Where Do We Go From Here?
Kitatanya
Chapter 26
A/N: Thank you so much for your support! You guys are awesome! Sorry about the delay, loves, it was unavoidable. We will talk more about that at the end for those that wish to peruse my blathering further. For now though…
Read on, loves!
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Catra was almost manically giddy with adrenaline and sheer happiness as Melog leaped over the wall of the settlement and landed almost on top a grouping of soldiers and what she realized were townspeople. All of them let out sounds of shock and fright and she could not help a burst of laughter at the looks on their faces. Adora sent her a slightly chastising pulse through the bond, but she was already laughing too. Melog barely even hesitated before leaping over the stunned group and loping off towards a building in the near distance.
"Sorry!" Adora called back to them over her shoulder, but there was still laughter in her tone that belied the apology.
When Melog stopped in front of the building, she felt a sudden burst of mortification from Adora and looked back at her to see her reaching up for her hair. It was knotted and snarled wildly about her head and she saw and felt her mate's dismay upon feeling it. Catra, however, could see nothing wrong with her appearance and let it show in a slow smile as Adora's gaze met hers.
I like you wild. She purred the words through the bond, letting her mate feel the truth in it.
Adora's dismayed mortification flittered out as her eyes went wide with shock. Half a second later, she was blushing and her hand dropped limply from her hair. Her eyes were glistening now and Catra felt a sense of lofty satisfaction in the sudden giddiness soaring through her mate. Where before it had almost always annoyed her, now she could only find herself pleased by it. Ever since she'd woken that morning, she'd felt like a great tension deep inside her had eased.
Yes, they'd had that hard moment with Melog and they'd both been all but despairing in the face of the fact that now, they wanted each other even impossibly more than they already had before. But still, through all their play and teasing and that moment of guilt and their echoing feelings of dread and burning determinations about the future, there was a languid place of relaxation inside her that still had not yet faded. The exhilarating and thrilling ride back to camp only seemed to make it even stronger.
She loved Adora, each and every part of her. All of the flaws her mate saw in her own reflection, were just things Catra found even more special about her. From her utter obliviousness at times, to her bitter anger under her crushing stress, and all the way to this soaring giddy place inside her head when she was utterly happy, Catra loved it all. She knew now with certainty that there were other soaring places inside her mate that were even stronger than this and remembering it just made her want to laugh at the wonder of it.
She felt more relaxed than she'd ever been, even in the face of everything they still had to do. Yes, she knew they had to work, but all she wanted was to bask in this new and happily relaxed feeling. Let the world see how much she loved her mate; she was not ashamed of it at all. Adora was her forever and they were destined to face the entire universe together and she wanted all of it, good and bad, to know.
She swung her leg over Melog's side and slid lightly to the ground. As Adora swung to face her, she held up her hand and touched their bond. She let everything she was feeling in this moment, ring through their minds in an exuberant burst of love and utter devotion and her own new surging burst of giddiness. She laughed softly as Adora's mind almost literally blanked in that soaring place and her knees went weak the moment she hit the ground. Catra caught her up in a firm embrace to steady her before she could fall. Melog was chuckling as they shifted back into their preferred size and Catra saw them gazing up at them with love and a burning pride and a giddiness even greater than her own. Melog was beyond themselves, seeing them so happy and seeing that while feeling this way and feeling the strength of that swooning blankness in her silly, adorable mate only made her all the happier.
Even knowing they were surrounded by townspeople and soldiers all staring in their direction, she did not care a single bit about what they thought as she leaned forward to capture Adora's lips in a firm, but gentle kiss. Adora's lips were clumsy as she responded through that giddy daze and it made her smile into the kiss before she pulled away. Slowly, she parted from her swooning mate and gently took up one of her hands. As much as she'd like to stand right her and keep kissing her, they really did have to go to work. The tug in her heart was pulling her and she knew at least some of their friends were waiting for them inside. Blood's forces could strike at any minute and they had no idea if anyone had gathered more information since they'd slept.
All of this she knew was her reality, but still, she was all but entranced by Adora and could not even find it in her to turn away from her. She walked backwards up the steps, tugging her dazed mate gently along, but from the look in Adora's eyes and that still soaring rush ringing through the bond, she could feel that Adora was just as entranced and would have followed her anywhere in this moment, even without that gentle tug. Again, all she could feel was pleased and let it show. She realized Melog was still standing where they'd stood, still watching them with that exuberant expression, and she realized Melog was all but frozen with their own happiness as well as theirs. Her smile flashed wider into a grin and she curled a playful, beckoning finger at them as she reached the door. They blinked, before dipping their head in a sheepish manner and all but gliding to their side. Apparently, she was the only one of them that could still function through these soaring feelings and that fact made her laugh aloud with nigh diabolical amount of sheer delight.
She reached blindly behind her and opened the door, letting Melog slip in first, before guiding Adora in and lightly kicking it closed behind her mate. Immediately, she heard a series of gasps from her friends and glanced around to see Perfuma, Scorpia, Netossa, and Spinnerella all staring at Adora with looks of alarm, before Netossa let out a ringing peal of laughter. "Looks like someone had a wild night!" She crowed, and Catra could see a mischievous smugness in the knowing expression.
Catra could not find it in her to be embarrassed by it. She was far too happy to care. Besides, she suddenly got the notion that if she stopped reacting to the cheeky princess' teasing, maybe she would stop. Probably not, but again, Catra could not find it in her care right this minute.
But then she saw a burst of clarity enter Adora's eyes and as she looked around the room her giddiness evaporated into another burst of exasperation and utter mortification as her gaze leveled on the mirror above the stone fireplace she'd seen across the room behind her. Adora gaped down at her, face flaming, as her free hand shot up in a futile attempt to cover her hair. "You said it wasn't bad!" She cried, trying to snatch her other hand away and Catra felt she wanted to go hide from the sight of her own reflection.
