Author: Chris Cook
Email: alia@netspace.net.auRating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters are the property of Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy.
She-Ra: Princess of Power characters and concepts are the property of Mattel/Filmation. Actor likenesses are the property of the people in question, although given my haphazard art skills I can probably use the 'any resemblance is coincidental' disclaimer too.
“Stars are bright tonight.”
“Mmm,” Willow agreed, taking a moment from gazing at Tara to take in the sky as they lay on the roof of their lakeside house. On the horizon Brightmoon’s glow bathed the forest canopy in silver, but the magical light did nothing to dim the panorama of stars decorating Etheria’s rich purple night.
“King Gruff,” she said, pointing to a constellation. “Always liked him.”
“Gruff?” Tara asked.
“He’s from stories,” Willow explained. “All about a secret kingdom hidden in Greenvale, full of talking animals. Gruff was their ruler - he was a rabbit. They had adventures, and got into mischief, and you know, stuff talking animals do. My first book was a storybook all about Greenvale, the twiggets brought it from Brightmoon for me.”
“Do they all have stories?” Tara wondered. “There’s so many stars.”
“Most of ‘em,” Willow nodded. “Probably all, somewhere or other. There’s a lot of stories too.”
“The Horde doesn’t name the stars,” Tara mused. “It’s strange. They come from there, but the stars are just numbers to them.” She turned over to stroke Willow’s arm. “Tell me all their names?” Willow looked at her, smiled, and settled into her embrace when she offered.
“Okay, well,” she began. “There’s the Laughing Dragon... the Unicorn King... I don’t actually know those ones so let’s say Magicat Getting A Sponge Bath...”
“Uh-huh,” Tara chuckled.
“I mean if you think about it,” Willow protested, “someone made
all of them up, at some point... The Crystal Falls.”
“Which one’s that?” Tara asked. Willow blinked, and sat upright.
“No, I felt something,” she said, as Tara rose. “At the Crystal Falls, to the east. Something’s entered the Whispering Woods there, some new magic.”
“Horde?” Tara asked, on alert.
“It doesn’t feel hostile,” Willow said. She stood and walked to the peak of the roof, beneath the branches of the massive tree that grew up against one side of the house. She placed her hand up against it, and the old, weathered grooves in the bark rippled like water, rearranging themselves around her palm.
“It’s natural, I think,” she said, eyes closed. “Almost familiar - but I’ve never felt it before, either. Not the Woods, but like it. A convergence.” She opened her eyes, suddenly startled. “Like me - nature magic!”
“Should we wake the others?” Tara asked, at Willow’s side.
“Not yet,” Willow said, shaking her head. “The forest isn’t upset. No fear. Curiosity.”
“How far are these Falls?”
“Three hours, maybe, on Spirit,” Willow said.
“Then let’s go see what’s got your forest curious,” Tara suggested.
As She-Ra, Tara had no need to rest; Willow slept in the saddle, held securely between She-Ra’s arms, as Spirit carried them through the Whispering Woods along the path Willow had shown on one of her maps, following one of the many streams that led into the lake back towards its source.
“Sweetie?” She-Ra gently roused Willow, not long after the two moons had passed their peak in the sky. “I think we’re getting close.”
“Wassat? Um-hmm... Oh?” Willow blinked herself awake and looked around, taking in the terrain they had reached, the forested valleys and glens that were the first sign of World’s Peak mountains, towering into the clouds far in the distance.
“Yep, this is it,” she nodded, accepting She-Ra’s help in lowering herself to the ground. She-Ra dismounted behind her as she walked to the nearby stream, bubbling quietly across an uneven bed between moss-carpeted rocks, and let her fingertips trail through the water.
“Just up ahead,” she said, standing.
“All refreshed?” She-Ra asked as they set off, with Spirit following a little way behind.
“Yup, good as new,” Willow smiled. “The Whispering Woods don’t mind lending me a bit of nocturnalness in a good cause.”
“So that’s where all that nighttime energy you have comes from,” She-Ra said with a soft chuckle.
“No, that’s just being with you,” Willow grinned back. “No extra magic needed.” She reached out to brush aside a veil of fern leaves, and nodded. “Here.”
She-Ra led the way, walking slowly and marvelling at the sight before her - a tiny lake, nestled between banks dotted with wildflowers and trees, every hue of lavender and azure, green and cyan and magenta bathed in light from a waterfall which cascaded over glittering rocks, smooth like glass and glowing like a rainbow.
“It’s beautiful,” she breathed.
“After we’re done with whatever this is, we’ll come back for a picnic,” Willow suggested.
“Deal. Is it close?”
“Hard to say... I’m picking up the Woods’ awareness, they’re not always great with locations except in general terms. Maybe- Wait, did you...?”
“Hear something,” She-Ra nodded, pointing to the little lake. “Over there. A splash - something’s in the water.”
“I see it. Here.” Willow closed her eyes for a second, then opened them and raised her hands. As she did a cloud of tiny glowing motes rose from a group of bushes nearby, and drifted as one gently across the surface of the water, revealing a form swimming to and fro beneath the white water of the falls. It seemed to pause as the light fell on it, motionless, then it rose. Before Willow and She-Ra’s startled eyes a woman broke the surface, staring around herself at the glowseeds circling her, and then at her two watchers on the bank..
“Hello?” she called.
“Hello,” She-Ra called back. “This is Willow, sorceress of the Whispering Woods, and I’m She-Ra.”
“Sorceress? And She-Ra?” The woman covered her mouth with her hands in surprise, then splashed back into the water and swam under the surface towards them. There was a smooth boulder half-submerged not far from the edge of the water; she pulled herself half out of the water onto it, rising up on her hands. Even out of the water her long hair seemed to float a moment before settling over her shoulders.
“Eyes up, breast gal,” She-Ra whispered to Willow, at the sight of the stranger’s naked torso.
“I, wha, no, I’m not-” Willow protested under her breath; She-Ra shot her a grin to let her know she was teasing.
“You are the Great Rebellion, yes?” the woman asked as they walked to the edge of the water.
“Yes,” Willow nodded. “Yes, that’s us. Part of it, I mean we’re not the
whole Rebellion by ourselves.”
“I am Mermista of Salineas,” the women said. “I have come seeking your aid.” With a kick she lifted the rest of her body out of the water and sat on the boulder - from the waist down her skin slowly faded to scales, and instead of legs her lower body was a glittering tail, ending in an iridescent fin.
“It is no surprise you do now know of us,” Mermista explained. “We merfolk have been a hidden people, for age upon age. Fearful of the surface world - perhaps wrongly so once, but when tales began to reach us of this Horde, we clung to our secrecy, as our only true defence. All but one of us.” Her eyes fell to the water. “Octavia - our general. That she was fierce and driven, this we knew - how else should a great warrior be? Treason we never suspected. Our soldiers, thank the fates, stood loyal to the royal line, but Octavia had allies from the Horde, and before she was driven away...” She sighed, muttered an untranslated curse. “She stole the Great Pearl. It is the source of all that we are, the lifeblood of our city, our very nature. Even now our power wanes, and once gone, we shall no longer be as you see me now, creatures of the water. I mean no insult to you who walk upon land, but for us... the ocean is our home, we love it as, as... as you, sorceress of the Whispering Woods, love this realm of yours. Soon it will be lost to us forever.”
