Disclaimer: I do not own She-Ra or its related characters. All is the property of Noelle Stevenson, Dream Works Animation, Netflix, NBCUniversal Television Distribution, Filmation, Larry DiTillo, and J. Michael Straczynski.

Inconvenient Arrangements

Chapter Nineteen: Just a Bit After Princess Prom

Adora noted when her uncle –former uncle? now that he was remarried was Hec-Tor still her uncle?- when Prince Hec-Tor and his new spouse drifted over to make their formal goodbyes to the hosts. Her future in-laws. Queen Angella and King Micah. They were distracted and not looking at her.

Her father also stomped over to say goodbye to Hec-Tor. Randor wrapped his arms around the older man in another hug, and lifted the space bat off his feet. Making him gasp, his pale face turning red as all the breath was squeezed out of him.

All the people that wanted to keep Adora there were distracted. She took the opportunity to leave the ball.

Exiting through the balcony that overlooked the harbor. She leapt from the balcony railing onto the side of the building. Balancing on nothing more than a narrow ledge, gripping the molding around the window frames for stability. She edged her way to the window that belonged to the bedroom she was given to stay in leading up until her wedding.

But, as she told her intended, as the told her father, as she told her future in-laws, as she told her estranged uncle-by-marriage that she hadn't seen in years, as she told almost every person she spoke to since arriving on Etheria: she was not getting married.

Little did she know that her exit was noticed by someone.

A shadow, moving with feline reflexes, balancing much easier on the decretive ledges that ran the exterior of the palace than Adora was. The figure got ahead of her, noted the only private balcony whose doors were left open, and assumed that must be blondie's destination.

Landing on her balcony, Adora slipped inside and closed the balcony doors after her in one fluid motion. She flicked the lights on, then jumped when she realized someone else was in the room with her.

"Hey, blondie." Princess Bad Hair was lounging on a pile of cushions next to the fountain. "The party had a perfectly good door. So strange that you decided to leave off a balcony instead."

Adora paused, studying her up and down. When they were thrown together on the dance floor Adora took her for yet another Etherian Princess. There were a lot of them. More than she could memorize before the party. Dressed in a tailored suit that hugged her figure nicely, the bowtie left untied to give her a bit of a roguish look. A cat-eyed helmet on her head that at first Adora had taken for a crown. She was dressed about as well as every other princess at the prom. Hell! She was dressed better than Uncle Hec-Tor's new wife whom wasn't just an Etherian Princess, but a Princess Imperial as well.

But, Princesses did not slink through the shadows and break into other Ladies' rooms for dramatic jump-scare reveals when the lights went on.

"What do you want?" Adora demanded.

"Honestly?" She stretched, arching her back, lifting her tail, entending the claws on the tips of her fingers. A very feline stretched which drew attention to the flexibility of her spine, and the roundness of her ass. Adora would be lying if she didn't admit that she found the feline not-Princess attractive –even with the bad hair- and she looked away when the cat-girl continued speaking. "I wanna see how this plays out. What's the moody blond from another world gonna do…?"

"I'm not getting married." Adora announced.

"So you've said." The cat-girl nodded. "All night. To everyone. Do you think that if you just repeat it enough it'll come true?"

"Are you here to make sure I go through with it?" Adora demanded. "Some bodyguard my father hired to keep me in line? Like he hired Teela for Adam."

The cat-girl just stared in incomprehension. She didn't know who Adam or Teela were. So, she wasn't hired by King Randor.

"No, I'm just board." She stretched again. "I thought there'd be more drama where I'm working right now. My Princess is a little crazy and just got married, but her new husband is still in love with his dead first spouse. So, I thought it'd be more interesting. But all either of them do is work all day in separate rooms of the castle. It's boring!" She leveled a look at Adora. "You don't seem boring."

Adora smirked, she was starting to like this cat-girl.

"I'm not." She promised. Between the two of them, Adam and Adora, Adora was definitely the more interesting twin. "And I'm getting out of Brightmoon."

Turning her back on the intruder, Adora walked to the room's wardrobe and began stripping off her prom dress.

Behind her, the cat-girl's eyes went wide, surprised by her boldness. People didn't usually strip in front of intruders. People called the guards on intruders.

Adora pulled out a red leotard. Long sleeved, shoulder pads, a bikini cut at the bottom. Her butt-cheeks peeked out in the back. Eternian clothing. Red boots to match. No longer dressed for a party, Adora turned back around to face her intruder.

"What's your name, anyway?" She demanded.

"Catra." She nodded. "And you're Princess Adora of Eternia, engaged to Princess Glimmer of Brightmoon. You're about the only thing anyone's been talking about all night."

