Chapter Text
Adora rolled over in the huge bed in her room in Bright Moon. Her back twinged a little from the movement but her shoulder, which had been giving her trouble the last few days, seemed to be doing alright.
The joys of growing old, she thought. She looked over at the poof of hair sticking out of the covers next to her and grinned. The snoring was definitely not the normal snoring and Adora knew she was faking it.
“I know you’re awake,” Adora said as leaned over and gave Glimmer a kiss on her head, the pink and purple hair tickling her nose as she did.
“Go away,” Glimmer muttered into her pillow.
“OK, but just for a moment,” Adora said as she slid out of bed. “You know it’s a big day today. Bow’s been up for an hour.”
“Why did I marry two morning people?” Glimmer said as she rolled over with a groan and flopped her arms out across the bed.
“Because you love us,” Adora said in a sing-song voice as she headed for the bathroom.
“Not before the sky is light I don’t,” Glimmer said back to her.
Adora just laughed. After she’d dressed in a nice outfit for the day, one that Glimmer had already picked out for her the night before, she went into the front room of the royal suite at Bright Moon. Bow was sitting at a table with a large hologram coming out of the top. Some elaborate mechanical part was shown in an exploded view that Bow nudged a little to get a different viewpoint on the object while he hummed happily to himself. His eyes flicked sideways to Adora before looking back to his project.
“My wife up yet?” Bow asked. Adora grinned at that because she always loved when Glimmer would introduce them all to new people. She’d introduce herself as Bow’s wife and then as Adora’s wife. If anyone asked, which didn’t happen often with Etherians, she’d explain that Bow and Adora were just good friends who happened to have the same wife.
“Phffft, no,” Adora said as she sat down on a sofa. “I mean, she’s awake and staring at the ceiling but she’s not up.”
“As long as she’s ready for the Fall opening celebration,” Bow said as he made a tweak to the mechanical part, made a notation, and then shut down the program. He turned to Adora with a thoughtful look on his face. “Can you believe it’s been thirty years since you defeated Prime?”
Adora frowned as she said, “Yeah, seems like yesterday sometimes.”
“Thinking of her, aren’t you?” Bow said.
Adora wanted to lie to her friend but she just nodded. Bow got up and came over to give Adora a hug and she returned it.
“You don’t have to go today,” Bow said.
Adora stepped back from the hug as she said, “Yes, I do. I’m She-Ra, it’s expected.”
“I can’t believe you still have that hang up after all these years,” Bow said with a smile. “You can do what you need for yourself.”
“I know,” Adora said as she walked over to a little bar. There was a slot on the back that the castle staff would slide snacks in and out of and Adora picked a cinnamon roll off the small tray. She picked at it for a moment before she went on. “I just feel I should go. It’s such a huge moment and I was a part of it and people expect it and yes, I know I can do what I need but it’s the least I can do.”
“Promise me you’ll take some time off for a few days after this,” Bow said.
Adora rolled her eyes as she said, “I can’t do that. After this I have the symposium on cartography.”
“That you’re attending, not presenting at,” Bow said as he leaned against the bar.
Adora gave him a look before she said, “Then I have the surveying job to get ready for out in Dryl.”
“That your crew is more than capable of handling without you for a day,” Bow said.
“You’re not going to let this go, are you?” Adora said with a tired smile.
“Nope,” Bow said. “Every year you sink into depression because of what happened to Catra and every year you try to ignore it. I want you to take some time and just work through it. Is that so much to ask? To take care of yourself? I believe a certain someone said you’re worth more than what you offer others.”
Adora sighed as she said, “That’s not fair.”
“She wasn’t wrong,” Bow said.
“OK, no, she wasn’t wrong but I still don’t know if that was actually Mara, a computer program of Mara, or my own subconscious,” Adora said.
“Doesn’t matter!” Bow said. “It’s still good advice!”
“What’s good advice?” Glimmer mumbled as she came out of the bedroom and shuffled her way to the snack tray.
“Adora is going to take a few days off after today to take care of herself,” Bow said.
“I didn’t agree to it,” Adora said.
“Yet you’re still going to do it,” Bow replied with a smile.
“Bow’s got that tone,” Glimmer said as she gave him a kiss. “I think you’re out of luck.”
“Fine! I’ll take care of myself!” Adora said, throwing one hand in the air and then flinching as her shoulder answered with a stab of pain.
“Yeah, you might want to finally see the healer about that as well,” Bow said.
“It’ll fix itself eventually,” Adora said. “It always has in the past.”