She took a deep breath, and looked up at Willow and She-Ra, her eyes heavy with tears.
“We hear of this Great Rebellion,” she said imploringly. “We hear of kindness, and magic. I beg of you to help us.”
“Of course,” Willow said at once.
“We’ll help,” She-ra agreed. Mermista looked from one to the other, as if hardly daring to believe.
“Truly? Oh, thank you!” She leapt forward from her seat on the boulder, splashing into the shallows and rearing up to hug both Willow and She-ra, sobbing with relief onto their shoulders.
“Oh, I am sorry,” she said, drawing back. “It is... I had hope - this place, you understand, its beauty, surely its mistress and her companions would be beautiful in kind - but we fear the surface for so long, I...” She took a breath, steadying herself, and smiled. Willow noticed She-Ra blushing vividly, and gave her a playful poke in the side.
“How should this great thing be done?” Mermista asked. “I know so little of your land, and your ways.”
“How long do we have?” She-Ra asked. “You said your power was fading?”
“We have a little time,” Mermista replied. “Those of us with magic are doing all that can be done to sustain what power remains in our city. It buys us this chance, but without the return of the Pearl, there can be but one end.”
“Princess Glimmer of Brightmoon leads the Rebellion,” Willow explained. “She’s at our camp, on the great lake - it’s not that far from here.”
“I sense this lake,” Mermista nodded. “All the waters are kin to my ocean.”
“We’ll bring her here - and Queen Joy as well, if we can.”
“Oh, I can come with you, if you wish it?” Mermista offered. “This stream from here, it becomes wider and deeper soon? From there I can swim to your great lake, as fast as you might ride, if that suits?”
“It’s not far to where the next big stream meets, yeah,” Willow nodded. “But-”
“To there, I use legs,” Mermista said. She closed her eyes, ran her hands down her body, and as her palms caressed her hips and down her tail the scales glittered in the moonlight, shifting. All of a sudden, without seeming to have changed at all, the scales were a long jewelled skirt, sitting low on her hips, slit up one side to reveal a pair of legs, on which she slowly stood upright.
“Well,” Willow said, trying not to stare in surprise, “let’s get going then.”
True to her word Mermista had made quick work of the trek down to where the stream joined others and widened. Once she returned to the water she kept pace easily with Spirit, on the path by the bank, until the river made a bow to the south, while the path kept on straight. Willow had called Casta through the forest during the ride back, and she had in turn woken Buffy and Xander, and appeared in Brightmoon to rouse Queen Joy, all of whom were waiting by the time they returned. Mermista’s energy hadn’t flagged, it seemed - despite the longer path the had swum, it wasn’t long before she appeared, darting vigorously through the water from the south where the river fed into the great lake.
“Hello my friends!” she called, rising from the water as her tail turned to legs once again, on which she ran the last few metres up the bank to hug Willow again..
“Hi again,” Willow said, gathering her wits as She-Ra got hugged next, venturing a friendly pat on the back as she glanced at Willow in mild confusion. “How was the swim? Do you need to rest at all?”
“Oh, no,” Mermista shook her head, releasing She-Ra. “These Whispering Woods, there is such vitality and love in them - yours without a doubt,” she added, giving Willow an adoring smile. “In the waters of such a place, I could swim forever.”
“Uh, good. Well then?” She held out her arm, presenting Mermista to the group gathered to meet her. “Mermista of Salineas - Xander, leader of our rangers, Casta of Mystacor, Princess Glimmer and Queen Joy of Brightmoon.”
“Majesties!” Mermista gasped, falling to her knees so quickly Willow and She-Ra were alarmed that her legs had suddenly stopped working, but as she ducked her head and lay her arms along the ground it became obvious it was intentional.
“Oh, that’s not necessary,” Joy said gracefully. “You’re most welcome in our realm, Mermista.”
“I am honoured,” the Merwoman said, getting back to her feet, casting a bashful smile at the Queen, then turning to the others. “Lady Casta, Sir Xander.”
“Uh, just ‘Xander’,” the ranger smiled, eyes fixed on Mermista’s face as if afraid to look anywhere else.
“I brought these from the palace library,” Joy said, ushering the group to a boulder, which served as a table on which she unfurled a bundle of maps, each detailing parts of Etheria’s oceans.
“Here,” Mermista said promptly, pointing to one. “The Sea of Sighs. Salineas is here, far beneath the waves. And here,” she indicated part of the coast, “Octopus Cove. It is here Octavia now dwells, with these Hordesmen. For long we neglected the surface, even the shallow waters, and were ignorant of what transpired there. Our scouts have seen great construction here, walls in the sea, armoured vessels, and terrible weapons of war.”
“A harbour stronghold,” She-Ra nodded. “There are several around the Growling Sea, supporting the Horde navy. This must be a new one, to secure the Sea of Sighs.”
“Did you swim all this way?” Buffy asked. “That’s half-way round the world.”
“Oh, no,” Mermista replied. “I use old magic. Long ago there are paths, magic places where one may move between the realms. Near Salineas there is one such, in a grotto beneath a place we call the Mystic Isle, and your Crystal Falls, this is another. This is an old tale among us, but the place is known, and I study the old ways and old magic. The passage was very difficult. I do not know if I can return,” she added, looking down at the map forlornly, “but for my people, I come here.”
“The royal paths,” Joy said thoughtfully. “Brightmoon’s lore mentions them, in our oldest texts. I had no idea they were real.” She looked at Casta, who was nodding.
“Perhaps this magic can be reinforced?” the sorceress suggested. “As the monarch of this realm, your magic has great sway - and you, Willow, as guardian of the Woods. I shall return part of myself to Mystacor to study this.” Mermista gazed at her in wonder as she shimmered, a pulse of light growing then fading from the jewel set into her chest.
“Could others use this path?” Willow wondered. “Besides merfolk?”
“Perhaps,” Casta said. “And there are spells to allow one to breathe beneath the water, for a time.”
“If it works, we could get there faster than even the
Sea Hawk could carry us, even if we got a message to Liam right away.”
“Time is of the essence,” She-Ra agreed. “Princess?”
“I guess those swimming lessons are going to come in handy after all,” Buffy said. “How heavily defended are these Horde harbours?”
“Massively,” She-Ra replied. “Heavy fortifications, and warships at anchor.”
“It’s where Octavia took this Pearl?” Buffy asked Mermista.
“Yes. Many times I have performed the rituals. I feel the Pearl as if it is part of my body.”
“Hit and run?” Xander suggested.
“That’s what I’m thinking,” Buffy nodded. “We can’t make a simple frontal attack, even with She-Ra leading the charge. And... is it possible Octavia might try to destroy the Pearl? Rather than lose it?”
“It would be a terrible thing,” Mermista said quietly. “But in her madness... Yes, she might do this.”
“That’s our goal then,” Buffy decided. “Go in by stealth and diversion, get the Pearl out of there before the Horde have a chance to use it as a ‘hostage’, or worse. Cause a ruckus to keep them off balance, and get away before they’ve got their act together. A small group, but powerful. Casta, any chance you could project that far?”
