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Adora
Catra looks upset when she comes back from her talk with Perfuma. I immediately abandon the report I was finishing about Elberon’s giant mushroom problem and rush to her. She hasn’t looked upset like this in weeks. Perfuma’s talks usually help, not hurt.
“What’s wrong, Catra?” I ask, my hands twisting awkwardly in front of me. I want to hold her, but I’m still a little nervous about initiating contact without permission. It’s almost always fine, welcome even. Almost always. One of those important little qualifiers I can never get out of my head.
“Perfuma asked me if I have any hobbies,” Catra says. She sounds confused and a little hurt, and my heart twists. I just want her to be happy.
“Like work?” I ask. I never quite got what hobbies were. They always just sounded like work that wasn’t productive.
Catra shakes her head. “No. She was very specific that hobbies aren’t work. And then she looked so sad when I said I’ve never really done anything outside of work.” Sudden fire flashes in her eyes. “I want to. I want a hobby, Adora.”
“Uhm, okay,” I say, because I’m pretty much the last person she should be asking about this. “But, you know I have even less of an idea of what hobbies are than you, right? You should probably ask someone who, you know, didn’t grow up in the Evil Horde?”
She lets out a quiet little laugh. “Oh, yeah. Good point. I’ll ask Bow about it over dinner.”
“Oh, right!” I exclaim, heat rushing to my face. “I need to finish this report before then. How long do I have?”
Catra shrugs. “Sparkles will probably appear demanding our presence in half an hour. Gives me time for a nap, anyway.”
“I still don’t get how sleeping for thirty minutes helps more than it hurts,” I mutter.
“You’re just jealous,” Catra teases. “If you could power nap like a king you’d do it too.”
“A king?” I raise one eyebrow at her. “You’ve decided to marry Sparkles, then?”
Catra gags dramatically. “No thanks. Besides, Bow doesn’t deserve to have his true love stolen from him like that.”
“Good point,” I agree. “Though you don’t seem to be worried about the ‘seducing Glimmer’ part of this plan.”
“Pssh. Are you kidding? She would be a breeze.” Catra drops her voice in a comical exaggeration of a tone I’ve heard in very different settings. “Hey, Sparkles. Want me to show you how we treat royalty where I’m from?”
I fail to stifle my laughter. “That’s your plan? Wow, I thought you were supposed to be an evil genius.”
“I live to impress.” She leans back against the wall next to the door, sprawling languidly. Her ear flicks. Her tail twitches. She inspects her claws. She sniffs the air. I turn back to my work, because I really do need to finish this report. Not five seconds later, Catra bounces into my lap, barely giving me any time to brace myself. Her tail sweeps across my desk, sending the carefully sorted papers scattering onto the floor.
“Oops,” she remarks without a shred of remorse.
“Catra, I’m trying to work here,” I say as calmly as I can. I mostly just sound annoyed. Then again, she’s being annoying. Even if it’s also very cute.
“Your arms didn’t get that memo,” Catra notes smugly, because the traitorous limbs are gently wrapped around her already. I can’t even free them without toppling her to the floor, which I’m sure is her plan. She’s changed a lot in the weeks since Horde Prime was defeated, but she’s lost none of her deviousness. It’s just directed uh, differently now.
“Let’s go find Bow now,” she says, her eyes bright.
“You really can’t wait until dinner?” I ask, hiding a smile.
She wrinkles her nose before batting at my face with her tail. “I could. But I don’t want to. Besides, we’ve done nothing but work for a month. We deserve a vacation.”
A vacation? “You’ve been talking to Glimmer again, haven’t you.”
“My lips are sealed,” she replies, smirking at me. I don’t budge. “Come on, Adora! Be cool for once in your life.”
“I’m cool,” I scoff, because I am. “I’m She-Ra. That’s like, the definition of cool.”
Catra shakes her head. “Doesn’t count. Besides, if She-Ra’s so cool, she would totally skip out on work to interrogate Bow about hobbies right now.”
Damn. I don’t know how I let her maneuver me into a corner like this. I give the Elberon report on the floor one last mournful glance and try to stand.
“Let’s go,” I say.
Catra beams at me, and the pure joy and excitement there reminds me of simpler times, back before everything. Catra used to get so excited over the smallest of things. Seeing her like this again, just happy and animated, makes me happier than I ever would have thought. I missed this.
