"Catra!" The magicat in question jumped up, hackles raised in warning. Glimmer, clad in her Queenly getup, stood at the edge of the table, eyes narrowed, eyebrows raised. Catra rubbed her face. "Is this meeting so boring, you feel the need to study the insides of your eyelids?" A snotty dignitary commented from the side. Catra twisted to level her most venomous glare. It worked, for the dignitary shrunk in on himself, muttering curses under his breath. "When you're up all night with your sick wife, comment then. Until then, cut me some slack," She hissed. True to her word, her poor wife had been up in the bathroom all night, refusing to come out, suffering through the HG on her own. Even Violet had woken up a few times, crying to see her mommy, who'd reassure her she was fine through the door, then promptly puke loudly.

It'd been like that for the last month and a half, especially the last two weeks. Amalthea and her team deemed Adora to be four and a half months along, which suited them nicely. Only another four and a half months of the sickness, back pain, sore feet, and emotional whiplashes.

"She-Ra is unwell?" An Elberonian minister piped up from the corner. "But we need her for the feast of the year celebrations," Catra raised a brow. "Adora is sick. If you need She-Ra, you need her, thank you very much. They are the same person. Do not try to separate them again," She warned. The minister sputtered. "And besides the point, it's irrelevant. Adora gave her all for this planet for the better part of three and a half years and continues to do so, against my wishes. She can have breaks, and you need to learn to manage on your own," She barreled over his protests. "Like you said, it's been six years. It's not like you need her to fight for your town anymore,"

The room grew thick with a tense silence.

"Actually, Catra-" Glimmer's sentence cut itself short upon the glare from the magicat. "Ok. It would appear that not everything was made public. If you'll excuse us both, I shall update General Catra and return shortly," Glimmer ushered Catra out forcefully, while Bow did damage control.

"Catra, what the hell was that?" Glimmer snapped. Catra groaned softly, scrubbing her face harshly. "I'm sorry, alright? I was up with Adora all night, so I didn't sleep much," She apologised. Glimmer's face softened slightly. "Is she ok?" Catra snorted, about to blurt out their secret. Quickly, she covered it with an attitude-filled eyebrow raise. "If you call puking until your throat bleeds "fine", then sure," She leaned against the wall, desperately scrubbing away the tiredness. Glimmer huffed softly. Despite being on the same side for nearly six years, the pair had yet to truly let their guard down. Catra found bitter irony in that. They were born into a war older than themselves. Except, where Glimmer and Brightmoon had childhoods filled with as much love as possible, any poor shit born into the horde, or kidnapped into it, was raised with the philosophy of "love is fake. The only love you have is lust for blood,"

That's partly why all the post-war babies, or war-born babies in Violet's case, were treated like the parents wished they'd been.

"I remember when she was pregnant with Violet, and was sick all the time..." Oh, the truth hidden within the sentence. "So if there's anything Bow and I can do to help, we'll do it," Glimmer placed her gloved hand upon Catra's shoulder. Catra hummed, grinding her teeth to stay quiet. God, she wanted to tell everyone that she and Adora were gonna have a baby in less than six months. But when she broached the idea to her ailing wife, she'd refused vehemently. Not even Violet knew yet, though, on some distant level, Catra knew she knew. Maybe she wasn't aware that she knew, but she was aware of something happening to her mother. Violet had definitely taken after Adora's critical thinking.

"I might take you up on that, Sparkles," Catra began. Glimmer perked up. "Violet's a mess with how sick Adora is. Can you take her for the weekend? Just so we can try and sort it out? I'm taking her to the healers tonight," She lied. Glimmer frowned. "Sure, but will Vi wanna stay with us? She's incredibly clingy to Adora at the minute,"

"Who's incredibly clingy?" Catra turned in slight shock. "Hi, mom!" Violet grinned from atop Adora's shoulders. "Hey, you, what're you doing out of bed?" Catra rushed over, putting her hand on Adora's shoulder. Adora, pale as a sheet still, smiled softly. "Little miss wanted to see you, but didn't wanna leave me," She poked Violet's foot, electing strong giggles. "Vi, mommy's poorly, remember?" Catra raised her hands, letting the five-year-old clamber across from her mother and onto Catra's shoulders. "I know. Mommy was crying. Dats why I bought her here!" The young child tried to speak the words clearly but despite both mothers trying, Violet had a small problem with the TH sound, with it often coming out as D's instead. "Gimmie. I wanna harass my niece," Glimmer's hands were by Catra's shoulders, hauling the little girl off of them with a loud yell of joy.

