A strangers in a friendly land

Eti felt better. Despite the grim story with Heart Gift, she felt better. Maybe it was because she was happy to have friends. Itel, Lilka, Alatar and... Sparkle Paw. Even Ireanis and Ilemshaw were fine. She liked Wrongdak too. As for Grimmy, she wasn't sure how she should treat her. She felt a certain fondness for her that was hard to understand for someone who wasn't someone like her. She had the same darkness inside her, which she kept at bay only by force of will. She knew what it was like to draw strength from the fear you induced in others. There, when she moved through the shadows she could see her face and realized that something terrible had been done to that woman too. Maybe not exactly the same as to her, but enough for her to feel some sympathy for her.

She knew that this Grandpa recognized her. Or rather, he saw THAT ONE in her. She shouldn't be surprised, after all, she was known here, though she didn't know why and she wasn't sure she wanted to find out... though she suspected it was inevitable. But what was much weirder was that Grandpa and Grimmy seemed to know each other and the man didn't like her. The latter was quite normal, many people didn't like the Dark Elf, but how could they know each other if this planet had been cut off from the galaxy for thousands of years? But on the other hand, THAT ONE ended up here, so they could get to know each other somehow. Truth be told, she didn't really care. If Grimmy continued to save her and was nice to Sparkle Paw, she didn't care at all. She also hid a dark legacy…

Itel suspected Grandfather of being an Azlantean privateer, which she told them as soon as they were on the Ship. Privately she thought it was nonsense, but Itel was as stubborn as ever. Maybe even a little more. She had a feeling that her friend had been excited ever since she arrived on this planet. She hadn't noticed it before, because her problems obscured her view of what was happening around her, but now, when she felt a little better, she began to notice that the elf exuded determination, as if the future of the galaxy or the entire universe depended on the upcoming events. Maybe that's how it was, after all, it was an extraordinary place and they had a BLONDE and a that Heart here. Itel wanted this Journey, and she agreed because she didn't really care. At least that's what she thought before. Now she wasn't so sure about it, maybe deep inside her torn soul she wanted to meet the OTHER ONE.

Itel was looking here for cure for Captain Blazebringer to help her fight the Swarm. But this poor Heart Gift told about this Heart and then she saw something on the Elf's face that she had never seen before, hope. But this was not a normal hope. There was desperation in it, like the eyes of a predator who had starved for so long that he no longer feared sentient beings and sneaked into herds of cattle or attacked villagers. Eti knew a lot about predators, not only because she was one herself, Jantar gave her a lot of knowledge. Itel was hungry, hungry for victory. All these years she had been feeding on the crumbs of a vague promises of Doctor Leech. Now she smelled a chance for a meal that would finally fill her up. For Itel, the hope of victory was like a drug that made her forget about everything and everyone. It poisoned her thoughts and distorted her conscience. She saw it in her eyes when she pressed Heart Gift to reveal information about this project. If Grimmy hadn't interrupted her, she could have forced the AI to discover the truth about her being alone. She loved Itel, though not in the way the elf girl wanted. That's why it hurt her to see her friend change, but there was nothing she could do. She wasn't good at things like friendship. She didn't know how she could help her, usually the ideas that came to her mind only made the situation worse. She understood that she had to help her friend somehow, but it wasn't that easy, especially since she had also hurt Itel when she had befriended Sparkle Paw.… No, it wasn't about friendship…

Grandpa decided to stay in the forest, clearly worried, but also clearly furious with Grimmy. So they said goodbye to him and then flew off towards Brightmoon. Bina wanted to talk to them, but they were flying past the mountains, so they lost the signal. Then they will talk when Bina returns to the Valley, or immediately during Victory Day or whatever the name of the holiday was on the occasion of defeating Crooked Face and some wedding... Why was something like a wedding celebrated here...

When they landed and the surprisingly polite landing pad staff took care of their ship. They handed them tourist brochures describing Brightmoon and the surrounding area, encouraging them to participate in the upcoming celebrations, and treats. She wore her usual outfit that covered her face and eyes. She knew that here she could attract the attention of those who knew HER.

