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It was early autumn near Bright Moon, but still late summer in Salenias. Bow had picked out a grassy bluff near the ocean, a short distance from a quiet woods, and only an hour's travel from the nearest village but totally isolated. He'd been helping Hordak and Entrapta affect repairs to the Sea Gate. (Not really - he was half there to keep Entrapta on task, half to keep an eye on the groups of clones that Entrapta had enraptured into her fascination with technology and make sure they don't start 'repairing' items that didn't need repair, half to keep any Salenians with a vendetta away from Hordak and the rest of the clones, and half to assist with the cleanup of any Prime tech that the Salenians found washing up. He was doing four half-jobs instead of one and sorely in need of an evening off.)
Glimmer appeared on the bluff with Catra, Adora, and Melog just as twilight was setting in. The young Queen had been so delayed by various meetings that they were nearly two hours late. Luckily, Bow didn't seem to even notice as he paced around, shouting at his pad.
"Relax," Lance was smiling down the connection. "I've checked against the Lohs compendium, and I'm absolutely positive that this is an ancient cartographic mapper." He paused. "Or a security recall device, but that's unlikely. Okay, speak to you soon, bye now!"
"Dad, you cannot… Dad?" Bow shook his pad helplessly as the picture disappeared. "Dad!"
"What's up with you?" Catra folded her arms in irritation.
"Oh, nothing," Bow said sarcastically. "Only my dads think they've found a First Ones artifact that will either reveal a map to an ancient outpost or set off a distress signal and draw any remaining forces to save them from attackers.
"Do you need me to help?" Adora instantly put aside her exhaustion as another emergency entered her orbit.
"No," Bow sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You three finish the picnic, I'll go and sort this out."
"Booow," Glimmer whined. "That's not fair, we can't both be having the worst day ever!"
"Scorpia needs more help trying to sort out the Fright Zone," Catra explained. "They're dismantling it too fast and running out of space to store all the scrap. She needs Glimmer's help sorting transport."
"We can rearrange," Adora began.
"No!" Bow and Glimmer yelled in unison.
"Bow worked hard on this picnic," Glimmer insisted. "He should stay with you two and enjoy it. I'll sort out Scorpia and his dads."
"Nice try," Bow smiled in a backwards sort of fashion. "Have you tried arguing with my dads? I'll sort them out and convince Scorpia to," A beep from his pad drained the tiny nugget of joy from his expression. "Glimmer, can I get a lift before my dads unleash an elemental?!" Bow fairly screeched out the last part.
"Sure," She blinked over and grabbed his arm. "Sorry!" She called before they both vanished in a shower of sparkles.
The pair stood alone on the hillside, with Melog and the picnic that Bow had put together. "I can't believe them!" Catra yelled at the empty space. "This is the first time in weeks that we've been able to get a night off, and they forgot to tell people to not screw it up?" She folded both arms tightly over her chest and glared at the ground.
"It's not their fault," Adora soothed her, wrapping Catra from behind. "You know how Scorpia gets. And Bow's dads aren't much better." Catra had only met his parents in passing but that sparkling attitude Lance had was very clearly related to her bumbling best friend.
"I suppose," She grumbled, letting Adora stroke her arms and press her cheeks to one temple. "Might as well enjoy the picnic, if Bow put that much work into it." He had clearly spent a lot of time setting it up. A heavy picnic basket, filled to the brim with fruit, bread, cheese, flasks of juice and water, some nuts, even a tightly wrapped bundle of salmon that he had fought to keep fresh.
"Melog?" Catra carved a slice off and held it out for them. The Krytian gave a joyful burble and slurped the pink down. "That's all for now," Catra warned. "Don't ruin your appetite." Melog whined pitifully, slinking over to press their head under Adora's arm where she knelt on the blanket, setting out the food.
"Catra's right," She warned, scratching along the small bump on their snout. "Don't think that you can come to me to get a better answer." Shimmering blue eyes stared up at her adoringly. "No!" A tiny drop appeared along the corner. "No." Adora knew that she was losing resolve - particularly as Melog gave a plaintive sniff. "... No?" Turning away, they curled in on themselves, tucking their tail in for good measure. Adora focused on setting out the crockery, helping Catra to sort out the cushions to sit on. Melong continued to ignore them all the while.
"Maybe one more slice wouldn't hurt?" She glanced hopefully.
