Edits in post: Added body language to Ferah scenes (see, tail)
Greetings all, and welcome to chapter five of Fist of the Sky!
Creativity: … Is it safe to come out?
Author: Yes, we're fine. We don't have to deal with riots here.
Creativity: Alright then… So, what were we doing today?
Author: Well, likely attracting those 'update now' reviews from readers of Limit Breaker.
Creativity: Okay… What are we really doing?
Author: Well, we finally get to join the plot!
Creativity: FINALLY!
Author: Indeed!
Much like Creativity said, we're finally going to get into the plot of the show, which means I need to go reappraise myself of the first season. Gimme a minute…
One binge session later…
Yeah, I think I'm ready to go. So, first off, this story is still finding its legs a bit, so I don't know if we'll be doing all too many perspective shifts. We'll probably be holding to Ferah's the most (obviously) but aside from that, no idea.
Second of all, there is going to be a lull in uploads eventually. There just is. I've got too much going on for there not to be. That is to be kept in mind when people eventually start coming to me with "upload please" or "upload now" or just "upload" reviews, and it should also be kept in mind that those reviews will not make me write any faster or devote more time to this story.
Alright, enough with that guff. Here's chapter 5 of Fist of the Sky!
The leaves and branches crunched beneath Ferah's feet as she strode through the Whispering Woods. She didn't know how long she'd been wandering around in them, but it had been for most of the day. She could tell that much.
She wasn't sure what had drawn her to the woods. Perhaps it was the lingering memory of the story of Grand Master Akar that her mother had told her when she was little, maybe it was the admiration she'd held for the long-dead master of her fighting style, or maybe she was just lost. If you had asked her a few hours ago, she'd have likely said it was one of the former, but now she would say the latter.
"I am definitely lost…" Ferah muttered as she adjusted her rucksack on her back. It had been through the ringer in the last year and a half that she'd been on her own. Then again, so had she. She hadn't grown that much since she left home, maybe a half inch at most. Her hair had become a bit more unruly, though it hadn't grown any longer. It never seemed to do that. Her clothes probably sold how long she'd been out in the wilds for. Despite her best efforts, they were torn, scuffed, stained and faded. However, she had taken to wearing her black blindfold around her hair tie so that it would always be available if she was caught off guard during the night of three moons.
The wilds of Etheria had been the only thing approaching a home that Ferah had known for the last year and half. She'd not even stopped at any towns in that time, practically cut off from civilization entirely. She'd occasionally met travelers on the road, but she didn't talk to them, nor they to her. They were suspicious of everyone, she'd found. And more than that, they were tired. It wasn't hard to guess why.
She'd had no encounters with the Horde since… that night… She'd avoided signs of them like the plague and never stayed in one place. However, she wasn't sure how much longer she could avoid going into a town or city. Hunting could only support her for so long, and besides, she was lost. She'd gotten by on her mother's lessons in navigating via the moons of Etheria, but she was hesitant to look at them, now that she knew what she was capable of when the right moons were in the sky at the right time. Perhaps it would have been better to put 'wrong' in place of 'right'.
Ferah shook her head. She hated thinking about that. It always brought her back to that night, and that was the last thing she wanted to think of. The pointlessness of it all and the carnage she'd unwittingly been a part of, she wanted to never think of it again.
"I need a break." Ferah suddenly decided before seating herself down and opening her rucksack to retrieve her canteen before shaking it. It was about half full and she hadn't had anything to drink for quite a while, so she took a swig, only to remember once she'd swallowed that for her, a swig meant draining the whole canteen.
"Great… Wonder what sort of lecture ma would be giving me right about now." Ferah muttered before she felt a familiar pang of hurt rush through her. Even a year and a half later, and she still couldn't get it out her head. Why?! All it did was hurt!
"Gah!" Ferah shouted angrily before slamming her fist against a nearby tree, accidentally causing it to snap and start keeling over. Ferah winced and shied away as the tree crashed to the ground, causing several forest critters to go running off into the woods.
