CHAPTER XIX: REBELLION BREAKFAST

Ivy looked at what had been brought to them and chose to reach for a steaming mug. What was inside looked like a brown, dense liquid, with a tuft of something white on the top. She brought it to her lips but yelped as the liquid burnt her tongue.

"Ah! It's a trap! I knew it!" The young Horde soldier exclaimed.

"Oh, for the First Ones's sake!" Frosta exclaimed, taking the mug in her hands.

"Don't drink it! It's poison!" Ivy exclaimed, trying to reach for the cup before she could think about what she was doing.

However, the ice princess didn't seem to want to drink the burning liquid. She simply held the mug between her hands, one eyebrow raised in curiosity at the cadet's exclamation. After a few moments, she rolled her eyes and spoke again.

"It's not poison dummy. It's hot chocolate. It's just hot." The princess rolled her eyes.

"Wha… b-but then… why did you take it?"

"I'm cooling it down." Frosta answered, tightening her hold on the steaming mug.

Oh…

But that's… kind…

Princesses are not supposed to be like that…

Ivy remembered the words of her teacher…

"The princesses are mindless monsters and their powers make them capable of the most atrocious things."

This was a princess but… she didn't look like a monster… and she surely didn't act like one…

"Thanks…" Ivy muttered as Frosta passed the mug back to her.

The ice princess hard façade cracked a little, surprised by the Horde's cadet words. She gave her a small smile and nodded.

The "hot chocolate", as Frosta had called it, revealed itself to be the most delicious thing Ivy had ever tasted in her entire life.

"So, Sparkles, what about this 'ball' you were talking about earlier? I'd love to trash another one." Catra smirked as she took another bite of her pancakes.

"Hey!" Adora elbowed her slightly, trying her best to look angry, but failing miserably as a little smile crept on her lips.

She had just missed Catra's sassy attitude. She had missed… all of her if she had to be sincere.

"Try to do that and I'll spray you with water." Glimmer replied, grinning in satisfaction as she saw the feline's mane stand up.

Catra quickly regained her composure and scoffed.

"Seriously though, what about this ball?" Adora asked.

Perfuma cleared her voice.

"I know that Prime is still out there doing who knows what, but I thought that maybe… we could show the Horde soldiers that the Rebellion isn't what they think it is… that we princesses are not the monsters Hordak told them we are. Plus, I think that with everything that happened, we all deserve a night to simply have fun together." The flower princess smiled sweetly.

"They're never going to come Perfuma…" Mermista scoffed and shook her head.

"They will."

Everyone at the table turned towards Catra.

"I mean… I'll tell them that it probably won't suck… it'll be a nice occasion to relax and eat more of your food." The feline explained.

"What else would they come for…" The mermaid princess grumbled under her breath.

"That would be great! I know they'll trust you." Adora placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled encouragingly.

"Uhm… yeah… no problem." Catra mumbled.

Why was she feeling this flustered?

"Ooooh! I know it'll be sooo much fun! Dancing and eating and talking and laughing and… well… maybe not the explosions part. So sorry for that Frosta!" Scorpia chuckled nervously.

"Let's say that you're forgiven… if you help me build the ice statues for this ball!" Frosta crossed her arms, smiling triumphantly as Scorpia nodded enthusiastically, her mouth full.

"Oh! That's going to be so fun!"

Catra rolled her eyes at Scorpia's childish like enthusiasm, but… yeah… it was probably going to be fun.

͠

"As if we'd ever fall for something this ridicule!" A Horde soldier yelled waving a stun baton in the air, making a few waiters step back.

"T-the Queen j-just wanted you t-to have a good breakfast." One of them muttered.

"Ha! We know you've poisoned this food! Look at all those weird colors! Your schemes won't work, rebel scum!"

"Chill out."

The Horde soldier turned towards the source of the voice, ready to give a piece of her mind to whoever dared to talk to her like that. Her scowl however turned into a frightened expression as her eyes landed on Catra.

"A-ah! Lord Catra!" The soldier stuttered.

The feline rolled her eyes at the title.

"Don't call me that, it's just Catra." She told her.

"Uhm… as you wish my l- Catra…" The Horde soldier seemed to have used all of her will power to call the feline by her name.

"See? That wasn't so hard." Catra chuckled before turning towards the massive camp, "Listen to me! These people have brought you food and drinks, enjoy them, there's plenty!"

