Cyan

Cyan had created the Amazons for a single reason- she didn’t want to get married.

In her own clan, there had been one job for females like her: get married to the first male who showed interest to her, pop out a bunch of eggs to be sold at on the auction house when they were adults, and then serve her husband until she could pop out some more. It was a cycle she had seen countless females in her old clan go through, and she had refused to let it happen to her.

So the first moment she could, she gathered up her younger sister Rhea and the two of them left. Left to go find somewhere where they didn’t have to marry anyone they didn’t want to, where they could be free to be themselves, where they would be happy.

She started picking up like-minded girls along the way- girls who didn’t want to get married, girls who wanted nothing to do with males, girls who wanted a family and a home but with another female instead. Girls who cast aside males, who refused to suffer their presence any longer, who decided to join her and her sister and be free.

It was Terreis who came up with the name Amazon, after she had joined the group, after Cyan had looked at her and realized she held her heart within her claws, and asked her to be her mate.

It was Ephiny, who had become Cyan’s second in command after joining the Amazons, who performed the ceremony, joining her and Terreis together in a bond none other could break. They were mates, lovers, and together they would lead.

Only Terreis wanted to lead by herself, and so challenged her to a dual- winner took over the Amazon tribe, and the loser could do as they desired except rule.

And despite her anger, despite the extra strength given to her by rage, she lost. Cyan found herself pinned, found herself forced to admit defeat lest her wife sink her teeth into her neck and end her, lest she leave her little sister alone. She lost, and so was forced to step down as leader of the Amazons.

She stayed, though, as one of them- where else was she supposed to go? Even with Terreis’ betrayal, she still loved her. And Rhea refused to leave, after Zana joined and she found her own heart beating within the purple dragons’ chest. And while she hated what Terreis was doing to the tribe (before they had been wanderers, nomads, friendly with the clans they came upon even if they were cool to the males who lived there), how could she leave the first group she had ever known as family, and first tribe she had ever known as home?

She couldn’t, and so she stayed, stayed and tried to negate the damage Terreis was doing, tried to curb her temper, her destruction, her hatred for the world that didn’t want them.

For all her efforts, Amarice still ended up with a hole in her neck, and no matter what they did, there was nothing they could do to stop her.

She was the one who heard the three- Howl, Yuko, and their apprentice, Rapunzel- trekking through the swamps, searching for rare herbs to take home to the clan. She was the one who called for their help, begging, pleading, that they save her friend and sister Amazons. She was the one who first followed them back to the clan, after the worst of the damage had been fixed.

And she was the first to settle into the idea of staying within the clan, because it was nice. The Queen let everyone love who they loved, ruled with a hard but fair claw, and even though they ate the clans food and took up space within the lair’s walls, they weren’t expected to pay anything back. They were expected to rest, let their friend heal, and when they were ready to leave, leave.

Except, a lot of them didn’t want to leave. Rhea didn’t- she told her soon after they got there, about how she and Zana liked it there, liked going and taking care of the hatchlings that were waiting to grow up to either be trained or sold. Eponin had taken immediately to the weapon maker, Hephaestus, and was having his teach her his craft, while Solari herself had become drawn to the artisans of the lair, taken in by the crafts and wares the made. And Ephiny was just glad to have a place to sleep within the hospital wing, where she could watch over Amarice (while they weren’t officially mated, it was clear to everyone that the two were fond of each other, perhaps something more, and all that kept them apart was Ephiny’s misplaced sense of duty as the second in command for the Amazons [even after Cyan had lost, Terreis had kept Ephiny, for a sense of stability while she took over] and some held up emotions for her long lost husband, who had been dead for longer than the Amazons had exited) while she healed.

They liked it there, they really did. And when Terreis asked her to join her in her bed (something that had not happened for a long time, not since their battle, because even though Cyan still loved her, even though Terreis was still her heart, how could she trust her?), Cyan did, though not for the reasons Terreis had asked her to.

Instead, they sat up late into the night and talked. Talked about themselves, about their future, about what was going to happen the next time one of them were hurt. Because none of them were healers, none of them had the talent or the patience to learn it, and if the hurt one was one of them?

It was shortly after that Terreis went to the Queen, and that same day that she announced to the rest of the Amazons that they were to be the Queen’s guard. Specifically, for the Princess Gabrielle, and her Consort, Xena.

A surprise, since she had heard about Xena- had specifically driven the Amazons away from her and her army, but even the worst monsters could change. And change she had, falling in love with the Princess, and so they protect her as well (though the chances of it being necessary were slim).

It was a task the Amazons took to quickly, all of them glad to take on the role of protector instead of destroyer. One they threw themselves into, Cyan almost most of all, because she finally had what she had wanted when she first created the Amazons, all that time ago.

She had a place where she could be free, could repair the damage done to her relationship with Terreis, and could live as she so chose. And for that, she was thankful, and for that, she would proudly serve as part of the Queen’s guard.