Those Who Are Worthy of Love - A Wonder Woman/Thor Romance

Chapter 7

Diana's POV

I approached the arena where the Shield Maidens were currently sparring, the familiar sounds of metal against metal, occasional grunts, and feet sliding across dirt filling my ears. As I stood there for a moment just simply watching these fierce, strong female warriors, I felt a sudden bout of nostalgia as they reminded me of my beloved Amazon sisters. I crossed my arms over my chest taking a few steps closer, when one of the women spotted me and immediately lowered her sword pointing in my direction. This gesture caused the other women to stop and turn around as all the other women standing around the arena turned their gazes towards me. I gave a warm smile as I took a few steps forward when the women all placed their fists across their hearts and dropped their heads. My eyebrows furrowed as I placed each of my hands on two of the women's shoulders.

"I am honored for the greeting, but please no need to stand on ceremony. We are all warriors here," I said as I watched all the women slowly lift their heads, their gazes laced with admiration and awe.

"When Gulbrand told us that you were to give us a lesson, we could hardly believe our ears," the woman said as I offered a meek smile.

"It will be my absolute honor to do so. Shall we begin?" I asked, while raising my eyebrows looking around to all the women who smiled and nodded in response. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion upon realizing that though they were referred to as Shield Maidens, I hadn't seen a shield in sight.

"Did you wish to train sans shields?" I asked, as one of the women gave me a sidelong grin. She slammed her forearm down onto a contraption attached to her hip and a blue holographic shield with metal edges on the tops and bottoms sprang forth and secured itself around her forearm. My eyes widened at the sight of this, the blue from the hologram glinting off my gauntlets. One of the other women interrupted my awe by calling to me.

"Here. Just hit the middle of it with your forearm," the woman shouted as she tossed me a contraption of my own. My eyes narrowed as I watched it soar through the air and threw up my forearm so that it would collide with it mid-air causing it to sprout to life. I immediately began to twirl it, the shield making light humming sounds as I did so. I couldn't believe how light the shield was and how effortlessly it cut through the air like butter.

"These are very impressive. It would be impossible to get tired of holding these and they move so freely," I said as the woman smiled to me nodding her head once in recognition. I then watched as all the other women slammed their forearms onto their device to ignite their own shields. I started to pace as I began my first tales of advice.

"The shield and you should be one. It should be an extension of your body, a limb that moves with you, protects you," I said, eyeing each of the women.

"Now...who wants to be first?" I said as I drew the sword at my back from its sheath using the hilt to clank against the top metal part of the shield. I glanced to my right as one of them approached me, she wasting no time in slashing, my shielded arm immediately raising to block the blow, a light hissing sound emanating from the shield. A girl could get used to some of these new toys. I responded to her slash with a few slashes of my own, making her back pedal as she blocked every one with her shield.

"The shield is there to protect you but it will not kill for you!" I bellowed, the look on the woman's face becoming that of panic. Once she backed into a nearby pillar, she dropped her sword and lifted the shield above her head. I counteracted by swirling my sword around to the side and stopped it right before it would collide with her stomach. I stared at her through the blue hologram of her shield with as much intensity as I could muster. I watched as her chest heaved and I removed my sword, using my foot to make her sword fly up, catching it with my already sword drawn hand. I tossed it to her and nodded once.