Adora watched in silence as Catra talked to her 'father' before nodding and walking over to the war table and picking up a dagger. She smirked as she raised her hand and plunged the dagger into the map on the war table, right next to a wooden figurine that had been carved to resemble a deer with serrated antlers. She turned towards them and approached. "It's decided, our first target is the Sawhorn Tribe, so we're going to the guest house to speak with their current king's brother, come on." She walked past them and they turned to follow. The moment they stepped outside Catra spoke up. "Hey, Arrow-Boy."
Bow flinched as if he had been stabbed and let out a gulp. "Y-yeah?"
"How come you haven't said a single word since we meat up in Vinterhvete? You were pretty chatty at the Prom." The moment the final word left her mouth she screwed her mouth shut like she had eaten something extremely sour. Adora smirked, she figured that Catra had been putting on an act when she was at the Prom.
"I... I just don't want to offend anyone." Catra turned and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Bow flinched again and let out a sigh. "Look, I'll be honest, I'm kind of terrified of you and the Northern tribes in general."
Adora blinked and looked her her friend. "Wait, why would you be so terrified of the Northern Tribes? I mean besides those raiders, everyone has been really nice."
"Well... My family is kind of full of historians and one of my older sisters came here and studied the traditions of the Northern Tribes for a few years. When she came back she started out by telling us about the religious practices and the animal sacrifices, then she went on to the war practices and they were brutal... Then she told us that she had seen a method of execution called a-" Catra's features suddenly softened and she walked up to Bow and put a hand on his shoulder.
"The Blood Eagle?" Bow flinched and nodded. "You're worried that if you insult my father on accident he'll do that to you? Well don't, it's a method of execution that he despises, and even then, it's typically only done to enemy leaders. I've only seen my father allow it once, and trust me, the man it happened to deserved it." Catra got a far off, haunted look in her eyes as she turned away and continued to lead them toward the guest house.
The look in the catgirl's eyes had Adora worried and she reached out and touched her shoulder. "Catra? Are you ok? Do- Do you want to talk about it?"
"Adora, listen to me, all you need to know is that the Blood Eagle is an extremely cruel and brutal way to kill someone and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy." Catra turned lightly and looked at Adora. "Not even Shadow Weaver deserves that. I'll go as far as to say even Hordak doesn't deserve it." The group remained silent for the rest of the walk to the guest house, and when they arrived, they were almost instantly greeted by the man in green robes that had been talking to King Harald earlier.
"Ah, I expected that King Harald would be sending someone soon, but not this soon, and his daughter no less, come in, come in." He motioned for them to enter but Catra held out her hand to block them.
"Jarl Fayyaad, I mean no offense by refusing to accept your invitation, but now is not the time." The man frowned, but nodded.
"I understand, I assume you wish to know if I have any insight on how to weaken my brothers forces?" Catra nodded and Fayyaad stepped outside, closing the door behind him. "There are four ways I can think of and you have already accomplished one by killing Hillevi." He turned and looked at some mountains in the distance. "There is a pass in those mountains where my brother uses thralls to gather the iron used in the production of armor and weapons. If you killed the guards and freed the thralls, there is no doubt that they would gladly join us in the fight against him. Not only that, but I have scouts with explosives in the area, while you are there you could destroy the mines and weapons that have already been made."
"Or we could take the weapons and armor, supplying our own soldiers with his gear, and possibly allowing them to infiltrate the fortress your argr brother likes to hide in." Fayyaad laughed and Adora made a mental note to ask Catra what 'argr' meant.
"I like the way you think, now onto the other ways to weaken my brother." He turned his gaze slightly to the left and pointed at a far off village that they could barely see. "That is Spydpunkt, led by Jarl Geir, most of my brother's warriors only fight for him because Geir does, so if he were to die, or better yet, desert, my brother would lose the bulk of his forces. And finally, my granddaughter has been tracking the movement of supplies such as medicine and food for months, she's bound to know where you could find the stockpiles, either to steal or destroy. Her name is Dagny Mouse-Hawk, you should be able to find her in Jaggetfuru." He looked at Catra, who looked back with a smirk.
"You've been planning to overthrow your brother for a while."
Fayyaad nodded. "I have, the crown of the Sawhorn Tribe is only worn by my brother because he was born first. He is cowardly, greedy and prone to violence when he does not get his way, he is a boy in the body of a man, unfit to rule."
Catra nodded back and looked at Adora as she turned away. "Then we'll have to help pass the crown to someone who is fit."