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When Adora climbed into the bus behind Glimmer and Catra, Razz took her hand to squeeze it. “Sometimes what you’re looking for is just a dumpling away,” she declared, in her typical cooky grandmother way, and Adora couldn’t help but gigglesnort.
“Remind me to bring you some the next time I visit the Asian market,” Adora answered with a genuine eyeroll.
“Do I hear dumplings?” Glimmer perked up from where she had just taken her seat next to Bow. Bow let out a dreamy sigh that bordered on indecent. “And the Asian market! Last time we went, they were so good! I don’t know what they’re putting in there, but they’re addictive,” he continued to explain to Catra, who had flicked an ear in confusion.
“Probably loads of MSG,” Catra commented with a dry smile, which drew a snort from Glimmer.
“Stop that,” Adora chastised, laughing as she let herself fall back into her seat next to Catra, slapping her arm playfully, “that’s, like, blasphemy! Brightmoon Castle’s dumplings are the best in town!”
“If you say so,” Catra responded, settling back into her seat, her jacket wrapped around her. Like an afterthought, she added quietly, glancing at Adora sideways, “You’ll have to show me some time, I guess, so I can see for myself. You know, like a real date, and not being thrown off or forgotten by a bus multiple times.”
Adora beamed at the tantalising prospect of taking Catra on a date. “Definitely!”
Catra smiled back and settled more into the little nest she’d made with her jacket, pulling up her phone, probably to update her moms. When Adora glanced back, she caught Glimmer and Bow snuggled up against each other, eyes closed, sharing earbuds to what must be one of the Mer-Mystery audiobooks they had been listening to for the whole trip. Up front, Razz hummed along to some 60s songs she had been listening to for as long as Adora could remember. It felt oddly like home, even if that still was a little way to go. A smile on her face, Adora leaned back, relaxing for once as she watched the dark woods surrounding Brightmoon pass by the window. (If she sees little glimpses of ghostly blue, she doesn’t think about them too hard; they could be willow-the-whisps, or the Melog she and Catra had met, or something entirely different, like the mythical She-Ra that was rumoured to hide in the caves facing Brightmoon. The woods were said to be magic, after all, and Adora chose to believe in it a long time ago).
She must’ve fallen asleep; Adora startled awake with her head on a familiar shoulder, her back aching from the crooked position. She blinked blurrily. “Sorry,” she mumbled and snuggled a little closer for another moment.
“What are you even apologizing for,” Catra quietly replied pulling her close like it was the most natural thing in the world. Adora leaned into the embrace and watched Catra scroll her phone with a frown. She caught a glance of what looked like a hotel booking site; her heart sank as Adora remembered Catra’s vague I’ll think about it as they were watching the sun set at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere.
Oh shit, was this spying?
Adora suddenly felt heat rise in her cheeks in embarrassment as she realised that what she was doing was, indeed, uncomfortably close to snooping. She sat back up a little too quickly, hiding her haste with a stretch and a yawn. She checked the time on her phone and glanced around before leaning forward towards the dimly lit driver’s section. “Grandma, how long until we’re there?” she quietly asked.
Razz turned around for a moment, the light from her small driver’s cabin reflecting in her glasses as she smiled in wicked delight. “I’d say around ten more minutes, dearie. It’s almost time!”
Adora turned to poke Bow and Glimmer awake before settling back down to get Catra’s attention. “Guys, we’re almost there!”
Then she leaned into Catra’s space, wrapping an arm around her and nuzzling close, pointedly forcing her to put her phone down. She kissed Catra’s cheek as she did and pointed out the window. “You absolutely want to see this,” Adora promised at her mildly annoyed glance.
“What’s there to see?” Catra sighed, but dutifully activated her phone’s lockscreen. “It’s dark out any-,” she stopped mid-syllable as the bus took one last turn around a sharp bend with a little too much speed. Adora was pressed into Catra reflexively as the valley came into view, a sea of soft light reflected from the lake nearby. “Wow”
They followed a narrow road that descended into the valley in a gentle slope. The subtle light from the city was reflected back by the lake it bled into, the surrounding hills a sharp dark contrast in the night. Brightmoon Valley was all soft lines, with the exception of the steep side where a waterfall rushed into the Moon Lake. It was said that a She-Ra, once, had broken off the cliff to save the planet from a mythical villain (Adora used to play up there a lot when she was little, reinacting the stories Razz had told her).
They reached the lakeside that was lit only by sparse lanterns and whatever light was reflected by the lake. Catra halfway turned in Adora’s embrace, a soft look on her face. “Thank you,” she mumbled into Adora’s lips as she kissed her.