Sparkle Paw looked around, beaming with delight. Very literally radiant, because she started to glow.

"It's so beautiful here." she said in sign language and jumped up and did a pirouette. She moved aside. She took off her goggles and looked around. She saw a magnificent palace, or perhaps a castle, made of pale ivory stone that rose above the small town. It looked much neater than Saltmarsh, Clytemnestra or Atrax. It was clean, the houses looked well-kept, everything exuded glamour It was like...

"It's like a fairy tale here." Sparkle Paw exclaimed.

"I don't know what it is, but the glare makes my eyes bleed." she muttered as she left, and the white-haired girl rolled her eyes.

"You are sometimes very grumpy, you know? It's really nice here!" she made a semicircle with her hand. She looked at her sideways. The girl was usually cheerful, but first she was afraid of what she did in the Wastes, and then she met Heart Gift . Like everyone else, it must have weighed on her that they didn't have the courage to tell her about her fate of hers mothers. Maybe she should do something to make her happy? She liked it here. Probably because it was so fucking lovely here. Sparkle Paw liked things like that because she was sweet and adorable herself... Neither she nor Itel would ever be like that, it was Taken from them by what was done to them. She shouldn't lose it and be like them. Hurt and bitter. She sighed and looked at the tourist brochure.

"Let's see what nice and charming they have here," She murmured and was about to start looking through the brochure when Alatar suddenly snatched it from his hands and pressed some kind of sweet, probably a toffee into his hand. She growled softly and spoke slowly.

"For the first time in the history of the galaxy, you gave someone treats that you could eat yourself. This could mean one of two things. Either the end of time is approaching and we are all doomed, or you want to distract me from this brochure, in an absolutely clumsy way, I dare say, because you should know after all these years that I don't eat sweets, if only because I don't feel the sweet taste. Since even such an absolutely perfect, amazing and unique being as me cannot do anything about the destruction of the universe, it remains to consider the second possibility." she said with irritation as she heard her accent become annoyingly nasal. Ignoring the confused air pad staff, she approached the embarrassed Dragonkin and grabbed the brochure from his hands, and then started looking through it.

She didn't notice at first. A few photos of nice houses and statues, something about local customs and traditions. Some boring maps, no treasures or anything like that. Until she finally saw an announcement about a double wedding. The photo was large, took up the entire page and was colorful. The Double Wedding of Queen Glimmer and Techmaster Bow, as well as the Hero of the Galaxy Adora and Grand Marshal Catra, was signed. On the left was a cute girl with pinkish-purple hair and translucent wings, strangely reminiscent of Captain Moonshadow, and some black guy with a heart on his chest. They both smiled at the person taking the photo. Next was the Blonde, who looked a bit tense, but was also smiling and holding her hand…

THAT ONE! For a moment she felt a cold shudder of fury shake her body, but she controlled it, although it was like swallowing cold fire. It was an instinct, a conditioning instilled in her by Bina's Father, but not only that. Aggression and Anger were part of her personality. However, there was something much more personal going on here. Jealousy… A part of her knew it was irrational, stupid and senseless. But it was always in the back of her mind when she thought about her. But now she was surprised to find that she could control it if she just focused. She took a deep breath and looked at the photo of THE OTHER ONE again. She was muscular and athletic. Her hair was stiffer, like a real Pahtra's. The eyes were different colors, one blue and the other gold. And she had claws on both hands. Now they were out, she herself looked scared. That was probably why the Blondie held her hand so tenderly. In fact, she looked somehow... familiar. She remembered seeing her in her dream, but she couldn't look at it at the time. After a moment, she realized why this face seemed so familiar to her. She saw it every time she looked in the mirror. It wasn't about looks, they were slightly different, but something else. She saw pain and fear in her eyes... or rather, their shadow hidden in the deepest recesses of her soul. She knew him very well. He was also her close friend. But... who did this to her? Who hurt her like that?

