Mara was nowhere to be seen when Catra finally made it to Loo-Kee for the night. However, as she came up to the counter, Razz eyed her with a wry smile, which gave her a little bit of hope. "One moment," the old woman told her, and when she retreated to the kitchen Catra wasn't sure whether she would reemerge with her noodles in hand or Mara.

It ended up being just the noodles. Catra tried not to let herself feel disappointed. She really did. But she couldn't help but wonder, "Is, um, Mara—"

"She'll be right out, dearie," Razz cut her off, that smile growing.

Catra breathed a sigh of relief and then pulled a frown at herself. "Thanks, Razz," she said, and she was just talking about the noodles. Honestly.

She picked up her bowl and shuffled off to her corner table.

Mara was, in fact, right out. She shouldered through the kitchen door with a steaming tray of food and headed for a table in the opposite corner, her eyes focused the way they got when she was on a mission. She didn't notice Catra until she set the tray down and began passing out the bowls to the patrons around the table and her eyes flicked up almost compulsively, like she'd been watching her corner booth all night, and—

As soon as Mara laid eyes on Catra she brightened considerably, and then sobered just as fast. She finished serving the table she was currently attending and then made a beeline for her lonely seat.

"Hey," she greeted as she approached, leaning against the back of the booth opposite her in a forced casual stance. Her eyes flitted across Catra's face as if nervously searching for something. "Did—did you, uh?" She bit her lip and cracked the knuckles of one hand absently, nervously. "Your job?"

Catra knew what she was trying to ask, but wasn't sure why she looked guilty when she hadn't done anything but help.

She gave Mara a small, dry smile. "Still got it," she assured, feeling a twinge of warmth at the sigh of relief that left the other girl. But her back was still aching against the booth cushion, and she added without thinking, "I paid for it, though."

Mara's eyes widened instantly. "What do you mean?"

Oh shit. Catra was torn between guilt and satisfaction at the other girl's concern. She was beginning to find that she liked having someone care, but she did not want to let the weight of her woes crush Mara. She chewed the inside of her cheek and pushed her noodle bowl back and forth between her hands, wondering how much was too much to share.

Mara's expression did not change; if anything only twisting further into worry as the silence stretched. "What do you mean?" she asked again at length, softer. She lowered herself into the seat across from Catra, showing that she was fully invested in the conversation, on the clock or not.

Catra let out a sigh and rubbed across her face with one hand, a lump blocking her throat all of the sudden. She looked away from Mara's intent blue-gray eyes. "I—" she stopped and cleared her throat and sighed again. It was too much—she couldn't tell Mara. Not now.

"My boss is just tough," she mumbled. "Don't worry about it."

The way Mara's brows furrowed, she was definitely worrying about it, but Catra figured that ignorance would be better than the alternative.

Before the girl could pry, Catra quickly changed the subject:

"Hey, uh, when you said you'd see me tonight," she began tentatively, raising her eyes again to gauge Mara's reaction, "did you mean this?" She touched the table with one finger. "Or…" She trailed off, allowing Mara to catch her drift.

The other girl perked up again, pink coming to her cheeks, although Catra got the feeling she had not forgotten what they were just talking about. "I did mean this," she admitted, but rushed on quickly: "but if there's something else you'd rather do…" She bit her lip. "I'll be off in an hour."

Catra gave her a slow, crooked smile. "I've got time."

"Great!" Mara responded a little shrilly, a little flustered, but eyes sparkling with excitement so pure Catra almost laughed. She got up from the table, but then leaned back down to share, "I've got the perfect thing. Meet you here in an hour?"

"I won't go anywhere," Catra confirmed, feeling her own cheeks heat against her will. Mara was this pleased to spend time with her? Catra still had no idea what she saw in her. But her chest felt full enough that she didn't much care.

"Great," Mara repeated as she retreated back toward the counter where Razz stood eyeing her fondly. She flashed Catra a smile before returning to her boss with a quick, "Sorry!" to which Razz just chuckled and handed her another tray of noodles ready to serve.

