Glimmer was… worried.
She tried to tell herself not to be, convince herself that she was just overreacting and that everything was fine… but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
Adora had been absent for the better part of the morning, which that in itself was odd since the blonde hardly ever wandered off on her own. Most mornings, they'd enjoy breakfast together, talk about the day's plans and just enjoy the rest of the day hanging out with Swift Wind or practicing battle strategies. But, the girl had insisted on exploring the castle herself for a while, wanting to get used to the intricate hallways of the place she called home.
"I've lived here for almost 3 months. I- I want to get to know the kingdom better," Adora had said, making both Bow and Glimmer glad that she was adjusting well to life in Bright Moon But, at the same time, Glimmer was worried, remembering the time she first brought her past the castle walls. The guards still watch over the former Horde soldier often, as if waiting for her to make a wrong move, or do something that would warrant her disposal. Frankly, it scared both of them, but Adora never showed, always opting to say that it was fine and that she understood their fear.
But, Glimmer could tell just how much it scared her and worried about whenever Adora was left on her own.
She had to convince herself that the guards wouldn't openly try to hurt her friend… but she could never be too sure.
"I'm really worried, Bow," the princess said, trying to mask the utter concern in her voice as she and Bow patiently awaited their friend's return, "I haven't seen Adora in a few hours, and we're supposed to go back to the village today,"
"I know… I am too, but I'm sure she's fine," the boy tried to reassure, "It's a big castle, maybe Adora just lost track of time,".
Glimmer just stared at him, both of them knowing full and well that the other girl was the most punctual of all of them.
"Okay, maybe she didn't lose track of time, but it's not like she's going to get herself into trouble or anything. Well find her, okay?".
"But I've looked everywhere, Bow!" the princess exclaimed, burying her face in her pillow, "I've looked in all the rooms, all the gardens, all the places she could be, and it's like she's just disappeared!"
"Did you check the stables? Maybe she's with Swift Wind?".
Glimmer opened her mouth to protest before realizing that… that's the one place she hadn't looked, the Bright Moon stables being clear across the village surrounding the castle. She doubted that Adora had gone over there on her own, Swift Wind usually opting to go to the castle instead of having the girl come to him.
"Do you think she'd go see him on her own? You know she doesn't usually wander too far from the castle… or us for that matter,".
Bow shrugged, "She did say she wanted to get out more on her own, Glimmer, especially now that she can walk on her own now. I don't see what the big deal is,".
"It's not a big deal, it's just…".
The princess hesitated for a moment, giving her friend a worried smile.
"I worry about her being alone, that's all. The guards are… still wary of her, plus, so are the rest of the villagers. I don't think she knows, but I hear them whisper about her when they think she can't hear them and it's not all good things,".
"They won't hurt her, Glimmer. She's part of the rebellion now, and besides, Adora can hold her own better than anyone we know,".
"But she shouldn't need to hold her own, Bow!" the girl exclaimed, "She lives her… and… and I don't want the villagers to give her a reason to fight back. We both know what will happen if she did,".
Bow remained silent, looking away with a small sigh. "You really think, even after everything that happens, that your mom would… do that to Adora?".
Glimmer nodded, a few tears welling up in her eyes. "I think that no matter what happens, my mom is always going to think of Adora as just a Horde soldier, even though she saved us all,".
"But didn't your mom talk to her? I thought all was forgiven?".
"It was… but forgiving one soldier doesn't take away the pain of losing… of losing my dad to her old army. Mom is going to be wary of Adora for… for a long time I think,".
Neither teen said anything for a long while, both sitting in the odd heavy energy the princess had created. Glimmer still couldn't shake the feeling that something had happened to prevent Adora from returning to them, and it scared her to think about what might have happened.
She only looked up when Bow got up from his spot, standing up and walking towards her with a patient smile. "Come on," he said, offering the princess his hand, "let's go find Adora, she couldn't have gotten too far".
Glimmer smiled a little, taking the boys had as she stood up and followed him out of her room. "Thanks, Bow," she said, "I'm... I'm sorry for being such a worry wart,".
"You don't need to apologize, Glimmer. I understand,".
"Y- you do?".
The boy nodded, "Of course! I know how much you care about Adora, it's only right that you'd be worried about her. She clearly means a lot to you,".
The princess blushed and looked away, her face growing even redder as Bow laughed. "It's just a crush, Bow," she said, "And it's not like she likes me back or anything…".
"Oh, I doubt that. Adora definitely likes you too,".
Glimmer blushed even more, suddenly stumbling over her words. "I- I uh, um. Adora didn't… say anything… did she? How- How do you know she likes me too?".
"Trust me, I know. I mean, just by the way you two look at each other and talk to each other and interact, she definitely has at least some kind of feelings for you. Adora might not be aware of them, but I think they're there,".
There was a small bit of doubt blooming in the back of her mind, but the princess pushed forward and tried to remain positive and optimistic about that situation, trying to focus on finding the girl in question.