"Is everything okay, Eti?" Miss Daisy asked, standing behind her. Now she realized that her friends, as well as the unaware airport staff, were staring at her back, holding their breath. She felt something like shame, so she spoke quickly.

"This queen is quite a pretty chick, totally my type. Do you think that before the wedding they ask if someone agrees to the wedding? Because then I would go out in front of the crowd and say that I disagree, and then I would kneel down and propose to her. She would probably be struck by the magnificence of my personality and leave this guy and marry me. I'm sure Etheria deserves someone as great as me on the throne."

Everyone looked at her. Sparkle Paw and Itel looked at her with resentment, and Miss Daisy looked at her with consternation. It might not have been the wisest thing to say, but she had no other idea to defuse the situation.

They set off into the city. Before they left, Sparkle Paw asked Wrongdak to come with them. The clone was reluctant at first, as if he would rather hide in the ship than visit a place he seemed to know and like, but the former intern talked him into it so nicely that he agreed. She had the feeling that something had happened during that one-day outing with Miss Daisy. He became gloomy and withdrawn. Rosie noticed this too, and tried to comfort the clone and cheer him up, which sometimes worked, but not always. She knew that when someone felt this way, others couldn't help them. It's so easy to break out of this darkness. Maybe she should talk to him, ask about the other one, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Perhaps sometimes ignorance is bliss. Or maybe rather Truth is a curse. Durnybot knew something too. She saw the scar on his armor and had a feeling from the beginning where it came from, but in this case she didn't want to pursue the topic further. In her mood, she just wanted to go with the flow until she reached the source, the end of this aimless journey.

They reached the outskirts of the city, where platforms stands with food and merchandise, and other attractions related to the Victory Day celebrations were set up between the trees. The town itself, because it couldn't be called a city, looked so friendly that Itel should have had her usual bout of Paranoia. But Elf focused on leafing through the brochure, becoming more and more confused. Finally, she approached a dark-skinned Elf and smiled cheerfully and asked.

- Excuse me, but do you know where the central database, main information center or national library is? I am looking for Information about... The Prehistory of Etheria . – she said without taking her eyes off the interlocutor. She gues she wanted to look like she was asking an innocent question, but it had the opposite effect. Toshi started flying excitedly around the Elf, trying to bite him. The fox also liked Brightmoon.

"Er, maybe you should check out the library in Mystacor , or the Forest Library of the Techmaster Bow Fathers. We don't have any database, although apparently Princess Entrapta wants to create a planet-wide network using Prime's technology, but in my opinion this is not a very good idea." answered the passer-by with a slightly nasal accent.

"So you don't have Infonet here?" Alatar asked in a shocked voice. - How you live here without it is the most wonderful achievement of civilization!" he exclaimed with pure nerdy indignation.

"Alatar is right… partly." Wrongdak suddenly interjected. "I used it on Vesk III and it was very helpful, although some of the information wasn't… what I was looking for. – a blush appeared on the alien's pale face, 'From what websites on Vesk III can you get a blush? What can make such Wrondaks blush? So many questions…" she thought, and the clone continued. "If Princess Entrapta wants all of Etheria to be connected by a network, then that's a great idea."

The elf frowned skeptically at Wrongdak and said a little haughtily.

"Well, you clones probably have had a more... positive experience with the idea of networks or other forms of shared consciousness."

Alatar looked at the Elf indignantly and was probably about to start arguing about nonsense like a Nerd, so she decided to take over the discussion before it got out of control. She put her arm around the Elf, pulled him towards her and began to explain to him.

"Imagine a place where all possible and impossible opinions boil and mix like in an alchemist's apparatus, so that falsehood, lies and disinformation can be distilled. All possible truths, half-truths, so perfectly mixed together that it is impossible to separate them. Billions of beings with pure hatred for each other, forming factions whose sole purpose of existence is to fight with everyone who disagree with them. The network is not something that connects thinking beings and spreads the truth, but something that allows thinking beings to separate themselves from each other and live in closed information bubbles and have pure hatred for everyone outside of them, and this is only the thinnest layer of the planet, we haven't even gotten to MOORPGs yet. The galaxy still has many wonderful secrets to discover." she patted the terrified elf on the back.