"Adora." Catra sighed as Melog's ears perked up.
"It's only one slice." Adora protested.
A few hundred metres away, two scowling conspirators shared a glance in the treeline. "I told you that she'd cave." Glimmer hissed.
"What was I meant to do?" Bow snapped. "Not bring salmon? They'd have known something was up." It was a fair point - in any other circumstances, he and Glimmer would have helped stop Adora falling prey to the emotional blackmail. He could hardly have avoided packing the fish without giving the ruse away.
Down on the bluff, the unaware observees finished setting up the picnic and were digging in. "Pass the putty." Adora waved a knife.
"Patty." Catra incorrected, handing over the pâté. Adora shrugged, smearing a thick wedge onto a chunk of bread before following it up with a lump of cheese. "You can't be serious." She scoffed, eyeing the monstrosity.
"What?" Adora shrugged. "I didn't have enough time to eat lunch." She crammed the mess into her mouth and began heartily chewing, sighing through her nose at the divine revelation. Then she saw the furious expression on Catra's face.
"Why is she yelling?" Glimmer seethed. The plan was already falling apart, and it had been barely ten minutes.
"Something something, eat," Bow fiddled with his goggles. "Something something."
"Is it the food?" Glimmer turned sideways, letting out a surprised yelp before remembering to lower her less advanced binoculars.
"I don't think so." Bow frowned. Shuffling back from their log, he pulled open the second basket. It was smaller than the first, but had the same food inside. "What's she eating?"
"Er…" Glimmer refocused her gaze. "Bread, pâté… one of the cheeses, the brown one."
Bow quickly assembled the same abomination and took a cautious bite. "It's… not terrible?" He offered, mulling over the tastes. Glimmer took the other half from his hand and had some herself. True enough, it was passable. She couldn't figure out why Catra was so angry.
"It's because you're still trying to do all the work yourself!" She yelled in response to Adora's blindness.
"Catra, the supplies needed moving and She-Ra was strong enough to do it." She tried to calm her down.
"How many others would it have taken?" Catra crossed her legs and folded both arms, the very picture of restrained anger.
"At least a dozen," Adora promised. "And I could do it while they all had lunch."
"And how long was that?" Catra demanded.
"Half an hour, I think?" As if she didn't know every break to the minute.
"Then you starved yourself to save them half an hour of work?" Catra demanded. Adora didn't have a good response to that. "Here," She grabbed a slice of an egg pie and sliced it in half with a claw. "Eat."
"Catra, I'm s" Adora wasn't allowed to say that word, not when she was being stupid, so Catra grabbed her jaw and thrust the pie inside.
"If I have to get Sparkles to pull rank on you, I will," She warned, waiting for Adora to start chewing. "It's not all on your shoulders. From now on, I don't take a break unless you take a break." Melog growled supportively as they butted into Adora's ribs.
"That's not fair." She mumbled rebelliously. Catra only called Glimmer by her old nickname when she was really cross.
"Tough." Catra glared as she picked up the other half. "Open up."
"It's not that bad, is it?" Bow anxiously grabbed a slice of quiche himself and took a bite. "Glimmer?" Turning her head, she shared his evaluation.
"At least they're finally eating?" She mumbled as he tossed the crust aside.
Everything calmed down once Catra was sure that Adora had been fed enough. She wasn't even hungry towards the end; Catra just picked up a grape, or a slice of cheese, and held it close to her mouth until she sighed and gave up. Each one was rewarded with a small kiss, so Adora supposed that she didn't mind too much.
"Don't think you're getting this every time you skip a meal," Catra warned, stacking away some of the empty containers. "Next time, I'm setting Melog on you."
"Melog wouldn't hurt me, would you?" She scratched under the sharp corner of a jaw where she knew they liked it.
"I never said Melog would hurt you," Catra grinned, watching the pair. "Melog?" Leaning back, Melog tucked their head low and peered up at Adora with deep, shimmering eyes.
"That's mean!" Adora whined, feeling the full onslaught of Melog's disappointment. They burbled something, slowly turning around and padding away with heavy steps. "What did they say?" It had sounded heartbroken.
"They're going to check out the forest," Catra smirked, putting the basket aside and arranging the cushions to lie upon. "And said that they'd be very disappointed if they found you hadn't taken a proper rest."
