Catra swung from a rope, jumped on a mast, the smaller one, and climbed up one of the firmer ropes. She still didn't like the ocean, she even got sea sick sometimes, but when she was exercising it was usually fine.

Bellow her the crew got ready as they headed into port. They had another good haul this time around, lots of money to spend and lots of supplies to sell. Kyle steered them in. He wasn't the best helmsman, but on open seas or familiar waters like this it was his job since he wasn't much use otherwise.

Catra jumped down, grabbed a rope mid fall, and swung slightly while looking down. Lonnie was divvying up the tasks to the rest of the crew, Skorpia and Rogelio where strong so they'd work on unloading crates, that was really the biggest thing and most of the crew would help them with it. The more tiered members of the crew would go to their usual buyers, see if anybody was interested in the plunder, and Catra herself, as well as Goatine, would take a look around town to make sure they where still welcome.

That was so stupid. This was their home, and they still had to check that of all things.

They pulled up the sails and Catra dropped down, headed out into the Fright Zone port. It was a boring town now, used to be that she and Adora would do all sorts of things they weren't supposed to do, sneak places they weren't supposed to be, take things they weren't supposed to have... They'd get in trouble sometimes, but the trill of the risk was what made it fun.

Then Adora had left her and... And she wasn't going to dwell on it.

"...Hord skum." She usually didn't pay attention to what people said, they rarely had much of interest to add anyways, but those words always caught her attention, it was how she gauged if they where welcome or not. From the way they dressed they where from Bright Moon, Sparkles' people. Merchants probably.

Most Etherians had an aversion to the area, but even among them the people of Bright Moon where the worst, they where too stuck in their ways, couldn't let go of the past.

Catra on the other hand, could, and did. She had ruthlessly climbed the Horde ranks, until she hit the glass ceiling, and when the collapse happened she had gotten out, stolen a vessel and become a pirate. Never once had she looked back, considered what ifs, or tried to make things the way they used to be, it wouldn't work anyways... With the exception of Adora related things. But she was working on that.

As she moved about people recognized her, many sneered, one or two talked behind her back, but it wasn't any worse than usual. That meant they could stay a couple nights before heading out again without running into any major issues.

She made her way back to the docks, to her ship, and on the way noted that Sea Hawk's boat was docked. Some of her crew liked him, others didn't, no-one lacked an opinion on him.

"We unload it all?" Catra asked Lonnie. The crates where piling up, taking most of the space that came with the dock space.

"Just about, and we've got Robert and Cassandra coming by soon to check it out."

Robert dealt in cloths and clothes, he didn't pay them quite as much as he could have, but he still payed them good money. He was trustworthy too, always payed what he said he would, never tried to swindle them.

Cassandra dealt more in clothes than cloth, and her prices fluctuated more. It would be good to hear Roberts prices on things before selling them to Cassandra so they didn't make a big mistake, but conversely Cassandra could pay out a lot more than him at times.

"What about the others?" They had mostly had cloth to sell, since that had been the designated product of the transport vessel, but they also had some valuables, mostly from the captains quarters, and some spices they'd need to sell.

"Glenn is out of town, should be back tomorrow, and the chefs guild is sending someone later in the evening."

"What about Ada?" She and Glenn where their go to valuables merchants, both payed their dues, though they had tried to pay way less than the items where worth before.

"She'll be here tomorrow, can't trust them on their own."

"We should bring in some others, just to be sure. Maybe ask Sea Hawk if he knows somebody."

"Uuugh, that guy's here?" Lonnie was one of the people who hated him, same as Catra.

"Saw his boat. I'll ask Scorpia to talk to him."

"Thanks."

"So who's guarding the loot while the rest enjoy the evening?" They usually drew lots for that task, and even she and Lonnie where in the bunch, heck, even Kyle was there since drawing his name meant Rogelio would be there too. The only person excluded was Entrapta, since their shipwright/surgeon was too easily distracted.

"We could put it in storage, got a decent deal on it actually, since it's such a small number of crates, just 13 silver," Lonnie suggested.

"Alright then, put them in storage. When will we need to be back for the spice sale?" When Catra was in charge of the Fright Zone she had gotten good at managing paperwork and the sort of administrational work Lonnie did for them, but Lonnie was good with it too so Catra only double checked the important stuff to make sure she didn't skim of the top. That included being present for every sale, and remembering the number of crates they had stolen of any given product.

"Seven."

With that Lonnie had shared all important news, so Catra made her way over to Scorpia, who was still unloading crates. She still had to ask about more people interested in their valuables. Not that they'd actually sell to someone untrusted unless they got their money right then and there, but it helped with gauging prices.

After they sold the cloth and clothes Catra went for a run, first through the city, trespassing slightly just for fun, and then in the woods.

