Moonlight shone through Kara's window as she sat at her desk, turning Zinc's last gift over in her hands. The silver caps on the totem glittered brightly. She wondered if he would return soon.

She knew she should go to sleep. It was a little past midnight, but she wasn't tired at all.

"Promise me that you will try to make amends with your sister. Try to heal the bad blood between the two of you before it becomes something much darker."

Every fiber of her being rebelled against the thought of talking to Panda again. Her sister wanted nothing to do with her. She hadn't gone to class with Kara for days, and Kakapos had told her that she was taking them separately. Even though Kara was confident that she had done nothing wrong, she still felt as if something was weighing her down. There had been something fragile and beautiful between them, and somehow Kara had crushed it with her own clumsy hands.

Kara put the totem down and pushed her feet into her slippers, then picked up her training sword and opened her bedroom door. "Pollau? Are you there?"

"Princess! Why are you awake?" The Queensguard glared down at her as she peeked out. "It is so late. Go back to bed."

"No. I have to talk to my sister."

"Your sister is asleep, as you should be. Go back to your room-"

"No, you're coming with me to talk to her, right now. I need backup." Kara marched down the hallway, knowing he'd have to follow her.

"Princess, this can wait until tomorrow morning! Her Majesty will have me skinned for letting you wander around," Pollau snapped.

"Well she won't know if you stop making so much noise. Even if she does wake up, I'll tell her it was my idea." Kara rounded the corner to Panda's hallway and looked up at the torches. They were still burning strongly. She had plenty of time. "Stay outside. We'll probably yell at each other, but don't come in unless you hear stuff breaking."

Avaiidan was dozing off outside of Panda's room. He reached for his sword when he saw them approaching, but immediately relaxed. "Princess, what's this about? Your sister is sleeping-"

"She was sleeping. Stay outside. There will be yelling. We'll probably punch each other a few times, but unless she's got another weapon hidden in there, I'll be fine. I fight better than her… when it's fair, anyway." They didn't know about what had happened on the training match, and Kara decided not to tell them. It was the reason why she had decided to go late at night. An unsuspecting Panda wouldn't be dangerous. "And if Aunt Serena asks, this never happened. Understand?"

The Queensguard looked at each other in wordless frustration, but they both nodded.

"Good. Now get out of my way." Kara grabbed the doorknob and opened it carefully. Panda's room was dark, but she could see her sister's outline breathing under the bedcovers. She took a firmer grip on the training sword as she crept across the floor, then reached out and carefully shook Panda's shoulder.

"It's me. Wake up, I need to talk to you."

Panda sat up so quickly, Kara thought she might not have been sleeping at all. She blinked at Kara in confusion before seeing the sword in her hand.

"I knew it," Panda hissed. "You're here to kill me."

"I said I need to talk," Kara began. She didn't get out much more of her sentence before Panda yanked something dark from underneath her pillow and lunged for her throat. Kara blocked the blow, grabbed her wrist, and twisted it until Panda finally dropped the sword. "Listen to me! If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it already!" She kicked the weapon out of reach and tossed her own away as well.

"Do it then," Panda whispered. Her lip was trembling and Kara realized she was trying not to cry. "It makes us even, doesn't it?"

"I'm not here to get even. I have one question. That's all. Answer it and I'll leave." Kara tightened her grip on Panda's arms when she tried to wrench free. She had always been physically stronger than her sister.

"Fine. Ask and then get the hell out." The tension in Panda's arms went out and she glared furiously at Kara.

"Tell me why you hate me."

Panda looked at her in incredulous fury. "You really don't know why?"

"Just tell me what changed," Kara pleaded. "That's all I want to know. I have to know."

Her sister went pale, then flushed with rage. The bandage on her cheek stood out where Serena had slapped her in the garden.

"I have nothing because of you!" Panda screamed. "The birthright is yours! Aunt Serena stands behind your coronation next year. Everyone knows that. I never asked to be the youngest, and now I am nothing. I will never be anything but your shadow. Is it so wrong of me to want more than that, even if it means sacrificing you? Don't pretend you wouldn't feel the same in my place."

She pulled away from Kara and rolled over. Kara let her go. She couldn't argue. There was nothing she could say to Panda that she didn't already know. How many nights had she lain here in her bitterness and envy, plotting the death of the sister she never wanted?

