed. “We got a little distracted. You don’t have to stick around if you don’t want to, now that we’ve got the translator working.”

The Martian opened his eyes and gave a very small smile. “Oh it’s quite alright, my friend.” He spoke softly. “I’m grateful that you allowed me to meditate in your home. The Fortress reminds me more of Mars than most other places on Earth.”

Up until that point, Kara had been a little distracted by Superman’s trophy room, but she couldn’t help overhearing J’onn’s casual mention of his homeworld. “J’onn…” She asked cautiously. “Could I ask what might be an… indelicate question?”

The green man turned to face her. “You want to know how I came to be on this planet.” It was a statement, not a question.

“I… yes. Did you read my mind to find that out?” Kara got a little nervous about what else he might have been seeing in her head.

J’onn’s expression, once again, gave the tiniest hint of a smile. “I do not need to read your mind to know. Everyone asks me that question. And as a fellow visitor from beyond the stars, I have more reason to give you an answer.”

He used his powers to pull a chair across the floor and sat down. “As I said previously, I am a native of Earth’s neighbouring planet; Mars. I was unexpectedly taken from my home when my teleporter signal was unintentionally intercepted by an Earth scientist named Dr. Saul Erdel. With me being out of communications range with Mars, and Earth not yet having developed teleportation technology, I was stranded here. To make matters worse, Dr. Erdel perished not long afterwards, meaning that the data originally used to bring me here was lost along with him.”

That was sadder than Kara had expected, J’onn’s emotionless voice and barebones explanation notwithstanding. “I’m sorry, J’onn,” Kara said, taking a seat with him. “But don’t lose hope. I’m sure Earth will have teleportation before you know it!”

“I doubt it.” His brow fell a fraction of an inch, which might have been as sad as he could look. “Batman is one of the richest and intelligent men on the planet. He has near-unlimited resources. Even he thinks it could take years for Earth to develop a functional global teleportation network, let alone an interplanetary one.”

“You’re… You’re joking right?” Kara looked up and called to Clark, “Just how behind the times is this planet?”

“Did Krypton have teleporters?” Clark asked with excited curiosity.

Kara rolled her eyes. “Uh yeah! For about two generations, at least for getting around on the planet.” An idea struck her and she got up and began looking over all of the terminals in the fortress. “Don’t worry J’onn. I think I might be able to find you and Batman a shortcut somewhere in these files!”
________________________________________________________________

Kara felt a brief sense of purpose fixing and diagnosing the decades old technology of her own planet. She had never been the most technically minded girl back on her home planet, but she was glad to have something so familiar occupying her mind and her hands, as she poured through the encyclopaedic entries left by her Uncle Jor.

First, she identified for her cousin what all of the machines were used for. None of them were weapons, as that wasn’t Jor-El’s way, but many great tools of learning and science. With her own knowledge limited, Kara put the majority of her efforts into learning the English language through the linguistic terminal (With a little help from her new Martian friend to speed things along). Once that was done, she would be able to better explain what the more complicated machines were meant for.

Eventually, Kara found what she was looking for; a documentation of the technological history of Krypton, authored by some of the planet’s top scientists, including her Uncle Jor. It included various schematics and theories, which Kara recognised from her old tutoring sessions, detailing Krypton’s teleportation network. It was pretty complex stuff that even Kara couldn’t make heads or tails of, but it was a step in the right direction.

Now that Kara had some conversational English under her belt, and even managed to read a little, J’onn went home to the Hall of Justice, but not before thanking his young friend for giving him renewed hope of seeing his home again. The data they had recovered would need to be translated and transferred onto the Justice League’s Earth software before it would be of any use, but there was no denying that significant progress had been made.
________________________________________________________________

Kara spent the next few days living mostly within the Fortress’s walls. Clark had a life as both a hero and a civilian to get back to, which meant leaving Kara alone in the Crystalline palace. She didn’t mind too much, as the Fortress was already starting to feel like home to her, and Clark still visited several times a day. He even gave Kara a special JLA communications device that she could use at any time to call him if she needed to.

Clark also began providing Kara with Earth reading material to keep her entertained and teach her about Earth culture. They were mostly simple, small books with many many pictures, possibly intended for children. The youth of Earth certainly read some strange things. Clark seemed especially fond of stories of the man known as “Captain America”, who must have been very important. People in the city of Washington had flown banners with his logo all over the place!

Of course, Kara didn’t stay inside for the entirety of her time in the fortress. Clark joined Kara for a walk in the fresh arctic air every afternoon, barely bothered by the wind and cold. This was one of the new perks of having superpowers that filled Kara with excitement for what was to come.

The cousins spent most of their outdoor time learning about Kara’s new abilities. Kara excelled in smashing and lifting whatever heavy objects they found out in the frozen tundra, to the point where she even began to wonder if she was stronger than Clark. With hardly any effort, Kara lifted and smashed rocks, boulders, icebergs, and even an old shipwreck that Clark fished out of the ocean!

Unfortunately, this was about the only area of superpower training that Kara felt she was any good at. The meditation sessions where Clark attempted to help her focus her super-hearing proved difficult. Kara had never really been one to sit and try to take in the surroundings. She was more of a girl of action, after all.

Kara also refused to test out her new x-ray and telescopic vision, out of fear of her accidentally causing more damage with her heat vision. Luckily, Clark understood that this could wait. Kara was still new to all this. No need to unnecessarily stress her out by focusing on the ability that scared her the most.

Kara was most excited to learn how to fly, but Clark had chosen to leave those lessons alone for the time being, until the younger Kryptonian had some more basic control of her abilities. Her super strength was impressive, but undisciplined, normally breaking more than she intended to. Clark didn’t exactly want his cousin repeatedly crashing to the Earth and leaving giant craters dotted around the place.

After a few more days of practice, learning, reading and talking alone, Kara’s understanding of Earth’s culture and language had come quite a long way. Clark decided it was time that Kara had a practical test of what she had learned, as well as some socialisation for the young girl.

One day Clark brought an older man and woman to meet her, who he introduced as his Earth parents; Jonathan and Martha Kent. They were quiet, simple people, but very welcoming to Kara, and were the epitome of kindness itself once they got over the shock of finding another person like their son. Martha Kent and Kara quickly formed a dangerous alliance talking about different embarrassing stories from when Clark had been a baby.

Not long after the Kents’ visit, Clark brought a pretty woman about his own age. Lois Lane, his girlfriend! Lois knew a lot about the world and patiently answered all of Kara’s questions, also providing her with stories of the many adventures she and Clark had shared over the years.

Kara felt more welcome with every new person that she met, and yet she didn’t feel like she was home. No matter how nice her visitors were, or how familiar the fortress was to her senses, Kara knew she couldn’t stay here forever. If she was ever going to feel at home on this planet, she would have to get out into the world on her own, and not just hear about it from others. Once she felt that she had explained to Clark, J’onn and the Batman how all the machines worked, and mastered conversational English (as well as French and Greek just for fun), she asked her cousin to contact Diana. She was ready to truly begin her training.
________________________________________________________________

Diana Prince, better known to the world as Wonder Woman, came the next morning in her iconic Invisible Jet as she had called it. Clark and Kara waited outside the fortress doors as the vessel landed in the snow.

The tall woman with her long dark hair and sparkling red, blue and gold armour waved warmly at the Kryptonians across the field of ice before turning back to the ship and calling to someone. It seemed she wasn’t alone.

A smaller figure stepped out of the plane wrapped in a massive red coat with a furry hood. Whoever this newcomer was, they stood a few feet back from Diana, giving an occasional shiver from the cold that the other three felt less intensely. Someone human then? Kara wondered, trying her best not to stare.

“Hello again Kara!” Diana spoke a little slowly for the Kryptonian, still managing to sound friendly rather than condescending. “How have the language lessons been coming along?”

“So far so good.” Kara responded, glad that they no longer needed that strange magic rope or the mental link to talk. “I think I’m pretty good at English now, though I could always use more practice.”

Diana smiled with delight, “Bless Athena, you are a fast learner!”

“What’s an Athena?” Kara asked, earning a small musical laugh from the bundled up companion.

Diana smiled, not taking any offence at the question, “Just an old friend of my people. I can tell you about her later if you want.” She turned her attention to Clark then, “Sorry that we can’t stay around, Clark. But you know where to find us if you need to talk to either of us.”

Kara looked between the adults, her cousin only nodding his head in response. “You aren’t coming with me?”

“I’m sorry, Kara.” Clark said with a sad smile. “It’s the law of Themyscira, men aren’t allowed.” He placed a friendly hand on his cousin’s shoulder, “But don’t worry. I will fly over every few days to check on you, and Diana can send for me if you have any problems. You’re such a fast learner, I know you’ll be done training before you know it.”

There was silence between the cousins for a moment. Just two lost children of a dead world. Having found each other, they were reluctant to part, but they knew this was necessary. They both embraced, holding tight long enough for a light layer of the snow to gather on their shoulders.

“I’ll see you soon, Kal.” Kara said softly, finally allowing herself to let go. With one last look back at the fortress, and her last living family, Kara turned and followed Diana and her friend back inside the plane.

Once the door closed behind them, Kara stared out the window for a few seconds. “Are you ok?” A voice asked from behind her.

Kara turned around and froze mid response. The mystery companion had taken off their hood, and Kara found herself staring at a very pretty girl about her own age, with her long black hair tied back in a ponytail.

“Hi…” said the girl, giving a cute awkward smile. “I’m Wonder Girl… but you can call me Donna.”

“Oh…” was all Kara managed to say, as her befuddled brain slowly came back online. Of course, it made sense that Diana, AKA Wonder Woman, would have a young sidekick as well, and said sidekick would obviously be a girl. “You’re a… sidekick?” Kara prayed to Rao that she was pronouncing the word correctly.

