Chapter Text
Angella pressed her hand against her temple and sighed. She could not believe her daughter sometimes. “I told you that under no circumstances you were to fight the Horde”. Angella glared at the obstinate princess. “You disobeyed me.”
Like usual, Glimmer refused to budge. “Mom, if we hadn’t done anything, the Horde would have taken Plumeria! And besides, we won! We saved Plumeria and got Perfuma to join the Princess Alliance! I thought you would be happy.”
Angella lowered her voice. “Glimmer, I am glad that you succeeded. But you cannot keep on running headfirst into every possible battle. You will not always be so lucky. One of these days, you might—”
“And what’s your plan, huh?” Glimmer challenged, hands on her hips. “Just keep on losing to the Horde? This is the biggest win we’ve had in years! Why can’t you see that?”
The queen stood from her chair and walked towards her daughter, wings unfurled. “You need to learn to be cautious. How can I send you into battle if I cannot trust that you will follow orders?”
“You want to talk about trust? You never trust me to do anything! I am sick of it!” Glimmer began to tear up from frustration. Trying to hide her moment of weakness, she turned and stormed off, heading towards the door of the war room.
“Glimmer! We are not done here! There will be consequences—”
Glimmer disappeared in a burst of sparkles. Angella reached out a hand towards where her daughter had been standing just a moment ago, then pulled it back. She sighed, then sat back down. What was she going to do with her?
Angella had been sitting there for several minutes, head in her hands, when the door of the war room slowly creaked ajar. A pair of blue eyes stared in through the gap.
Angella blinked with surprise. “Come in.”
The blonde soldier nervously walked in, stopping on the other side of the long table. “Your Majesty”. She offered an awkward salute. It was a noticeable improvement from her attempt last night.
Angella almost smiled. The girl had looked so out of place in the hallway, inexplicably covered by feathers… Then she remembered who she was dealing with: the Horde soldier who had defected.
Logically, Adora seemed trustworthy. The Horde had always treated their soldiers poorly; defection was uncommon, but certainly not unheard of. Additionally, Adora had defended both Thaymor and Plumeria from the Horde. If she was a spy, she was very dedicated to her role. Above all, this was not just any other soldier. This was She-Ra, the legendary hero meant to defend Etheria. It’s not as if the Horde could fake that.
At the same time, the queen could not shake the feeling that something was off about her. Perhaps it was the suspiciously convenient circumstances in which Adora had arrived. Maybe it was the way she carried herself. How she seemed almost afraid to meet Angella’s gaze. Did she have something to hide? It could be how desperate she was to please: how hard she was trying to gain her trust.
With a start, Angella realised she had been staring. “Adora? What is it?”
The soldier awkwardly began to speak. “Well, since we just got back I thought you might want to talk about it- the mission. You know… debrief?”
Angella nodded her head. “Right. Glimmer told me what happened. You successfully fought off the Horde and defended Plumeria. Well done.” Relief flooded the blonde’s face. “But I thought I told you to not engage the Horde”.
Angella had only intended her statement to be a light jab, but Adora looked horrified. “Sir—”
Noticing her fear, the queen backpedaled. “I know it’s not your fault, Adora. Truthfully, I doubted you could stop my daughter from fighting the Horde. I’m grounding her, for a month at the very least.”
Surprisingly, she looked even more alarmed at this. “You can’t do that!”
Angella raised an eyebrow in confusion. “I can’t?”
Adora only now seemed to realise what she had just said. She trembled for a moment before she recomposed herself. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I meant to say that it’s my fault, not Glimmer’s. It was my idea to investigate the Horde camp. I’m the one who should be punished.”
Angella stared for a moment. What was with her? “Adora,” she continued carefully, “my daughter is responsible for her own choices. I have told her countless times not to rush into danger and yet she continues to do so. She needs to learn that her actions have consequences.”
“But we won. Shouldn’t you be happy with her? Sure, she disobeyed orders, but if she hadn’t, the Horde would have destroyed Plumeria! Besides, you ordered me not to fight the Horde too. Whatever you do to her, you should do the same to me.” Then she squeezed her eyes shut, as if accepting her fate.
Angella paused for a moment. She supposed Adora had a point. She still couldn’t understand why the defector wanted to be punished, but Angella sensed that she wouldn’t budge. She was like Glimmer, wasn’t she? Stubborn, but brave.
“Very well. I will concede that Glimmer’s actions saved Princess Perfuma’s kingdom. And since you bear partial responsibility, the consequences for insubordination will be split between you. You both will be grounded for one week.”
Adora sighed with relief. “Thank you, Your Majesty”. After a second, she looked up at the queen. “Uhh, what does that mean?”
Angella frowned for a second. After a moment, she realised where the confusion lay. “What does it mean to be grounded? Neither of you will be permitted to leave the castle, under any circumstances.”
“That- that’s it? I thought you were going to- you know, bury us. Just based on the name.”
“You thought I was going to bury my own daughter alive?! For an entire month?”
Adora rubbed her head. “Well, it seemed a little harsh-” Angella scoffed. A little ? “But I wasn’t sure.”
“Adora, I would never hurt her!” Suddenly, the soldier’s actions began to make much more sense to the queen. If she thought Angella was capable of doing that to Glimmer, how did she think she was going to be punished? She softened her tone. “I’m not going to hurt you either.”
Noticing that she didn’t seem convinced, Angella rose from her seat and walked towards the end of the table. “Adora-”, she began as she reached out her hand. Adora recoiled. The queen froze in place, then withdrew her arm. Perhaps she just needed space. “I need to talk with Glimmer. We can continue this conversation another time”.
Angella stood outside her daughter’s room. She hesitated for a moment, before knocking. “Glimmer?”, she asked gently. “May I come in?”
After a moment, she received a muffled reply. “Ok.”
Angella opened the door and stepped inside. As Angella entered the room, her daughter quickly moved to cover her journal with a pillow. “What do you want, Mom?”
“Glimmer,” she hesitated, “I’m sorry I was so harsh with you earlier. You putting yourself in danger frightens me, but I should have been more considerate of your feelings. Even though you did not do as I asked, I’m impressed you were able to defend a kingdom from the Horde.”
Glimmer finally looked up, clearly surprised. “Really? You are?”
“I am”. For a moment, she smiled at her daughter. “But don’t think I’m letting you off the hook that easily. You’re still grounded, for a week.”
“Mom!” Glimmer protested.
Angella raised her hand to stop her. “But in the meantime, I’ll consider your plan to rebuild the Princess Alliance.”
That was enough to cheer up her daughter. “Thanks”. As Angella turned to leave, Glimmer stopped her. “Wait! One more thing. Adora said that she couldn’t sleep in her bed.”
“Oh! Did I not give her enough pillows?”
“No, it’s the opposite actually. She said her bed was too soft and too big. She almost drowned. I guess in the Horde, beds don’t have much cushion.”
Somehow, until this point, Angella had not stopped to consider how much of a transition this must have been for Adora. She scarcely could imagine what it must have been like for the girl to lose her home and all her friends over the course of a single day. And Bright Moon was nothing like the Fright Zone. Had she been suffering in silence this whole time? If there was anything she could do to make this more comfortable for her, she should do it.
“I’ll have it replaced immediately. I’m sure we can find a firmer bed somewhere. There might be an extra in the guards’ quarters.”
Glimmer teleported next to her mother and embraced her. Angella reached down to hug her daughter, but she disappeared before she could reach her. Surprised, Angella glanced around the room to see Glimmer was nowhere to be found. She smiled faintly. Some things would never change.