Part Three "Under the Stars"

Leaving the office feels strange. Catra left Bright Moon that morning expecting whatever Scorpia had found to be something easy, something manageable.

She didn't expect this.

Her stomach is twisted into so many knots, and her heart is alternating between soaring and sinking. Thankfully, Adora's hold on her hand as they descend the stairs is warm and steadying. Scorpia, noticing them, steps up from where Melog has been comforting her and gives them a watery smile, asking if they're alright. Adora answers as Catra relishes Melog bounding up and pushing into her side. Their warmth, the gentle vibration of their purr is welcome. She feels fragile, she hasn't felt this fragile in a long time now. It's scary, because it brings to mind how she felt at her worst, the memory of the hurts she once inflicted on herself and others. It's terrifying, because she realises it's going to take a lot of talking and thinking, and work, for her to feel strong again.

"Let's go, this way..." Scorpia says, pointing away from the path they followed in. "It'll bring us up near the forge, and then we can get you settled in and talk some more." There's gentleness in Scorpia's eyes, and Catra's eyes brim with tears again. She's so grateful, she thinks, for Scorpia. Grateful that she brought them here, even though it hurts, because for all the pain of it, Catra is glad to finally know the truth.

"Thanks, Scorp'," Catra says, her voice rough with emotion. Scorpia just flushes and leads the way.

The nice thing about her emotions being so overwhelming, Catra decides, is that it keeps the complicated thoughts at bay. She feels drained, barely able to acknowledge the thought that finally, Adora remembers, that it wasn't a dream. And the child... They lived? How...

Adora's arm squeezes her shoulders at regular intervals, her other hand holding hers as they make their way through the mine, tunnels, a lamp lit path. Adora is glued to her side the way Melog is glued to her other, and Scorpia chatters away providing anecdotes and commentary that helps keep Catra's thoughts from delving too close to the deep pits she knows awaits.

Catra even finds herself laughing when Scorpia mentions wanting to make an underground transport system in the mine like Entrapta built beneath Dryl.
"Just how big is this mine?" Catra asks.

Scorpia pauses to think, before pointing in a direction.
"That tunnel there, Entrapta reckons, goes as far as Scorpion Hill, this one reaches below Horror Hall and there's one further back that leads all the way to Skull Path. It's huge. You could easily go in near the border to Plumeria and come out near the Crimson Wastes."

Adora stutters and stumbles.
"This mine is as big as the Scorpion Kingdom?!" She exclaims, a note of alarm in her voice that has Catra worried. She feels Adora's fingers tightening their hold on hers. Her shock is shared. If Catra had known about this when she was Commander...

The thought doesn't bear thinking.

Thankfully, they seem to reach the exit Scorpia was looking for before Catra can drown long in thoughts too bleak to dwell on. Adora leaves Catra to stroke Melog's mane as she goes to ask Scorpia something. It's strange, really, to watch Adora reach out for her sword in the darkness of the mine, to watch her transform into She-Ra when there's no fight to be had, no magic to restore...

She glows, brighter than Catra can remember, with a fire that burns radiant as any sun. She-Ra's shining gaze surveys the darkness of the mine before she kneels, planting her blade in the rock below. A storm of colour erupts from the contact point, light leaping and dancing across the walls, filling the tunnels with wave after wave of magic.

Something untwists in Catra's soul. The stale, heavy air lifts, filling with spores of magic that make her sneeze and smile. The oppressive atmosphere, the shadows that had been leeching at their mood from the moment they entered the mine, lightens, and Catra finds herself crying in relief. As the magic fades away, the deathly quiet is replaced with the comforting trickle of water, the dark walls alight with the glow of roots, mushrooms and glow worms.

When they finally step out of the mine into the moss-covered remains of the forge, Scorpia is ecstatic at the transformation Adora gave the mine, and Adora's eyes, though sad, look happier.

Thankfully, when they reach Perfuma, it's made clear that neither of their hosts expect them to make a decision about the child yet. The only comment made directly on the matter is when Perfuma takes Catra aside to remind her that should she feel the need to talk her feelings out with a third party, she is always available. Catra nods her thanks as she strokes Melog, and is glad to later on see Perfuma take Adora aside with a similar expression. For now, both of them just want to discuss matters unrelated to the issue at hand, and catch up with their friends as they digest the news.

