Chapter 15: Evelyn

It was still dark outside when Catra finally regained enough of her senses to take stock of her surroundings. She was sitting up on a grassy knoll. The edge of the Whispering Woods began just in front of her and Bright Moon castle lay behind, with the lights and music from the feast still going strong. Despite losing all sense of time, she must not have been fighting her panic attack long enough for the party to die down. One of Taline's Enclave star cruisers, the Constable, hovered high above, leaving a sharp, triangular patch of darkness amid the stars in the sky.

A breeze picked up, ruffling the grass and making the tree branches creak. Catra shivered and hugged her knees for warmth; she'd always been susceptible to the cold despite being covered in fine fur. Her jacket was still in the banquet hall, she realized, having forgotten about it completely in her rush to escape from the castle closing in on her. She considered returning for it before deciding it wasn't worth it. What if she ran into Adora again? And even if she didn't, being around people was the last thing she wanted at the moment.

Something rustled in the grass behind her and it didn't sound like the breeze. She whipped around with ears perked, landing on all fours with fur bristled, teeth bared, and claws extended.

Taline stood before her holding a covered platter of what Catra assumed was food with both hands.

"Sorry," Catra said, retracting her claws and forcing her fur to settle down. She had never enjoyed snapping at people before, but neither had she cared much when she had. Now, for some reason, baring her fangs at Taline even when she didn't know it was her to begin with suddenly made her feel guilty. "Sorry," she said again, looking to the side, embarrassed that she couldn't even grasp at an excuse to give.

"It's fine," Taline said, shrugging. "I thought you'd have heard me coming a lot sooner. Too in your head tonight?"

"You could say that."

"Mind if I join you?"

"Why?" Catra cringed when Taline merely quirked an eyebrow at her and reached for something to smooth over how combative that had sounded. "You leave tomorrow. Don't you want to, I don't know, enjoy the party they're all throwing for you before you have to go?"

"I wouldn't be out here if that's what I wanted to do," Taline said. "Now can I join you or not? My arms are getting tired holding this thing." She hefted the platter in her hands.

You were the one who hoped she'd come visit you, Catra thought, slamming her head against a wall in her mind. Why are you coming up with reasons for her to leave now that she's finally here?

"S-sure," Catra said. "Sorry."

Taline came up and sat next to her on the hill, facing away from the castle and toward the woods. Catra mirrored her, and Taline placed the tray on the grass before sliding it over in front of her.

"Glimmer came and found me," Taline said. "She was worried about you after you stormed out of the castle. I actually had to pull up the Constable's sensor scanner and show her you were just hanging out at the edge of the woods before she'd let it go."

Catra thought back to the blur in the hallway she saw as she was running away. "I think I almost ran her over trying to escape," she said with a chuckle, hugging her knees again rather than reach for the food. Catra startled, suddenly remembering something. "Oh shit. She wanted me to come talk to her after I finished with Adora. I totally forgot."

"It's fine," Taline said, laughing through her nose. "I told her to let you cool off on your own out here for a while and she agreed. She's a bullheaded and impulsive person, so if it were really that important, she'd have come found you on her own."

The endearing tone with which Taline spoke had Catra laughing in spite of herself. Glimmer had told her how she went to antagonize Horde Prime instead of follow Taline's orders, and Catra had told her how vexed Taline had looked when she found out about it. It seemed Taline didn't hold onto any hard feelings from it, and Catra was glad for it.

"How are you?" Taline asked. Catra almost responded with one of her well-practiced deflections until she saw the way Taline looked at her. Instead, she deflated.

"Not good," Catra said. "I shouldn't be surprised Adora reacted the way she did after everything, but something in me still wished that bridge wasn't already burnt beyond repair." She had no idea how much Taline knew of what transpired earlier, but she guessed she was filled in enough already.

"You were hoping you could fix things?"

"Well, yeah of course. We've just been through so much growing up together, a part of me thought…well, hoped is a better word I guess—hoped that no matter how bad things got, we'd be able to get back to one another somehow." Catra's chest constricted, warning of another impending panic attack the more she talked. She hugged her knees closer and pricked her claws into her shins.

"I don't think there's such a thing as unconditional love, much as we all want to believe in it," Taline said. "At least…as far as I've experienced. Closest I've ever seen is a parent's love for their child, and you already know that's not always the case."