"I really hope you're right," she muttered, keeping her eyes and voice low when they passed by a guard, not exactly wanting anyone to know about her crush on Adora, especially anyone who might relay her little secret up to the queen.
"Princess, Bow," They greeted, bowing their head slightly in respect, "Where are you headed off to?".
Before Glimmer could make up an excuse, Bow gladly responded about what they were up to. "Oh, we're looking for Adora!" he said, "You haven't happened to see her, have you?".
The guard's expression changed, and Glimmer couldn't tell what she was thinking, but she knew it couldn't have been good. "I have not. Why? Is she missing?".
"No! Not missing, just uh… we're just playing hide-n-seek and… Bow and I can't find her," the princess said, internally facepalming at how stupid and unbelievable that excuse sounded, Bow even giving her an odd look as a result.
"Uh-huh," The guard said, clearly not believing a word of her's, "I'll keep an eye out for her… and tell the other guards outside the castle. We'll tell you if we see anything,".
"Okay…," she muttered, holding her breath until the guard walked past them again, "Thanks".
"Thanks," Bow replied, turning to Glimmer with a confused look once they were alone again, "What was that about? They were just trying to help us,".
"I'm not sure they were, Bow. That was the guard that started harassing Adora when we first tried to go out into the village,".
"Really?".
She nodded.
"Then we better find Adora before anyone else does,".
"Agreed," Glimmer said, grabbing onto Bow's arm as she teleported them out of the castle.
The stables where… nearly empty, much to Glimmer and Bow's dismay. Swift Wind was there, at least, along with a few other horses he was talking to, but Adora was nowhere to be found.
"So she hasn't come by at all?" the princess asked, now completely paniced and worried, "I thought she was supposed to visit you today,".
"She was," the horse said, "But I thought she'd come and visit with you guys,".
"Apparently Adora felt brave and decided to go out on her own," Bow sighed, "But we haven't seen her all day,".
"Do… do you think she's in danger, Swift Wind?".
Glimmer still couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible had happened to Adora, and it scared her senseless. It was already bad enough that she didn't know where she was, but the added paranoia of not knowing if she was hurt or… or worse didn't help.
Maybe it was intuition, maybe it was something more, but all the princess knew was that they needed to find Adora… no matter what.
"I- I don't know," he replied, "I haven't felt that Adora was in danger. Do you guys want me to go help you look for her?".
"I think we should try to keep a low profile for now," Bow said, patting the horse's mane gently "the guards are already suspicious and we don't want to get Adora in trouble,".
"Why would she get in troub-".
Swift Wind didn't even finish his sentence, a sudden commotion from the village drawing all their attention. A few guards ran past the stables, hurrying towards the source of the yelling while one of them stopped when she saw Bow and Glimmer in the stables.
"What's going on?" she asked, praying to the First One's that the commotion didn't have anything to do with Adora's disappearance, "What happened?".
The guard ignored her question and gestured outside, "Come with me, princess. It's important,".
"Tell me what happened?!" Glimmer said again, tears already threatening her eyes, "Please…".
There was a long moment of scilence before the gurad said anything, a heavy sigh passing her lips before she spoke. "I think we know what happened to your friend. Now, please… come with me, Princess, I'll explain more on the way".
And just like that, all the air seemed to be sucked out of the room, leaving Glimmer to audiably gasp. She looked towards Bow, hoping for guidance, or comfort or something, but all the princess got in return was the same startled expression she had. Neither of them moved or said anything until Swift Wind nudged them with his nose, urging them to move.
"Bow?" the girl mumbled, following blindly as he grabbed her hand and followed the guard out to the village where a small crowd of villagers and guards were congregated. She couldn't see anything yet, but Glimmer could hear the voices of a few children, followed by the angry bellows of the guards.
"What are you doing with this?!" one of the guards yelled, "How did you get this?".
"We found it!" A young boy's voice replied, clearly terrified.
"Where?".
"Near the edge of the woods!".
"What were you doing there?".
"We were playing and we found the sword!".
As the bickering continued, Glimmer stiffened up when she heard the guards and the boy talking about finding a sword, a sinking feeling settling in her gut when she realized what that could mean. Adora rarely let anyone touch her sword, and never let anyone play with it, let alone a child. So for someone to find it lying out on the open could only mean something happened to separate the blonde from her weapon.
And Glimmer dreaded thinking about what that was.
"What happened?" she muttered, looking up at the guard with concern, "Where's Adora?".
"We're not sure," she replied, "one of the guards came across a group of boys playing with your friend's sword near the edge of the Whispering Woods. We did a simple parameter sweep and found nothing except…".
"Except what?" Bow asked, just as worried and as panicked as Glimmer, "What did you find?".
The guard sighed again.
"We found some blood around the area where the sword was 'found'. None of it seems to be from the boys who found the sword, so one can only assume that there was some sort of confrontation between them,".
Glimmer just blinked, struggling to prosses what she was being told.
"What do you mean confrontation? Is she okay?" Bow asked, "Did they attack her?".