Kara internally cursed herself for not spending more of the past week researching the people who she was going to be living with for the foreseeable future, though there had been quite a lot of other information she had needed to study about Earth languages and culture.

The girl named Donna nodded, “Yeah, but I haven’t gotten out as much as Robin or Kid Flash. Diana is my big sister too… sort of… long story.” Her face briefly fell but she didn’t let that stop her from caring for her guest. She patted the seat next to her as the plane started taking off. “Diana asked me to help you get settled on Themyscira once we get home.”

“Oh yeah?” Kara asked, taking the seat and trying her best to not be close enough to touch Donna. “What’s your home like?” She tried to keep her mind occupied by other things. Why was she feeling so flustered just talking with a cute girl? Sure, she had been aware enough of these sorts of feelings on Krypton, but she had been able to function! Was this from the sun supercharging everything? Or was this Wonder Girl just that cute? Donna smiled and her cheeks dimpled. She was that cute! Uh oh!

“It’s a wonderful place! Some call it Paradise Island,” Donna continued, “White sands, blue waters, clear skies. No loud noises like the big cities, and everyone is so nice!”

“And is it true everyone there is a woman like you and your sister?” Kara asked.

Wonder Girl nodded, “Yep. Well, more like Diana than me… Part of that long story I mentioned is that I wasn’t born on the island. But it’s not just adult warriors, there are women of all ages living there.”

Kara nodded, wanting to learn as much as she could about Themyscira as she could. “Are all Amazons like Diana? Do you have powers too?”

Donna chuckled at Kara’s enthusiasm. “Yeah, I have powers. But don’t ask me to explain how all of Themyscira’s magic works. Even after most of my life on the island I can’t understand all of it. I’m still not entirely sure how Diana was sculpted from clay as a baby.”

“I’m sorry, what?” said a bewildered Kara. Maybe her English wasn’t as good as she had thought, “Your sister is made of clay?”

“Yet another long story.” Donna gave an apologetic shrug. “I promise, I’ll explain more of everything once we get there.”

The pair chatted casually on the flight, keeping their topics light and simple, which Kara was thankful for. The Kryptonian teen wasn’t ready to talk about her old life before, and she felt Donna was aware of that, avoiding personal topics. And yet the Kryptonian was a little surprised that the young Amazon seemed just as ready to avoid answering any personal questions herself. That “long story” that she mentioned about not being born on the island… Perhaps Kara’s new companion had a history of her own...

“We’re here!” Diana called from the cockpit. Both girls looked out the window, Donna beaming, Kara… confused.

“All I see are clouds.” remarked Kara. “Where’s the island?”

“Just wait for it….” Donna’s smile grew wider and wider as she watched out the window. Then, the fog vanished as quickly as it had appeared and Kara beheld a beautiful sight! A massive island splendidly adorned in vibrant greens, brightest blues, sparkling seas and cloudless sky.

The isle of Themyscira, all the more beautiful after days of blinding white and colourless crystal. “By Roa…” Kara whispered breathlessly as Diana brought the ship in for a landing.

The landscape was slightly marred by a tiny slightly shoddy-looking structure at the far end of the beach where the ship landed. It caught Kara’s eye as the three women stepped out of the ship. “Do your people live in homes like this?” She asked, enjoying the give of the soft warm sand under her feet as she followed Diana uphill towards the structure.

“No, the city is much nicer.” Diana said with a smile. “This building is our customs checkpoint and embassy. We don’t really get many visitors here, and it was built in a rush, but some of my sisters like it this way. If invaders see that first, they won’t expect the true size of our force.”

“That’s not a bad way of thinking. How often do you get invaders?” Kara asked, remembering some news reports Clark had shown her, showing how much humans seemed to enjoy fighting with each other.

“Less often than we get visitors.” Donna said with a sigh. “For the sake of formality we still need to bring you there first.”

As they neared the sad little embassy, Kara saw only one guard; a woman sleeping against the wall of the building with her helmet askew.

Diana smiled mischievously at the girls before screaming out like a drill instructor as loudly as she could, “Officer Calanthe! What is the meaning of this!”

The woman cried out as she fell out of her chair with a loud crash of armour. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I- oh! Princess! Don’t scare me like that! I thought it was the commander! She’d have me mucking out the stables all month if she caught me!”

Diana smiled, reaching out a hand to the flustered woman to help her to her feet, “Just don’t make a habit of this Cala, or I might just tell the commander myself. I know this post is boring, but you are still a sentry. This job is important. Now look alive, I have work for you.”

“Work?” She asked, finally noticing Kara trying to stand out of the way. “Oh! Hello there!”

“This is Kara, a cousin of a friend from my work.” Diana explained with a gentle hand on the Kryptonian’s shoulder and pulling her forward, “She is going to be staying with us for a little while.”

“Just a visitor then? Not moving in?” Calanthe asked in a much more professional tone as she pulled a dusty scroll from a pile inside the shack and began writing on it with a feather quill pen.

“Uh, no I’m just here to train for a little while.” Kara said, curious just what was being written about her. Her conversational English was good, but her reading was a little rougher. In fact, she wasn’t even sure that was English at all written across the page.

“Country of origin?” Cala asked without looking up.

“Um… Krypton?” Kara wasn’t sure what else to say for that question.

Cala nodded and wrote it down. As a lifelong resident of the island, she didn’t question the name. She knew she had heard of Krypton somewhere, but she couldn’t place it. Countries in the patriarch's world could have some strange names. She presented Kara with the scroll and the quill, pointing to a line at the bottom. “Sign here and you are all set.”

Kara looked at the page for a few seconds before endorsing the document the way she would have back home, with the family emblem; a Kryptonian symbol for hope, which was represented by a winding river inside a shield.

Over the past week, Kara had learned that the House of El’s emblem coincidentally resembled the letter “S” in Earth’s Latin alphabet, hence why humans called her cousin “Superman”, and why the symbol was so widely recognized by earthlings.

“Enjoy your stay.” Calanthe said with a smile to Kara and a salute to Diana and Donna before returning to the spot she had been asleep, now sitting rigidly at attention.

“Come on Kara.” Donna said, taking her new friend by the hand and pulling her along the path inland, “I’ll show you where you’re going to be staying!”

Kara followed, allowing herself to be pulled wherever the cute girl led her.

As the party moved away from the beach, Cala took another look at Kara’s signature. Her eyes went wide as she recognized the symbol. She knew who Kara was!

“Holy Hera!” She muttered to herself, looking at the backs of the retreating women. “Things are going to get interesting around here…”

________________________________________________________________

A little ways in from the customs point and past a dense line of trees, the Amazon city lay in all its glory. Though smaller than the city of Washington, Themyscira still buzzed with activity. The gurgling of fountains, the ring of hammer and tongs, and the clash of sword on sword rang out through the air like a song. And then there were the voices! So many beautiful, musical voices, all from dozens of beautiful women in a myriad of languages!

Feeling her increasingly enamoured heart start to give out from an overload of hormones, Kara tried her best to find anything else to think about. “The buildings are nice…” she decided on, rather lamely, “They look a lot like the ones in D.C. Do all humans use these big columns of white rock?”

“Oh no, our ancestors started the practice. If you see buildings like these in America, it’s because they liked our work and wanted to emulate it.” Diana explained as she waved warmly to a pair of older women sitting snuggling together on a bench.

“We were doing it before it was cool.” Donna added with a giggle. When Kara only responded by staring in confusion, Donna said, “Earth inside joke. Don’t worry, I’ll teach you what it means.”

“Right…” Kara wasn’t too concerned with the meaning of the joke at that moment. The other women out and about had caught sight of her walking with Diana and Donna, and they were starting to stare. She could feel more and more eyes following her the deeper they went into the town. “Donna… What do people around here know about me?” She spoke quietly, trying not to excite even more attention.

Donna too had sensed the lingering gazes around them. “Just that you are Superman’s cousin, but that’s more than enough to get them curious. Even out here, we know how powerful Superman is.”

“So they just want to stare at the weird alien girl, is that it?” Kara said, louder than she meant to, making several of the nearer Amazons look away in embarrassment.

Donna put a hand on her shoulder, “No! Never that. All women are welcomed and respected here, if they come in peace.” She tried to think how best to calm her new friend. Robin had warned her what happened the last time Kara had gotten angry,

“Our sisters in arms are warriors by nature, and many of them won’t ever get a chance to see your cousin fight in person.” Donna explained. “I think they see you and see your limitless potential and wonder what you might be capable of! You’re the only chance most of them are ever gonna have to see a Kryptonian in action.”

“I hope I don’t disappoint them…” Kara felt a bit calmer, but now she was nervous, both from the expectations and Donna’s hand on her shoulder, “It will take a long time until I am as strong as Kal.”

“Strength comes in all forms Kara.” Diana said, as they passed a grand stone hall. Inside there were rows of pillars topped with all kinds of strange items. “This is a museum of a few of our peoples' treasures. Memories of our friends and sisters in arms…”

Diana pointed to an odd item in a clear place of honour. Not a gleaming sword, or a polished shield, but a small, badly dented metal box. “That belonged to a dear friend of mine, named Etta. Many only saw her as just a small plump woman, with no special powers at all. Yet she saved my life countless times, and was one of the bravest, kindest spirits I’ve ever known.”

“She saved your life with that little box?” Kara asked, trying to examine it more closely. It seemed like an odd choice of weapon.

Diana laughed at the memory. “Many years ago, in a time of global war, a nazi soldier shot at me, before I even had time to react. Etta jumped in front of me, deflected the bullet with that silly tin of chocolates, and smashed the culprit over the head with it before he could fire again!”