She refused to let her mate go, unable to help a laugh at her adorable sense of vanity. "Did not!" She cried, reaching up to take her other hand too, trying to pull it down between them as Adora continued to struggle to get away. She squeezed her mortified and frantic mate's hands and caught her gaze once more. "I said you looked beautiful anyway." She stated, flashing her a cheeky smile and a wink and as she did so, she pushed the feeling of how much she still meant to words through their bond, reminding her mate of how gorgeous she thought she was in any possible state.
Instantly, there were audible coos filling the air from their friends and she felt that mortification and exasperated anger ringing from her mate, shift almost at once into an exuberant burst of love and wondering surprise. All of it was glistening in her eyes and Catra could only smile harder as she saw her lingering blush darken for another reason. She could feel Adora's thoughts with almost perfect clarity, because the strength of them was like another wave of that giddy daze. Catra really did think she was beautiful, even like this, and that fact and the fact that she'd stated it so openly and honestly in front of their friends, completely unabashed, had sent her mate swooning again in an instant. Catra laughed again and kept right on smiling, even as the uncontrollably spiraling giddy feelings all but overwhelmed her again.
Again though, she knew it was time to work and she grinned around at their laughing friends as she finally took in the rest of the room around her beyond her mate again. Melog had curled, purring thunderously, on an enormous chair in the corner, and all of them were gazing at them with adoring looks of utter happiness and, in Netossa's case, a nearly wickedly knowing grin. Their friends were standing about a table, though there were chairs around it, and the surface was covered in maps and documents. All of them looked a little tired, but not as if they'd spent the entire night awake. She was glad they'd all had time to rest, because again, there was a determination in her heart to get things done.
Still, over it all, was the fact that she just wanted to be close to Adora and that relaxed place inside her refused to let her be embarrassed by the urge. She tugged her still adorably dazed mate to one of the chairs in front of the table and guided her into it with a beaming smile. Adora was putty in her hands and she was loftily pleased and let it show as she moved to stand behind her and began working out the snarls and tangles of her mate's still damp hair. For all that she truly didn't mind her appearance, Adora did, so she decided to fix it before she could wind herself up about it again. Adora let out a tiny sigh and all but sagged backwards, but she held her head in place and Catra felt the dreamlike quality of Adora's resurgent daze begging her not to stop. Strangely, it helped her to focus a little more through her happiness as she continued.
She could not contain a soft laugh at it, but she tore her eyes from her mate and looked up at their friends. "Now. Let's get to work." She snapped playfully, trying to shake them all from their own giddiness as they watched them so they could actually get some work done. She knew she usually let Adora do the talking, but she was in no state to do so at this particular moment and it was only her own fault, so she would do the talking for now. "Where's Mermista?" She asked, a little concern cutting through her own happy feelings a little more and sharpening her focus even more.
Again, as all of them remained frozen for a moment, she felt like the only person in the room with a brain cell to spare and only made her even more happy. Yes. Sharing a brain with Adora had definitely had an undeniable effect on her, but she was happy so she did not care. And feeling again that relaxation in that place of tension she'd still been carrying around before last night, all but made her laugh in wonder. It was all she could do not to break out into purring herself to match the sounds of Melog's thunderous happiness in the air.
"Sleeping." Perfuma answered after a moment, beaming at her with sparkling eyes full of love and affection.
She grinned back at her before replying. "Good." She didn't check her relief when she said the word. "Any word since last night about Blood or the clones?" She asked.
"Can she even hear us like that?" Scorpia chuckled, sounding more than a little incredulous as she regarded Adora.
Catra was almost certain her mate could hear them, but whether or not she'd actually be able to comprehend anything they said was another matter entirely. The thought made her snort before she replied. "Yeah. She can hear you." She grinned.
Anything her mate missed, she could fill her in on later anyway with a simple tug of their soul-bond. Again at the thought, wonder surged, but she cut it off before she let it spiral her thoughts again out of focus. She had to work. Melog's purring surged even louder for a moment and she knew it was their amusement at her swinging emotions as more soft laughter broke out in the room for what she'd said aloud.
Then, Spinnerella sobered herself and leaned forward, getting serious too. "We sent out a few scouts last night after our meeting and one group got a hit. They told us about a decent sized grouping of clones here." She said, pointing at a place on the map that was all but covered in tiny wooden pegs. "They're camping in the forest near the road. No skiffs and barely any supplies or weapons that they could see beyond a few staffs. The scouts couldn't be sure of their numbers because they have a few tents and a lot of them seemed to be exploring the area nearby, but it doesn't seem like there are enough of them to account for the numbers the clone you saved warned us about."
"Ramel." She cut in, feeling a surge of affection and pride as she spoke the name. All of them looked at her with surprise and she smiled softly. "He picked it himself and told us last night." She kept the details hidden because she felt as if it would be rude to reveal Ramel's feelings without him there, but was still unable to hide her own emotions about it.
Scorpia swelled with a new, even greater happiness than before and she clasped her claws together with tears sparkling in her eyes. "Okay. That clone is definitely getting a hug next time I see him." She all but squeaked the words. Catra snorted another laugh at the silliness of the tall princess, but Perfuma looked up at her with so much unfettered adoration that Catra felt her own heart surge back into that soaring place at the sight and she let those giddy feelings send her thoughts whirling back to the first time she'd met Perfuma in a tiny moment of nostalgic indulgence because she could not help it.
She had sensed those feelings in the flowering princess from the moment she'd first heard her talk about Scorpia. And she also remembered acutely her vehement defense of Scorpia's character in the face of Catra's feigned indifference and surety for her mind under Horde Prime's control. Perfuma had never actually said it aloud, but when Catra had given in to the urge to go to her after that nearly disastrous trip to the Fright Zone in an attempt to save Scorpia, trying to cheer her from the depression she could see plaguing her in her own sarcastic way, Perfuma had confirmed it in every other way.
