Work Text:
Dear Diary
My friends were talking about them again today. The princesses. We’ve all seen them – at a distance, of course. We’ve all definitely heard about them and how they saved Etheria. We were all there in the town’s plaza when She-Ra visited us on her tour alongside Queen Glimmer and their partners. My friends wouldn’t shut up about it for weeks, but then a rumour started.
I’ve mentioned this to you before, Diary. How our town is…I suppose ignored. We’re far away enough from Bright Moon that the patrols never really acknowledged us and we were far away enough from the Fright Zone that the horde didn’t even bother to know we were here. Small, a tiny blip in the forest. So, it was a big deal when the Queen and She-Ra visited, but the rumour that followed weeks, if not months, after was even bigger.
Two of the princesses were continuously visiting.
Our town is forgettable to outsiders and most can pass us by without even noticing. But at the heart, just beyond the plaza, there’s a dirt path that scales along a mossy hill. It’s protected by the trees and the bushes, and its almost completely lost to the forest. The townspeople never step any further than the second layer of wilderness, the undergrowth too thick and the sounds of forest creatures too strange for anyone to dare intrude.
But the rumours say beyond that, if you follow that path twisting up onto that hill you can see two of the princesses sing and dance. My friends all whisper amongst themselves – which two? Which two would bother to visit us, to hide on the hill overlooking our measly town?
I didn’t join the whispers. To be honest, I didn’t really believe the rumours. Why would two random princesses come out here? What could they possibly be doing up on that hill? But…I wanted to know, I wanted something for myself.
So today, Diary, I stepped past that second layer. I found the dirt path again and I walked up the hill, trailing my fingers along the mossy stone and overhanging branches. The further up the hill I went, the brighter the sky became, it was like a pocket of sunlight shining through the canopy onto the crest of the hill. I found them there.
I had never seen them before but I’d heard about them. Scorpia and Perfuma. Horde and Rebellion, together. None of us knew much more about them, and yet here they were.
The wilderness surrounding the hill seemed to calm around the two, the twisted branches soothed into protective walls decorated with pink and yellow flowers, the trees above like arms shielding them from the rain whilst still letting the sun shine like a beacon down upon them. Birds sung gentle tunes, creatures I’d only read about strolling past with only a slight curious glance at the princesses, as if accustomed to their presence. The ground bloomed vibrant grass and flowers, the dark moss of the hill below falling away to gentle scents and warm colours. A stone gazebo held together by roots and vines stood between the plants and trees, just large enough for two to sit comfortably with a table. Two glasses beading condensation were on the table, the chairs padded with cushions of all colours, but the seats were empty.
Scorpia had been using her large pincers to carefully snip away at a nearby bush, pruning and crafting a beautiful shape with such precise movements, the leaves gradually forming the visage of a galloping horse. Perfuma stood not too far away, her hands flowing as if plucking at an invisible harp, and a new plant had blossomed from the dirt.
I watched, Diary, and I didn’t even realize I was holding my breath until it came too much. I gasped into my arm, praying they wouldn’t hear me. I…I shouldn’t have been there.
I watched them still, I just couldn’t turn away, kneeling down in the damp soil just behind their woven walls of trees and vines.
After a while, Scorpia had wiped her forehead with the back of her arm, a smile of satisfaction on her lips. She took a step back, bumping into Perfuma, but neither of them apologised. Instead they had just leaned into each other, as if both had been fully expecting this moment and had done it many times before.
I don’t know what Scorpia said to her, but the sound of Perfuma’s laugh was probably the song that my friends had mentioned in their rumours. The smile they had shared when both of them turned to look at each other, the tender way Perfuma had caressed Scorpia’s face…
Dear Diary, I saw something today. The rumours are true but I won’t prove them, I won’t tell my friends. Perfuma and Scorpia, those princesses, they’ve made a place for themselves in the middle of nowhere. We don’t have any right to intrude on their peace, but I have a feeling they would welcome anyone in anyway.
Dear Diary. I planted a flower today.