"I'm not-"

"You're not getting married." Catra waved her off. "Right. Right. So you've said." She looked Adora up and down. The Eternian clothing looked much easier to move around in, perfect for making a get away. "And so you're planning to escape while everyone else is distracted at the prom."

Adora glared at her, reexamining her earlier study of Catra and assessing her as a threat. She had a slight figure, a tiny waist and slender limbs. She was not particularly muscular. But she did manage to get from one balcony to another, arriving in the room even before Adora could, and silently too. She was clearly very agile, very fast, and able to conceal her movements.

"Are you going to stop me?" Demanded Adora, voice a carful warning. If this cat-girl tried to stop her, she would fight, and Eternian Princesses did not go down easily.

With a very nasal snort, Catra let out a laugh. "Stop you? Where would the fun be in that!? You're the most interesting thing here. I wanna help you!"

Adora regarded her for a moment. She knew nothing about this woman. She didn't understand her motives, and she didn't know if she could trust her. But, she liked her feisty attitude and her snarky sense of humor. It also helped matters that she was an attractive woman around Adora's age. Adora would be lying if she didn't admit that she found Catra appealing.

"I need a spaceship." Adora announced.

"There's plenty of spaceships in Dryl." Catra announced.

"My uncle lives in Dryl now." Adora reminded her. "He'll turn me back over to my father the moment he's aware I'm within his borders."

"Who says he has to know?" Catra asked, a devilish little smirk on her lips. She might not have administrator privileges like Entrapta gave to Hec-Tor, but she had worked and lived in the Crypto Castle enough to know how to navigate it. "The Crypto Castle is the best place to hide until we can get you a ship."

"And you can navigate me through the magic woods and get me to Dryl?" Adora pressed.

"Whispering Woods." Catra corrected her. "And I'll probably have an easier time of it than you would."

That was probably true. If for no other reason than grace of the fact that Catra was a native of Etheria and understood it and its ecosystems better than an off-worlder like Adora would.

Adora smirked. "Alright. Catra, I'll let you help me."

…

Grizzlor was waiting to meet the Prince and Princess upon their arrival back at the Crypto Castle.

"I trust the Princess Prom went well?" He began with pleasantries.

He took the Prince's shawl as Hec-Tor slipped it off his shoulders.

Then Grizzlor dove into business. "The first shipment of weapons is almost ready. Once they come off the assembly line, we can begin sending them back to Horde World."

"Excellent." Hec-Tor smiled. "I shall send a report to my Brother in the morning. In the meantime, I'm tired. No more business tonight. Is my son asleep?"

He should be. It was late enough into the night to be called morning now. Imp's keepers should have put him down for the night long ago. But, knowing his child, just because he should be asleep did not mean he actually would be asleep.

Hec-Tor left to go check on his son.

"Is there anything I can assist you with Princess Entrapta?" Asked Grizzlor. She didn't have a coat or a shawl for him to take. She was just wearing the exact same set of overalls he had seen her wearing since they left Horde World.

"No. I'm good." She smiled at him as she lifted her hair above her head and swung away. Up into the rafters, then from the rafters into the air ducts.

Grizzlor sighed. Working in the Crypto Castle was so vastly different from serving in the Imperial palace on Horde World.

Entrapta slipped back into her lab. There was a project she'd been working on since she first returned home. She had been drafting concepts of it the whole journey from Horde World, but was only really able to begin until she was back in her own castle, in her own lab, with her own tools, and her own base robotic frames to build on.

Moving all the way to the back of the room, flowing on waves of her hair, Entrapta stopped in front of a work table with a sheet draped over it. She pulled the sheet away to reveal the bot she was working on.

Not a weapon. Not a combat drone. Not any project she was building for the Horde. This was a personal project. This was a… a practice robot.

Because it wasn't okay to experiment on living people –not if you wanted them to like you.

She built a practice robot when she was with Perfuma. To her exact measurements. Height, weight, limb length, joint articulation, flexability. She even added long nylon strands to synthesize her wavy blond hair. But the most important part of a practice bot was the nerve network.

An array of synthetic nerves meant to mimic real touch and feelings. The purpose of the practice bot was to feel, so that Entrapta could catalogue the reactions and learn what was and what was not a desirable touch for her partner. She showed special attention to the nerves on the hands –the tips of the fingers especially- the lips, the ears, the nipples, and the genitals.

Entrapta used the bot to try and figure out what she should do for her partner in the event that they wanted to have intercourse with her, because she wanted to have intercourse with them. Entrapta didn't understand people very well, but she understood data. She took the date from practicing with her bots and carried it into her intimate relationships with organic people. It all made perfect sense to Entrapta. It was practical.

But when Perfuma discovered the practice bot that had been made of her, she did not react well. She said Entrapta was 'sick' and that she would never find anybody to be with. Not with a perversion like hers.