“I bet I’ll be better at having a hobby than you,” she challenges as we walk to Bow’s office, which is really just a desk in the library. He spends a lot of his time at various workshops across Etheria, both the seminar-talking kind as well as physical places where he builds stuff, but with Glimmer’s teleporting he still lives and works out of Bright Moon palace.
“I don’t think hobbies are a competitive thing,” I say.
“You just told me you have no idea what they are,” Catra says.
“I- okay, yes, but I’m still pretty sure they aren’t a competition. The whole point is that they relax you.”
“Oh, so you do know what they’re for,” Catra teases. “You just heard the word ‘relax’ and ran away screaming.”
I open my mouth for a rebuttal, and close it. “Let’s just find Bow.”
“Uh-huh,” Catra smirks at me. Thankfully we arrive at the library a few seconds later.
“Bow?” I call.
“In here,” he replies from around a corner. Catra all but bounds through the library’s entrance before skidding to a halt in front of Bow, who’s poring over some thick tome on his desk. Bow closes the book and hefts it off the desk, familiar with Catra’s antics. Instead of assaulting the desk, she stops a few feet away, the tip of her tail twitching, ears falling.
“Hey, Catra,” Bow greets. “Adora. What’s up?”
I give Catra a few seconds, but she doesn’t say anything. I step up next to her and slide my hand around her waist. She doesn’t melt into the touch like usual, but her own hand covers mine on her hip, making it clear that she wants the contact. Bow watches us, probably getting more nervous by the second.
“Catra wants to learn about hobbies,” I finally say, hoping I’m not overstepping. Catra’s too busy inspecting the floorboards to comment.
“Oh!” Bow exclaims, surprised and relieved. “Okay. What kind of hobbies?”
“Catra?” I prompt, because this whole thing is her idea and I don’t want to put words in her mouth.
“I don’t know,” she mumbles. “This was a dumb idea.”
She takes a step back, preparing to leave.
“Hobbies are great!” Bow says. I’m not sure if he didn’t hear her, or figures the best way to handle an embarrassed Catra is to pretend he doesn’t notice her embarrassment at all. “For me, I like to tinker with my arrows or other projects. If I need to work off some energy I’ll practice my archery or work out. Sometimes I paint War Table Battle Figures™. I like to work with my hands, but there are tons of things you can do to relax. I know Glimmer’s been looking to break out her board game collection. We haven’t had a lot of time recently, though.”
“Game?” Catra asks suspiciously. “Like training?”
“Not exactly,” Bow says. He gives me a glance in case I want to jump in, because he and Glimmer have tried to introduce me to board games before. They never seemed practical to me. Too abstract, and they take forever. Time I could use for training. I just shake my head at him. He continues by himself. “They’re mostly just for fun. Glimmer has a bunch of different ones, if you want to try them.”
“If it’s a game, how do you decide who wins?” Catra asks. Her whole tail is waving back and forth now, something only fools fail to fear.
“It depends on the game,” Bow says. “Each one has different rules to score points or win.”
Catra spins to face me, slipping out from my arm. “Adora, I challenge you to a board game. Loser has to clean our room this week.”
“Uhhhhhh,” I stammer, looking to Bow for support. He, of course, is just smiling at us both.
“Only cowards back down from a challenge,” Catra says. Then she steps closer to me and purrs, “are you a coward, Adora?”
“No! You’re on.”
“Perfect. Let’s go.”
“Don’t we have to eat dinner soon?” I ask, because I’m really hungry. I never seem to find time to snack during the day, which means that dinner will be critical to fueling me up to defeat Catra in a battle of wits. Or whatever a board game is.
“I’ll set a game up after dinner,” Bow offers. “What do you two want to play?”
Catra glances at me, eyes wide. She clearly has no idea. I’ve at least been partially exposed to Glimmer’s staggering collection. Which also means…
“How about Moons of Etheria?” I propose innocently. Catra gives me the side-eye but doesn’t comment.
Bow makes a thoughtful noise. “Not a bad pick for beginners.”
Catra gasps indignantly. “I am not a beginner.”
“You didn’t even know what a board game was until two minutes ago,” I say with a laugh. “I think that qualifies. Besides, you’re a fast learner.”
“I am,” she proclaims with a sniff. “And the stakes are so high.”
