"So when Hordak was in charge," Glimmer grumbled, "He was able to single handedly turn a small kingdom of Scorpions into an unstoppable technologically advanced war machine. But when we have the benefit of all the Kingdoms of Etheria working together in a time of relative peace, we can't even manage basic stuff like making sure we all have enough food for everyone. I can't help but feel a little bit demoralized here."

"Well, to be fair," Catra suggested, writing on their usual notepad, "It is certainly much easier to galvanize people to work against something they hate than it is to get them to help fix their own problems, and it's not like this wasn't going to become a problem for the Fright Zone anyway. How do you think the other princesses are feeling about this situation?"

"Well, Perfuma wants to be zen about this and hopes the rebels need the food more than we do," Glimmer explained, "Frosta wants to impose martial law. Mermista has her own problems to deal with. Scorpia is trying to be optimistic about everything, but I can tell it's been getting to her."

"Mmm-hmm?" encouraged Catra as they wrote.

"It seems like a vicious cycle," Glimmer continued, "There's not enough to go around in the Fright Zone so people either turn to stealing from other people or going into the Whispering Woods to join the resistance, which means there are more criminals and freedom fighters stealing stuff, so there's even less to go around and less honest citizens to help fix things. It's just gotten too dangerous in the Fright Zone."

"And it wasn't before?" asked Catra.

"Well, yeah, dangerous to *us*, but we were at war with them at the time," Glimmer replied, "As bad as Hordak was, you didn't see his soldiers stabbing each other in the back when he was running things."

"No, it was usually either him or his number two henchgirl who did the backstabbing," Catra noted.

"Yeah, I might be giving them too much credit there," Glimmer realized, "The point is... the people in the Fright Zone can't help themselves because the land is too polluted, and no one else wants to help them because it's gotten so scary to go there."

"What does Adora think of all of this?" asked Catra.

"Adora... doesn't know," Glimmer said hesitantly, "I haven't told her anything yet."

"Why not?" Catra asked, making another note.

"Because I don't think there's a whole lot she can do about it," Glimmer answered, "She's not She-Ra anymore without the sword, and I don't want to put her in a position where she can't help, because she's going to try anyway."

"You sound frustrated," observed Catra, "Is everything going alright between you and Adora?"

"I mean... yes?" Glimmer said, "It's just that... Ever since I became Queen I don't feel like Adora... respects me as a ruler. By the end of the war, she would always second guess my decisions, ignore orders, judge me for training with Shadow Weaver..."

"It sounds almost as though she has learned from someone to not implicitly trust figures of authority," said Catra sarcastically, writing down another note, "Possibly a long time best friend who may or may not have been a rebellious princess."

"Are you saying this is *my* fault?!" Glimmer shouted.

"I'm saying that you and Adora are much more similar than you realize," Catra explained, "Tell me Glimmer, did you always follow your mother's orders *just* because she was Queen?"

"Of course I did!" Glimmer said defiantly.

The room was silent as Catra frowned and raised an eyebrow at Glimmer.

"Well..." Glimmer stuttered, "Not always."

"Look, Sparkles," said Catra bluntly, "The reason you followed orders from your Queen is because you respected and trusted her; not as a ruler, but as someone who had more experience than you and who saw a bigger picture than you did. Adora and Bow and all the other princesses follow your orders because they respect and trust you as a friend and a war hero who has their best interests at heart, not because of some 'divine mandate from the First Ones'. But that respect and trust is eroded when you don't recipricate it. For example, when you release and spend quality time with someone who abused Adora as a child without consulting her first, or when you don't trust her enough to tell her the truth."

"You're saying I should tell Adora about the attacks," Glimmer translated.

"I'm saying, your Majesty, that you should start treating her as a person with an equal stake in what's going on in your kingdom," explained Catra, "And not just a subject for you to exploit for your purposes."

"You make it sound like there's no point in being a queen at all," said Glimmer.

"I mean, kinda?" said Catra, "I don't really see the point of choosing our rulers based on their proximity to magic rocks. For all of Hordak's faults, of which there are many, he kinda had a point about princesses being hormonal teenagers wielding inordinate power beyond what they could be reasonably be expected to control or be responsible for. But you live in the Etheria you have, not the one you wish you had."

"You're starting to sound like Swiftwind," Glimmer observed.

"Who's that?" Catra asked.

"She-Ra's horse?" answered Glimmer, "Rainbow mane? Horn on his head? Big wings?"

"Oh, yeah," Catra replied, "He was in Elberon. I thought his voice was funny. What happened to him? It's like he would disappear off the face of Etheria all the time."

"I don't really like having him around Bright Moon when I can help it," Glimmer said quietly, "He... he threatened to decapitate my mom with something called a 'Gilly-Teen'."

"Well, here's hoping it doesn't come to *that*," Catra said, flashing a nervous smile while writing down another note.

~*~

DT's Notes

Glimmer, Session 3
- Today I plan on spending some of our session dealing with Glimmer's anger issues
- Who am I kidding? The rebellion is probably going to take up all of our time
- Glimmer is demoralized by the food situation, has feeling of inadequacy towards Hordak of all people
- Shows genuine concern for Scorpia and the Fright Zone, progress
- Hiding the truth from Adora, distrust? Will press further.
- And here comes her control freak tendencies, this has been a long time coming
- Shared my concerns of Etheria's monarchal system of government
- Note to self: Try to get in touch with Swiftwind, re: Democratic Socialist Revolution