16,820Fem Harry reborn as Cassandra of Troy, and things go very differently for her.
As she looked upon the still partying city, she felt nothing. She had woken up after being cursed by Apollo, and had taken one look at the rather well built wooden horse before promptly grabbing as much as she could and coming up with an excuse to leave the city.
Cassandra was very familiar with the story of Troy and how it fell. She hadn't known the famous Seer had been cursed shortly before it, but it hadn't changed her mind. Troy had to fall regardless, so why stick around?
With that in mind, she burned the last image of Troy into her mind before it was destroyed by the hidden soldiers.
With all the excitement of the Greeks having admitted surrender and providing them such an excellent sacrifice for the gods, no one had been paying attention to a lone princess, especially one that many had believed to have been struck mad?
Who cared what mischief the foolish girl, whom everyone now knew to be a complete liar, did during such a revel? She could be found once the hangovers were dealt with and forcibly locked up by her parents later.
After all, in all the excitement the guards at the gate were too busy getting drunk off the local wine to bother caring about a slip of a girl who was clearly a noblewoman going out the gate away from where the Greeks had been.
It was with grim satisfaction that when she reached a small city a week later, having not dared to stay anywhere near Troy during the inevitable slaughter, it was to hear of it's fall.
A reward had been placed for her capture, but Cass was too quick witted for that.
It was easy to buy a new outfit and claim it was for her 'husband', and to acquire the materials to dye her hair a more sedate black.
With her knife, she viciously cut her hair until it was somewhat even, before dying it black. She then sold off her fancy dress and most of the jewelry she had taken with her. A simple scarf hid the lack of Adam's apple and it took a bit of observing to disguise herself successfully as a man.
In less than two weeks after the fall of Troy, Cass had already begun making her way to Athens. Honestly, all it had taken was a short hair cut, a breast band and some new clothes to hide her identity.
It made her weep for the lack of common sense most people had when it came to hiding.
A year later...
Hippolyta looked at the feminine looking boy who was rather unconcerned about being surrounded by her Amazons.
"You are aware that it is a crime punishable by death for a man to step foot on Themiscrya," said Hippolyta. The only reason the arrogant fool wasn't dead by now was due to the fact that her Amazons were having issues figuring out whether this was a man or not. That and it was rare for visitors to appear to their sacred island.
"I know," said the stranger.
"So why should I not order my Amazons to strike you down where you stand?" asked the Queen.
The youth calmly, but making their moves very clear to the Amazons, reached behind their back and did something. Her breasts unbound, they then undid the tight knot on their hair.
"Because I am no man, and I have no desire to become the slave of one," she deadpanned.
The Amazons had already lowered their spears and swords when she revealed her gender. However they were still wary of her.
"And how did you find out island?"
"I made a larger than normal sacrifice to Athena and asked for a vision of where to find it. Athena was suitably pleased and made sure I made my way here unharmed and unmolested."
Hippolyta was very impressed. At her signal, the Amazons allowed the stranger to follow them to the interior parts of the island.
Diana, ever the curious thing, was given permission to listen in to the stranger's tale.
"I was gifted with Sight, but cursed by a god with silence so that I could not share what visions I had with others," said Cassandra tiredly. "And because my brother foolishly got involved with the gods, he was able to take the Queen of Sparta back to our homeland of Troy, which sparked a war."
Hippolyta frowned.
"I have heard word of Troy...and how it fell. They foolishly brought in a horse containing the soldiers and reveled in false victory. How did you escape?" asked Hippolyta.
"Everyone was too busy celebrating to realize I had slipped away. I saw what was to happen, and realized that if they were unable to listen, then my only option was to leave and not tell anyone. The guards were too drunk to care about some noble girl riding off in the direction away from where the actual fighting was taking place," said Cass dismissively. "The rest was using common sense and general knowledge to avoid detection. They were too busy looking for a pampered princess to pay attention to a feminine-looking male traveling by themselves."
A wicked grin flittered across her face.
"That, and Zeus was starting to become very suspicious of who was blocking his attempts to sleep with every pretty thing he could. Hera was particularly amused with my antics and was more than happy to hide me from his sight."
Hippolyta stared at her for several seconds, before a slight smirk filled her face as well.
"Do you still have the visions?" she asked.
"I do, however I've found it's easier to act upon them myself rather than waste time trying to convince everyone else. That's why I came here...to get the training I would need if I wanted to continue doing it long term. Besides, this way I won't have to worry nearly as much about being assaulted and losing my chastity to some idiot."
She was relieved to be granted permission to train with the other Amazons. She wanted nothing to do with Man's World, which was traditionally rather unforgiving towards women...especially single women who had no family to fall back on. Her royal heritage would only work against her, especially since her kingdom was gone. Add in the fact that everyone "knew" she was a liar because of Apollo's curse, and her life wouldn't be worth living.
Far safer to become an Amazon, wait until things settled down or people mistook her for a 'myth' or other cautionary tale.