"You were my best friend," Kara finally managed to say. "I might have hated you during our lessons… but it was never like this. Tell me what changed."

Panda didn't respond. Her face was buried in her pillow, but Kara could hear the slightest hint of sobbing. Her heart ached. She wanted to reach out and hug Panda, but somehow she knew it was the wrong thing to do. She wanted time, and Kara would give her time.

"Please," Kara whispered. "Talk to me."

"Go away," Panda finally mumbled into her sheets.

"No."

"I don't want to talk about this."

"I'll wait until you do."

There was no answer. Kara sat down on the edge of the bed and watched her shoulders shake with the weight of her crying.

"Blood only matters when it is spilled, little one," Kakapos had said on the training field.

She would prove him wrong. She had to.

It felt like hours passed, in the dim moonlight with only the sound of her own breathing in the room. The moon slowly sank out of sight and a few gold rays of sunlight began to appear. Kara's spine began to ache from sitting so long, but she was determined to endure. It was a small discomfort to bear.

She felt something shift and looked up. Panda was rubbing her eyes as she sat up. Her face was still tear-stained and her shoulders were slumped. Kara had never seen her look so defeated.

"Just leave," Panda muttered. "There's nothing you can do. I already know you won't give up the birthright for me. You'll just throw me out of the palace when I start threatening you and I'll have to hide like Aunt Lucy until I die."

Kara blinked in confusion. "What?"

"Aunt Serena said it would happen eventually," Panda sniffled. "It was a while ago. But… I didn't want to wait for that to happen so-"

"I wouldn't do that," Kara murmured. "Panda… that never even crossed my mind. You're my sister, and that means something to me. I won't give up the birthright to you, but I never wanted you to leave. I wouldn't have come here if I didn't think we could fix this."

"I guess," Panda said weakly.

"Listen to me," Kara said. "Fioren told me about what happened to the last Regent. The heir had to have him executed because he wouldn't give her the Crown. We're the ones with the real power, Panda. Aunt Serena is afraid of us because she knows she'll have to give it up eventually. She turned you against me on purpose."

"Why though?" Panda asked. "You saw how she treats me. She just wants to make sure I don't challenge you for the throne. I'm practically worthless." She wiped away fresh tears and stared out of the window.

"Because if we're busy fighting each other, it's proof for the shamans to not confirm one of us for the throne." The puzzle pieces were falling together. Kara tried to keep the anger out of her voice, but it was difficult. "She's using all of us to keep her power."

Panda looked back at her and twisted the sleeve of her pajamas. "I still don't get why you wanted to talk to me about this."

Kara took a deep breath and tried to think of another angle to explain it to her. "Did you see Zinc before he left?"

"Yeah. He gave me this." Panda reached for the drawer of her bedside table and took something out. It was a miniature healing totem, built on the same scale as Kara's. "And… and he asked me to talk to you too."

"What else did he say?"

"He told me he knew about what happened during the training duel," Panda whimpered. She gripped her totem and lowered her head, but Kara could see new tears running down her cheeks. "He said something big was going to happen, really soon, and to stay away from Aunt Serena and everyone else from the House of Light." She sniffled loudly and wiped her face. "And he said something about how he couldn't watch us end up in the same situation as her."

"He said that to me too," Kara said quietly. She reached hesitantly for Panda's hands and squeezed them. "We have one enemy here. And I need your help."

Her sister looked her fully in the eye for the first time, and Kara saw something there that wasn't smug satisfaction, or hate, or sadness.

"What do you need?" Panda finally asked.

"Zinc said he couldn't convince the warriors that he wasn't what they needed to fear," Kara said. "He said I would meet the Unbroken shamans at the gates of Stormwind. They're coming to take Serena off the throne, and we need to help them. I need you to talk to the warriors. Find a way to convince them to help when it happens. Don't go to Q_T or anyone like that, but talk to whoever ran the mines outside of Stormwind." She let go of Panda's hands and stood up. "Take the Queensguard with you, if you want, but make sure Aunt Serena doesn't hear a word of it. You're the Princess, remember? You've got a better claim to the Crown than she ever did."

Panda's lips trembled, then formed into the faintest of smiles.

"I'll do my best."

NO COMMUNITY DECISION