“Huh… Humans must be tougher than they look.” Kara said, smiling at the mental image of a small round woman bashing a huge brutish soldier repeatedly in the head.

“Yep! Even without powers we can put up a real fight!” Donna got an idea and ran over to a little cart on the side of the paved stone street and returned with three odd cones with white balls stacked on the wide mouth. “Ice cream cone?” Donna offered one each to Kara and her sister.

Kara accepted it, knowing ice cream was a sweet food from what she had read, but not sure how best to eat it. “Uh… thank you.” Unsure what else to do she took a large bite of the white ball. It was very tasty, but extremely cold! “Gah!” She winced, clutching her head with her free hand as a sudden pain filled her head, calling out a word in Kryptonian, not knowing its equivalent in English.

“I’m sorry! I should have warned you!” Donna let her ice cream hit the ground as she moved to comfort her friend. “You need to either take small bites, or lick the ice cream. What you’re feeling is called brain freeze. It happens sometimes when you eat cold things too fast.”

“Brain freeze?” Kara asked, still wincing as her mouth resumed its normal temperature.

Diana laughed before she could stop herself and quickly covered her mouth. “I’m sorry! I don’t mean to laugh. It’s just, almost every Amazon, including myself, has done that at least once. Ice cream is one of the few inventions from Man’s world that we Amazons have adopted in quite some time, and some are still getting used to it.”

It was then that Kara noticed Donna’s treat in pieces in the paving stones and tentatively offered her own cone to the brunette, “I’m sorry you dropped yours Donna. Do you want mine?” She asked, unsure if Earth etiquette allowed something like this.

Donna smiled wider and gently pushed away the offered hand. “Thank you Kara, but you need that more than me. Maybe we can go out for ice cream another time?”

“Ok sure!” Kara hummed tunelessly as she walked with her guides, eating the sweet treat in the slower, suggested method. A pause came in her song when her brain had thawed enough to reach a dawning realisation. Donna had just asked her out! Had Donna just asked her on a date?! She tried to focus on the ice cream rather than think about it and found herself eating both the strange crunchy cone and the paper it was wrapped in. She was fairly certain she wasn’t supposed to eat one of those.

“Here we are.” Donna said, cutting into Kara’s thoughts as they came to a large entryway into what looked like the grounds of an enormous palace. Kara had been so distracted by her own thoughts, that she hadn’t even noticed where Diana had been leading them.

The palace practically glowed in the warm bright daylight. While it mostly bore a resemblance to the other white columned buildings around the island, as well as those back in Washington, Kara couldn’t help being reminded of Kryptonian architecture, with how much it shone in the sun. She had felt a similar sense of awe when her father had first taken her to the capitol building of Kandor, when she was a toddler.

The grounds were filled with colourful flower arrangements, along with incredible statues of Amazon warriors, who radiated their own power and beauty. However, Kara’s attention was mainly drawn to the palace guards stationed around the surrounding area, all wearing ceremonial gold armour, and looking every bit as powerful and beautiful as the statues.

As Diana and Donna led Kara towards the palace, two guards marched up to flank them from either side, like some kind of armed escort.

“This way, Kara Zor-El.” Diana said, sounding a bit more formal than before in the presence of the soldiers. “Queen Hippolyta desires an audience with you.”

“The Queen?” Kara was going to meet the ruler of this island, right now? She nervously whispered to Donna as they walked behind the soldiers, “Are there any… customs to avoid in the presence of the Queen? You know, if I don’t want to be thrown in a holding cell.”

Donna took her hand for comfort as they walked, making Kara trade out nerves for butterflies (a lateral move if anything). “Don’t worry about mom. She’s really nice. I promise.”

“Mom?” Kara asked, trying not to sound surprised. She should have realised earlier. If Diana was the princess of Themyscira, and if Donna was her sister, then of course their mother would be the queen!

“Well, technically she adopted me…” Donna explained. “My real mom died when I was little, and my dad…” She stopped suddenly, and her smile faded as she looked away. “I… I’m sorry. You don’t need to hear that…”

Kara wanted to protest that she wanted to hear all about it if Donna was ready to talk. She hated to see her new friend so sad, even if it was only for a moment. But the words of comfort never had the chance to leave her mouth.

The guards had come to a halt in a new chamber with a high ceiling covered with murals of strange people in robes. Perhaps a portrait of heroes? Former rulers of the island? Or maybe even gods?

“Presenting!” One guard called out loud enough for her voice to echo through the hall, “Princess Diana! Princess Donna Troy! And Kara Zor-El of the planet Krypton!” Her announcement made, the guard and her partner stepped out of the way, leaving the red carpeted path to a massive marble and gold throne clear before Kara and her escorts. “Behold, Queen Hippolyta of Themyscira!”

Sitting on the throne was a tall beautiful woman clad in purple robes, very much like Diana. While distinctly older than Diana in appearance, Hippolyta radiated sheer beauty, wisdom and power. There was no questioning who was in charge around here.

The queen had little adornment. A bead necklace, a plain golden circlet for a crown, and a long winged staff held one hand. She seemed to be wearing armour under her robes, similar to her guards. However, unlike her stoic protectors, Hippolyta’s expression seemed warmer. Kinder, much like her daughters.

“Approach the throne.” The queen called, her voice easily carrying through the hall. Still holding Donna’s hand, Kara followed the sisters, staying a step behind the princesses for respect in such a regal place.

“Hail mother!” Diana said, inclining her head and stepping forward to speak for the group. “I have returned from the world of man with another sister in arms in need of our help.”

“So I have heard.” The queen looked at the new arrival, not as if appraising a potential warrior, but more looking for ways of how she could help. There was almost pity in the gaze, and Kara wondered once more how much of her history had been told to everyone on this island.

“Daughter of Krypton. Come closer.” Though Queen Hippolyta spoke quietly, every word was distinct and clear. Kara reluctantly let go of Donna’s hand and approached the throne. “Know this lady Zor-El. Our island will always be called home to daughters, mothers and sisters of any nation. You may stay with us for as long as you want, or as long as you may need. But know this; our laws are ancient and absolute, given to us by the gods themselves long ago. You will learn them in time, and you must live by them, lest you wish to be banished from our shores. Do you understand my child?”

Kara inclined her head in a bow. She wasn’t sure how she felt about being called a child. Lady Zor-El on the other hand… but there was time to think about that later. “Yes, your highness. Thank you for this… this opportunity to learn from you and your people. I am honoured to be among you.” Perhaps a little too formal a response, but the young alien felt it was better to go too far rather than be disrespectful.

The queen smiled and nodded to someone behind the blonde, “Donna my child. If it is to your liking, I will give Kara the vacant suite next to your room. Please show our guest anything she would like. Teach her our ways. Help her get comfortable.”

“Of course, mother!” Donna nodded and gave a bow of her own, making Kara smile and feel like she had done the right thing.

“See to her then, my dear. I wish to speak to Diana alone before dinner.” Hippolyta struck her staff against the stone floor and a different set of doors opened. “Welcome to Themyscira, Kara Zor-El,” the Queen said before Donna led her off. “I hope you will find your new home to your liking.”
________________________________________________________________

Out of the throne room and down the hall, Kara was shown her way to the royal living quarters. A pair of guards stood blocking the largest, most ornamental doors; clearly the Queen’s own bed chamber. Several other doors were unguarded a little further along.

“That one is Diana’s,” Donna commented, pointing towards a door just before the Queen’s. “She doesn’t sleep at home very much anymore, since she joined the Justice League.

Feeling a bit mischievous, and checking if the guard was anyone who would care enough to stop them, Donna opened the door to Diana’s bedroom and stepped aside for Kara to look in. Though there was a very comfortable looking bed and an elaborate vanity, the room seemed to be more of a holding room of odd trinkets and trophies than any kind of living space. A collection to rival the museum she had seen earlier. Kara saw a massive plumed helmet, an old leather jacket draped carefully over a chair, a piece of armour badly damaged by animal claws, and a beautiful pendant necklace among other equally curious things.

“Look at these. They’re Diana’s treasures,” Donna said, going into the room, Kara chose to stay standing in the door. “Each is either from a memorable fight, or an old flame.” Her gaze held on the clawed armour for a moment, “Some of these count for both. But this is my favourite.” She held up the pendant necklace for her new friend to get a closer look.

Kara took it delicately in her hands. Even by her limited knowledge of Earth, the metal work and stones seemed unusual and unique. “It’s beautiful.”

Donna smiled and took it back. “It’s from Diana’s Atlantean girlfriend, Mera. She’s great! They've been together for years, but she’s not around very much.”

“Atlantean? Is she human?” Kara asked, “I remember Martha talking about a city called Atlanta.”

Donna laughed, “No no, she’s from the nation of Atlantis. Very different. It’s a big city at the bottom of the ocean.”

“You mean like underwater?” Kara asked, wondering just how many strange secret countries and cities were hidden away on this planet.

“Yep. Great swimmers and magic users. Some are part fish. The Atlantean women visit us now and then.” She took the necklace back and returned it to the proper place. “When you were staying with Superman, did he tell you about a teammate named Aquaman? He’s the king of Atlantis, and Mera is the queen.”

Kara hadn’t met the man, but she did remember pictures of a wild-looking bearded man with long hair and a multi pronged spear that Clark had called Arthur. “Diana is dating a teammate’s wife? That seems… unlike her.”

“Hm?” Donna paused as she closed the bedroom door behind them before realising the implications of the comment. “Oh! Oh no, it’s nothing behind his back. Mera just has enough love for both of them. It’s what Earth folks call a polyamorous relationship. It’s actually really cute.”