Not only that, she'd surprised Catra utterly by showing her that she knew without any doubts her hidden feelings for Adora. Besides Melog, no one had ever openly shown anything other than a dark purpose when revealing their knowledge of the unbreakable bond between she and Adora before that moment. It had stunned her, rocked her, especially in the face of the fact that Perfuma seemed to have forgiven her for her actions in a matter of moments, just for being willing to reach out to her. Not only had she forgiven her, Perfuma had immediately expressed a fervent and genuine wish to help her and it had instantly kindled those new feelings of friendship Catra had only just begun to accept as a part of her life.
For some reason, it had been even more profound because Catra had never truly spoken to her before that moment and it had been the first real time she'd tried to truly be honest with someone outside of Adora herself and Entrapta, Glimmer, and Melog, all of whom she'd known -or in Melog and Adora's case, bonded inseparably with in different ways- and interacted with in an intimate fashion in some way in the past. Bow had still annoyed her too greatly to truly feel a sense of friendship towards him at the time, but she had at least been grudgingly accepting of him, like she'd tried to force herself to be with everyone else. She had thought that was the new normal for her, but she couldn't deny that after Glimmer, Entrapta, Melog, and Adora, Perfuma had been her first real friend in a long time.
She had honestly not thought Scorpia could ever truly forgive her at the time, so those tangled emotions of guilt had blinded her to the fact that even after what she'd done, the tall princess was still her friend somehow in the end; like Entrapta somehow was after everything she'd done to her. Being able to see Scorpia so very happy and loved in the way Catra realized she truly deserved to be by someone as open and kind and loving as Perfuma… it made her happy. She knew that Scorpia had cared for her in the past as much more than a friend and that she'd hurt her by being unable to accept those feelings in the light of the fact that even in hatred, Adora was the only one truly in her heart. She'd been too caught up in her own spiraling darkness and that hatred to truly care in those moments. But looking back after Adora had rescued her against every odd the universe could throw their way, and especially in the face of Perfuma's cutting words and fierce anger and her unshakable faith in Scorpia, had made her see it for what it was and it still pained a part of her deep inside to think it.
Again though, all she could feel was happy to see it now and watching them be together, even here in the face of war, just like she and her mate, made her even more so. Perfuma glanced at her then and Catra knew she saw it in her eyes, because Perfuma's already blushing face burned a little brighter as she beamed a smile at her. Scorpia looked between them and seeing her own happiness and understanding towards her and Perfuma's reaction to it on top of Scorpia's own growing realization of it, filled the tall princess' eyes with happy tears in an instant. That big, unabashed smile that had been directed her way so many times and in so many ways she'd never seen the truth of before, was there on Scorpia's exuberant face now and it almost made her want to cry too in the face of it. She fought the tears away, but she knew the both of them had seen them glistening there, because they leaned a little closer together, holding each other again smiling at her with so much love and affection it made her heart feel like it would burst. Feeling Adora feel it from her and how it sent her mate's soaring emotions in that giddy daze even higher, Catra almost lost her own ability to stand as a rumbling purr tore from her chest that she could not stifle even if she'd wanted too. And she didn't want to, not one little bit.
Spinnerella's soft laugh pulled her from her thoughts and she knew it was time to focus again on the here and now. She stopped her giddy spiral and continued her unintentionally paused ministrations on her mate's hair to help her with that focus as she looked to the air weaving princess again. "Well, the numbers Ramel-" She spoke the name in affection with a smile in her direction. "-warned us about, don't seem to match up with this grouping. The ambush you met had a lot of weaponry right?" She asked, serious once more.
Catra nodded, feeling a trickle of that ruthless rage at the thought of that ambush. "More than most of the clones in the battle of Chrytsalyis seemed to have. I don't think a single one of them was unarmed actually." Her claws gently snagged on a much larger snarl in Adora's hair and she had to look down at it as she began to work it out, so as not to pull and risk hurting her mate, but her mind was still steeled to the conversation. "Why is that, by the way? We never asked before. All of the clones under Horde Prime almost always had access to weapons when they needed it before, so why were so many of them unarmed there?"
Netossa hummed a dark sound. "We're not sure. We know they have advanced technology. What you all told us and what we saw with the arrival of the Prime's forces at the end of the last war proved that and we've seen evidence of even more of it before now. But for some reason, a lot of the clones seem to be more like cannon fodder in the battles to be honest. I don't like it."
Catra echoed the sentiment and her ears flicked back along her head, tail lashing a little more tightly, as she contemplated on this new and foreboding information as she looked for more snarls that needed greater attention in Adora's hair. "What are they doing with all of their weaponry then?" She was unable to keep the growl from her voice.
"We don't know." Netossa's voice was almost an echo of it.
"But we know that they can't be doing anything that we can't handle." Perfuma cut in, voice surging with confidence and steely conviction.
Scorpia let out a low laugh. "That's my girl!" She cheered. Smiling, Catra glanced up in just enough time to see the two exchange a careful high-five with their free hands, grinning madly at one another.
Spinnerella let out a soft laugh. "Right." She said lightly.
Catra pushed aside her amusement and happy feelings to concentrate again, chiding herself even as she wanted to let them take her away again. She found the rest of Adora's hair was only mildly tangled and she could really look at Spinnerella now without risking hurting her by pulling. "What's the plan?" She asked. "Are we going to observe them or go after them?"
Netossa grimaced. "That's what we've been discussing. It'd make sense to go after them before they reach the town, but with the numbers we'd have to send to deal with them…" She trailed off with a shrug.
Catra sighed. "We'd be risking a divide and conquer." She muttered. It would make sense for the clones to think like that. Maybe she and Adora and Melog could deal with them, but again, it would be leaving this town unprotected and she didn't like that thought either. "Do we have someone watching them at least? Just to keep track?"
"We do." Spinnerella answered at once. "We've also still got people out looking for the rest of the numbers Ramel warned us about, but so far, that's the only grouping we've been able to find. And each of our groups has one of the runed charms Overseer Beryl had to give us that will let them contact us on this crystal immediately." She pointed to a largish, polished purple crystal Cara had only noticed in passing on the stone mantlepiece. "We don't have many but we are using every advantage we've got right now." There was a fierce edge to her voice and a steely glint in her eyes that pleased Catra to see. And again, she saw it in all of them and knew her own was showing too.
