Enjoy :)

"Here we are." Bow announced.

The group stopped walking and looked around. The Brightmoon grounds were neatly kept, plenty of fruit trees provided shade in the outer perimeter. There were colorful wild flowers growing in a meadow down the hill.

Adora smiled at Catra, who was on her hip. She hadn't said much since the situation with Mermista almost an hour ago. She opted to sit quietly with Lance and George, her eyes down, not wanting to draw more attention to herself. So, to try and lift the mood, they'd decided to spend the day outside. The air was refreshing after being inside for nearly weeks.

Perfuma and Netossa set up the blankets for them to sit on them.

"This was a great idea." Perfuma said, sitting crossed-legged on the blanket. "Nothing like taking in the fresh air and enjoying the day moon's rays while meditating."

"Oh yeah. Mhm totally." Scorpia agreed, nodding from beside her girlfriend.

Micah set the picnic baskets off to the side. They were intending to spend a few hours outside. They'd brought lunch with them and a few snacks just in case. While the adults were settling down, Adora carried Catra a few paces away. Catra was looking around, taking it in.

"There's a lot of green stuff, Adora." She noted.

"Wait a minute." Glimmer said, getting the attention of everyone.

They all turned towards her. Glimmer was looking at Adora in disbelief.

"She's never heard of grass?! How?"

Adora snapped her fingers, like a lightbulb had just gone off.

"Grass! That's what it's called! Thanks, Glim."

She turned to Catra again, pointing at the field.

"This is called grass. Don't eat it, okay?" She informed the child.

Catra nodded. Adora finally put her down on the grass. Catra stood there awkwardly for a moment, switching from foot to foot. She stared down at the grass. Adora let her process the sensation, waiting patiently. Catra started to wiggle her toes. She looked up at Adora.

"This feels weird."

Adora hummed, amused.

"Good weird or bad weird?"

Catra shrugged. "I don't know."

Adora held out a hand.

"How about we go look at the flowers?" She suggested.

Catra smiled, excited at the idea. She nodded. Adora and her walked down the hill and to the edge of the meadow. Catra looked at the blanket of flowers, all different colors. Adora sat down, happy to watch Catra. Catra sniffed around, causing her to have a sneeze attack. She wandered around the flower patch, running around and looking at the insects. The butterflies were fun to chase. She never caught any of them, which was probably for the best.

Adora noticed that Catra started to pick some flowers. She gathered a handful, before running over to Adora.

"Here." She said, holding out a red flower. "This for you."

Adora fawned at the gesture.

"Thank you, Catra. That's so sweet of you." She said, taking the flower.

Catra let her kiss her cheek before she ran over to the others.

"This for you, and this one for you." Catra handed each person a flower or two.

Catra walked up to Lance and George.

"Here, Daddy. Here, Papa."

Catra held out two blue flowers to the couple. Everyone could feel their hearts melting. The two men thanked Catra with a hug and forehead kiss. Catra was purring loudly, glad to be appreciated. She noticed she was out of flowers.

"I'm gonna get more flowers!" She announced before running back towards the field.

Adora came up the hill, walking over to the group.

"I'm hungry." She stated. "Is it lunchtime yet?"

Glimmer snorted.

"Of course you are. Take a sandwich."

Adora dug around one of the packed picnic baskets, fishing out a wrapped sandwich. Adora munched on it, joining in on the conversation. Finishing the sandwich, Adora looked around. She frowned and standing up.

"Guys?" She said, getting everyone's attention.
"Where's Catra?"

Adora scanned the flower field Catra had just gone to. No sign of her. Her anxiety spiked immediately. Bow stood up.

"I'm sure she couldn't have gone too far." He reasoned as he too looked around for the young girl. "Plus, she's with Melog. She probably-"

A high-pitched scream grabbed their attention. Catra. Everyone was on their feet and running towards the scream. They found where it was coming from. Catra was huddled against the wall that surrounded the palace grounds, crying. Melog stood in between Catra and a man. The man definitely didn't belong inside the palace. He looked to be from the Crimson Waste, from the way he was dressed. The man was a Buffalo type hybrid. He was large and burly. The fear in his eyes showed that he hadn't expected Melog.

"Catra!" Adora shouted.

Adora transformed into She-ra. She-ra was very good at intimidating people. The stranger seemed to be shitting his pants. Adora, along with the others surrounded the man, ready to attack.

"Who are you, and why are you here?" Glimmer asked.

The man rolled his eyes.

"Dammit."

He tossed a bag he was holding onto the ground and put his hands up in surrender.

"I was gonna sneak into the castle and steal some shit, but that little brat saw me." He confessed, looking pointedly at Catra.

Adora pointed her sword at him, glaring at him. Looking at George and Lance, Adora motioned her head towards Catra. The two men caught the message and rushed over to Catra.

"Catra. We're here, sweetie."

Catra saw them and started to cry again, holding her arms out to them. Lance scooped her up and hugged her.

"It's okay, Catra. We're here now." He shushed.

The men took Catra back to the rest of the group. Catra clung to Lance, sobbing while he rubbed her back, whispering reassurances. The thief was detained, the guards called to take him back to the castle to be imprisoned. Once all that was settled, Adora turned her attention to Catra.

"Catra. Did you get hurt?" She asked, worried because of the crying.

Catra shook her head. That was a relief. Adora transformed back into her regular self. Catra had seen her do so. Her crying lessened in favor of confusion. Lifting her head off of Lance's shoulder, she reached for Adora. Lance passed her to Adora.