When she was tiered enough she took a nap in a tree before heading back to sell the spices.

Chefs guild was really the only option there, as individual businesses only needed small amounts other than spice stores which needed regular shipments. Plus, these where probably rare spices in Etheria coming from some other continent the empire had colonized, no small business would know what to do with them.

After the sale was done, they got a big sum from just the spices alone, she went to The Hidden Mushroom. Her crew was spread out in taverns bars and pubs all over town, some maybe even in a nearby village, but that one was where she used to spend her evenings with Entrapta and Scorpia, so she was fairly certain she'd find them there.

When she opened the door the smell of sweat, Green-root meed, the cheapest of the local alcoholics, and garlic hit her. The garlic, wasn't really used much in their cooking, but was there to mask the sweat.

The floor, made of varnished wood, felt dirty, slightly wet, and in parts the varnish was getting worn thin. She passed some round tables, some a few filled with her crew, others, most, with other sea-men and ocean folk.

It didn't take long to notice Skorpia dancing on a table with Sea Hawk, singing a shanty, but Entrapta wasn't there. She looked around for her purple haired friend, finding her a short distance away, sipping on a small drink.

She sat down with next to Entrapta.

"You look tiered. Have a tiny drink!"

"Thanks, Entrapta, but I think I'll have a big one." Catra reached her hand up, catching the attention of the serving girl. "I don't know why I'm tiered. It's not like it was a particularly stressful or hard day today. Don't really get those anymore, come to think about it." The girl delivered a big glass of Green-root, her usual order.

"No... Maybe it's about being back here!"

"What?"

"You know, in Etheria." Entrapta looked unsure, tilting her head slightly. "I don't think you like it here."

"Why wouldn't I? This is where we're from, we're Etherians regardless of what people here call us."

"Yeah, but still. I think that's why you didn't try to take over the Fright Zone after the empire fell. You could have become the princess of the Fright Zone!"

"Princesses have magic powers, I don't." Catra reminded Entrapta.

"Yeah. Lord then, like Hordak!"

"Yeah, there'd be a fifty percent chance of revolt within a weeks time."

"Not really, we didn't rely on the rest of the empire for any resources and you could have probably kept most of the army loyal long enough make peace with the kingdoms.

"You're a good leader, Catra. That's why so many decided to follow you even after everything that went down." The complement was... She didn't expect Entrapta to have a very good opinion of her as a leader. They where friends, but she'd messed up way to much for that sort of faith in her to be justified.

"Maybe. I don't think it's an option now, though. They tolerate us for a while, but if we try to stay for good we'd get arrested. And I don't mean we as in the crew, just you, me, and maybe Scopia. I was Hordak's second in command, basically ran the whole colonies, you betrayed them when you joined us, and Scorpia was a fairly high ranking official too."

"Yeah, but that's fine, right! We'll always have each other, and more people are always joining us! You said it yourself a while back, we're building a pirate fleet, so even if half the crew quits we could probably get some more crew members from the other ships." Entrapta said, and she was right, their fleet was big enough for that...

"Don't you think you'll want to retire someday?" Catra felt something, she wasn't sure why it mattered to her, but none of the things she said quite hit the nail on the head.

"Do you?"

"I don't know." Catra kicked the floor under the table. "It's just... even with all the pirate stuff we're doing, with all the fun we're having, there isn't really any sense of progression. I think that's why I kept climbing the ranks. I didn't want to stagnate so when I became Hordaks second in command, I pushed harder, usurped him, went to Horde Primes personal ship, tried to climb the ranks there."

"But that didn't work, so what did you do then?" Entrapta asked.

"Nothing." She sighed. "Just a while later Adora killed him and I stole his ship, renamed it 'lord pirmadonna'."

"What was it called before?"

" 'Lord Prime's ship'. They weren't very good with names in Horde central."

"I see." Entrapta stressed the word, dragging it out. "Well. You should do something to distract yourself while you're here. Maybe ask some girl out, that could work."

'Ask some girl out'? Her mind went to Adora.

"What?" Catra herd the venom in her voice, but it wasn't directed at Entrapta, per se.

"A one night stand. My research suggests a lot of people use it to distract themselves. Quite effectively too."

Scopia joined them. "What are we talking about, distracting who from what?"

"Catra from being here, so close to where Adora lives." Entrapta said.

"This is not about her!"

"Yeah." Scorpia paused meaningfully. "We can definitely see that."

Catra looked around, not wanting to keep talking about that particular subject. Ever. She noticed a few people she hadn't seen before, including that water princess, who was with Sea Hawk, and Huntara, who was talking with Goatine, her former subordinate.

"I'll go say hi to Huntara." She abruptly stood up from her chair.

"Okay! Say hi from me too!" Scorpia said.

"And think about that one night stand thing!" Entrapta called out behind her, a few people reacted to that, her crew mates might tease her about it later.

