Chapter Text
The airlock door opened with a rush of cool air and the feeling of being noticeably lighter on her own feet. The sensation eased the light aches in her joints. Adora moved forward smoothly down the ramp without the usual careful pause.
Catra was right at her side. “See? I plan excellent dates.”
“You did not change the planet’s gravity,” Adora teased back lightly.
“Still picked it.”
Looking out toward the horizon, there was a grove of broad, pale-leafed trees not far ahead and distant water sparkling with light from two large stars hanging low in the sky, one orange and one pink. They walked slowly toward the grove. It was a short, easy walk with no grade, and the low gravity made their steps so light they almost glided toward the trees. For the first time in days, moving didn't feel like a negotiation with her own body.
Adora could see a natural path winding between the pale trees toward a ridge that looked interesting.
Catra looked at her.
Adora sighed. “I wasn't going to say anything.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I wasn't.”
“I'm very proud of you.”
“You're insufferable.” She bumped her shoulder and Catra gave a light bump back.
They stretched out on the springy blue-violet grass. Above them, enormous translucent leaves shifted in the warm breeze, turning the light into rippling bands of turquoise and gold and casting wide swaths of shade. Every so often, one of the tiny silver seedpods drifting through the air caught an updraft and sailed impossibly high before beginning its slow, wandering descent. Far below, a chain of pale waterfalls spilled from floating shelves of stone, breaking apart into glittering mist long before they reached the ground.
Catra lay with her hands tucked behind her head, one foot hooked lazily over the other. She turned her head toward Adora and smirked. “You know, I think we might actually be good at this.” At Adora’s questioning look, Catra waved vaguely at everything around them. “Doing absolutely nothing.”
She picked up one of the water pouches and tossed it lightly toward Adora, slow enough in the weak gravity that it practically drifted between them. The pouch floated toward her and Adora’s fingers closed around it easily. She took a few slow sips as she watched a seedpod flutter. “This is just what we needed.” She reached for Catra’s hand.
Catra’s fingers curled automatically around Adora’s, thumb brushing once across her knuckles. “Yeah,” she murmured, still looking out over the valley. “No supply station mishaps. No weird ancient platforms trying to rearrange your insides. Huge improvement.”
Adora noticed the twin stars had sunk a little lower in the sky. She felt a stiffness in her hips and she stretched out a little more. Her eyelids were getting a bit heavy. She blinked a few times, trying to keep her focus.
“Hey.” Catra scooted closer until their shoulders touched. Her ears flattened slightly, the left more than the right, “You getting sleepy?”
Adora leaned against Catra more, laying her head on her affectionately. “Just resting is all. My body’s just giving in to all this relaxation. This planet is amazing.” She wanted to say more but her thought trailed off. She let her eyes close for just a moment.
Catra’s hand smoothed slowly over Adora’s upper arm, then lingered there. “Adora?” She brushed the backs of her fingers along Adora’s cheek, then her forehead. “Hey, open your eyes for me a second. I’m not ruining the relaxing,” Catra added, gentler now. “I just want to check something.”
Adora slowly blinked her eyes back open. It took more effort than she expected to focus on Catra. She felt her pulse thud in her ears for a moment but pushed past the sensation. “Okay.” She wondered what Catra wanted to suddenly check. They were just relaxing.
Catra looked at her carefully. Her hand slid to the side of Adora’s neck, fingers settling over her pulse. Catra’s brows drew together almost immediately. “You’re warm,” Catra said. “And your heart’s going faster than I’d expect after all this extremely strenuous lounging.” Catra sounded puzzled. “You didn’t do anything,” she said quietly, as if she were putting the pieces together aloud. “You actually listened to me all day. Which, frankly, was unsettling.” Her mouth twitched up at the corner, but the concern stayed in her eyes.
Adora hadn’t pushed or exerted at all, so why would her body be reacting more now? That didn’t make any sense.
“How achy are you? And don’t give me the version where you round everything down because we’re having a nice day.”
Her limbs felt heavier than they should in low gravity and the joint points had a sore, almost hot feeling like they were swelling from the inside. “My joints…” she started and then the words drifted before she could get them out. She tried again. “I’m kind of sore.” She felt sweat breaking out on her brow though she hadn’t even moved. What was happening? She should be totally fine.
“We can stay right here for another minute,” Catra assured. “I’m not making you get up until I know standing isn’t gonna make you fall over.”
