Glimmer hadn't expected to find Shadow Weaver in the royal garden of all places.

yet here she was, surrounded by her guards, taking shears to one dangling vine after another. The lead guard holding his unique weapon at the ready, The Staff of Orion -named for the First One who had invented them- was a powerful if odd weapon. Looking like a mix between a pike & a tuning fork, when activated it emitted a wave of energy that negated all magic within range. A damn useful weapon to have. It was a shame they were so rare that Bright Moon only had a pair or them

It was easily the strictest measure her mother maintained in order to keep Shadow Weaver in line, honestly aside from guards -and the anti-magic weaponry- one could forget she even was a prisoner.

(A fact that she suspected caused her sister great discomfort. She had seen the look on Catra's face when mom had announced the witches in the wake of her warning them of the portal, could tell her sister wanted to argue against it. But ultimately Catra made no complaint, merely doubled down on her avoidance of the Horde's former second in command)

She noticed she'd caught the guards'gaze as she approached. Clearing her throat, she addressed the guards first as she entered the greenhouse.

"Give the prisoner & i the room will you?"

A series of surprised looks were exchanged among Shadow Weaver's watchers. The lead guard began to speak up. "You highness, with respect..." she cut him off with a raise of her hand.

"With due respect to you captain, i can handle myself" to illustrate her point, she balled her raised hand into a fist & charged it with energy until it glowed. "The room please"

They hesitated for a moment before discipline won out & they filed out of the room leaving her alone with Shadow Weaver. The witch was still pruning away at the long abandoned plants but Glimmer could tell she had been listening closely.

"Didn't take you for the gardening type" She began simply.

"One must keep oneself occupied" Shadow Weaver replied in that deep, smooth voice that always seemed to send chills down Catra's spine. "To what do i owe the pleasure of this visit? Come to take me up on the offer Entrapta & i made you?

"I've been giving it some thought" which was actually true "however, the fact is you two aren't exactly the most trustworthy people on Etheria. But i've found a way that you can begin to earn trust"

That peaked the witches interest enough she turned around to properly face Glimmer. "Go on"

"I know my mom has already tried asking you to guess what Adora's game is so I won't bother with that" she was careful to keep an eye on Shadow Weaver as she spoke "what I want to know is, what can you tell me about a woman named Shakra?"

The eyes on Shadow Weaver's mask widened slightly -how did she do that?- before asking "Where did you hear that name?"

"When Catra went to Giant's Roost to make sure the Selkies weren't forced into making their deal with the Horde, it was the name they gave her"

"And is there a description to go along with this name?" Glimmer didn't like the way Shadow Weaver's voice was lowering "I want to be sure we're speaking of the same person."

Her sister & aunt hadn't gotten a description, but thankfully one of Netossa's contacts in Phlax had caught a glimpse during the envoy's trip to the Federation.

"Human woman, old, around my height, apparently really polite despite working for the Horde" Since when did the Horde care about manners? "And she has a couple of injuries, her leg is so bad she needs a cane & her right arm..."

"Requires a brace to extend properly" Shadow Weaver cut in, her tone making it clear that was not a guess or a question, but a statement.

Glimmer's eyes narrowed as she stared the witch directly in the eye. "Friend of yours?" She asked despite her certainty that the concept was lost on the older woman.

A notion that was confirmed by Shadow Weaver letting out a light chuckle. "Hardly, though I admit that she did prove.... useful on occasion"

Glimmer wasn't sure she wanted to know what that meant. So she opted for the most obvious question.

"What can you tell us about her?"

"After she aquirred her injuries in the Horde's conquest of Vargon" the witch began " Hordak personally stepped in to prevent her from being declared unfit for service"

THAT caught Glimmer by surprise. "Why would Hordak care if some injured soldier was forced to retire or not?"

"Well this before my arrival you understand" Shadow Weaver said crossing her arms "but from what I was able to gather, she made quite the scene upon hearing news of her immanent dismissal. She was so desperate to be useful" why did she sound so amused? "Believe it or not Princess, I think Hordak actually felt sorry for her"

That didn't sound like the Lord Hordak she'd heard so many stories about. He didn't sound like the type to care about the desires of an individual member of the Horde.

