Thanks to her broken wrist, Adora is unable to brush her hair properly. Angella offers a helping hand.

​​​​​​​~~~

Angella was indebted, to be honest... to numerous people. The list only seemed evergrowing; despite her best attempts at wading through it. It stemmed as far back as her beloved mother, relinquishing the throne to sixteen-year-old Angella; knowing she could provide for Brightmoon what she could not. Followed by her sister; sacrificing her life against the Horde to keep her niece, Glimmer, safe. Then Micah. Sweet, sweet Micah. The man who brought life back into Angella's life after the passing of her parents.

Then the beautiful light of her one and only daughter, Glimmer. The spitting image of her father; but her hair and attitude? All Angella.

As she grew, she made friends with an odd child; Bow. An archer and creator in the making. They saved Angella in a multitude of ways, ways they wouldn't understand until they became parents themselves. Each added member of the alliance brought a new debt that she owed.

She owed Spinerella for her energy to protect the moonstone.
She owed Netossa for her several broken bones to protect her.

Then it fell apart, but the two wives refused to abandon her. Angella owed them for their unwavering loyalty as well.

Then Glimmer found a defective Horde soldier in the woods and rebuilt the alliance Angella herself had built a little under twenty years ago. Out of all the editions to the alliance, Princesses and civilians included, Angella owed nobody but Adora the most.

That girl had been her saving grace; her daughter's saving grace. Adora brought smiles to Glimmer's face long since passed. Adora rallied the other Princesses by helping them; something Angella was too cowardly to do. She healed Plumeria, at the cost of her own energy, to bring Perfuma to the alliance. She healed the Salineas sea gate, all the while fighting her former best friend and at the cost of her own health, to secure Mermista. Her kindness and confidence managed to secure Frosta as well.

So it was safe to say, Angella owed a lot to the former Horde soldier. A lot.

She tried to repay her debts in small, unnoticeable amounts. It was clear that Adora didn't like being praised. Angella understood. They didn't fight for glory or fame; they fought for those that couldn't. Those who lost their own war in the bigger war.

Angella was too cowardly to go out and fight. Her reasoning was that Brightmoon needed their Queen to stay and rule. It was a lie. Angella was immortal; she couldn't simply die. Killing an immortal was almost as hard as killing a First One; there was a specific way to do it. Unfortunately, as Angella had come to know, the rule was quite common knowledge. After a particularly long time away, her daughter appeared in a poof of frantic energy. Only two words registered to Angella's brain.

"Adora's hurt!"

She was flying to the infirmary, her daughter in her arms, knowing it was quicker than teleporting two people. The infirmary was a rush of frightened energy. It took Angella approximately three minutes to piece together what'd happened. Much like the "murder virus" disk that had taken control of Adora twice before (rendering the poor girl in a state of sickness so severe, she'd actually curled into Angella's side on one occasion, delirious with fever), there was another. One called the Purity Stone, apparently. And the Horde had found it... or rather, half of it. The other half had long been destroyed.

The details were fuzzy, mostly thanks to two different accounts of what happened. The general gist was that the Horde had touched the Sword of Protection; sending the virus through to She-Ra.

She-Ra disappeared in a bright flickering light, glitching much like Glimmer had only a few months ago. The Sword turned green, Adora's skin grew sickly green, and she collapsed to the ground in a seizure, foaming and bleeding from her eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and whatever could leak did. Apparently, though Angella was inclined to believe the archer, the one person who'd helped them bring Adora to safety was none other than the second in command, former best friend, Catra.

During her seizure, during which the Horde continued to invade a civilian town, she'd tensed up and somehow ended up breaking her wrist. It wasn't a surprise; Angella had seen many unfortunate souls break bones during seizures. It happens. There's not much you can do.

Knowing Adora hated attention, and any kind of acknowledgement after/during a sickness or injury, Angella made Glimmer fill out some reports. To say her daughter was anything other than happy would be quite a severe understatement. She allowed Glimmer and Bow to stay with Adora for the first five days of her unconscious state, only moving them when the doctors said she'd woken in the night.

Adora was a less-than-pleasant person... to put it nicely. Her cutting words made Angella angry, but she knew people coming out of scary situations such as hers, wouldn't exactly be the nicest. So, she waited until Adora came to her.

One thing Micah had always told her, that she knew for a fact applied to Adora, was how "Light Spinner" then, now "Shadow Weaver" treated them. Shadow Weaver did not accept weakness, or any variation of, regardless of what happened. You broke a bone? Deal with it. You contract a sickness? Suck it up. You have a concussion? Walk it off. Got stabbed? Train the pain away.