Goatine snickered as she approached.

"What's that about a one night stand?"

Catra waved her off, "Entraptas idea of how to have some fun while we're here." She turned to Huntara. "So how're the Wastes treating you? Still as chaotic as I remember them?"

"Oh, definitely. After the Horde left, and we made it clear to the kingdoms that we like it that way, things went back to normal." Catra sat down next to her. "So how's pirate life treating our water fearing kitty?"

"Hey I'm not afraid of water!"

"Oh really, so if I order a glass and throw it your way..."

"You'd regret it, but I'm still not afraid."

"If you say so, kitty." Huntara smirked at her.

"So if we're avoiding actual names, what should I call you? Purple giant? Spear girl? Brute?

"I'm partial to purple giant, but any of them work."

"Then how about Reject leader? Left behind? ...Second choice?" Huntara took offense, but none of the names hit too close to home for her, not that Catra had been trying very hard at it.

"If you're itching for an early grave you can keep it up, pirate kitty."

"Why don't you step outside, see why half your crew joined my pirates."

"Sure, kitty cat, I'll bite." Both stood up, both chugged the remainder of their drinks, and they stepped out together, or well, Huntara was too wide to fit through the door at the same time as Catra, but she was just one step behind.

The reasoning behind the fight was contrived, an excuse more than anything, but that didn't really matter. They walked away from each other, backs turned, when Catra heard a suspicious sound behind her. Just a scuff on the ground, the same sound you'd expect to hear when people walk, but it was too close, closer than the last sound.

She ducked, gracefully avoiding Huntara's punch, and spun around with a low kick that Huntara dodged by stepping back.

This first exchange was as far from serious as possible. Catra could have dodged that straight jab by stepping to either side or launching forward, just as easily as by ducking, and her own kick was slow enough that Huntara wouldn't do more than stumble if it hit. But nonetheless the exchange served it's purpose, the fight had been initiated and both parties where moving.

Huntara swung heavy blows, while Catra flitted about, not within range to do much herself other than dodge. She could use her claws but...

Huntara charged at her and Catra jumped to the side, on a wall then over Huntara as she turned the way Catra had jumped.

She kicked the back of Huntara's right knee. As she toppled, Huntara used her left leg to jump backwards, the resulting motion being that she slammed her full body weight on top of Catra as they both went down.

The air went out of her lungs as close to a hundred Kilos of muscles landed on her, compressing her longs, fracturing a rib or two, it was a heavy blow she'd probably feel the next morning, and Catra almost retaliated with her claws, before she thought better of it.

Huntara was fighting unarmed, and she usually wouldn't count her claws as weapons, but they where friends so she'd give the bigger girl a handicap to make up for the lack of a spear.

Huntara moved to try a hold, getting her arms around Catra in a way that if she used force would be fatal, but Catra slipped free just before Huntara would have crushed her, if this where a fight to the death, then quickly put some distance between them.

Catra wasn't satisfied yet.

She dived in ducked below a punch, then launched herself forward, effectively tackling Huntaras back leg before crawling though her legs to reach her opponents back. She mounted Hunrata, one hand grabbing the back of Huntara's shirt, feat planted just above her hip bone, claws lightly digging in for purchase. Huntara reacted quickly reaching over her shoulder to grab hold of Catra's wrist. Catara started leveling several knuckle blows on Huntaras neck and the latter's movements faltered.

Huntara Cried out in pain, and her knees buckled, but she powered though and almost reached Catras wrist after just three blows. Catra let go of Huntaras shirt, sacrificing the extra power it provided and punched with both hands. Huntara violently swung around, hands still ready to grab Catras wrist, so Catra allowed herself to be flung off, not even getting another punch in before she landed a meter and a half away.

Huntara didn't let her recover, starting a series of fast blows, weak when compared to her full force punches, but the sequence was fast enough that Catra was too busy dodging to get any serious blows in on Huntara.

She closed the distance, taking a hit to her shoulder but once within Huntaras guard she retaliated with an uppercut that had the purple giant stumbling to avoid it. A quick leg swipe and she was on top of Huntara, ready to pound Huntara's face and throat.

"-Hey!" Catra was distracted, quickly thrown off, then increased the distance to two and a half meters just to be safe before looking to whoever had interrupted their fight.

It was a uniformed officer, Catra didn't recognize the uniform but it stood to reason that once the Horde had moved out they'd change it to something else. The kingdoms had apparently allowed the Fright Zone to become an independent nation, or at least independent enough that they had their own police uniforms.

"What? Can't you see we're busy?" Catra called out in response.

"Who started this fight? Cause I'm gonna have to arrest that person."

"Seriously? We used to do more than this for daily sparring back in our cadet days." Huntara said.

"Public fighting is still outlawed now, so I'm going to have to ask you to come with me."

