If it was one thing Scorpia learned, it's that Catra loved taking naps. Back in the Fright Zone, she'd often find the catgirl sleeping in whatever warm spot she could find. Now in Brightmoon, Catra seemed to take advantage a little more of the sun. That's why the buff scorpion woman was on her way to their quarters that had been given to them.

She knew that Catra would be one to be sleeping the afternoon away and she wanted to be sure she had company in case she woke up and needed something. She hated the idea of Catra being lonely. After all she'd been through... she needed someone at her side.

When she entered the room, she found that surprisingly... Catra was actually awake. She was sat on the bed, reading one of the many books from the castle library. This was surprising. Scorpia hadn't figured Catra being much of a bookworm.

"You're still up, wildcat?" Scorpia noticed.

Catra looked over at her and sighed, rubbing her eyes. "I... I couldn't sleep. Too many bad dreams, I guess."

Scorpia sat down next to her, putting a pincer on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, boss. It must suck."

"You don't know the half of it, Scorpia," Catra admitted, looking down at her book. "I thought these fairy tales might help me sleep."

Scorpia gently picked up the book. "Fairy tales, huh?"

Catra nodded, blushing slightly in embarrassment. She felt a little ashamed, but it was better than nothing. The thought of a happy ending would help to put her mind at ease, distract from her pain and suffering enough so that she could get some peace.

All her dreams were filled with angst and regret over the things she'd done, so reading those stories would take her to a place where people hadn't been screwed over, where people were happy... where people could fall in love and not regret their actions.

"Well, what if I read them to you?"

Catra's eyes widened and she blushed even more. She did like the idea of that, but was too embarrassed to admit it. Even in front of Scorpia, her crush. "W-What?! C-Come on, Scorpia. I'm not a kid anymore"

"Says the girl reading fairy tales," Scorpia said with a wink.

Catra sighed, realising Scorpia was right. "I guess... I guess I'm trying to make up for the childhood I'd lost."

"Well... I lost a lot of my childhood too, Catra," Scorpia admitted. "So... how about you let me do this. My moms used to read to me all the time when I was a baby. Come on, just one."

"Well...all right. What could it hurt?"

She handed Scorpia the book, getting comfy in the covers. Secretly, she was loving this attention Scorpia was giving her. She didn't deserve someone as sweet and as gentle as her.

"Any... Particular one you want me to read?"

Catra had already read plenty of them. She didn't know which one she wanted to be read more. All of them would sound lovely being read in Scorpia's sweet, soft voice. But... then Catra had an answer for her,

"Just... One with a happy ending."

Scorpia beamed, before scrolling through the book. "Okay! Let's see here...oh, The Three Plums! This is one of my favourites!"

Catra shuffled a little closer to Scorpia in the covers, raising her eyebrow. "The Three Plums? I... I don't think I read that one."

"Oh, you're going to adore it!" Scorpia chirped. "Right, here we go. Once upon a time, there was a princess who was very picky when it came to getting married..."

Scorpia's voice was soothing, like the pillow she was resting on. Catra felt she could listen to her talk for hours and never get bored of whatever tangent she went on. But as Scorpia kept reading on through the story, the feline found herself nodding off.

And dreaming…

xXx

Princess Catra wiped the sweat from her forehead as she took some shade underneath a large tree in the forest, in a desperate chance to escape the burning heat. Why did she have to go out in the middle of summer, on what was clearly the hottest day of the year?

At least she was feeling a little cooler in the shadows of the tree, yet she could still feel how humid everything was. This wasn't just a forest anymore. It was a jungle, a steaming hot jungle. Catra even took off her jacket in yet another feeble attempt to cool herself down.

"Whoever decided to have people ride in the middle of summer should be shot," she muttered. She supposed that it was her own fault for getting into this situation. She had no one to blame but herself. Her own indecisiveness had led to all this.

Her mother had told her. "Since you don't like our choices for princesses, go find one yourself!"

Now here she was deep in the forest, suffering in the sweltering heat. All because she thought one princess was too tall and another was too skinny. Her throat was dry. Her water skin was empty and she was hungry, too. She fumbled through her backpack, seeing it was empty.

Before she could start a proper complaint and curse herself and the world, she saw hanging on a tree branch in front of her three ripe, luscious purple plums. Her mouth watered at the sight. Sure, she preferred apples to plums, but she had to take what she could get.

"Wow. Where did these come from?" she wondered.

She had her horse get up off the ground, climbing atop her so she could reach up to get to her sweet treats. Though she did have to stretch quite a bit, Catra was successful, plucking all three from the branch. She stored them back into her backpack.

"These will be good for a snack later," She remarked.