Dinner is… short. After Bow explains the situation to Glimmer, she races Catra to finish our assortment of fluffy pastries and hearty stew from the kitchens. Normally I’m the fastest eater, but that apparently means nothing in the face of the drive and sheer focus of the two biggest nightmares of Bright Moon. I mean that in the best sense, of course. Mostly.
Before long, Bow has the game set up, and has elected to play the impartial judge. Glimmer is firmly on Catra’s side. At first I’m jealous, because Glimmer is a board game fiend, but she spends every second critiquing Catra’s moves and offering alternatives with zero prompting. It’s a wonder Catra doesn’t try to claw her five minutes in.
The room gets tense as the game reaches its climax. Glimmer is breathing down Catra’s neck. Beads of sweat drip down my temples. Catra is laser-focused on the board, claws flexing with each move. We’re all utterly silent.
Catra plays her second-to-last card, a Dimensional Warp, picks up her green sorcerer, and sets them delicately on the Etheria space. Bow sucks in a breath. Glimmer grins wickedly. With a flourish, Catra plays her final card.
“Read it and weep,” she drawls. “I win.”
I don’t need to read it. I toss a Counterspell out from my shrinking hand, which lands on top of the Ascension card she just played that would have scored her the last two points she needs to win the game. Then I play Homeward Bound, pick up the pink princess that looks a little too much like Glimmer for my peace of mind, and place them in the matching slot along the edge of the board.
“Unity,” I declare. “I win.”
Catra stares at the board in shock. Glimmer squawks just before Catra whirls on her.
“You told me there was no way she had a Counterspell!” Catra half-shouts.
“I said it was incredibly unlikely,” Glimmer shoots back. “But apparently Adora has the luck of the gods on her side!”
“I actually kept that card from the start,” I say, not above preening a little. “What can I say? Contingency planning works out sometimes.”
Glimmer rolls her eyes. Catra whips back to me, abandoning her tirade against Glimmer about leading her astray and how she should have just trusted her own instincts because she has more than sparkles between her ears.
“Hey, Adora,” she growls. Uh oh. That’s all the warning I get before she launches herself up and over the board and sends me sprawling back across the floor of Glimmer’s bedroom. Her tail is lashing so hard it sends game pieces flying across the room, much to Bow’s dismay and Glimmer’s offense.
“Catra,” I grunt, because she’s still pinning me to the ground. “Are you gonna be a sore loser?” I smile up at her, struggling to keep my cool because she’s right there, her eyes are huge, and I can’t tell if she’s going to kiss me or bite me. I don’t even know which one I want.
“Rematch,” she demands, still staring down at me. “Or I’m sleeping with Sparkles and Arrow Boy tonight.”
“Wait wait wait-” Glimmer stammers while Bow splutters something about boundaries and privacy. I’m not really listening.
“You’re on,” I breathe.
“Uh, it’s getting late, guys,” Bow says once he stops freaking out about the thought of having to deal with an angry Catra at night. “Maybe we should shelve the board games thing for a while. There are other hobbies you can try. How about hiking? Have you ever hiked in the Whispering Woods, Catra?”
She shoots him a look. “Every time I’ve gone into that creepy forest something bad has happened. If it’s not Adora receiving a worrying number of hits to the head its a freaky old temple thing showing me a bunch of my worst childhood memories. No thanks.”
“For the sake of my collection, maybe you should try something less competitive,” Glimmer puts in as she scrambles to put everything back in the box. Catra’s tail, not to mention her leap, made a serious mess of things. “Or at least do it outside. Hiking sounds great!”
“Ugh, fine,” Catra mutters. “I’ll try hiking tomorrow.” She turns back to me. “I am not cleaning our room this week.”
She’s terrible at it anyway.
“Okay,” I agree. “You know I can’t say no to you.”
She groans. “You’re such a dork.”
The next day, Catra is late to dinner. Bow doesn’t seem too worried, telling me that she and Melog are out in the woods for the afternoon. Then the pair finally arrive, and we all immediately become very worried. Catra is covered in… well, half the forest as far as I can tell. Mud, twigs, leaves, at least one chunk of tree bark, and more small scrapes than I can count. A long, thin cut on her left arm completes the ensemble.
Melog isn’t much better off, though their fur seems less prone to collecting detritus in general. Perks of being magical, I guess. Between the two of them, it looks like they picked a fight with a tree and lost. Maybe several trees. For all I know, that’s exactly what happened.
After staring in shock for a few seconds, I rush over to heal Catra.
