Chapter 53: The First Ones

"Ca-Seacat!"

"Hey, Adora."

Seacat slid from Swift Wind's back before the horse had touched the ground, jumping a yard down to face her lover.

"You're back!"

And she found herself lifted off her feet and hugged tightly. She-Ra tightly, even though Adora hadn't transformed. Not tight enough so she had trouble breathing, but… "Missed me?"

Her only answer was a deep breath as Adora buried her face in Seacat's mane, which had been freed from her usual ponytail during the flight.

"Bad day?" Seacat whispered.

"The worst. Kind of. No one died, but…" Another sigh.

Damn. Seacat closed her eyes and held on to her lover.

"And I'm back as well. Me, Swift Wind!"

"Welcome back, Swift Wind."

That was Glimmer, standing in the entrance to Light Hope's bunker.

Adora put Seacat down and smiled at Swift Wind. "Thank you. I know we've asked a lot of you…"

"We have a special bond, Adora! I'd do anything for you!"

"And you did. You carried Scorpia from the Fright Zone and back!"

"I would carry the weight of the world for you! Although the princess was quite heavy."

The horse looked… well, if he were a normal horse in the Horde, the quartermasters would size him up for dinner.

"Oh, no!" Adora drew her sword, then hesitated for a moment. Seacat saw her clench her teeth before her lover pointed the sword at Swift Wind, and healing magic shot out of the blade's tip.

"Thank you!" Swift Wind pranced a little.

"We've got some oats Bow gathered," Glimmer said, raising a small bucket.

"Oh, you shouldn't have!" Swift Wind claimed - but he was already sticking his mouth into the bucket even before Glimmer managed to set it down.

Seacat shook her head. "So, what's got you so shaken?"

Adora's faint smile faded. "Light Hope's memories."

"Oh?" Were they so bad? Worse than Seacat had thought?

"Yes," Glimmer replied. "We've looked at more of them, and they were…" She shrugged.

"I saw Mara's death," Adora said, brushing a hand over her eyes.

Mara had been the She-Ra before Adora. Seacat cocked her head, silently waiting for her lover to continue.

"She… she sacrificed herself to save Etheria."

"Ah." That didn't sound good. Not at all. That sounded like… Seacat tried to ignore the lump of ice in her stomach and glared at Adora. "I won't let you do that."

"What?" Adora looked confused.

"I won't let you sacrifice yourself." Seacat scowled at her.

"Oh, for…! Adora doesn't have to sacrifice herself!" Glimmer blurted out.

"She doesn't? Good." Seacat smiled, relieved.

"As long as we keep Scorpia from connecting to the runestone, we should be safe," Glimmer explained.

"She's sending the runestone to you - well, to here," Seacat told them.

"We know. We showed her the memories," Adora said. "It was…" She bit her lower lip. "It was bad."

Seacat hugged her again.

"The First Ones wanted to sacrifice Etheria to win a war against the Horde."

"The Horde? But wasn't that a thousand years ago?" Seacat remembered that part.

"Yes. Not our Horde. Well, in a way, it was. They all looked like Hordak - those we saw, at least. In the memories," Adora went on.

"I've never heard of such a Horde," Seacat said.

"It was on another world. Worlds," Adora told her. "The First Ones and the Horde's. They had wrecked their worlds in the war but still fought on. The destruction wrought…" She shook her head. "Anyway, the First Ones were losing. They made their last stand on Eternia."

"Eternia?"

"A world like Etheria," Glimmer said.

"But the Horde was pressing them. That was when the First Ones apparently discovered Etheria. And the runestone network. And She-Ra." Adora pressed her lips together. "And decided to use all that to defeat the Horde. Even if they had to destroy Etheria to do it."

"They sound worse than the Horde," Seacat commented. To be willing to murder so many people, destroy a world…

Adora flinched, and Glimmer glared at Seacat.

"What?" Seacat asked. They wouldn't disagree, would they?

"They were desperate," Glimmer said. "And…"

"I'm a First One!" Adora blurted out. "I'm from Eternia, not Etheria."

Oh! Seacat felt like a scumbag. "I'm…"

"Mara sacrificed herself to stop the First Ones, and she was a First One herself," Glimmer said, interrupting Seacat with a scowl.