Then Scorpia looked to her with a question. "You guys didn't happen to see anything while you were out with Melog did you?"
At that, Netossa grinned that knowing grin again, but Catra was concentrating too hard to care about her silent jabbing. "No. Nothing. We'd have come straight back if we had." She couldn't understand why there were no forces in the area and it made her strangely nervous for a reason she couldn't quite place. "Where could they be?" She wondered aloud. Then, she had another thought. "Has there been any word from Glimmer at all?" Their grim expressions answered her immediately.
"No." Spinnerella shook her head. "But we had one of our mages, Jasa, transport to the city just before you guys got here. She should be arriving soon if she can or she'll at least send Jasa back with information."
That pleased Catra and she let it show. "Good. Maybe she can send someone out to look for our lost messenger." That was another worry they hadn't addressed yet that also made her more than a nervous. "He had valuable intel for her and a map to the supplies we left behind." All of their expressions echoed her thoughts.
There were Alliance weapons on one of those wagons. Explosives. They couldn't risk moving them at the quicker pace they'd set, so they'd been left there, camouflaged with the rest. They had only truly been able to search in a near straight line on their way through, but that forest was vast. It wasn't impossible at all for them to have missed an enemy encampment and if that messenger had been waylaid by the clones, then Blood had access to those explosives. Their technology already surpassed theirs by leaps and bounds and the alliance couldn't afford the loss of any supplies at all right now; especially that kind.
"Jasa is going to report on that too, don't worry." Spinnerella reassured. "Hopefully, Glimmer will be able to send out more scouts, if she hasn't already."
That thought was comforting. Glimmer's instincts had definitely been proven accurate already, more times than just this one instance from what she and Adora had learned that night in the city. She'd had her doubts before the events in the forest, but not anymore.
"Right. Sparkles probably has those soldiers running themselves ragged." She joked lightly, then she sobered. "So basically, all we do right now is sit and wait for word?"
Again, Netossa grimaced. "Yeah… pretty much." She sighed.
Catra hummed darkly under her breath. She didn't like that prospect at all and looked back down to Adora's hair. She'd finished untangling it now, but she continued playing her claws through it, enjoying her mate's enjoyment of the petting even through her trepidation. It was actually quite calming and was helping her not to get too tense, just like it had helped her focus before. Adora's daze had begun to fade after the last giddy burst and she had actually been listening to the conversation, but keeping her thoughts carefully still. Catra could feel her now though now, slowly filling with nervousness and a trickle of dread too and knew that what she was feeling echoing was only a fraction of what her mate was actually feeling. But Catra could feel in those emotions that she didn't want the petting to stop because Adora had sensed how it was keeping her calm, even if she felt guilty for indulging in it right now. Catra touched the bond again, feeling with new definition the surging emotions from her mate. She didn't tug, just sending her a strong burst of reassurance, trying to push aside both of their dread at the prospect of inaction when so much was at stake. Adora touched it a moment later too and they just held it, almost like holding hands inside their minds, and their thoughts connected in that tumble of instant compression once more.
When they'd taken those few hours last night, it had been something they'd needed beyond all else. She'd needed her mate as much as Adora had needed her and being able to experience what they had was an amazing and awing memory that would never fade. But this kind of inactivity to the tug in their hearts was an entirely different kind. Not being able to act, not having information with which to act on, and knowing that with every moment lives and livelihoods were at stake all over their planet, and the universe besides, filled them both with a burst of despair.
If she knew where Blood was in this very moment, she'd go leaping after him, claws aflame with She-Ra's power in a heartbeat. She'd do whatever it took to see this war over and she knew, even without the emotions and thoughts spiraling now between them that her mate felt exactly the same way. It was almost infuriating how little they could do. They'd been restored for almost a week and outside of the helping their friends to turn the tide the battle in Chrytsalyis, the ambush, and saving Ramel, they hadn't actually done anything really.
Yes, they'd had good moments, happy little bubbles of time with each other and their friends and loved ones, but… the universe needed them. Their planet needed them. They knew they had the power to face anything together, but without being able to act, what good was their power?
Catra stopped that train of thought right there, for that last thought had been all Adora and she did not like the direction that spiraling thought had just taken. At once, her claws left her mate's hair and she stepped around beside the chair to lean down and level a glare at her, even if she knew Adora could feel her sudden anger in the face of it already. Adora was already wretchedly guilty, eyes glistening with tears, and Catra felt her thoughts turn to an apology, but it did nothing to assuage her anger. She was actually hurt and let her feel it without restraint as her claws dug into the wood of the arm of the chair. How could Adora possibly even think that thought?
But even as she was forming the question, she could see that it had been because of Adora's guilt at how much she'd hurt them, even as she knew it had been meant to be. She could feel again that fear in her that she would break them again, even if she already knew Catra and that promise between them would never let them fall. The thoughts were irrational, even to Adora, but a part of her mind refused to let them go, no matter how she tried. Catra could feel how much she wanted them to go away and how guilty they made her and her anger had faded into regret and sadness and so much love that it swept those dark thoughts aside.
Again, it was their promise now swelling between them. That devotion and love and commitment. Adora had no doubts in it, even if that small broken part of her refused to die. Catra could feel it, that certainty, with everything she was. She felt how much faith Adora had in her and how very proud her mate was of her strength in the face of everything they'd been through. And even as she was feeling it, she was letting Adora feel how very proud of her she was too. She let her feel how much that certainty meant to her, even in the face of those irrationally spiraling thoughts.
It was just something they had to work through and she was a little guilty about how angry it had made her, but already she could feel how Adora needed her to react that way, because it steadied her. Anger, hurt, despair, grief, all of these negative emotions were just as important between them as all of the good ones. They were what made them so strong. Even if the both of them in that moment would have cast them aside, Catra knew that her mate was right.