Catra smiled softly back and settled into her booth to wait.

Was her heart supposed to feel like that?

…

The hour before Mara was released from work passed quickly. Maybe because Razz let her off fifteen minutes early because of course she knew what was going on. Catra had to wonder why that woman was so intent on setting the two of them up. She was certainly more confident than Catra was that their relationship would lead anywhere positive. Catra was in the habit of breaking things, after all.

But she could not deny that she was excited.

As soon as Mara emerged from the kitchen after completing her shift, Catra rose to her feet to meet her halfway across the room. Mara was grinning, and it was so bright and so beautiful it was frankly contagious. Catra couldn't get enough of the way her blue-gray eyes sparkled.

"Hey," she greeted, unable to fight a smile of her own.

"Hi," replied Mara and Catra swore she bounced a little on the balls of her feet. "Are you ready to go?"

Catra let out a chuckle. "Ready as I can be when I don't even know where we're going."

"Hey, it worked out last time, didn't it?" Mara teased, nudging her with her shoulder and starting toward the door.

Catra's eyebrows shot up as she followed. "Barely! I was afraid I was going to get shanked."

Mara looked half offended and half very concerned. She stepped out onto the stoop and held the door for Catra to exit behind her. "By me? Or the other people there?"

"Uh, yes."

"I wouldn't let that happen!" Mara protested. She started out in the direction of the bay, walking close to Catra. Their shoulders brushed and the contact was welcome in the cool night air. Their hands hung near enough together that Catra could have reached out and clasped them with hardly any effort.

She shoved her hands in her pockets to resist the temptation and shrugged defensively. "I didn't know that!"

"Well, now you do," Mara told her firmly, with enough conviction that Catra's smile grew uncontrollably. This was new. This was nice.

"Okay, princess," she replied, just to avoid venturing onto overly sappy territory.

Mara just scoffed, and they continued on.

They fell into a comfortable silence as they walked, simply taking in the sights and the sounds of nighttime Republic City (which seemed different somehow with company). Catra's feet were cold on the pavement, but the rest of her was warm beside Mara. The wariness and defensiveness that had wrought the air between them until recently was dulled, if not gone entirely. Catra basked in it. This is what I've been missing out on, huh, she thought. It didn't feel quite like friendship yet, and she didn't dare call it a romance. She guessed the right word for it would be companionship.

She could get used to this.

They kept moving, and all Catra could really tell from their path was that they were heading toward the water, but she felt comfortable enough following Mara's lead that she didn't ask.

Eventually, the other girl's voice broke the silence: "Hey."

When Catra glanced up questioningly, she found those blue-gray eyes already watching her with a mixture of tenderness and hesitance. "Yeah?" she prompted tentatively, not sure what to make of that look.

"Do you think, at this point in our relationship, you could trust me with your name?"

The question hit Catra like a slap to the back of the head. My name! She hadn't even told Mara her name! To be fair, Mara hadn't told her her real one either, but Catra at least had something to call her.

She hadn't realized she'd been keeping it a secret until now. Because, yeah, she supposed that was what she was doing, without knowing it. She wasn't in the habit of divulging personal information unless asked, and even then it felt about as enjoyable as having her teeth pulled.

But Mara, hadn't she done enough to deserve that knowledge by now? Catra supposed so. And the way she phrased it—careful, respectful, always gentle around Catra's boundaries—it gripped Catra's heart and filled her with an unexpected warmth and made her blurt a little too enthusiastically,

"It's Catra!"

Mara blinked a few times in surprise and Catra grimaced, wondering when she'd stop making a fool of herself. But then the other girl broke into a wide smile and adjusted her path to walk a little closer to her, giggling, "Thank you." And then, after a pause: "…Catra."

Catra ducked her head to hide the look of pure pleasure that she knew was spreading over her face. She didn't need this. She couldn't handle this. Mara was going to be the death of her and Catra was going to let her.

It wouldn't be a bad way to go.