“Doubtful,” the sorceress said apologetically.
“Willow?” Buffy said, looking to her friend.
“Oceans are full of life,” Willow replied. “Not quite what I’m used to, but close.”
“Your magic of the Woods will be welcome in our realm,” Mermista promised. “I shall make it so.”
“She-Ra, naturally,” Buffy went on. “Xander - you’re in charge here. I’ll be going as well.”
“Aw man, I never get to see underwater kingdoms,” Xander complained with a grin.
“But you are royalty!” Mermista protested. “I cannot ask you to risk yourself!”
“I’m a rebel,” Buffy countered politely. “We’re all in this together.”
“My daughter never got the knack of sitting idly by,” Joy added proudly.
Evening was falling by the time the rebels returned to the Crystal Falls, having made all the preparations they could, along with Xander and Joy, to see them off, and in Xander’s case lead the horses back to camp afterwards. Mermista had gotten a head start up the river, and despite swimming against the current was already waiting in the small lake, deep in conversation with Casta.
“We are prepared,” the sorceress said, rising from the water. “Willow, your Majesty, if you’d like to begin?”
“Of course,” Joy nodded. “The middle of the lake, as we discussed?”
“I shall support you both,” Mermista said. Willow handed her jacket to She-Ra and started taking off her boots; with only friends about the rebel camp she had never seen the need for a swimsuit there, so she had borrowed one from Buffy, worn under her clothes on the ride out. Queen Joy had simply changed into a short dress before flying to the Falls, reasoning that it would dry out by itself on the flight back in no time.
Together they waded out towards Mermista, who held her hands out to them, summoning tiny ripples in the lake around their legs. When they were immersed to their waists they exchanged a glance, then Willow stepped gingerly forwards first, grinning as she sank no further.
“It’s working, I’m not touching the ground,” she smiled, moving a little further out as Joy followed her.
“Alright then - as the good lady said,” Joy said, giving Casta a quick wave. The three stood together in the centre of the lake, and at a wave of Mermista’s hand Joy slowly rose up until only her feet were in the water.
“Yours is moonlight and stars,” the merwoman intoned. Joy nodded, and steadied herself with her hands on Willow’s shoulders as the redhead took up position in front of her, leaning back slightly to rest against her hips.
“Yours is the forest, sustained by water below and sky above,” Mermista continued, swimming close to Willow and resting the back of her head against her stomach. “And mine is the deep, that moves beneath and within all things.”
The three women closed their eyes, Joy lifting her arms towards the sky, Willow reaching out towards the banks of the lake, Mermista lowering her arms into its depths. Energy began to emerge from the forest, spectral vines snaking out towards the trio, swimming like ephemeral snakes towards their mistress, rising to coil first around her arms then tightly around her body. They reached up, gripping Joy’s legs and hips as a gleam in her palms intensified into a beam of silver light that soared into the velvet evening sky, and down, around Mermista’s shoulders as the water of the lake trembled and began to pulse with concentric waves. The shine of water seemed to flow up Willow’s magic, while the moonlight beam coursed back down, joining their three together in a blinding coalescence of light that even She-Ra had to shield her eyes from.
Then in an instant it was over - the light vanished, Willow sank at once down to her neck, and Joy gave an un-regal squawk as she fell backwards with a splash, emerging a moment later, to the others’ relief, to push wet hair out of her eyes and chuckle ruefully.
“I am so sorry, Highness,” Mermista said as they swam back towards the bank. “And Willow - I give everything to the spell, and-”
“No harm done,” Joy assured her.
“We’re going swimming anyway,” Willow grinned. “Did it work, though?”
“It... it worked,” Mermista said, suddenly sounding awed. “I feel it! Before the path was like, like a storm, so many currents I must struggle against, but now, so calm!”
“It’s impressive you were able to navigate the path after so long in disuse,” Casta offered. “The first rulers must have done such rituals every so often to sustain them.”
“Will it last long?” Joy asked.
“Years, I believe, until we must tend to it again,” Casta nodded. “I must study more, but from what I sense it has been dormant for... hundreds of years, perhaps more. It’s no wonder even Willow didn’t sense it here, until Mermista used it.”
“Could there be others?” Willow wondered, struggling not to grin too obviously as she noticed She-Ra covertly taking an interest in her current state, her suit clinging to her.
“The old lore speaks of royal paths as if there were many,” Joy mused.
“If there are more within the Woods,” Casta said, “knowing what to look for, we may be able to discover them.”
“Another day, though,” Joy suggested. “The water spells?”
“Of course,” Casta nodded, as Buffy disrobed down to her swimsuit as well, and stood with Willow and She-Ra, each taking a satchel from the horses’ saddlebags.
“Until this moment tomorrow, you shall breathe the water as if it were air,” Casta explained, as she touched Buffy and then Willow on the shoulder, her hand glowing as she did so, “and know no harm from the depths. I have rehearsed this magic with Mermista, she can cast it again as often as you need.”
“You do not need the spell?” Mermista asked She-Ra.
“My magic sustains me,” she replied. “We experimented some time ago, in the great lake - I was under for a good few hours, and just fine.”
“Miracles upon miracles,” Mermista murmured, shaking her head.
“Come back safe,” Xander wished, hugging Willow and She-Ra together around the shoulders, while Joy held Buffy for a moment, before swapping.
“Look after the Woods, okay?” Willow grinned.
“You’ll find ‘em right where you left ‘em,” Xander chuckled. “Promise. Good journey.”
“Good journey,” Joy echoed.
After a few minutes for Willow and Buffy to get used to the strange sensation of inhaling underwater, overcoming the instinctive belief that they would end up swallowing a lungful of water rather than the fresh air Casta’s magic provided, the quartet joined hands, with Mermista in the lead. Her powerful tail dragged them easily down as she submerged and swam towards the bottom of the lake, and then there was a sensation like being carried along with a current, magnified a thousand-fold, rushing at incredible speed - and then it was over, and diving down had become rising up, there was light filtering through the water from above, and they broke the surface. Willow and Buffy, and even She-Ra, took deep breaths by reflex as soon as the air touched their faces, then looked around, finding themselves in a pool surrounded by water-smoothed rock faces, glittering with exposed veins of quartz, and beyond the grotto’s opening, daylight spilling in.
“Did we really just travel all that way?” Buffy wondered.
“This is the Sea of Sighs,” Mermista confirmed.
“The other side of Etheria,” Willow shook her head in amazement.
“We’ll definitely have the element of surprise,” She-Ra noted with a faint smile. “I don’t think we could possibly be further from where the Horde thinks the Rebellion is. Which way’s Octopus Cove?”
“To the south,” Mermista replied. “You go at once?”
“Every minute the Horde has your Pearl is a risk,” She-Ra nodded, as they made their way to the grotto entrance, and emerged onto the beach beyond, with the island’s peaks rising up behind them. “I can swim us there quickly.”
“My illusions will get us close without being found,” Buffy added. “If it looks like we can snatch the Pearl and get away, that’d be ideal. At the least though, we can get a good look at what we’ll be up against.”