This is what being together meant, just as much as those moments of happiness and wonder and passion. Every tiny stumble only made them stronger. Every time they rose, they rose higher. For every tiny flash of negativity, there was a wonder to equal it. And all of this was there in that flame of their promise to each other.
I love you. The thought spiraled between them simultaneously and the both of them were beaming at one another now.
Catra gazed into the sparking depths of Adora's gorgeous eyes and felt her mate gazing into hers too and finding them just as beautiful. The both of them were suddenly pleasantly embarrassed at the wordless compliments that had flowed, unbidden between them and it made them love each other even more in the face of it. Again, all of the giddiness returned between them. All of the love and the wonder and the sheer and utter happiness at what they were to each other and this glorious bond that let them feel all of this so very completely.
Yes, there was work to be done. Yes, a part of them still despaired at their forced inactivity. And yes, they wanted more than anything to be able to fulfill their duty to their home and their universe so they could finally rest and be done with it and just be able to be together. All those things were true and always would be, but they could only be thankful for this moment and moments like this, both in the past and in the future to come.
A sudden tinkling burst of magic filled the room behind them. Even before Catra glanced over, they both knew it was Glimmer. She was happy to see her for only a moment, before realizing how exhausted their friend looked. At her concern, Adora was turning, leaning into her so she could look at Glimmer too. For her part, the young queen was looking between them and their friends with a confused and mildly suspicious expression.
"Did I interrupt something?" She asked tentatively.
Catra was confused now too and felt Adora's confusion echoing it immediately. They looked up to see their friends regarding them with slightly wary expressions. Then, in a burst, they realized that of course their friends had been concerned by the strength of her obvious anger and Adora's sudden tears, even if they were now gone. They let go the bond, still connected in that place of conversation between them.
Catra immediately smiled reassuringly at them rose, beginning to run her fingers through Adora's hair once more as she turned to face Glimmer. "Mild disagreement." She explained softly.
Adora had let herself be lulled into stillness again by the resumed petting, but she gathered her thoughts enough to reply too. "We're over it." Her tone was a little dreamy and it made Catra smile.
Even so, they were both concerned for Glimmer and Catra gestured to the empty chair beside her mate. "You look awful, Sparkles."
Glimmer studied her for a moment longer, before letting out a tired sigh. "I can't stay long." She told them, but she did come forward to take the offered seat. "I hope you don't mind that I asked Jasa to relieve a few of our healers for a little while before she returns." She said to Netossa and Spinnerella.
"Not at all." Spinnerella said quickly. "In fact, you can take a few more back with you if you need them." She grimaced slightly as she said it and Catra knew the rest of that unspoken thought; it wasn't like mages were doing them any good at the moment, with no enemies to face.
Glimmer frowned. "So there's still no word of more than the one grouping of clones your scouts reported?"
Netossa shook her head. "No. But we have eyes and ears combing the area anyway. If they're here, we'll find them." She said firmly.
Glimmer shook her head. "It just doesn't make any sense! Are you sure you can trust the word of this clone you rescued?" She looked at she and Catra pointedly as she said so.
Adora instantly snapped from her daze and faced her as Catra's fingers froze and she looked to Glimmer too. "Yes." They said, firmly and together.
"Ramel is a good person, Glimmer." Adora added a fraction later. She nodded sharply in agreement to the sentiment.
Glimmer blinked at them, confused. "Ramel?"
Catra smiled again and felt Adora's echoing fondness for him rising in her alongside her own and she couldn't help a tiny purr at the feel of it. "That's the name he chose." Adora answered softly. "He came to check on us while we were sleeping and we overheard him talking to our friends outside the tent."
She didn't say more and Catra felt the same feeling she'd felt from before in a thought now from Adora; it felt wrong to disclose what he'd said without his permission. The both of them suddenly wished they knew where he was at this moment, because he should be here to defend his honor and his allegiance to the Alliance himself. Melog's purring cut off and they rose at once from the chair.
'I will go and collect our new ward.' They said, stalking to the door.
Catra turned at once to go open it for them, like she always tried to do, but Melog only smiled their version of a smile at her and winked out of sight. She could only grin at the sass of the action and at their new descriptor for Ramel and felt Adora's bubbling internal laughter at it too. When she turned back to Adora, she saw her smiling just as brightly as she was. Ramel definitely was under their protection and the both of them felt a keen urge to defend him. Even if he might not remain near them in the future, they would always have a special place their hearts for him.
"You guys really trust him that much?" Glimmer asked, sounding surprised.
"Yes." Again, their reply was simultaneous and it filled them both with a little burst of giddy affection for one another.
Catra decided she was tired of standing and Adora was already laughing aloud. Her mate had sensed the thought and knew what she was going to do, even before she acted on it. Catra's smile shot wider at the understanding from her mate and she circled the chair, plopping herself sideways onto Adora's lap from the other side so she could still face their friends and leaning against her with a burst of purring that she did not even try to stifle. Adora's arm wound around her waist, propping her elbow on the arm of the chair behind her as Catra snaked an arm about her shoulders, so she could once again indulge in the pleasure of playing with her hair. They grinned again at each other, just wanting to see all of that happy emotion in each other for all that it was, before they both looked to Glimmer.
Glimmer's confusion had faded into gentle affection and love at the sight their happiness. "Well if you trust him that much then I guess I have too." She laughed softly. Then she sighed and all of her exhaustion returned to her expression.
Seeing it again stifled their happiness by a degree with concern for her and Adora tensed a little too. "Do you need us back in Chrytsalyis?" Adora asked her gently.
At once, Glimmer shook her head and gathered herself again. "No. No. Even if you haven't seen Blood's forces yet, I still don't want to risk leaving this place unprotected." A sudden flash of humor entered her eyes then. "Remind me before I leave to speak to whoever is in charge here by the way. This town needs a real name. I refuse to keep saying my troops are stationed at 'the farming settlement in the mountains'."
Netossa let out a loud snort. "They don't even have a leader." She grinned as Glimmer shot her an incredulous look. She and Adora were confused too and let it show.