"Ma would tan my hide for that one…" She mumbled before she smacked herself in the forehead. That was exactly the line of thought that caused her to break the stupid tree!
"Okay, I need to find more water. No problem. It's a forest and it's got plenty of green. There's gotta be a good source of water around her somewhere." Ferah reminded herself before she set off into the woods again, searching for a river, pond, stream, anything that she could use to refill her canteen.
"Guess this is what I get for not trying to get my hands on a map anywhere." Ferah muttered to herself as she hopped over a log and kept her ears pricked for any sound that could indicate water. She remembered that you'd often hear the mountain stream back home before you saw it.
"This would be easier if I could find an animal trail of some kind to follow. Or an animal heading for water if Etheria was feeling generous today." Ferah said to no one in particular. She'd been doing that for quite some time now, especially the last few weeks.
"I wonder if I should be worried about that." Ferah once again said aloud before she went to vault over a weird colored boulder in her way, only for said boulder to squeal in surprise, causing Ferah to yelp and tumble over onto her monkey-tailed backside.
"Oww…" Ferah muttered as she rubbed her sore rear before she turned to look at the screaming rock, only to discover that it wasn't a rock at all, but an old woman who's long gray hair had made it seem like she was a rock. When seen from the back and unmoving, Ferah hadn't been able to make the distinction, though it seemed obvious now.
"I think I've been on the road too long…" Ferah groaned as she got to her feet.
"I'm sorry about that, ma'am. I didn't mean to hurt you." Ferah apologized to the old woman, who shook her head surprisingly vigorously for a moment before she peered at Ferah. What stuck out to Ferah was that the woman had purple skin and was carrying a broom and basket of some kind.
"Hmm… Mara? No, you're not Mara. Sorry about that, dearie. Razz was confused for a second." The old woman said before she hurried off at surprising speed for a woman her age.
"Hey, hold up!" Ferah called after the woman as she scrambled to her feet and hurried after her.
"Hmm…? What can Madame Razz do for you?" The woman, now known as Madame Razz, asked.
"I was wondering if there's a stream nearby. I need to refill my canteen." Ferah explained. Razz seemed to fuzz out for a few moments before she suddenly was present again.
"Oh, you can come with me and Mara to pick berries! I'm not sure if I have a spare basket, but that's alright! You and Mara can share!" Razz exclaimed before she hurried off deeper into the woods.
"Hey, wait! I just wanted to find some water!" Ferah exclaimed, flustered as she hurried after Razz. She was surprisingly agile for an old woman, but Ferah had no trouble keeping pace until they reached an old hut made of stone brick and covered in vines.
"I'm sorry, but I don't have time to go berry picking right now. I just need to find some water to refill my canteen." Ferah tried to explain, but it seemed Razz would have none of it.
"Oh, I'm sure you don't have anywhere else to be. You've been on your own for a long time, yes? So has Razz! So, let's go pick some berries! Just as soon as Mara arrives. She always gets here on time." Razz insisted. Ferah stood there, a dusting of red on her cheeks. She didn't know how to get out of this. Razz wasn't taking no for an answer, and she didn't want to be rude.
"It must be lonely after so long, yes? Coming from the stars and yet they've been gone for so long." Razz mentioned offhandedly as she began to tear apart her house looking for something.
"Wait, what? What are you talking about? I've always lived on Etheria." Ferah replied.
"But I saw you! You fell from the stars! And you are so strong, too! Almost as strong as my Mara, maybe?" Razz continued. Ferah spluttered incoherently.
"What are… How do you… What are you talking about?!" Ferah demanded. Razz just moved to another corner and started tossing things around before she turned to look at Ferah, peering closely at her.
"Wait… Caulla? Is that you? You changed your hair! And your eyes!" Razz exclaimed. Ferah had been about ready to give up at that point, had she suddenly felt a massive pain in her head.
"Ah!" She cried out as she dropped to one knee, clutching her head.
