Chapter Sixteen: Mizar

"Welcome back, your majesty," said a Mizaran guard, she and her fellow bowing to Netossa. "I trust that everything is going well for the Princess Alliance?"

"Oh, yeah, just swell," said Netossa. "About as well as it could be with Skeletor running around. He hasn't been here yet, has he?"

"Not yet, Princess," the other guard said. "Though there have been reported sightings of his undead minions in by nearby villages, none of them have made any moves on the city."

"Well, that's a plus," said Connie.

"We need to head to the palace," Netossa said. "We're making a move on the Surgeon."

"Right away, Princess!" said a guard. The two of them escorted the group up the hill towards Netossa's palace. Everyone looked around at their surroundings; even at the lowest level, Mizar was a beautiful place, with lots of pristine white making up the buildings. As almost everyone marveled at the architecture, Bow was instead focusing on his tracker pad. Garnet took notice, leaning in to get a look over his shoulder.

"Have you located the artifact yet?" she asked.

"That's going to be a bit of a problem," said Bow. "See, I'm getting two signals, but they're a bit...weird."

"How so?" asked Adora. "You aren't still getting the Sword of Protection, are you?"

"No, I adjusted this thing to ignore your sword so it doesn't interfere when we look for other artifacts," Bow explained. "One of the signals I know is from the Lock, but the other...it's not coming from any one place. It's like it's all over Mizar."

"What, like the whole city is the artifact?" asked Lapis.

"Not exactly," continued Bow. "It's like it changes locations faster than the pad can detect, and it's all over the city at once."

"That could make finding it...difficult," said Garnet.

"What about your future vision?" asked Steven. "Couldn't you use that to find where it is?"

"Future vision works based on probability, not possibility," Garnet said. "I can see many locations where it could be, but none of them are certain. It might even be somewhere I can't see. If we can get some more information, I might be able to narrow it down further."

By this time, the group had made it up to the palace. Two attendants slid open the double doors, giving access to the pearly white interior. "Welp, here we are," Netossa said. "Make yourselves comfortable, but not too comfortable. We just had this place deep-cleaned."

"This place is amazing!" cried Flutterina, running in to see all of it as quickly as she could. "Do we have time for a tour?"

"Eh, to be honest, there isn't that much to see," said Netossa. "I actually don't come here all that much."

"You don't!?" said Flutterina. "You have a giant palace, and you never use it!?"

Netossa shrugged. "I prefer to do things on the scene. I only come here for political business, that sort of thing. Really, the only places I go on here are the throne room and the Runestone room."

"Ooh, can we see that?" asked Adora.

"Sure, I guess," Netossa said. "Follow me."

Netossa led the way upstairs to an open room. In the center was a large white sphere, hovering between two spires, one on the floor and one on the ceiling. The sphere had numerous equidistant grooves running across it, giving it a gridlike appearance similar to Netossa's nets.

"Well, here's my Runestone, the Kinetic Crystal," Netossa said. "The source of all my nets."

"So...it gives you net powers?" said Amethyst, trying and failing to hide her unimpressment.

"Yes, but it's not that simple," Netossa explained. "The Kinetic Crystal represents the idea of energy. You see, the First Ones believed that there was an invisible force, besides magic, that was all over the place."

"Indeed," said Pearl. "In fact, there are several."

"Anyways," Netossa continued, "they thought that this energy was what held everything together. Bound it together. Hence, nets. Hence, tossing them."

"Ooh…" said Flutterina. She sounded genuinely impressed.

"Well, we'd better get started on looking for that thingy," Netossa said. "Hopefully we can find it before someone else does."

As they walked back to the throne room, a nervous attendant hurried over to them. "Your Majesty, we have a big problem! Horde forces have occupied the city!"

"What!?" pretty much everyone shouted.

Indeed, many Horde soldiers had begun to make their way into Mizar. Though armed, from the balcony where the heroes looked down from, they did not seem to have brought any heavy weaponry. It wasn't an invasion, but they weren't leaving any time soon.

