6033/Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home
Date of Scene:	24 April 2021
Location:	Palace - Themyscira City
Synopsis:	Shortly after arriving on Themyscira, Donna calls on Kara to ask her about the trip to Krypton. It's an involved and emotional discussion.
Cast of Characters:	Donna Troy, Kara Danvers

---

Donna Troy has posed:
    The journey to the city of Themyscira, on horse or Kanga, had been eye-opening. The city itself even more so. It is a place of great beauty, almost glowing in the bright Themysciran sun. White and gold predominate, but there is also a lot of color. The historians who have attempted to recreate ancient Greek polychromes apparently didn't get it right -- the colors are more luminous and vibrant than any recreations. There is in the architecture of the city a sense of magnificence and serenity that might almost remind a visiting Kryptonian of Argo city, though here there is so much life, a sign of what might have been.

    There are differences though. While Argo City is an entirely artificial construct, the Amazons build in close harmony with nature. The city is built on the side of a mountain, and adopts its shape. Waterfalls cascade down the side of the mountain and are integrated into the architecture of the city, tastefully directed through aqueducts, and used to feed glimmering pools that reflect the deep blue sky. One district of the city is constructed on a vast natural bridge of rock that extends out into the sea, and around the mountain from it is an arena fixed to the side of the mountain and supported by a vast column of stone that also extends into the sea, echoing the natural form of the mountain itself. Like seeing the pyramids of Egypt, it's almost impossible to comprehend the monumental construction of that stone edifice. Kryptonian cities are grown, not built, after all.

    There will be time to explore the city, but for now it has to be admired from afar. The Titans had made their way through the streets, riding up steep roads to the summit and the palace, where they would be staying. There would be a feast to honor the visitors, but for now each had been lead to a room of their own and given some time to settle in and prepare.

    The rooms are airy, spacious and bright, with balconies overlooking the central courtyard of the palace. They are richly furnished in bright marble, richly colored fabrics, and deeply varnished hardwoods. There are statues and vases, and on the wall of Kara's room a large painting is mounted over the bed, portraying an idyllic forest scene with a woman sitting peacefully on a rock, painted in a style that is reminiscent of the classical, but with a more expressionist touch to the brushwork.

    To the scientifically inclined, particularly one with the vision of a Kryptonian, there is also much that is puzzling. A lot of the metalwork is of curious alloys, often with strange, nano-particulate inclusions - though Kara will be familiar with this aspect of Amazonian metalworking already. Through an archway there is a washroom with a shower that provides hot water, but no clear indication of how it is heated. There are globes mounted on the walls that look as if they must be light-bulbs, but no electricity feeding them, and the glass appears to contain a fluid. It's all very strange.

    Not long after Kara has been shown to her room, there's a gentle knocking at the door. "Kara?" Troia's voice calls out softly. "May I come in?"

Kara Danvers has posed:
    Kara had been trying to pretend to be herself. To be happy and polite to everyone as she took everything in. It was in stark contrast to her home she had only so recently visited. Dark and dead. She dare not let anyone know just how much she's hurting inside. The whole trip had been incredibly difficult.

    She unpacks when she's in the room. They aren't really intending to be here for long but it seems like the right thing to do. It is done in a flash too, well, not quite as fast as a flash but very quickly. Even her drinking vessel, the gift from Donna, is places on a bench by her bed.

    The lights are inspected.. a fluid producing light? interesting technology. Or may be magic. She hopes not magic. It's probably magic. The alloys she could stare vacantly at for house studying their beauty. Probably best no one walk in on her while she's doing that too.

    Kara rests her hands on the water basin in the bathroom and then splashes her face with water. She looks at herself in the reflection and winces.

    "rrosh," she replies to the siren song of Donna. Her best imitation of herself once more in place she greets Donna with a hug. Still dressed in her white Kryptonian garb with long blue cloak wrapped around her. She finally takes that off since the weather here is so nice. Possibly always perfectly so.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Troia enters with a smile, returning the hug tightly. "/bezhgamed vot Themyscira, Kara/," she says with a grin. "I'm so glad you made it. When Cassie raised the idea of this trip I suggested we delay until you returned, but... well, she convincingly argued we could just go back when you do, and that Diana really could use the trip home now. I wanted so much to bring you here, so when you turned up just in time, it made me so happy."

    She pulls away, looking out the window at the courtyard below for a moment before turning back to Kara. "Are you settled in? Any questions? Oh, the lights work by touch, by the way." She waves her hand over the surface of one of the globes, causing it to glow with a soft, warm light, then repeats the action to turn it off again in demonstration. "The blinds are pretty much like Venetian blinds, just turn the rod if you don't want to be woken by the sun. If you need anything brought to your room, just find someone and ask and word will be passed on.