"Strength… use…"
"War… Fr…For…"
"S… aw…"
Small blips of voices rushed through her head. She couldn't make out more than a few words before she stumbled to her feet.
"What's going on?! What did you do to my head?!" Ferah demanded, her tail lashing about as she clutched her head in both hands, eyes squeezed shut.
"Caulla? Are you oka…" Razz started before Ferah cut her off.
"My name isn't Caulla! It's Ferah! What's happening to… AAAAAHHH!" Ferah screamed before she managed to barely get her bearings and ran out of the hut, stumbling a bit along the way before she eventually collapsed against a large tree and hugged her knees close to her chest and tail coiled around her waist, her head pressed to her knees until the voices and pain subsided. Some of it she'd been able to make out, but the vast majority of it had been blurry gibberish. What really had her freaking out was how it had gotten into her head in the first place. Even the parts she could decipher were completely foreign to her.
"What's going on…?" Ferah murmured to herself before she looked up from her knees and looked around. She was lost… Again… And she still didn't have water.
"Focus. Priorities. Water. Gotta find water." Ferah muttered to herself before she got to her feet and started searching once again for that blasted water. And search she did for quite a while, until she heard what sounded like an explosion in the distance. The sudden column of smoke lent more credence to that assessment.
Ferah froze as she saw it, her mind immediately rushing back to that night… The fire… the smoke… the screaming…
She wanted to run; to turn around and sprint as far as she could in the other direction. She didn't want to see another massacre. She didn't want to be reminded of that night. She didn't want to remember! Why couldn't she stop remembering?!
But she didn't do any of those things. Instead, she was compelled to go towards it. Her slow walk built to a jog, which then became a full-on sprint as she dashed through the undergrowth as fast as she could, easily leaping over small gaps and felled trees in one jump until she burst out of the forest to a decimated gray wasteland. It was littered with broken Horde war machines and ash. However, these had obviously been here for a very long time. They weren't the cause of the explosion. Instead, she kept running until she reached what looked like a quarry of some kind that had a Horde base, and that was when she saw the source of the smoke. It was several freshly destroyed Horde war machines and unconscious Horde soldiers, all of which seemed to have been incapacitated in one way or another by one person. One unusually shiny person at that.
It was hard to get a fix on how old the girl was. She looked pretty young, about Ferah's own age when Ferah saw her face. However, she also stood about eight feet tall, so that made it a bit harder for Ferah to tell properly.
Aside from being eight feet tall, the girl also had impractically long hair that was waving elegantly in the non-existent wind, was dressed in… Ferah wasn't sure how to describe it, but what stood out the most was the red cape and the sword. It was a two-handed, double edged sword with an unusually wide blade, almost wider than its own crossguard.
However, all of that failed to distract from the fact that she was currently staring down the barrel of a tank cannon, quite literally. Whoever was manning the controls wasn't so dense as to not seize this opportunity and the girl was hit full on by the blast, much to Ferah's horror. However, they miraculously survived with not that much of a scratch on them, though it was obvious some damage had been done. The girl had been knocked on her back and wasn't moving.
"Mara, dear!"
Ferah recognized that voice. It was that old woman from the forest. Ferah's eyes widened as she saw Razz to the unconscious girl's side. However, she wasn't the only one approaching the unconscious girl. Horde soldiers brandishing primed weapons were congregating and stalking closer and closer. Ferah's heart began to beat rapidly as her eyes widened. No. Not again. It couldn't happen again!
Without thinking, Ferah leapt into the air with tremendous force, silvery energy wrapping her right fist as she descended from on high, driving her fist into the ground as she touched the dirt. The result was the ground cracking and shaking, throwing the soldiers off balance. Ferah rushed forward and drove her knee into the first soldier before spinning around to kick another in the chest with the back of her heel, sending both soldiers skidding across the ground, both of them now sporting large dents in their armor. Ferah performed a backspring to avoid the tank's sudden fire and launched herself forward, energy encompassing both arms as she let out a shout before unleashing twin palm heel strikes that sent the tank skidding backwards suddenly before tipping over onto its side and catching fire. There was a massive dent where her strike had landed.