In this moment, Adora felt infinite as she breathed out and leaned her forehead against Catra’s, gladly getting lost in the laugh lines of Catra’s smile.
The bus port for international travel came into view not long after; it was nested into the eastern part of town, where it spilled over into an industrial district. The bus port was close to a subway station and was not much more than a glorified parking lot for busses. Adora stretched as she stepped out, holding back a yawn.
Glimmer, who waited for her with what was left of their baggage next to Bow, checked her phone and groaned. “Why do I have to work tomorrow?”
“It’s Monday, ma dude,” Bow answered, underlining his words with a grin and finger guns that prompted a giggle.
“You’re stupid,” Glimmer decided lightheartedly, reaching out for his hand. “But I like you, still.”
“Can’t you take tomorrow off?” Adora suggested, picking up what was left of her baggage as Razz cleared out the curious vehicle. “There must be some sort of advantage to your mom being your boss, right?”
Glimmer rolled her eyes. “I wish. Mom is super strict about treating me like everyone else. She will never let me!”
“We better get going, then,” Bow intervened, picking up his and Glimmer’s things, nodding towards the subway station, before turning back to Adora. “Are you joining us, too?”
Adora looked back at Catra, who was standing next to the bus talking to Razz, and half shrugged, half shook her head. “I think I’ll try and see if Catra wants to grab a bite before we go our separate ways,” she explained. Adora winced at Glimmer’s knowing smirk and Bow’s sympathetic smile. She raised a hand to stop any comments they had for her. “Just,” she said, “don’t? For now? I’ll text you tomorrow, okay?”
Bow nodded, and nudged Glimmer as Catra approached. “We’ll get going then,” he announced loudly, and with a knowing smile on his face. “See you Adora, and bye Catra, I hope to see you soon!”
And suddenly, they were gone, and Catra stood next to Adora in a dimly lit parking lot next to a strange Hippie bus her grandmother called Melog. “So,” Catra drew out, looking at Adora. She was about to say something else as suddenly Razz appeared by her side.
“This, I believe, belongs to you, young lady,” Razz said, holding out what looked like Catra’s backpack.
Adora bit back a smile as Catra gaped at the old lady. “This… this is my stuff. Where did you get this from? I thought it was burned down?”
“Oh dearie, you have to close your mouth, or the flies will get in!” Razz gently shut Catra’s open mouth and gave her an encouraging pad on the cheek before hurrying off, throwing a casual “See you tomorrow, Mara dearie! And remember, we need berries for the pie!”
Adora waved back with a bright smile. “Bye, Grandma Razz!”
Catra turned to Adora. “What the fuck was that?”
Adora shrugged. “She’s kinda always been like this, you know? I stopped questioning whatever strange powers she has. Maybe it’s magic?” she suggested, a sheepish smile on her face. “Maybe she just saw the backpack and picked it up when she came to pick all of us up somehow. We’ll never know.”
The bus’ ignition rumbled to life with a few tries, and they watched it take off across the parking lot. Catra snorted and shook her head, smiling. “You know, this whole magic thing is really not something I was expecting.”
They ended up standing facing each other in the middle of the dimly lit parking lot. Adora fidgeted with her hands, trying to gather the courage she needed to take the next step. She didn’t want to leave Catra just yet. They ended up speaking at the same moment.
“Hey, did you-“
“Do you maybe-“
They stopped and smiled in quiet understanding. After a moment, Adora cleared her throat. “Um, do you want to grab a bite somewhere, maybe? I know it’s kind of late, but we could pick something up from the dumpling place around the corner of my building.”
She didn’t have enough courage to add, and take it back to my place, and you could stay, you know, forever. It didn’t feel right after Catra’s I’ll think about it and her browsing hotels back in the bus.
“I … was actually about to ask if I could take you up on that offer to stay at yours, at least for tonight,” Catra admitted shyly, ears pressed closely to her head. Adora saw her tail lashing behind her. After a brief pause, and a glance to the side, Catra added, more quietly, “You can still say no. I don’t want to impose.”
She hugged herself, and Adora reached out to place a hand on her shoulders, slowly sliding them down Catra’s arms until she held her elbows. As Catra slowly unfurled under her smile, Adora declared softly, “I’d absolutely love that.”
They took the subway to go halfway across town, and made their way to the small dumpling shop around the corner of Adora’s building. Catra stopped right in her tracks when she saw the sign and laughed, “The Kingdom of Dumplings? Seriously?”
Adora rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “Don’t make fun of the name, it’s well-deserved! It’s the second-best dumpling place in town!”
Catra snorted, “Right, after that Castle one on the Asian market.”