"Yes." Adora nodded. "But this…" She raised her sword. "This is a tool of the First Ones. It's the key to controlling the Heart of Etheria. With this, you can destroy the world. I wasn't chosen to save Etheria - I was chosen to destroy it. To win a thousand-years-old war."

Damn. Adora looked like… well, she looked like she had some stupid idea she thought was all noble and necessary. "So?" Seacat shrugged.

Adora blinked. "What, 'so'? I was chosen to destroy Etheria! I'm a danger to the world!"

"As you were chosen to command the Horde and conquer Etheria for Hordak?" Seacat retorted.

Adora frowned. "That's… that's not the same!"

Seacat stepped forward until she was standing right in front of her lover, staring at her. "It's exactly the same!" she said, crossing her arms. "Someone telling you to do something doesn't mean you have to do it!"

"But…" Adora started to say something dumb, so Seacat cut her off.

"No buts! You didn't obey Shadow Weaver, so why should you obey those First Ones?" She scoffed. "You didn't even know about this, so it's not your fault, either!"

"I've been telling her that," Glimmer said, scowling as well. "She doesn't listen to me."

"She's stubborn," Seacat said, nodding.

"Hey!" Adora frowned at both of them.

"Very stubborn," Glimmer agreed with a sigh. "I hope you can knock some sense into her."

"I'll try my best."

"Hey!"

Seacat shook her head. "It's not your fault! And do you think that the First Ones can force you to do anything? They haven't been seen in a thousand years!"

"I'm a First One! I was summoned here!"

Right. She'd said that. "So?" Seacat repeated herself. "Mara was a First One, too, wasn't she?"

"Yes!"

"And she didn't obey the First Ones, either, right?" Seacat smiled.

"She sacrificed herself to stop them," Adora said, looking grim.

Seacat winced and tried to ignore how Glimmer glared at her. "Right. And she stopped it. And the runestone network is broken. So, even if you wanted to, you couldn't destroy Etheria."

"But I'm a constant danger! All it takes is one princess connecting to the Black Garnet, and I'm destroying the planet!"

"And that's why Scorpia agreed that we'll seal off her runestone so that no one, ever, can connect to it again," Glimmer cut in. "You're safe, Adora," she added in a softer tone.

Seacat nodded in agreement.

Adora shook her head. "I'm not safe. As long as I have the sword, I'm a danger."

Seacat resisted the urge to hit her. Her lover was being really stupid. "We're all a danger," she said. "Entrapta could probably blow up every town on Etheria if she wanted to and had some time to construct her enhanced engine bombs shooting cannon."

"Rockets," Glimmer told them. "She said rockets were a better method for delivering bombs, remember?"

Seacat glared at her. So not the point! She turned back to Adora, reaching out to cup her cheek. "Please… it's not your fault. You're no danger. You're safe. We'll solve this."

"I don't feel safe," Adora replied. But Seacat could feel her leaning into her hand. A little.

"That's why Castapella is here. We'll work this out," Glimmer said. "Together."

Seacat nodded, even though she didn't think she could help with all the magic. But someone had to keep Adora from doing something stupid. "Yes."

And the way Adora smiled, all watery, but still, Seacat felt that she was helping. A little, at least.

"Let's go inside," Glimmer said.

"Is it safe?" Seacat asked. She should've asked that earlier, actually, now that she thought of it.

"Ah… we've, kind of, taken Light Hope apart," Glimmer said.

And Adora looked guilty again. Why would…

"It's not your fault," Seacat told her for the third or fourth time. "The First Ones built her."

"But she was… is a friend. She taught me so much, and now I hear it was all a lie…"

Seacat wondered, briefly, if she could accidentally step on some of Light Hope's parts. "Maybe Entrapta can fix her," she said, forcing herself to smile convincingly.

Adora nodded with another sad smile, though Glimmer rolled her eyes at Seacat behind Adora's back. Couldn't fool them all.

"So, Mystacore finally decided to help us save Etheria?" Seacat asked.

"My aunt came as soon as I asked her for help," Glimmer replied with a frown.

Seacat wanted to ask why Glimmer hadn't asked sooner for help, say at the start of the war, but they had bigger problems than Mystacore's cowardice to solve. "And she can help fix the runestones?"