Spinnerella sighed and shot a chastising glance at her wife. "They simply gather here in this building for important matters and make decisions with majority vote. It works for them and there is nothing wrong with it."
Her voice spoke volumes of how she disliked Netossa's laughter in the face of their ways. But even if the two of them were disagreeing, Catra could see the love in their pointed glances. She felt Adora stifle a giggle and then had to stifle a snicker of her own in response.
Glimmer contemplated that for a moment. "Then I'll just speak to the entire town." She said imperiously. "How are they taking having our troops here?" She asked curiously.
Catra now had to stifle a sigh. She hated politics. Give her war planning any day. Adora squeezed her tighter for a moment with a burst of gently affectionate chastisement through the bond. She felt her thought in it that just because politics wasn't as exciting, it was no less important to discuss. Catra knew that of course, but still.
"Actually, they're quite happy about it. They've said it makes the place feel more alive." Spinnerella said, sounding pleased. "And the soldiers have been helping out with the town duties in their downtime. We didn't ask them too, nor did the townspeople, but most of them are anyway." There was a pride in her voice as she spoke the words and Catra felt it in her pushing aside her hatred of politics and Adora was swelling with it too. Their people were good people and that was something Etheria needed right now; acts of kindness amid the chaos and working together towards the future.
Glimmer, Netossa, Scorpia and Perfuma were all swelling with that selfsame pride. Before anyone else could speak, there came a knock at the door. All of them automatically looked to Glimmer and she smiled softly. "Come in." She called, turning to face the door.
Catra glanced over the back of their chair as it swung open and instantly she was smiling again as she saw Ramel and Melog walking inside. Adora turned too, all but dislodging her to smile fondly at him. She had to let go her mate and cling frantically to the back of the chair. Catra was too amused by the action to be annoyed at the jostling, even as her mate was already sending her an apology and settling back into place. She grinned at her, sending her the gentle urge to tease her because she could feel what Catra was seeing if she only touched the bond, so it wasn't as if she was missing out anyway. She felt Adora pouting as she did so and it made her snicker lightly as she settled too. Now that she wasn't about to fall, she turned to smile at Melog in gratitude for retrieving him and felt Adora's gratitude echoing hers almost immediately.
Melog sent her a look of love and pride, before darting silently to their chair and she let both of their gratitude and love for them fill them for a moment, just so they could feel it all. Melog was purring thunderously in response as Ramel closed the door behind him and then crossed his arm over his chest in a deep bow. "Though I could not truly understand the message this one of my saviors brought me, I felt as if I were needed. How may I assist you, my Liberators and saviors three?" He spoke the words with deep respect and did not rise from his bow.
The both of them immediately wanted to tell him to rise, but again, they looked to Glimmer because she was the one who he needed to speak to. She smiled softly at them, before replying. "Come sit, Ramel." She ordered gently. "I just need to ask you some questions."
Immediately, he rose and walked towards the table. Without being asked, he moved to the other end, opposite Netossa and Spinnerella, and took a seat where all of them could see him with little difficulty. "I am ready to answer anything you wish to ask." Again, he spoke with respect, nodding his head in another bow to all of them.
There was a brief pause before Glimmer spoke and in that pause, Catra decided there was no reason to resist her sudden urge to connect her mind with Adora's again now and felt her echoing the thought where she was still gently holding on to their bond. It felt so very natural that it was only then the both of them realized it was an entirely new way to connect, that felt somehow even more intimate than tugging to the different spaces along it. Again, it was like the mental equivalent of holding hands and they liked the feel of it and felt a sense of security in the fact that resuming their own headspace was a drop of the bond away. It let them be connected, while being able to act in a fraction of a moment's notice rather than the moment it took them to tug back along to separate into two minds and settle there. The possibilities of this in the face of their duty and what they knew they had to do, filled them both with a little wondering burst. Even now after everything between them, they were still discovering new things about this shining magic in their soul-bond and it made them infinitely happy to think of all the wonders that might lay in their future, beyond the horrors they already knew were there.
Glimmer's voice pulled them from their thoughts and they pushed aside the wonder to focus once more with a mixing of determination, love, and soft regret. "How long ago was it that you learned about the plan to strike this town?" She tried to keep the question light.
A flicker of grief flashed through his eyes that sent a sharp pang through she and her mate, before he spoke. "This will be the fifth day." His tone was carefully neutral. "I learned of it the day after the battle of the crystal city, but it was not until late that evening that my brother saw my indecision and told me the truth of the happenings here between you, our Liberators, and the false ruler that is Blood on this planet that is now my home. He spoke to me in length of Brother Dak and reaffirmed my torn thoughts upon seeing the destruction of so many lives and wanting to rid myself of that awful cause. We were caught in my plans to defect in the deep middle of the night." He could not keep a hint of the great grief they knew was there for his lost brother from his voice as he said the last, but he took a deep breath and gathered himself again. "It was in the afternoon of the next day that I was saved and liberated by may saviors who's names I honor with my new name, Ramel." Again, he spoke it like it was a word of honor that filled them with a humbled sense of wonder and that even greater fondness they'd begun to feel towards him. "And each day since and each day to follow is a gift I only wish to use to help you, my liberators, and you, my saviors three, to stop my unenlightened brothers from destroying this planet that is now my home." The words were spoken like an oath, just like he'd spoken them each time before, and again all they could be was wondered and humbled in the face of it.
He nodded a bow to her and Adora then, gratitude, respect and his own wonder in his eyes, before looking to Melog to do the same. Melog's purring rose a degree as a surge of her own rose to meet it. Ramel seemed to swell under their looks of pride and he smiled, blushing brightly, with an even greater wonder sparkling in his eyes as he tucked his chin in an adorable manner to hide the strength of his reaction. The expression and the action reminded them again of a happy child and Adora's giddiness overwhelmed their minds once again. Catra had to stifle a laugh at the feeling.