Kara took a moment to imagine a woman with Diana on one arm and Arthur on the other, laughing and having a good time. It was oddly wholesome. “This planet of yours can be very strange, you know that right? Wonderful at times, but strange.”

“Oh yeah, we’re well aware of that.” Donna laughed, as they left Diana’s room and continued down to the next door along. “Strange is the best way to be!” She opened the new door and bowed for Kara to enter first. “Welcome to Casa de Troy!”

The room was similar in size to Diana’s, but there was much clearer evidence of life here. The bed was messy, the closet door was ajar and personal touches were on every wall. Photos of both Donna and Diana posing with people they had presumably rescued, along with other photos of Donna posing with other heroes.

Kara smiled, the space feeling much more warm and inviting than Diana’s trophy collection. She even recognized a few of the pictures along the walls. “Oh hey! Robin and Kid Flash! I met them the other day.” She said, trying to be casual and not feel the nerves from being in a cute girl’s bedroom.

“I know. They told me all about it. You’ve made a very effective first impression on the boys.” Donna laughed, taking a seat on the bed and patting the space beside her for Kara to sit. “If you were a redhead, Robin would have probably asked you out on the spot.”

“He’d have been disappointed then.” Kara said with pink cheeks as she sat down on the bed, a little further away than Donna had indicated. “Earth boys... Boys of any planet… I’ve only ever had minimal interest, if you understand.”

“Oh absolutely. You aren’t alone on this island in thinking that way. There are more Amazons that like women, than those who like men. I’m more like Diana and go either way. Boys or girls, it depends more on the person.” Donna said, turning away to try to find something on her bed side table.

Kara tried to contain her excitement upon hearing that Donna liked girls too. Sure, she knew she had a real chance now, but Donna probably had dozens of boys and girls that were lining up to date her! “Anyone you are going… “either way” with, right now?” Kara tried to ask in a tone fitting the nosey popular girls from her old school, attempting to sound like she was asking for gossip instead of opportunity.

Donna’s exploring hands stopped when she found a small silver locket in one of the drawers. “Not exactly. I don’t get out enough to meet many boys, and as the princess of the island, I intimidate most of the local girls.”

Kara let out an internal cheer upon hearing her new crush was single. Maybe there was hope after all! “I’m sorry to hear that…” She tried to change the subject before she started grinning like an idiot. “That’s a very lovely pendant you have there,” She settled on, rather lamely. “Was it a gift from your mother?”

Kara regretted her question right away as she saw Donna’s hand clench tightly around the charm. “My father actually…”

“Oh… I’m sorry…” Kara trailed off, realising her mistake. “We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“No, no I want to...” Donna said with a breath. “I’d like my new friend to know who I am after all.” She pressed a small button on the side of the locket and a little door opened in the metal. Donna stared at it for a long moment before handing it to Kara. The blonde saw one side held a picture of a rather young man with dark hair, while the other half had been left empty.

“I was seven when it happened…” Donna began. “My birth mom died when I was really little… I can’t remember much about her any more. Dad raised me on his own. He was a good man, kind and funny… It was a simple life, but a happy one… until the fire…”

Kara held out her hand and Donna took it, squeezing it tight as she continued. “I don’t think we ever found out how the fire started. Diana rescued me and many others from our building, but… It was too late for dad… I was alone in the world, with no family. I would’ve been tossed in an orphanage if Diana hadn’t taken me back here,” Donna gave a small bittersweet smile at the memory.

Kara didn’t want to interrupt, but something stood out to her. “Um… so if it was Diana that saved you and took you in, why do you call the queen your mother? Wouldn’t Diana be the one who adopted you?”

Donna actually laughed at this. She wiped the corners of her eyes. “That all started from a mistake on my part. You’ve probably seen that Diana calls most women “sister” right? So when she called me, “little sister,” my little kid's way of thinking took it a bit literal. When I was introduced to Queen Hippolyta, I asked her if Diana was my sister, was she my mother? I must have made a good impression. Once she and the guards stopped laughing, she said she would happily be my new mother. None of the Amazons questioned or complained about how or why they suddenly had a second princess out of nowhere!”

“Of course! Why would anyone complain about a new beautiful princess?” Kara froze, her enthusiastic support making her say too much. “I… I’m sorry!” Her face was turning as red as her cape with embarrassment.

Donna’s own cheeks were pink, but she laughed about it, hugging her embarrassed new friend. “Don’t worry about it Kara. In fact, I’ll happily take the compliment.” She seemed ready to say more, but paused upon hearing a loud low horn called out through the palace.

“What’s that?” Kara cried out, briefly experiencing sensory overload from the unexpected noise. Super senses take a lot to get used to while you are still learning. “Are we under attack?” She asked, worried that the sound was a sort of alarm.

“No no, it’s just the chef telling us it’s dinner time.” Donna said, getting up from her bed and helping the blonde to her feet. “Come on, Kara. A nice warm meal, and maybe a walk under the stars and you’ll be all set for bed. You’ve had a big day, and another big one is coming tomorrow.”

Kara hesitated for a moment before accepting Donna’s hand. Not long ago she had been a confused lost child on an alien planet, without a friend in the universe. Now she had not one, but two families warmly welcoming her, reaching out to her… expecting great things from her… It was a lot of pressure on a teenager, but Supergirl could take it.

But that was a matter for tomorrow. Tonight, Kara Zor-El was just a girl getting to know her new home, glad to spend time with her new crush. “Right. Don’t want to keep them waiting.” She smiled and walked from the bedroom, hand in hand with the princess.

Supergirl’s adventures had only just begun…

Chapter Text

Kara Zor-El of Krypton was not having the best day. First, she had slept-in and missed breakfast, then it had rained on her the entire way over to the stables, only stopping once she was inside. But worst of all was the fact that Donna Troy still wasn’t back from her most recent mission! This new ‘Teen Titans’ group she had joined were keeping the younger princess away from Themyscira far too often for Kara’s liking.

Kara sighed to herself as she brushed the mane of a young pure-white colt who she had grown quite familiar with. In her first few weeks of living on the island, Diana had given Kara the task of feeding and caring for a newborn foal to give her a personal connection to something on the island. She had even gotten to name the creature.

“Comet.” Kara softly spoke his name, and the animal whinnied in recognition, making her smile. Diana had said that giving Kara responsibility for the horse would help focus her mind and distract her from any troubles.

But in reality, all this really meant the child of Krypton was left alone with her thoughts… Thoughts that had been manageable while she was busy learning and meeting new people but overwhelmed her in quiet and solitude… Thoughts of her home, her family… all gone. And now here she was, on an island isolated from the rest of the new world she had found herself on. Her one surviving family member couldn’t visit, and the locals were too intimidated by her potential to talk to her. All she had was a friend who was always away, and a horse too weak to ride on.

“Life sucks, doesn’t it Comet?” She muttered to herself, as the animal nuzzled her hand as if trying to make her feel better. “Thanks, big guy…” Kara allowed herself a little smile as she got up to put the brushes away. “I’ll bring you some fresh apples around dinnertime, ok?”

With Kara’s task complete, and her four-legged friend safe in his stable, she braced herself, knowing that the bells and horns all over the island tended to go off at midday. She still found herself overly sensitive to loud noises when they caught her by surprise.

Once the call had sounded, Kara reluctantly went off to grab some lunch. Diana had insisted that she interact with other girls her own age to socialize, so she ate with a lot of the other young warriors in training. Donna would be there too if she was home, but with her and Diana both away on hero duty, the only person she really knew was the young guard, Calanthe.

Cala had been very excited to talk to the Kryptonian visitor at first, and learn all about the legendary lost planet, as well as what life was like living as a superheroine in the world of men. However, it quickly became apparent that Kara wasn’t ready to talk about her old home just yet, and that she knew almost less about the outside world than even Cala did.

When Kara had revealed that she was unable to fly or do most of the things her cousin Superman was famous for, besides super strength, which was pretty normal around this neighborhood, Calanthe’s enthusiasm had seemed to deflate quite a bit, despite her best efforts to hide it.

As a result, Kara sat by herself on the grass, still damp from the morning rain, and ate her meal of goat cheese on warm bread, with two crisp golden apples. While the food tasted pretty good, and helped ease Kara’s mind for a little bit, she still wasn’t sure if she even needed to eat. Just as Clark had told her, the radiation from Earth’s sun gave her all the energy she needed and more.

As she munched solemnly on an apple, Kara found herself watching the other girls her age down on the pavilion, particularly those she had gotten to know by reputation. Olivia, the tailor’s apprentice, was glaring across at Lizzie, the newest palace beautician and hairdresser. They were both pretty girls with venom in their eyes, supposedly as adept with daggers as they were with their scissors. The reason for their animosity and rivalry sat a few feet away from the pair, her back to both of them.

Willow, the blacksmith’s daughter, was not a small girl. She stood a full head higher than most of the other young apprentices, and the muscles from years helping her mother in the forges were glorious. Yet in spite of her size, Willow was gentle, well spoken, and very kind. She was also completely clueless about the two girls ready to duel to the death for her hand just feet away. Even Kara had to admit, the drama these three sometimes caused was very entertaining to watch!

“So, Olive… Still struggling with your lyre practice? No plans to serenade anyone anytime soon?” Lizzie sneered at Olivia as she cut a chunk off an apple with a knife she kept on her belt.

“I’d worry about my own plans if I were you, Lizard." The young tailor said, not even meeting her rival's gaze. "The surprise gifts you've been making for the fair lady have been the delight of every seagull and magpie on the island.”