"She's one of the most skilled sorceresses," Glimmer said. "At least for the magic part, she'll be a big help."

"But this is First One technology," Adora said. "And not even Entrapta understands it very well."

And they were dealing with a magic bomb powerful enough to destroy the planet.

Great.

They reached the main room of the bunker. "There you are! We were starting to worry." A woman in robes with a very faint resemblance to Glimmer greeted them.

"We had to set Adora straight," Glimmer said. "She was being stupid again."

"Hey!" Adora protested, but everyone ignored her.

"Castaspella - this is Seacat. Seacat - this is Castaspella, my aunt."

"The sorceress," Seacat said, nodding at her.

"The sailor," the woman replied with a grin.

"You've heard of me?" Seacat cocked her head to the side.

"Adora told us a lot about you," Castaspella said.

"Ah." Seacat nodded.

"She was worried about you."

Adora looked down. "You were alone in Horde territory."

"With Perfuma," Seacat corrected her.

"I didn't mean like…" Adora bit her lower lip. "I mean, I wasn't worried about some betrayal." Glimmer coughed, and Adora added: "Not much."

Why would she…? Ah! "I was fine," Seacat told her. "Not many dared to bother me."

"'Not many'? Who bothered you?" Adora asked at once.

"Some fresh officer without experience thought I was a deserter or spy. He ran with his tail between his legs when he was told who I am. Did you know they think I'm a princess?" Seacat snorted.

"A princess? You?" Glimmer blinked. "How could they think that?"

Seacat felt a little irked at the obvious surprise. "I impressed them in the war."

"Oh! Of course they would think you're a princess!" Adora said, nodding. "You're a dangerous woman."

"Exactly," Seacat agreed.

"But… you aren't a princess. You don't have magic powers or a country," Glimmer protested.

"The Horde apparently doesn't care about that, only about how many of them you can kill," Seacat explained with a shrug.

"That's actually how the first princesses came to be." Bow stood in the opening to the control room. "Hi, Seacat."

"Hi, Bow." Seacat greeted him. "What was that?"

"Bow!" Glimmer pouted.

He smiled at her but then looked at Seacat. "My dads told me. That's how princesses got started: They had magic powers and could fight better than anyone else. So, they emerged as leaders, collecting followers. And since such powers were hereditary, they established dynasties. This was in the Archaic Period of Etheria."

"Not every princess gathered followers like that," Glimmer objected. "Some built cities for their people. And She-Ra didn't attract followers."

"Why not?" Adora asked.

"She was a roaming princess, righting wrongs and protecting everyone," Glimmer told her.

"And her magic wasn't hereditary," Bow added. "After her death, someone else was chosen by her power as She-Ra. So, she couldn't found a dynasty."

That made sense. Not many would blindly follow a princess just because she had the same power as her predecessor. Although… Seacat blinked. "Wait. When was that?"

"The first tales of princesses date back to about… five thousand years ago," Bow said. "Back in the Archaic Period.

"Were the First Ones around already?"

"No, they came later. At the end of the Age of Starlight." Bow smiled.

"The mythical Age of Starlight." Seacat snorted. "Back when you supposedly could navigate at night as well as you could during the day since the sky was lit by countless small lights." Well, before they figured out the moons' rotations.

"It's a well-established fact." Bow sounded a little vexed. "All the old documents that survived agree that it was real."

"And then someone… extinguished the light?" Seacat was more than a little sceptical.

"Well…" Bow hesitated, then glanced at Adora. Why would he…? Oh, no. "The Age of Starlight ended at the same time, approximately, that Mara died," Bow said. "We're still looking for more information in Light Hope's memory."

"It's fascinating to find first-hand knowledge like this about a period shrouded in myth and mystery." Castaspella smiled. "We might have to rewrite history after this."

"My dads will be both annoyed and ecstatic," Bow smiled as well. "They're historians and have a great collection of First One artefacts."

"They have? Why didn't you mention them before? Hi, Seacat!" Entrapta appeared in the hole in the wall. "We might need their knowledge and collection!"

"It's just murals, broken stuff, and such," Bow said.

"Those could still hold power," Entrpata retorted. "First Ones built things to last!"

"Or they could be magical," Castaspella added. "Many powerful items look harmless or even useless.