Eventually, Catra headed on her way, making her way through the forest. Thankfully, as it reached the afternoon, the heat wasn't getting as bad, though Catra still didn't know where she was going. Perhaps she just hoped to ride in one direction and magically bump into a potential bride.

As she stopped to rest her horse for a moment, she felt herself growing a little peckish. It was a good thing she'd grabbed those plums from earlier. She then grabbed one out of her pack. It sure did look delicious. She pulled her dagger from her pocket and dug the blade into the fruit, cutting it open.

Suddenly, in a flash of light the plum leapt from her hand and transformed into... A girl? The stranger stood before her, her skin tanned and freckled with long blonde hair braided. She also wore a long, beautiful green robe.

"Give me a drink of water, please," she asked.

Catra, after collecting her wits said: "I'm sorry, I don't have any."

The girl bowed her head and as quickly as she appeared, vanished in a flash of light. Catra just blinked, trying to remind herself that really had just happened. She looked around, seeing that her plum was gone as well. She sighed, rubbing her head.

"What in the...okay, I got to find some water soon. I'm hallucinating."

And off she rode again, grabbing an apple from a nearby tree as a substitute snack. She rode on for another while, but the thought of the mysterious woman who had appeared before her came back to her. Would... the same thing happen if she cut open the other plums?

When she got to her next rest stop, curiosity got the best of her and she cut open the second plum.

And to her surprise, another girl appeared from this plum. This girl looked different from the last one. She had dark skin and dark turquoise hair. She wore a gorgeous blue and gold robe and there was a long headscarf on her head, with what appeared to be a ring on her nose.

"Give me a drink of water, please," she asked, in a deep voice.

Catra stood dumbfounded. "I...I have no water."

And just like the last one, this girl also disappeared.

After what seemed like a long ride, Catra finally came upon a clear spring of water. She dismounted from her horse, went to the spring and drank. She filled up her water skin and sighed in satisfaction. As she took in the sweet sensation of water rushing down her throat she thought about the two strange women.

She felt bad about not giving them water. Perhaps... now that she finally had some water, she'd give it to whatever girl was hiding in the last of her plums. It was the least she could do. If she couldn't find a wife this day, she'd at least sleep tonight knowing she'd done something good.

Going to her backpack once again, she took out the third plum and cut it open with her dagger.

To no surprise at all, the plum glowed with an aura of light before taking the form of a girl. Though this one was much different than the previous two. She was a taller, muscular woman wearing a long red dress and... she had claws for hands? She also had short, virtually white hair.

"Give me a drink of water, please," she asked.

Catra took her water skin and held it out to her. "Here."

The girl took it and gulped it right up. "Oh thank you!"

"Uhhh... you're welcome," Catra admitted, blushing. "Sorry, I couldn't give drinks to your other friends... whatever you are."

"Oh they were me!"

"You?"

"Yes! You see, I was cursed by a witch to be in three plums until someone gave me water. And you broke the spell!"

The princess gaped. "I...I did?"

The girl grinned. "Yes! Oh, I feel so happy to be free!"

Catra blushed more, feeling a deep sense of gratitude. "Well, I'm glad I helped there... What's your name anyway? Maybe I can give you a ride home."

"Princess Scorpia."

Catra 's eyes widened. "You're a princess?!"

"Yes, this evil nasty sorceress lady in a mask cursed me... But you have set me free. I can't thank you enough."

Feeling her heart beat softly in her chest, Catra realised. This woman... this beautiful princess was who she had been searching for. She was beautiful, clearing in adoration of her for her efforts and of course, she was a princess, the most perfect princess Catra had ever seen.

"Well, Princess, there is probably one thing you can do for me... Will you marry me?"

"Oh my gosh yes!"

xXx

"And so they were married and had like ten kids and live happily ever after," Scorpia finished. "Oh, that was such a beautiful story!" She realised Catra wasn't saying anything. "Catra?"

Catra had fallen asleep halfway through the story. She was curled up next to Scorpia, snoring cutely, purring in her sleep. Scorpia blushed at how adorable Catra was. Well, she deserved her sleep and Scorpia was more than happy to do this again for her sometime.

"Awwww," Scorpia cooed. "Kitty's all tuckered out."

Getting up, Scorpia put the book down on the shelf nearby, leaning over and planting a soft kiss on Catra's cheek. "Sweet dreams wildcat."

A small smile appeared on Catra's sleeping face as Scorpia left her in peace, her thoughts filled with dreams about one day being with the most beautiful princess in all the world.

xXx

Author's note: You can thank Guppy for most of the idea on this one. I really loved doing this story hehe.