Adora sits still on the edge of the bed as Madame Spritina cleans her wound. Looking down, she sees that it is healing quite nicely and immediately puts her head back up because whatever Madame Spritina was cleaning it with has an eye-watering strong odour.
Glimmer had suggested turning into She-ra and trying to heal herself, however after being called Mara earlier, Adora wasn't sure whether anyone here could be trusted.
I don't even know where "here" is.
"There we go", Madame Spritina gently patted Adora's face as she collected the dirty dish,
"Now we wait for your friend to come to see you", she turned and headed out of the room.
"Madame Spritina, What is this place?". Adora asked as she looked out the window and all she could see was white as a rough snowstorm was passing through, she then looked into the kitchen where Madame Spritina was washing up and humming to herself.
Adora slowly stood up wincing as the muscles around her wound finally started to move, she put on her jacket and walked into the kitchen, ducking under the door frame and standing awkwardly in the small kitchen,
"Madame Spritina? Did you hear me?",
Madame Spritina threw a small cloth in Adora's face, "First we do chores, then I answer questions, come come".
Adora kneels next to Madame Spritina and wipes down the items as they are handed to her, she looks out the window and spots a large black bird perched on the fence staring back in at Adora.
"That's a strange-looking bird",
Madame Spritina wiped the steam off the window and squinted.
"That's not a bird, you should already know that". Adora frowned, she was certain she had never seen a bird that large before but when she looked back out the window again it was gone.
There was a loud knock at the door and Adora heard Bow's voice. She was already out of the kitchen by the time Madame Spritina asked her to go and answer it.
Adora tried to hold the door steady as the wind blew snow inside, Bow entered and behind him stood a man that Adora didn't recognise, she locked eyes with him and they were a darker shade of her own, she didn't sense danger from him but she still needed to be cautious anyway.
"I'll wait out here for you", Thad said almost as if he was just as wary of her.
"How are you feeling?". Bow asked as he walked over to the fireplace to warm his hands.
"Much better now, want to fill me in on what happened?", Adora said as she perched on the armrest of a nearby chair.
"Well, the short version is we were shot out of the sky by the people who were after Mara because they recognised her ship",
Adora tapped her fingers against her chin, "So Glimmer was right, crash landing here wasn't an accident",
Bow looks out the window before taking something out of his pocket, "Exactly and there is something you need to see". Bow unfolds a map and gives it to Adora.
"What exactly am I supposed to be looking at?". Adora says, staring blankly at the map.
Bow points near the top of the map, Adora looks at it and frowns, and spots an odd grayish mountain with a very distinctive face.
They hear the door open and Bow quickly folds the map back up and puts it in his pocket.
"I'm sorry to interrupt but we need to get out of here before this storm gets any worse", Thad says as he enters, shaking the snow out of his hair.
Bow nods standing aside, "Adora this is Thad, he was the one that saved us from the wreck".
Now that Thad was inside Adora could see he was taller and older than her, but not more than a few years, his snow ladened plaited beard made it hard for her to tell. Thad bows slightly, "Nice to finally meet you, Adora",
The way his voice hit her ears, she could tell there was an uneasiness in his voice, "Thank you for saving us", she said in an equally flat tone. Thad gave a slight frown and simply grunted and turned to go back out into the snow.
"What was that about?". Bow asked, confused by Adora's tone.
"I don't like him", Adora whispered.
"Whoa I don't know where that came from but trust me he is nice I promise", Bow whispered as he followed Thad outside.
Adora was about to follow when she spotted Madame Spritina coming out of the kitchen with a small wrapped basket of bandages and fruit.
"Here dearie, you're going to need these", she hands the basket to Adora.
Adora smiles while taking the basket, "Thank you for looking after me".
"Now make sure you look after yourself dearie and tell Kwyn I said hello", she follows Adora to the door.
Adora didn't have time to process what Madame Spritina had said before she came face to face with the largest cat she had ever seen, as she approaches the large snow leopard he stares at her with his large grey eyes before cautiously reaching his head over to sniff her hair poof sniffing a few hairs out of place, Adora tries to tidy them up and the snow leopard suddenly licks her face leaving her hair in more of a mess.
Bow laughed and even Thad let a small friendly smile show on his face as he got climbed up onto the animal. Adora stood there making a face while wiping the saliva off with her sleeve,
"Erska likes you, that's amazing it took him a while to get used to me", Bow said as Thad helped him climb up. Adora gives a weak smile, "Guess I just have an affinity for cats".
Adora smiles, "Guess I just have an affinity for cats", there was a little sting as the words left her lips she couldn't help but wonder what Catra was doing or even how they would get home without Mara's ship.
"Where is Glimmer?", Adora asked as she climbed up behind Bow, trying her best not to think about it.
"We're staying at Thad's house, she's not handling this snow well at all".
Adora laughs, "We went to a massive castle made of ice and she's annoyed at a bit of snow?"
"Oh this cold is far too advanced for Glimmer"
Madame Spritina waves as they take off through the forest.
Kwyn and Kale watch as they leave and quietly follow them through the treetops, Adora hears the soft rustling of leaves and branches and immediately turns around, she frowns and tries to scan the area but the further they get into the forest the worse the snow seems to be getting making it almost impossible to see anything.
Kale follows behind Kwyn, "This woman hasn't revealed herself yet as She-ra how can you even be sure that she is?".
Kwyn immediately stops and turns, pointing a talon at Kale, "Because unlike you I kept track of my child, might I ask where is your child dear brother?"
Kale opens his mouth to answer but remains silent, Kwyn gives her brother a cheeky smile, "Exactly".