"Well, I can see what I can do," Bow said. He was looking quite… not shifty, but uncomfortable.

"Bow? Is something wrong with your family?" Glimmer asked.

"What? No, nothing's wrong," Bow replied. "My dads just have different views of a few things."

"'Different views'?" Adora looked interested.

"Nothing important right now," Bow deflected, "We need to focus on Light Hope and the Heart of Etheria."

"Yes," Castaspella agreed. "This takes priority."

"So… these are Light Hope's memories?" Seacat asked, looking at a shelf full of crystals in the control room.

"Yes!" Entrapta nodded several times. "Well, they are recordings - which are sort of memories, only we can copy them and watch them, which we can't with memories. A few are damaged, actually - I haven't figured out yet how, they don't seem to have suffered physical damage, but these crystals are different from the ones I am used to, so… perhaps they decay with age, and Light Hope had no backups, or those decayed as well." She shrugged. "We've got so many things to research!"

Seacat grimaced. "Like the Heart of Etheria threatening to blow up the planet?"

"Yes, that too." Entrapta smiled. "Once we have the Black Garnet here, we'll be able to compare it to runestones with a working connection. That should give us more data!"

"Uh…" Seacat bit her lower lip - lightly. "Shouldn't we bury the Black Garnet as deep as possible so no one will be able to find it and bond with it?" At least that seemed obvious to her.

"Wellllll…." Entrapta pouted. "I guess we could do that, but we wouldn't be able to examine it in that case. And we can't solve a problem without the right data. And we can't get data without doing research - examining things. Like the runestone."

"I offered to seal off my sword," Adora cut in. "But Entrapta and Castaspella said that that wouldn't help."

"Don't you need it to transform?" Seacat asked.

"The war's over. It wouldn't be a big loss." Adora shrugged, but Seacat could tell that she was faking it.

"And people will still get hurt in peacetime," Seacat pointed out.

"I can still fight," Adora said. "Like you, I don't need magic to fight."

Seacat nodded. Adora didn't have claws, though she was a little stronger even when she wasn't a head taller than Seacat. "But magic helps. And you can heal with the sword."

Adora pressed her lips together. "Yes." She looked away.

Seacat cocked her head to the side. "What's wrong?"

"It feels wrong to use the sword."

"Oh?" Entrapta moved to Adora's side, peering at the sword's scabbard on her back. "How so? Does the magic feel different? Do you feel nauseous? Or is the magic harder to control?"

Adora took a step back. "No! I mean… it works like before. I just…" She sighed. "Knowing that this was meant to control a weapon that will destroy Etheria… It feels bad."

"Oh." Entrapta nodded. Then she closed her mouth and shook her head. "I don't get it!"

"What?" Adora looked confused. Seacat felt confused as well.

"The sword is just a tool," Entrapta told them. "Like a wrench. Or my recorder. Sure, I could hit someone on the head with my wrench, but that's on me."

"But a wrench wasn't made to kill people," Seacat pointed out.

"No. A sword was, though - and you can use a sword to cut trees, as you told me!" Entrapta beamed at her. "Actually, that's a great example. The sword I made for you was made to kill, and could even explode if you pushed the right buttons, but you could use it to cut wood and repair things!" She nodded enthusiastically at Adora. "Like your sword can be used to blow up the planet, stab people - or heal them! See?"

Adora blinked. "Oh. I didn't think of it like that." She smiled. "Thank you, Entrapta!"

"No problem!" The princess beamed. "Now we just need to figure out whether or not the sword has a failsafe mechanism that will detonate the planet if it's not countered."

Adora froze.

"What?"

Seacat found her outside, sitting on a rock, chin resting on one knee. "Hey, Adora."

Her lover sighed and looked over her shoulder. "Ca-Seacat."

She walked over. "I didn't think I would be of much use in there," Seacat explained. "I'm not a Techmaster." Or a princess, like Glimmer.

"Me neither," Adora said, sighing again.

"Scoot over," Seacat told her. "I want to sit down as well."

Adora glanced at her. "But… the rock's barely big enough for me!"

"So?"

Her lover blinked, then suddenly grinned and reached out to Seacat. A moment later, she was sitting in Adora's lap.

Seacat snorted as she shifted around to get more comfortable. "Feeling better?"