Catra didn't move a muscle on her body except to dig her claws deeper. She had the sneaking suspicion Taline had long already knew of Shadow Weaver and who she was to Catra. Taline bringing her up in this way all but confirmed it. She laughed and shrugged, as if physically trying to shirk the conversation topic away.

Taline looked at her with an unreadable expression. "That said, I do think you and Adora have something special. I've seen the way she looks at you, even with all your…history. Maybe there's a chance you two will reconcile in the future, learn how to lean on each other like you did as kids once more."

"You think so?"

Taline shrugged. "Or maybe you won't, who knows? I'm not an oracle. I wasn't the member of my family blessed with that particular curse."

Catra frowned, not exactly sure what Taline was referring to. She still felt so unsatisfied and frustrated about everything, despite Taline obviously trying to cheer her up in her own awkward way. "I just…I don't know what to do now," Catra said. She sighed, and after another moment of silence, she looked up at Taline, prompting her for a response.

Taline startled. "Oh, you wanted me to give you an answer?" She blinked, clearly in thought. "I'm not sure if I have one, honestly. You may have grown up knowing only a primitive version of the Horde and the few relationships it entailed, but it doesn't have to be that way anymore. That whole situation with Adora? Ball's not in your court any longer, I'd say. You'll be miserable if that's the only thing you focus on, because you don't have any influence over its outcome ."

"That's…depressing to think about."

Taline nodded. "It can be, if you choose to look at it that way. Or you can choose to see it as an opportunity to discover yourself, now that the relationships and foundations that have underpinned your entire life are now dissolved. You can choose to work on yourself—grow as a person in a direction you want."

Catra narrowed her eyes, at a complete loss for words. Grow as a person in the direction she wanted? What the hell did that even mean?

Taline threw her head back and laughed so hard she snorted. "Too preachy?" she asked, wiping a tear from her eye. "Sorry, I've never seen that caught-in-the-headlights look from you before. It threw me."

"Hell yeah it threw you, it threw me too!" Catra said. "Where did that come from? Here I thought you were just someone that throws magic lightning from her hands strong enough to blast Shadow Weaver on her ass. If I knew you gave sage advice I might have just gone and sought you out first."

Taline smiled, before her demeanor turned somber and she sighed. "I've done a lot I've had to reflect on over the years. That 'sage advice' has been won at great personal cost."

Catra nodded and swallowed, riding the wave of tension between them. She had a question she wanted to ask, and needed to ride her emotions until they brought her somewhere she could speak without her voice wavering or cracking.

"What was it like for you when you lost your sister?"

Taline narrowed her eyes and Catra feared she had overstepped. "You saw through his memories when the Emperor probed you, didn't you?" she asked. "I had a feeling that's what had happened. How else would you know she was my sister when no one dares even say her name, let alone admit she exists?" She looked away and set her lips in a thin line. "What did you see?"

"I was him for a moment in the throne room," Catra said, picking her words carefully. "It was after a battle, I think. He was angry. You were there, and he asked what happened to the body."

Taline didn't say anything at first. Then…

"That was maybe a week after the final battle above Archanas ended," she said. "Salas didn't mention it in the meeting, but I was the one leading our naval forces above the planet. Prime was not happy to learn I defied his order to retreat and made an opening for the Daiamid ships to get through instead, when they returned."

"Is that how you earned your moniker?" Catra asked. "Is that where 'Seraph of Archanas' came from?"

Taline shook her head, a sudden sullenness coming to her expression. "It's not. That came from something else entirely, but it doesn't stop everybody in the empire thinking that's where it came from—me defying the Emperor in the final battle."

Catra gave her a confused look and Taline glanced away from her. "It's…complicated. As much as people have good intentions when they invoke my title, it's not exactly a pleasant memory for me to relive…how I actually got it. Maybe one of these days I'll tell you, but for right now…?"

"No, no it's fine," Catra said, shaking her head. The last thing she wanted to do was push Taline away the moment they had an opportunity to talk. Is this what people felt like trying to get her to open up? Walking on eggshells? "Sorry I brought it up."

Etheria's nighttime wildlife chirped and crooned in the background with the rustling of leaves in the breeze. Catra stayed silent, praying she hadn't alienated Taline already.