“Are you okay? What happened? Were you attacked?”
“We’re fine,” Catra says, sounding annoyed. “Bow, I want you to note for the record that hiking is terrible.” Melog interjects with something, and Catra rolls her eyes. “Yeah, maybe for you. You just got to disappear the moment things got hairy.”
Melog sniffs primly. Catra scoffs.
“Oh, don’t give me that. The whole thing was your fault anyway.”
Insistent Melog noises. Offended Catra noises.
“What- my fault? I’m not the one who picked a fight with a beetle thing ten times my size!”
Melog sounds, accompanied by snickering from the Glimmer-sized peanut gallery behind me.
“How was I supposed to know the branch was rotten? Someone should have put up a sign.”
“Catra,” I interrupt, because while seeing her argue with a huge purple cat being is pretty funny, I’m also halfway to becoming a nervous wreck. “Can I heal you?”
She looks at me like I”m being an idiot. “What? I’m fine. I just need-” she shudders “-a shower. Remind me to never go hiking again.”
“Taking that one off the list,” Bow murmurs, doing his best not to sound defeated.
Glimmer suggests knitting next. What this actually means is she teleports all of us to Mystacor to meet with Castaspella, Etheria’s leading expert on all things yarn. According to Glimmer, that is. Melog disappears to explore the mostly-new territory immediately, Catra watching them leave with something approaching yearning.
“Oh, there you all are! I was beginning to think you’d forgotten about me!”
Glimmer has grown and changed a lot since I met her. She went from being a rowdy mess of a princess to a queen, and knows how to handle herself in almost every social situation imaginable, out of necessity more than anything. For all that, she gives Casta the exact same fake cheer she greeted her with the first time I met the sorcerer. Glimmer’s whole body shifts, and if it weren’t for the hair I might think she was seventeen again, bracing herself for collision with her overbearing aunt.
“Hey, Aunt Casta!” Glimmer says behind her smile. “How are things in Mystacor?”
“Oh, fine, fine!” Casta exclaims. “You didn’t need to trouble yourself coming all the way here just to check in. I know you’d never find time in your busy schedule for a social visit these days.”
Bow has his best neutrally happy face on. Catra can’t seem to decide if she thinks Casta is being incredibly annoying or if she’s the best thing Catra’s seen since she discovered Bright Moon’s vast inventory of combs and brushes. I can attest to just how great a discovery that turned out to be. I guess trying to take care of a whole body’s worth of fur plus her hair with one standard issue Horde brush was something of a nightmare.
Eventually Catra settles on an amused smirk, because Glimmer is so clearly uncomfortable.
“Actually, we are!” Glimmer says. “Catra was interested in learning about knitting! She’s trying out new hobbies,”
“Of course! Knitting is one of the finest ways to pass the time that I can imagine.” In a more normal voice, she speaks directly to Catra. “It’s good to see you again. We didn’t have much time to get to know one another before, what with the universe ending and all that.” Casta lets out a giggle that is, to be frank, a little terrifying.
Catra flounders for a second, because Glimmer wasn’t wrong when she said Casta is a lot. “Uh, yeah,” Catra finally says.
“Well, what are we waiting for? Follow me!”
Casta sets off towards the center of Mystacor. The home of the sorcerer’s guild is mostly intact, but I still catch glimpses of sorcerers working together to patch holes in walls or roofs as we walk. Catra’s eyes never stop roving our surroundings, searching for possible threats. I get it. She’s only been to Mystacor once, and under less than ideal circumstances. After everything she went through, new places with lots of unfamiliar people aren’t her favorite. But she’s getting better.
Casta continues leading us through the towering hallways. When we pass the darkened alcove with Light Spinner’s statue, Catra’s tail poofs up and she quickly hurries by. I don’t blame her. Casta seems confused, and is about to ask when I shake my head at her. For once she gets it and stays quiet. Then I see something I hadn’t expected in her eyes. Simmering fury.
It’s nice to be reminded that other people hate Shadow Weaver almost as much as I do. I love Glimmer, but I still don’t understand how she ever trusted Shadow Weaver, even for an instant.
“Here we are!” Casta exclaims, sweeping open a door to a medium sized but well stocked room. “This is where I keep all of my supplies. Let me just grab you some needles while you pick out a few colors you like, Catra.”
Catra freezes in the open doorway as Casta bustles in. Glimmer and Bow look worried, but I see the way the tip of her tail is slowly twitching back and forth.