“I’m not going to dignify that with a response,” Glimmer said with a sigh.
“Yet you did respond,” Bow said.
“No, too early for word games,” Glimmer said as she came around the bar to give Adora a kiss before heading back to the rooms “I’m going to go get dressed, you two actually be ready on time for once.”
“Can you believe the nerve?” Adora said to Bow.
“I know, you’d think she’s the queen or something,” Bow said as Glimmer made a flapping mouth gesture with her hand at them before disappearing back through the bedroom door.
Despite their talk, the three were early to the throne room. The planning staff whisked them into a little side room. Perfuma and Scorpia were both there as Perfuma checked the last touches for the flower displays. When the other three came in, Perfuma, leaning on a cane, began to walk over with Scorpia. There were hugs around as Bow asked how their children were doing.
“Chelicera is doing great,” Scorpia said. “They send their love but they weren’t able to make it back to Ethiera in time. Rose had a bit of a hard time over the last few months, I think you knew that, but he’s coming through it strong.”
“Prickly Pear is doing fantastic,” Perfuma said. “She’s going to be with the flag dancing troupe this afternoon. She’s off getting ready for that.”
“Has anyone heard from Entrapta and Hordak?” Bow asked.
“Not since that transmission a month ago,” Scorpia said. “Her chamberlain is here though.”
“Oh, I like her,” Bow said with a smile. “Although she’s always so serious.”
“Well, Izzy is young,” Perfuma said, “and it’s a big position she’s in.”
“She’s older than I was when I took the throne,” Glimmer said.
“And isn’t that a weird thing to say,” Adora said. “I mean, I have to remind myself she’s not an actual kid occasionally.”
“I know, right?” Scorpia replied. “You haven’t told us how your kids are doing though!”
“Well, Capella is being the pain she always is,” Glimmer said with a grin. “She threw a pie in a mayor’s face last week in a protest. She said she’ll try to be here today.”
“Nock is with my brothers and dads today,” Bow said. “They’re having that celebration at the Library and he wanted to be there with them. He honestly spends more time there than he does at home these days and I think he’s basically thinking of it as his home now but just hasn’t got up the nerve to tell us he’s moving. It makes sense though, he loves the scholar's life after all.”
Adora had the feeling she sometimes got when kids came up. Capella and Nock were Glimmer and Bow’s biological children. Adora had been there at their birth, they called Adora mom, just like they did Glimmer, and she knew they loved her just like she loved them but sometimes, it just didn’t seem real. She’d never thought of herself as a mother and even having been one for the kids growing up, she still didn’t think of herself as one, not really. When she really got to thinking about it it made her wonder what would have happened if Catra had lived past that first and only kiss. Would they have had a kid? Many kids? She wasn’t sure they would have because she’d always worried about being a good parent and she kind of thought that Catra would have had the same concern.
Adora had freaked out a little when Glimmer had first become pregnant, and told both her and Bow that she'd screw up, she just knew she would. It’d taken some time to assure her that she’d be fine, that it wouldn’t be a problem and while she had to admit both the kids had grown up well, it was still a fear. That and she knew she’d been the soft touch of the three parents, a fact that Capella had taken gleeful advantage of, especially in her early teen years. Even Nock, a quiet and studious boy, had known Adora was the easy mark when it came to something that his other parents would probably refuse. Even that feature had made her think that maybe Catra would have been the more firm parent, like Glimmer had been.
As the other four talked, Adora made noncommittal noise to indicate she was paying attention to the conversation, though she really wasn’t, when the master of ceremonies for the day came into the room. She was a member of the Bright Moon guard named Mimosa who was dressed in a stunningly formal suit that set off her fluff of bright pink hair. Adora questioned her own choice in suits because it didn’t just feel like her. Though she knew it looked fine, having been custom made by the Bright Moon tailor, she’d have preferred something else. She’d mentioned that to Glimmer who’d just given her a look and said, “You can’t wear your old Horde jacket to this.”
It wasn’t what Adora had meant, although she kind of had, and she’d quietly went to the tailor and even that had made her think of Catra, wondering what she’d have said in that situation.
“We’re about ready to begin,” Mimosa said. “Your Majesty, if you would take your place, I think we can get started.”
Scorpia and Perfuma said farewell and went to take their place in the audience. Adora stood to Glimmer’s left while Bow stood to her right. Glimmer had grumbled about that before, the two of them towering over her, but that had been years in the past. Now Glimmer had settled in nicely to her role as queen and she walked forward at the announcement from outside the door of, “Her Majesty, Queen Glimmer of Bright Moon, and her royal consorts, Adora, She-Ra, Princess of Power, and Bow of Bright Moon.”