"After the battle," Taline said, continuing off from their previous topic as if they hadn't diverted in the first place. "I took a landing party down to the surface, where we found my sister's body. There wasn't anything worth taking off her corpse, so instead, the Emperor wanted me to get everything from the hidden lab she and her team had set up with the Daiamid after fleeing the Heartlands." She leaned back, propping herself up with both hands behind her on the grass and stared up at the stars. "God, that was eight years ago now. I probably wasn't much older than you are now."

Those words didn't initially jolt Catra. But, as she processed what Taline had said and the implications behind them, horror and anger built within her like a wave picking up speed the closer it sped toward the shore, threatening to crash her into rocks on the cliffside. Before long, just imagining herself in Taline's shoes made Catra flinch. Shadow Weaver and the Horde had damaged her and, somewhere deep inside, she feared that damage was irreparable. But she couldn't imagine losing someone in a battle and then having to scour the last of their belongings only to hand it over to Prime.

Not only that, but apparently nobody could even acknowledge she had existed. What was it Prime had said to her? Catra wracked her brain trying to remember specifics about that nightmare back on the citadel. She shuddered when it came to her.

Your sister shall be forgotten by history, and any who dare utter her name shall share her fate.

Something akin to empathy knotted itself in Catra's chest, and she sat there in silence for a moment, watching the stars in the sky twinkle down at them.

"Tell me about her," Catra asked. "Please?"

Taline studied her as if searching for any sign of Catra second guessing herself. Finally, she nodded and pulled at the sleeve of her uniform to expose the hardware sitting underneath. She tapped a few commands into the device on her forearm until a holographic interface appeared above her wrist.

"Captain," Taline said. "I need you to shut off the passive trackers you have for me and the Etherian girl I'm with," A moment passed as, Catra assumed, whoever was on the other line responded. "Yes, full privacy please," Taline said. "No logs recorded, no timestamps. Nothing." Another moment, then she killed the communicator and leaned back on her hands again with a sigh.

"Her name was Evelyn," she said. "That's the name Horde Prime has tried so hard to prevent anyone from speaking. We didn't get along—not at first. I hated her when we were young, and it took a long while for me to come around."

Catra had the decency to not hide the surprise she felt hearing that. The few times Catra imagined Taline's nameless, near-faceless sister before then, she imagined them having a good relationship—imagined Taline being a model sister. Still, she rolled the name 'Evelyn' around in her mind, and prompted Taline to continue by not saying anything at all. Part of her feared by saying anything, whatever invisible spell had compelled Taline to open up to her would break.

"I was an orphan too, you know," Taline said. "Just like you."

"Really?" Catra stared at her, surprising even herself at just how quickly she gave up on keeping quiet.

Taline smiled and nodded. "Yes, really. My parents thought they couldn't conceive, so they took me in. Things were good for a while, until they found out they actually could have a child of their own after all. That's when Evelyn came—four years after me."

"Did they treat you badly after she came?" Catra already felt a lump growing in her throat just asking the question. "Is that why you two didn't get along?"

"Wouldn't that be a convenient excuse if they had?" Taline asked, laughing to herself and shaking her head. "No, they loved both of us and were fantastic parents. I think that only made it harder for me though."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that it was me," Taline said. "I was the reason we didn't get along. Not my parents. Not Evelyn." She plucked grass from the dirt and sighed. "Just me. I was the one with the book smarts out of the two of us, and I pushed myself to use them. I studied for hours outside of school for perfect grades, and used them to get into a top university in the Heartlands. Evelyn struggled to maintain even a passing average, and that was with my tutoring. But no matter how much more I accomplished than her, no matter how much more I achieved, I could never be their biological child—that was always going to be Evelyn."

Catra held her breath. She empathized with Taline even more now than moments before. It was a strange thing, being able to see both her and Adora's struggle in Taline's story; the urge to keep fighting and achieving, but forever feeling second rate. Forever feeling like someone undeserving of love and praise, despite it all.

"I only wish I realized how stupid I was being before it was too late," Taline said. "Our parents were proud of her too, of course. She was just beginning her undergraduate at a minor vocational science school at around the same time I left to train with the Enclave. If I could go back in time and shake my past self, tell her I didn't have to kill myself overachieving because the three of them already loved me, I would. But I wouldn't learn that lesson until after our parents had died. Not until Evelyn and I had only each other left."

