Chapter Text
"I can't believe Mom agreed to let you stay in Bright Moon," Glimmer says for the fourth time as she's leading them down the hallway past the many, many guards lining either side. Is it better to think that Bright Moon just has guards every few feet or that there's only a couple but they all still hate her so much they're following her around?
"Yeah," Adora squeaks. "Awesome." What isn't completely awesome about being reminded no one thought this would work?
"It's so nice here," Catra says in a monotone.
"Okay, you've seen the dining hall, throne room, the portrait hall. So, the last stop on our grand tour is…" She throws open the doors. "…your new room! Ta-da!"
Adora gasps.
It's bright like the sunrise and she keeps looking up and up to find the ceiling so far above, feeling a second of vertigo when she does.
"Pretty standard," Glimmer says with a chuckle. "Catra's room is set up the same." Adora tears her eyes from the inexplicably see-through distant ceiling to stare at Catra, who's staring back at her with the same expression of baffled horror. Catra's room is some other vastness elsewhere?
Glimmer continues, "You've got your vanity" - she appears next to what looks like a desk with a mirror - "bathroom" - why is there a lopsided white container of bubbles what does that have to do with a bathroom - "crystals" - Adora clutches at the fact she knows what that is, crystals are sparkly things that have no point only why would they be here if they didn't do anything, she doesn't know this, she has no idea what's happening - "bell pull" - Glimmer yanks a rope and something dings - "tea nook" - a what what - "more crystals" - Adora tries not to hyperventilate - "bed" - she fails where is the bed is it buried under the pillows how can she not understand something as simple as a room - "desk" but wasn't the first thing a desk what was the first thing then - "and, of course, the water fountain." Glimmer smiles at them like the things she just said are good.
Adora takes a steadying breath. The water looks recognizable. It's a stream going into a wide pool in a way that's making the back of her neck crawl in anticipation of Shadow Weaver shouting about wasting water which is really kind of ridiculous if you think about it because the most Shadow Weaver had ever been is disappointed in Adora, she never grabbed - She gulps in another breath. She can do this. "Is the waterfall for showering?"
Glimmer laughs. "Ha! Good one, Adora. Waterfall for showering." She waves her hand like she's batting away the very idea. "Now, Catra's room is right-"
"I'll just stay with Adora!" Catra yelps, jumping away from the open door, and Adora feels like dying with gratitude.
"Uh…?" Glimmer says. "I promise, your room has all the same things."
"It's totally fine!" Adora babbles. "I'd love that! I, I kind of owe her, and it'd be nice to pay her back finally! Catra let me share her bed back ho- at the Horde. I was assigned the top bunk but, uh, I fell out once." It's embarrassing to remember even now but she's already brought it up. "I was a really clumsy kid, and it was really hard to go back up there after I fell. So I'm happy to do the same."
"Why didn't you just switch beds?" Glimmer asks.
Catra laughs with only a slight edge to it, and Adora starts to relax as well. "Switch beds!" She laughs harder. "Oh I am so glad we didn't think of that. Shadow Weaver was so mad the next morning, I can't imagine what she'd have done to me if she thought I'd kicked Adora out of her bed!"
"She wasn't that mad," Adora says defensively.
"The whole room went dark and crackly! I couldn't tell if I'd actually woken up."
"But she didn't actually do anything, so she wasn't that mad."
"We were still really little," Catra says. "She cared more about you getting clipped back then. She used to only go for me if I was more than a couple feet away from you, remember?" Catra pauses, obviously thinking. "But I guess you're right. She didn't order you away and she never minded afterward so she couldn't have been that mad."
Afterward… Adora rubs her arm. "No. You were right about her being mad. Remember, she...she grabbed my wrist to pull me out of bed."
"Oh, yeah." Catra's ears go down and she looks to the side. Maybe she's also embarrassed by the thought of how pathetic Adora'd been back then. She hadn't screamed, she doesn't think, but she definitely fainted.
"Uh," says Glimmer again. "Right. I mean. If that's what you want, Catra, and Adora's okay with it too."
"Yes!" Adora says. "Absolutely."
"Okay, so we can get a second bed from-"
"No, it's fine, we're fine!" Adora babbles desperately. She's starting to think she doesn't know what a bed is either. How can they get another one? Magic?
"Alright then," Glimmer says, giving them a weird look. "Well, I'm right down the hall if you need anything!"
The door closes.
Catra looks at Adora. "Okay. Do you know what anything is?"
Adora points at the 'vanity'. "I thought that was a desk but the other thing is a desk," she moans. "And I'm not sure it's actually a desk either."
"If we don't touch anything we can't use it wrong. There's plenty of empty space," Catra decides.
"Right!" Adora breathes out. "I'm so glad you're here."
Catra flops against her side. "Haha, yeah." She sighs. "It's...it won't be that bad," she says suddenly. There's a sort of wistfulness to her voice. "You'll get used to it. Just stay on Glimmer's good side."
"Right," Adora says again. Yeah. She can do this. She walks toward the center of the room. There's all sorts of heavy cloth above the pile of pillows to create shade. She's not sure why they made a huge bright room and then wasted a lot of clothing to make part of it dark instead of just making a regular room, but dark is for sleeping and Glimmer said this is the bed so that adds up.
Adora sits cautiously on the edge and suddenly she's being swallowed by pillows. "Help."
Catra approaches but only so she can lean over and get a better look for laughing at Adora. "Now you're losing another fight with a bed." Adora finds the strength to lunge up for long enough to grab her and then they both topple into the morass. "Aiugh!!!" Catra shrieks, clawing her way on top of Adora for better footing and then jumping up to hang on the hanging cloth, all her fur standing on end, and it's Adora's turn to laugh at her instead. "At least I can get out again!" Catra shouts. Adora chucks a pillow toward her but Catra scrambles to the side, then down and back to solid ground somewhere outside of Adora's vision.