“Exactly! And I would know because I tested all of them with Glimmer when we were in high school. We even made these little charts to rate the places.”
Catra outright laughed. “Really? I low-key want to see these.”
Adora winked playfully as she held the door open for Catra. “Maybe later, when we’re alone.”
“Show me your charts,” Catra wiggled her eyebrows suggestively as they sat down, and visibly enjoyed Adora turning beet-red.
“I didn’t mean it like-,” she stopped herself mid-protest, shaking her head with a sigh. “You know what? I deserve this,” she admitted, a playful glint in her eyes. “It was, like, the perfect set-up.”
“Park Ranger Adora! What a nice surprise to see you! It’s been too long,” a voice interrupted them. Adora snorted; she had been here before her trip. Two weeks, however, had apparently been too long for Frosta, the owner’s daughter.
“Aw,” Adora cooed, “did you miss me?”
“I definitely missed your appetite,” Frosta shot back with a smile she reserved for her regulars. “How’s your past two weeks been?”
“Good, actually! I just got back from this train-the-trainer thingie I told you about, and it was pretty cool, but also extremely tiring. Good thing was that we got to spend a little time off there, too. You’d enjoy the ice sculptures and glaciers they have there!” Adora told her, mind drifting back to the past two weeks she spent first in training, then on vacation.
“Vacation,” Frosta made an exaggerated thinking face. “vacation… Sorry, that’s not on my vocabulary.” She winked. “I just work, and when I don’t work, I work on my cosplays. Do you wanna see pictures of last Friday’s Cosplay Ball?” Frosta already pulled out her phone, lighting up as she talked about her current cosplay. “Frostbane totally killed it! I got soooo many compliments!”
“That’s amazing!” Adora cheered.
Frosta beamed. “I mean, I do have to work the graveyard shift for the whole month to afford going, but it was totally worth it!” She paused to give Adora a measured look before turning to Catra. Her eyes lingered on their interlaced fingers resting in the middle of their table, “Two usuals, I suppose?”
Catra glared at Adora, gripping her hand more tightly as Adora nodded and waved as Frosta turned around. Adora squeezed back, a concerned expression on her face. “Hey,” she asked quietly, “you okay?”
Catra visibly bristled, and hurried to smooth down her fur. “How did you not see her look?” she shot back, a little too sharp.
Adora blinked at her in confusion before she realised what Catra was talking about. She giggled. “Stars, are you implying Frosta might be opposed to this?” she asked, holding up their intertwined fingers.
When Catra nodded grimly and tried to pull back her hand, she kept their hands clasped, still giggling. “Catra, Frosta had, like, the biggest crush on Glimmer last year! She’s just a little too abrasive sometimes.”
Catra looked at her dumbfounded. “What? Sparkles? Really?” She shook her head incredulously. She took a breath and relaxed back into her seat, a quiet smile spreading over her features. She trailed her thumb over Adora’s knuckles. “So, your usual?”
“Trust me,” Adora beamed back. “It will be good! They’re the best combination of flavors and fillings!”
“Right, the chart never lies,” Catra teased. “Do I want to know where this weird obsession with dumplings comes from?”
Adora hesitated. “It’s not my story to tell, really, but they were a sort of comfort food in tough times, you know?” She didn’t say anything else; it was enough for now.
It didn’t take long for Frosta to come back with their dumplings, setting two plates and a bamboo steamer down on their table. As she did, she looked at Catra with badly hidden curiosity. “And what’s your deal?”
Catra met her gaze defiantly, rising an eyebrow in quiet challenge. When she didn’t answer after a long moment, Adora jumped in. “This is Catra. We’re, uh,” Adora paused, looking at their joined hands that still laid on the table, then to Catra, who had turned her attention towards her.
Catra squeezed her hand as she took over, shrugging off her abrasive air with a wave of her free hand. “I’m new in town. I …,” Catra hesitated for a moment, before meeting Frosta’s eyes with an open expression on her face. “I basically upped and left my old life back on the other side of Etheria. I used to run a company but that is not what I want anymore. And now I’m here, with what I own in this backpack and a place for the night with Adora over here,” she explained, trying to sound casual as she gestured towards Adora.
Frosta looked at her like she had grown another head before she shook her head. “It can’t be. That cooky old lady couldn’t be right,” she mumbled as she turned and took off. Catra and Adora shared a confused look. Adora shrugged before gesturing towards the bamboo steamer. “I have no idea what that was about, trust me …”
Catra shook her head. “I stopped questioning whatever weird shit happens on this trip a while ago,” she mumbled and curiously watched Adora opening the steaming basket. “Wow, these really do look good!”