    She takes a seat on the window bench, and looks back at Kara, one eyebrow raised. "We uh... haven't really had a chance to talk since you got back. I didn't want to ask any questions in front of everyone. If you don't want to talk about your trip just yet I understand. But I'm here to listen if you do, Kara."

Kara Danvers has posed:
    "nahkluv," she says with a small smile. Troia seems to be very full of life and energy. No doubt because she is home. A complex subject still swirling around in Kara's head since she got back to Earth. This is home. It was chosen by her uncle and it is a very fine planet, even if it is extremely blue in colour.

    Her eyes look over the light as it changes its intensity and the way the blinds operate, "I'll just leave it open. I love the sun." That much is obvious about her. She smiles nervously a moment, "Ask others to get me things? I know it's a palace.. I'll just ask them where I can get the thing myself if that's okay?"

    There is a pause, a breath held, as she is asked about the trip. The subtle motion of her neck as she swallows down the complex cocktail of emotions. It is clear she is trying to keep it together. The girl of steel is also made of softer stuff. She clears her throat and lifts her chin up a touch higher, "It was.."

    She is trying desperately to get more placating words out but a tear rolls down her cheek. Once one is down more begin to follow and she sits down on the side of the comfy bed. "I don't even know where to begin."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "You're a guest here, Kara," Troia replies with an encouraging smile. "The important thing is that you are comfortable. If you prefer to get things yourself, that is fine. It may be a palace but we are rather an egalitarian society, for a monarchy. Nobody will complain if you do their job for them. I will warn you though - when Caitlin first came here, she insisted she should help out and it took a while before the cooks trusted her enough to allow her in their kitchen.

    Troia notices the tear, but doesn't comment on it too directly. "Take a seat," she suggests, "And don't rush yourself. Would you like something to drink? There's a jug of water on your bedside table, but I'll get a bottle of wine if you'd prefer that. I know you're not much of a drinker, but we do drink a lot of wine on Themyscira. It's kind of the basic drink. We usually have it mixed with water though, so don't worry about getting drunk." Quick grin."

    She settles back against the window frame, making herself comfortable and making room on the bench for Kara to join her if she wishes to - though there are a couple of chairs in the room, and the bed, as alternative options if Kara wishes. "Begin with... Oa," Donna suggest. That sounds like it should be the nice, uncomplicated, easy part of the Kryptonian's voyage. "You were hoping they might have a bit more information about what happened to your planet, right?"

Kara Danvers has posed:
    Kara lets out a small choked chuckle at Caitlin not being allowed in the kitchen. She looks to the chairs, and then where Troia has perched herself. She decides to join her friend on the bench. She rises up over the bed and floats over to seat herself. "When in Themyscira..," she says when offered wine. She might not be legal drinking age in America, but she's not sure it will even affect her much.

    A hand wipes away the tears and she tucks her feet up underneath her. She suddenly looks like she's eating something bad as Oa is mentioned. "That.. place," she says with a further grimace. She takes a long breath and then says, "is complicated."

    "Imagine a civilisation that lives so long they aren't familiar with the concept of social evolution. Imagine that civilisation is in conflict with your civilisation. Then tens of thousands of years later, long after they are barely a memory to you.. they still consider the conflict to be fresh," she sniffles a bit and wipes her nose.

    "That ... is how the Oans see Kryptonians. A long time ago we had a star empire, the Kryptonian Hegemony. It was so long ago it is barely a footnote in our school history. But for the Oans.. it was like it was yesterday. They met us with warships, drones, and hundreds of green lanterns. They were..... petrified of us."

    She looks down at the floor and frowns. "I've never been someones monster before. Not like that. Their fear.. they thought we had come seeking revenge and even with all their preparations they were still afraid of us. It took.. careful words.. to get them to understand that we were not their enemy. And when all was said and done, the only thing they could tell us was that our sun had exploded."

Donna Troy has posed:
    Troia rests an arm around Kara's shoulders when Kara joins her on the bench, giving her a gentle hug before letting her get on with the story. It's almost instantly clear her assumptions are wrong that the Oan part of the voyage would be the simple bit, and she listens closely.

    "There is... a danger in a status quo," she says finally. "Look around and you see a culture that is barely changed in thousands of years. Not so long as the Oans, for sure. But to me, it is clear the risks that comes with. This visit, bringing the Titans here. I could only bring along the female members of the team. That's something Diana and I are both very determined will change, and soon. But I can see how hard it is, for my mother. The world of this island has changed so little since my people settled here. The world outside has changed so much. The reasons why this was an island only for women were real and important once, and now they are not. Now it is counter-productive. How can we Amazons be a lesson to the world if we only embrace half that world?"

