Summary: “Adora, we live in a complicated world where our decisions, our mistakes, have real consequences. But this” – Casta reached out and touched the tangled mess in Adora’s hands – “this is just yarn. No one’s life hangs in the balance when you drop a stitch or mess up your gauge. You can choose to keep going or rip it out and start again. It’s up to you, and you alone. And there are no wrong answers.”
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Chapter 1: Rescue from Relaxation
The next time they visit Mystacor, it’s also in another quest to help Adora learn the Art of Relaxing. One week after the battle of Bright Moon, the damage has mostly been repaired and now her only orders are to take some time and heal. Unfortunately this was easier for Queen Angella to command than for Adora to obey. Even without Shadow Weaver’s “help”, Adora found herself to be just as bad at doing nothing as she was on her last visit.
While she could appreciate the joys of getting a full nine hours of sleep, lazing about just seemed… wrong? Wasteful?
If it was just a matter of not showing weakness, she would find a place to hide for a few days until the wounds on her back finally healed. She had actually attempted to pursue that plan, but Bow and Glimmer had convinced Swift Wing, the traitor, to help track her down. That was when the Queen had ordered them to Mystacor for physical…and mental? health.
It was…not going well.
She was in the middle of trying to find the words to explain to Glimmer and Bow that the aroma therapy smells of their latest Relaxation Attempt we’re making her dizzy when Gimmer’s Aunt rescued her.
The woman appeared in a swirl of her cape with bright smiles and cheer. “Oh Glimmer, dearest, I need to borrow your friend for a moment. You don’t mind do you?” She asked, taking one of Adora’s hands and pulling her to her feet.
“Auntie, what are you *doing*? We’re trying to help Adora relax!” Glimmer whined, trying, and failing to grab Adora’s arm.
Seeing an opportunity, Adora waved her free hand and smiled sheepishly. “No, no! It’s ok. This wasn’t working super well for me. You guys should enjoy it and we can … uh, try something else later”
Glimmer frowned, brow furrowed, but Bow shook his head meaningfully at her. “Don’t work Adora too hard Aunt Casta,” he said lightly. “Why don’t we meet up for dinner?”
Adora smiled gratefully at Bow. He was a good friend. “That’s a good plan,” she said. And Castaspella agreed.
i’ve talked a lot about catra being the scapegoat, but now i want to talk about adora being the golden child. it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, that’s for sure.
when adora was a child, shadow weaver told her that she was responsible for catra’s behavior, and by extension, her punishments. no, adora wouldn’t be punished for it, but catra would, and that was probably worse. this likely instilled the idea that, if catra got hurt because she “misbehaved” (read: did normal kid things), then it was actually adora’s fault–not catra’s (which it isn’t) nor shadow weaver’s (which it is). if catra suffered, then it was because adora wasn’t trying hard enough–to distract shadow weaver with her own accomplishments or convince catra to stay in line or whatever.
catra completely misinterpreted this, assuming that adora enjoyed this favoritism. is this the reaction of someone who enjoys being the golden child, or is this the reaction of someone who’s terrified?
a lot of people have assumed that adora’s behavior is arrogant, but i think it’s actually just…what she’s been told and taught–
–that she’s important, but not necessarily useful unless she’s doing everything the “right” way. sometimes, being important isn’t actually very comforting; it just gives you more power to make mistakes and let people down.
shadow weaver gave adora the illusion of control over more than her own behavior, and when that illusion crumbled, adora was left with…herself, and a sword. it’s no wonder that she clung to the sword as a source of validation and importance, a way for her to actually help people.
this also explains why she feels such strong guilt for anything bad that happens around her, which light hope recognizes and exploits. all adora wants to do is protect her friends (and, y’know, etheria–no pressure though), but what if she only hurts them? she’s convinced that she does have the power to save everyone, that she is important enough to do everything, and yet, she fails, again and again. even when she has the physical power to throw things around, she can’t heal plumeria’s tree or glimmer’s abilities, because she’s just not good enough.
being the golden child, being told that you’re special and amazing and perfect…a lot of people buckle under that pressure and end up paralyzed by fear that they can’t truly accomplish anything.
luckily, adora has found friends who truly do not blame her for not being able to save everyone, and she finds the strength to get up again and try.
It’s been actual years since I’ve had the energy or inspiration for writing. Grad school is kind of all consuming in terms of creative juices.
But, uh, as tumblr is burning down around us, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is the best thing I’ve seen in ages. So, yeah. Stay tuned, friends. I’m going to ride this wave as long as it lasts.
P.S. My writing will always and forever be on ao3 under blackash26
blackash26 