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Grounded! Bow thought. What an embarrassing fate for the son of the scholar-kings of Etheria. And all for the simple crime of daring to defend his people from the Horde. He sighed and resisted the urge to do something melodramatic, like sweep his collection of magical texts off of their shelf, or scream into his pillow, or–
“Bow!” came the hiss from his window. There perched Glimmer, tucking her grappling hook back into her bag, along with another slim piece of metal - presumably how she had opened his locked window from the outside. He sighed: Glimmer’s ingenuity never failed to impress him, but occasionally it also worried him. As long as she used her talents on behalf of the Princess Alliance, he reminded himself. “Come on, let’s get out of here.” She pulled herself into his room and shadowboxed as she continued. “Do a little scouting in the Whispering Woods? Or just hang out?”
Bow smiled, recognizing the attempt to cheer him for what it was, and grabbed his bow and arrows. A nice, simple walk through the woods was exactly what he needed to clear his head.
***
Bow sighed. As deeply as he cared for Glimmer, things with her were rarely as easy as he wanted them to be (or as she made them out to be). What was supposed to be a simple patrol had led them fighting a Horde soldier (Bow winced at the bruises he was going to have) and capturing her. But, he reasoned, they had also recovered a valuable piece of First Ones technology, and if there was one thing his dads loved more than nonviolence, it was First Ones history. And, okay, each other. And their sons. And Etheria. Okay, he admitted, it was a longer list than he had wanted to admit. But still! They couldn’t be too mad at him.
“Ready to interrogate our prisoner?” He asked Glimmer. The stranger had passed out after she had touched the sword, and they had taken the opportunity to bind and gag her (despite her surprisingly sharp teeth).
“I could have teleported us home by now if my mother would share the Moonstone with me,” Glimmer muttered. “But yeah, I’m ready. Let’s do it.” Bow nodded, and she removed the gag.
“First things first, Horde spy,” Bow began, drawing back an arrow and muttering an enchantment on it. “Who are you, and what are you doing in the Whispering Woods?”
“My name’s Catra,” spat the bound soldier. “And I found that sword first.” She stuck her chin out defiantly. “So do your worst, princess scum.”