    "And yet... it's hard for them to understand. Diana and I know the world outside. They do not. To my sisters, the world changes very slowly. They may see with their eyes that the world outside has changed much faster, but they struggle to believe it. Understanding that one's own experience of the world is not the same as the experience of others is perhaps the hardest understanding to truly achieve."

    She gets up, crosses to the door, and sticks her head out, calling something in Themysciran to one of the guards in the corridor before returning to sit on the bench again. "We have some wine coming. You're wrong about not being someone's monster before though. We're all monsters to some people. If someone is robbing a bank and you drop out of the sky, don't you see fear in their eyes? Monsters rarely think of themselves as monsters -- it is a subjective thing. For myself, I have no issue with people seeing me as a monster, if they are people I see as a monster. In the case of the Oans though, I suppose it must simply be ignorance. From what I have heard of them, they are a force of good in our universe. But they are old, and perhaps they forget that true success is making yesterday's enemies into today's friends."

Kara Danvers has posed:
    When Troia joins her again speaking of her experience of monsters.. those words, that the Oans are a force of good. Kara's expression is pale and haunted. "Please do not speak of this to any others Troia," she warns. There will be ramifications, ripples that could cause great pain. "The Oans told us they seeded the galaxy with materials counter to our life, to push us back to our home world. Part of Kryptonian technology was learnt from the Oans a long time ago. We know that they kept watching us, but said they don't know what happened. Our sun collapsed in to a quark star."

    Her lips form a thin line and she says, "There are very few civilisations with the ability to collapse a sun. Troia, I think the Oans attempted to wipe us out entirely. When they were confronting us, they said that their rules about not committing genocide did not apply to Kryptonians."

    Her eyes turn to look out the window again and she takes Troia's hand. The grip is.. very tight. Possibly uncomfortably so. Kara has never seemed this emotionally raw before and they are still only at the Oa part of the journey.

    She draws in a deep breath and slowly lets it out, her grip lightens and she lets go. Outside she can see people pulling carts with goods down the streets quite far away. People training in combat techniques. It is easy to see far in this beautiful light. "It is a lack of empathy, a desire not to open ones heart to the enemy, anyone who has burned us before, that causes these issues," she says, "I am certain Themyscira has the empathy to embrace mankind as well as womankind, but perhaps the scars still seem fresh because they are unique."

Donna Troy has posed:
    Troia frowns, but not at the pressure of Kara's grip. "A quark star?" she asks. "You said Krypton is fairly close to Earth, right? I've... since I had my experience with the black hole, I've been doing a bit of research. Here on Themyscira, we call black holes /phaoklops/ - light-thief. The concept had occurred to us too, long ago. There are significant differences in our theories and the theories of man's world. I could tell from my experience that neither set of theories were correct, but also that black hole was not conventional. It was artificial, it - it didn't follow any set of rules. It was artificial, created. I may be no physicist, but from the reading I have done, even I can tell you that if Krypton's sun has become a quark star, that can't be natural. Because for it to have happened naturally would take a very massive star collapsing into a vast supernova, and millions of years for the matter to degenerate sufficiently. Perhaps if someone created a short-lived black hole /inside a sun/..."

    She stops speaking suddenly, and shakes her head, suddenly looking very uneasy. It might seem like this was a natural reaction to theorizing about such weaponry, and the support that such theorizing gives to the suggestion that it was intentional. However there's another thought that has just occured to Troia, and it's enough to silence her. Krypton's sun is destroyed. Krypton's sun is not just a sun, Krypton's sun is /Rao/, Kara's god.

    "Perhaps," she says finally. "Perhaps it is a lack of emphathy, or perhaps it is simply fear. Fear can make good people do bad things. That is part of why we Amazons are who we are. We are warriors not simply so that we can fight to right wrongs. If we are strong, we do not need to fear, and if we do not need to fear, we are more able to tell what is truly a wrong and what is not. The Oans are not warriors -- they have the Green Lanterns to fight for them. Perhaps that is their mistake."

Kara Danvers has posed:
    She can see it on Troia's face. She gets it now. Someone murdered her sun, her civilisation. There's a small nod from Kara, her lips in a thin line. Not only that, she's quite sure who did it... and they're supposed to be the ones keeping law and order in the universe. Turns out, it's just _their_ law that counts.

    "They showed us a historical map of the Kryptonian Hegemony's expansion. We grew fast. Very fast. They were afraid of us. Many species were. They banded together against us but even that wasn't enough," she says and then lets out a sigh, "And the worst part of it is.. Zod walks around claiming to be part of the Hegemony."

    She shrugs, "So there you go, I'm a plague on the universe.. then we left Oa because really how much more of that can a person take hm?" She is trying to make light of it but it's clearly been weighing heavily on her. "Next we went home.. or.. what was once home."