Adora began to hold herself more rigidly. “I can stand,” she insisted, needing that to be true.
“Hey.” Catra’s voice dropped. “You rested. You stayed in the shade. You drank. You didn’t transform. You didn’t even try to rescue anything.” A beat. “And somehow you’re still getting worse.”
No. That wasn’t possible. Not here. She felt a hand on her cheek and forced her eyes back to Catra. She was fine. She had to be fine.
Catra’s gaze had fixed over on where Darla sat, barely a walk away. “We’re going back,” she said decisively. “And before you say it. Yeah. I know. You did everything right. That’s why I’m worried.”
Worried? Adora didn’t like hearing that. She had just wanted a few normal hours with Catra. She wanted to be the partner Catra deserved, not whatever these last few days had been since the platform.
Catra leaned forward until her forehead rested lightly against Adora’s. “This was still a good day.” She said it with enough certainty to leave no room for Adora to argue.
When their foreheads pressed Adora registered that Catra’s felt oddly cool against hers.
“I had a good day with you,” Catra continued. “I liked lying around doing nothing. I liked watching you stare at those stupid floating waterfalls for twenty minutes. I liked that you kept pretending you weren’t trying to catch those seed things when they drifted past. And none of that stops counting because you feel awful now.” Catra pulled back just enough to look at her again.
Feel awful? Did she feel awful? Well her body felt a bit heavy and her joints were sore and she could feel her heartbeat thudding through her and even just focusing was taking work. That didn’t seem great. Why was this happening now? Still? Again? She was supposed to be fine. All she had done was rest and relax.
Catra reached to help her reposition. “Let’s head back, slowly.”
Adora sat more upright and her joints stiffened a little, but her vision stayed clear. She didn’t shift upward yet. She knew she needed to take care to move slowly now or she might not be able to stand after all.
Catra shifted with her, one arm already moving securely around Adora’s waist. Catra planted her feet and rose only partway, bringing Adora with her in stages. She kept them there for a moment, crouched awkwardly between sitting and standing, giving Adora’s body time to catch up before they straightened fully. They moved slowly, Adora letting herself lean into Catra knowing that the wash of dizziness would be there whether she wanted it to or not. Catra tucked Adora closer against her side, tail curling loosely behind Adora’s legs.
They took the first few steps together and as long as she leaned a bit and went slowly, she could walk well enough.
“Right now I just want you back on the ship, with the med scan telling me exactly how annoyed I’m allowed to be.”
Catra had shifted again to take more of her weight. At this point Adora was for whatever got them back to the ship quickest so she could just sleep and move past this. She had probably overestimated how recovered she was again and if she just got a good long chunk of sleep things would be fine. “Yeah, back on the ship makes sense,” she agreed and they continued toward the ship ramp.
“Still with me?” Catra’s eyes searched her face.
“Yeah.”
“Bench first. Scan second. Nap after that.”
The ramp was trickier to manage than Adora had anticipated with its upward slope, and she found herself leaning further into Catra. As they passed through the airlock the change in gravity hit all at once, making her whole body feel suddenly heavier and her joints protested. She couldn’t quite suppress the small sound that left her. She stiffened instinctively then tried to force herself to relax and let more of her weight press back onto Catra.
“Yeah, bench is sounding really good right now.”
Without Catra’s help, Adora was sure she would have just fully collapsed onto the bench, but Catra kept ahold of her and eased her down instead. Adora leaned back against the wall, her eyes closing with relief before she worked to blink them open again. Sweat was collecting at her temples.
“Darla, med check on Adora.”
Darla’s display hovered in the air beside them. Inflammation, pulse, and temperature were all well into amber now, edging toward that deeper orangey shade. Not quite as bad as after She-Ra, but close enough.
“Low-grade fever detected. Mild tachycardia. Elevated inflammatory markers. Rest, hydration and monitoring recommended.”
Well that was exactly the same message Darla had given two days before. It made Adora feel like she was caught in a depressing, inescapable loop.
Catra pulled out the data pad and started updating it with increasingly irritated taps, as if she could intimidate the data points into going lower.
Adora swallowed. “Sorry.”
Catra’s fingers stopped. “For what?”
Adora didn't actually have an answer to that. She let her eyes close again and sagged farther against the wall. This time, she hadn’t even done anything.