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Glimmer and Bow were used to seeing Adora in various states of lament. Their friend had grown up in the Horde and was forced to leave everything she'd ever known when she became She-Ra and discovered the Horde's evil. Yet ever since the Battle of Brightmoon, Glimmer and Bow had been noticeably seeing Adora more visibly depressed.

She was becoming more distracted during meetings and sometimes, she seemed to lose focus even during missions. She had once gotten so distracted, she’d nearly cut Glimmer in half instead of the Horde bot she was fighting. Bow and Glimmer hadn’t known Adora that long… but they could tell this wasn’t like the blonde at all. 

Even Queen Angella had noticed that something was up with Adora. Everyone would have figured that the rebellion's victory against the Horde would have lifted Adora's spirits... but no, something was clearly bothering her, something that was occupying every thought she had. 

"Are we sure we should ask Adora about this?" Bow wondered, slightly concerned, as they made their way to Adora's room, both he and Glimmer having decided to hold an intervention for Adora.. "Like, if she has a problem, she usually does tell us eventually.” 

"Yes, but something's different this time, Bow," Glimmer said to him. "And as Adora's best friends, it's our job to help her.” 

"And it's totally not because your mom asked us to." 

Glimmer rolled her eyes. She knew her mom cared deeply about both her and Adora, but the fact that she'd specifically asked Glimmer to check in on Adora had rubbed the pink-haired princess the wrong way. Like, of course Glimmer was going to ask Adora about all this… she didn’t need her mom to remind her about it. It’s not like she forgot these sorts of things… most of the time. 

As Glimmer and Bow arrived at Adora's room, Glimmer stepped up and knocked on the door... and to her surprise, there was no answer.  "Adora?" She asked, but again no reply. 

"That's weird," Bow admitted. 

Just then, the two of them were interrupted by Swift Wind, the horse poking his head between them. "Whatcha doing?!" 

Bow and Glimmer both gasped in shock. "What the?!" Bow exclaimed. 

"Swift Wind, don't sneak up on us like that!" Glimmer argued. 

"Sorry!" The horse replied. "But uh... I was kinda wondering why you were standing outside Adora's room. You know she's not in there, right?" 

"She's not?" Glimmer asked. "Well, where is she?" 

"Glimmer, Bow, Hi!" A voice called to them from down the hall, as Glimmer and Bow saw Adora heading towards them. 

"Oh she's there!" Swift Wind chirped. "Hey, Adora, how was your training coming along!" 

"It uh... It went okay," Adora replied, trying to deflect the subject, before opening her door. 

Glimmer then put her hand on Adora's shoulder. "Adora... are you okay?" 

"Oh yeah, why wouldn't I be?" the blonde replied innocently. 

Bow shot Adora a concerned look. "Adora, you've been acting really depressed lately. We've all seen it. Even Glimmer's mom." 

"Wait, Adora's sad?" Swift Wind wondered. "Adora, why didn't you tell me?! I'm your steed! It's my job to support you! Here, do you wanna go for a flight around the castle? I can do loop-de-loops! You love loop-de-loops!" 

"I'm fine okay!" Adora shot back. "Please, don’t worry about you.” 

"Too late for that, we’re already worried about you," Glimmer insisted.  

“Glimmer, let’s not be hard on Adora,” Bow said, walking up to Adora. “We’re just… concerned about you, Adora. You’ve been seeming depressed ever since the battle of Brightmoon. You can tell us what’s wrong, you don’t need to keep it to yourself. Just… tell us, please.” 

Adora sighed, knowing she couldn't keep her friends in the dark about this forever... especially if her depressive state was this obvious. And Bow was doing his puppy eyes and both she and Glimmer could agree that there was no resisting them. 

"Alright, follow me inside," she said, walking into her room and sitting on the bed, taking a deep breath and parsing through her thoughts. She hoped her friends wouldn’t judge her for this, how she couldn’t stop thinking about her and how she missed her more than anything else. 

Bow and Glimmer each plopped down on a bean bag each with Swift Wind sitting himself between them. 

