Serve and Protect

Epilogue

Warm afternoon sunshine filtered through the window, bathing the pages of Adora's journal in golden light. Her pen cast dancing shadows as she scribbled down her thoughts. She always enjoyed this quiet hour after her weekly therapy session, when she'd decompress through writing while she waited for Catra to finish her own session. Sometimes, when a session left her thoughts and emotions running wild, this practice of pouring it all out onto paper helped her find a bit of calm in the storm.

But today's entry was a happy one; she'd spent most of her session talking about how she'd finally received her GED. The world had never felt more open, and now she was excitedly filling line after line with her plans for a future that once felt completely unattainable.

From behind the office door came the sounds of chairs scraping the floor and muffled voices raising back up from the low murmur of therapy-speak to normal conversation. Adora pulled out her phone to check the time — Catra's session was wrapping up. She smiled at her lockscreen photo of her and Catra, their grinning faces pushed close together as they mugged for the camera. Her camera roll was full of pictures just like it.

The door opened and Catra stepped out, their therapist following behind her. As much as they loved working with Perfuma, they all agreed that their enduring friendship presented a conflict of interest (especially after Perfuma and Scorpia started dating). It had taken a while, but eventually they'd found a new therapist they both liked. They'd been working with him for over a year, and sometimes Adora wondered how they'd ever gotten by without him.

"Thanks again," Catra said. She gave Melog, who rode perched across her shoulders nearly everywhere she went, a scratch behind his ear. "I'll give that guided meditation a try this week and let you know how it goes."

Their therapist nodded. "Sounds like a plan! You ladies have a great week; I'll see you next Friday."

Adora tossed her journal and pen into her bag and waved goodbye to their therapist before taking Catra's hand. They walked down the stairs side by side and made their way outside.

"How're you feeling?" Adora asked. "Was it a good session?"

Catra had to lean her head forward a bit so she could see around Melog. She smiled — a contented, genuine smile. "Yup. We mostly talked about ways to expand my mindfulness practice. He suggested a video channel I should check out."

"Cool! Maybe we can do one of them together."

The therapist's office was only a handful of blocks away from the modest one bedroom apartment Adora and Catra shared. While the bus would have been faster, they liked walking to and from their appointments, especially when the days were as beautiful as this one. They didn't live in the fanciest part of town — their neighborhood was tired and a little out of the way, made up of mostly shabby low-rise apartment buildings, bodegas, and laundromats. But to the girls, it was home.

A text tone sounded from Catra's back pocket. She fished out her phone and read the message with a quiet hum.

"Scorpia wants to know if we want to hang out with her and Perfuma tonight," she said.

"That sounds fun," Adora replied. "Do they have anything in mind?"

"Takeout and game night. She says they can come to our place so we don't have to go downtown."

Adora let out a grateful sigh. Without a vehicle, it took them forever to get around the city. She appreciated that their friends always kept that in mind when making plans. Sometimes she secretly wished that Catra still had her old motorcycle, but she knew it was for the best that it had been repossessed back during the trial. It would have haunted them both if they'd kept it; a ghost forever linking them to the disgraced former-mayor and the control he'd wielded over their lives.