"My brother-in-law is Queen Glimmer's advisor on the computerization of Brightmoon. I have to warn him." The elf broke free from her hands and ran towards the castle. Toshi flew after him.

-"I've never done so well, I didn't even want to scare him." she said, looking after the running Elf and summoned the fox with a wave of her hand.

Then she turned away from him and said to the others.

"So what are we supposed to do now? Itel wants to search these databases to find out something about this heart or whatever it was. But then what will we do?" she asked, feeling growing anxiety.

"So what? " Sparkle Paw exclaimed with pure and adorable joy. "We are getting ready for the celebration and we will party with all the inhabitants of Etheria. We will eat delicacies, play games and... dance." she did a pirouette." she clapped. "I always wanted to dance all night at a wonderful ball, meet a beautiful prince or princess. And here I can do it." she laughed soundlessly. Alatar looked absolutely delighted, but she, Lilka and Itel looked at the white-haired girl in horror.

"But how..." she asked in disbelief. "We don't know how to organize balls and parties. We can't just go to the party."

"Of course you can. It says here that everyone is invited. So so do we. And Miss Daisy will prepare us for the prom! She raised Lady Cala to be a wonderful lady, and she will prepare us for the ball." she pointed to Ponurka , whose face showed horror. She felt sorry for the dark elf.

She saw the city of Brightmoon for the first time, which was quite funny considering she had been the leader of the Horde for almost a quarter of a century and had previously served on the council of Mystacor for many years. She knew Lynortis, the capital of Carurystal, better than the seat of the queens of Etheria. Now that actually worked to her advantage. There were only a handful of people in the entire city who could recognize her, and only Catra, Adora, and Glimmer could do it from a distance while she was wearing a mask. Of course, it was still risky, but with some precautions, she should be able to avoid recognition. So she pulled her hood over her head and spoke in a low voice, hoping to get lost in the crowd of Brightmoon visitors for the holiday. In fact, no one paid any attention to her, her wards attracted her much more, although in Etheria, marked by a long war and with so diverse population, they did not stand out as much as they could, for example, on Carurystal. She even had the impression that Etheria was more alien to them than they were to Etheria . They unconsciously huddled together and looked around as if they were making their way through cursed ruins located in an unexplored jungle. This sight would probably be funny if it weren't so sad. Anyone who knew the origins of this unusual group could feel nothing but helpless sympathy when they saw the distrust with which they looked into the friendly faces of the inhabitants of Brightmoon. "Did she look at everyone this way during your first days? How did she feel seeing this beauty and splendor? I would like to see it, but it is a foolish desire. Selfish and cruel in its own way. My mere presence, the mere fact that I am alive, would not allow her to enjoy such hard-won happiness? Wouldn't it be better for me to stay dead for her and Adora?' she thought, clutching the brochure. She only glanced at it because she didn't want to arouse suspicion, then she would look at the photo and see how the women who could have been her daughters had changed, if only she had let them, if she had been a better person.

Rosie brought her out of her thoughts. When the girl called out that Miss Daisy would definitely help her get ready for the ball, she was at first going to say that she didn't have time, but then realized with horror that she had more than enough time. Until meeting her uncertain allies on Victory Day, she had absolutely nothing to do. Even Lady Cala left her alone to complete her part of the mission. She could have refined her plan a bit more, but it didn't change the fact that there was no rational excuse to refuse them. She wasn't sure if she wanted that anyway. She liked these kids and knew they deserved this little bit of joy in their difficult and sad lives. She sighed and said slowly, barely keeping herself from rubbing her temples.