Glimmer let out a small sound that sounded like something between a laugh and a sob. It rang with something profoundly bittersweet that neither she nor Adora could place and it cut through that giddy surge at once. They looked to see her studying Ramel with a wondering expression that was somehow broken at the same time. Catra had seen that brokenness in her eyes before and she didn't like it and neither did her mate who held the memories now of it too and the both of them let it show as they looked to her.
The smile she sent them in response was more than a little familiarly broken too, but she didn't reply. Instead, she stood, pushing back her chair in a sharp motion that almost sent it rocking to the floor, and she turned face to Ramel fully before she spoke. "Ramel. I just want to tell you in behalf of all of the Alliance and on my station as the Queen of Brightmoon and all of Etheria, I am so sorry for what we did to your brothers in my ignorance." Her agonized eyes were glistening with tears as she spoke those words, imperial voice ringing with a profound regret, grief, and no small amount of agony. And then she bowed to him, deeply, and Catra saw her trembling with those withheld tears.
At once, the both of them wanted to go to her and she saw that same want in the eyes and sudden tenseness of their friends, but they held themselves still as they felt a truth between them. Glimmer needed this, no matter how much it hurt them to see. She and Adora both felt like idiots for not realizing sooner what Glimmer's pain had been. They'd heard the regret and grief in her voice when they'd all spoken about the accidental slaughter of the peaceful clones that night in Chrytsalyis, but the neither of them had seen it for what it was like they did now, because she had hidden it. But now they saw the awful reality of it.
Glimmer felt like a monster in the face of that slaughter. It had been on her orders that they'd been slain and that so many clones had needlessly died or had defected to Blood's cause in those early, gruesome days of this war. And they understood now that seeing Ramel like this, wondering and respectful and so full of happiness in the face of being saved by them after speaking of wanting to follow Dak's example in spite of that slaughter, had brought all of those feeling roaring back to the surface all over again.
They tore their eyes from Glimmer as Ramel stood in an equally sharp motion, moving with a more sudden movements than they'd ever seen from him as he all but darted to stand beside her. "No, my new Queen!" He all but shouted, addressing her with an even greater respect than before upon having learned her title. "I only know the truth of the events that transpired thanks to my lost brother. There is no way you could have known this truth that the false ruler Blood's actions hid from you. It is only a wonder that our enlightened Brother Dak and his people managed somehow their daring escape to inform you of it at all!" He calmed slightly as Glimmer rose from her trembling bow to regard him again with that broken expression of wonder and deep sadness and pain. "If I could see the truth of it, there must be others among my brethren that can be enlightened this way too." There was hope now in his voice, ringing strong in the face of her pain and the both of them were all but reeling with the strength of it in him as he stood tall once more.
"I have been contemplating this matter since I was saved and liberated by my saviors three and given this chance to truly experience life here among peoples who fight for everything I was created to stand against. The soldiers and the townspeople look at me still with wary eyes of suspicion, but I do not blame them for it at all. I was wrong before, just as my brothers under this false leader Blood are wrong in his following. This fault is not yours, it is ours, for not even attempting to learn the truth of it before we let the evil of our creation sweep us up again under its tide. There was no reason my saviors had to trust me. There was no reason for anything other than ruthlessness in their hearts towards this face and this form I share with my dark brothers. And yet they showed me that kindness and that mercy and I see it now for what I should always have seen it. You, all of you, my Liberators and saviors three, saved us from Horde Prime and his evil and gave us this chance that was squandered by my former brother Blood in his false rule. And I see it now in your great grief and pain over the loss of life because of his falsity and deception and it only makes me even more sure than I already was in the face of it. And the only wish in my heart is to see this darkness of my brothers stopped so that more can see this truth and experience this life that I have somehow been blessed to experience under your enlightened and liberating rule and the infinite mercy and kindness of my saviors." He bowed then, more fully than he ever had before and he was trembling now too with the surging emotions ringing in his voice of hope and respect and gratitude and wonder.
Glimmer was actually crying now and so were they and all of their friends. Melog let out that sobbing sound that was only Melog as they all but fell from the chair to come to their side, pressing against the side of the chair, just needing to be close to them with the strength of what they were all feeling in this moment and they reached for them as best they could. Hearing Ramel's words, his hope, and his absolute faith in the face of them being unable to strike against him upon hearing his painfully gasped words of wanting to do the right thing had humbled them and wondered them from the moment he'd spoken them to them for the first time. But hearing him declare it like this in the face of Glimmer's agony and seeing the truth of what they'd all ultimately wanted when they'd let the clones live free of Horde Prime before Blood's betrayal…
It was awing. It was wondrous. It was again that awesome realization of what they were really fighting for beyond each other and their friends and their loved ones and their home. Saving lives, stopping evil in its tracks, and opening hearts from their darkness and striking that darkness down and away from them so they could live in all that was good and right. Where before one of them had thought the question unbidden about what was the good in their power, now this knitted a portion of that broken place where that question had come from back together.
There was a slight fracture then in their thoughts as Catra exulted in that healing in her mate as Adora's wonder at feeling it made her cry all the harder. Catra turned in her arms, throwing both of them around her neck and Adora's arms were around hers, holding her just as tightly too. They tugged on the bond, entering that space of shared thought in its actuality, just wanting to feel all of it flowing uninhibited between them. They let themselves get lost in all that wonder and exultant joy and love for each other in the face of it, before a new thought occurred to them that they had to act upon at once.
Clumsy in that shared space of surging and roaring emotion in their minds that they could not find it in themselves to break from, they shifted their separate bodies enough to stand and face Ramel. Without caring what it meant or how it would seem, they stepped to him, drawing him up out of his trembling bow and hugged him tightly between them.
He was utterly rigid for a moment, before relaxing and tentatively hugging them back. When they did not pull away, he hugged them tighter in tiny increments until he was clinging just as fiercely to them as they were to him. "This is… good?" He asked, in that wondering voice like a child and they realized this was probably the very first hug he had ever had.
