Magic of Etheria

Chapter 26 | Legend of the Pink Pearl

The five days between my visit to Razz's and the day of the ship's departure passed by quickly. With Catra's help, I was able to start facing my fears and trying to accept them, just like Razz had said. My dreams had been nightmare-free for the last few days, each morning I woke up peacefully and rested with a topless Catra draped over me. She'd started sleeping in just her underwear and seemed pretty confident that my nightmares had gone as a result of that and had nothing at all to do with the advice from Perfuma.

I certainly wasn't about to start complaining. I will never get enough of running my hands through her fur in the mornings.

My reflections had also been fairly normal. No surprise visits from Horde Prime trying to freak me out, but I wasn't convinced he was entirely gone. I knew he was the face I had given my fears, but I could feel him, deep down, trying to claw his way back up. That nagging feeling at the back of my mind is the only thing holding back my confidence that this is actually working, but Catra is right: it has only been five days since my visit to Razz, I shouldn't try to rush anything. My current, if possibly temporary, peace-of-mind did mean that I was able to start showing Catra the same level of attention she was showing me. After all, she still had nightmares too, she was just better at putting on a brave face than me.

Her most recent nightmare hadn't shaken her awake, or even caused her to stir in the night. But yesterday morning Catra hugged me tight and whispered into my neck, 'I had another one.'

Catra's trauma seemed much deeper than mine. While she was talking to me about it more openly and telling me what she dreams about, she couldn't seem to escape her subconscious attacking her with her deepest anxieties while she slept. Dreams about being left behind, about being tortured by Shadow Weaver, by Horde Prime and once... by me. She had cried a lot after that one in particular and seemed hesitant to let me embrace her at first. Catra also still insisted that she was unforgivable. Something that, no matter how much I tell her otherwise, she won't believe unless she is forgiven by those who she thinks won't.

This was partly the reason, as I stood looking out to sea on the forward deck of a cargo ship loaded with supplies and heading for Salineas, that I let myself smile. I believed that visiting Mermista would show Catra that she is not completely beyond forgiveness. Salineas was perhaps one of the worst wounds the Horde inflicted on the Princess Alliance towards the end of the war. This would be the first time since the Alliance meeting a few days after the Heart that we would be seeing Mermista in person, since all the princesses with kingdoms had gone back to them to lead their own rebuilding. My hope was that Mermista could see who Catra was trying to be now, that she would be able to see Catra really is trying to change for the better. If Mermista, who's entire kingdom was attacked while Catra stood by, could forgive her - or at least accept an apology - it would be a good first step towards Catra being able to leave the pool of guilt she's found herself stranded in the middle of.

I turned around, leaning back against the deck railing, and took in the rest of the ship. It was a fairly large vessel, as it needed to be. Its cargo was, after all, tons of supplies to help the Salineans with their rebuilding efforts. As I promised, Swift Wind had joined us on this trip. He was stood up on the quarterdeck, doing something, not too far from Bow. Bow wasn't paying any attention however, as his full attention was focused on a hologram projecting up from his tracker pad that he'd placed on a barrel. Catra and Glimmer were leant against the railing of the main deck, Melog laid nearby basking in the warmth of daylight. They'd been talking for some time after Glimmer had come and peeled Catra away from me, insisting they had something urgent to talk about. Finally, I looked up at the sails, watching as the wind filled them and pulled the ship ever onwards.

'Adora!' Glimmer suddenly appeared next to me. I almost jumped out of my skin, nearly falling back off the front of the ship.

'Glimmer!' I yelled, the surprise evident in my voice.