However, Ferah quickly realized that she'd left Razz and the girl undefended and rushed back, punching, kicking and occasionally just tossing soldiers out of her way until she was back to standing between the Horde and their quarry.
"HAAAAH!" Ferah roared before using her power up technique, an almost completely transparent silvery aura erupting around her as she took up her standard fighting stance. The Horde soldiers were a bit taken back by the display, but they kept advancing all the same. However, it seemed Razz had a solution for this.
"RAZZLE! DAZZLE!" She shouted behind Ferah before there was an explosion of strange colored smoke and they were suddenly back at Razz's hut.
"What was that?" Ferah asked once she'd finished coughing to expel the smoke from her lungs.
"Oh, Razz can't give away all her secrets, can she Caulla?" Razz joked, though that prompted Ferah to whirl around.
"I told you not to call me that! My name is Ferah! Ferah!" Ferah shouted, though she quickly sobered and felt shame start bubbling in her gut from her outburst. Her tail coiled slowly around her waist as she unconsciously grabbed her left elbow as the arm went limp.
"Sorry about that. It's just… that name… it did something to me…" She apologized but was surprised to find Razz rubbing her back consolingly.
"Ah, pay it no mind dearie. Some guests have actually thrown Razz out the window instead of just shouting." Razz replied amicably. Somehow, Ferah didn't she was kidding. However, before she could continue pondering the image of some random person chucking Razz headfirst out her window, a distraction arrived in the form of a rainbow colored horse… With wings… and a horn on its head…
"Okay, I am very confused." Was the first thing that came out of Ferah's mouth when the Horse glided down from the sky and cantered over to them.
"Oh, give Razz a moment." Razz stated before walking over to the horse.
"Take your time. I'll keep an eye on her." Ferah called out to Razz before finding a place to sit down and keep an eye on the girl in question, who'd undergone quite the significant transformation while Ferah hadn't been watching. For one, she wasn't eight feet tall anymore. Ferah put her closer to 5 feet six inches, maybe taller. She also had much shorter hair, pulled back in a ponytail. It had also changed shades, going from bright blonde to a more honey blonde. Still clutched in her right hand was that same sword, though it also had changed size alongside its wielder.
"Wonder what your story is." Ferah muttered to herself as she stared up at the sky. She sat there for a while before Razz and the horse… thing… returned from the forest. The horse immediately walked up to the girl and nudged her with its nose, which seemed to do the trick to wake her up.
"Hello, dearie." Razz greeted the girl as she sat up, muttering 'ow' as she held a hand to her torso. A reasonable response, considering she'd been blasted point blank by a tank.
"Swift Wind and I have been talking while you were asleep. He thanks you for coming to his rescue." Razz explained, gesturing to the horse.
"Wait, you left to talk with the horse?" Ferah asked, prompting the girl to look over at Ferah.
"Sorry, who're you?" She asked.
"My name's Ferah. I took over when you got knocked out." Ferah informed her before offering her hand to shake, which the girl took.
"Just for the future, standing in front of a tank barrel is a quick way to get turned into a mess." Ferah mentioned. The girl laughed embarrassedly while rubbing the back of her head.
"Yeah, I guess that was kind of dumb of me." She said, though when she looked at Ferah, she realized she wasn't laughing. She didn't seem upset or disapproving either though. If anything, she was confused by the girl's response.
"Sorry. My name's Adora." The girl, Adora, greeted in turn. Ferah cocked her head confusedly.
"Adora? But Razz called you Mara." Ferah mentioned. Adora grumbled and rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, she's been doing that." Adora replied before making a twirling motion next to her head. Ferah cocked her head again, which only prompted Adora to make her own face of confusion.
"Oh, right! I didn't have the chance to introduce you to Cau… Sorry, Ferah." Razz stated as she smacked her head.