“No need to tire yourselves swimming, though,” Mermista said, holding up a hand. She walked a few paces to the edge of the water, cupped her hands around her mouth, and voiced an eerie, echoing song that sounded as if it came from underwater even above the waves.
“We have our steeds, as you of the land do,” she explained, walking back. A moment later a pair of heads emerged from the gentle waves off the shore, long, equine snouts and gleaming golden scales.
“Seahorses?” Buffy said in surprise.
“Why else call them ‘horses’?” Mermista giggled.
“They’re not that big back home,” Willow noted with a grin.
“Sundancer, and Seaharp,” Mermista said, indicating each of the two seahorses. “They will carry you quickly and quietly. No Horde machine we have seen can match them, so at need, you shall have a swift path to safety.” She looked to Willow. “And we shall gather all that we can from Salineas, and be at your heels with all speed. We have not such power as you, but I am at your side in this, and all my people that I can rally as well.”
“Don’t take any risks,” She-Ra warned. “The Horde won’t have come here just for Octavia’s benefit, and I doubt they’re counting on the Pearl’s capture alone to defeat you. There’ll be a force at the harbour ready to fight merfolk.” She took Mermista’s hand. “But we’re grateful for your help. Willow knows our signals. With luck I’ll be able to sabotage the harbour’s defenses, and make it safe for your people to attack - we may need the diversion to get to the Pearl.”
“We are forever in your debt,” Mermista said, embracing She-Ra warmly, then Buffy.
“Be careful,” Willow whispered, as She-Ra hugged her in turn, holding her close for a long moment before standing back.
“I’ll look after her,” Buffy said softly, as she gave Willow a quick hug of her own.
“You do that,” Willow smiled. “See you soon.” She waved to the pair as they waded out into the shallow surf, and watched as they figured out how to get astride their patient seahorse mounts and moved away, gaining speed as they left the shore behind.
Willow wondered if Mermista would summon up another seahorse for her, but this proved unnecessary - holding the merwoman’s hand as she sped through the depths of the Sea of Sighs, Willow found she was not being so much dragged along as guided: some subtle power of Mermista’s creating a cocoon of calm water around them both that allowed her to swim, and Willow to be carried along, at incredible speed with little apparent effort.
Marvelling as she was at the display of magic, and the sights under the ocean - massive schools of fish rippling along like gigantic ribbons, mountains and canyons beneath, and increasingly a rainbow array of coral as the plain seafloor nearer the Mystic Isle transformed into a vast reef - it seemed no time at all until Mermista pointed ahead, and Willow got her first sight of Salineas, a gleaming dome set amid peaks of coral, like a pearl itself. As they drew closer Willow saw the dome was translucent, and began to be able to pick out buildings, torus-shaped halls and spiral towers like huge shells, and everywhere the gleam of water, rivers and lakes and pools threading through the heart of the city.
“Do not take it amiss if my people are surprised at you,” Mermista said, as she led Willow down towards the edge of the dome - her voice had something of water’s muffled quality, but was strong and clear nonetheless. “Not since the time of our grandfathers has a surface dweller walked among us here, and even then, so few. But you are my guest,” she went on, bringing Willow in gently to land on a broad platform extending into the sea, “and I make my home yours. I shall allow no-one to show you disrespect.”
“It’s fine, I understand,” Willow said, finding her own voice somehow carried as clearly. “I’m a new face, it’s natural... wow.”
Passing through the wall of the dome was like walking through a silk curtain, and on the other side, seeing the city clearly without the sea and the gleam of the dome between them, she realised she hadn’t yet taken in its scope. The building she had seen were not just spread out ahead of them, but above and below, on land bridges rich with grasses and flowers gently dipping and weaving above and below one another, so that they could see down to the roofs of tall towers below, and above them the foundations of others - some even extending through the land they were built on, extending down into open space with balconies and windows. And the waterways followed suit, reaching every avenue and building, rivers lifting off the land to flow across empty void to reach the next island of city, great columns of water suspended by nothing, and merfolk coming and going as casually as if walking along a street, using the waterways as paths.
“How...?” Willow asked, unable to find the words for it.
“Our paradise,” Mermista said proudly. “Now you know how I felt, when I saw your forest, yes?”
“Mermista!” a voice called, and Willow turned to see a merman approaching them - a soldier of some kind it seemed, his broad chest covered by ornate armour, and a trident in one hand. He rose from the stream beside their platform, tail turning to legs, switching from swimming to walking without skipping a beat.
“You have brought an outsider?” he asked. “What madness-”
“This is Lady Willow, the sorceress of the Whispering Woods!” Mermista retorted, advancing to meet him and poking his armoured chest fiercely. “She is radiant as the Pearl itself, and she shall know only warmth from our kind! Is that clear?”
“Yes, Princess,” the soldier said, after a moment’s shock at the vehemence of her response. Turning from her he faced Willow and dropped to one knee, bowing his head. “Forgive me, highness.”
“Uh... no problem?” Willow hazarded, taken aback.
“I shall herald you to your father,” the soldier promised Mermista, retreating back to the water and diving headlong.
“Come,” Mermista said, extending her hand to Willow. “We walk to the palace, this way.”
“Did he call me ‘highness’?” Willow asked quietly, as Mermista led her by one of the land bridges, towards what seemed to be some kind of market square, beyond which a gleaming golden tower rose.
“I... thought it best,” the merwoman replied, seeming bashful. “So that you should be made welcome, even by those who cling to our secrecy, I... indicated to him that you are of higher status than myself. As I am of the royal line, thus you are worthy of all consideration here.” She risked a look at Willow. “I did not presume too much? You are a great sorceress, it is only right.”
“I, no, it’s fine,” Willow smiled, a little dazed. “Good thinking, I mean about the secrecy thing - if it helps me help you... Princess Glimmer will think it’s hilarious you know, after all the times I teased her about being ‘your majesty’.” She giggled, and Mermista laughed softly along with her.
“This is the palace,” she said after a moment walking in silence, amid the curious stares of shopkeepers and passers-by who paused in their activity to watch them pass - either they were less wary than the soldier, or he had passed on word of Mermista’s endorsement, since many inclined their heads, and parents lifted their children into the arms and onto their shoulders to see. Willow found it odd to be the focus of such attention, but having been on close terms with Brightmoon’s royal family for so long, it wasn’t entirely unfamiliar ground.
Streams of water flowed into the facade of the palace, part of the building itself, and from them a quartet of guards emerged, armoured and armed similarly to the one they had encountered before. They stood aside at once though, two opening the great doors while their companions presented arms, and within Willow found herself looking up into a dome that was like a liquid diamond, rippling facets refracting light in an ever-changing rainbow from the sky above, lighting golden pillars and coral-like sculptures in the throne room beneath.
“Daughter,” a deep voice sounded from the far end.
Mermista strode forward ahead of Willow, meeting a figure that rose from his coral throne - towering, broad-shouldered, face framed by a great white beard, and alone of all the merfolk Willow has seen thus far, who seemed to wear little besides the skirts their tails somehow reverted to while walking, he was dressed in rich blue robes, decorated with bronze metalwork.
“Father,” Mermista said, giving him a hug, which he returned somewhat grudgingly.
“You used the old path, didn’t you?” he complained. “Did I not forbid such a risk?”