Kara covered her mouth to hide a small smile. She could frequently hear just how bad Olivia’s music lessons were going each night, and had seen birds flying off with Lizzie’s gifts of pastries and handcrafted jewelry all over town! Neither of them were doing well in this flirting war, especially since neither of them had even tried talking to Willow about it yet.

Girls could be so clueless when they were in love. Even Amazonian girls… and Kryptonian girls... Kara sighed to herself, her food not tasting as good anymore. She missed Donna, and not just as her best friend. Every day that Donna was away from her, Kara worried someone else would confess to her before she had the chance!

Donna was so kind, strong, funny, and beautiful! There were probably tons of girls and boys lining up for a chance to court the young princess, on both Themyscira and the mainland! This was especially a concern with her new team of friends. Sure, Kara knew Robin and Kid Flash probably weren’t any threat in this regard. Too caught up in each others’ 'bromance', to go for Donna. But some of the others… There was still a possibility that the archer known as 'Speedy' might try something. Donna had spoken fondly of him the last time Kara had seen her.

Kara had seen photos of this particular redheaded archer. A tall boy, slightly older than Donna, with a shared hobby of armed combat, a little rugged and dangerous. Girls tended to like boys like him…

Archer..? A shared hobby… Archery!! Kara smiled and sat up suddenly as an idea began to form in her mind. She could quite easily take a few archery lessons! There were plenty of practice ranges around the island, where the Amazon warriors trained every day. Kara, with her enhanced speed, strength and endurance, could easily practice non-stop until she was as good with a bow as this 'Speedy' boy! Maybe then, she'd be able to hold her own in the contest for Donna’s heart? How hard could that possibly be?

Abandoning her unfinished bread and pocketing some extra apples for Comet, Kara hurried from the pavilion to get to work. As she left, she heard the distinctive sound of Olivia throwing a bread roll at the back of Lizzie’s head, which did bring a small smile to Kara’s face. The ensuing stream of insults carried on the wind and followed Kara all the way to the archery range.

________________________________________________________________

“Stupid Speedy…” Kara grumbled to herself as the dull tipped training arrow slipped from her grasp for the fifth time.

“What was that, child?” Leto, the elderly instructor asked, her patience with this excitable new student starting to wear thin.

“Nothing ma'am.” Kara said at full volume, but continued under her breath. “His name doesn’t even make any sense! Speedy is a name Kid Flash should have picked…”

The trainer cleared her throat again. “Now, Miss Zorle… Breathe and focus. Back straight, eyes on the target…”

“That’s pronounced Zor-El, ma’am,” Kara grumbled as she pulled the arrow into position. She was already struggling to focus, and hearing her name being mispronounced certainly didn’t help with that.

“My apologies, Miss Zor-El.” Leto said quickly, “Let’s see how this first shot goes.” The older woman took a step or two back, used to inexperienced archers’ shots going very wild. “Mind your posture and take your time. Let it go whenever you are ready.”

Kara nodded, gently pulled back on the string, and released! The arrow landed several feet away from Kara’s target, not even having enough thrust to make the whole journey down the range.

“Come on now, Miss Zor-El!” Leto sighed, starting to get annoyed. “You could give it a little more than that.”

Kara gritted her teeth in frustration and embarrassment as she grabbed another arrow. Already used to being too strong for her own good, the Kryptonian had held back on that first shot. Now she pulled back without any restraint… and heard a loud crack as the wood of the bow snapped in half from the force of her pull.

“Maybe not that much…” The instructor said in genuine surprise.

“Make up your mind!” Kara snapped, throwing one of the broken bow halfs down the range with enough force to punch a hole right through the bullseye.

Leto stared at Kara, equal parts shocked and impressed by her display of strength. Clearly nothing was wrong with this girl’s aim, but there was clearly an issue of self-control. Unsure of what else to say, the instructor spoke before Kara could respond, “Wait here… I’ll fetch you another bow.”

Kara watched the Amazon leave, feeling slightly embarrassed at having made a scene. But then she noticed an entire rack of bows over by the edge of the range, which had gone completely ignored by Leto. Why had Kara’s instructor left to go and get a replacement bow, when there were plenty of spares already available?

“She just wanted to get away from the freak!” Kara grumbled to herself, grabbing another bow. “Well fine, if she doesn’t want to train me, then I’ll just keep going on my own!” She pulled back the arrow again, this time snapping the string. Kara let out a Kryptonian swear under her breath as she threw it aside and grabbed a third bow. “I’ve done just fine on my own for this long!” Her grip, channeling her growing frustration, crushed and splintered the bow before she could even bring her arm up into position.

Letting out a cry of frustration, Kara once again threw the broken bow, this time embedding it in the nearby stone wall. “Stupid bows! Stupid archery!! Stupid Speedy!!! STUPID ISLAND!!!” She screamed glaring down the range at the useless targets, as tears and gathering red hot energy began to cloud her vision.

With another scream of her built up rage and frustration, a blast of intense heat burst from her eyes! For a moment all Kara could see was red! All she could feel was anger and pain… and then…

“Kara?! KARA!!” A distant familiar voice called out. “Stop! It’s ok, Kara! I’ve got you…”

Kara froze, her vision returning to normal, as she felt a pair of strong arms gripping her tight. Slowly, she turned her head and saw the person she had been longing to see for days, clinging tightly to her as if trying to hold her down to the earth.

“D-Donna..?” Kara whispered, her voice shaking, Just how much of that had the princess seen..?

Donna was staring at her friend, eyes full of concern, “Thank the gods! Kara, are you ok? What happened?”

“You came back…” Kara said, ignoring the questions for now, her voice still trembling with emotion and her breath a little ragged as she tried to calm herself.

“Of course I came back! Did you really think I was gone for good?” Donna spoke softly, bringing a hand up to caress her friend’s cheek. “Kara, please tell me what happened.”

It was only now that Kara took the time to look about her surroundings and recognize the damage she had done. Her heat vision had set one target on fire and cut two in half. The stone walls, as well as a few nearby trees, were scored with burn marks, and patches of the sand floor had been melted to molten glass. “I did this…” Her voice was soft and full of emotion. “I did all of this…”

“It’s not your fault!” Donna said without hesitation, squeezing Kara’s hands to keep her focused. “You’re still getting used to your powers! Accidents are gonna happen…” Her voice sounded a little less confident, as one of the burned trees came down with a thud, the base of its trunk having been largely reduced to ashes.

“I didn’t mean to… I just…” Kara started to speak, not really sure what she was going to say, but froze as her enhanced hearing picked something up. “Wait… Someone’s coming! Lots of people… with armor… and weapons!” She began to panic as she remembered the warning Hippolyta had given her when she’d first arrived on the island.

Donna put her hands on Kara’s shoulders, reassuringly. “Calm down, Kara! It’ll be ok!” She said, trying to sound calm. “I won’t let anything happen to you…” She said, trying to reassure herself as much as Kara.

Both girls clung to each other as they heard the voices approaching. It sounded like Kara’s outburst had alerted quite a few guards, who were now hurrying to investigate the strange noises and lights, no doubt half-expecting some kind of attack or trickery of Ares. Unable to bear the tension, Kara hid her face in Donna’s shoulder, sobbing as she clung to her friend.

It was at this moment that Diana, Wonder Woman herself, entered the clearing, flanked by a column of warriors. The elder hero figured out what must’ve happened pretty quickly and relaxed, ordering the other Amazons to stand down. The soldiers all lowered their weapons, though many of them still looked around at the chaotic scene with concerning expressions.

While her fellow soldiers occupied themselves with putting out the fires, Diana holstered her lasso and approached the two girls. “Kara, are you ok? Did something happen?”

“Diana…” Donna spoke for her friend, a comforting hand still on Kara’s back. “I think she might need a moment.”

The elder sister nodded. “I understand… You two should get out of here before Leto comes back. Take all the time you need, but come and see mother and me when you are ready, ok? We will need to talk about this.”

Kara nodded slowly, feeling thankful to Diana for taking a lot of the attention off of her for the time being. Her tone was so gentle that it sounded like punishment might be minimal. Still, Kara felt like she was in big trouble, as Donna led her away to find somewhere quieter, and a little less on fire…
________________________________________________________________

Not being as densely populated as some of the other Earth habitats that Kara had read about, Themyscira actually had quite a broad selection of peaceful quiet areas where one could relax or destress. There were lush meadows with sweet smelling flowers, hilltops with gorgeous views of the island, and even some of the caves contained warm springs that provided comfort and relief to those who sought them out.

Donna knew what Kara needed after the incident at the archery range was peace away from any prying eyes. She led the way to a small isolated beach, where nobody would see them, and the only sound was that of the waves gently lapping against the shore. The girls sat next to each other on one of the rocks, soaking their feet in the water, as Donna gently put an arm around Kara.

They did their best to avoid talking about what had just happened at the range, instead finding other, more pleasant topics to chat about. Donna talked about some of the adventures she had had with her new “Teen Titans” friends. Kara was relieved to hear little mention of the one called Speedy, instead hearing more amusing antics of Robin and Kid Flash, as well as somebody named Garth.

Feeling a little calmer, Kara talked a little about how it was going looking after Comet, as well as some of the hilarious hijinks she had observed from Liz and Olive fighting for Willow’s affections. For a moment, and for the first time in quite a while, Kara felt like a normal girl chatting casually with her friend. They sat there for almost an hour just sitting together in a comfortable silence and watching the sun set over the shimmering sea, and for a while, Kara didn’t feel like the world was crumbling under her feet.

After another moment of content silence, Kara spoke up, “Thank you… For snapping me out of that…”

“Are you ready to talk about it?” Donna spoke softly, trying not to push the issue too soon.

Kara took another breath. “As I’ll ever be… I guess I’d better, what’s the expression? Face the music?”