"That sounds…I think I might understand some of that." Catra couldn't count how many times since returning to Etheria she wanted to grab her past self and shake her, too. Convince past Catra to be less…stupid.

Taline turned to look at her, startling her with how sudden the movement was. "Then you'll probably understand when I say the answer to your question is it felt horrible, losing her. I lost my parents only to finally learn to appreciate Evelyn, and then I lost her because I didn't know her well enough to realize she needed help. Seeing her body lying there in the ruins on Archanas…"

Taline trailed off, averting her eyes. To Catra, she looked strong—somehow seeming confident in a moment of weakness. What a strange juxtaposition.

"What do you mean you didn't realize what was really going on with her?" Catra asked.

Taline chuckled again, nostalgia making her eyes shimmer as she reminisced. "Evelyn had no magic potential to speak of. In fact, she barely kept up with her studies while I was away. War had broken out with the Beast by the time she graduated, and I assumed she'd pick something nondescript as a job. Simple. Maybe an associate position at a minor lab in the Heartlands. I didn't at all expect she'd sign onto a black site."

Catra frowned and Taline must have picked up on her confusion, because she said, "they used hidden space stations to research the Beast—still do, to this day. Evelyn had accepted a position at one to help with the war effort and didn't tell me. This was before she discovered ignominite…back when the two-year survival rate serving on one of those teams was damn near zero. When I found out, I nearly blew a gasket."

"How did you find out, exactly?" Catra asked. "If the stations are supposed to be secret, how would you have known she joined one?"

"I didn't know," Taline said with a frown. "Not until it was almost too late. Her station had lost control of the Beast sample it was working with and exploded. All hands lost, except for two. I was serving on the front lines at the time and intercepted the distress signal. The captain of the ship I was on wasn't very happy when I commandeered his carrier and forced it to respond, but what are you going to do? Say no to an Enclave Battlemage?" She laughed. "We got there, and it was only her and Corynth out of a team of seventy that survived."

"That's it?" Catra asked, astounded. "Two out of seventy?"

"The fact anyone survived at all was newsworthy in and of itself, Catra," Taline said. "There had never been survivors before, ever. I should have known something was wrong right then and there, especially after Corynth told me he was a Battlemage too. I was supposed to be an exceedingly rare case, earning my own commission at the age I did. He couldn't have been more than a few months older than me at the time."

"He was there with her even back then?" Catra asked. "Corynth."

"There from the very start." Taline said with a nod. "He was only masquerading as a Battlemage, of course, but I wouldn't have known that. The Daiamid were still just rumors and whispers at that point. There was no way I could have known he already had his claws in Evelyn at the time, manipulating her. I was just so happy to see her still alive…and what she told me once I finally got her alone surprised me so much I didn't even think to look if anything was wrong in the first place."

"What'd she say to you?" They weren't talking about coping with loss any longer, but Catra couldn't stop herself from asking. She was already far too invested in the story.

"She said her team finally found a promising trail of research on the Beast shortly before everything went to hell. Time was of the essence, and, as the only surviving member of her group, she was apparently the only person who could see it through to fruition. She begged me to help her get the resources she needed to finish her assignment."

"You believed her?"

Taline grimaced. "How could I not? Like I said, I was so happy to see her alive, I didn't think about looking into things deeper. She was the first ever recorded survivor of a black-site meltdown, and I was ready to believe anything that came out of her mouth.

"I pulled some strings. Got her a research station of her own. Within three months she discovered ignominite and changed the landscape of the war. Now, instead of containing the Beast in clear boxes, they shoved it into crystals made of the stuff, and Beast-related research deaths dropped to near zero overnight. When the military incorporated it into our munitions, suddenly we could now more effectively harm the thing…push it back. Treat it almost like a terrestrial enemy. Ignominite is such an important commodity, it makes up a significant chunk of the empire-wide GDP to this day."

"That's what Prime gambled on instead of the Barrier" Catra said, remembering what Salas mentioned at the briefing. "Ignominite."

"You've been paying attention." Taline smiled at her and Catra flushed. She was still so bad with compliments and authority figures.

"What is it?" she asked, after a moment. "I mean, I know why it's important but…what is it, exactly?"

