Catra shrieked as she was unceremoniously tossed to the floor, her limbs still tangled in her blanket. "Get up," Vader's mechanical timbre reached her ears. "We are going to a nearby village today."

"Wha- wait," Catra, still groggy from her sudden awakening, stumbled onto her feet. The blanket falling to the floor. "What village?"

"The main village of Plumeria," Vader said as he turned and marched out of her quarters.

Catra followed, grabbing her lightsaber and clipping it to her belt. It had only been a few days since she had received it but she had learned quickly not to leave it lying around. She had left it in the ship once while she meditated. Vader had stormed out after her and given her a lecture on leaving it lying around. While he hadn't been as forceful as Shadow
Weaver was when Catra messed up it was enough. She always made sure to have her lightsaber with her now.

"Why're we going there?" She asked as they entered the cargo hold.

"There was an altercation near the village," Vader grabbed a piece of black cloth out of one of the storage bins. "Take this, it will protect you from the elements. We have a long walk today."

Catra took the offered cloth, letting it unfurl in her hands. It was a black cloak, roughly sewn together from the same material used in Vader's cape. He had already turned back to the storage bins as she exclaimed the cloak. "You think the horde was involved?" Catra asked as she threw the cloak over her shoulders.

"It is likely. I would like to know for sure," Vader rose back up to his full height, holding a bag with a single strap. "Take this as well. It holds your provisions for the trip."

She accepted the offered bag as she tilted her head and looked up at Vader, "What about you?"

"I will be fine," He strode past her, back the way they came. "We must start our journey as soon as possible. I wish to return here before nightfall."

Catra followed him outside, still a bit dazed by the sudden awakening and subsequent journey announcement. The sun had to have barely risen, considering she couldn't see it above the treetops. The grass was even still wet from the morning dew. "I got another question. Why do you care about Plumeria? Didn't seem to care enough about Thaymor to stop the attack there."

"The attack you were a part of?"

Catra winced, "Well yeah."

Vader turned back to Catra, "The princess of Plumeria was… kind to me when I first arrived on this planet. I would see that kindness repaid." He said nothing else as he spun on his heel, cape swirling around him.

"Great, more princesses," Catra grumbled.

Plumeria was like nothing Catra had ever seen before. Most of the buildings were either built into the trees and plants or around them. A large clearing sat in the middle of the village, and most of the villagers congregated there. Shade was provided by the reaching branches of the largest tree. Said tree had a gemstone embedded into it near its roots.

Vader and Catra stuck out like sore thumbs among the villagers. Most of them wore bright colors, augmented by leaves and plants. They also wore the bare minimum to be considered decent. Catra was pretty sure she hadn't seen this many bare chests ever. Not even that one time she and Adora had snuck into the boys changing room.

Although the odd pair didn't fit in, most of the villagers would look up and smile at Vader as he stalked past. Catra got some warm looks as well, even with her hood up to hide her face. It was odd for her to be so warmly welcome in an unknown place.

A girl, just a bit older than Catra, swayed her way through the villagers, stopping in front of Vader. She had a long pink dress on and was wearing a wreath of flowers on her head. Vader gave the girl a shallow bow, "Princess Perfuma, a pleasure to see you again."

"It is good to see you as well, Vader," Perfuma bowed back, a small smile on her face. "It has been a while. You always seem to show up at the oddest times though."

"If my presence is unwelcome-"

Oh! No not at all," Perfuma was quick to interrupt Vader with a wild wave of her hands. "It's just, we recently had a… disagreement with a nearby Horde base. We're still dealing with those that were injured during the assault."

Catra looked around, the village didn't look like it had been attacked recently There were no wrecked buildings, the ground was intact. Not even a single burn mark from the Hordes weapons were there to be seen. Though she did see a few of the villagers wearing bandages. "Were you attacked? Cause it doesn't look like it."

Perfuma shook her head, and turned to look at Catra, "No we weren't attacked." The princess's eye roamed over the cat-girl's form. "I don't think I met you before."

"This is my apprentice, Catra," Vader's black-gloved hand gestured at her.

Perfuma's soft smile was back, "It's good to meet you Catra. We always like seeing a new face here in Plumeria."

Catra was taken aback by the princess' laid-back nature. It was a far cry from what she had grown used to in the Horde, "Uh, yeah good to meet you too I guess."

Perfuma's smile widened, which didn't help with Catra's unease about the situation. Thankfully, Vader brought the discussion back on track, "What was the nature of the assault, if you were not attacked?"

"That's because we were doing the attacking," Perfuma was once again focused on Vader, a manic grin stretching her face. "They were poisoning the plants, so we stopped them," Her eyes brightened and she clapped her hands together. "We even had She-ra helping us. She was the only reason we had so few casualties." Catra's breath quickened as she heard the name of the thing Adora turned into. She-ra had been here, and now Catra wanted to be anywhere else.