    "Really, I'm the only one in my family from there," she says leaving that question about Power Girl dangling, "...so they were doing it for me. I could tell it wasn't easy on Superman and .. oh shoot. I forgot to tell you about the weirdest bit."

    Her lips quirk in to an odd looking smile, "So there we were in a stand off against Oa and its fleet when out of no where comes this young boy wearing the symbol of my family on his top tumbling through space. He says his name is..." she pauses, suddenly realising the name might be compromising to Clark. "Jon." Just the first bit then, "and that Superman is his father." And Lois, may be that part should be left out too. "He escaped from the phantom zone and seems to have travelled backwards through time."

Donna Troy has posed:
"Oans don't know Supergirl, Kara. Humans do. Ask us whether you're a plague on the universe, not them." Donna smiles and gives Kara's knee a pat. "There are very few people on this planet that knows you, that has become your home, who would agree with them. You, and your cousin, and your sister, are truly good people. You inspire millions. Those are the facts, and anything else is prejudice."

    "Perhaps it is true that thousands of years ago your people /were/ a plague on the universe. If Zod's an example of what the Kryptonian Hegemony used to be, then they may have a point. But that's not you, that's your distant ancestors. Ghandi and Hitler came from the same species."

    There's a knock at the door and Donna hops quickly to her feet, going to answer it. She's back a moment later with a tray bearing a bottle of wine, a jug of water, and two glasses. Sitting back down she places the tray on the bench between them, filling each glass half way, then tops up both glasses with water. "Jon, huh? Hmm. Interesting. You won't know this yet, but we have another person staying at the Tower, arrived while you were away. Her name's Irie. She's Wally's daughter from the future, so apparently that's happening a lot lately."

Kara Danvers has posed:
    Kara waits patiently for the wine to be brought over. She takes a sip and then hears about Irie. She lowers the cup and says, "Oh for the benevolence of Rao! Really where are my future kids? perhaps I taught them well enough not to mess with time travel, but it seems like everyone elses kids are coming back through time all of a sudden. First Conner and now Jon.. and all of these mini-Flashes."

    She is smiling at least. She wipes away another tear and lets the moment settle her from becoming too jaded toward what she learnt about the Oans. "Either I'm only in to women in the future or my children aren't silly enough to travel through time. Either is fine, I suppose. That.. or I'm no longer around," she pauses, "Except Jon knew me. When he met me and I left to talk to the Oans I heard him ask others on the ship.. 'is that Supergirl'..."

    She takes in a deep breath and chuckles from the pain of the memories. "I still get nightmares about when I left Krypton. Seeing it... all destroyed. The destruction of Rao ripped through the planets and moons. Krypton especially. It was like it was designed to take advantage of Krypton's weaknesses."

    "Strangely one of our moons was in tact, just thrown out of orbit. We went down there and found a survival bunker and there was a recording ....." she pauses and takes another deep breath, then sips the wine. "A recording of Argo City, as bright as the moon glowing like a jellyfish in space.. shooting away from the destruction of Krypton."

    "My dad.. Zor-El, he had been building a shielding system for the city. It worked. And the bunker had an audio recording from him. My dad's voice.. suddenly I could hear him, feel him, smell him. It was like he was there. He was telling wayward Kryptonians to come join them in Argo City."

Donna Troy has posed:
    Troia knows, approximately, how this story ends. It doesn't take a seer, it just takes spending a few minutes with Kara. Less than that -- it takes seeing that Kara is here. Troia has no doubt that Kara's relatively quick return to Earth was not good news. She moves the tray out from between them in case Kara needs more hugs.

    "It's different with Speedsters," she points out. "They have a poor relationship with the natural flow of time, and that makes them more prone to ending up in the wrong /part/ of it. Maybe it just means that you never have kids with a speedster." A faint grin spreads over Troia's features. "You know, when I first met Irie I made a little joke about how I'd react to some stranger showing up and calling me 'auntie Donna'. She said she was avoiding doing things like that because she didn't think people would be comfortable, and just for a moment... well, she cheered up quite quickly and threatened to start calling me auntie Donna. But you could see for a moment how much of a stress it all is on her, even though she's with her father and possibly a few other people she knows well. So... Jon. Do what you can to help him feel at home, he probably needs it."

    Troia takes a good drink of her own wine, before topping up both her glass and Kara's, even though Kara's barely needs it. "So, you took his invitation and travelled to /ahrgo zrhygrhahs/," she prompts.

Kara Danvers has posed:
    Kara chuckles a little and nods her head when she thinks about Jon. She was a little awkward around him, unsure how to consider him. After the initial Conner revelation and now Jon. She nods again making up her mind to be a better auntie to him. Then the topic of conversation is back to her home.