“Actually no,” Mermista pointed out. “You said it
could not be done, not that I should not
try.” The king shook his head, and Willow was reminded of Queen Joy’s expression of fond resignation whenever Buffy did something impetuous.
“Father,” Mermista went on. “May I present the sorceress of the Whispering Woods, kind and noble champion of the Great Rebellion, the Lady Willow. Willow, my father, King Mercia.”
“Highness,” Willow said, kneeling politely.
“Rise, sorceress,” the king said. “I thought my daughter’s proposal foolhardy, but here you stand, in our hour of most desperate need.”
“Two other great warriors came with us,” Mermista added. “She-Ra, and Princess Glimmer of Brightmoon. Even now they make for Octopus Cove, to reclaim the Pearl if they may. We must send all help we can.” Her father looked levelly at her for a moment, then squared his shoulders.
“Let it be so,” he nodded. “The army shall muster, for what good it may accomplish. Daughter... the light grows weak. I fear we were over-optimistic of how long Salineas would endure without her Pearl.”
“It shall be enough,” Mermista said, her voice strong with determination. “I can marshall the magic of the sea, you know this.”
“I might be able to help,” Willow offered. “Your daughter explained the magic surrounding the Pearl and the city to me. All the plant life under the sea here - it’s different to the Whispering Woods, but not
that different.”
“If you can do this thing, and your companions reclaim our lost treasure,” the king replied, “your names shall live forever among us. I shall see to the army. Daughter, cast what spells you and Lady Willow may.”
“Normally, we give to the ocean, the reefs and all that lives beneath the waves,” Mermista elaborated, as she and Willow entered the chamber she called her ‘focus’, where her magic was strongest. She had offered to show Willow the way by land, but, intrigued by the water bridges, Willow had opted to swim, and marvelled at the view as they moved down through the city, past level after level in their translucent stream. On first entering the water - with the ground reassuringly just beneath - she had reached out a hand from within to test the edge of the stream, and felt a subtle but pressing current urging her back towards the centre; Mermista had explained that the magic that suspended the water in midair also kept anyone from breaching it and falling.
Finally, at the base of the city, the merwoman showed her to their destination, a chamber fashioned from living coral, where they sat on soft sponge-like cushions half-submerged in a pool of gleaming magic water. Simply being in the room gave Willow the sense of the vast spread of sea life somehow connected to this place - once seated as Mermista showed her, immersed to the waist, she could feel the energy and vitality almost as strongly as she did her Whispering Woods at home.
“The Pearl is a treasure we use to maintain our city and our way of living,” Mermista went on, “but it is not ours to hoard selfishly, so we spread its power throughout our realm, for all to share. Now,” she sighed, “with it gone, it is our realm that shares with us.”
“I feel it,” Willow nodded. “Compassion, in the energy.”
“Your forest would do the same for you, I have no doubt,” Mermista smiled. “You and I shall give guidance to our realm - give focus to its kindness, to best sustain the dome. It cannot replace the Pearl - even if such a thing were possible, we could never sacrifice so much of our realm for ourselves - but it will give us precious time. Do you feel what is needed?”
“Yes,” Willow replied, resting her hands in the water, as Mermista did. “This is your forest, really - so much like mine. I can feel your magic. I know how to help.” She grinned. “It’s an odd feeling, you know? All the way over the other side of the world, and this feels familiar, like home.”
“As it was for me at the Crystal Falls,” Mermista nodded. They remained silent for a moment, their breathing settling into a shared rhythm as tiny patterns moved through the pool around them, then the merwoman swallowed, and added, in a soft tone: “Perhaps, this could be a second home to you?”
“Second home?” Willow asked, surprised.
“Our magics harmonise so effortlessly,” Mermista whispered, “and I... when I say you are radiant, I do not exaggerate. Oh, I have,” She laughed and shook her head, making her buoyant hair spread out around her, “minnows in the stomach, like a small girl!”
“Oh! You mean-”
“We could be so much more than magic. And it is fitting, yes?” She met Willow’s gaze, yearning and - now Willow understood what she was seeing - sultry. “The forest and water are joined always, a cycle of life. All my bounties, yours, to-”
“Uh hey, wait,” Willow shook her head, smiling nervously. “Hold your horses... seahorses, maybe... It’s not that you’re not... I mean, look at you, and you’re lovely and- but I’m, uh, spoken for, you see?”
“There is another?” Mermista asked in a tiny voice. Willow couldn’t help but feel for her, even under the circumstances.
“Tara,” she said gently.
“Tara,” Mermista nodded, taking a deep breath. “I... could wish for myself, but I hear you say her name and... I know this is right, you and her.” She smiled to herself, then looked back at Willow anxiously. “I have not offended...?”
“No! No,” Willow insisted. “You’re right, our magics harmonise, your ocean is beautiful and - you’re beautiful. If we were... well I’d be a lucky woman. Really.” She reached out her hand. “Friends, right?”
“Yes,” Mermista said, taking her hand and holding it tightly. “Friends.” She giggled. “Maybe I tell your Princess Glimmer this, she can tease...?”
“Don’t!” Willow protested, laughing. Mermista laughed too, and as they calmed, and their hands returned to the water, she met Willow’s gaze, with great warmth, and no sadness.
Buffy peered over a barren ridge, taking in the view beyond.
“The Horde doesn’t do pretty, really, huh?” she mused quietly. Tara gave a wry grin.
“Not unless your idea of ‘pretty’ is industrial and lots of red banners,” she replied. “What do you think?”
“I think that’s a lot of ships.”
Tara nodded - the harbour, a steel and concrete blight on the already barren cove, was crowded with troopships and destroyers, protected by armoured booms across the mouth of the harbour, and a dozen automated turrets.
“It’s an invasion force,” she agreed. “They must have planned this ahead of time, to have all this ready. Steal the Pearl to weaken Salineas, then send these in to finish the job. How many soldiers did Mermista say they had?”
“Not enough to fight off this lot,” Buffy grimaced. “Well, just as well we’re here. What do you think - I grab the Pearl, you smash stuff, we head for the hills as fast as we can?”
“Between your cloaking and my codes, we might make it inside unseen,” Tara said thoughtfully. “We’ll keep She-Ra in reserve as long as possible - I could make a heck of a mess down there, but not stand my ground indefinitely, not against that army once they realise they’re under attack. As soon as I transform, we’re on the clock.”
“Best plan we’ve got,” Buffy agreed. “Is that ship moving out - the big one?”
“A battleship,” Tara said. “It’s still rigged for cargo transfer, not battle - must just be moving to another pier.” She peered at the distant vessel, as it moved out from behind a row of cranes. “Can you give me a closer look at that?”
Buffy obliged, holding her hands steady as the air in front of Tara’s face warped into curved discs, forming a magical telescope.
“Recognise anything?”
“Yes,” Tara said, eyes wide. “That’s
Dreadnought - General Sunder’s flagship!”
“Your old commander?”
“Hordak handpicked him to train me as an officer,” Tara nodded. “He must be in charge of this army.”
“What’s that mean for our chances?”