The streets they were navigating gradually widened and straightened, and the path became better lit. The sidewalks were more crowded here and Satomobiles crawled up and down the lanes. Through the gaps in the buildings just ahead, Catra could catch sight of the mirror surface of the bay. They were still heading toward it. Catra had been here often enough to recognize the structures rising up on either side of them, but she'd never set foot inside any of them. She wondered briefly if Mara had.

As they neared the water, their path became clear to her. Dominating her field of view was a massive golden building with a glass domed top. It was brightly lit on all sides, making its walls look molten, and a pair of wide-open doors channeled a stream of people in and out. Catra knew what it was. She'd eavesdropped on a few of its radio broadcasts and she'd always perked up with interest at the mention of what went on inside. As a kid she'd always wanted a chance to see it herself, but that desire faded as more pressing problems crowded in. But now,

Republic City's pro-bending arena was staring her right in the face, and her childhood dreams were about to be realized.

"Wow…this is what you meant?" she asked, equal parts excited and intimidated by the prospect of going inside.

Mara watched her take in the impressive gold façade. "Do you like it? You seemed to enjoy my fight, so I thought—"

"It's good," Catra assured her before she could convince herself otherwise. Then she narrowed her eyes in a sly sideways glance and added, "I like it better when I get to watch you, though."

Mara was surprised for a beat. Then she composed herself and shot back, "Well, there's a tournament at the Quántóu Underground starting this weekend. I don't suppose you'd want to watch me try for the grand prize?"

Catra cocked an eyebrow to hide the flutter of her heart at the mention of that opportunity. "Which is?"

Mara looked this way and that to make sure no one was listening before leaning close to Catra's ear and whispering, "Two hundred thousand yuan."

Catra balked. "What?" she cried before Mara shushed her and she remembered to lower her voice. "Two hundred k?" she whispered fiercely instead. "Where did they even get that kind of money?"

Mara shrugged. "Entry fees from the past year?" At Catra's skeptical look, she shrugged again more emphatically and raised her palms. "I don't pretend to know about all the shady stuff that happens down there. I just fight to win," she disclaimed.

Catra chuckled in her throat and bumped Mara's shoulder with hers, murmuring, "And you will."

Mara avoided looking at her in an attempt to hide her blush. "We'll see," she grumbled modestly, then nudged Catra back and nodded toward the entrance doors. "Let's go. It's almost time."

As they approached, Catra dropped her eyes from gazing at the intricate, floodlit façade and realized that there was an attendant at the door taking a few bills from every passing guest. Her heart dropped into her stomach, not for the first time.

"Don't tell me this place has an entry fee too," she said, more nervousness coming through in her voice than she intended.

"We have to buy tickets," Mara explained, then looked over at her kindly. "Don't worry. I'll cover it."

"Mara, you can't keep—" Catra started to protest, but the line at the door was moving quickly, and they were almost to the attendant.

"I'll win it all back at the tournament," Mara insisted, as if that were any better. "Please. I want to treat you."

"Mara…"

"Catra." The other girl was unwavering. It helped that in about five seconds they would be through the door and Catra wouldn't be able to do anything about it. The two held each other's eyes with equal stubbornness for a moment before Mara grinned crookedly and added, "I'm sure you'll find a way to pay me back somehow."

Catra covered the hitch in her breath by heaving a long sigh. They stepped up to the attendant, and she watched Mara's money leave her hand in exchange for their tickets with sour regret. She would find a way to pay her back. Somehow. Eventually.

"Come on," Mara's voice broke her out of her funk, and the two made it inside.

The soaring lobby again made Catra tip her head back to marvel at the luxury she was standing in.

A teardrop-shaped chandelier dominated the ceiling, illuminating two curving flights of stairs on either wall which led up to openings to the second and third levels. Directly ahead was the ground-level entrance to the arena, and through it came the dull roar of the already-gathered crowd. Catra found her nerves winding tighter as they always did in unfamiliar circumstances, but with a hint of a thrill. This is crazy, her thoughts raced. I'm really here. With someone. I'm really about to—

She lost her train of thought as she and Mara crossed the lobby and passed through the main doors into the arena itself.