Adora didn’t like that part of the announcement. She’d tried to get it changed so Bow would be first but it had been explained that etiquette put her first since she had the title of princess. Adora had asked years before why Bow hadn’t let himself be crowned king, like Glimmer’s father had, but Bow had shook his head and said it wasn’t something he’d felt comfortable with and, as he’d put it, “I kind of like the title consort. It feels fun.”
As Adora walked forward beside Glimmer though, fun was the last thing on her mind. Every year, Etheria had a holiday to celebrate the Fall of Prime and the end of the war. In the evening were parties and fireworks, feasting, and laughter and dancing to top it all off. The morning though, that was for remembering. Bright Moon’s throne room was full of people in the rainbow colors of Etherian dress and each and every one of them wore a somber expression like a black flower in a field full of wildflowers. The floating throne, that Glimmer had never sat in, had a small crown sitting on it along with the black sash that hung on it every other day of the year in memory of Angella. Micah sat in a wheelchair at the small throne on the floor that Glimmer used for day to day business, dressed in a white suit, as they walked down the aisle. Adora saw some of the princesses in the crowd but mostly just focused on the throne they were walking towards. Everything leading up this moment was the priming of the pump for Adora. The next part was the part that invariably set off the flood of emotions she had every year.
Once they were all around the throne, Bow standing behind Micah with one hand on his shoulder, Adora on the other side of the throne, and Glimmer in front of it, the room went from quiet murmurs to absolute silence.
“Today we remember our liberation,” Glimmer said. “We remember the glory of being free and open. Later today, we’ll feast and dance and celebrate but for now, we remember those who were lost.”
A Mystacor sorcerer began to project an illusion over the crowd, visible from all over as if one was standing in front of it. It showed the faces of those lost during the occupation by Prime but it always started with one particular face. Adora knew it was coming but she steeled herself not to react as Catra’s face floated above the crowd. It was a picture taken on the way back to Etheria after they’d freed her and Glimmer from Prime’s ship and it was the one Adora thought of when she thought of Catra. She was sitting looking out the window at the stars, a soft smile on her face. Adora had begun to notice, over the last few years, just how young Catra looked in the image.
Adora managed to keep it together through the images, that lasted for a couple of hours, and when it finally came to an end, took a deep breath like everyone else in the room and then began to mingle, doing her best to interact with people even though all she wanted to do was curl up in a corner and think of those last moments with Catra under the Heart of Etheria.
“You’ve got that look,” Glimmer said as she came up beside her.
“What look?” Adora replied.
Glimmer gently laid a hand on Adora’s arm as some minor town leader came up to speak to them for a moment. After the leader had gone on, Glimmer said, “That look that you’re trying to hold it together.”
“Is it that bad?” Adora said.
“No,” Glimmer said with a sad smile. “I’ve just been seeing it for decades now. Want me to take you back to the rooms?”
Adora shook her head and then stopped. She remembered what she’d talked with Bow about earlier and changed the shake to a nod.
“But can it be discreetly please?” Adora asked.
“Of course,” Glimmer said. “I’m always discrete.”
That brought a little snorting laughter out of Adora, and a gentle elbow nudge from Glimmer, before the two stepped out of sight long enough for Glimmer to teleport Adora back to the room.
“Make my apologies for me,” Adora said. “And tell Bow to do the same too please.”
“I won’t,” Glimmer replied. “And get that look off your face. No one is going to be asking anything that requires an apology and they certainly wouldn’t get it if they did.”
Adora started to argue but she just sighed instead and sat down on the couch.
“OK, thanks,” Adora said.
Glimmer hugged her tight and gave her a kiss on the forehead as she said, “We’ll be back soon. Try to take a nap maybe.”
“OK, love you,” Adora said.
“Love you as well,” Glimmer replied.
Adora leaned back after Glimmer disappeared and stared at the ceiling. She decided to do what Glimmer had suggested and tried to fall asleep. It didn’t really work. She kept hearing little ticking noises from the little housekeeping bots that kept out of sight and the hum of electricity in the silent room. After a little while though she was pretty sure she’d begun to drift off when she heard, clear as a bell, Catra’s voice.
“Adora, where am I?”
Adora sat up on the couch with a gasp, looking around as her hands shook. As she began to think it had to be a dream, she heard someone moving behind her.