"Where is the Horde base? I would like to see it for myself," Vader's hand settled on Catra's shoulder as he spoke, settling her need to run as far away as she could.

"Of course, do be careful though," A worried look flitted across Perfuma's face. "It's possible, the Horde will attempt to scout out what went wrong… At least according to what She-ra said."

Catra snorted, at least Adora seemed to still have her head about her. "Yeah, they'll be back. The Horde never lets anything go without a fight."

"That's almost exactly what she said."

"Your concern is noted. We will be fine," With that Vader bowed once more. "Simply show us where to find the base."

"I would be happy to help," Perfuma turned and swayed away from them. Vader and Catra followed her.

The forest seemed more alive here than Catra had ever seen it before. Vines had snaked themselves up the trees, the grass was at waist level. And she had to constantly move branches away from her face as she and Vader made their way to the Horde base. He seemed undisturbed by the overgrown flora, considering his mask and armor protected him from the worst of it. He plowed through the underbrush like one of the tanks the Horde used.

The two of them had been silent since they left Plumeria. Catra was still trying to process Adora being involved in the small village. It shouldn't be surprising, she had left the Horde after all and joined the rebellion. But it was still strange, hearing about her doing things without Catra. And it still set her nerves on edge.

"Calm yourself," Vader's voice drove out the thoughts in her head. "Focus, if we do need to fight, having your thoughts scattered will do you no good." Instead of replying how she usually did though, Catra took a breath. Letting the force fill her. It barely helped, her thoughts still wandered their way back to her friend.

"Your thoughts still linger on Adora."

Catra huffed, "So what doesn't matter anyway. She made her choice."

Vader stopped, turning to face Catra, "And yet you react at the mere mention of her name."

"Her name's Adora, not She-ra," Catra said through clenched teeth. "The princess obviously didn't know that."

"So… It is She-ra you object to and not Adora?"

"Does it matter?" Catra said, throwing her arms into the air. "She-ra, Adora, they're the same person aren't they?"

"You seem to think differently," Vader said, gesturing to her. "Why is that?"

Catra fell into silence at Vader's question. The only interaction with She-ra she had was when Catra's forces were taken out by her. She had done it without an ounce of effort. Just a swing of her sword sent tanks flying. It gave Catra her answer, "Cause, the Adora I knew never took the easy path."

"And you consider her path easy?" Vader tilted his head. "To be shouldered with a burden not her own because she was told it was expected of her? To stand in front of her friend, and tell her all they had lived for was wrong?"

Catra's head snapped up, her eyes widening, "You… were there?"

"I was, and if Adora had not become She-ra at that moment, I would have stepped in," His hand clenched into a fist and Catra felt the force tremble around her. "There would have been no one left to return to the Horde then." He relaxed, "But that is not the point. Make no mistake, your friend has not chosen an easy path, and neither have you. You both have potential, but she has no one to guide her. You do, my apprentice."

"So what, what does all of that even mean?" Catra crossed her arms. "So far all I've done is dance around a ball and shove some rocks around. And now we're out here, investigating some Horde camp that's already been sacked."

"You must have patience, You have only begun your training," Vader said, turning to once again begin his march into the woods. "And I suspect the Horde camp will provide plentiful hands-on experience for you to test the training you have received."

"Grahh!" Catra yelled as she stomped after Vader.

The Horde camp came into view as the trees thinned out before them. It sat in a small clearing that had been created specifically for the facility. More vines had climbed up the walls and into the compound. It looked like they had torn down parts of the wall, leaving giant holes in the defenses of the camp. Horde weapons littered the ground around the main structure of the camp. Left by fleeing soldiers. The door to the main structure was torn open, having been slashed apart by a sword.

"Looks like they had some fun," Catra said as she stepped into the main building. Inside was a tall machine connected to a set of roots that had been dug up. The roots had grown over much of the machine, leaving the top half exposed. Catra jumped, using the force to give herself a boost, and landed in a crouch on top of the machine. A single jagged line showed where the machine had been hit. "She wasn't very thorough though."

"That can be rectified," Vader had entered after her. His armor blended into the black wall of the building. "Tell me what you feel."

Catra rolled her eyes, but complied, sinking herself into the force. "It… was in pain, but isn't anymore… Like the roots were healed recently." Her brow furrowed, and her nose scrunched, as she felt the currents of the force. "I'm not getting more than that though, everything blanketed with energy, it drowns out a lot."

"As expected," Vader's voice drew Catra out of her trance. "The magic the Etherians use is little more than a brute force tool. They pour energy into everything to get the results they want."