Taline made a face. "A bio-metallic alloy derived from the dead remains of the Beast itself. Lots of innate properties, most important of which is rendering the Beast docile. It's extremely expensive to make. What it is isn't as important as what it could do, and we still couldn't win the war with it, even after we started using it wholesale. The creature had just grown too large to be stopped by conventional forces. Prime believed if we made a few more breakthroughs with it then we'd be able to turn the tide, but Evie was convinced he was wrong.

"She discovered the ruins of the First Ones…deciphered their notes on the Barrier. Then she outright refused to do anything other than pursue researching it, even with the threat of death looming upon her. I tried to convince her, but…" she shrugged, suddenly looking angry. "When the Emperor called for her head, Corynth and the rest of his people revealed themselves as members of the Daiamid. They took her and her team away to finish their research in secret."

"Prime didn't just let her walk out the door," Catra said. "From the way Salas talked, it sounded as if—"

"As if there were a fight," Taline said, nodding. "There was. It was vicious." She sighed, taking a long moment before speaking once again. "I was one of the justices at her trial. I tried to convince her to admit guilt, privately. Prime promised me he wouldn't kill her if she submitted. She refused, and he called for her head anyways, even after I voted to acquit.

"The Daiamid stepped in to defend her. They were…incredible sorcerers, far more powerful than the army of battlemages there that day for Evelyn's trial. I didn't want her executed, obviously, but I didn't trust what they were going to do if they abducted her, either. I…tried my best to stop them. I thought that if I kept their insurrection from succeeding then I might have been able to sway Prime—convince him to still spare her life anyways. But…they got away, and Prime still hasn't lived it down, as you can tell."

Another image came to Catra—one she had seen in passing while her mind still flip-flopped in the citadel's medical ward, before Taline stabilized her. She was there too, standing on the steps of the Enclave Judiciary, the setting sun casting a dramatic background while soldiers and Battlemages fought the insurgents. She had witnessed Taline let loose a blinding fork of magic at someone in a deep cloak, a black mask covering his face in Prime's memories. Catra remembered the rage she felt—his rage—when she had watched him deflect Taline's spell with nothing but a gloved hand, much like Taline had done to Shadow Weaver.

"I think…I think I might have seen glimpses of that as well," Catra said, blinking away the memory to return to Etheria. How did Evelyn discover all this stuff? The Barrier, ignominite…she couldn't have just stumbled upon it, right?

Taline sighed, suddenly looking exhausted and aged. "Some people have special reactions when they come into contact with the Beast, if they live through the experience. Normally you'd die when it comes into contact with you and overwhelms your mind. It would then use your body as a thrall, or worse, an Abomination. But in Evie's case…"

"She had an incredibly powerful member of the Daiamid to protect that mind of hers?"

Taline nodded. "Corynth manipulated her. Just like Salas stabilized your mind against Prime's influence, Corynth did so with Evelyn's against the Beast, just on a grander scale. Instead of dying when she touched consciousnesses with the thing, she saw through time."

"She what now?" Catra wasn't sure she heard her right. Saw through time?

"I'm not kidding," Taline said, turning to look at her. "It showed her glimpses of its previous conflicts with other civilizations. Memories and events from eons ago. She saw how one civilization nearly discovered ignominite before her, saw the First Ones and their Barrier…. she saw the Heart, which is how she knew of Etheria's coming. She warned us to prepare for you."

"And despite all of that, Horde Prime still decided to interfere and nearly screw everything up?"

"He was furious when she defied him," Taline said, shrugging. "The public had already seen Corynth and his Shapers in action at the final battle. It would have been impossible to discredit them, so he exalted them instead and proclaimed them the true heroes of the war. Then he had Evie's name wiped from existence to claw back any semblance of control he could."

"And the Enclave just accepted that?" Catra asked, growing angry both at the injustice of it all and how seemingly resigned to it Taline looked. "You have all this clout to convince him not to conquer our planet and enough bargaining power to get him to leave us alone, but they just went along with erasing someone who saved all their asses because Prime was pissed off about it?"

Taline sighed. "It sparked days of debate in our political chambers, but they ultimately accepted without challenge."

"Why the hell would they do that? Don't you think that's kind of a betrayal to you and your sister?"

"Yes." Taline looked at her with hard eyes and steel in her voice, and Catra finally saw the rage and anguish she had expected to see from the start, simmering there under the surface. "Of course it's a betrayal. I hated going along with it too, but the galaxy needed help picking itself back up after what happened. I've never forgiven myself for not seeing what was really happening to her…for seeing through Corynth and how he was manipulating her. For not stopping it before it was too late."