“Okay, so where to begin,” Adora stated, thinking for a moment.

“Well, you could start by telling us what’s been distracting you so much,” Glimmer stated.

“Oh… yeah… that,” Adora admitted, feeling a little embarrassed. “Guess I have had a lot on my mind lately. But… I didn't think it would get to me this badly. I thought I could push it aside and just focus on being She-Ra." 

"What exactly has been bothering you?" Glimmer asked. 

"It's... It’s…” Adora pushed herself and finally said it. “It's Catra. I haven't been able to stop thinking about her since we retook Brightmoon." 

"Ah," Glimmer realised. While she herself had only ever known Catra as an enemy, Adora had regularly told both her and Bow how Catra had been the blonde's best friend. But she had figured Adora had been able to deal with it by now. After all, it was clear to everyone that she'd accepted that Catra was her enemy now. "It must have been really hard seeing her just embrace being in the Horde like that." 

"Yeah... and the worst thing is that Catra would be the first to admit how much life in the Fright Zone sucked. And she gave me back my sword when I rescued you. I thought... maybe there was some chance she'd finally have changed sides." 

"And it's really messed you up, huh,” Bow realised. “That’s so sad…” 

“And no wonder you kept getting hyperfocused on Catra while we were planning our attack the other day,” Glimmer admitted. “She’s been on your mind non-stop hasn’t she?” 

Adora nodded. "To be brutally honest back in the Horde... Catra was honestly my main reason for living some days. Whenever things would be hard whenI was a kid, she was always there for me. We promised to always look out for each other. We did everything together. And when we were together it felt like she made these warm, fuzzy, spidery feelings rise up inside me and that always made me so good and I'd do anything to feel like that again!" 

Glimmer blinked. "Wait, go back. Warm, fuzzy spidery feelings?" 

"Yeah, you know, like a little spider crawling all over you but in like a good way," Adora explained. "Is... is that just a me thing?” Her eyes widened and she suddenly felt very awkward. “Oh please tell me that’s not just a me thing, I don’t want this to get really weird.” 

"Oh! I know that feeling!" Swift Wind chimed in. "I get that way whenever I think about apples!" 

"Oh, you mean butterflies!" Bow realised. "Does... uh... does anyone else make you feel the way Catra does?" 

"No, it's just her ! She made me so happy!" Adora replied. "But even though I keep thinking about how happy she made me... it makes me feel so sad thinking about what she's done to us so far... I'm probably sounding crazy don't I? Like, I should just forget about her completely and focus on being She-Ra." 

"No, no, you shouldn't do that," Glimmer argued. "Ignoring your feelings about Catra is only going to make them worse... and by extension, make *you* worse." It was then that Glimmer had a brainwave. Of course! How could she be so obvious?! "Wait, Adora do you... do you like Catra?" 

"Huh? Of course I liked her!" 

"No, do you.... like her." 

"Um... yes?" Adora asked, slightly more confused. 

Glimmer groaned. "Okay, okay, clearly the wrong way to ask that... Adora, are you in love with Catra?"  

The blonde blinked, thinking for a moment... before giving the pink-haired princess another befuddled look. "What... is … in love ?" 

Bow covered his mouth. "Do… Do you really not know what being in love is, Adora? Oh Stars, as if your life couldn't get any sadder !" 

"I mean, it makes sense, Bow," Glimmer stated. "Do you think the Horde would let any of their soldiers have feelings for each other? You know they’d probably see being in love or really any attachment as some kind of distraction from being, you know, soldiers for an evil empire.” 

“Yeah that does make sense but… I would have thought Adora would have at least figured it out considering how long she’s been with us.”

“Bow, she didn’t even know what an aunt was until we met Aunt Casta.” 

“Also a good point.”

“Look, can you please explain this ‘in love’ thing to me before I get any more confused?” Adora interrupted. 

Glimmer looked at Adora. "Okay, so being in love basically means you really care about someone, more than just as a friend, like they are the most important person in your life and you would do anything for them before doing anything for yourself and you're both practically inseparable. You care about them and want to spend every moment with them.” 