The outside of the building had looked big, but the interior seemed impossibly huge from where they stood. The cavern of the intricate glass ceiling arched high over the sprawling playing arena in the center. Three levels of concrete balcony seating climbed in ascending rows up to a ring of windows circling the entire space. The light that shone through them was gold, reflected off the exterior walls by the bright floodlights, and it shined off the surface of the water pit that stood in for a floor. The press box responsible for the radio broadcasts she'd heard as a child stood directly across from their entrance, on the same plane as the huge playing platform. Catra swallowed and tried not to gawk too obviously.

"Wow. Almost as nice as the Underground," she joked to temper her awe.

Mara, also gazing around the room beside her, sucked her teeth in distaste. "I wish. They save all the good stuff for the benders."

Catra felt a little pang of familiar dread shoot through her and chanced a look at Mara out of the corner of her eye. Did she really think that? Did she really consider benders some uppity class? People who always got dealt a better hand? Wasn't Catra proof of the contrary?

Mara seemed not to think twice about her comment, so Catra let it lie. Instead she watched the taller girl squint down at their tickets in the dimmed house lights and try to determine where they were supposed to sit.

"It's, uh." Mara glanced between the numerals on the corner of the slip and the seating sections around the room. She waved the ticket vaguely toward their left. "Over there somewhere."

Catra snorted. "Come on, princess. Aren't you supposed to know what you're doing?"

"Hey, I've only lived here for like a month," Mara defended. Catra laughed at her, but she still followed the other girl's lead toward the left side of the arena.

Twenty minutes found them in a pair of empty seats that didn't match the numbers on their tickets, but were close enough. They'd earned a few sideways looks as they climbed over the legs of the people crowded into the row ahead of them, but nobody challenged their claim.

"Want some snacks or anything?" Mara asked as they settled in, just in time. The lights dimmed even further and the center of the ring lit up in a brightly contrasting spotlight. The sharply dressed announcer was rising on a moving platform into its white rays.

Catra's stomach practically perked up at the mention of food, but she shook her head. No more handouts from Mara tonight. Instead she sank into her seat, propped her feet up on the chair in front of her (the concrete floor was littered with popcorn remains that made her soles itch), and made herself focus on the pale man in the middle of the ring.

His voice, amplified by a corded microphone, carried stridently around the room. "Introducing the first team, the Future Industries Fire Ferrets," he projected, gesticulating toward the moving walkway where the trio dressed in red was approaching the ring. When they'd had their chance to wave and posture to the crowd to a chorus of cheers, he pointed to the opposite side of the ring: "and their opponents, the reigning champions, the Boar-q-pines!"

That rang a bell, as it were. "Hey, wasn't Boar-q-pine the guy who fought at the Underground the other day?" Catra murmured to the girl beside her as the crowd welcomed the team clad in brown.

Mara hummed noncommittally. "Probably. Boar-q-pines are tough and aggressive, so I guess it's a common 'macho fighter guy' name," she figured, air quotes included. Then she sat forward and propped her chin on her fist, eyes flashing in interest. "Let's see if they live up to their name this year."

Catra joined her in zeroing in on what was happening in the ring (though Catra was still very aware of the girl sitting in her peripheral vision). She still couldn't quite believe that everything she was seeing and hearing was real. Everything she perceived seemed oddly heightened, like she'd just taken a hit of something stronger than má. She wasn't sure yet whether feeling too much was better than feeling nothing at all.

Right now, she let it wash over her without concern, because somehow it felt safer with Mara beside her.

As they watched, the two pro-bending teams lined up at the center line. After a tense pause, the referee counted them off, a bell sounded, and then the platform exploded into a flurry of motion.