"Who was that tall, shiny lady with the sword?" Catra asked. "She looked just like you, and then she disappeared and then you came back."

Adora snorted, smiling.

"I'm a princess too and I can turn really big and strong. The tall lady is called She-ra."

Adora waited for the information to sink in. Catra rubbed her eyes, the salt of the tears irritating them.

"You're a princess? How? I thought princesses were scary and killed people. Shadow Weaver said that."

By the looks of the others, except Scorpia and Entrapta, they didn't like such an assumption.

"She told you guys that?!" Glimmer shouted. "What kind of fucked up stories were you being taught?! The Horde were the ones-"

"The Horde were orphans of war and didn't know any better." Micah cut her off, giving her a parental look. "Also, language, Glimmer. There's a child here."

"What does 'fucked up' mean?" Catra whispered, looking at Adora.

Everyone's eyes widened. Glimmer had done just that. She fucked up. Adora looked at Micah before looking at Catra.

"Um, it means you made a mistake or did something wrong."

Lance sighed, rubbing his face.

"Sweetheart, listen." He started. Adora put Catra down.

Lance and George looked at one another, silently communicating. George then beckoned for Catra to come closer. Catra walked up to the two.

"That word... fuck... is only a sometimes word, ok? You can only use it in some places and only when certain stuff happens. Okay? You can't some words all the time, because others grown ups don't like those words. If hear a word that grown ups use, ask us before copying it. So then we can teach you when or where is okay to say it. You understand?"

Catra nodded.

"Yeah. I can't say grown up words all the time. Only at home or when you and Daddy say it's ok. Why do some grown ups not like those words?"

George paused for a second, to think.

"Because they think those words are bad and they think kids shouldn't ever talk like that. They think of you say those words, you're bad, but that's not true."

"Oh."

Catra seemed to be having trouble comprehending the logic.

"You and Daddy aren't bad persons. You said the word and you're nice. I don't know why they said that."

George smiled.

"You're right, baby girl. Those people are just bossy and think they can tell people what to do, I think." He shrugged and sighed before changing the subject. "But anyway, Catra, what happened with the man? Why were you all the way over here?"

Catra shrunk back a little, scared that she was in trouble. The men noticed and reacted accordingly.

"You're not in trouble. We just want to know if you got hurt. Are you okay?"

Catra pointed towards the palace walls.

"Me and Melog saw a squirrel go that way and then I saw a bug. So I followed it."

"Is that when you saw the man?" Adora spoke up.

Catra nodded.

"Yeah! He was climbing the wall and he jumped down like this."

Catra proceeded to demonstrate jumping down. It brought a smile to everyone's face.

"He saw me and I ran away because he was a stranger, but he grabbed me."

Catra wrapped her tiny arms around Lance's bigger arm.

"And I yelled really loud 'cuz he scared me." She continued. "Then Melog got really big and scared him. He let go and Melog protected me. I was scared."

Melog, who was getting pets from Adora and Bow nudged Catra affectionately. George smiled warmly at them, grateful for their constant presence and loyalty to Catra. He picked Catra up and rested her on his hip, getting to his feet, everyone followed suit. They started to head back.

"Well, good thing Melog was with you to help you. Next time, stay near us and don't go off by yourself. Okay?"

Catra agreed. She yawned suddenly.

"You wanna go night-night?" George asked, already knowing the answer.

Catra nodded, clearly exhausted.

"Okay, baby. Go to sleep."

George moved Catra so she could lay her head on his shoulder. The group walked back to the picnic spot. The tense atmosphere was gone, the adrenaline giving everyone an appetite. They decided to have lunch, glad they'd brought the food with them. Catra saw the juice boxes they'd packed for her and managed to stay awake long enough to have some lunch herself.

At some point, Catra looked up worriedly at her dads.

"Daddy. Papa. What if the scary man comes back? Or the bloody princess? Shadow Weaver said the bloody princess takes soldiers when they're outside by themself if they're bad. Am I bad? I went far away by myself without you. Is that bad?"

Catra seemed to be almost paranoid at this point of any ghost stories the Horde taught her. It would be cute if it didn't imply some pretty dark things.

Adora rolled her eyes.

"Catra was right. Shadow Weaver really did live to traumatize and terrorize kids. Geez. I remember those stories. Catra and Kyle had nightmares about that a lot, back then."

Micah, just like everyone else listening, looked horrified at the casual tone.

"You're both getting therapy. No arguments or debates about it."

Netossa huffed, incredulously.

"How are they not already in therapy? Especially that kid."

She jutted her chin out towards Catra.

"Anyone that meets her will know she needs it most of all. How did we not stick her into therapy as soon as the war ended. We're finding out more and more shit she went through and had no one to talk to about it and this isn't even the worst of it."

She was right. Catra clearly had a lot going on in her head that she hasn't spoken about to anyone and it was causing her distress and anxiety over the smallest things.

"We'll talk more about this later." George decided. "We don't know how long she'll be growing and we don't want to confuse her if every time she jumps ahead a few years, she forgets her therapist all over again. Once she's grown up again, we'll talk to her about it. For now, though, just keep an eye on her and if it gets to the point we need professional help, then we'll start searching."

"Casta might know someone." Micah suggested. "There are schools for counselors in Mystacor, so she must know someone we could ask for advice if need be."

Couldn't hurt to ask. They worried about Catra. For now, though, they'd keep an eye on her.

So yeah. Lemme know what you think :)