"B-but what if it's pois-" The soldier stuttered in fear.

She yelped as Catra rolled her eyes and took a plate from the nearest waiter, using a fork to cut a piece cake and eating it, trying not show her delight as the sweetness of it came in contact with her tongue.

"See? It's perfectly fine."

A few soldiers exchanged looks of uncertainty between them before stepping closer to the Bright Moon's waiters.

"Do you… have any tables where we could put down all of these plates?" A waitress asked shily to the soldier standing right next to Catra.

"I… we… ehm… yes, we do have tables, j-just follow me… I guess." The soldier stuttered.

"What's with all the noise?" Lonnie asked, her voice hoarse from sleep, emerging from one of the tents, rubbing her eyes as she reached Catra's side.

"Look at who slept in…" The feline smirked.

"Watch it." Lonnie warned her jokingly before the two shared a laugh. "I just… never liked all those loud noises in the Fright Zone. They'd always wake me up during the night…"

"Light sleeper?" Catra joked.

"Yeah, you could say that. But here? Nothing… just… silence. I woke up when that woman started yelling at the… how did you call that guy with the plates?"

"Waiter." Catra told her, "By the way, they brought breakfast, you should eat everything you can get your hands on, it'll blow your mind away."

"Wow, that good?" Lonnie asked, smirking at Catra's choice of words.

"Y-yeah, you know, it's okay." The feline stuttered.

"Yeah, okay, I'll have some. See you later okay?" Lonnie waved at her and turned to reach for the center of the camp where a few tables had been prepared with every delicacy Bright Moon had to offer.

The Horde soldiers drew closer to the tables, tentatively at first. Only a few of them grabbed a plate at first, nibbling on the strange food. It didn't take long for them to devour it, grabbing other kinds of food and bringing their comrades to try it. In less than an hour, all of the dishes brought to the camp were gone.

Lonnie was one of the last soldiers who left the tables. She patted her stomach and made her way back to Catra, who seemed to be involved in a rather interesting conversation with Kyle and Rogelio, or at least that's what she thought as she noticed the excited expression on the blonde boy's face.

"I think I'm in love with this place's food." Lonnie chuckled.

"Don't tell anyone but… Scorpia's kinda right… Horde's food got nothing on this." Catra smiled back.

"So, what were you smiling about?"

"Oh, Lonnie! Catra was telling us that about a party!" Kyle explained excitedly.

"A… party?" Lonnie asked, clearly confused.

What in the Horde's name was a party?

"Yeah, tell her Catra!" Kyle told the feline, who chuckled and shook her head slightly at the blonde's childish like excitement.

It was nice though…

It reminded her of Adora…

"There will be tons of food, music and you can like… talk, or dance, or whatever." Catra explained nonchalantly.

"Dance?" Lonnie snickered as if the feline had just explained to her the most ridiculous thing in the world.

"Just some stupid thing those dumb rebels do instead of training." The feline grinned smugly, crossing her arms.

"Suuure, I bet I won't catch you dancing with Adora during the party then." The horde soldier smirked.

"Wha-what?! Why would I?!" Catra stuttered, her cheeks slightly flushed, her smug demeanor suddenly crumbling apart.

"Oh, no reason, no reason at all." Lonnie snickered alongside Kyle and Rogelio. "It would be nice though, I'll spread the news and try to get a few people to come."

"Yeah whatever, do what you want." Catra replied casually.

The trio laughed knowingly before waving goodbye. The feline simply scoffed before turning around, heading for the palace. When she reached the gates, she found Adora waiting for her, a hesitant smile on her lips. As soon as Catra's eyes fell on it, suddenly, her stomach began making those weird flips she felt as the two of them laid in each other's arms a few hours before.

It wasn't… unpleasant…

But Catra couldn't understand what it meant… and that made her nervous…

"Hi…" Adora greeted her.

"H-hey…" She stuttered.

"Uhm… Glimmer is starting to plan the ball… I thought that maybe… maybe we could help her. Do you… do you want to?" The blonde asked, showing a strange look that made her eyes look bigger.

"Y-yeah, let's do that." Catra quickly replied, grabbing Adora's hand and dragging her inside the castle.

She sincerely hoped the blonde wouldn't notice the blush on her cheeks.