Catra's brows furrowed as she pulled Adora into a side hug. "Is everything ok?" She addressed her wife. Adora nodded softly. "Yeah... just hormones," She explained. Violet suddenly laughed from atop Glimmer's neck, where she was standing. "Yeah! Silly mommy was crying over my socks! Dey were blue and white, and not blue!" Glimmer snorted loudly. "I'm feeling very attacked right now, Violet-Rey," Adora poked her belly. "Oh, Violet. When you get older and have periods, you'll understand why we ladies cry over silly things like that," Catra hugged Adora tighter, feeling her sag into her side a little more.

"You look tired," She said softly. Adora hummed. "I'm exhausted. This is the first morning where I've not thrown up our goddamn child," She grimaced softly, rubbing the lower end of her stomach. "I think it's all caught up to me," Catra kissed the top of her head on reflex. Glimmer's sudden gasp drew her attention. "Wait, what did you say?" She whispered. Adora glanced back and forth. "What did I say?" She blinked. Catra's mind caught up to the situation with a quiet sigh as her eyes slid shut. "You said our child," She whispered lowly into Adora's ear. Catra could see the gears working in her wife's mind, clicking with a quiet groan.

"Please tell me I heard you right," Catra raised her finger. "Hey, Vi, can you do mommy a favour?" She interrupted. Violet stopped patting Glimmer's cloud hair with a grin. "Yeaaah?" She smiled. Catra plucked her off and deposited her on the ground. "Can you get her some water? I think she's got a sore throat," She lied. Violet looked up at Adora. "Do you?" She asked perfectly. Adora blinked a few times. "Uh... yeah," She said slowly. Violet remained staring at her, her eyes slipping to the semi-flat belly. "Otay," She grinned and ran off into the meeting room. "Violet, that's the wrong-!"

SLAM

"-way," Catra sighed. Glimmer put her hands on her hips. "Well?" She demanded. Adora glanced up at Catra. "It's not up to me, baby," She said. Adora sighed softly, her jaw clenching and unclenching. "Fine. Yes, I'm pregnant," She admitted. Glimmer squealed loud enough to hurt Catra's ears. "Jesus, Sparkles! Sensitive ears!" She hissed. "Sorry, sorry!" She didn't sound sorry. "Goddamn," Catra mumbled. "Glimmer, you can't tell anybody. Not even Bow," Adora said. "Wait, why not Bow? He's my husband and your best friend," Glimmer questioned. Catra felt her tail prick up in irritation. It wasn't her goddamn business. If Adora didn't want anyone to know, then nobody would know.

"It's just," She sighed. "We haven't even told Vi, yet," Adora pressed tighter into Catra's side. Catra wound her arm around her middle, squeezing reassuringly. "Wait, why?" Glimmer asked. Adora's jaw began clenching and unclenching again. "I've been so sick with this one, Glim, I've barely even remembered to drink. I don't want Vi blaming the baby for my sickness," She sighed. Glimmer snorted. "Hate to break it to you, but you were sick literally all the way through with her, until about a week before she was born," Glimmer crossed her arms. "At that point, Adora, she's gonna see the bump and have even more questions,"

Catra wanted to snap at her and tell her to back off, but she was right. "I hate to admit it, and it really does make me feel like I'm gonna puke, but she's right baby," She said softly. Adora groaned, both in discomfort and disgruntlement. "Fine. I'll tell her tonight," Her face paled slightly. "But I'm gonna head back to the room now and try not to throw up the baby," Catra rubbed her back. "You want me to come back?" She asked. Adora shook her head weakly, pushing away. "Nah, you were up with me last night. You need the sleep," She gestured. "And whatever you were doing here," She wrapped an arm around her roiling stomach. "I'll see you later," She called, moving quickly back to the room.

