"Entrapta?" he called softly, wishing he hadn't left his bow and arrows back in the tent. If something had happened to her— but after several moments of frantic searching, he found her asleep, curled into a corner of the engine room, Emily powered down alongside. The woman kept strange hours and seemed to work and crash randomly on a schedule known only to her. Which was normally frustrating when it seemed like their schedules were never in sync, but right now was a relief. He might actually some solitude for the first time in who knows how long.

Of course, he'd left the schematics and his reading glasses back on his cot, but there was always something to do. He pried open the control panel on the loading bay, pulling out a handful of corroded wires he'd been meaning to replace. After a few minutes of mindlessly cutting and threading wire, he'd almost achieved something approaching calm for the first time in days when he heard footsteps.

"I thought I'd find you here!"

Bow looked over to see Glimmer's father making his way towards him. Great. So much for solitude. "Uh, hey, King Micah, sir."

"Please, Bow, how many times do I have to tell you? Just Micah is fine." He plopped down on an old crate next to the pile of wires, and Bow suppressed a sigh. Glimmer's father had been through a lot. It wasn't his fault his social skills were shot to heck. But the king had latched onto him and Adora since he'd met them first and sometimes it felt like when you go to a party where you know everyone but this one guy who only knows you won't leave your side all night. Except that guy was a presumed dead master sorcerer who'd had been living on a nightmare island for a decade and a half and was also the king and your best friend's father... and the party was a desperate group of rebels and magic princesses trying to save their planet from an alien invasion.

OK, so it wasn't a perfect metaphor. He rubbed his face. Maybe he should sleep more.

"Going to be real cozy on here with all of us. Especially the talking horse!" Micah laughed, fiddling with the pile of wires which hadn't been organized exactly but had been where Bow wanted them and now they weren't. He expected Micah to want to talk about the Shadow Weaver incident earlier, but he must have come straight from Mystacor because he didn't bring it up. "Do we know if Entrapta's coming with us yet?"

"I think that's still up for debate." The original plan was for the team to go rescue Glimmer to be the same group as the trip back from Beast Island: Adora, Swift Wind, Micah, Entrapta and himself. But, as much as Adora wanted him there, Swift Wind was reluctant to get back on the ship. (Something about loop-dee-loop betrayal?) And the princesses, most vocally Mermista, worried that if both Bow and Entrapta went to space, there'd be no one left on Etheria to keep the rebellion's tech working. A legitimate concern, but one he didn't have an answer for. They really needed Entrapta's expertise with First Ones' Tech but there was no way he was saying behind.

As for King Micah, what was he going to say? No, your majesty, you can't come with us while we rescue your daughter. Sorry!

"Chin up!" Micah clapped Bow on the shoulder as he tightened a connector. "Adora's going to get my babygirl back for us, you'll see."

The connector snapped under his screwdriver. Bow closed his eyes and took several slow breaths before replying, trying to keep in mind that he and Micah were about to be stuck together on a spaceship for a very long time in close quarters. "Your majesty, was there something you wanted?"

"Micah, boy! Micah! And, actually, yes!" Micah gave him a little knuckle tap on the arm, which was exactly the kind of thing his dads would do when they were joking around, but for some reason only increased his annoyance. "She's a stranger to me, you know. Glimmer. My own daughter! A stranger. I've been pestering my sister and Adora and, well, everybody for details about her, but now I find out you're the guy to talk to. I hear you're the one that actually knows her best!"

Did he? He wasn't even sure if that was true anymore. Bow grabbed a new connector and took his time lining it up so he wouldn't have to look at the king.

"Everyone says things like, oh, Glimmer's brave and smart and impulsive or... stubborn." He gave Bow a look like they were sharing some inside joke. "But that doesn't tell me anything about her, really. Like what kind of music does she like? What does she eat for breakfast? What makes her laugh? What does she do for fun? So many questions and I bet you know the answer to all of them."

He did. He knew the answer to every single one and a million more that Micah didn't even know his own daughter well enough to ask. But he didn't say anything, just kept on tightening connectors and measuring wires to keep his hands busy.

"Come on! Surely you've got something! I know Adora only joined your bestie squad a few years ago, but Casta says you and Glimmer have been inseparable since you were little things. I bet you've got lots of stories."

Stories. Oh, he had those. An image popped into his head of a little girl with wild sparkly curls matted with sticks and leaves, drawing battle plans in the garden dirt. Another day, her hair held up with one of his practice arrows, summoning a tiny ball of power in her palm for the first time and tearing up because it wasn't more. Years later, sitting in the ruins of a town they couldn't save, tears streaking down the battle dirt on her face, crying about the same thing. Always afraid she wasn't strong enough when she'd always been the strongest person he'd ever met.

The terror of her teleporting him across the castle when she barely knew what she was doing. The simple joy of hiding under a table with stolen snacks at a party they'd crashed. The fun of matching outfits and dancing together at events where they didn't know a soul but each other, but that was all they needed. The thrill of saving Bright Moon, fighting side by side with the alliance they'd built together. The confusing dip in his middle when he saw a new queen, not a girl but a grown woman, rise and address her people.

But the problem was, he couldn't separate that Glimmer from the other one. The one who would explode at him and pound on his chest until she collapsed, sobbing, into his arms. Who'd be reckless and sharp and dismissive and sometimes downright cruel. And he knew she didn't really mean it, that she was grieving. Which is why he just took it with a smile and made sure he was there for her anyway. But that didn't change the fact that it HURT every single time.

It wasn't like it was Micah's fault he wasn't there for any of that, but Bow didn't care if it made sense. Those were his memories, and, raw and weighted, he didn't want to share them with this stranger, no matter who he was. Not when Micah was sitting there talking about how it was Adora that was going to save his Glimmer like she wasn't Bow's problem, had always been Bow's problem, and it didn't matter that touching memories of her was like running his fingers across shattered glass, he was going to get her back if it killed him.

"I don't know where to begin," Bow said at last, when the silence had dragged on too long. "The last year was crazy."

"Ah. Well, yes. Casta told me about all that. You know, when you said that, back on Beast Island, about Glimmer being stubborn I thought... huh. What's that about? But I get it now. I mean, I love my sister and I missed her like anything, but after a while..." He pulled a face and made a small laugh. Then he reached out and gave Bow's arm a shake. "I know it's been a hard road, kiddo. And I'm sure my babygirl can be a lot. But I'm grateful she had you. I was always afraid Glimmer would be lonely because she didn't have any siblings but turns out, she found her own!"

"I already have siblings," Bow said, stupidly, because something about Micah implying he was Glimmer's big brother was making him sick. "Your majesty, I don't mean to be rude, but I really need to work on this."

"Of course! My apologizes. Thank you for indulging an old man! Plenty of time for chit chat while we're in space, after all!" He rose and clapped Bow on the shoulder. "But now, back to work! We've got to get my Glimmer!"

His Glimmer. Once Micah left, Bow swallowed, leaning against the control panel and wishing the floor would swallow him up. Then he picked up his tools and the next length of wire and shoved whatever tangled mess of feelings this was down with the rest to deal with later. There was work to do.