Catra understood the feeling. For all that Adora tried to reach out to her after she left the Horde, she never understood exactly why Catra never went along with her. She never saw underneath the surface at what really was going on with her despite every effort to do so. If this was the end result of a path like that, then…

"I don't know what to say," Catra said at last. "That's just…It's…" she growled, feeling frustrated at not being able to find the words. "I'm sorry."

Taline shook her head. "It was eight years ago. Not a day goes by that I don't think about it, but you learn to cope with the new normal. I told you about this because I want you to understand something. It's okay to feel broken up about what happened between you and Adora. It's okay if it takes you a long time to focus on something in your life other than her. But at some point, you have to move forward. If you don't, you'll end up like me."

"That honestly doesn't seem like a terrible thing, truth be told," Catra said, earning a laugh.

"You'll end up like me eight years ago, Catra, not like me right now. I had let my bitterness and envy control my every interaction with Evie until it was too late. I wasted my chance to know her like a true sister, and in the end, it cost her life when I couldn't see how she was being used. At least with Adora, both of you are still alive, and there's the opportunity for your paths to cross again in the future."

Catra sighed and considered that. "I don't want to keep going through life trying to get back at her for leaving me," she said. "Even if she had a good reason to. I just don't know what to do now. The entire planet is going to be completely focused on the Heart. I'd like to help—heck, Scorpia even extended an invitation to come be an advisor in her new kingdom. But I feel like anything I do on this planet short of secluding myself deep in the woods or out in the Crimson Wastes is just going to remind me of her."

"It would be pretty hard to get away from that considering how central to the Enclaves plans Adora is."

Catra cursed under her breath and leaned back on her hands to stare up at the stars, matching Taline's posture. "I'd leave if I could," she said, thinking aloud. "See the galaxy, find a new place where I'd fit. But like Salas said at the briefing, only ex-Horde who are extended an invitation can go, and they'd be locked into a five-year term of service as front-line soldiers in the military. I'm not opposed to serving, I've been in Hordak's version of the Horde my whole life, but I didn't get an invitation to leave."

She shifted, suddenly feeling exposed. She had burned even more bridges with her old squad mates and the Etherian Horde in general long before Horde Prime's arrival. Her leadership under Hordak hadn't been well-received—not by Lonnie or Rogelio or the others, and she had a feeling her lack of an invitation to come along stemmed in part from that.

When she had heard Salas make the announcement after reconvening their briefing, and when she found out she hadn't been invited to serve like literally every other member of Hordak's old group had, it nearly broke her. Just thinking about it now still made her uncomfortably sad, even though she wouldn't admit it to anyone but herself.

"About that," Taline said, a playful tone dancing at the edge of her words. "Why not come with me?"

One of Catra's ears quirked. "I'm sorry, can you say that again? I'm not sure I heard you correctly."

"Glimmer's coming too."

"What!?"

Taline laughed. "Just so we're clear, she approached me about it, I didn't go to her. In fact, I was initially against it until she gave me a few good reasons to consider."

"She just got both her parents back, why would she want to leave Etheria and come with you? No offense, but I don't understand that."

"It's not my place to share," Taline said. "If she wants to tell you then she will, and I won't say anything more about it than that. But I'm offering you the same opportunity because of the same reasons I agreed to bring her along. The only difference is she asked me to take her and I'm offering to take you, if you want."

"And what reasons do you have for bringing us?"

"You're both smart, resourceful—"

Catra scoffed and tried to wave her off.

"—you're talented," Taline said, leaning in and forcing her voice past Catra's attempts to brush them away. "I mean it Catra. The both of you could use some distance from this place to grow, and the galaxy just so happens to be in a place where they could use your talents. Everything we've done on Etheria for the past month helping to rebuild we've also been doing throughout the whole galaxy for the past eight years. And now that the Beast is slowly returning, people are on edge. Our society is more fragile than ever."

Catra narrowed her eyes in thought. Sparkles was leaving? She had just started to become comfortable with her after everything, and one of the few silver linings Catra held close to her heart was, if she had to stay on Etheria, at least she'd be on good terms with Glimmer. Maybe even get a job she didn't hate and didn't force her to interact with Adora every day. But now? Now that Sparkles too was leaving? Was that what she wanted to talk to her about earlier? Was that why she had asked Catra to find her after finishing with Adora?