“Little bit good, and a lot bad,” Tara frowned. “He’s not a monster, like some of the others - he won’t be aiming to massacre the merfolk just because they’re in the way. But he’s an experienced commander, he won’t make any easy mistakes, or leave things to chance.”
“Let’s hope us turning up here didn’t factor into his plans,” Buffy muttered. She took Tara’s hand, concentrated, and the two of them faded from view.
“C’mon,” her voice came from seemingly thin air. “Let’s get this done.”
Quiet footsteps and the occasional loose stone were the only signal of their passage down the slope towards the harbour’s fortified land side - nothing visible enough for the sentries or the automated turrets to spot. The Horde troopers patiently gazing back and forth across the open paved-over approaching path saw nothing either; only once hidden in the shadow of a power feed did Buffy drop her illusion shroud, so Tara could see her hands to work at the service hatch low on the wall.
“We’ll have an hour before this registers on their security,” she whispered, prying an electrical panel open and carefully repositioning several of the wires inside. Buffy nodded, and led the way once the hatch opened with a quiet scrape of dry hinges, following Tara’s whispered directions through the maze-like maintenance shafts until they emerged on the other side, in the darkened corner of a repair slip.
“Disable the guns and we can swim out,” she suggested, pointing to the glimmer of sunlight through the water at the far end of the slip, where the sea-doors closed off only the above-water portion of the entrance.
“Maybe,” Tara murmured, edging around the bulk of the Horde gunboat resting in the bay and peering into the gloom beyond. Spotlights formed pools of light in an otherwise vast, shadowy chamber, dotted with windows and catwalks on the far side, and echoing with the distant mechanical tramp of troopers. Buffy joined her, and drew back with a start as loud footsteps suddenly sounded from just beyond the door, and a squad of Horde troopers marched past.
“Aquatroopers,” Tara whispered. “Those helmets feed air to... what’s left of the people inside.” Buffy grimaced.
“Any ideas where a giant magic pearl would get stashed in all this?” she asked quietly. Tara studied the layout of the fortress’s interior, then nodded.
“That’ll do for a start,” she replied, pointing off in the distance. “Power control. Anything as important as the Pearl will have forcefields around it. That’ll show us where that kind of power’s being diverted to. And you okay to cloak us again?”
“Ready when you are,” Buffy nodded, squaring her shoulders.
Protected by Buffy’s invisibility they reached the power control room without being spotted. Tara glanced warily at the automated workers overseeing the flow of power through the massive conduits, but concluded they had no awareness of what was going on around them, and patted Buffy on the shoulder to let her know she could drop her illusion.
“This should do it,” she whispered, approaching the central lectern and cautiously putting in a code. A series of displays flared to life in the air around her, but she hadn’t had a chance to touch more than a couple of them, zooming in on particular areas, before a siren sounded.
“Damn it!” she swore. “Go invisible!”
“What about you?” Buffy protested, fading from view.
“Not ready yet,” Tara shook her head, quickly paging through screen after screen. “Eastern block... above ground...”
“Tara!” Buffy warned, hearing footfalls from outside, some way off but nearing.
“They know someone’s broken in!” Tara whispered back. “If they find me and don’t know about
you, we could still do this.”
“Let them take you?” Buffy asked, incredulous. “Change now!”
“Tara’s a spy, She-Ra’s a military assault,” Tara said. “They’d lock the whole base down.”
“They’re not going to just let you keep your sword so you can change later!”
“Sunder will question me, it’ll buy time,” Tara insisted. “He doesn’t mistreat prisoners - here it is, the Pearl! East level five, central isolation! Standard Horde forcefields, you can get through that. Go! I’ll be fine, get the Pearl, then come back - they’ll put me on the battleship, make a distraction and I’ll go for my sword then.”
“I don’t like this plan!” Buffy complained. “Willow’s going to kill me for one thing...”
“It’s the best odds of saving the merfolk,” Tara said resolutely. “I’ll open a bunch of files so they won’t know what I was after - slip out now, before they fill the room up and bump into you!”
“You... keep yourself safe, okay!?” Buffy whispered, almost in Tara’s ear. “I’m coming back for you.”
“I know,” Tara nodded. Buffy remained invisible, but she could almost see her exasperated shake of her head, then she had the feeling that the empty space beside her really was empty. Working quickly she opened up pages showing the power feeds to the base’s communications, weapons, fuelling systems for the berthed ships - everything a saboteur might target - then, steeling herself with a slow breath, she placed her sword on the console, stepped back, and put her hands behind her head, just as Horde troopers barged into the room, surrounding her in a ring of blasters.
Shrouded from sight, Buffy watched from a high catwalk as Tara was marched out of the power control room at blaster point, one of the troopers carrying her sword. She shook her head and crept away, careful not to let her boots make too much of a sound against the metal floor.
It was the work of a few minutes to find her destination and make her way there - guards and checkpoints blocked her way, but true to Tara’s word her capture didn’t seem to have sparked any additional alert, and nothing prevented Buffy from sneaking past the troopers and clambering carefully over the guard walls and barricades. At last she found central isolation, a chamber protected by a squad of troopers outside, but within empty save for the layers of shimmering forcefields surrounding the central dais, where the Pearl waited, a gleaming sphere glowing with a complex internal radiance. Buffy checked every corner thoroughly for cameras, or any angle that could be seen from outside, then let out a quiet sigh and decloaked.
“Alright,” she whispered, gazing at the forcefields. “Look on the bright side, Casta’ll be over the moons when I tell her I managed this.”
She steeled herself, then reached out a hand towards the energy barrier, her skin beginning to glow. As she touched the field, instead of its power repelling her, her own glow and the forcefield began to flow into one another, and in the space of a few heartbeats her entire body had transformed into the same spectrum of light as the field itself.
“Score one for magic,” she quipped, a grin on her now semi-translucent face, as she walked through the forcefield and reached for the Pearl. “Okay now, let’s get you home quick. Hang in there Tara.”
General Sunder picked up the sword and studied it thoughtfully, before placing it in a holding field and turning to his prisoner, confined behind a larger field.
“Captain Tara,” he said levelly.
“General,” Tara replied. She had been surprised to see his right arm missing, replaced by a robotic limb, but in every other respect he was exactly as she remembered: calm, measured, deliberate, the epitome of a disciplined commander. He turned slightly to the aquatrooper at the helm station, and at a tilt of his head the trooper saluted and left the bridge. Sunder turned back, removing his helmet and setting it aside.
“It was a respectable attempt,” he allowed. “But I studied the records of your attack on the arctic mine. You used a parallax code to enter the facility there - which you shouldn’t have had access to as a Captain. Clever. But it led me to wonder what other security files you may have unearthed before you turned your back on us. You were detected as soon as you overrode the maintenance sensors on the outer perimeter.”
“I never belonged to the Horde,” Tara said firmly.
“You were the finest officer I ever trained,” Sunder said, frowning. “A credit to your rank. I never thought to hear you, of all people, had betrayed us. You were
loyal.”
“I was used!” Tara insisted. “Shadow Weaver was controlling me - I was ‘loyal’ only because I had no more choice than the poor souls the factories mutilate and turn into troopers.”
“Impossible!” Sunder snapped.