Donna wanted to comfort her friend. To say that everything would be ok and that nothing bad would happen. But even if that was true, she knew saying that would do nothing to ease Kara’s anxiety. Instead, she simply nodded and took Kara’s hand in hers, walking side by side so that they could face whatever was coming, together.
________________________________________________________________

Kara stood before the throne of Queen Hippolyta for the second time, with Diana and Donna standing either side of their mother, awaiting her judgment. The air in the chamber wasn’t as warm or comforting as it had been on Kara’s first visit, and yet… she didn’t feel afraid. She understood that she had messed up, and that she would have to face the consequences of her actions. But thanks to Donna’s reassurance, she no longer feared anything as extreme as banishment.

“Kara Zor-El of Krypton,” the Queen said at last, “Can you confirm if what Leto has told me is true? You single-handedly destroyed a centuries old archery range, completely unprovoked?”

Kara took a breath and retold the story. Knowing that it was pointless to lie to any queen with the lasso of truth in her armory, she held almost nothing back. She carefully maneuvered around the topic of why exactly she had been so eager to learn archery. She didn’t exactly want this to be the moment she told the Queen of the Amazons that she had a crush on her adopted daughter, especially with said daughter in the room.

“After Leto left… I just… I got so frustrated that I lost control of my powers…” Kara wrapped up, hoping that she hadn’t sounded like a child throwing a tantrum. “I could tell it was making Leto uncomfortable when she went off to get me a new bow, even though there were plenty there to choose from, and I just got frustrated.”

From beside Hippolyta, Diana cleared her throat. “I spoke to Leto on my way over here. She had left to get you a better bow from our armory, stronger than the training ones we give beginners. Something that could have better handled your strength without breaking.”

Kara froze, letting out a barely audible “…Oh…” as she processed Diana’s words. That certainly did explain why all the others had snapped. Now she really did sound like a child! Her cheeks burned brightly with embarrassment as she gave her best attempt at an apologetic smile.

Recognizing the silence was a little too awkward for all of them, Hippolyta continued. “Kara, what happened today was only a mishap, and not a disaster. No one was hurt, everything that was broken can be repaired or replaced, and we can all be glad for that. However, you must still make up for the destruction of the archery range.”

Kara nodded her head. “I understand…” She said softly, bracing herself. What would it be? Solitary confinement? Maybe some temporary imprisonment? She wasn’t sure if these people had access to the Phantom Zone…

“You shall personally assist in the cleaning and repair of the range for a start. Once that is complete… I am assigning you to work as Princess Donna’s lady-in-waiting during her visits to the island. You will be under her command and supervision, assisting her with daily activity, and she will in turn teach you our ways.”

Kara looked up in disbelief. “Wait… what?” was all she could muster. She had expected to have to assist in cleaning up her own mess, but that second part of the queen’s sentence had completely thrown her. Spending bonus time with Donna? That was meant to be a punishment?! She looked briefly over at Donna, who was smiling smugly. Had she known about this? Had she been the one to request it?!

“What? Think you deserve more?” Hippolyta said with a small smile. “I’m sure they could always use more volunteers to clean the stables...”

“No! No, thank you,” Kara quickly corrected, knowing just how messy the stables could get from her time spent with Comet. “I just… Wasn’t expecting this...”

Hippolyta smiled with the same warmth Diana was famous for. “We do not punish these sorts of incidents harshly here, Kara. Especially not for a young one like you, who is still learning the rules. But be warned, we must not let an outburst like that become a habit. Stress and anger are a part of life, but one with powers such as yours must learn how to rule those feelings, or else they shall rule you.”

Kara nodded, feeling the years of wisdom and experience in Hippolyta’s words. “I… I think I understand.”

“Very well then.” The Queen rose from her throne and her daughters stepped back to give her room. “Your reparations begin tomorrow. Please don’t do anything to make me regret my leniency.” Dropping the regal air for a moment, she smiled and stretched, making her way towards the gilded doors. “Now, who’s ready for dinner? I’m starving!”

With such a sudden change of subject and departure, Kara understood that she was dismissed. She turned to look at Diana and Donna, who were exchanging grins of their own. “Well, I’m glad you two will be spending more time together.” Diana chuckled, as she made her way towards the dining hall.

As Kara and Donna followed her, Kara met her crushes gaze for a fraction of a second, before Donna blushed and looked away. Normally, Kara’s heart would’ve skipped a beat at any sort of indication that Donna felt the same way about her. But for now, she was just relieved to be off the hook, as she followed the princess towards the dining hall, looking forward to starting her new duties in good time.
________________________________________________________________

The following morning, Kara began the first part of her community service by making her way down to the destroyed archery range. Her time as Donna’s personal assistant would not begin until after this clean-up and restoration job was finished, so she had asked to start the work as early as she could.

“Over here, Kara!” Willow, the blacksmith’s daughter, called from the entrance of the ruined archery range. The large girl had brought a surprising amount of equipment with her to prepare for the job ahead of them. That she had apparently lugged all of it to the range by herself so easily was an impressive feat, even for a young Amazon! Kara couldn’t help giving Willow’s biceps a small glance in sapphic appreciation. She understood why those bickering idiots were so obsessed with her.

“Hi Willow,” Kara smiled a little awkwardly. “Sorry my… incident got you roped into this too.”

The taller girl smiled warmly and playfully punched Kara’s shoulder. “What are you talking about? I’m so excited for this job! You tore down enough of the old range that I got the chance to totally change the design! This is like a blessing from Hephaestus himself!”

Kara wasn’t entirely sure who Hephaestus was, but she respected this level of optimistic excitement. “Alright then, where do we start?” Kara asked, following Willow inside and wincing a bit at the damage she had caused. She hadn’t had the chance to look at it so closely the day before, but it was now clear how much she had lost control. The whole area could’ve almost passed for a warzone, from the amount of rubble and burn marks everywhere.

Seemingly unperturbed by the devastation, Willow simply clasped her hands excitedly as she surveyed the scene and began to make plans. “First things first, we clear the rubble and gather the pieces into piles. Ma or the stonemasons might want to reuse any decent rubble we collect.” She dug around in the pile of supplies she had brought and pulled out two large push brooms. “The sooner we are done with this, the sooner the fun can really begin!”

Kara gave a small sigh, but accepted her broom with a smile. “Nothing ever gets you down, does it Willow?”

“Nope!” The blacksmith said with a chipper smile as she started sweeping clear the rubble. “My mom spent years telling me that you get twice the chances of learning and improving from making a mistake than you do getting something right the first time. So I always look at the chalice as half full.”

“Sometimes that depends on what the chalice is full of.” Kara muttered a bit to herself, but this excitable optimism was pretty endearing. “But I can see why those two idiots like you so much.”

The sound of Willow’s broom stopped and she turned to face her new friend, “What two idiots?”

Oops… Kara’s words had slipped out before she’d had time to fully consider them. She’d been too focused on getting the task done as quickly as possible. Well, there was no use trying to backtrack now. “You know… Lizzie and Olivia? Haven’t you heard them fighting before?”

Willow simply gaped at Kara. “Those two?” She said, rather confused. “I mean… I’ve seen them fighting, and that there was gossip about them, but I’d always tried to keep my distance. I just thought they were eventually gonna get together, or something….”

Kara was only now realizing the advantage of her Kryptonian hearing. Of course, she would have overheard a great deal more from those two than the other Amazons, and thus was able to paint a clearer picture. Though she hadn’t actually considered the possibility that Lizzie and Olivia actually could make a cute couple themselves…

Putting that thought aside for a moment, Kara turned to face Willow. Did she dare to consider telling the blacksmith exactly what she had overheard? Would that be too much of a breach of privacy? Would it be easier to just let Willow find it out for herself?

She decided to tread carefully and see if Willow would put it together with just a little prompting. “You’ve… never figured out why they bicker constantly? Have you ever, like… Talked to either of them?”

Willow seemed to consider this for a long moment, her cleaning duties completely forgotten at this point. “Well I… I always thought… Suffering Sappho… you don’t mean?” As her face changed and her posture tensed, it became clear that Willow was finally piecing things together.

Kara nodded her head slowly, the blush coming to Willow’s cheeks a clear sign that the final connection had been made.

“I need to go!” Willow said suddenly, throwing down her broom and running from the range, almost tripping over a fallen pillar in her haste to confront her findings. “You’ll be able to manage without me won’t you!” She yelled over her shoulder, disappearing before Kara had time to answer.

“Hey!” Kara called after her, but it was too late. Willow was far too distracted by other thoughts, even if she was still in earshot. “Me and my big mouth.” Kara muttered with a bitter smile as she resumed clearing away her mess, without any help this time. Willow was allowed to leave, this job was only optional for her after all. Still, Kara hoped she would get to hear all about any new developments soon.
________________________________________________________________

Cleaning up the damage actually turned out to be an easier task than Kara had anticipated. Her Kryptonian strength eliminated any sense of strain or fatigue, thus providing her with a frankly simple task that she could pretty much complete on autopilot. The dust got swept away, the rubble was neatly arranged by size into piles, and all the miscellaneous pieces of wood and scrap metal were picked up and placed next to the rubble in assorted piles of their own. Kara took a moment to admire her handiwork. She had just finished what would’ve been at least a day’s work back on Krypton in less than an hour, and she hadn’t even broken a sweat!

However, with Willow having run off to confront her admirers, there wasn’t much Kara could do to start on the next task of fixing the archery range. Without anyone to instruct her on what to do next, she instead opted to go for a little walk to the sheltered beach she had hidden with Donna the day before.

The sea was calm and the weather was pleasant, just as it always seemed to be on this island. Kara was starting to understand why some called it “Paradise”. Nevertheless, as beautiful as the clear skies and shimmering waters were, Kara’s mind was wandering elsewhere to a very different type of beauty.