"How did they get past your defenses?" asked Connie.

"How do you think?" replied the attendant. "They showed up, and demanded to be let in! With the kind of firepower they have, we couldn't take any chances putting the civilians at risk."

"And now, everyone's at risk," grumbled Netossa. She sighed, making her way back inside. "I'll deal with this. Everyone else, take five. We'll regroup once I have this sorted out."

"But what about the artifact? And the Surgeon?" asked Steven.

"We'll have to wait 'till morning," said Netossa. "Just...I dunno, hang out 'till then, I'll take care of everything."

"Are you sure we can't do anything to help?" asked Adora.

"Don't worry, it's fine," Netossa said. "I'll sort everything out."

"Well, if you're sure," Bow said. Netossa walked away, leaving the rest of them alone in the room.

Night had just fallen. Adora sat alone on the upper levels, looking off to the horizon. From up here, one could see for miles in every direction. If she concentrated, she could just make out the lights of Castle Brightmoon over the lights from the city below.

"Adora, mind if I come up?" She turned around. Steven stood in the doorway, holding a pair of drinks. "Bow made lemonade! Since you're up here all alone, I came up to see if you wanted some."

"Sure thing," Adora said. "Thanks, Steven." She took one of the glasses, and continued to look off into the distance.

"Are you alright, Adora?" asked Steven. "It feels like something's bothering you."

Adora looked down at her reflection in the glass. "I just can't stop thinking about Angella," she said. "I should have been able to do something, but I couldn't. I was too scared." She picked up the Sword of Protection. "As She-Ra, I'm supposed to be able to heal those close to me. But I've never been able to figure out how to do it. It's a good thing you were able to do it instead. I don't know what would have happened if you weren't there."

"Well…" Steven said, pausing. "I don't know if it works the same way for you as it does for me, but most of my powers are tied to my emotions. Like, they go out of control if I get mad, and I can't use them if I lose confidence in myself. Maybe it's something similar for you?"

"Maybe," Adora said with a sigh. "I just wish someone could help me figure out what I'm supposed to do."

Steven thought for a moment, before setting his glass down. He bent down, rolling up his right pant leg. His knee was quite rough looking. "I skinned it back when we were fighting Skeletor," he said. "I could have healed it a while ago, but so much was happening that I forgot. So instead of me, would you like to do the honors?"

"Are you sure?" asked Adora. "I really don't know what will happen. What if I hurt you?"

"Yeah, but what if you heal me?" said Steven. "You'll never know unless you try it!"

Adora looked at her sword hesitantly. But under Steven's hopeful gaze, she stood up, holding the handle tightly. "Okay. Got any pointers?"

"For me, it's not enough to just slap on some spit," said Steven. "I have to care about who I'm healing. Easy enough, right?"

"Care, I have to care," said Adora. She closed her eyes, holding the sword out in front of her. Her mind filled with her desire to save those she cared about. And that is when it happened.

To the surprise of both of them, a blue light shot from the sword's Runestone. It covered Steven's entire body, filling him with a warmth similar, but not identical, to the kind he felt during fusion. After several seconds, the light diminished, returning to the Sword of Protection. Steven's knee was good as new, no sign of injury.

"Did it work?" asked Adora, not looking.

Steven examined the appendage. "It worked!" he exclaimed. "Not a scratch on it!"

Adora opened her eyes, admiring her handiwork. "I did it," she said softly. "I did it! I can heal!"

"Yeah you can!" said Steven, hopping up. "I guess all you need is to believe in yourself!"

"No, what I need is a great teacher," she said. "You know your magic, Steven. Think you can give me some pointers?"

"Wow. Me, a teacher," said Steven. "Sure, I'd love to!"

"With the Princess Alliance and the Crystal Gems side-by-side, we'll be unstoppable!" cried Adora. She took a swig of lemonade, only for her confident demeanor to immediately melt away. "It...it's way too sour," she said.

"It is," said Steven, snickering. The two of them shared a laugh under the night sky.