“Here, how about maroon? That seems like your color!” Casta thrusts a big ball of maroon yarn at Catra, the end dangling down enticingly. Catra’s tail twitches one last time.
“Uh oh,” I manage to say before all hell breaks loose.
“I feel like we could have seen this coming,” Glimmer admits after we finally manage to drag Catra out of the wreckage of the yarn storage room. Between her claws, her agility, and her single-minded determination to unravel every single ball of yarn in Mystacor, she managed to cover the entire room, not to mention herself, in half-shredded lengths of multicolored yarn before we stopped her. Casta is furious, Bow is stressed, Glimmer thinks it’s hilarious, and Catra, now that any balls of yarn are out of sight and mind, is deeply embarrassed and trying not to show it. It’s pretty cute, actually.
“How were we supposed to know she hated yarn that much?” Bow asks plaintively.
“It’s in her name, Bow,” Glimmer says. “ Catra.”
“Shut up,” Catra mumbles. I reach over to pick a thread of pink yarn out of her hair.
“Casta will get over it,” I tell her. “When I first came here, I blasted half the crystals in the temple place to bits with She-Ra magic. It’s just yarn.”
Catra grumbles something but presses up against me.
“I’ll go do some damage control,” Glimmer offers. “And the bright side is, she won’t be able to knit anyone anything for a while! You’ve done the world a great service today, Catra,” she adds in her best queen voice.
“And I will think of something else,” Bow promises. “We will find you the perfect hobby, Catra, don’t worry.”
This time neither Bow nor Catra show up for dinner. Glimmer waves my concern off.
“He’s showing her how to play his mandolin.”
“Oh! Okay, cool,” I say. “Does- does that count as a hobby?”
Glimmer raises an eyebrow at me. “Anything can be a hobby if you enjoy doing it and it relaxes you.” Her eyes narrow. “And if it’s not your job.”
Because I know I’ll lose that argument if I start it, I pile a few extra pastries on my plate and stand. “Do you know where they are? I can bring them some food.”
“The roof, I think,” Glimmer supplies. “I don’t know if Catra wants an audience, though.”
My shoulders slump a bit. “You’re probably right. Still, they have to eat, right? I’ll just leave the food there.”
“Adora-” Glimmer starts, but I’m already out the door and heading for the roof. I peek out when I arrive and see Bow and Catra sitting at the far end. Occasional musical notes drift through the air towards me, followed by Bow’s encouraging voice. I step onto the roof and the music stops, Catra twisting to see me coming. Her ears fall slightly, and I know her face is red under her fur. Bow turns to give me a look, then sees the food and motions me over.
“I brought you guys some dinner,” I say, offering them the plate. Bow takes it and sets it between him and Catra.
“Thanks,” he says.
A few moments of awkward silence pass.
“Do you uh, want me to leave?” I ask. Bow looks at Catra. She shakes her head.
“No, it’s fine. Stop looming, it makes you look even more nervous than usual.”
I promptly sit down next to her. Bow’s mandolin is resting on her lap.
“So you’re learning to play,” I say. She shrugs.
“Trying. It’s not going that well.”
“Why not? Is there something I can do?”
“Not unless you want to declaw me,” she mutters, and for once it’s not her usual joking sullenness. I look at Bow for help. He lifts a few cut mandolin strings in one hand with a shrug of his own.
“I have spares,” he said. “You’ll get it eventually. These things just take practice.”
“I don’t think practice is going to make my claws less sharp,” Catra says. “Maybe we should try something else.”
“Give it one more try,” Bow encourages. “Remember to use the pads of your fingers, not the tips.”
“I know where my claws are, thank you very much,” she snaps, her tone acid. She takes a deep breath and lets it out. “I’m sorry.”
“Thank you for apologizing,” Bow says. “Now, give it a try.”
Catra grumbles something under her breath but settles the mandolin on her lap. Moving cautiously, she begins to play. One note, two, then a string of them. Her face is tight with concentration, which I’ve always found cute to watch. I relax as she plays, because she’s actually pretty good. Better than Bow was when he first started. Of course, my relaxation only makes me jump when discordant snapping sound rips from the instrument.
Catra stares down at the snipped string for a breath, her jaw clenching. She hands the mandolin to Bow without looking up, then rises and stalks towards the exit from the roof. Bow sighs, pulling another spare string from his pocket.