In this very spot, the girl that made Kara’s heart flutter had held her, wiped away her tears, made sure she was safe and happy. “That has to mean she likes me… at least a little… right?” She spoke softly to herself as she sat on the bank, as her finger absentmindedly traced shapes in the sand.

Kara watched a flock of birds flying a good way out from the shore and sighed. She had worked with Clark for a good amount of time learning to fly like he could back at the Fortress of Solitude, but she had had very little luck. Perhaps if she could master her flight, she would feel less isolated? That and maybe it would also be a good way to impress Donna? Kara had heard stories of Donna leaping to and from great distances, but she was fairly certain she couldn’t fly like Clark could.

Kara stood and resumed her walk, making her way towards the training grounds, thinking that might be a sensible place to practice some of her less destructive powers. As she approached, she began to hear the sounds of the obstacle course being run as part of the Amazon soldiers’ regular training routine. Kara had been hoping that she would have the course to herself, since she hadn’t exactly had the best of luck when she had first tried to run a few of the less intense paths, and didn’t exactly want an audience this time. Especially when she wasn’t even certain if her current plan of using the course to help her learn to fly would go over well with the drill sergeants, who were usually quite strict about not taking shortcuts.

Coming around a curve in the path, Kara could now see the training exercise clearly. About a dozen Amazon warriors were running along the tallest rope walk, jumping gaps and traversing bridges that were barely tight ropes armed with swords, shields and in full armor. Kara watched their progress with a quiet awe. Even if these women couldn’t fly, she felt sorry for any army crazy enough to go to war with the Amazons…

“Keep up the pace, Amazons!” the commander called from the ground.

“Yes captain!” A familiar voice called from the front of the running warriors. Even in full armor, Kara would recognize Donna anywhere. She was about to wave to her friend when she saw it happen…

Donna was the first across a rope walk, when one of the cords snapped. It took a moment for anyone to even realize she had fallen, but Kara reacted instantly.

“Donna!” She called out, heart pounding in her chest. “I’ve got you!” Kara screamed as she took a running leap to catch her friend. In the back of her mind, Kara knew something was different. The wind was moving about her too fast, and that single leap had taken her surprisingly far. But now wasn’t the time to focus on that!

The blonde warrior rushed forward to catch her crush out of the air and braced for the impact of the ground… but it never came. Only then, with both arms holding Donna protectively, did Kara allow herself to look down. Flying… she was flying!

“My hero!” Donna said, a little breathless, a little bit of a laugh in her voice. The brunette leaned in and kissed her rescuer on the cheek. “Thanks Kara, but you didn’t have to…”

Donna’s sentence was quickly cut off. The kiss had been so unexpected that a flustered Kara had lost control of her newly discovered power and they both fell out of the sky… landing in one of the magical safety nets at the bottom of the rope course.

As soon as the pair landed, Donna started laughing at the confused look on Kara’s face. “Was… was this net always here?” Kara asked, her cheeks flushed pink with adrenaline and embarrassment.

“Yep!” Donna said with a smile. “But I still appreciate the save. Thanks Kara, you’re always looking out for me!”

It was only now that Kara realized she was still holding her crush in an almost bridal style position, and Donna was in no hurry to move away. Maybe now was as good a time as any. “Listen Donna… I need to tell you something…”

“Is everyone okay over here?”

“Hades damn it…” Kara muttered to herself, swearing like a local. She recognised that voice instantly, and not just because he was probably the only man around for miles. Superman himself was flying out of the sky to come check on his young cousin. “Hi Kal…” Kara said, a little awkwardly, only now letting go of Donna.

“Trespasser! Your kind are not welcome on Amazon soil!!” The drill commander called, quickly running up to Superman and menacing him with a spear in a way that suggested she didn’t know what he was capable of, or more likely that she was experienced enough to not care.

Clark held up his hands to show he was unarmed. “My apologies, captain. Although, in my defense, I’m not technically on your soil yet.” He nodded down, his boots still several feet above the ground. “I only came to speak to my cousin at the request of Princess Diana.”

The warrior looked a bit annoyed to be caught in a technicality. Perhaps she was one of the warriors who Diana had said wanted to test themselves against Superman and was now disappointed that he hadn’t come looking for a fight. “Very well. But I advise you to take this talk elsewhere.”

Reluctantly Kara got up from the net and helped Donna to her feet. “I’ll be back soon okay… There’s something we need to talk about later….” With a nervous smile, Kara took to the air once more. It was a strange sensation to no longer obey the laws of gravity, stranger still that it came so naturally to her all of a sudden.

She rose up with Clark above the treetops and into the sky until the whole island stretched out below them, and the sparkling blue ocean could be seen from all directions. It really was quite a spectacular view…

“I’ll never forget the first time I flew.” Clark said, placing a hand on Kara’s shoulder. “But I gotta admit, my first view from this height wasn’t as good as this!”

Kara had been so distracted by her encounter with Donna, she still hadn’t quite come to terms with the fact that she was now able to fly! As she took in the breathtaking sights, felt the wind on her face and spread her arms out wide, she began to laugh with pure glee and wonder! It was quite possibly the happiest Clark had seen his cousin since she had first arrived on Earth.

“We can talk up here if you want?” Clark said, smiling at Kara’s innocent joy before offering her his hand. “Or we head out to practice some maneuvers? It’ll be nice to have a fellow flier who can keep up for a change…”

Kara smiled as she accepted the gesture. “Y’know what? I actually think I’m starting to like this planet…”
_______________________________________________________________

As the pair flew throughout and above the clouds, Kara could practically feel the whole world opening up around her. She could travel anywhere she wanted now, and at remarkable speed! Even Clark was impressed with how quickly Kara was learning, already breaking the sound barrier with ease, though he made sure she slowed down a little after she flew a little too close to a passing passenger plane.

At one point, Kara noticed the sun starting to dip over the horizon and wondered just how long they had been soaring through the air, until Clark assured her that it was still early afternoon back on Themyscira, and that they had merely crossed over a few of Earth’s time zones. Had they really flown that far?

They both agreed to take a break from the flying lesson and touched down on a small peaceful desert island. As they sat down on the beach, Kara turned to face her cousin. “You said Diana asked you to come talk to me, right? How much has she told you?”

Clark smiled warmly. “Don’t worry, Kara. You’re not in any trouble. Diana told me about the heat vision incident and thought you might need a little Kryptonian guidance. But by the time I got to the island, you seemed to be doing a lot better. Was that really your first time flying on your own?”

Kara allowed herself a little smile. “Yeah… I was so focused on saving Donna that it happened without me even thinking about it…” Her smile faded a little. “So focused on saving her that I messed up again and interrupted the training course where no one was actually in any danger… Well, at least nothing is on fire this time.”

Clark put a hand on her shoulder and smiled, “It’s alright, cuz. Next time you see my parents, ask them about the kind of trouble I used to cause in Smallville. We all learn from our mistakes. I learned a lot about patience and control working the farm with Pa, but I also had to spend a lot of time making up for accidentally pushing myself too far. I had to re-plow that field so many times…”

Kara made a mental note to remember to visit the Kents for stories about Clark’s awkward teenage years. “How did you cope with it? It must’ve been hard having to constantly manage yourself like that.” She thought about how hard it had been for her living among the battle-hardened Amazons, and could only imagine how hard it must have been for Clark growing up alongside peaceful farmers.

“Oh it wasn’t as bad as you think,” said Clark. “Remember, my powers didn’t fully come in all at once, so I had time to adjust and learn self-control. Not to mention there was plenty of farm work that required a more gentle approach. Nothing quite like looking after newborn calves to help with honing those sorts of skills.”

Kara smiled at the frankly adorable idea of her big strong cousin helping to feed a baby cow, like the ones back on Themyscira. It made her think about Comet. “They gave me a horse to look after. Said it would help me adjust to life on Earth” She smiled at her cousin. “His name’s Comet. I guess the Amazons had the same idea as your parents.”

Clark smiled. “Y’know, if it ever gets a bit too much to handle on the island, you could always move in with Ma and Pa. It would probably be quieter, and they would love to have you around. You could even bring Comet with you.”

Kara thought for a moment about the offer. While she had enjoyed meeting Clark’s adoptive family, and the offer of some relative peace and quiet
Was tempting, she hated the idea of being further away from Donna. “No…” She said eventually. “It’s not the training that’s the issue. It’s… well…” She took a deep breath. “The reason why I lost control on the archery range… It was because of Donna. I… wanted to try and impress her, but I messed up.”

“Donna?” Clark repeated, raising an eyebrow. “As in Wonder Girl?”

Kara hugged her knees to her chest and nodded. “I really like her, Kal. I might be having a little trouble here, but I don’t want to leave Themyscira without telling her how I feel. I don't think I wanna leave at all if it means leaving her...”

Clark moved closer to his cousin and put an arm around her. “Well, I may not be the best at giving that sort of advice, but it sounds like you just need to be honest with her about how you feel. It’ll only hurt more the longer you wait.” He gave a soft chuckle. “This sort of thing is never easy for people like us. At least you seem like you’ve got a better first chance than I ever did…”

“What do you mean?” Kara asked, sensing quite a bit of history in those words.

Superman leaned back as he spoke. “Oh I’ve had my share of girlfriends in my time, Kara. The double life of both Superman and Clark Kent has complicated it every time.” He gazed out over the horizon as he reminisced. “First, there was Lana Lang, who only knew Clark from high school and was too intimidated by Superman.”

