Disclaimer I do not own she-ra and the princesses of power and I am not making any money by writing this story. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.
Thoughts will be in Italics
Bright Moon
Adora took in a deep breath happy to be back in Bright Moon. She had been happy to help Frosta, but the weather of her friend's kingdom just didn't suit her. She was a bit worried though from the few letters she and Bow had received from Castaspella keeping them informed about what had been happening in the kingdom and what Glimmer was up to. "You worried Adora? I know you don't have the best relationship with Shadow Weaver, but we should be careful about how we talk to Glimmer about this. She can be really stubborn when she thinks people are challenging her."
Adora knew all to well about how stubborn Glimmer could be and to make matters worse even though they had talked out some of their issue during Angela's memorial things were still awkward between the two. "Maybe its better if you talk to Glimmer Bow. There is no way that Glimmer will look at me trying to convince her to stop hanging out with Shadow Weaver as objective considering my history with her."
"That history may be the only thing that could help Adora. You know Shadow Weaver better than anyone else so I'm sure Glimmer will understand why were concerned if you talk to her." Adora wasn't sure about Bow's argument considering how often Glimmer had disregarded advice from her own mother and aunt when they knew better but the innocent and cute look, he was giving her just made it impossible to say try and argue with her friend any further. I hope this plan works because we don't need any infighting to break out in this war against the Horde… Oh who am I kidding with our luck this will blow up in our faces before we manage to fix anything.
Seeing the gates to Bright Moon Adora smiled though she took note as she and Bow walked towards the castle that a lot more people seemed to be around. The Horde must really be pushing much harder than before. I knew they tended to attack indiscriminately these days, but this is just horrible. How many villages did they destroy that this many refugees made the trip here?
Arriving at the castle Adora and Bow waved to the guards who seemed very happy to see them as they rushed towards them. "Adora, Bow we are so glad to see you please you need to go talk to the queen she and her aunt have been in a shouting match for the last few hours!" The men looked so panicked surprising Bow though Adora had an idea of what had started the shouting match considering how worried Casta had sounded in her letters she may have tried to talk to Glimmer on her own. Rushing inside Adora grimaced as she saw her old teacher standing outside the door were rather animated and colourful language was originating from.
"I wouldn't go in there if I was you. They've been at it for a while, and I don't think you getting involved is going to help." Bow walked up to Shadow Weaver in anger.
"I don't know what you told Glimmer to start this fight, but I promise you we'll fix it and then you'll be back in your cell." Despite still wearing her mask Adora could tell Shadow Weaver found Bow's declaration amusing. "Come on Bow she's not worth the effort. Let's just go in and try and diffuse the situation." Bow nodded having said his piece though Shadow Weaver decided she would also say her piece.
"Like I said you shouldn't go in there. This is a private moment between family and as you can see even, I'm not in there. Also, boy despite what you make think this is a mess of Castaspella's own making. Treating Glimmer like a fragile child and questioning her decisions all the time seems to irritate her to no end so I can assure you you'll just add to the problem if you rush in there."
Adora didn't like Shadow Weaver but at the moment she hated her old teacher because she knew she was right. As much as she and Bow wanted to try and help, they would just be adding fuel to the fire of the situation. Bow look frustrated most likely understanding the position they were in despite wanting to help his friend and the chance of making things worse.
"I don't care what she was in the past or what you think of her! She is helping me and teaching me instead of babying me! I don't need you lurking behind my back all the time like I'm some sort of helpless child! You're not my mom and I don't need you pretending to be her!"
"You may not care but I am trying to protect you from that Leech! She is just using you and you're to blind and prideful to see it! I may not be your mother, but I can assure you she would be so disappointed by the choices you are making!"
There was a pause of silence as the arguing stopped followed up by the door slamming open and Glimmer running out crying with Castaspella trying to chase after her niece trying to apologise. "Well done, Casta, I must say you really did a good job at trying to turn your niece against me." The voice of her fellow sorceress dripping with sarcasm hurt Castaspella due to how badly she had messed up. Glimmer had found one of her letters to Bow and Adora and had confronted her about it. The argument had started so small and yet things just kept escalating as she found herself getting frustrated by Glimmer not listening to her when she knew better.