It was almost dizzying to watch the benders flip and spin and bound and send their elements flying back and forth across the ring. Catra couldn't comprehend how the competitors kept track of where everything was from one moment to another. She was sure that if she set foot in there, she'd be blasted off the back in a second. Her eyes flicked from one end of the ring to the other, trying to take in every detail at once. It hadn't sounded this chaotic over the radio! She found herself biting her lip in concentration, legs twitching every once in a while as she pictured executing the dynamic moves herself. She was so intent on the match that Mara's presence and the novelty of where she was right now faded into the back of her mind.

Thus for a while they didn't speak except for the absent noises of frustration and empathy that one or the other made whenever a bender got hit particularly hard. That happened often, in the case of the team dressed in red: the Fire Ferrets. The poor souls seemed extremely off their game, if the scoreboard said anything about it. Catra wondered if they were always like this or if they were just having a bad night.

As she watched, the fire- and waterbender on said side stumbled right into one another and gave the Boar-q-pines the chance to send them flying into the third zone. She let out a grunt of discontent and flopped back in her seat. Somewhere over the course of the match she'd begun subconsciously rooting for the poor underdogs.

"The Fire Ferrets don't seem very good," she observed, finally breaking the relative silence between herself and her companion.

"They usually are!" Mara cried on an explosive sigh, just as vicariously irritated as she, gesturing toward the Fire Ferrets now regrouping at the line for the second round. Their earthbending teammate had just narrowly held on to the match for them. "Ever since the Avatar joined a few weeks ago they've been undefeated."

"The Avatar?" Catra echoed incredulously. She hadn't heard that title in a while. She hadn't believed it was real for even longer.

But Mara was raising her arm to point across the stadium to the girl with the blue marker, and assuming that really was the Avatar, she was unmistakably real—flesh-and-blood and in the midst of getting nailed with a stone disc to the chest.

But she hadn't bended anything but water yet, so how could Catra be sure? She crossed her arms and said belligerently, "I don't believe you."

Mara scoffed in mock offense. "You trust me enough to tell me your name but not enough to believe me on this?"

"I'm not questioning you, I'm questioning her!" Catra corrected, flicking her hand toward the girl now running back into the ring—the one who had almost cost her team the round just moments prior. "She'll have to bend all four elements before I believe the Avatar's real."

"You don't believe the legend?" Mara sounded genuinely curious.

Catra shrugged, thankful that she didn't seem to be judging her. People usually flew into a rage when she admitted she was a skeptic. "Never had any higher powers deign to get involved in my life. Hard to believe they'd do it to anyone else's," she grumbled.

"Oh? What about this?" Mara asked, pointing to her sun-colored hair. When Catra shrugged one shoulder noncommittally, she decided to press a little further. "What about…this?" She sat forward to face Catra a little more squarely and grasped her near hand.

Catra jerked out of reflex but didn't rip her hand away—not this time. This time it didn't scare her so much. Instead the feeling of Mara's larger palm over hers sent a ripple through her system, shocking her nerves into overdrive, and suddenly her heart was beating fast and she could see every speck of gray in Mara's eyes as their gazes locked. What? What is this? A connection? A mistake? Her jaw dropped and the first thing out was a weak, "Spirits got nothing to do with that."

Mara watched her long enough for the noise and awareness of the crowd to fade into the background. Catra's world narrowed to the points of the girl's eyes, her hand on hers, and the knot in her gut that she couldn't figure out was pulling her towards Mara or away. Her hand was so warm, so secure. Catra licked her lips uncomfortably and saw Mara glance down at them and then back up. Her face was coloring and Catra was glad the room was dim enough to hide her matching blush.

Spirits definitely got nothing to do with this.

Before the tension could become unbearable, Mara cleared her throat and conceded, "If you say so." She sat back and released Catra from her intense gaze and Catra was split between relief and disappointment.

Her hand lingered a moment longer before slipping away.

It was hard to focus back on the match while the girl next to her occupied her mind so thoroughly—what had that moment just meant? What were her intentions? Why was she being so kind to Catra when Catra had been nothing but a jerk to her? Why was Catra just as intrigued as she was terrified?—but she tried her best, just so her entry fee wouldn't go to waste.