Adora hesitated. Which told Seacat enough. "It's not your fault. And you won't destroy Etheria."

"I know!" Adora replied. "But I could. If Scorpia connected to her runestone, at least." She shook her head. "And I don't know if I could stop it. They're still examining the whole thing."

"Well, we stopped the whole plan," Seacat said. "With the garnet secure, Scorpia can't connect to it."

"We think we stopped it. We don't know anything about the network."

"We'll find out. Entrapta is good at that stuff."

"Yes." Adora closed her eyes. "I still feel bad."

"Don't."

"I can't help it."

Seacat clenched her teeth for a moment, then forced herself to relax. "Well, I can do something about that."

"What?" Adora looked down at her. Perfect.

Seacat grabbed her head and pulled her in for a kiss.

"Did you have to throw my undershirt away?" Adora complained a little later.

"It was in the way," Seacat told her as she was putting her own shirt back on. "Be glad I didn't just rip it off." Which she would've done if they had been in their quarters, where getting a replacement shirt was easy, instead of outside of Light Hope's bunker.

Adora huffed but kept looking for her top. Which, Seacat knew, had landed on a branch. But her lover didn't seem to think of looking up. Smirking, she asked: "You forgot all about jungle and forest patrol training, did you?"

Adora stopped and turned towards her. "Patrol training? Oh!" She pouted, then looked up. "Why did you throw it so high?"

"I wasn't really looking or caring," Seacat replied as she pulled her leggings on.

Adora sighed, then looked up again. "Can you get it down?"

"It's your top," Seacat said.

"You put it up there!"

"Which means you should get it down," Seacat told her. Adora pouted in response, and she snorted. "Alright, I'll get it."

Scaling the tree wasn't a big deal. Or any deal at all. Her claws easily carried her up, and she grabbed the top and jumped down, landing lightly next to her lover. "Here!" she held it out to Adora. "Though I think I like how you look with just your jacket on."

That had Adora blushing nicely. "Well, I…"

"Mara dearie?"

"Madame Razz?"

There was the old woman, smiling at them. No, at Adora. "Mara dearie! Did you visit the ghost?"

"The ghost?" Adora didn't seem to know what Razz was talking about.

"The mean ghost," the old woman said.

"Light Hope? The bot?" Seacat cocked her head.

"The ghost, yes. She's mean, Mara dearie."

"She's currently… asleep," Seacat said. Cut off from power, Entrapta had explained, but she would be back if anyone reconnected the power.

"Ghosts don't sleep. They wait."

"Well, she can't talk right now. She's… Her memories were damaged, and we're fixing her. My friends, that is," Adora explained.

"Why would you repair her? You broke her," the woman told them.

"I did?" Adora blinked.

"Yes, Mara. Did you forget? You broke her before you left."

"Not you, Mara," Seacat whispered.

"Mara broke Light Hope?"

"You did, yes. When you found out about the magic." The old woman nodded, her head almost hitting the shaft of her broom.

"The magic?"

"Of course the magic! Everything is magic, Mara dearie. I told you that the magic's in you, didn't I?"

"What magic?"

"Etheria's magic. I told you when I found you; don't you remember?"

"Uh…"

"Mara dearie, are you confused?"

If anyone was confused, then it was the old woman, in Seacat's opinion.

"I'll bake you a pie. You will remember." The woman walked past them. "I just need berries…" She walked around a tree.

"Madame Razz!" Adora went after her, then stopped. "Madame Razz?"

Seacat joined her. The old woman had disappeared. No trace of her.

She cursed under her breath. "Did you understand any of that?"

"Uh…."

Seacat snorted. "That's what I thought."

"Hey! Did you understand her?"

"She's your friend, not mine," Seacat told her.

"But…" Adora trailed off and sighed. "Let's go tell the others."

"Tell them what?"

"That my predecessor broke Light Hope before she left."

"And that's important how?" Seacat asked.

"The damage was done deliberately? By She-Ra? Fascinating!" Entrapta smiled at them.

"That's what the old woman said," Seacat told her. "We don't know if it's true. She isn't fully… you know."

"She isn't fully what?" Entrapta asked.

Seacat bit her lower lip. "She is often confused about Mara and Adora."

"Oh. So, her memory is faulty, too?"