"I'll go talk to her and once she has calmed down a bit I'll come and get you. I'm sure she'd love to talk with you and your little friend Bow, right Adora." The young warrior grimaced as she watched a defeated and slightly depressed Castaspella simple retreat to her room while Bow looked like he wanted to argue but understood he wasn't really in a good position to try and make his case that he and Adora should be the ones to go after Glimmer.
Training field (Bright Moon)
Sitting alone on a bench playing with a crafted puppy summon was where Shadow Weaver found Glimmer. "You know she didn't really mean what she said about your mother right. I've known Castaspella for a long time and I can tell you she just let her own frustrations overtake her, though that doesn't excuse what she said."
"I just don't like how she went behind my back to try and attack you. She treated me like a child, like I couldn't make my own decisions. You don't treat me like I can't look after myself why does she?" Glimmer was surprised when Shadow Weaver pulled her into a hug slowly stroking her hair as she worked to comfort the young princess.
"I am not a good person Glimmer. I haven't been for a long time and that is much of what your aunt chooses to see. She wasn't wrong when she called me a leach though that was in the name of survival after a spell, I was working went horribly wrong. You are also her niece; all she sees is that little girl she helped raise and cared for and can't grow beyond the need to protect you. I also care but I know you are capable which is why I keep an eye and instruct but don't interfere while you practice and train. You can only learn from your mistakes, and I don't wish for you to stagnate when I see such potential in you." Shadow Weaver smiled as she felt Glimmer's breathing calm down and pulled herself deeper into the hug.
"Thank you that helped a lot… could we just stay here for a while? I don't think I'm ready to talk with my aunt or Adora or Bow right now."
"Of course, Glimmer take whatever time you need until you feel you are ready. How about we help you get rid of some of that frustration ok." A bit confused Glimmer watched as Shadow Weaver used her magic to make large stone targets shaped in Hordak's image. "There, no we have some good targets for you to take your anger out on." Glimmer laughed a bit as she put the summon down and started to have fun wrecking the targets Shadow Weaver had crafted.
As Glimmer had her fun, she turned back to Shadow Weaver. "Besides my potential why are you putting so much effort into teaching me?" Glimmer was a bit stunned by the eruption of laughter that came from behind her teacher's mask. "Oh, that is a simple question to answer my queen. You are the politest and most diligent student I've ever had the pleasure of teaching. You father was a show-off that got himself and me as his main teacher in trouble as he refused to take his lessons seriously often cause a great deal of damage due to his ego and Adora never really had much patience to learn magic beyond the theory behind it, so she knew how to fight it, which is a shame to see a young one of such potential squander her gifts to the point of atrophy. The worst is the other students I had to teach in the Horde were just plain incompetent or only want to learn the 'cool' magic like fire balls and lighting from their fingers. No one want to take the time to learn the rituals and more complicated magic or even practice their basics unlike you who is actually putting in the effort as a student."
Happy with her answer Glimmer called for a servant to bring a small meal and drinks while she went back to blasting the Hordak targets enjoying herself as Shadow Weaver told her stories about her dad and the times he blew himself up trying to show off to her mother when she had first visited Mystacor or how he had often made a fool of himself flirting with girls only for Castaspella to drag him by the ear back to their lessons. Glimmer even found herself amused when Shadow Weaver told her about the times Adora had messed up in training often to hilarious results like getting covered in mud or stuck in an escape room when training for prison breaks if they ever got captured. Hearing about Adora having failures actually made Glimmer feel a bit better inside as she had always seen her friend as the unmovable rock, the perfect girl that couldn't fail, elevated due to her status as She-Ra and how it had often made her feel bad about her own short comings taking a hit at her self esteem so hearing about Adora's failures helped out a lot more than she felt comfortable feeling.