“I swear it!” Tara shot back. The General glared at her for a long moment, then turned away, staring out at the commanding view from
Dreadnought’s flag bridge.
“I’ve never known you to be false to your word,” he muttered.
“You never knew
my word,” Tara replied. “Only Hordak’s and Shadow Weaver’s, out of my mouth like I was a puppet.”
“You know I don’t care for their sorcery,” Sunder insisted. “But these insurgents you’ve thrown your lot in with, the ‘Great Rebellion’, they’re no better. Witches and agitators-”
“They freed me!” Tara raised her voice. “After I’d led armies against them, helped enslave their people, they should have had every reason to hate me. Instead they treated me kindly, and when they found out what the Horde had done to me, they sheltered me - they forgave me long before I could forgive myself-”
“We do what needs to be done,” Sunder said flatly. “It’s not ours to beg forgiveness, from peasants who think only of their little kingdoms and squabbles - without the Horde, what would Etheria be? Petty royals bickering over borders and taxes, as if this one little world’s troubles compare to the powers that rule the stars. Etheria is strong under the Horde. The Horde
is Etheria.”
“Maybe we’d argue,” Tara allowed. “Better that than to be slaves. The Horde isn’t peace, or order, or even strength - it’s slavery at the point of a blaster, nothing more. You know that.” She shook her head. “Even when I was enchanted, I knew you didn’t believe in
everything the Horde does. The brutality, the cruelty. My mind was twisted then - I thought it was commendable you didn’t give in to your doubts.”
“And now?” Sunder asked.
“Now I wonder why you give in to the Horde,” Tara said. “You’re not a monster, and you’re not under any spell. You’ve got more in common with the Rebellion than you do with Hordak.”
“Never. I am
loyal.”
“To what? Conquest for its own sake? Enslaving people? Exterminating?”
“To the
Horde!” Sunder growled. “I swore an
oath. If serving alongside beasts and murderers is what I’m commanded to do-”
“You can’t believe that-”
“I gave
this,” Sunder interrupted her, holding up his metal arm. “When you betrayed the Horde, an officer of my command, I faced the consequences.”
“I’m sorry,” Tara said quietly in the silence that followed.
“You don’t understand,” the General shook his head, his voice calm. “I went willingly - when the order came.” He met her gaze without flinching. “I am a
Hordesman.”
“Hordak doesn’t deserve that kind of loyalty,” Tara protested.
“Perhaps not,” Sunder agreed. “But I don’t get to decide that. Nor do you.”
“What the Horde does is wrong,” Tara replied. “It’s
evil. We have to oppose that.”
“Just words,” Sunder said.
“So is an oath,” Tara pointed out. “They have meaning because we decide they do.”
Sunder opened his mouth to reply, but before he could there was a roar of noise from outside, and he staggered as the deck rocked.
“Report!” he barked into his console, gripping it to remain standing.
“Harbour power plant under attack,” an automated voice replied tonelessly. “Tidal disturbance affecting vessel stability.”
“Tidal- the ocean people,” Sunder growled. “Activate main battery, set fuses for subsurface detonation. Is this-” He turned back to Tara, and frowned to see her eyes closed, concentrating fiercely, with her hand outstretched.
“What are you doing...” he said uncertainly, turning to where her hand was reaching - her sword, suspended in the holding field, but trembling, the gemstone in the blade pulsing with light.
“Stop!” he barked, lunging for the sword, but before he could reach it the holding field ruptured with a crack and a flare of energy, striking the field around Tara and breaking it as well. The sword leapt into her hand, and in a blaze of light she was She-Ra.
“You!” Sunder gasped. “It’s you!”
“I’m sorry it has to be this way, General,” she said, lifting him with one hand and pinning him to the wall, while her other worked the command console. On the battleship’s forward deck stretching out ahead of them the massive turrets ceased their slow turn towards the ocean, and swivelled back towards the harbour base.
“What are you doing?!” the General shouted, as She-Ra touched a final control, watching the turrets belch fire, their shells blasting apart the port’s defensive guns.
“The merfolk are taking back what was stolen from them,” she said curtly. “I won’t allow you to hurt them. I won’t allow you to
conquer them.” She turned back to the General as the guns fired again, this time at the smaller warships riding at anchor alongside
Dreadnought.
“Come with me, General,” she said.
“As your prisoner?” Sunder asked. She-Ra shook her head, as the great ship’s guns lowered again, this time aimed at its own deck.
“It doesn’t have to be that way,” she insisted. “You’re a man of honour. The Horde hasn’t taken that from you, not yet.” She held him securely as the ship shook with explosions, sirens blaring, and the deck began to tilt forward.
“Take me in chains if you wish,” Sunder sneered. “I’ll not abandon my post.”
“This ship is dying!” She-Ra pleaded, releasing him.
“So be it,” he nodded, gripping the console to keep upright. “This is my choice. Make yours.”
She-Ra stared at him, and finally dropped her gaze and nodded.
“Alright,” she said quietly. She let out a sigh, then dug her fingers into the metal of the bulkhead, ripping off part of it, and bent the thick panel around the General, pinning his arms and legs.
“Come on then,” she muttered to herself, picking up the warped metal, and her awestruck prisoner, with one hand
With one leap She-Ra cleared the gap between the sinking battleship and the dock, fracturing the concrete where she landed as the hull erupted in flames behind her. Debris bounced off her back as she carried the General in his metal prison over to the shelter of a bunker and set him down on his side, glancing around to be sure there was no immediate danger to him. She looked up as a beam of light erupted from the clouds of smoke billowing from the base’s stricken power plant, gave a last backwards glance, and ran towards it.
“Glimmer?” she called, whirling around to create a brief mini-tornado, which cleared the smoke away around her.
“Hi!” Buffy shouted, appearing from the smoke. “Could use a hand!”
“Rebel thieves!” a voice roared from behind her, as she skidded to a halt beside She-Ra. Her pursuer emerged and checked her advance at the sight of them - a tall, green-skinned woman, balancing on a lower body of tentacles, brandishing cryo-blades in each of the four longer tendrils that grew from her back. She reared back and brought all four blades together, and She-Ra leapt between her and Buffy to block the frost beam they unleashed.
“Octavia, I take it?” She-Ra said.
“Yeah I think I may have made her angry blowing up the power plant,” Buffy said, staying by her side. Octavia shrieked and swung her swords, which She-Ra darted forward to block with her own, the waves of ice energy within them flaring off the glow of her magic.
“The Pearl?” she asked, as Buffy lunged forward and fired a pair of light blasts, which Octavia blocked with her tentacles, grunting with the effort.
“Mermista’s people have it,” she explained as they drew back. “How was the distraction?”
“Perfect timing,” She-Ra replied.
“I’ll drown you all!” Octavia yelled, attacking again. She-Ra leapt in front of her, blocking two of her swords, catching a third in her palm, gritting her teeth with the effort of forcing back the wave of energy trying to freeze her hand.
“Get away from her!” Buffy shouted, lunging in to grab at the woman’s tentacles, releasing bursts of light directly into them through her hands. Octavia screamed in pain and rage, pulled back her blades from She-Ra, and swung all four at Buffy. She-Ra darted in between them, smashing away two swords with her charge, a third clanging against her own sword, but missing the fourth as Octavia’s tentacle snaked away from the kick she launched at it - only to be jerked back as a golden trident flew into the melee, catching the cryo-blade between its points and pinning it to the ground.