She kept her eyes glued stubbornly to the platform while the last round of the match played out in front of her. The Fire Ferrets managed to hang on, again thanks to their earthbender, and the scoreboard lit up in the declaration of a tie.

"What happens now?" Catra wondered aloud. She'd never listened to a match with a tie before.

"Each bender from one selected element faces off in the center to break the tie," Mara explained without taking her eyes off the tense scene in the center of the room. Catra wondered if she was avoiding her gaze on purpose or just absorbed in the fight. "The Fire Ferrets just won the coin toss, so they get to pick which element."

Just as Mara had said, the judge in the middle had flipped a coin and held it up with the red side facing out. At the result, the Fire Ferrets firebender made as if to step onto the center platform, but his earthbending teammate held him back by the shoulder and took his place.

"Smart move," observed Catra. "He's been the only one on his game all night."

Mara made a little noise of agreement and the two virtually scooted to the edges of their seats to have a clear view of what was to go down. The rest of the crowd seemed to be doing the same; a hush fell over the crush of people as they all waited in suspense.

The earthbenders from each team stepped onto the round platform in the center of the ring, which began to rise, and the other players cleared back to give them room. The chosen Fire Ferret squared up against the corresponding Boar-q-pine in preparation for the bell.

The second it was rung, the two benders launched an exchange of high-velocity stone discs, each exploding against one another to be rendered useless. The Boar-q-pine then went for a flying kick, which the Fire Ferret rolled beneath and returned with a grapple. The older bender reversed and sent the Fire Ferret flying, but the young man who'd carried his team all night managed to retaliate with a midair strike to a knockout blow. The Boar-q-pine went soaring off the playing platform, and Catra let out a breath of relief she didn't know she'd been holding.

Most of the crowd surged to its feet in celebration. As Mara joined in with a whoop, Catra watched her face, taking in the jubilant smile of shared victory, the shine of her eyes, the way her cheeks turned pink with her excitement—

In the midst of the deafening crowd and the crazy thrill of the match's conclusion, it occurred to Catra that she liked the look on Mara's face very much, and she wanted to see it again. She wanted to cause it. She wanted to be able to affect her like that.

It was then that Mara turned her head and found Catra staring at her and somehow that smile grew and Catra's heart skipped a beat. If that wasn't enough, Mara reached down and took her hand again to pull her along into the excitement.

Catra's pleasure outweighed her fear.

There was a word for what she was feeling, but that was a revelation she was not willing to face just yet. Maybe ever.

But she was perfectly content to let herself get swept up in the cheering crowd for a little while, Mara holding onto her and Catra surprising herself by holding back.

…

"I'll walk you home."

"Wait." The interjection surprised Catra just as much as it did Mara. She hadn't meant to say it aloud. But now that it was out, she cleared her throat and added meekly, "I'm not ready to…to go home yet." She shivered, and only partly because the night had grown chilly while they were inside. Truthfully, she just didn't want to face the darkness and loneliness of the mousehole she called home yet. It would all seem that much more oppressive after the time she'd spent with Mara.

Mara turned to her, stepping close so she could shield her from the chill wind with her taller form. "What would you like to do?" she asked, head tilted curiously, eyes soft. Something about that look told Catra that she could read straight into her insecurities. Right now that felt like a comfort rather than a weakness.

Which was almost worse. Catra was supposed to be strong. She was supposed to be a loner. She wasn't supposed to be leaning into Mara's protection, greedy for her warmth, but that's what she did. When did she start letting herself feel like this?

Catra dropped her eyes with a shrug. "I don't care," she mumbled. As long as it's with you, was the silent addition, too raw to admit aloud.

Mara made a little gesture like she was about to wrap her arms around Catra but decided against it. Instead she clasped her hands in front of her, forcing them under control. Catra was too much of a coward to protest.

"Well, I picked pro-bending, so it's your turn," Mara said with a little smile.