Catra opened the tavern door, she had ended up close enough to it when the fight had ended. "Hey Scorpia! Bring me a big drink, something strong!"

"Oh-okay."

"What are you doing?" The officer asked.

"I'm too sober to call it a night, so if I'm going with you I'm gonna need one last drink."

Scorpia came out with a beer glass between her claws, whatever was in it was mostly clear, with just a hint of green. Catra gave it a sniff, smelled like lime and pear, a lick of the drink revealed just how strong the drink was, burning in her throat, but it tasted good. She chugged the whole thing, the burning down her throat felt good, promising a warm, fuzzy evening to come.

"So, uh... What's going on here?" Scorpia asked as Entrapta joined them.

"Oh, me and Huntara are getting a free room for the night."

"Oh! are you doing the one night stand thing?"

"No, we're just getting arrested is all. I'll break out in the morning, don' worry." Her mind was already dulling from he drink.

"I think you'll get in more trouble for breaking out than you're in from this fight, pirate queen." Huntara said, but it didn't matter. Pirates ignore the laws and spit in the face of authority, so that's what she would do.

"I dun care! I do wa I want."

"Well have fun!" Entrapta said, waving goodbye.

"I'll see you guys soon, love you." She turned around to leave, following the officer.

"I thought you loved Ado-" Catra whipped back around to face Entrapta.

"Platonic'lly!" As an after thought she added, "An' no I don't."

"Riiight." Scorpia said. "Good night kitty cat."

"Night."

She, Huntara and the officer left, the ground was swaying slightly, but as a pirate, she was mostly used to that sort of thing.

There weren't any holding cells in the Fright Zone or, maybe there where some now but, the port city didn't have any so they went to the prison in Horde HQ. It wasn't, like most prisons, made from stone blocks, but rather carved from the bedrock itself, making it one of, if not the, most secure prisons in all of Etheria.

After entering the building you had to descend a spiral staircase then walk down a long hallway before you got to the actual cells. the interior was covered in stone blocks, but that was more for the aesthetic than function, she knew.

"This brin's back mem'ries."

"Where you arrested before?" The officer asked her.

"No no. I used to be in charge arroun' here. Vis- Vis'ted my old boss after I had her arr'st'd."

They reached the big gate at the end of the hall, it was a steel bar gate, followed by a wooden door and then another gate. It took a minute to get through if you where doing it right, shorter if you left the gates unlocked.

The gates weren't locked.

"You had Shadow Weaver arrested? How come I've never heard about this before?" Huntara asked.

"It was a paaain. I ha- d to learn all the buro- byuro- paperwork stuff on my own. Nob'dy else even knew what I had to do, or where we got things fr'm."

"Still! You usurped Shadow Weaver! She had been in charge since before even my cadet days. Hell, I don't even think anybody knows how long she was in charge."

They reached the first cells, the walls between cells where made of stone blocks while the wall towards the hallway was metal bars, the door in was also made of metal bars. One of the first cells was occupied, but the other one wasn't and that's the one the guard opened.

"Tha' snot everythin' I did. I usurped Hordak! He was jus' a figure head anyways but I made him do what I wanted."

The guard shooed them inside, and they complied, no resistance.

"Your treacherous ways knows no bounds. Truly, you are a master we could all learn from."

" 'm a pirate!" Catra shot her arms up and spun around on a heel, almost falling, but Huntara caught her.

The guard locked the door.

"So where was Shadow Weavers cell?"

"It was down a floor, an' to the..." Catra looked at her hands, "that way." She pointed to her right, with her right hand, looking to see if it betrayed her. It did not. "Then it was a bit further d'wn a hall." She nodded, satisfied with her explanation, then turned around to look at the beds.

Neither bed was clean, one slightly yellow all over, the other less yellow but with a dirt stain from shoes near the end of the bed. She threw herself on the bed with the brown stain, she wouldn't be using that part of the bed anyways with how she usually curled up whilst sleeping, then bunched up the thin blanked around and below herself.

Huntara didn't complain about the bed choice as she wordlessly took the other one, staring at the roof for a bit.

"Did you enjoy our fight?" Huntara asked, after maybe two minutes of silence.

"Yeah. It was good, kicking your ass."

"I remember it a bit differently, you almost loosing several times over before you landed any serious blows."

"If that had been a serious fight I'd ha- I'd've ripped out your throat, an' if that guard hadn't disstracted me" Catra surpressed the momentary urge to puke, "your face would be in a lot worse of a shape th'n it is."

"Maybe. Or I could have grabbed you and locked you in a crushing hold."

"You wish, purple giant, I won."

"Maybe you can dream up a better result, Kitty, cause that's not what happened."

They stayed quiet after that, allowing Catra to fall into the sweet embrace of sleep.