Calypsa and Adora have a late-night chat.

~

Calypsa sighed softly as she rebraided her hair for the fourth time. Glimmer had successfully disabled the killer bots with Entrapta a few hours ago, only briefly returning to state so. It would appear that not many people knew she was Queen. Fair... she mused. She'd never made it a task to rule publicly. After the death of her parents when she was four, Calypsa had been forced into an early throne before she was even properly toilet trained. The aides and castle staff helped her, of course, but everyone had a role... and hers was to be Queen.

Calypsa pulled on her cardigan and slippers. Often when she couldn't sleep, she'd meander about the castle for a while, falling into her thoughts. More often than not, she hit the day running with less than six hours of sleep. Since the Horde had ramped up their attacks, she'd be lucky to get four hours, let alone six. She began to move about the ever-winding hallways, thinking to herself.

Why had She-Ra suddenly shown up now?
Why did Adora wear the colours of the Horde?
Why was an ex-Horde soldier She-Ra?

She exhaled and rubbed her eyes, stopping the freight train of thought from crashing into her brain. There was a sudden scuffling from just ahead. Calypsa sighed. "Entrapta, go to sleep. You cannot keep functioning on five hours," she said, walking towards the sound. "Your robots go all haywire when you do," She rounded the corner, stopping abruptly. "Oh," She said. "You're not Entrapta,"

Adora weakly smiled. "Sorry, Your Majesty... did I wake you?" Calypsa waved her hand. "No. I haven't been able to get a full night's sleep in many years," She paused briefly, looking upon the girl. "If not nightmares, then my dear sister's robots," She added with a small smile.

Adora chuckled softly. Calypsa didn't speak again, opting to stay in silence. Adora cleared her throat. "Um... so, uh... whatcha doin' up this late?" She finally said. Calypsa raised an eyebrow. Adora deflated. "I think the better person to ask that is yourself," She turned, facing Adora fully. "I uh... I was looking for my jacket," She finally said, a small flush creeping up her neck. Calypsa huffed, amused. "You would never find that room again. Not unless myself or Entrapta were with you," She began to walk. "Come. I will take you,"

Adora scampered behind.

~

The two walked in silence for most of the journey, walking throughout the same hallways, to Adora's mind. To Calypsa, they were going in the right direction. "Uh... I think we've been down here," Adora said by her side. Calypsa continued walking. "No, we haven't. Trust me," She paused briefly, choosing the left path. "My sister engineered this place in such a way that only we can navigate it," Calypsa pressed the palm of her hand to a picture of a dog.

"Why the dog?" Thirteen-year-old Calypsa asked. "Uh, because it's secretive," Twelve-year-old Entrapta argued. Calypsa frowned. "Ok, and it's really cute,"

"In here," She pulled the blonde in harshly, checking nobody was behind. She caught Adora's hand touching the hilt of her recently cured sword. "Relax, Adora. If I had wanted to kill you, I would have left you at the mercy of my sister's robots," She continued walking. Adora sighed. "Earlier you said that this place is made so only you can get around.... can I ask why?" Calypsa sighed softly. "It's a long story," She said, hoping Adora would either say: Give me the short version. Or oh... ok. Nevermind then.

Instead, she said: "I've got time,"

The sentiment was nice, but telling the story always tugged Calypsa's heartstrings. She missed her parents deeply and hated them a lot. "As I'm sure, you're aware, Dryl is the closest non-Horde kingdom to the Horde, which usually means we're first to be attacked," She began. "My parents... they were brilliant scientists and inventors... too brilliant," Calypsa turned left down another corridor, checking Adora was still behind. "They wanted to experiment with our runestone," Adora gasped. "I didn't think Dryl had a runestone?" Calypsa shook her head. "We don't anymore. We used to, back when I was a baby," She said. "They wanted to try and fine-tune the power to boost the other runestones, like the moonstone in Bright Moon, and the plant one in Plumeria," She finally opened a door.

"Queen Angella authorised it," She shut the door behind Adora, pressing a series of numbers into her keypad. "Your jacket is on the lounge chair," She pointed, taking her cardigan off. "The experiment worked too well. The runestone became too overpowered, too strong to stop. My mother was pregnant with Entrapta at the time, so I was only a year old when it exploded."

She idly touched a picture frame on her desk. "Nobody died, thank goodness. But our runestone was destroyed, taking the fire runestone with it," She placed the picture frame back, sitting down. "The Horde chose that moment to begin attacking again... my parents managed to fight them off for a while. I was sent to Bright Moon with Entrapta when we were four and three," She sighed softly. "And we came back orphans,"

Calypsa took a moment to regulate her emotions. A Queen shouldn't break down in emotions, ever. Adora placed a hand on her shoulder. "We think that's why Entrapta's so good with tech... and her prehensile hair. Because the rune stone exploded before she was born, some of the power went into her," She watched as Adora fingered her jacket with a frown before she slid it over her bare arms. "But why the labyrinth? That's what doesn't make any sense," Calypsa shook her head slightly. "The only reason my parents died was because of a traitor... a spy. One that was close to them, and knew how to navigate the castle without raising suspicion... so I had Entrapta make the castle unable to be navigateted, unless it was one of us..." She paused briefly. "Not even the castle staff know,"

Adora frowned. "That's horrible... I'm sorry," She whispered. Calypsa shook her head. "Do not apologise for actions that were not your own. You were but a baby when this transpired," She reasured. "No, but I fought for the Horde. I helped plan missions to take down kingdoms!" Adora exclaimed, pulling at her hair. Calypsa sighed. "But you left. You realised they were wrong, and you left," She took a few quiet steps forward, placing her hand on Adora's shoulder. "That takes a lot of courage to do that... to leave something you know so well,"

The small smile Adora gave made the lack of sleep worth it.