He turned his gaze down slightly to look at the sea. “Then there was Lori Lemaris, who loved Superman from the moment we met. But to have a life with her, I would’ve had to abandon life as Clark and the surface world altogether. She was a mermaid, you see. Long story…”

Clark grinned at Kara, who looked rather taken aback by that last particular detail. “Heck, even Lois fell in love with Clark and Superman as two separate people!” He said, continuing the story as normal. “At least, I’m pretty sure she did. It was hard to tell exactly when she figured out that we were the same person.” He shrugged it off. “My point is that if things work out with you and Donna, there won’t be anything like that between you. No worrying about secret identities or double lives. If I were you, I’d take that as a sign to go for it and tell her how you really feel.”

Kara had to admit those were all very good points. She knew that it would haunt her forever if she missed her chance to be with Donna, and that she almost certainly wouldn’t get another opportunity as perfect as the one she had at that moment in time. However, she also couldn’t help being a pest, and chose to comment on something else she had picked up from Clark’s words of wisdom. “You really seem to have a thing for girls with double-L initials, don’t you?”

“Don’t you start making those jokes too!” Clark sighed, though he couldn’t conceal his laugh. “I get plenty of them as it is from Lois!”

“Ah ha! Your one true weakness!” Kara laughed, joining in with Clark. It was a wonderful moment for Kara, and she felt more at peace in that moment than she had in quite some time. With Clark’s guidance and her control over her powers developing more and more, she was feeling more ready to take on the world than she had since arriving on Earth. She considered Clark’s offer to come and stay in Smallville, getting to know the rest of the world a little better. It would certainly be beneficial if she ever hoped to become a hero on the same level as Superman.

She made a vow to herself in that moment, that she would honor her family’s legacy and fight alongside her cousin in the pursuit of truth, justice and a better tomorrow! But first, she had other matters to attend to, particularly one concerning a particular Amazon girl who Kara needed to talk to…
________________________________________________________________

The sun was setting and the torches were lit by the time Kara returned to Themyscira. She had decided to spend a bit more time chatting and flying with Clark, touring a few locations around the globe, before realizing how long she had been gone for. After bidding farewell to her cousin, Kara had made her own way back to the island, locating it with surprising speed and efficiency. It almost as if the island had appeared before her the moment Kara had started to ponder the way back. Surely even the magic of this island wasn’t that powerful, was it..?

Shrugging it off, Kara flew down to the main where she could already make out the Amazons gathering for their nightly feast. While there wasn’t nearly the same level of noise or light of Earth’s other cities, the island still had an inviting warmth of its own. Soft music and song could be heard from around the common areas as women gathered around the braziers for food, warmth and company.

As Kara landed among them looking for Donna, she found everyone turning to gaze at her. Only this time, they looked to her with awe and admiration, rather than suspicion. More Amazons seemed willing to talk to her than ever before. Her aerial rescue along with the visit from Superman had evidently gotten her a lot of newfound admiration. All the same, she didn’t stop to talk to them. There would be time to make friends later. Right now, she was on a mission!

Kara did pause for a very brief moment when she caught sight of Willow, who was grinning with glee as Olivia snuggled up to her left side and Liz to her right. All three girls looked absolutely delighted, lost in their own world. Surprised , but very glad to see they had found an amicable resolution to their long feud, Kara quickly flashed Willow a thumbs up and continued. She would have to ask for the full story later.

She finally found Donna sitting with the girls from her training group who all stood up to cheer for Kara as she approached. “There she is! The woman of the hour!” Calanthe called, rushing forward to slap Kara on the back. She was clearly in a jovial mood, the smell of sweet wine strong on her breath. “You’re the talk of the island, Kara! Flying in to save the princess! We’ll make a fine soldier out of you yet, mark my words!”

“Calm down, Cala!” laughed Donna,“Let her have a moment.” She got up from her seat to approach her friend, smiling gratefully. “I don’t think I got the chance to thank you properly earlier.”

“No… no you definitely did.” Kara hoped her blush wasn’t visible in the dim firelight as she remembered the kiss on the cheek. “I don’t know why everyone is making a big deal about it. You weren’t in any real danger.”

Donna took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly, “Yeah, but you didn’t know that! Your first thought was to move in and save me! That kind of selfless act shows you’ve got the heart of an Amazonian warrior!”

Now Kara was convinced she was blushing hard enough for Donna to see it in the evening light. Her eyes lingered on Donna’s hand holding her own. “Listen Donna… Could we maybe go somewhere private for a moment? There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you…”

After a quick word to her friends, Donna and Kara slipped away from the communal area and made their way along the path towards one of the nearby cliffs. It was a little difficult keeping to the trail in the limited torch light, but Kara wanted something a little more private than the town or the palace if she was really going to do this.

“Come here for a second.” Kara opened her arms. Without question, Donna moved in, allowing Kara to hold her and fly them up the rest of the way up to the peak of the hill. Even Kara was impressed with her own confidence as she did this. The idea of carrying Donna in such a way would have overwhelmed her earlier, but now it came as second nature. “There. That’s better.” She said softly, as they landed at the top of the ridge.

They sat in a contented silence, enjoying the view of the scattered torches and bonfires down below them, and listening to the distant melodies being sung by some of the more festive Amazons. The sounds blended perfectly with the atmospheric noises of the jungle over to the other side of the hill, creating a peaceful ambience that matched the view perfectly. The full moon was rising, the stars were out, and the ocean shimmered with their reflective light.

“It’s so beautiful up here…” Donna said softly. “It’s not everyday I get to see Themyscira like this! Thank you, Kara.” She moved a little closer to her friend and smiled, watching the moon slowly move into the night sky. “You know, we’re taught that Artemis, the moon goddess, is a protector of young women. You might have been doing her work today.”

“Isn’t she also the hunting goddess? I probably annoyed her with all the bows I ruined earlier.” She grinned a little, before getting back on topic. “Listen Donna… There’s something I’ve wanted to talk to you about for a while…”

“Oh? What is it?” Donna turned to face her friend, a small smile on her face as she patiently waited for Kara to come to her point.

Kara looked up at the moon. “Protector of young women huh? Artemis, give me strength…” She thought to herself silently, before opening her mouth. “Donna, you’ve been my best friend since I arrived here, but while you were gone… I missed you so much and… And I realized, I think I like you more than just a friend…”

Donna moved closer to her and smiled even wider. “You know, I was starting to wonder when you were gonna say something like that…”

“Wait, you knew?” Kara’s voice squeaked and she hid her face in her hands. “You could have saved me so much stress these last few months!” She gulped a little, not having meant to say that last part out loud.

“Well I didn’t want to rush you before you were ready…” Donna said, before pausing. “Wait, months? How long has this been going on for?”

Another small squeak escaped Kara, realizing she had definitely said too much. But there was no way out of it now. “Y-yeah… I’ve liked you for a while … like, ever since I got here..?”

Donna looked a little bewildered. “And here I thought I was being clever noticing earlier…”

“How long have you known for?” Kara asked, her body trembling a little as they moved close enough that their shoulders were touching.

“Well I suspected for a while…” said Donna, not moving away. “But I kinda knew for sure the way you held me last night...”

“And… And how do you feel knowing that I like you?” Kara’s entire body tensed in preparation. The moment of truth…

In answer, Donna took Kara’s hand in her own. “I like you too, Kara. I hadn’t realized just how much until I went away. I missed our time together, and I kept thinking about you a lot. In fact, I came home early because I wanted to check on you, and I’m glad I did…”

“Really?!” Kara felt the ever present butterflies in her stomach flying in cartwheels of happiness. She felt herself leaving her grassy seat, floating a few inches into the air.

“Really!” Donna laughed, giving a gentle tug on Kara’s hand to bring her back down to the ground. “You’re kind, you’re funny, you’re sweet… You’re just…” She paused and brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face, blushing a little. “You’re just… nice to have around, Kara.”

Kara was almost speechless, hardly believing that any of this was really happening. “But you could be with anyone! Any girl on the island, any boy off it. What could I..?”

“Hey!” Donna cut her off firmly. “Don’t you dare finish that thought, okay? You are worth any of them a hundred times over!” Sensing more doubts, Donna quickly continued. “So what if you are still learning how life works on Earth? You have all the time in the world to learn it and find all the things you love to do! Heck, we can try them all together!”

“Is that your way of asking me on a date?” Kara asked, trying her best to be smooth and to not cry. She had never felt so touched!

Donna laughed. The same musical laugh that had first made Kara’s heart ache. “Well yeah! After all, you still owe me an ice cream! That is, unless you want to give this some thought first. I mean, you’re super popular right now. You might even have your own fan club by morning. Your pick of any pretty Amazon girl you could want.”

Kara squeezed her hand a little tighter. “There’s only one pretty Amazon girl that I want.” Donna rested her head on Kara’s shoulder. After a moment of hesitation, the Kryptonian put a gentle arm around her best friend.

At that moment, both girls had the same impulse. The urge to steal a quick kiss on the cheek. Unaware of the other’s thoughts, they both moved at once, their lips meeting each other in an unintentional, and very flustered first kiss. A brief embarrassment, a few muttered apologies… and both girls went back in for a much less accidental kiss.

As the other Amazons drank and sang through the night, Kara Zor-El and Donna Troy simply held one another under the glow of the full moon. They talked about anything that came to mind, and kissed whenever they felt like it, only getting up from their special place above it all when the moon was setting and Donna was too tired from the excitement of the day to stay awake.

For the first of what they both hoped would be many times, over many happy years, Kara picked Donna up in her arms and flew her back home to the palace.

The palace of Themyscira would always be Kara’s first home on Earth. But after many adventures and long talks under the moon, she learned that her best home would always be wherever Donna was.

Kara Zor-El of Krypton was finally home. And she would do anything to protect it.