    "ugir nerom," she says of Krypton's biggest western city on Lurvan. Another tear rolls down her cheek. Troia has already figured it out. Well, part of it anyway. She sips the wine and says, "They were headed to a star designated as K-2. They never made it. When we found the city it was only part way there and all the power was gone. They had all died en route."

    There's almost a dissociative look like it's hard to comprehend not just the destruction of her planet, but then the subsequent emancipation and destruction of her city. "We found a big spire in the middle of the city. My father left a digital imprint behind in case I ever found it."

    The tears start to flow again and she begins to cry in earnest, lowering her cup. "nahn ukr w dhehraogh," she says through the tears. The first time she's said it out loud ever since she awoke on Earth.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Troia puts down her glass and closes the gap between herself and Kara, wrapping an arm around Kara's shoulder and pulling her close. Her other hand reaches for Kara's to hold it, and she sits there in silence, gently stroking her friend's hair and letting her cry it out.

    She doesn't offer any immediate attempt at words of comfort, knowing they would be futile. Instead she contents herself with offering closeness, companionship and the reminder that even with what Kara has lost, she is still loved.

    "You know Kara," she says quietly, eventually. "When you first told me about the way Kryptonian names work, that sons take the name of the family but daughters take the name of their fathers, I didn't want to say anything, but that struck me as a very... sexist tradition. I guess that /would/ be my reaction, hmm? But there are always other ways of looking at things, and you have opened my eyes to a new way of looking at that. His name lives on in you, Kara Zor-El. And I don't need to have ever known him to know how immensely proud and honored he would be by that, because I know you."

Kara Danvers has posed:
    Kara chuckles through her tears and wipes at them with the sleeve of her top. She has not felt this vulnerable since she was last on Krypton, the ground solid beneath her feet. There is no time to be Kara Zor-El on Earth. It is either Supergirl or Kara Danvers all the time. No places to be herself either... except here.

    "Sexist tradition..." she smiles and draws in a breath. "It is a little unfair to the men I suppose. They are always of their house, while the women can move. We are the ones who create the bridges between the families. Kal-El.. he is not Kal. He is Kal-El. While me.. I am Kara or Kara Zor-El. Yes, I do see your point. It's a very old tradition... I think, dating back to when the women would travel and trade while the men represented the household and trades."

    She smiles to Troia and even as more tears are falling down her cheeks. "I will introduce you to him soon," she says. Odd, since he's dead. Kryptonian tradition to leave a digital imprint of themselves. "He left a hologram for me. He said they ran out of energy and then there was disputes about how to use the remaining energy. They sent my mother Alura to the phantom zone...." she huffs softly.

    "I will find her and bring her here," she says with a determined nod. She shakes her head suddenly, "Oh gosh.. and you're not going to believe who turned up to Argo City right when we did..."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Ah, so you are saying that male Kryptonians are like snails, forced to forever carry their houses on their backs, while female Kryptonians are free as birds to fly from one to another," Troia says with a grin. It's obvious she's not persuaded by Kara's take, but equally obvious that she doesn't consider this the time for such a debate and is just trying to get a little smile out of Kara with the rather bizarre metaphor.

    "You had some good news from this journey after all then," Troia says, grin turning into a gentle smile. "Your mother. Well then. I don't know much about the Phantom Zone, but I do know someone who is perhaps the most talented breaker of walls between dimensions that this galaxy knows. When you feel up to it, we will discuss this with Raven. If there's anyone who knows how to pluck people from strange inter-dimensional spaces, it is she. And you say Jon came from there - escaped from the Phantom Zone, when he turned up? Perhaps he will have some information that is of use."

    "You have friends here, Kara," Troia says, giving Kara's shoulder another squeeze. "Anything we can do to help you get your mother back, you have only to ask. You know that."

    Of course she can guess what's coming next, and who turned up to Argo City right when they did, but this is Kara's story to tell. Troia can explain her part in that later, she's saying nothing just yet.

Kara Danvers has posed:
    Kara smirks a little bit and nods her head, "Pretty much. Well, that is how it was in the olden days. Now it's just.. how we have names." She raises an eyebrow and says, "You're goading me." She wrinkles her nose just a touch and then nods her head, "Raven... I don't think getting to the phantom zone has ever been that difficult a challenge for my people. Coming back... that's where things get tricky. I do not believe the technology to get a quantum lock exists, let alone derive one for my mother out of.. nothing?"

    She sighs softly and says, "We will find a way." She nods to Troia and then continues, "Zod turned up.. in a relic of a Kryptonian Warship. Like, hundreds of years old technology warship. It was like something from a history hologram lesson come to life. Crazy.. where would he even find something like that. I mean, if I knew where a modern Kryptonian warship was at I'd be able to bat him about in the sky like he were a bouncy ball.... but. Yes, he arrived."