“Catra, wait!” I call. She ignores me, ears hanging low, tail all but dragging on the roof. Her hands are clenched into fists at her sides. I scramble to my feet to follow her, because seeing her hurting like this over something so small hurts more than it should. I catch up to her just inside the doorway.
“Catra, talk to me,” I say. “Please.”
“What’s there to talk about?” She snaps, glaring at me over her shoulder. “I ruin everything I touch, even by accident.”
“That’s not true,” I say as evenly as I can, because I know freaking out would be the worst thing I could do here, even if I want to.
“The only thing I’ve ever been good at is destroying things,” she says, staring at the ground. “It doesn’t matter what I do. That’s all I’ll ever be.”
“No! No, Catra, that’s not true.” I step forward and pull her into my arms. She doesn’t resist, burying her face in my shoulder. I stroke her hair with one hand as I keep talking. “You’re not a destroyer. You’ve done so much good, and you can do so much more.”
“Why is it so hard?” She whispers, her voice fragile. “I’ve been trying every day, but I don’t think I can do it. There are some things I can’t change, Adora.” My jacket is damp now, and her arms are still locked at her sides. “And- and the one time I might be able to do something I enjoy just for the sake of it, to create something, I ruin it. Every time I see your scars I want to rip my claws off because all they do is hurt people. The only thing they’re for is violence, and I don’t want that anymore. But I can’t get rid of it. I don’t know where that part of me ends and the rest of me begins. Every time someone says something about ‘that Horde captain’ I have to stop myself from hurting them. I don’t want to be that anymore, but I don’t know how to escape it. I don’t know if I can.”
My eyes are wet now too, because I just want her to be happy, and because I don’t know how to fix any of this. I’ve never been good at the feelings stuff. But I try anyway. How can I not?
“I love them,” I say quietly, still holding her gently. She looks up at me, eyes red.
“What?”
“Your claws,” I say. “I love them.” She opens her mouth but I stop her before she can say anything else. “I love the way they catch the light when you stretch in the morning. I love watching you concentrate when you clean them. And having very sharp knives on hand whenever I need them is surprisingly convenient.” I look down into her eyes. “I love you, Catra. As you are. As you were. Your claws are a part of you, and I love all of you. I always have.”
“I think that just makes you an idiot,” she chuckles, leaning back slightly to wipe her eyes with one hand. “You mean all that?” I open my mouth to confirm it, because of course, but she gives her head a short shake before I can speak. “Of course you do. You’re dumb, but not dumb enough to think you could lie to me.”
Well, I guess that works. She eases out a breath, and finally her arms come up to complete our embrace. We lean into each other, taking a moment to just exist in the presence of the other.
“Have you talked to Perfuma about this?” I ask a few moments later. Catra shrugs against me.
“A little. It’s hard.”
I nod. “I liked your music.”
She laughs quietly. “I enjoyed doing it. Making something for once, with my own hands instead of tearing things down. Until the end, I guess.”
I catalogue that even as I kiss her forehead. “We’ll figure something out. Something that you can create yourself.”
She shrugs, ears falling again. “I don’t know. This whole hobby thing has been a bit of a disaster.”
“Well, yeah,” I agree with a laugh. “Not sure what we expected, to be honest. But I’m not ready to admit defeat.”
“You never do know when to quit,” Catra says, a hint of a smirk tugging at the edges of her lips. I haven’t fixed it all yet, but that’s a sign we’re moving in the right direction.
“And proud of it,” I announce.
For once, I’m the one finding Catra to pester her before her work is finished. Bow is with me, vibrating with excitement. After a long brainstorming session working with what Catra said, we’ve come up with an idea we both think she’ll like. Now that the moment is here, my belly is twisting with nerves. What if she hates it? What if she was mad I didn’t drop the hobby thing after all? Worse, what if she tries it and it explodes in her face somehow?
“Adora,” Bow says beside me, his hand poised to knock on the door to Catra’s office. “Deep breaths. She’s going to love it.”
“Are you sure? What if she hates it? What if she never wants to talk to me again?”
Glimmer would roll her eyes and knock, but Bow takes my free hand and meets my half-panicked gaze. “Catra wouldn’t do any of that. The worst thing that can happen is she doesn’t love it and we try again.”
“Right,” I agree, because he is right. It’s just hard to remember sometimes. “Low stakes.”
“Exactly,” he says with a smile before turning back to knock on the door.