"I don't think it's faulty," Adora retorted. "It's more like… She mixes up the time. Times."

"And you think she actually met Mara a thousand years ago?" Glimmer didn't try to hide that she doubted that claim.

"Madame Razz is one of the oldest people of Etheria," Castaspella told her. "Though she is…"

"Yes," Seacat said, nodding.

"Well, it would fit with what we found out - the control unit was sabotaged," Entrapta said. "That affected her memory banks. But there are signs of repair attempts. Light Hope had limited self-repair capacity, but she couldn't quite repair the damage. And she was cannibalising herself to get the parts."

"Cannibalising?" Adora looked a little sick.

"She used parts of her other parts to repair her core parts," Entrapta explained. "There probably is a priority list, what can be sacrificed to keep the unit able to pursue her prime objective."

"Which is Etheria's destruction," Seacat reminded the others.

"They actually want to destroy another planet; Etheria's destruction is mostly a side effect," Entrapta corrected her. "Oh! We also found out more about the Heart of Etheria. It's the central node for the network."

"It has long been speculated that there is another runestone, lost or hidden. It seems this isn't the case," Castaspella added. "But there is something in this place."

"And we're going to find it!" Entrapta cheered.

A little later, Entrapta, Bow and Castaspella were back trying to make sense of the bot's parts, and Glimmer had teleported back to Bright Moon to inform Queen Angella of the recent developments. Hopefully before she heard the news about the latest agreement with the Horde from someone else.

Well, that was Glimmer's problem, not Seacat's. Her problem was Adora, who was standing next to her, leaning against the wall and staring at the others. And probably feeling guilty that she wasn't some tech expert who could help them.

"So… Mara foiled the First One's plot," Seacat said, glancing at Adora.

"Yes." Adora nodded without taking her eyes off Entrapta.

Seacat pressed her lips together for a moment. Sometimes, Adora really was an idiot. "So, she wasn't a tool of the First Ones."

"But…" Adora trailed off and pouted at her.

Seacat grinned in return. "It wasn't her destiny. She deserted - like you did from the Horde."

"And she died," Adora retorted.

Damn. "We don't know how she died," Seacat pointed out. Not yet, at least. "But we already have Light Hope dismantled. And we have the runestone network… missing a runestone."

Adora snorted but at once grew serious again. "We don't know if that's enough."

"Nothing happened for a thousand years," Seacat said.

"There was no She-Ra for a thousand years." Adora glanced at the heft of her sword. "The sword wasn't… being used."

"But the runestone network was together," Seacat countered.

"Was it?"

"Hordak arrived what, twenty years ago? I don't think Scorpia's family left the Black Garnet untouched since Mara." Although, now that she thought of it, maybe they should've asked the bug princess about that.

"They didn't," Adora confirmed. So, they had talked about it. "But…" She shook her head. "We can't rely on assumptions. This is too dangerous."

"That's why we're going through everything in Light Hope's memory," Seacat reminded her. After a moment, she sighed. "And none expects you to help with that."

"I should've studied more."

She suppressed another sigh. "Do you really think the Horde or Shadow Weaver would've let you study First One technology? You were on the command track."

"I could've insisted. Or studied in my free time."

Seacat blinked. Then scowled and reached over to hit Adora on the back of her head.

"Ouch! Hey!"

"Stop being an idiot!" Seacat spat. "Not everything is your fault - or your duty! No one expects you to do everything and know everything. Other than you, you idiot, and you don't count since you're an idiot."

"Hey!"

"Do you see me feeling guilty that I'm the best sailor around and can't make heads or tails of a bot? No! Because that's fine - others can do it. Much better than I could. Or you."

"I'm fluent in the First One language," Adora told her.

"Then you can translate when needed. Perfect!"

"But I should…"

"No!" Seacat shook her head and stepped into Adora's face. "You shouldn't - you just want to do more."

"Etheria's at stake!"

Were those tears in her eyes? Seacat suppressed the sudden guilt she felt. "Yes. And that's why we're letting the experts work on it. You're an officer! Didn't you learn that in a storm, you have to command, not do everything on deck?"

"Yes, but… I'm also She-Ra."

"She-Ra, who fights better than anyone else and can heal wounds that would kill people."

"Yes!"