Catra raised her head and frowned. Her turn? She had no clue what people usually did for fun around here. It was never an option for her, so she paid no attention to what the mainstream youth did in the cleaner parts of the city. What might be an enjoyable way to pass the rest of the evening with Mara? Now as she glanced around at streets lined with shops, the prospect of spending any more of Mara's money made her queasy, so she looked the other way. Her eyes landed on the bay.

The golden lights of the waterfront buildings reflected off the rippling surface, setting the shore to flame. The bridge to the west was lined with a walking path, and it was only lightly populated at this time of night. Its own streetlights sent spots of gold into the water just off the edge.

Catra didn't usually have the time just to stop and appreciate beauty, so right now, the sight drew her.

"Can we just…" Hands in her pockets, she motioned with her elbow toward the bridge, "walk?"

"Sure." Mara's smile grew. "Let's go."

They struck off toward the bridge, the night air both refreshing and biting as if buffeted their skin. Again they didn't speak, and still it wasn't awkward. In fact, Catra was feeling subdued, calm out here in the quiet after the noise of the pro-bending arena. The distant rumble of automobile motors hardly covered the sound of their feet against the cobbles.

Soon instead they were walking on wooden planks, and here the lap and ripple of the bay water joined in the soft mix. They wandered out from the shore a ways before stopping along the railing. Here they had a perfect view of the radiant skyline; the silhouettes of tall buildings gilded in orange light against the black shape of the mountains in the background. The figures of people and Satomobiles still populating the streets seemed small and insignificant in comparison. Here, from far away, one could easily assume that everything within that shining city was just as beautiful as its soaring façade.

"The city's so alive, even at night. Everything's so bright," Mara observed, a little awestruck, as she leaned her elbows against the railing. "Like having the stars right here within our reach." Then she tipped her head back to regard the sky, the edges of her face outlined in molten light, and it was more striking than the skyline. Her voice dropped low when she added, "I can never see the stars here."

Stars.

Catra looked up, too, and tried to imagine what a star-filled sky would look like. She had only ever seen a handful on the really clear nights that the sky was black as pitch. Her earliest memories were of here, though, so she had never seen the sprawling blankets of silver dust that supposedly covered the sky in less developed parts of the world. Places where the human hand hadn't erased so much.

And Catra still thought that the view of the city from here was beautiful, but when she thought of the natural wonders she had never gotten to witness…

"I haven't ever really seen them," she admitted, almost afraid of disappointing Mara with that fact.

But when the girl whipped her head around to face Catra, her surprise was touched with more excitement than offense. "You haven't?" she blurted, and when Catra shook her head she gushed, "I should take you to my hometown, then; the night sky there is like a dream. I—"

She stopped abruptly and closed her mouth, shoulders deflating slightly.

Catra inched closer. "What?" she questioned, confused by the sudden change.

"Sorry." Mara turned her face away, and Catra's concern deepened. "I, uh, sometimes forget that I can't go back there. And then I think of it and—" She bit off her words and shook her head.

"What do you mean? Why can't you?"

"Um. It's complicated."

"You don't have to tell me," Catra assured quickly, "but I've got the time."

"I do want to, it's just…hard," Mara sighed. Her eyes dropped to the water where the outline of the city was blurred; smudged; not quite as perfect. She took a long moment to gather herself, and Catra let her, surprised and breathless at the prospect of learning something about her enigmatic companion.

Mara raised her head again and her throat jumped in a swallow before she began: "I…was born in Ba Sing Se, out of wedlock, which would have been bad enough on its own, except I was born to somebody I shouldn't have been." She cracked her knuckles idly and then rubbed their bruised ridges when it hurt. "A…high-up official in the Earth Kingdom government. As soon as he found out, he set out to kill me—he was married, so couldn't leave any evidence lying around, right."

"Spirits," Catra breathed in horror.

Mara hummed an absent agreement. "My mother and her…her friend tried to escape with me, but my mother was killed in the attempt." She closed her eyes briefly and Catra watched her knuckles go white as she gripped the railing. "Her name was Mara."