    "It got tense. We raced each other to the city, but he made a promise of non-violence. And when it came to deciding what to do with the city, he agreed to our terms. We gave our people a proper burial. The city.. is waiting for a time when the Kandorians are free of their bottle." There's a small smile on her lips as she thinks of K-2 again.

    "It was strange. Almost like we got through to Dru-Zod for a change. He listened to us.. I told him that he and I knew each other much better in this other timeline. I think he paid attention..." she shakes her head and sips the wine. "I don't understand that man. But he carries with him so terrible ideas. He wears the armor of the Hegemony. The very thing the Oans feared the most."

Donna Troy has posed:
    Troia listens carefully, nodding her head a little. When Kara is done, she silently unbuckles the bracer from her right arm, and holds her arm out to show Kara. At first sight it looks like she has a strong tan-line, the skin under the bracer she wears almost all the time much paler than the rest of her arm, but it doesn't take long to realise it's something else. The skin of her arm in the shape of the bracer is unnaturally smooth and a little shiny, like an old burn wound.

    "He showed up here," she says, matter-of-factly. "That ship... part of the crystal became transparent, and he fired his heat ray vision through it at me. It was a lot more powerful than I was expecting. I think the crystal somehow amplified it."

    She tilts her head, looking at Kara questioningly. "I'm not sure if you were joking when you said it, but you told me to tell Zod where you were going. So I did. I could have lied, sent him somewhere else. But honestly... it felt like the right thing to do. There are not many Kryptonians left, after all."

    She rests her bracer on her lap, slips her arm back into it and starts doing up the straps again. "He's very... emotional. Also, if he's the class of general the Kryptonian Hegemony had -- well, I'm not surprised they needed that advanced technology. I do not think he is a good leader."

Kara Danvers has posed:
    Kara's eyes focus in on Troia's arm when she takes the bracer off. New layer of skin, like recovering from sunburn. When she explains that Zod turned up and blasted her with amplified head vision her eyes widen in shock and surprise. Her eyes flick up and down over Troia as if to make sure she's all in one piece... and she just told Troia that that ship was a relic.

    "Oh gosh," she says and sits up straight as she realises that what she said about Zod turning up while she was away with a bit off the cuff. "Oh Gosh!," she repeats herself and then nods her head, "So that's how he found us."

    "Are you okay? did anybody get hurt? We should have been here to turn him away.. instead my family went trekking across the stars for me," she says feeling guilty in the pit of her stomach. "He... is persuasive to vulnerable minds."

    There is a small smirk on Kara's face when Troia mentions he 'needs' the technology to lead. She rests her hand on Troia's knee and nods her head, "You're right though, he is very... emotional. Passionate. I think I am starting to understand him. I think he single mindedly cares about the restoration of Kryptonian society.. and unfortunately, that includes his idea of the Hegemony."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "We hurt them more than they hurt us," Troia says with a grin. "In fact, Robin is very disappointed that we let him go, and didn't arrest him. I think he considers it a personal failure that he intends to put right next time Zod appears."

    "There were... at least three others of them on the ship with Zod. Ursa and two I don't recognize. I took Robin, Kian and Terry up to intercept him with the T-Jet. Thor and Captain Marvel were there, and a couple of the Fantastic Four showed up. Not enough of us to deal with him decisively, but enough to give him a rather worse time of it than he must have been anticipting when he discovered there was no House El to oppose him. Don't feel guilty about not being there, Kara. You are not Earth's only protectors, and your voyage was important."

    She finishes tying the bracer back on and looks at Kara with a smile. "Apart from a couple of burnt wrists, nobody was really hurt. He is rather single minded, yes. And passionate. It makes him easy to manipulate, and he does not appear to be very good at thinking on his feet. We gave him too many things to deal with at once, and he kept trying to respond in the same way, relying on his assumption of Kryptonian superiority. General Philippus would have stern words to say about his tactical mastery. He's easy to manipulate. If it had not all happened so fast -- if we had more time to prepare -- I think Robin's dream might even have been possible. Thor and Captain Marvel fought a couple of the Kryptonians directly. The rest of us employed a series of... tricks. Had Diana been there, had we time to prepare a powerful magical response... well please don't let this make you think you can't afford to take vacations from Earth, Kara." She gives her Kryptonian friend a grin and a wink. "We can manage when we have to."

    "Still... in the end, I told him that he was in the wrong place. He was looking for Brainiac's resizing gear. When I told him that you had reason to believe that Argo City might have survived, and that he should be out there, looking for it, like you were, rather than causing trouble here..." she gives a shrug. "He is deeply misguided, but I can understand that much. His feelings towards you guys in House El must be rather complicated. I think he sees himself as the protector of his people, and feels he cannot affort to let anything stand in his way when it comes to protecting those survivors. I wonder what will happen when he takes that ship to Oa to demand they help restore Kandor."