"Oh, well never mind that. Swift Wind also wanted me to tell you that 'Horsey' is a stupid name." She added.
"So, how are you feeling after that blast? Also, how did you survive the blast?" Ferah inquired.
"I'm… Okay, actually. I think I know what I need to do now. If the princesses won't defend Etheria, then I will." Adora said, conviction in her voice.
"Okay, great. Still doesn't explain how you're alive right now." Ferah replied.
"Oh, well… magic sword." Adora replied while holding up the sword in question.
"Ooh, I love seeing you two get along so well. You two are going to be such good friends, I can feel it!" Razz stated with excitement in her voice before turning to Ferah.
"You should go together! You both could use a friend, don't you think?" Razz suggested.
"Well, it would be nice to have another friend at Brightmoon… No pressure or anything." Adora thought aloud. Ferah's first instinct was to decline, but after she stopped to think about it for more than a few seconds, she realized that going with this complete stranger to Brightmoon was in many ways preferable to wandering around Etheria on her own.
"Yeah, I don't see why not." Ferah decided, which got a beaming smile from Adora.
"Well, Swift Wind? You mind giving us a lift back to Bright Moon?" Adora asked the horse, which snorted and bowed its head in a way that Adora took as affirmation. However, as she went to climb atop the horse's back, she turned back to look at Razz.
"Will I see you again?" Adora asked Razz, who took Adora's hand in both of her own.
"If you ever need me, you'll know where to find me." Razz assured her before walking into her hut while muttering something to herself.
"Well, I guess we should get going." Adora stated before climbing onto Swift Wind's back and offering a hand down to Ferah to help her aboard the flying horse. There was a few moments of stillness before the horse leapt into the air, flapped its wings and broke through the treeline. Adora was whooping with glee as they whipped through the air towards a castle in the distance, which had Ferah wondering just how she'd managed to get lost in the Whispering Woods at all, considering there was that whole castle to use as a landmark.
"So, what's your story?" Ferah asked Adora over the howling wind.
"Oh… Well… Can you wait until we get to Brightmoon? I'll have to explain it to the queen too." Adora requested. Ferah found this a bit strange but decided to go along with it. Though, it became much less strange when Ferah looked down and noticed a large Horde insignia plastered across the back of Adora's shirt. The moment she laid eyes on the red emblem, her fingers tightened around Adora's shoulders perhaps a bit too much, since Adora was suddenly tapping Ferah's hands rapidly to get her attention.
"You think you can ease up? I think you're giving me bruises." Adora asked kindly, though the wince was obvious in her voice. Ferah eased up, but she was still caught off-guard by the Horde sigil on Adora's back. However, she reminded herself that her first encounter with Adora had been watching her fighting a Horde detachment, so either she'd just scavenged this from them, or there was a longer story behind it. Ferah was inclined to believe the later. Besides, Adora had said she'd explain later, though not specifically about the Horde. Ferah imagined it would come up. And if it didn't, well… It'd come up, one way or another.
"What about you? You said you took over for me when I got knocked out. You know how to fight?" Adora asked Ferah, who immediately was distracted by the prospect of talking about fighting.
"I love fighting! I grew up learning how to fight from my ma. She was a master of the Sora no Ken fighting style and she taught a whole bunch of it to me." Ferah immediately began explaining, though she was going a bit too fast for Adora to keep up with it. It certainly didn't sound like the kind of fighting she'd been taught. Well, okay, sparring with Catra had been fun sometimes. And the training courses could be fun at times, but it didn't sound like fun the way that Ferah was talking about it.
Still, she let Ferah go on and on about how she loved fighting, and the trip to Brightmoon was all the swifter for it. The castle had been somewhat nearby when they took off, so getting back there via flying horse meant it only took a few minutes. Upon touching down outside the throne room, Adora dismounted Swift Wind and drew her supposedly magic sword from her back and took a deep breath. Ferah had also gotten off of the horse's back and was watching as Adora appeared to be hyping herself up for something.