"It… seems that way," the guard said, giving both teens a sorry smile, "We found out that all the boys had… they all had someone taken from them in the war, so… unfortunately, their motives are understandable,"
"Where is she?" Glimmer asked, angry that anyone would try to justify causing harm to an innocent person just because of their past ties. Besides, Adora never wanted to hurt anyone, she even told them that the first day they all met, and the princess believed that without a doubt.
"We... don't know, we only have her sword and a few spots of blood to go off of. We're guessing she ran off into the woods to hide".
"And you haven't gone to look for her?!" Glimmer exclaimed, now growing upset. Here she thought that this guard was different, she seemed worried at first, but she was just like all the rest, only seeing Adora as the enemy instead of an ally. They weren't here to help, they were only there to watch over and monitor her actions. "Uhhg! I'm going to give those brats a piece of my mind, how dare they hurt my friends! Don't they know who I am?!".
"Glimmer!" Bow said, grabbing hold of her arm to prevent her from storming off, "Calm down, I know you're scared and upset, but you can't go about yelling at villagers, you're their princess, remember? We'll send out a search party, okay? We're going to find Adora, I promise,".
Glimmer sniffled slightly and looked up at Bow, "You're right,".
A small, broken smile brought up the edges of his lips, only to have it fade when the girl continued.
"I am the princess," she muttered, wiping her arm across her face, "and nobody messes with my friends,".
Glimmer pulled away from Bow's grasp before he was able to say anything, teleporting herself up to the guard and group of boys, eyes red and tears staining her cheeks. She didn't care about the consequences her mother might enforce on her, she was old enough to take matters into her own hands, and deal with the aftermath of her choices.
"Princess?" the head guard said, surprised to see her sudden appearance, "What are you-".
"Stand down," she said.
"What? I can't-".
But the girl cut her off.
"I said, stand down. That's an order, I'll handle this,".
It wasn't like they could say no to her, a small perk of being a princess. So, without another, the guard stood down, looking over at the small group of boys who were basically quivering in their boots as she approached, one of them clutching Adora's sword closely. Glimmer barely even noticed the hush that blew over there crowd, all of them watching eagerly to see how she dealt with the situation.
She didn't say a word as she walked up to them, slowly and carefully taking the sword out of their grasp, continuing to just stare at them unmoving. It wasn't often that she made appearances out in the village, or to political meetings despite being the commander of Bright Moon's small army, but when she did, no one really knew what to expect.
Until now at least.
"Don't you ever think about hurting her, or anyone else again," Glimmer finally hissed, "Remember who's going to be your queen one day. I will not tolerate such behavior in my kingdom, you understand me? Adora did nothing to warrant you attacking her,".
"But she-" one of the boys began, flinching when the princess didn't let him continue.
"Adora is not the Horde, she is not your enemy! That girl you beat up left her whole life behind to help fight for you, to help protect your home, and that's how you treat her?".
"But-".
"No 'buts'," the princess snapped, clutching the sword again, "promise me it will not happen again,".
The boys nodded in fear, nearly shaking in their boots, "Yes Princess, sorry Princess. It won't happen again,".
"It had better not, and once we find Adora and tend to her, I expect all of you to return to the castle and formally apologize to her for what you did, is that clear,".
"Y- yes, Princess," they all muttered.
"Good. Now get out of here,".
And just like that, the boys scattered, running off in different directions as the crowd slowly dispersed around them, light whispers being spread around as they left, clearly not expecting the scene that just played out.
Glimmer sighed, not quite realizing just how tense she was during that entire exchange. She'd been holding back tears and trembles of her own, wanting nothing more than to run into the woods and search for the missing girl. But she could barely move, standing stock still in the now empty village square, leaning against Adora's sword for support.
Bow was still there, walking up to Glimmer as she slowly sank to her knees, overwhelmed by tears and anxiety. She immediately wrapped her arms around the boy when he hugged her, continuing to cry into his shoulder, desperate to recompose herself before anyone else saw her… but it was just no use.
"It's going to be okay," Bow said, his voice heavy with tears of his own, "It's going to be okay, we'll find her, Glimmer,".
She could only nod, and pray that he was right, not even wanting to imagine the state Adora might be in. So, both teens sat there for a few moments, crying to themselves before Glimmer felt a new hand rest on her shoulder, flinching slightly at the sudden touch, not exactly expecting to face her mother when she turned around.
The Queen's expression was unreadable, but it was clear that she'd witnessed the whole ordeal from a distance. Glimmer wasn't surprised, the guards must have told her about the confrontation in the square and the cause for her taking an initiative in resolving the situation on her own.
"You'll make a very good queen one day," she said, kneeling down in front of the princess, face still expressionless, "You handled that very well,".
Glimmer shook her head, pulling away from Bow as she fell into her mother's embrace, a sobbing, shaking mess. She didn't care about being queen anymore, all she cared about was finding Adora. "We need to go find her, mom," she begged, her words crackling through her tears, "We have to find Adora, we just have to..".
"I know, my love," the queen replied, hugging her daughter tightly, a sense of worry hanging over her tone, "We'll find her, I promise".