It was like a blow in that place between them very near to the place where they'd felt all of those feelings for Micah and Castaspella and Hordak, Angela, and Melog. Very near, but not there and it gave them pause for just a moment as they wondered at what it meant. Then, from one of them that neither of them could be sure which in that spiraling space of wondering thought between them, that this was what it must feel to have those parental emotions towards another like those did for them and for others they'd seen displaying it too. They knew of course, in tiny flicker of clarity between them, that Ramel was not actually a child, but it did not stop a sudden realization from surging between their minds an instant later.
This is what it meant to love someone like a child. This is what it would feel like if they loved a child between them. And all at once, there was a new wonder and an awe as they looked far into the future and both of them wondered at what it would be like to truly have one of their own. It had never occurred to either them ever before this moment how it would feel to be a mother. It was almost terrifying in its suddenness to consider. But beneath that terror, a new urge was rising that maybe one day, one day in that place far off to the future, it was something they might both like to have. They could not have a biological child between them, but that didn't make the feeling any less, because they saw a new and almost greater possibility then.
They had been orphaned of their own parents and only knew the truth of the one of their origins. Both of them had been robbed the chance at a true figure of that parental care in their childhoods and it had been a large factor in the broken creatures they both had been and even who they were right now. But now, maybe one day in that place they could barely see in that wondering future, they could use their love and this feeling to save at least one little child from the fate they'd been a victim of.
At that thought, that strange longing for that future they felt, solidified into a promise almost as powerful as they promise of devotion to each other. They both now desperately wanted that far off day to come, no matter what it meant. And the love that then spiraled between them as they both wanted that shining future just as much as the other was more powerful than anything they'd ever felt before, when they hadn't ever thought it could be possible.
But then, there was a thought to cut through that shining wonder. The thought that if they wanted that future to be their reality, that they had to focus again on the here and the now. They had to work, they had to fight for it, even on top of what they already had to work and fight for.
It did not despair them like they thought it should. Instead, it sharpened that edge deep within them to a keenness that startled even themselves. And all at once, that drive, that purpose, that pull to do their duty, refined even more than it already had and the both of them were even more solid than they had been in the face of it, where they'd already thought themselves nigh unshakable already.
Those white-hot and righteous flames of their promise were blazing even hotter than they ever had before, and even those forking tongues that had already seemed able to destroy any doubts between them in the face of what they had to do, seemed just as ferocious as that new and keener edge. She-Ra rose in a flicker of thought from those blazing flames and they felt that this was the true fire in the heart of every true mother and that this feeling would again bolster them in the face of any evil. That faceless child they both wanted to save in the future, would lend even more ruthlessness in the face of any darkness. A true mother's love was a part of the love that made She-Ra as was any love in the universe and they felt from her spirit them than mothering pride towards them both.
In another tiny flicker, they felt the truth in the face of one tiny doubt still lingering within the one of them, of whether or not all these new feelings really were just because of She-Ra's magic or because of their own strength. It was not because of her magic, they felt that truth then. The magic only grew each time that did they and opened them to another part of it as that part of it opened within themselves. If it was all the doing of her magic, what would be the point? If they did not earn it, they did not deserve it and the power that was theirs would not grow until they did. Then those tiny flickers were gone and they were alone with their wonder and their happiness and their love for each other once more in the face of those flickering truths and the relief of that tiny little doubt.
In the absence of it, they realized more than a few moments had passed and they needed to part from this soaring place and know the world around them once more. They had to answer Ramel and reassure that tentative wonder and let him see that yes, it was good. And then it was time to work again and to fight for their home, their universe, and that new and shining hope in their already glittering future together as mates and as beings who would always and forever be this blazing one in their devotion to each other in the face of it all.
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And there we go! Thank you so much for reading! You're awesome and don't forget it!
So, I do have a little bit of sad news, my loves. The battle I am currently facing in my life has reached a new level and I must admit that I am a little shaken right now. I say this not for sympathy, or in attempt to garner thoughts or prayers or kind words from any of you, not at all. I only state it in regard to the fact that it may have an effect on the frequency of the chapters for a time. It may not, for writing is and always will be a lovely and fantastic world that helps me to fend off my personal demons in these happy little spurts, but it only felt right to warn you that it may happen as that is what caused the slight delay of this very chapter.
But this journey, loves, is far from over. So long as there are words in my heart, we shall continue. It is my greatest wish to share stories with all of you, because I love words and the world needs all the love it can get, even aside from the events happening now. So I fling out this, the imperfection of my journeys, in the hopes that it will help to draw you from your thoughts and give you your own respite in the perusal of it, as I find my own in the writing of it.
Regardless to our differences, if you're here reading this story then we are connected by at least one tiny shared interest. This connection might be nebulous, for we are all happy strangers here, but it is important to me nonetheless. I've said it before now in this story I believe, and I know I've said it in my imperfect journeys of the past, but don't feel the need to comment or review or even message me. I do not even check the traffic stats of this journey we are taking. It is here as a gift to those of you that are here and my only wish is that you enjoy it.
It's not perfect. It has its flaws. It has its ups and downs and twists and turns and sometimes it might swing in a direction that makes it seem like we're not actually going anywhere at all, but I promise you, loves, we are. We have a long way to go and we will get there one shaky step at a time or in leaps and bounds and happy little flows amidst the chaos of this world we are vicariously living in in these imperfect words that I feel lucky just to be able to share.
This is what I mean when I tell you that you're awesome: We are fanpeople, all one in the same! Even if our thoughts may differ and you might find some of this, my own personal after-story, a little foolish and flamboyantly over the top and clumsy at times, it's just a little something to get myself by. And when I say I hope you're enjoying it, my aforementioned words explain the full truth behind it. Escapism is not always a healthy coping method, not at all. There is harm in the excess of anything. But little bubbles of distance in moderation to help you cope with your own battles are often needed and that is why I share my imperfect words, in the hopes of granting you a few of those little bubbles as you read.
Anyway, I shall cut myself off there before I write another, even longer, essay of an author's note than I already have. Take care, loves, and don't forget to look up! And I do hope to have you along as we head off towards the future!
Until next time, loves! Stay safe and read on! Ja!