Kara Danvers has posed:
    Kara has dried her tears in part thanks to time, and wine, and company. She listens to the battle for Earth and gets a slightly puzzled look on her face, "So he just turned up looking for a fight and didn't kill anyone and then just left?" For all the talk of his single mindedness and his lack of creativity when facing off against the heroes, she gets the impression he may have got what he was looking for.

    She shrugs a touch and says, "Well.. so long as everyone is okay. Gosh... I really hope he doesn't go to Oa demanding things. There were five of them. One of them was the very first Kryptonian to ever be sentenced to the phantom zone. A scientist by the name of Jax-Ur. I can tell you, when we realised he was on Zod's ship I really thought about wanting to go over there and trying to arrest him. But.. there was so much going on. Time is on our side."

    She sips more of the wine and then rests her head to Troia's shoulder, "Thank you Troia for asking.. and for listening. I'm going to be haunted by what happened, what I saw and experienced and it helps to have shared it with someone I trust."

    "It's going to take me some time.. to process it all.. and I have a lot of questions for my father. But a little more time away here in Themyscira, it could help me come to terms with what has happened. Just a little bit."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "He came to Earth looking for Brainiac's resizing gear, not for a fight," Troia replies with a shrug. "It wasn't there. We gave him things to worry about, and we gave him a reason to be somewhere else. Why would he stay, knowing that Argo City might be out there somewhere? Fighting Earth doesn't progress his aims. Finding Argo City alive would have."

    She tilts her head to the side, thoughtfully, and rubs her arms a little through the bracer before returning her arm to Kara's shoulder. "Thor and Captain Marvel are a match for Kryptonians. We played tricks on his ship's sensors, making them believe there was a fleet of ships ready to engage them, and spreading their attacks thin. We used Terry's Rabbit Hole to redirect his attack on me back at his ship, which caused a fair bit of damage. I goaded them in Kryptonian. Kian briefly turned the light inside their ship into red sun-light. Terry unleashed chaos magic in the bridge of their ship. We couldn't overwhelm their power, but we could give them too many different things for it to be comfortable to deal with. Enough for them to know that if they paid attention to the wrong things, it could be costly. I'm not sure Zod is wise enough to feel doubt, but I imagine he's wise enough to know when a fight simply isn't worth it."

    "Also..." Troia gives a soft sigh and rests her hand on Kara's head. "Kara, I know you're going to hate this, but I have to tell you. It was necessary to give them every reason we could to make them worry. We were able to lay our hands on a small amount of Kryptonite, and we let them know we had it. I made it very clear to the others that it was not to be used on anyone except in the direst of emergencies, but we wanted them to know there would be a price for pushing us. I'm sorry."

    "Richards... the Fantastic Four guy... he infected the crystalline structure of their ship with a sample. The ship didn't like it. They had to shed a chunk of the infected structure into space. They already had to do that with bits that got hit by Thor's hammer and Zod's reflected heat-ray vision, and that's... cleaner. I'm sorry Kara, I really am. But without you guys there, without Diana available, without time to prepare a magical response, I had to explore every avenue, to give ourself every possible advantage."

Kara Danvers has posed:
    Kara listens with a touch of amusement at how the battle against Zod went down. The combination of strange attacks would perplex most people. Earth really is starting on its own two legs. The galaxy may start taking notice, which could be a whole different set of problems. "Whatever happened to a quiet little blue planet on the outer rim of the galaxy hm? Imagine if Zatanna had been there instead of with us," she says with a smirk.

    But the smile fades as Troia begins to describe the use of Kryptonite. Kara shrugs herself away and stands up taking a couple of steps back from Troia. Her look is a little dark and she opens her mouth to say something, but the right words seem to be lost to her right now. She looks back to Troia but the look is very disapproving; she was correct Kara is not happy about this.

    "A chunk of his ship was ejected? what happened to it?," she says warily expecting she's not going to like the answer she'll get about this. Bad enough that they had Kryptonite on hand and were willing to use it. "You said Zod wasn't even here to fight and.. yet you used Kryptonite.. on that ship," she says. It's clear from the way her eyes are jittering about she is thinking of all the numerous and horrible ways things could have gone wildly wrong. And still might.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Troia stays seated but straightens up, arms folded in her lap. She doesn't meet Kara's gaze -- she obviously feels guilty about it. "He wasn't here to fight, Kara. But it's the only way he knows to deal with things. It didn't occur to him to just /ask/, it occured to him to take. He targeted Earth's defenses with crystal drone-ships. When we went up to meet them we asked him to stand down the attack and offered to talk, and they responded by shooting at Thor and Captain Marvel."