Fright Zone
Sitting in her room Catra laughed as she read the latest report Double Trouble had sent her. How a divide was forming between the queen of Mystacor and Bright Moon due to Shadow Weaver and how it even seemed like Adora, and that archer boy seemed to have a growing distance with their friend the queen. She was also happy to see how her plan had also started to stretch the resources of the Rebellion as they had to deal with the influx of refugees while lacking the infrastructure to properly care for them and keep fighting effectively. Oh, I can't wait to see what happens when they are forced to start making choices that throw some nice black paint on their moral superiority.
As she read through the report Catra was working on upgrading her whip to make it more effective. She yelped in surprise and a bit of pain as she shocked herself with one of her tools. "Dammit why wont this work. I can make an energy whip no problem, but I can't upgrade a simple regular whip to have a shock function." Catra sighed in frustration as she put down her tools and reports."
"Why not take a break Catra. You always spend so much time working I hardly ever see you have a chance to relax." Catra jumped up in surprise at hearing her mother's voice before quickly trying to clean her room up embarrassed by how messy it looked with parts and papers lying everywhere. All Demona did was giggle a bit as she walked over to Catra cleaning up her hair a bit and pulling a screwdriver out of her hair.
Catra went red in embarrassment while Demona shook her head as she helped Catra clean up. "You're going to burn out if you keep up this pace Catra. And then you'll start to make more mistakes and I'm sure you want to avoid shocks like what happened with your whip."
Catra sighed a bit knowing her mother was right. "I know mom, but I just feel like I need to prove myself. I've worked my whole life to gain this position of respect and honour and now that I have it, I'm so scared of losing it and failing my friends and allies. I feel like I need to work twice as hard to show everyone I deserve this position."
"Ok how about this, you take a break with me, and I'll teach you a bit of magic. I know you like your technology but knowing how about and how the tools of one's enemies works makes it easier to fight him plus I'm sure you'd like surprise you next opponent with a fun new trick." Catra giggled at the mischievous smile on her mother's face as she also tackled Catra onto her bead tickling the young force captain into surrendering.
"Ok, ok, ok I surrender. I'll take a break with you." Catra laughed as she tried to get Demona to stop. "I just don't know if I'll be any good at it. The other magic users always told me I didn't have much magical capabilities."
"Don't worry about what they told you. You don't need to be all powerful when using magic Catra even the smallest spells and tricks have their uses that can turn the tide of a fight even against a more powerful or skilled magic user." Catra smiled at the support though also using the quick pause in Demona's tickle attack turned the tables on her mother before the two collapsed tired from their battle but leaving Catra feeling like a weight was off of her shoulders and happy, a warm feeling in her heart as her mother got up to leave telling her she would start working on a lesson plan and that Catra should rest up for the her magic lessons as they would start tomorrow. "Now why don't you go spend some time with your friends. I'm sure Scopria misses your company what with her own time being spent with the sorcerers guild with her training with the her family's runestone or you could spend time with Lonni as it looks like you two have finally started to get along with each other and I'm sure that as much friction as there is between the two of you, you'd like to spend time with her more than you would those stuffy older force captains right."
Catra laughed a bit and agreed to spend some time with Lonni plus it would be nice to spend time with Kyle as he had been on of the few people that had been nice to her when Shadow Weaver had still been around. "Ok I'll take a break but I'm holding you to your word on those magic lessons. I'm going to show everyone they were wrong for underestimating me."
Demona just smiled as she watched Catra run off as she finished cleaning the room feeling a sense of pride in the success of her daughter though also feeling distraught for how she had just left her in Shadow Weaver's care when she had gone undercover in rebellion territory. Don't worry Catra I'll make it up to you and I'll make sure Shadow Weaver pays for how she treated you and I'll make sure my little girl gets the life and world she deserves, maybe even get a new son or daughter in law in the process. Demona giggled at her own plans as she worked to clean up Catra's room as she planned for the future where her daughter no longer needed to fight.