“Come in,” Catra calls. Bow pushes the door open, but waves for me to go in first. Catra’s office is small but well-kept. Her desk is flush against one wall, covered with neat stacks of parchment. The gentle evening breeze gusts in through the open window, tugging at Catra’s lengthening hair. It’ll be a while before it’s anywhere near the length it was before Prime, but she’s been exploring her options as it grows. She looks good in pretty much every style, anyway.
Her eyes narrow when I enter, because I’m holding my left hand behind my back and doing my best not to look nervous. Her gaze snaps to Bow.
“What’s going on?” She asks warily.
“Show her,” Bow tells me, smiling wide. I offer the object in my left hand to Catra.
“A block of wood,” she drawls. “I’m so glad you interrupted the end of a busy workday to give me a block of wood.”
“It’s basswood,” Bow says. “Soft, without much of a grain, it should be a good starting point for you.”
“Starting point for what?” Catra asks. “I don’t think a soft wood is going to be useful for defending myself against Glimmer the next time we try to play a board game.”
“Woodcarving!” I exclaim, because I can’t wait any longer. She blinks at me.
“What?”
“Bow and I were trying to think of a good hobby for you,” I explain. “You said you wanted to make something with your hands, to create things yourself.”
She stares at the block of wood still in my outstretched hand. “Don’t you need, you know, tools for carving wood?”
“Bow can make the more specialized tools you might need later,” I say. “But your claws should be plenty to start with. They can cut through metal, after all. Wood should be no problem. And I figure you can get the kind of fine control most people could only dream of getting with a knife.”
She doesn’t stop staring at the block in my hand. A few seconds pass, and I’m starting to get nervous. I pull my hand back and try to look anywhere but Catra’s face.
“I’m sorry!” I say, because this was obviously a mistake. “I know you’re worried about your claws. I just thought this might be-”
“Adora, it’s fine,” Catra says, a smile lurking under her words. “Give me the dumb wood.”
I screech to a halt, then hand it to her once I unscramble my brain. She takes it, inspects it closely for a second, then extends one claw and shaves off a corner of the block. The shaving drifts in the breeze on its way to the floor. She watches, entranced. Once the shaving hits the floor, she tries again, gently carving a larger piece out of the block. She’s concentrating hard, and it’s just as adorable this time around. She inspects her work, then carefully sets the block down on her desk before turning and leaping into my arms. At this point I’m always half-prepared for things like this, so I catch her and hold her close.
“You like it?” I ask quietly, because I need to be sure.
“I love it,” she murmurs back. “I’m going to be the best woodcarver you’ve ever seen.” She plants a kiss on my cheek. “Thank you, Adora. For this. For listening. For staying.”
“Always,” I promise.
“I think I’ve made a mistake,” I confess to Bow later that week.
“What kind of mistake?” He asks. Then he looks up from his work and sees me plucking wood shavings off my jacket. “Oh,” he says with a smile. “Catra likes it, then?”
I nod. “She loves it. Whenever she’s not working she’s carving something. Which is great!” I add before Bow can get the wrong idea. “It is. She’s so happy, and she’s already really good. But she does it everywhere, including our room. Sleeping on wood shavings is not fun, Bow.”
He chuckles sympathetically. “Yeah, I can imagine. Have you talked to her about it?”
I shake my head. “I don’t want to make her feel bad.”
“Adora,” Bow says patiently. “You’re allowed to have boundaries, you know. I wouldn’t let Glimmer leave wood shavings in our bed.”
“But what if she thinks I’m mad and never wants to do it again?” I say, because that’s been the biggest reason why I haven’t mentioned it to Catra. “She likes it so much. I think it’s one of the only things in her life right now that doesn’t… Well, that doesn’t remind her of anything bad.” Her comment about my scars floats into my mind again.
“If she likes it that much, I don’t think you asking her not to do it in bed will turn her off of it forever,” Bow points out. He’s right, of course. “I hear you, though. It can be easy to be so worried about how the people you care about feel that you forget to care about yourself. But a relationship is a partnership, and it doesn’t work if you aren’t both happy.”
“You’re right,” I agree. “I’ll talk to her about it tonight.”
“Tell her I’m glad she’s enjoying it,” he says with a smile. “And that I might have her carve War Table Battle Figures for me if she wants to give it a try.”
“I will,” I say. “Thanks, Bow.”
“Anytime.”