Micah, until he grew old enough to be away longer than he was under her tutelage, refused to have people tend to him if he was injured or sick. Adora wasn't quite as lucky; Shadow Weaver had moulded the poor girl for the better part of her entire life; over sixteen years.

So she waited.

Adora didn't go to her. Not for a week. To Angella's knowledge, she hadn't even left her room that week. Angella knew the girl couldn't stay still if you bribed her to. She instructed Glimmer and Bow to rally her aunt Castaspella and the other sorcerers of Mystacor for the upcoming battle. It was a lie, but she needed to check on Adora alone. Without the influence of her friends.

She approached the door, knocking on it softly. "Adora? Are you in there? It's Angella," She called. There was a distinct shuffling. "Yeah," Adora's quiet voice called back. Angella frowned slightly, pushing the door open. She shut it behind, satisfied when it clicked locked. Adora sat on her bed, curled up tightly beneath a woollen blanket.

Angella didn't mention it was her blanket from her childhood days; one she'd gifted Glimmer.

The blonde warrior sighed softly at the Queen. "I'd bow, but I think my legs are broken," She sighed. Angella gestured to the bed, asking if she could take a seat. Adora scootched further up, opening the space. Angella sighed softly, glancing around. "I think this is the tidiest room in the entire castle," She mused. "My daughter believes in a thing called floordrobe." She tried for a joke.

Adora huffed softly.

Half a point.

Angella gestured to her hair. "Have you washed recently? Glimmer found some nice shampoo in Plumeria," Angella combed her fingers through her pink hair. "I am quite fond of it, I must say," Adora scoffed, waving her bandaged wrist in the air. "I can't. Because of this stupid thing," She flapped it angrily. Angella hurried to place her hand down. "You will make it worse if you do that," She scolded gently. Adora flushed. "I have washed my hair... or... the doctor did," Adora admitted quietly. She tugged on a strand of loose hair. "But it's annoying me. I can't put it up. It's just in the way!" She growled, tugging the hair harder.

Angella tutted. "Adora," She chastised softly. The blonde sighed, looking away. Angella glanced around, "ah" ing when she found a sparkly pink brush. She grabbed a pillow and placed it on the ground. "Sit. I shall brush your hair for you,"

Adora's face was almost comically confused. "I'm sorry?" She stuttered. Angella gestured to the ground. "I will brush your hair," She reiterated. Adora shuffled closer. "Are-are you sure? It's not been brushed since... Ameryn," Angella scoffed softly. "Adora, I used to brush my daughter's hair. Nothing is as hard as that," She tried for a reassuring smile. Adora smiled back softly and moved to the cushion.

Angella began to softly brush through the mats and knots of the blonde hair. Despite growing up in the Horde, Adora's hair was thicker than she'd anticipated. It was nice. Angella had thick hair as well, but Glimmer didn't. She had her father's hair. It made for easy brushing, sure, but thick hair was something Angella loved.

"Micah brushed my hair for me once," She said softly. Adora hummed from against her knees, where she'd begun to relax. Angella didn't mind; the soft pressure reminded her of Glimmer's childhood days. "Yes. When I had just given birth to Glimmer, I didn't have the time to brush my hair or care for it. Neither did I want to, to be honest. I was in a lot of pain. So, one evening, Micah had Castaspella look after Glimmer. He washed my hair and brushed it for me," She tugged softly on a stubborn knot. "I fell in love with him all over again,"

Angella, purely on muscle memory, began to thread three pieces of Adora's hair with each other, interweaving them until she had a soft braid. "There," She proclaimed softly. "All done. It's braided as well, so it shouldn't knot quite as easily as a ponytail does,"

Adora didn't answer.

Angella peered around, chuckling softly.

The poor, clearly exhausted, girl had fallen asleep against Angella's knees. She leaned forward, hooking her hands underneath Adora's arms. She pulled the girl up, muttering soft nonsense when she stirred. She guided the girl to her bed, draping the woollen blanket over her body, and fluffing up a pillow beneath her neck.

Adora mumbled under her breath, twisting to her side. Angella sighed softly, smiling. She blew out the candle on the bedside table and retreated out. The door clicked shut softly, and she exhaled. "Juliet?" She flagged down her most trusted guard. "Make sure nobody disturbs Adora. And anybody to walk through this hallway must do so silently," She said. Juliet nodded with a quick smile. "My pleasure, Your Majesty,"

Angella retreated after placing her hand on the wooden door, sighing softly. That girl deserved so much more love than she'd been given... and Angella would be more than happy to help fill that hole.