"You don't seem to like magic," Catra peeked her head over the edge of the machine to peer down at Vader. His arms were crossed as he stared at the machine.

"As I said, the magic here is artificial," Vader said, his helmet slowly tilting back as his eyes made their way up the large machine. "The runestones are pieces of tech, made to create a facsimile of a force user. Though they are much more limited in scope. Some on this planet use the force in a similar way to Dathomiri witches. But those that do are few and far between." Vader's head tilted as he regarded Catra. "I believe Shadow Weaver was one such user of magic before she forced her runestone to augment her abilities."

"So there are other people that could use the force like us?"

Vader waved his hand dismissively, "They are not like you and me. They use spells, incantations, and artifacts to control the force. We interact with it directly." His head tiled as he kept talking. "There was a time when Force users had more of a presence here. Though I haven't been able to find the reason why they left. As for those that use the runestones, they have no need for a natural connection to the force. That was the original intention of the runestones. To create force users."

Catra slid off the machine, landing in a crouch next to Vader, "So what about this?" She waved a hand out the machine she had just dismounted.

"It will be destroyed," Vader extended his hand. The force flexed around him, surrounding him and the machine. As he closed his hand the horrible screech of distressed metal caused Catra's ears to lay flat on her head. Her eyes widened as the large machine imploded from the pressure Vader was applying. When he was done, the machine had been compressed to a third of its original size.

"Woah, When're you going to teach me that?" Catra asked.

"When you truly believe it is possible."

Catra opened her mouth to respond when a warning was whispered through the force. Both she and Vader turned, looking out to the once empty compound. A small contingent of Horde soldiers were exploring the camp, though they hadn't noticed them yet. They had noticed the noise of the destroyed machine and were approaching the building. "Great, wonderful timing."

"Let's greet our guests," Vader said before sweeping out of the building.

The soldiers drew their weapons upon seeing Vader. Catra stayed behind him, Throwing her hood back up. They fanned out in the typical attack pattern. Spreading themselves out in order to decrease the chance they could be taken out in one shot.

One of the soldiers, with what Catra recognized as a force captain badge on her chest, stepped forward to address Vader, "You are trespassing on Horde property, surrender peacefully and you won't be harmed."

Vader stood, silent, his helmet moving as he took in the soldiers before him. "I was about to make the same offer" A few of the soldiers took a step back at his voice. He took notice, the black lenses of his helmet stopping on them, "How disappointing, I expected more from the feared, evil Horde."

"Hold the line," the captain barked, sending a helmeted glare at the cowards before turning back to Vader. "Sir there are twelve of us, and two of you. Surrender now or-" She stopped mid-sentence, her eyes falling on Catra. "Cadet?"Catra's eyes widened, her fists clenching. Of course, someone would recognize her, couldn't go one week without her luck kicking in.

She threw the hood off her head, a smirk adorning her face, "Hey…" she trailed off as she realised she didn't know this force captain, "uh sorry who are you?"

"Force Captain Reynolds," The captain pointed at Catra. "And you're supposed to be dead."

"Yeah well, death didn't suit me, ya know?" Catra said, giving the captain a lazy smirk.

"You both will come with us and be taken to Lord Hordak-urk"

The captain was lifted into the air, hand clutching at her throat. Vader's arm had risen as well, his hand contorting into a claw, "You do not command me."

"Let...go… can't breathe," The captain forced out. "We.. can talk."

"You mistake this for a negotiation," In one moment the captain flew towards him as he ignited his lightsaber, burying the red blade into her chest. He let the captain fall at his feet as he advanced to the remaining soldiers.

Catra ignited her lightsaber as two of the eleven soldiers turned to her and started firing. She jumped and twisted, saber spinning as she deflected the weapons bolts. She landed on one of the soldiers, her blue blade piercing his chest, before flicking it out, catching the other soldier in the face with the burning weapon. They both fell to the ground, with Catra rolling back onto her feet.

Vader had taken a rather straightforward approach. His red blade catching the shots and sending them back upon the soldiers. He waded into their midst, lashing out with his blade and the force. Before they realized it, half their number was cut down, the other half attempting a retreat. Vader reached out with the force, pulling the soldiers into the air, before slamming them down hard enough to embed them into the ground. They both stood, weapons still ignited, over the carnage they had unleashed.

"Well, if I wasn't going back before, I'm really not now," Catra said, deactivating her saber and clipping it back on her belt. "We should probably get away from here, once these guys don't check in with the Horde will at least send a drone to spy on what's going on."

"You are correct, We will report what happened here to the princess then go back to my ship," Vader deactivated his blade as well. "You did well my apprentice. Though we will need to work on proper blade work. That will be your next lesson."

"Yipee," Catra rolled her eyes. "Sounds like tons of fun."

"Just for that, you'll be sparring directly with me."