"You can do this. You can do this." She muttered to herself before she held the sword up.
"For the honor of Grayskull." She stated in a low voice. Ferah covered her face as light burst forth from Adora for a few moments before the light died down enough that Ferah could look at her again without spots dancing in front of her eyes. Adora had assumed that eight foot tall form that Ferah had first encountered her in. After another deep breath, she stepped through the door into the throne room. Ferah followed several steps behind, partially because this felt more like Adora's moment, partially so that she could appreciate the scene. She watched as Adora strode into the room, the people in the court watched in awe as Adora approached the throne. Standing at the end of the throne room was who could only be the queen of Brightmoon. Her skin was tinted purple, with pink hair and almost entirely transparent wings. Her clothes consisted of along, blue cape, pink leotard and light purple leggings with purple boots and white gloves. A strange gem adorned her forehead, matching her pearl-drop earrings.
"I was trying to tell you. Mom, meet…" One of the people in the court started but was interrupted by the queen.
"She Ra…" The queen finished for her. Now Ferah was even more confused by Adora's whole naming problem. Adora said her name was Adora, Razz was calling her Mara, and now the queen was calling her She Ra? What was going on?
"Your majesty, I've come to pledge myself to the Rebellion. But first, there's something you should know." Adora began before there was a (by now familiar) flash of light and Adora had returned to her normal appearance.
"Well, I guess this is where I get my explanation." Ferah thought. Everyone in the throne room, sans the girl who had been speaking to the queen and a dark skinned boy dressed in some sort of armor that left his stomach exposed, which had Ferah questioning the practicality of it. He had a quiver on his back, and what appeared to be a collapsible bow. They must have known about Adora before Ferah had encountered her on the borders of the woods.
"Mom, this is Adora." The girl quickly said as she ushered Adora forward, who immediately got on one knee and presented the sword to the queen. Ferah took note of how the girl had referred to the queen as 'mom', making it obvious that the girl was a princess. She wore a dark purple, sleeveless leotard, which stopped at her mid-thigh, and lay underneath a light purple tunic with a blue diamond clasp. She also wore matching purple boots with white moons on the front and soles, light blue wings on each side, and multiple light blue points. She had light blue fingerless gloves, and a long white glove on her left arm. Additionally, she had a sparkling blue cape shaped like wings, attached to a circular plate on her left shoulder.
Ferah's gaze switched from the princess to Adora, who was beginning to speak.
"I know you have no reason to trust me, your majesty. But I have seen for myself, the atrocities that the Horde has committed against the people of Etheria, and I am ready to fight to stop them! If you give me the chance, I know I can help the Rebellion turn the tide of the war." Adora announced to the queen as she bowed her head and held the sword out towards the queen, who seemed completely at a loss for what to do.
"I know the legends of the warrior that the First Ones called 'She Ra'." The queen said as she took the sword and looked at the stone.
"They said she would return to us in the hour of our greatest need, to bring balance to Etheria. I never thought she was anything more than a myth." The queen continued as she looked down at Adora, sword held close.
"And yet you're here now, and in the uniform of a Horde soldier no less." The queen stated, the disbelief and a hint of distain evident in her voice when the uniform came up.
"You would pledge to stand with us against those you once served?" The queen asked. Adora let out a breath before answering.
"Yes." She said with conviction and a hint of relief.
"And Glimmer, you would vouch for and take responsibility for her?" The queen asked the girl, who nodded.
"Yes." She answered.
"So that's her name… Glimmer…" Ferah thought to herself. The name sounded a bit strange, but she conceded in her head that her own name was a bit unusual.
"Then rise. The Rebellion accepts your allegiance She Ra, Princess of Power!" The queen declared with a smile on her face as she handed the sword back to Adora amidst cheers from the crowd. At that point, even Ferah had forgotten where she was until one of the two teenagers who had Adora wrapped in a group hug pointed her out.