“Oh, do you think Catra is pretty, Adora?” Bow then asked. “Because physical attraction is always a good sign that someone is in love… okay, now I’m sounding like Entrapta.” 

“Yes! She looked so… beautiful all the time. Those eyes that glowed in the dark and always made me feel reassured looking into them. That long mane of wild hair that I ran my fingers through. That soft fur that I always loved touching. And that suit… that suit she wore at Princess Prom. I… That made me feel so many things!”

“Of course you found her in that suit hot,” Glimmer giggled, rolling her eyes. “You clearly have a type, Adora.” 

“And it sounds like you are madly in love with Catra,” Bow added. 

"That... That does sound like how I've been feeling about Catra," Adora admitted. "No wonder the Horde never told me what being in love was... if I'd realised sooner, I'd have told Catra how I felt about her and maybe she wouldn't have stayed." 

"You couldn't have known, Adora," Glimmer reassured her. "To be honest... I think Catra probably feels the same way about you. It's probably why I doubt she's actually tried to kill you before now. I've seen it when you've fought her... she's clearly holding something back. Deep down, she doesn't want to hurt you." 

"What... What are people in love like?" Adora wondered. 

"Well, you know Netossa and Spinnerella? They're in love!" 

"They are? I thought they were like really good friends!" Adora remarked. "Then again, I did see them doing... something with their mouths. I get the feeling that's not like a Princess custom thing." 

Glimmer giggled. "No, that's called kissing, Adora. You do that to show the person you love them!" 

"Ohhhh okay!" Adora accepted. “Do you… think I could kiss Catra?”

“If she lets you without clawing your face off first,” Glimmer replied.

“Or chucking you off a cliff, then yeah go for it!” Bow added. 

Glimmer raised an eyebrow. “Still not letting that go, huh, Bow.” 

“Look, I tried to be friends with her… and she pushed me off a cliff!” 

Adora blinked "Wait, hang on, you said people who are in love would do anything for each other and do everything together... does that mean you and Bow are in love too?" 

It was at that point that both Glimmer and Bow's faces turned bright red with blush. "W-What?!" They both exclaimed. 

"No, no, no, no, it's not like that at all, Adora!" Glimmer tried to excuse herself. "See, Bow and I have just known each other for like forever, but we're just friends!" 

"Yeah, just friends! Nothing more than that!" Bow added, but neither of the two of them was very convincing. 

"I dunno, I say you both fit the criteria of being in love!" Swift Wind pointed out. 

"NO ONE ASKED YOU SWIFT WIND!" Glimmer growled, blushing furiously. 

"Oh, okay, well, um... that's confusing," Adora admitted, rubbing the back of her head. “Because I kinda agree with Swifty that it sounds like you two love each other a lot.” 

Glimmer sighed. "No, it's fine, Adora I promise." She took her friend’s hands. "My point still stands... if you do feel that strongly about Catra, that's more than okay. Just because the Horde never told you what love was doesn't mean you can't rediscover it now. Would you... like to be in love with Catra?" 

Adora nodded. "Yeah... I would like that a lot." 

"Then don't let anything stop you from that," Glimmer said proudly. 

"Even if Catra stays with the Horde?" 

"Well, if she does stay with the Horde... that doesn't invalidate your feelings," Glimmer replied. "And if Catra isn't the one well... at least you're capable of loving someone else. That’s the beautiful thing about love. You don’t always have to settle. I can safely say from… personal experience that there’d be a lot of girls who’d want to love you back.” 

“Really?” Adora’s eyes sparkled. “I…. thank you, Glimmer," Adora said, before hugging her friend. 

"Anytime," Glimmer replied, hugging Adora back. 

"Wanna go raid the kitchens?" Bow offered. "That training you were doing just now probably worked up your appetite." 

"Yes, that'd be great!" Adora cheered, as Glimmer grabbed her wrist and Bow's as well, teleporting the three of them plus Swift Wind to the kitchens.