Catra huffed, rubbing her eyes again. "Better make this quick, Sparkles. I don't like her being alone," Catre forewarned. Glimmer nodded once. "Right. Well, first of all, congratulations," She smiled. "If you can't attend a meeting because of that, then just tell me, I'll make something up," Catra flashed a small smile. "What were you gonna tell me then? 'Cus I need to head back with her," Glimmer gave another curt nod. "To put it bluntly, we're thinking there's gonna be another war,"

Catra's shoulder slumped. "Why!?" She exclaimed. Glimmer shrugged. "Some of the clones have decided they prefer Prime's way of life. They're grouping together in large groups out in the waste," She explained. "There's nothing yet to suggest anything too suspicious, but Huntara said the groups kept growing in size and aggression towards the Etherian natives," She paused. "We've also received word of clones on various other planets doing the same. We think somebody's reactivated the Hive mind and they're using it to communicate," Catra felt an involuntary shudder run through her body. "The council and I were thinking of grouping some of the other planets together, and squashing the problem before it gets out of hand," She hesitated. Catra noticed. "Why did you hesitate? What aren't I gonna like?"

Glimmer sighed heavily. "We're gonna need Adora on one of them, now hear me out before you rip my head off," She quickly added. Catra ground her teeth. "Fine," She hissed. Glimmer glanced around. "Only Bow, Entrapta and I know, so you've gotta keep it quiet," She hissed back. Catra rolled her eyes. "Cross my heart, hope to die, whatever the bullshit is," Glimmer huffed. "We... we received a message from a planet called Eternia," She borderline whispered. Catra raised a brow. "Ok, and?" Glimmer raised her eyebrows. "She's not told you?" Catra's heart did something funny. "Not told me what?" Glimmer's eyes held something odd. "Adora's from Eternia. That's her home planet," Catra felt her heart sink. "No... she hadn't told me that," She said quietly.

Glimmer was quiet for a few moments. "Um... why-why would you need her?" Catra pushed her feelings to the back of her mind. Now wasn't the time to question anybody, and certainly not her sick pregnant wife... not yet anyway. "Well, the message came in First Ones writing. It took forever to decode it, because we couldn't ask Adora, for obvious reasons," Catra felt her eye twitch. "It- the King and Queen, they're asking for She-Ra's help against the clones. Apparently some found their way there, and they're rising again," Catra forced her eyebrow to raise. "I still don't see why that's Adora's problem. Did you forget she's praying to the porceline gods twenty-two hours of the day?"

Glimmer fidgeted. Catra heard her heartbeat pick up. "What're you hiding, Sparkles?" She asked, a tint of amusement covering the sentence. Glimmer wrang her hands. "Here, you read the message. I- I can't," Glimmer thrust her tracker pad into Catra's grasp, opening the decoded message.

To whoever on Etheria reads this message.
To start nicely, we heard of She-Ra's success in defeating the Lord Prime and releasing the universe from his evil grasp. We thank her, and you for helping in her missions. However, we have disturbing news. Somehow, myself, nor my wife, our son or our council can work it out, some clones have infiltrated our beautiful home. They have released a calling card for any wandering clones to reconvene here. My soldiers are fighting bravely, with both myself, my wife and our son on the front lines, but we cannot hold it for long.

I am sorry to notify you this way, but our son is He-Man. Our daughter, whom we lost twenty-one years ago, bares the sword of She-Ra. Your She-Ra is our daughter. She is the twin to He-Man, both designed to wield the swords of protection and power. Somehow, the sword found our daughter, hidden within another dimension.

I fear I am rambling. In any case, I implore you to bring your best soldiers and She-Ra to our aid. Familial issues aside, I fear She-Ra is the only one strong enough to turn the tide in our favour. Please respond as soon as you receive this message. I desperately hope to see your aid soon.

Kind Randor.