She wriggles around a bit, throwing more pillows in the hopes of excavating the actual bed only to discover there's still a giant pillow underneath it all. Is that supposed to be the bed?
"Maybe it's a bed storage," Catra suggests. Adora rolls to the edge to see she's contemplating the strewn pillows. "People take one, put it on the ground and sleep there. And the big thing stores the bed insides for when they need to fill more."
"But this is enough for a bunch of squads and it's just us here," Adora says. "Besides, this is the only place that's dark in the whole room."
"And it was supposed to be just you," Catra agrees. "So pillow piles are a bed?" Catra pokes the side of the hanging cloth. She picks it up and Adora sees there's even more bunched on the ground, then Catra's eyes go wide and she just stands there rolling it in her fingers.
Adora groans and wiggles on her belly off the edge and onto the ground. "It's like falling really really slowly and never hitting the ground. Like a nightmare someone made into a bed to sleep on!"
"So let's just sleep on the floor. If we're next to the 'bed' we can still get under the cloth to block all the light."
"You can't sleep on the floor!"
Catra blinks at her. "Why not?"
"Because - I don't know! I'm sure there's a reason!" Adora cards through memories and lessons. "It could make us sick?"
"I'm pretty sure not sleeping will make you sick faster."
Adora turns back to the squishy horror and starts poking around the side. "Maybe...maybe the bed just isn't on yet? Maybe it's deflated, like a raft."
"How would that work?"
"I don't know!" Adora wails. She sits on the floor, then lies back. It isn't actually that cold. Maybe… But she just feels like someone will be mad about this. She gets up again. "I'll just go out quick and ask Glimmer how the bed works."
Catra yawns. "I bet I can fit under the bed. Then no one would know I was sleeping on the floor."
Adora hesitates. But no, whoever comes in will still know when they don't see anyone in the bed. She cautiously goes to the door.
"Remember to ask Glimmer to tell you birds can't be giant and you're dumb," Catra hisses.
"They can so," Adora hisses back, and steps out.
It's dark in the hall now. There's no sign of the guards from before, so, they were following her because they hate her. That's...okay! Adora decides. It's less scary than there being guards watching every meter of this place. And she'll prove herself and then they'll know she's not really evil.
She creeps along. Glimmer said her room was down this way, somewhere. And something's glowing.
Adora rounds a corner to find the bird-queen is standing in the middle of the hallway, blocking the way to Glimmer. How long has she been there? Are the soldiers gone because she replaced them? Was she here because she thought Adora was going to attack Glimmer?
No. She's being paranoid. Glimmer's mom knows she's She-Ra and that she's here to help and balance everything and that they're not with the Horde anymore. There's some other reason. It's the woman's palace, there's nothing strange about her being in it.
"Your majesty!" Adora says.
The queen turns to look at her. She's holding a ball of light in one hand and the expression it illuminates on the queen's face…
She never knew how much she appreciated a mask between her and that. She only knew Shadow Weaver was disappointed when Shadow Weaver told her what she'd done wrong. Is she supposed to guess? She doesn't know where to start guessing! What if she says something that Glimmer's mom doesn't even know to be mad about yet?!
Adora coughs. "So, uh, what are you doing up?"
"When I feel the cares of the day weighing upon me, I come here," she says. Glimmer's mom looks back to the wall she was staring at before. Adora sees it's a picture of someone. They look beautiful.
"Who is that?" Adora asks.
"King Micah." She closes her eyes. "My husband. He built the Rebellion with me. And he was one of the first casualties of the Horde." Her hand and the light in it moves down, toward the corner Adora's standing by, and it illuminates the pattern of familiar uniforms.
"Sorry," Adora says. "I - I didn't know."
"Adora." The queen steps closer to Adora as Adora backs up a half step out of reflex, then leans in closer still. "My daughter believes you can help us. Glimmer has vouched for you despite your background, and because I greatly love my daughter I'm willing to give you a chance." Her hand suddenly closes and the light in it vanishes, leaving only a fist. "Do not disappoint her."
The queen turns her back on Adora and walks away down the hall.
Adora holds perfectly still until she's sure Glimmer's mom is gone, then darts back to the room with Catra and sags down against the closed door.
"Well?" Catra's eyes stare up at her from the base of the bed.
"Let's just sleep on the floor. It's, it's been a long day so I shouldn't bother Glimmer. I can ask tomorrow." She walks up to the bed and crawls under the draped cloth. No wonder Catra hadn't wanted to stop kneading it. It's soft and smooth, like Catra's fur, and has a reassuring weight on top of her. Maybe they're not even wrong. Maybe it's supposed to be a blanket.
Adora wiggles so it's wrapped around her. It feels like back when she was a kid and the blankets on the bed were so enormous you could hide in them.
("You were nothing before Hordak took you in.")
But she'd proven herself to Shadow Weaver, hadn't she? She could do it again. Would do it. She'll be worthy of Glimmer's belief in her.
"I'm sorry about back when we were kids and you fell," Catra blurts out. "I should've made you go to the infirmary."
"That's not your fault! I was the one who didn't want to go."
"But you're a moron and I always knew that."
"Your apologies suck," Adora says, and shoves her.
Catra doesn't say anything in response. After a moment, Adora admits, "The whole time I was at the infirmary, I just wished I could've just pretended it was okay so I could've stayed with you instead, even if it hurt. And then when I got back you said I could keep sleeping on the bottom anyway."
"That's because you're an idiot," Catra says, grinning, and shoves her back. "Anyway, if you fell off with two working arms, you'd probably have broken your neck falling off with one!"
"Beds are treacherous," Adora says.
"They're the worst," Catra agrees, and rolls to curl up against her side.