Seacat inclined her head and waited.

"I mean… Yes, She-Ra can do that, but that doesn't mean it's all I can do. I learned how to command, after all, before I became She-Ra."

"Yes, you did. And how long did it take you?" Seacat shook her head again.

"That depends on what you consider the first lesson - but I wasn't working full-time on it. We also had basic training and all sorts of other lessons!" Adora protested.

"And you want to spend all your time on this now?" Seacat glared at her, and Adora tried to take a step back but hit the wall.

"Ah… I mean… not all my time!"

That wasn't good enough. "So you say. And what if someone needs healing? Or someone makes a mistake, and bandits escape?" Seacat took a half-step forward, looking at Adora while their chests touched. "What about me?"

"Of course I'd heal you!"

Seacat closed her eyes. "Not the point. You can't sacrifice your entire life serving others. You deserve to live your life, too. You deserve to be happy without feeling guilty for not working every damn day as She-Ra!"

Adora stared at her with her mouth half-open. "But…"

"No buts or I drag you out on a voyage without stopping until we've rounded Westcape!" Seacat put her hands on her hips. "You're a free woman, Adora, not a slave. You deserve to be Adora, not just She-Ra!" Why couldn't she see that?

"I know!" Adora protested. "But…"

"I said 'no buts'!" She glared at her lover. "You deserve to love and be loved - no matter if you're She-Ra or Adora or an idiot."

"Hey!"

Seacat lowered her head and glared at her.

Adora fidgeted. "I just… it feels… I don't know."

"Well, I know. And since you don't know, listen to someone who does!"

They stared at each other for a moment. Then Seacat reached out, grabbed Adora's head with both hands and kissed her. Hard. "You deserve this," she whispered. "And I'll keep repeating it until you accept it."

Glimmer appeared in a shower of sparkles in the middle of the main room. Seacat didn't startle. But she glared at the princess barging in like that.

"Oh, stop it!" Glimmer told her. "You should've known better than to do things in the forest next to the bunker!"

"That's not the point," Seacat retorted. And the forest had been perfectly fine for that - Seacat could've heard anyone approaching before they stumbled upon them. Unless, of course, they teleported in.

"Glimmer?" Adora appeared in the hole leading to the control room. "You're back!"

"Yes. And I've got news. Scorpia's arriving with the runestone."

"Already?" Adora cocked her head sideways. "It's only been three days."

"Well, if the entire world is in danger, people, even Horde scum, tend to move fast," Glimmer told her.

Seacat nodded. "It's still impressive for overland travel of such a huge cargo - digging it out would have taken a while, too."

"They rigged together a sort of platform on two skiffs," Glimmer explained.

Seacat blinked. "That worked?"

"Apparently, barely." Glimmer shrugged. "Didn't look like they could manage to carry anything else other than the pilot, though."

"Still impressive," Seacat said. Entrapta might be interested in improving the idea.

"So, how are things going here?" Glimmer asked.

"I've just finished translating a document," Adora said. "But it was a bust. Unless the Heart of Etheria is related to cooking recipes. Bow liked them, though."

*Cooking recipes?" Glimmer blinked.

"Apparently, Light Hope also served as some sort of… archive." Adora shrugged. "There's lots of stuff there that's perfectly normal. Clothes, music."

"Why would they do that?" Seacat asked.

"Perhaps Mara felt homesick?" Glimmer suggested.

"Bow thinks it might've been an attempt to preserve their culture, should everything else fail," Adora said. "Before they realised Etheria had the power to destroy their enemy."

She didn't seem to care much about it, Seacat realised.

"That's great!" Glimmer said, beaming at her. "You can learn all about your home!"

Adora frowned instead of being pleased, though. "I don't want to! The First Ones wanted to destroy Etheria!"

Seacat pressed lips together. It wasn't as if it mattered - she was Seacat, and she was happy - but Adora shouldn't dismiss the opportunity to learn about her home like that. Seacat knew what wondering about our past felt like. Though she also knew what finding out that you were raised in the Horde felt like. "Well, recipes won't be making anyone destroy the world," she said.

"Yes," Glimmer agreed. "They could be great."

Adora still looked unconvinced. "We might not even have the ingredients - I can read the names, but I don't know what they mean."

"Oh." Glimmer actually looked disappointed.