"Come on," Adora rolled her eyes as she lay down on the blanket, tucking a cushion behind her head. "Glimmer could be back any minute."
"And?" Catra wormed her way against Adora's side, nuzzling into the crook of her neck to provide warmth against the slight breeze that kept starting and fading. "Melog's fast, they'll come back when it's time to leave."
"Eeeeeh," Bow squealed happily. "It's working."
"Easy now," Glimmer warned. "Adora could still do something dumb." Bow snickered beside her, and she knew his mind had gone to a mean place. "Hey," She nudged him with an elbow. "It's not her fault that she didn't notice Catra was in love with her."
"Sure," Bow's smile filled his voice. "Same way that it's not Catra's fault she didn't realise Adora was in love with her."
"Well, how could they?" Glimmer snapped. "They just thought they were friends. Good friends."
"Best friends." Bow agreed. They watched the former 'best friends' snuggle against each other, Catra undoing Adora's hair to let it flow free, and toying with a lock as if it were precious gold. It was impossible to see how they had missed all the signs their entire lives. From sleepovers, to training together, to preparing for war, they had been right by each other's side for years - how could they not have noticed how deeply they loved and were loved?
A sudden breath across his face told Bow that they were suddenly not alone. "Whaaha!" He yelled before slapping both hands across his mouth.
"Who's there?!" Glimmer poured magic from both fists as she whirled to the intruder.
They sat, blinking at her with innocent eyes. "Melog?" Bow whispered. "What are you doing here?" The Krytian stared back in patient repose.
"This isn't what it looks like." Glimmer promised, lowering her fists. Melog gave a little chirrup to prompt the conversation along. "Okay, it's what it looks like." She admitted. Nobody could refuse Melog for long, it was why Adora needed her and Bow for backup.
Melog glanced between the two pairs, narrowing their eyes with a confused burble. "Oh, we can see further with these." Bow offered his goggles, gently wrapping the band into place as Melog bowed their head. He stifled a squeal as their magnified eyes blinked owlishly up at him. "Want to stay and watch with us?"
With a joyful little chirrup, the magical feline hunkered down beside the pair and slipped to Bow's side in a happy rumble. Envious, Glimmer quickly pressed against their open flank, feeling the purr resonate through her entire body.
"Oh my stars!" She gushed, moment of irritation immediately washed away. Melog rumbled happily, rubbing their face against hers.
They lay and watched the sky slowly dim. Despondos hadn't been entirely empty. Strange ribbons of light had woven through the space, filling the night sky like the aurora they had seen on a recent mission to a planet named Karson. But this new sky?
"You're thinking again." Catra complained.
"I'm not thinking." Adora replied, proving her point as she failed to anticipate how that sounded. Catra cackled under her arm.
"Yeah, you are," She let the tension go, easing into place again. "You think loud." They both knew what she meant. Swift Wind had definitely imprinted upon her ability to say nothing very loudly. "What'cha thinking about?"
"The stars," Adora admitted, watching the flickering lights fill the sky. "Every time I think I've finally got them all mapped out, I find a new one." Catra was silent against her chest, and Adora knew what she had felt a minute ago. "You're thinking again." She teased.
"One of us has to be the brains." Catra said flippantly.
"I thought that was Bow's role?"
"Bow's the smart one," Catra explained as if it were an obvious distinction. "I'm the one who can actually make a plan." Adora laughed at that, exactly as she wanted. She loved to hear Adora laugh.
"So?" She pestered, turning her head to glance at Catra. "What are you thinking about?"
Catra instinctively moved to hide it before she remembered that they could be open with each other. "I was thinking about the First Ones," Maybe too open - she felt Adora stiffen under her shoulder. "They used the stars to navigate, right? I was… thinking that it might be some instinct thing." Thinking about it, that was all. Not scared.
She was unprepared for Adora to snort beside her. "What?" She tried to shy away, only for Adora to pull her in closer and kiss her cheek.
"I wasn't thinking about flying off into the universe," She reassured her. Catra melted, hopelessly in love with how Adora knew just what to say and when. "Has anyone told you about constellations?"
"Constellations?" Catra rolled the unfamiliar word around in her mouth.