They share a meal in the outdoors courtyard Scorpia has set up around the Black Garnet. She rests her feet on a cushion as she reclines against a wall, Perfuma fussing with some pillows as the various faces, familiar and new of their joint retinue pass around bowls of salad, bread and cold meats. Even Swiftwind is there, with his own large cushion to recline on, happily enjoying a bowl of hay and apples. The mood is joyful and Adora is swiftly roped into telling the tales of their latest space venture, a rumbling Melog happily sprawled across her lap, their tummy full of treats. Catra sits back and smiles, admiring how relaxed Adora is. They've both grown these last two years. Catra couldn't be prouder of the woman Adora is becoming now, with her golden confidence and nerdy excitement about star maps.

It doesn't take long for the melancholy to settle in the pit of Catra's stomach though.
"Hey Wildcat, you're not providing additional commentary this time?" Scorpia asks from beside her.
Catra chuckles and shakes her head. She's watched Adora tell the tale enough times at Brightmoon already, besides, she's in one of her quiet moods. She turns her gaze to Scorpia, who's stroking her bump, smiling tenderly at whatever response she's sensing. Perfuma is off to make some herbal tea again, leaving the two in their own bubble of relative quiet.

"Say Scorpia..." Catra hesitates, is away to dismiss her question before Scorpia leans towards her, humming her enquiry. "I... Is it normal to be scared? About... About the parenting thing?"

Scorpia's brows dip in understanding.
"You know," she says quietly, "I wouldn't have asked you to come here if I didn't think you were up to the task." She nods in Adora's direction. "The both of you... You're great with kids. I remember at our wedding how they were all over Adora, and you were so patient helping me with those baby scorpions the month before."

Catra laughs at that. "I don't think baby scorpions are quite the same thing as a small person, Scorpia!"

"No, you're right... I..." She sits up straighter, her white hair falling over her eyes as she considers her next words carefully. "I... It is scary. To be responsible for someone so small, so vulnerable. Perfuma, she's... She's so relaxed about it all, because she's helped so many of her people through this," - she gestures at her bump, "but I can tell that she's still terrified that something might go wrong. I... I don't know what it was like, for you, back then, but..."

"You don't?" Catra's brow creases. "I thought that was how you knew to look...?"

They're both running their hands over the scars on the back of their necks. Scorpia shakes her head.
"Only got the briefest glimpse. Most of the time I just try and ignore the flashes. They're few and far between anyway."

Catra nods.
"Same." She was once worried that the intrusive thoughts from Prime's Hive Mind would never leave her. She's glad she barely gets them anymore. "I... I've never spoken with anyone about what happened to me then..."

The quiet stretches between them, Catra hugging her knees, before words start to spill from her lips seemingly without her permission.
"I thought I was dying. I... Thought she had cursed me. Shadow Weaver. I thought that was why Adora felt off. Shadow Weaver... She didn't punish me back then." She ruffles the hair above her eyes, looks away for a moment. A passing glance of Adora laughing at something helps her nerves settle and she smiles despite the tears in her eyes. "When Shadow Weaver found me in that vent, I thought she was there to finish me off. I think I passed out from the pain... When I came to, I only..." A hand is on Catra's shoulder. "I only caught the briefest glimpse of the baby. It's only then that it made any sense. I..."

"Come here." Scorpia says, pulling her into a tight one-armed hug. "You're nothing like her, you know? You do know that, right?"

Catra stills. Somehow Scorpia's words cut right to the heart of it. The tears fall steadily now, but she smiles as she returns the hug as tight as she can. "Thanks," she says in a whisper.

"Oh what did I miss now?" Perfuma says as she kneels down beside Scorpia. The pot of tea in her hand smells nice, calming. Both Scorpia and Catra just laugh. The rest of the evening is peaceful.

They fall asleep in a guest room set aside for them, far from their old barracks, with a view of the small lake that formed following the liberation of Etheria's magic. It's high up in one of the few remaining towers, and they whisper quietly to one another, tangled together in their sheets, Melog asleep on the balcony. There are tears, because how could there not be? Adora is still coming to terms with the full extent of the rapt of her memories, and Catra... Well Catra has to explain why she never spoke of it; not to Adora, but to herself... It's good to finally be able to speak with Adora about that traumatic episode of her life, to know, unequivocally, what Adora's perspective on the whole fiasco had been.

They're not dwelling on the what-ifs, because they know full well by now that what-ifs won't help them... But still, when Catra drifts off and starts to dream, she pictures a young Adora, in that old red jacket sitting beside her with the newly born Finn in her arms, smiling at them like they're a whole new world, a second life gifted upon her. It's domestic and sweet and has Catra waking up in a panic when Adora's elbow shoves her out of the bed. She's mourning the idea of Adora nursing an infant, their infant, as she sits up. Blearily she looks at the bed. Adora is sleep fighting, something she's not done in over a year. Shit.