Seacat shook her head. "Anyway, where do we store the Black Garnet?"

"In Bright Moon," Glimmer replied. "It's safer there than here."

And no matter how dismantled Light Hope was, Seacat didn't want the runestone near it. Nor did she want more people to know about this bunker. And they would have to tell more people if they had to transport the runestone here.

"Entrapta and Castaspella might need to examine it," Adora pointed out.

"I can teleport them back and forth as needed," Glimmer replied. "And we can always move the runestone here if we have to." She frowned. "Though the political implications are… divided."

"Oh?" Seacat raised her eyebrows at the princess.

"Some - Frosta and Mermista, for example - like that we took the runestone from the Horde," Glimmer explained. "Others are a little concerned about what seems to be, in their eyes, at least, a grab for more power by Bright Moon."

"Really?" Adora shook her head.

"Well, we can't tell them the real reason we need the runestone secured," Glimmer told her. "Imagine the panic!"

Adora winced, and Seacat nodded. People would go crazy.

"So, we have to ride this out. Mom's on it, anyway."

"And we can work in peace," Adora said.

Seacat nodded in agreement.

"So… we have good news and bad news," Entrapta said.

"Oh?" Seacat looked up from yet another picture of First One architecture. Too bad they hadn't found ship designs so far - she had seen more pictures of food and clothes and buildings than she liked over the last few days. Then she frowned. Entrapta looked… like she had to announce that her calculations had been wrong. And Bow and Castaspella were with her, both looking serious.

"Yes." Entrapta nodded. "So, the good news first: We are pretty sure that we've found a way to disarm the Heart of Etheria."

"You have?" Adora gasped.

"Yes. And without destroying the sword. I think. Not sure about that, but I don't see a reason to destroy the trigger if we can disarm the chamber, so to speak." Entrapta shrugged.

Seacat could see a reason - when your entire world was in danger, you better be thorough in dismantling the threat. Then again, sacrificing the sword might do more harm than good.

"Anyway, that's the good news. The bad news is that, uh, we might not have as much time to do this as we thought," Entrapta went on.

Castaspella nodded. "We've analysed the runestone network. The magic has been building up over hundreds of years, and unless it's safely discharged under controlled conditions, it might overload the network. With catastrophic results."

"Boom!" Entrapta mimed an explosion while Bow nodded.

Seacat stared at them. This was… this was…

"How much time do we have?" Adora asked in a clipped tone.

"Oh… we don't know exactly," Entrapta said. "It's hard to estimate since our data is incomplete, and magic is kinda fuzzy."

"We merely lack the arcane theories to precisely judge the build-up." Castaspella frowned at Entrapta. "Magic isn't fuzzy."

"Compared to technology, it is!"

"Can we focus on the fact that we're about to be blown up?" Glimmer asked. "Instead of magical theories?"

"How do we stop this?" Adora stood. "We can stop it, you said."

"Yes. That's the good and maybe not so good news," Entrapta replied. "We kind of need to reach the Heart of Etheria directly."

"I thought it's in the middle of the planet," Seacat said.

"It is - but the First Ones built a control station to access it."

"Access it?" Adora stared at the princess. "You mean we have to climb down a stairway?"

"No. Well, perhaps there are stairs, but it's not a physical access to the planet's core - the control unit for the Heart of Etheria is in that station," Entrapta explained.

"Why isn't it here?" Adora asked. "Light Hope is here."

"I don't know. Security?" Entrapta shrugged. "But the control unit is there. Probably guarded by another bot. Unless Mara managed to destroy those before she died."

"That's where Mara died?" Seacat asked, glancing at Adora.

"As far as we know," Bow said.

And Adora was straightening. No doubt, she was imagining a noble sacrifice. "I'm going with you all the way," Seacat whispered. "Wherever that is."

Adora gaped at her, but before her lover could say anything, Entrapta went on: "So… we have the location of the access point. But it doesn't match anything on our maps."

"Where is it?" Seacat asked.

"In the middle of the Southern Sea," Entrapta told her. "It's supposed to be an island, but there's no island on the map."

The middle of the Southern Sea? Seacat blinked. That sounded like… but that was just a sailor's tale, wasn't it?

Adora shook her head. "That has to be... Beast Island."