"They drew pictures from the most beautiful stars in the skies to map out their most important people," Adora idly stroked her thumb along the fabric of Catra's top. "Sometimes in words, sometimes in pictures to represent some aspect of their story. Come here," Reaching across her stomach, she grabbed Catra's reluctant hand and threaded their fingers together. Popping their thumbs to make an O shape, she lifted them to block the sky like a telescope. "Entrapta told me that there are more stars in this little gap than people on Etheria," Adora whispered gently as they looked through the tiny ring. "And I know that somewhere out there is the perfect collection of stars that I want to use to show people how special, and fierce, and brave you are."
"What're they doing?" Bow whispered, fumbling an apple slice from the basket. With his googles occupied, he was pressed up against Glimmer to share one scope of the binoculars.
"Prrrrp?" Melog trilled hopefully. Bow sighed, and passed the fruit over to be delicately picked from his fingers.
"They're holding hands," Glimmer sounded doubtful as he reached back again. "But they're being weird about it. Aaaaahhhhh?" Her jaw hung wordlessly until he reposited the next morsel. "Thank you." She smiled happily.
"Maybe it's a Horde thing." Bow mumbled. Stars knew that the pair had their collection of odd habits from their upbringing. Whether it be from Horde training, the environment they had grown up in, or being raised by Shadow Weaver, there was often some oddity that quirked their behaviour.
Yawning, Melog rose, shivered, and paced away.
"I can't believe we put all this effort in and they haven't even kissed." Glimmer pouted.
"Glimmer, they've kissed like twenty times." Bow reminded her.
"I know," She groaned. "But I wanted to see a real kiss!" The pair had been quite bashful about exactly how they had cured Adora of the virus long enough for her to become She-Ra and save Etheria. Needless to say, their friends had poked and needled them into revealing all the juicy details. More than one dramatic story had been written about the exploits and the pair were constantly receiving subtle digs about how they could save more planets, if they were up for it.
"With how sheltered they were in the Horde, it's amazing they can even hold hands." They pulled away from the binoculars to share a serious glance over a sentence that could contain the words 'sheltered' and 'Horde'. "You know what I mean." They returned to their relative scopes, missing the warmth of having their faces pressed together.
"It's getting chilly." Glimmer noted. Catra had tugged a blanket to cover her and Adora, snuggled in blissful warmth as they murmured quietly to each other.
"That's okay," Bow leaned away. "I brought." He stopped dead. Stomach pleasantly full, the Krytian had fallen asleep on the thick blanket Bow had prepared, with goggles still firmly in place. "Nevermind." He said glumly, falling back into place.
"Here," Scooching closer, Glimmer turned to face him and softly held up her cape in offering. "It's not much, but it'll keep us warm."
"Are you sure?" Bow swallowed.
"Of course, I'm sure," Glimmer rolled her eyes. "Did you think I just picked a nice cape because I'm a princess?" Her eyes hardened. She hated when people infantilised her. It was probably why she got along with Frosta so well. Plus, she was that girl's idol.
"No, I'm sure it's very warm." Bow waved his hands peacefully, shuffling in close where Glimmer could cast it over his torso.
It was very warm. Bow had to tuck in tight to keep his back covered, and Glimmer's hand was pressed between them, sneaking over the exposed surface along his stomach.
"Sorry." Glimmer gasped, pulling her fingers back.
"It's okay," Bow murmured against her hair. "If your fingers are cold."
Tentatively, she pressed her hand back against his stomach, fingernails softly trailing over the sturdy muscles that defined his build as an archer. It really was very warm in his arms. Tucking against his chest, she squirmed to a more comfortable position.
She and Catra had an unusually strong relationship after being trapped together, stronger in some ways than they had with Bow or Adora. They could trust each other with secrets that anybody else would find too innocent to treat seriously. Like how Catra had confessed that she liked listening to Adora's heartbeat, how it soothed her worries and fears. Tucked up against Bow's chest, Glimmer didn't know if it was his heart she could hear pounding or her own. Nonetheless, its slow, steady pace settled the anxious knot in her stomach and relaxed the pressure behind her eyes until they could slip closed.
Melog peeked through the thinnest gap beneath an eyelid. Silly children. The royal one should have realised that they could space-fold back to their den if they wanted more covers. It seemed that the younglings on this planet were as forgettable as any when affairs of the heart were in force.
Quaffing happily, they settled back down with a lazy flick of their tail. The pack had made enough progress for one day. They would help again later.