“The ocean protects her allies!” Mermista proclaimed, rising from the water, the glittering scales of her tail remaining as her legs formed, covering her body like armour, beneath a polished jade breastplate.
“Royal brat!” Octavia spat, “I’ll-” She was cut off as a mass of vines burst through the ground, picking her up and carrying her into the air, wrenching the remaining swords from the grasp of her tentacles.
“I don’t like when people insult my friends!” Willow frowned, climbing out of the water, with slightly less grace than the merwoman, at Mermista’s side. Seeing Octavia capably held, She-Ra sheathed her sword, and quickly came to Willow’s side.
“Hi sweetie,” she said, as Willow hugged her.
“Hi gorgeous,” she replied, planting a kiss on her lips before fixing her with a stare. “You got yourself captured on
purpose?”
“I had a plan,” She-Ra replied, looking repentant.
“You’re lucky I’m the understanding type,” Willow smiled, shaking her head. She noticed She-Ra casting a sombre glance at the sinking wreck of
Dreadnought, followed it, and moved closer to her.
“Are you okay?” she asked quietly. She-Ra nodded.
“We’ve got someone to pick up,” she said, shifting her gaze back to the bunker where she had left Sunder. Willow raised an eyebrow in surprise, then followed, absently waving a hand at the mass of greenery that held Octavia, lowering her into the grip of the waiting merfolk soldiers following Mermista.
Having returned to the Mystic Isle the next day with the sun at its peak, it was again nighttime when the four emerged from the waters of the Crystal Falls, half a world away. The grove around the lake seemed deserted, but while they were drying off and Buffy was retrieving the bags Xander had left for them, a blur amid the foliage resolved into a twigget, who gave the group a shy wave before vanishing again.
“Your friends will arrive soon?” Mermista asked.
“The twiggets can talk to one another across the forest,” Willow nodded. “They’ll know at the camp that we’re back.”
“I must return,” the merwoman said, with slight regret. “As heir it is my duty to preside at Octavia’s trial, and oversee the arrangements for the General to be brought here. But I am never far away. As you have allowed my magic to dwell within the waters of your forest, so you may call me through them, and I shall answer.”
“You’re always welcome,” Buffy assured her.
“As are you in Salineas,” Mermista smiled. “The merfolk shall not forget what the people of the surface have done for them. But beyond the gratitude of a people,” she added, rising from the water to stand before the three rebels, “for your kindness, friendship, and courage, I am pledged to the Great Rebellion, from this moment until eternity. If you would do me this honour?”
“The honour is ours,” She-Ra said. Willow squeezed her hand, and, at She-Ra’s glance, gave her a tiny nod. She-Ra nodded back, took a breath, and before Mermista’s amazed eyes transformed in a glow of warmth.
“...Tara?” the merwoman asked.
“Yes,” she nodded. Mermista laughed softly, and reached forward to hug her.
“But of course,” she smiled. “Who but one so lovely could capture the sorceress’s heart?” She drew back and looked to Willow, who opened her arms to her.
“And Princess Glimmer,” Mermista said, offering one more hug, which Buffy accepted readily. “True companions all. I am proud to stand beside you. Or swim, as the case may be?” She stepped back, returning to the water. “Until we meet again, you all shall remain in my heart.”
“I’m sorry, if I worried you,” Tara admitted, as she and Willow lay once again on the roof of their house, gazing at the stars.
“I’d say try not to make a habit of it,” the sorceress replied, “but us being in the rebellion business... I did kind of the same thing in Erelandia, after all.”
“Thanks,” Tara smiled, lifting Willow’s hand to her lips. “I wish it had... achieved more, though.”
“Buffy got the Pearl right out from under their noses,” Willow pointed out. “General Sunder... Maybe, in time, he’ll come around.”
“He gave the Horde everything,” Tara said sadly. “That’s how he always was - once he committed, to a decision, to a battle plan, anything, he followed it through to the end no matter what. I admired that about him.” She shook her head. “He was wrong to follow the Horde - the Horde
is evil - but he lived by the code of honour he’d chosen for himself. Doing his duty, no matter what it demanded of him. I took that choice away from him.”
“This isn’t you versus him,” Willow replied softly. “The Horde took away his choice, a long time ago. Just like they did yours. It wasn’t sorcery, but being raised the way he was - indoctrinated - they made him only think in ways that served them. I don’t think that’s ‘choice’. And if there’s any chance that, maybe, the man trapped in him might one day be free, like you are, it’s because you had the courage to try to save him from the person the Horde made him into. No matter how difficult it was. Will be, too.”
“Like you saved me,” Tara noted.
“I wouldn’t say that was a
difficult choice,” Willow said, with a faint grin.
“You had to face the... the Horde me, the me under Shadow Weaver’s control,” Tara said. “I’ll never forget. You believed in me, even when I was standing right in front of you and trying to shatter everything we shared that first night.” Willow raised a hand to stroke Tara’s cheek.
“I’m glad I did,” she said quietly. “Not just because it worked - I’m glad I found out how
much I believe in you. I still do. If I ever couldn’t choose for myself, I absolutely trust you to make the right choice for me. And I think you did for the General. I don’t know if he’ll come around - I hope he will, I
think he will, in time. Even as a prisoner he’ll see Brightmoon - be treated well, honourably, and he’ll see with his own eyes, not just what the Horde claims about its enemies.” She swallowed, and went on: “But I know we don’t
know that.”
“We can’t just choose because we know how things will pan out,” Tara agreed.
“Right,” Willow nodded. “We just have to do what we believe is best, and the consequences... we live with them, own them.” She gazed into Tara’s eyes, which seemed to glow in the faint illumination of the stars.
“You’re a
good person,” she insisted quietly. “I’ll always trust your heart. Your honour.”
Tara smiled at last, and shifted closer to rest her forehead against Willow’s.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “You know I trust you too?” Willow nodded, and a grin tugged the edge of Tara’s lips. “Why else would I let you go hugging half-naked merwomen with a crush on you?”
“
She hugs!” Willow protested with a laugh. “I don’t
initiate, I just let her- it’s only polite.”
“I know,” Tara said, without hesitation, and shared Willow’s laugh. “Honestly I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more, you
are gorgeous beyond belief.”
“Aw, well,” Willow giggled, blushing, “whatever, but I only need one person to complete me.” She leant forward the fraction needed to give Tara a slow kiss.
“Besides,” she purred, “I can get
you as naked as I want, whenever I want.”
“Oh?” Tara murmured.
“Nobody can see us up here...”
“Vixen...”
"Hi there! It's me, Dawnie. Did you find where I was hiding today? I’ll give you a clue, Glimmer’s not the only one who can cloak herself! Take another look:
"In today’s adventure, Mermista really liked Willow, and wanted to kiss her, and probably other things that Willow only does with Tara. But that didn’t bother Tara when she found out, because she trusted Willow to do the right thing. So not only were Willow and Tara happy, they both ended up with a great new friend. See you all next time, bye now!”