    "A fight was not their purpose, but it was their method. We were facing a potentially world-ending threat, Kara. We resolved it without anyone dying, and to do that we had to use every option available to us."

    She leans back against the edge of the window frame, sighing. "Kara, I know you take this personally. I didn't like it either, because you and Kal are my friends. But... look." She draws her sword out, holding the blade flat-up and point-down, to show Kara. "Everywhere I go, I carry this. To almost every single person on this planet, this is as deadly to them as Kryptonite is to you. More. But it's not aimed at them, and that Kryptonite wasn't aimed at you. I know this doesn't feel good to you, Kara. Kryptonite makes you feel vulnerable in a way almost nothing else does. And I'm sorry, I hate to be responsible for making you feel that way. But think how vulnerable seven billion inhabitants of Earth feel when a Kryptonian battle-ship is pointed at them."

    She sheathes the sword with a gentle sigh that echoes the sound of the blade sliding against leather. "The Fantastic Four recovered all the pieces of ejected crystal they could find. They are good people, and I can't think of anyone I'd prefer to have that stuff locked away. They've been dealing with alien technology since before Kal came to Earth, they will be careful. I recovered a small sample which is in secure holding at the Tower. I don't yet know if it was a part that got corrupted by the Kryptonite sample, or if it was a shard that was ejected due to physical damage. I have asked Vic to examine it and see what he can learn about it. Vic is really smart, and who knows, maybe he can use it to find a way to protect you guys from its effects in future. But when we get back... if you want it gone, we'll send it into the sun. It's your choice."

Kara Danvers has posed:
    Kara sighs heavily, "It's not equivalent and you know it." She folds her arms and stares at Troia for a while. What's done is done, what more can she do about it. Corrupted sunstone though? The readings were off the charts with weird matters and radiation when they were in the Rao system. She's starting to see a pattern.

    "Troia.... is that the last of the kryptonite?," she asks - how many times has she been told yes to that question by people who justify their need to have it. And that's just her - Clark must be especially sick of being lied to about it.

    "Because I need a sample," she says flipping the conversation on end. "Now.. I am a little annoyed at you and you're my closest friend so I'd rather you gave me some space to cool off for a bit because I don't like being upset at you. It's unfair to both of us."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Isn't it, Kara?" Troia asks mildly. "Ask yourself what the people of this world would think of your heat-ray vision if they didn't /trust/ you. My bracers could shrug off a nuclear blast but I was burned by Zod's through them in a fraction of a second. Is that a less horrible weapon?"

    She gets to her feet, walking over to the door, but she leans against it. "I know it sounds ruthless, Kara. I'm sorry. But if I was actually ruthless, I wouldn't have just used it as a threat. We would have bathed them in the light of a red sun, filled their ship with a Kryptonite aerosol, teleported on board, and slaughtered them. Instead, we found a way where nobody died, Human, Asgardian or Kryptonian. And you know what? If it really came to it... if it was that or Earth, and there was no other option?" She finds Kara's eyes, holding her gaze there for a few moments before looking down to the ground. "I don't trust myself to be able to do it. I think I would fail my planet."

    Troia sighs and opens the door. "No Kara, it's not the last of it," she says, turning back to look at her friend on the way out. "There's more. I don't know how much more, but not much. Don't take my word for it, but I believe Kal knows about it. Maybe you should discuss it with him."

    "In the meanwhile... you're here to relax and recover. Themyscira is a good place for that. If you're mad at me, I understand, but don't let it get in the way of you being here, and benefitting from what Themyscira has to offer for you. The welcome feast is in an hour. If you'd like to sit at the opposite end of the table to me, I can arrange that. I won't hold it against you."

Kara Danvers has posed:
    Kara meets Troia's gaze after she describes how she thinks she would need to deal with a full on Zod attack. The gaze is held and then Troia looks to the ground. The whole time she was listening... she realised she would do it. If it came to that. She starts to wonder a moment about Power Girl.. and Superman.. and their differing philosophies. She lowers her eyes too and catches her thoughts in motion.

    "There's always another way," she says to Troia. An argument they have had before. One that may never be resolved. "I'll see you in an hour. I am not angry. I'm just..." she folds her arms and lets out a sigh, "in a very strange place emotionally and I don't want to be rude to you."

    Because deep down, she can feel it.. the anger, the rage, the fury at the injustices. She met the people responsible for the death of her civilisation and she couldn't do anything about it. Now she needs to find some constructive way to channel that anger before it consumes her. With all the loss she witnessed she hasn't truly had time to grieve or to process it all healthily. This complexity is suddenly reflected on her face, "I'd prefer to sit by you."