(He didn't sound like the type of man to save Etheria. A voice in her head replied. He didn't sound like the kind of man to save your mother & use his last request to protect Entrapta from the Alliance's retribution. You never knew him. But she shook the voice from her mind, this was NOT the time to get caught up thinking of him)

"And where did he send her?" Best to get back on topic.

"She was assigned to the Intelligence Division" came the much too casual reply.

"She's a spy?" Glimmer practically shouted.

"Oh she was no regular spy, thanks to a lack of interest in her superior, she essentially ran the Division herself. I must say she was rather competent aside from a tendency to...." Those pure white eyes narrowed & her voice dropped again "interject herself in matters that did not concern her."

Glimmer didn't respond at first, her mind racing to process the information she just received. When she did speak, she tried to inject the firm tone her mother would use into her words.

"Ok Shadow Weaver, I'll make you a deal" the older woman arched her eye to show she was listening "We will gather the Princesses together & you will tell us everything you know about this woman & I mean everything. After that I will meet with you & Entrapta to hear this plan you two are clearly working on. Do we understand each other?"

Shadow Weaver brought her hand to where her heart was supposed to be & gave a slight bow "We understand each other perfectly, you highness" her voice was so cloyingly sweet Glimmer feared she might get cavities. Not to mention she was certain she could see the former Horde commanders smile underneath her mask.

"Well then, since we're in agreement I'll leave you to your gardening." With that, she teleported out of the greenhouse & signaled the guards they could resume their position. She teleported again, just to get further away from the old witch before walking to find her mother and inform her of the.... good news.

"Well that was interesting" Shadow Weaver thought to herself as her guards resumed their previous positions.

If either of the Bright Moon Princesses was going to approach her regarding Adora's change of tactics, she was certain it would be Catra. Her love for Adora was the driving force for most of the Magicat's decisions. One regret Shadow Weaver had In regards to focusing so much of her attention on Adora was that she never taught Catra how to control her emotions.

Still, Glimmer being the one to approach her was not entirely a surprise. The Moonstone's lesser Princess was clearly just as prone to making rash decisions as her recently adopted sister. Though while Catra was driven to recklessness by love, Glimmer was motivated by an urge to prove herself to those she was convinced were discounting her.

(She was angry at herself for considering, if only for a moment that they were similar. Glimmer was a Princess of the blood in addition to being bound to a Runestone. What did she know of struggling for anything let alone everything?)

Still, playing to the girls frustrated ambitions seemed the best way to bring her into the scheme she was brewing with the Princess of Dryl.

However she couldn't allow herself to ignore the information she'd just received. She'd almost forgotten about the Horde's crippled spy master. Aside from her occasionally piping up over policy, Shakra largely kept to her little fiefdom in the Intelligence Division.

Honestly she was slightly angry with herself for not figuring this out sooner. Negotiating with the Crownless had been one of the Fright Zone natives most frequently asserted proposals. Of course this was her doing. If anything, Shadow Weaver was actually mildly disappointed in Adora for listening to the diminutive nusianse.

If she played her cards correctly, she could use this to her advantage. As she recalled, Shakra's plan was directed towards freeing up Horde resources so the Princesses could be attached with the Horde's full might. Perhaps when she informed the Princesses of this fact, they would finally begin to press the attack on the Horde in earnest instead of allowing the Rebels to handle their dirty work for them.

Just as she'd begun to go over how she'd structure her speech to the Alliance leaders, a thought crossed her mind that made her blood run cold.

With the Horde in such a depleted state, it stood to reason that the plan may have been modified. Adora or Shakra or perhaps even the two of them had realized that the Horde's best option was to ask for an armistice to rebuild their strength. And if that was the case, it was inevitable that she was going to be brought up in the talks that would precede any ceasefire.

Shadow Weaver was under no illusion that the Princesses were protecting her for any reason beyond she'd been the one to warn them of Hordak -and Entrapta's- portal & she had no doubt if Adora demanded her retuned as part of the price of peace, the Princesses would pay it gladly. And that was if they didn't offer her up as an incentive of their own fee will.

Suppressing the distress that was beginning to course through her, she resolved that once Entrapta was summoned for the meeting with Glimmer, they would discuss plans for an.... emergency evacuation from Bright Moon.

Just in case things fell through.