"I can do it..." she looked at Alatar, tattooed and scowling at everyone, with many implants in her body, Lilka holding a blade on her shoulders that could cut someone in half, and at Eti, armed with a sniper rifle, waving her tail uncertainly, although in her case All she had to do was reveal her face to cause a stir. "But it will take a lot of work and a little help on your part." she added and felt Ireanis pat her on the back.

"I'll help too. Parties and partying are my specialty!" exclaimed the silver-haired sorceress. She wanted to say, "I'm not surprised at all," but she bit her tongue just in time. There was no point in making an enemy of a sorceress out of stupid malice. Especially since she was so much more talented than anyone could have guessed. What secret could she be hiding? This is another mystery she had to solve, but this matter is in the future.

"First we need to go to the tailor to make you some clothes. Unless you already have some." she asked, looking at the kids. Itel blushed, Rosie looked embarrassed, Eti looked ostentatiously at her coat, although judging by the nervous movements of her tail she was as confused as the white-haired girl, Lilka crossed her arms on her chest and only Alatar raised his hand.

"I have formar outfit, a suit." Alatar said in a timid voice.

Everyone looked at him in pure disbelief, even her.

"When did you buy your suit, drakey?" Eti asked.

"Well, on Akiton , you can also buy formal clothes there, even for Dragonkins." explained the technomancer

"In a minute. You bought clothes for the prom, even though we all thought we were going to a land haunted by every possible species of devil." Eti asked in disbelief, and Dragonkin lowered his head and said quietly.

"You know, I preferred to be prepared."

"I'd rather not ask what else you were prepared for." the cat girl muttered. "But I like my outfit there. It is comfortable, dangerous and very discreet." she connected the cloaking field and did a backflip. She was still noticeable, although the cloaking field made her blend in perfectly with her surroundings

"I always wear a traditional orc warrior outfit, which fits perfectly everywhere, and I have a special compartment for my sweets.: said Lilka and took out a large handful of toffee.

Only Itel and Rosie remained. Both girls looked embarrassed. Rosie was the first to speak.

"I've never been to a ball, but I'm almost sure I can dance, it's practically the same as dancing, only without broken bones and broken teeth. Only I don't have money for a dress. Dr. Quinn paid me with credits, or rather the government pays me, and here they are worth little." the white-haired girl lowered her head sadly. She sighed and smiled slightly at her.

"I'm sure Bina wouldn't deny you money for a dress and all the necessary things, and if you don't want her to pay, then on Lady Cali's behalf I have some funds at my disposal that are more than enough." then she looked at Itel. "And you, my dear? What you need?"

The Elf smiled sadly.

"When I went to school in Kesler, i was getting ready for the big Annual Ball. I worked after classes all month to buy my dream dress, and I even bought it, but..." The Solarian wiped her eye and sniffed. Then Rosie hugged the elf with all her might. From the corner of her eye, she saw that Wrongdak also wiped the tears from his eyes and walked over to Itel.

"I don't know much about Etheria's customs, I haven't lived here very long, but as best as we can, Emily and I will help you prepare for Victory Day."

For a moment, there was a moment of friendly, melancholy warmth that she had never experienced in her long, wicked life. Eti interrupted her and asked one very important question.

"Bina wanted to sell Ashrak here straight from Atrax. I think we need to get a permit for her. According to the brochure, this type of thing is handled by Swiftwind"

Meanwhile, another ship had now entered Etheri's orbit, it was much smaller than Bina's. Typically, such ships were used by the Hell Knights to pursue scums and criminals, although the Order of the Eclipse rarely used them for this purpose. His only passenger did not introduce herself to Susan by her name given on the distant Minitar, apart from her title, after all, she had not come here to represent the Order of the Eclipse. This was her private mission. She did not wear armor or even a representative uniform, only a simple cloak in the colors of the Order. She took the sword though, this planet might be the friendliest place in the galaxy, but she would never allow herself to be left unarmed, and besides, something told her it was best not to leave that sword unattended. Then she left the ship, her golden hair illuminated by the bright light of the moons.