She drops from the tree branch and turns into a large black bird with glistening feathers, she flies through the treetops trying to find Adora and the others, no thanks to her brother's distraction.
She spots them and flies after Adora and the others, trying to flying close enough through the blowing snow and hoping to stay unnoticed, but the span of her wings was enough to catch Adora's attention, she taps Bow on the shoulder,
"There's something following us"
"Where?". Bow says frantically looking around. Adora points up to the bird flying in front of them and circling back,
"Oh, that bird has been hanging around the village for a while",
"That's not a bird you should know that"...Is it following me?
Adora's uneasy feeling returns, "How long has it been doing that?"
"Adora, it's just a curious bird, nothing to worry about".
The bird landed on a branch above their heads and stared directly at Adora. The bird's dark brown eyes turned icy blue, hypnotic as they swirled like small portals, Adora couldn't look away her own eyes started to change.
The snow shifted and wrapped and Adora was suddenly surrounded by dark grass and purple sky, in front of her was a portal she heard the approach of footsteps, she turned to see dark silhouettes, one with white talons and the other with black, in their hands were two small babies they walked towards the portal and stopped to turn around, making Adora turn around to see an image of Thad, the men she just met standing behind a small child that looked just like him.
Two more silhouettes stood there, she couldn't see their faces but one of them bent down to the small child.
"Say goodbye to your brother and sister, Thad", came a tender female voice.
Adora's eyes widened and she looked directly at the image of Thad who looked back at her.
Brother and Sister?!
Small Thad started to cry uncontrollably, "I don't want them to go!", he protested loudly. The woman picked up Thad to comfort him. Adora wished she could see the face of the woman that sounded so caring.
"We have to do this to keep them safe, okay",
Thad sniffling stopped and he wiped his tiny eyes and just nodded.
Adora was ripped back into reality, she could hear Bow calling her name but her eyes were still fixated on the birds.
Adora, child of Darksmoke and She-ra champion of Eternia...Remember.
Suddenly the bird's wings extended out and it shrieked loudly causing Erska to flinch and rear up a little, dumping all three of them onto the ground, the shrieking continues as Erska takes off through the forest.
"Erska! Come back!". Thad shouted but he was already gone.
Adora kneels and looks at Bow, "What were you saying about it being just a curious bird?".
The words still echo around them as if the trees themselves are saying her name. Thad turned around in anger, "What kind of magic was that?"
"You saw that too?", Adora said as she got to her feet.
"Saw what? I didn't see anything". Bow said, slightly disheartened.
Thad ignores Bow and storms over to Adora, "I want to know why the wind is calling you She-ra?!".
Before Adora could answer they could hear cracking and breaking coming from the forest and realised the trees themselves were coming alive, uprooting themselves and their trunks twisted into evil faces.
"Stand back!". Thad said as he put out his hand a dark gray sword began to materialise.
Adora heard him whisper something under his breath as he held the sword out in front of him, gray bone armour flew out from the hilt of the sword and covered his arms up to his shoulders.
Adora heard a creaking branch behind her and quickly ducked out of the way before the tree had a chance to grab her. Bow wasn't so lucky as he tried to get out of the way another tree had already caught hold of him and dragged him up into the treetops.
"BOW!". Adora springs to her feet, "For the honour of Grayskull!"
She-ra immediately races up through the trees, cutting down Bow letting him land in the soft snow below, she jumps down behind him, "You ok?"
Bow nods. Adora races over to stand beside Thad he turns his head to say something,
"Fight now, chat later", Adora cuts him off and launches at one of the trees, cutting it straight down the middle as well as fighting off a few others that try to surround Bow. Thad also makes light work of the other trees cutting off branches before sticking his sword directly through the evil trunk faces.
Both Thad and She-ra stood back-to-back surrounded by broken and cut trees waiting for more but the trees seemed to have stopped attacking. She-ra looks up to where the bird was sitting, it is still there staring at her, she sends up a bolt of light and immediately the bird flies off.
Thad immediately turns around and swings his sword at She-ra who immediately parries it.
"You're She-ra!", Thad says angrily as he swings his sword again.
She has no choice but to counter as he tries to attack her again, this time she catches the hilt of his sword he flicks it out of his hands, points the end of her sword at his throat.
"I'm not the enemy Thad",
"I find that hard to believe the last She-ra we had came from Eternia and almost destroyed us and everyone else!".
Thad takes advantage of She-ra's lapse in concentration, disarming her and throwing her sword away, he tries to swing his arm around She-ra but she easily dodges it and gets Thad into a hold forcing his wrist into the middle of his back and forcing him onto the ground.
"Are you talking about Mara?",
Thad struggles underneath her grip, "Who else would I be talking about?"
She-ra frowns and loosens her grip on Thad, he stands up and rolls his arm around, "You're certainly stronger than I expected".
"What do you know about Mara?". Adora said, she made it clear in her tone she wasn't in the mood for small talk.
Above them, Kwyn quickly flew back to where Kale was waiting, holding his sides and laughing uncontrollably. Kwyn began to pick out a few of her flight feathers that were burning with a holographic flame.
"You have certainly proved your point, I do like this She-ra though she has amazing aim", Kale said between fits of laughter.
Kwyn turns back into her harpy form as she pulls out the last feather, "I'm glad you find my triumph amusing, as the pressure is on you now",
Kale scoffs, "I doubt it, you got lucky, your child quite literally fell from the sky and into your lap",
Kale turns into a bird and takes off before his sister can say another word. He needed to get away because the last thing he wanted to do was to let his sister know that she was right and he needed to get back to Etheria immediately.