Hec-Tor's practice bot was still in the construction phases. He was taller than all the pre-fabricated robot bases she had on hand, and so had to readjust everything for his measurements. She hadn't even begun connecting the nerves yet. She coiled her hair back into the shape it was when she was holding his hand. Remembering the thickness of his finders and how far apart they spread the strands. Using her tactile memory to make sure the measurements of the hands were correct. If the measurements weren't correct, then the nerves wouldn't line up right, or be true to the live person this bot was being made of, and wouldn't yield accurate data.

She wanted accurate data.

Entrapta wanted…

She remembered how her stomach fluttered when Hec-Tor shifted the placement of his hand from her upper waist to the small of her back. His wide palm and long fingers, the talons that almost caught in her clothing but didn't because he was very aware of what he was doing.

Entrapta wished she knew how to communicate better. To make him understand what she wanted.

'Is this… alright?' He asked.

And she wanted to say 'yes, yes it is, go lower!' But she felt a little too overwhelmed. Between the lights, and the music, the dancing, the crowd of people around them, and then his hand moving lower on her body. It was too much stimulation and Entratpa forgot how to speak. She had to consciously remind herself 'use your words'. She was so embarrassed by her own inability to… be a person, that she had to lower her mask. Behind the mask was safe. The mask was a barrier. Between her and the rest of the world that could be too much sometimes.

She told him it was alright.

But she already noted that Hec-Tor was observant, and that he was intelligent. He must have already realized that her mask was her comfort and security item. She lowered it when she felt uncomfortable. Wearing it over her face made her feel secure. He probably assumed that he and his action were what was making her uncomfortable, because Hec-Tor moved his hand back up to where it was before.

Entrapta didn't know how to communicate to him well enough to make him understand, she did like his hand there. She would have liked his hand lower too. She liked the idea of his hands on her. She wanted more than just his hands on her.

Their wedding night had not been an ideal time. Entrapta was nervous almost the whole night, even when she was the one in control and calling the steps. She did not like any of it. She didn't like the level of lighting, she didn't like the texture of the sheets, she didn't like feel of the lubricant between her legs, she especially didn't like a room full of strangers watching her! But Hec-Tor was nice. He was interesting. Fun to study, and fun to… study.

And when they switched positions, when he lowered his face between her legs and… made her feel more comfortable, Entrapta liked that a lot. He was very good at what he did. Of course, he had been previously married for years, one would assume he was very well experienced with sex.

Entrapta was not very experienced. There were her robots, and there was Perfuma, and then there were her robots again.

Using her hair, Entrapta lifted the silicone skin she molded to resemble his organ. Just a hollow sheath, she couldn't put it on the bot until she connected the neural network that would allow it to function like a penis. She dragged a gloved finger over the synthetic spines. Exactly as she remembered them feeling through her glove on the wedding night.

Entrapta set it back down, she still had a lot of work to do before she could attach that exact fixture.

Pulling her tools around her, she got back to work. She only worked on the practice bot when Hec-Tor was asleep and not likely to walk in on her and find it. Even so, she hoped that if Hec-Tor did ever find her practice bot, he wouldn't react as badly as Perfuma had.

…

Navigating through the Whispering Woods was not as easy as Catra said it would be. She was a native of Etheria, but not a native of Brightmoon and the trees and rocks of the forest moved. Honestly, as things were, Adora, whom had never set foot on Etheria before coming to Brightmoon for her engagement, would be just as good at navigating as Catra was.

And they both knew it.

Adora watched Catra hiss and curse at a rock. Her tail all puffed out, claws extended. They had past the same rock about six or seven times already. They knew it was the same rock because after the third time, Catra marked it with her claws.

They were actually lost.

But that was fine with Adora. If they were lost, it meant that when Brightmoon finally realized she was missing, they wouldn't be able to find her either. She could survive in the woods for a bit. At least, long enough to find her way out of them. How many days could that take?

'Adora…'

She turned at the sound of a voice calling her name. Whispering as if it were nothing but the wind, but it had unmistakably been her own name.

'Adora…'

"Is that why they call this place the 'Whispering' Woods?" She asked her companion.

Catra looked back at her confused. "Is what why they call it the Whispering Woods?"

"You can't hear that?" Adora asked. "That voice, on the wind. It's whispering my name. It's not whispering your name?"

'Adora…'

One of Catra's ears tilted as she looked at her Princess companion with concern. "You're hearing voices now?"

Suddenly frustrated –and maybe a little embarrassed- Adora huffed at Catra, crossing her arms over her chest. "I was just asking if that's how the woods got their name. Jeez. Forget I said anything."

"Fine." Catra snapped. "Anyway, I think it's this way."

She led Adora on another path through the woods. All the while, the Princess kept hearing that whispering voice, light and airy, like the wind in her ear, calling her.

'Adora… Adora…'

…