That hit Catra like a punch. No wonder this is a painful subject. Suddenly guilty, she stammered out, "M—hey, listen, you don't have to go on if—"

"It's okay," Mara cut her off a little sharply, and then closed her eyes, took a breath and tried again. "It's okay, as long as you still want to hear it."

By way of answer, Catra reached out and laid her hand firmly over Mara's (that name meant so much more now that she knew) on the railing. When Mara looked up and met her eyes with shining blue-gray ones, Catra held steady, for once. She wanted to be there for this girl. Mara had already sat beside her through a night of má; it was all Catra could do to repay the favor.

"I'm listening," she said without a hint of uncertainty.

After a short, pregnant pause, Mara sighed out her tension and turned her palm over so she could squeeze Catra's hand. "Thanks, Catra," she said softly, and then turned to face the breeze coming off the bay. She took another steadying pause before continuing: "I was raised by my mother's friend—my mentor—in a village in the mountains southeast of here. It was better there, but they thought I was—" She stopped and shook her head shortly. "That's a story for another time. But, I grew up in that village and lived there until my—my father caught wind of it." She stared at her hands—at Catra's still in hers—but her gaze seemed focused far away. "That's when I had to come here. And that's when my mentor told me to hide my name; so he couldn't find me again."

"Except with someone you trust," Catra remembered.

"Yeah," Mara affirmed, voice falling to almost a whisper. She turned her head to regard Catra again, intently, contemplatively, like she was mulling over that decision anew. Weighing where exactly her trust stood. Her face was lit by the glow off the water and it made her appear surreal. Looking at her now, Catra thought angels were easier to believe in than spirits.

Her heartbeat was picking up as she anticipated what would come next. She had a good guess, based on the earnest look on Mara's face and the way she opened her mouth to speak but stumbled, and she wasn't sure she could stand it.

"What about this?" she interrupted before Mara could say anything too compromising. She reached up to flick a golden lock of the taller girl's ponytail, referring to the so-called spirit mark.

Mara blinked, her serious look clearing. She touched the same strands as if she'd forgotten there was anything special about them. "Oh, I—that's part of the story for another day," she explained weakly, her brows furrowing almost in disappointment.

Catra chewed her lip, feeling a little bad but just not ready for Mara to say something like actually, it's you I trust! and facing all the complications that would come with that. Instead she prodded, "So you do know," just to keep her off the topic.

Mara sighed heavily. "I know what people said," she explained, shrugging one shoulder (her other must still have been tender from the burn), "but I never believed them."

Catra sensed her agitation and tried to break it up: "Well, until you share, I'll just have to assume it's 'cause you're a princess."

Mara gave her a half-annoyed and half-fond look, and Catra returned a crooked grin. It felt better to banter with the other girl; way nearer to her comfort zone. It was nice to have someone to talk with, period. Especially if they were able to make up for one another's weaknesses: Mara gentle and level-headed where Catra was rough and angry, Catra teasing when Mara grew anxious and preoccupied. It was like they were two halves of a whole—a shaky, lopsided whole for now, maybe, but Catra was starting to think Razz may have been on to something.

"Let's start walking back," Mara suggested, breaking lightly into her thoughts. She glanced down at Catra's uncovered feet. "You must be cold."

Catra shrugged off her concern but nodded in agreement. As they straightened up from the railing to leave the waterfront view behind, she bit her lip and added, "Thanks for…for spending time with me tonight. It was nice."

'Nice.' That's the best you've got? her blunt inner thoughts berated her, but Mara's sunny smile swept them away.

"We should do it again sometime," she decided, although her tone made it sound more like a question.

Catra looked up with her with a small smile of her own, realizing that it didn't give her the same twinge in her cheeks as it did just a short while ago. She bumped Mara's shoulder with her own reassuringly. "Yeah," she said, feeling the flicker in her chest warm her pleasantly from the inside. "I'd like that."

Mara bumped her playfully back, and it felt like a promise.

…