Taline pulled out a thin, saucer-shaped object from her jacket's breast pocket. She held it aloft between the two of them, and a holographic representation of what looked like a massive space station appeared above, rotating on its center axis.

"This is Phoenix Station," Taline said. "My new assignment for the foreseeable future, possibly until retirement."

"You agreed to accept whatever punishment Prime gave you in our place and he gave you command of a station?" Catra asked, incredulous.

"It's more complicated than that, but essentially yes. He wanted me expelled from the Enclave and thrown in prison, but whereas the Enclave didn't feel able to put their foot down with Evie, they stuck their necks out for me. I'm no longer a member of any of the Enclave's legislative councils or any of its steering committees. I have no more sentinels, and I no longer have a strong military following. I just have Phoenix Station and my job keeping peace in the sector of space it administrates."

She clicked a button and the spinning image transitioned into a visual of their spiral galaxy. A section of space in the middle rim highlighted in yellow.

"The station sits in this area of the mid-rim. You aren't familiar with the Empire's astrography so I'll spare you the details, but it's in an area that is decidedly tame. There's little unrest, it's not as crowded as the Heartlands and not as chaotic as the outer rim. It's slow and boring and that's part of the reason Prime put me there.

"None of this is a free ride, mind you. I'll be training Glimmer in magic and putting her up for consideration with the Enclave since it's the natural choice. You, on the other hand, have a few more options than she does, and still many more than your ex-Horde colleagues. You can't do magic, but there are plenty of spots that can use your skills and attitude. You'll have one year of probationary service under my sponsorship before you're given official citizenship with the Empire. Normally it takes five years, but a sponsor from a member of the Enclave holds special weight."

Catra ran scenarios through her mind so fast she was afraid she'd get whiplash. She could leave and start over! But then she'd be leaving the only home she's known, ever. Sparkles would be there too! But what if it was worse for her out there than here? But she'd have a clean slate and this time, and the benefit of Taline's guidance, rather than Shadow Weaver and the damned Fright Zone Horde.

"You don't have to make a decision right away," Taline said, resting a hand on Catra's knee. "And you wouldn't be saying goodbye to Etheria forever, either. The planet will make its debut on the galactic stage at some point in the future, whether in two years or five. I'll see what I can do to get limited, periodic contact for the both of you in the meantime, but even if I can't do that, it's not like you're saying goodbye forever."

Another breeze swelled up around them causing Catra to shiver.

Taline stood. "We're leaving tomorrow at 0900 sharp. A transport will land in the castle grounds to take us." She stripped off her jacket and placed it around Catra's shoulders. "Take the evening to think it over, and find me in the morning, if not to come with me then to at least say goodbye and to return my jacket."

She winked at her and without another word, turned to stalk down the knoll they were sitting on and head back toward the castle. Catra watched her go, struck dumb at what had just happened. Another breeze picked up and she pulled the jacket tighter around her for more warmth.

"Oh, and remember," Taline said, shouting over her shoulder as she went. "Not a word about Evelyn. Not. A. Word."

Catra clicked her jaw shut and nodded vigorously, even though Taline wasn't looking at her. She watched her go until she was a speck in the distance before she turned back around toward the Whispering Woods. The platter Taline brought from earlier caught her eye, and her stomach gave a mighty growl; she was starved and her body wasn't going to let her get away with ignoring its needs any longer. Catra lifted the cover and a flurry of delicious smells assaulted her. Her mouth watered, immediately.

A swell of emotion nearly brought her to tears at the sheer display of kindness she had experienced that day. Despite the train wreck that happened with Adora, Sparkles' parents both welcomed her with open arms, as did Scorpia. Taline's kindness was the metaphorical boulder that broke the dam—it was almost too much to handle. Catra ate in silence and savored every bite, taking extra care to not accidentally spill anything on Taline's jacket.

After a time, she craned her neck to get a look at the patches sewn into the fabric. The jacket felt comfortable, but looked even better. The Enclave and Battlemage insignias stood out crisp against the black material, and looking at them sent a strange feeling of pride through her similar to how she felt looking at the Force Captain badges for the first time.

"Phoenix Station, huh?" She said, staring up at the stars. Catra took another bite of food and thought of her future, her mind running wild with imagination.