"Adora... Adora!" Adora startles awake as Catra straddles her hips, her wrists trapped in her hands. Her grey-blue eyes are wide as she takes deep, starved breaths, struggling to bring her heart rate down. Catra's hands quickly reach her scalp, stroking the hair there along the edge of her undercut. "Sh... It's okay, I'm here. We're safe."

A heart-breaking sob breaks from Adora as she sits up into Catra's embrace, her arms crossed tight over her abdomen. It takes a few minutes for her to calm, to find her voice and speak.
"I... I dreamt of my parents..." She whispers into the crux of Catra's neck. And oh, they've spoken about this before. Catra's hands still.

Adora mentioned, once, while they were travelling, how upon finding the sword of Protection, she'd been given a vision, a memory of when she was a baby. It was upon a space ship, looking out through a porthole onto a planet in a sea of stars. She remembered hearing voices, the gentle touch of loving hands, being wanted. Catra remembers how Adora's voice broke when she admitted that that had been the worst part about realising that she'd been stolen as an infant, not abandoned... The idea that somewhere out in the wider universe she once had a family that was left to mourn after her disappearance, that never got the answers they were owed, it stung.

"Do you..." Adora's voice cracks, but her gaze doesn't leave Catra's. "Do you think... Does Finn think we abandoned them?"

Catra takes care to consider her answer, gently rocking with Adora in her arms. She herself has no illusions about what happened to her parents. As a child Adora had found her hiding in a box labelled Apple Sauce. That had been amongst the spoils of a raid brought back to the Fright Zone for Shadow Weaver to inspect. Catra once looked through the Horde's records, found the name of the town that was ransacked back then: Halfmoon, an overwhelming victory with no survivors... She had found a strange comfort in that, knowing that her family hadn't fled and left her behind, but had died protecting her. She didn't approve: after all, they couldn't be there for her if they were dead, but it meant they hadn't given up on her.

They hadn't given up on her.

"Finn is five and a half," Catra said somewhat tartly, poking Adora in the forehead. "They're probably too busy thinking about how best to climb the tallest building they've seen in their short life to worry about whether or not they have a family that wants them."

Adora's grumpy pout has Catra chuckling. "Look, we'll worry about that if it comes up. For now, I..." She glances at the gap between the curtains, the unmistakeable hue of midnight sky glimpsing through, with a tinge of pink on the horizon. Adora's probably got as much sleep as she's going to get. "How about you go see to Swiftwind? You promised him some loop-de-loops didn't you? He'll help you clear your head and we can talk some more when you get back."

Adora maintains the pout for all of five seconds before bowing her head in submission, a muffled "hate it when you're right" coming through before she disentangles herself from Catra's embrace. By the time Adora's thrown on some clothes and given Catra a quick kiss goodbye, Catra finds she's too awake to go back to sleep.

She steps quietly past a still snoring Melog onto the balcony, examines the walls around her. It's an easy climb. She lets out a breath once she reaches the top and takes in the scenery below. It's quiet, peaceful. She looks up to the stars and smiles. She knows what she wants to do now. It feels right. Catra chuckles as she hears Swiftwind's grumbling carried up to her on the breeze, turns to watch him and Adora spin in the sky. Half an hour later she's watching the sun rise with a drowsy Melog yawning at her side. They rumble at her, in that language of theirs that she alone seems to understand.

"Yeah, buddy," Catra replies, leaning over to give them a good belly rub. "I sure did figure it out."

As they descend back to their room, she thinks, for the briefest of moments, that she catches the glimpse of a tail and pointed ears on a rooftop below. It's probably just a trick of the light.

"You're sure about this?" Adora says, as she holds Catra's hand. They're standing at the doors to the breakfast room where they've agreed to meet with Perfuma and Scorpia. Catra tightens her grip in response.

"Yeah, dummy, I'm sure," she smirks, leans up against Adora's arm in the way that always makes her blush. "Unless you're having second thoughts?"

When Adora got back, they pretty much tripped over each other to say that they wanted to try, for Finn's sake, to be the parents they never had. Of course, they both agreed, it wouldn't happen overnight, and the logistics of it all would take some figuring out, and there was also the real possibility that Finn wouldn't want to come and live with them. By the stars, they weren't even married. But what, in their lives, had ever been straight forward and easy?

"No second thoughts," Adora replied. Magic glows in her eyes and she smiles.

Catra nods. They open the door.

.