"Uh, who's that?" the princess (Glimmer, Ferah recalled) pointed out. Adora suddenly became much more sheepish.
"Sorry about that. I met her in the Whispering Woods. Her name's Ferah." Adora quickly introduced before walking over to her and putting a hand on her shoulder. Ferah then realized that every eye in the throne room on her, and she suddenly was very conscious of the fact that... well, no getting around it, she looked like she'd just got home from rolling in thorns and dirt.
"She saved me from a Horde attack after I got a bit too cocky." Adora added, though she sort of wished she hadn't in retrospect. She didn't want to look incompetent right off the bat.
"Do you intend to join the Rebellion as well?" The queen asked. Ferah suddenly froze. She'd only decided that she'd be sticking with Adora since she didn't have anything better to do, plus it would be nice to be around civilization for a while. However, she hadn't thought so far ahead as possibly joining the Rebellion.
"I…" Ferah started but couldn't make words come out of her mouth. Her tail began coiling a bit as it flicked, indicating how unsure she felt. Seeing how on-the-spot Ferah was feeling, the queen decided to switch topics.
"What brought you to Brightmoon, Ferah? You look like you've been travelling for a long time." The queen inquired. Now that was something Ferah could answer.
"I was raised in the mountains, not far from a village. Ma was a martial artist and taught me everything I know about fighting. One day, someone my ma knew about came to town asking about her. They had a Horde sigil tattooed on their left shoulder. Ma got scared and we were gonna leave that night, but then the Horde attacked. I got knocked out and when I woke up… The village… Ma was…" Ferah tried to explain, but she couldn't muster the strength to get through the last bit. However, it wasn't hard for them to figure out what happened. Adora looked especially pained by this. Ferah's tail had stopped coiling and was now hanging limply behind her
"Then you should join us! We need everyone we can get, and you can help stop the Horde from trampling over Etheria!" Glimmer exclaimed. Ferah hugged herself a bit as she averted her eyes.
"It's not that simple… My ma… the Horde killed her master and she set out for revenge. It brought out something dark in her and… in the end, I think that's what killed her. She tried to fight the Horde singlehandedly again when they attacked the village… she… didn't make it. She didn't want what happened to her… that dark side she warned me about… She didn't want it to happen to me. That's why I've been trying to stay out of the fight. I don't want to end up on the same path that killed ma…" Ferah explained. She could see understanding in the queen's eyes, maybe a bit in the boy and Adora's eyes, but not so much in Glimmer's. Still, she didn't press on it.
"I can help a bit, but I need to be able to get out as soon as I need to." Ferah offered. The queen seemed hesitant to take such an offer but nodded.
"Any help is welcome to the Rebellion. We welcome you, Ferah." The queen stated. Now it was Ferah's turn to be in the middle of a group hug. However, it didn't last very long as they realized that among other things, Ferah hadn't paid a visit to the land of hot water and soap in quite some time. It was something Ferah became rapidly embarrassed about when she noticed everyone shying away with wrinkled noses.
"I'll show you where the baths are…" Glimmer muttered awkwardly before gesturing for Ferah and Adora to follow her.
"I should probably wash my clothes too…" Ferah muttered, only for Glimmer to balk.
"No way! Those things are shredded! We're getting you some new ones!" She exclaimed. As much as Ferah wanted to argue about that, she had to agree that her current clothes were probably not going to last much longer.
As the two new members of the Rebellion were led off by the princess, the queen watched their retreating backs, stroking her chin curiously. Something about that girl, Ferah, reminded her of something, but she couldn't quite place it.
"Perhaps we should have a talk…" the queen murmured to herself as they vanished from sight.
Alright, so this ran longer than I thought it would. Still pretty good chapter I think, though I'm probably going to be adding a few bits and pieces to it before publishing, but after I finish the closing notes.
Creativity: Next chapter's gonna be real interesting, since we can actually have them doing some proper interacting.
Author: Indeed. Well, not much else to say here. Thank you for reading, please review and we'll see ya next time!