"Cass! Cass!" Diana called out to her best friend. Cassandra turned to face Diana with a smile on her face.
Hippolyta had encouraged Diana to learn from Cassandra about Man's world, likely in the hopes Diana would see the wisdom in staying forever in Themiscrya. The two had quickly become as thick as thieves. Diana had never really had a friend she could be herself around. She was always "the princess" to the other Amazons. Cass was a breath of fresh air.
She didn't give an iota of damn that Diana was the Princess. She could care less that she was supposed to be 'subservient' because Diana's mother was the one who lead the Amazons, which put her under Diana's rule.
Cass spoke her mind, and damn what anyone had to say about it.
Diana loved it. Loved the fact she didn't have to hold back what she really thought around her. That she happily gave her experience to the younger, more cloistered Amazons who were fascinated by Man's world, but too scared to actually dare venture into it.
She wasn't the only one...Cass had a small number of younger Amazons who adored her, and considered her an older sister of sorts. While they understood her curse prevented her from telling anyone what she Saw, she didn't hesitate to go and deal with the matter herself.
Her mother had explained that the curse in question made it so that Cassandra could not tell anyone about her visions, and be believed. A punishment from Apollo for spurning his unwanted advances. Honestly, Cass found it easier to claim she was struck silent before she could impart her visions to others.
"What is it Diana?" asked Cass. She had been in the middle of helping with the temple duties, as she had been accepted rather quickly into the Temple of Athena as full priestess.
Diana brightened.
"Mother said that she would permit me to join in one of your brief excursions for Queen Hera," said Diana proudly. "So long as I never left your side."
Cass grinned.
The 'excursions' were Hera's discreet missions to block her husband Zeus from sleeping with anything that possessed breasts and a hole to fuck. It was driving him insane trying to figure out how all his romps kept being interrupted by unhappy parents and the like before he could have any real fun.
The number of fair maidens he had to duck out on because their fathers/husbands/brothers showed up at the worst possible time before he could seal the deal was becoming suspicious...but he couldn't really complain to the other gods because Hera had made it clear years ago about her stance on the matter.
He would have suspected her involvement, but Hera's champions were often nowhere to be seen. Nor were any of the other gods.
Diana was very curious about Man's World, because the only thing she had ever seen was the island.
Cass hated that she had to do this, but she had already cleared it with the Queen first. She would take Diana on one of Hera's little quests...but she would also so Diana the ugly side of the outside world.
In Themiscrya, women reigned supreme...however the outside world was a very different story.
The look of horror on Diana's face watching such depravity in the brothel was saddening, especially since Cass had specifically chosen one where the patrons were...less than kind...to the women inside.
"Why do they tolerate such things?" she asked Cass.
"Some women find it easier to lay there and take it, rather than fight. Men will pay them good money for such acts, so it allows them to earn a living," explained Cass.
She was going to introduce Diana to the "real world" the same way she did the others.
If the brothel didn't scar Diana, then seeing the way men treated women as nothing but object for them to possess certainly upset her.
Hippoltya sent Cass a knowing look, but did not chastise the former princess. Better Diana learn this now from a safe distance than to find out the hard way, after being tricked. Besides, while she had been given the 'talk' of how Amazons were born, she naturally had no experience in the act. Sure, she had been in the birthing rooms before, but had never seen the act of conception first hand as her mother had forbidden her from joining the raiding parties.
Cass did introduce the better things, like art, literature and theater...however Diana's first foray into Man's World was less than ideal.
Cass hated doing that to her friend and sister, but she had to break Diana's rose-tinted glasses for her own safety if nothing else.
Which was why Hippoltya agreed to let Cass embark on a little adventure to bring another woman to the island. The sorceress Circe. Cass was sure the sorceress would be pleased having some actual company she didn't have to turn into pigs later.
A few months later...
Circe's arrival to the island was met with fanfare. It had taken a bit of fast talking to convince not just her, but the gods to let the woman be relocated. Her only purpose was completed years ago when the Argonauts had shown up on her island and to be honest she was quite bored.
She blinked in surprise, before a slight smile crossed her face.
"Told you it was better to move," said Cass smugly.
None of the Amazons would have an issue with the sorceress turning men into pigs, and this was a safe haven for women anyway. It took little time for her to set up shop, and to have curious visitors who wouldn't look down on her for being a woman.
Cass had to admit, she didn't expect to accidentally run into another former princess on her next excursion.
Medea was deeply suspicious of Cass...right up until she found out who the other woman was. It was hard to hate each other when they had both been screwed over by the gods in some way. Cassandra for attracting the attentions of Apollo, and Medea for having the bad luck of being 'useful' to a man on a quest from the gods themselves.
Hippoltya merely raised an eyebrow when she saw the older woman, but said nothing. Having Circe and Medea around would broaden Diana's horizons considerably without exposing her to men.
Besides, Medea's story would be a poignant warning about trusting the opposite sex.