STAY SAFE!! [ID: the Gilbert Baker pride flag with the words “Happy pride to all those who are unable to celebrate openly and safely. You are loved and seen!” in all-caps black text over it. /end ID]
how does it feel to be a forgotten daughter who has to remember? do you still count even if there’s nobody left to call your name? nobody to worry? a lost daughter is just called lost, isn’t she?
can you even remember everyone? do you remember their voices? their faces? you don’t, do you? of course not. you were left behind. you got lucky.
Kara was young. She had wandered into the garden while her mother discussed business with Lillian Luthor. She sat down near a tree, watching the birds and squirrels play. Eventually, her eyes landed on a baby bird that had fallen out of its nest.
She ran over to pick it up. It had a few feathers growing on top of its head, and it trembled as it took small breaths.
“What are you doing?”
A small voice came from above her. There was a girl, the same age as Kara’s, sitting in the tree.
“That baby bird is going to die,” she said, green eyes full of indifference. “You can’t possibly think you’ll save it.”
Kara, young as she was, began to cry. The girl’s eyes widened, and she jumped down from the tree.
“Hey, stop that. People are going to think I made you cry…” she awkwardly waved her hands around Kara, unsure how to stop her tears. “Hey, stop crying! Please?”
Kara sniffled, but looked back at the small bird cradled in her hands, lip quivering. The girl sighed in acceptance.
“Alright, fine,” she scooped the bird from Kara’s hands into her own, examining it. She turned on her heel and began walking to a nearby fountain. “Bring me a leaf.”
Kara watched in amazement as this little girl, no older than ten, managed to rescusitate the baby bird, using a feather to drip water into its open mouth. It chirped, ruffling its feathers.
“Do you think it’ll be okay?”
The girl shrugged. “It’s mother will not return for it. It has no way of feeding itself. The odds are, a predator will eat it within the day.”
Kara gasped. The girl watched tears fill her blue eyes again and panicked. She quickly shushed her.
“No, don’t cry. We can put it in a birdhouse, and feed it twice… no, three times a day. Until it’s ready to be on it’s own again.”
Kara frowned. “But who will watch it once Mother takes me back home?”
“Who is your mother?”
“My mother is Allura,” Kara realized that she had yet to introduce herself. She held her hand out. “My name is Kara.”
The girl cautiously took it.
“What’s your name?”
The girl scoffed a bit. “You’re ridiculous. You don’t know who I am?”
Kara’s smile faltered. She worried she had offended this girl somehow.
“I’m sorry. I’m from Krypton, I don’t know many people here. Who are you?”
“I am Princess Lena Luthor,” she puffed out her chest in pride. “Firstborn daughter of House Kieran, and next in line for the throne.”
Kara giggled. She was still just a kid like her, but here she was, pretending to be a Queen. “You’re silly.”
Lena frowned, deflating a bit. “I am not! Lex told me so. He’s the smartest person in the realm, and he told me that I will be the Queen of Thorul.”
Kara laughed again. “I’m sure you will. But you’re still acting silly.”
Lena’s face fell into a pout, and Kara suddenly felt bad for laughing. She sat down next to Lena, careful not to jostle the baby bird. “I’m sorry if I made you feel bad. I’m sure you’re going to be a great Queen.”
Lena side eyed Kara suspiciously. “What makes you say that?”
“You’re so smart,” Kara said, grinning at Lena. “You brought that baby bird back to life. I bet not even Lex could do that!”
“Lex wouldn’t even try,” Lena mumbled, focusing on the bird in her hands.
“Alex would,” Kara said, thinking of her older friend. “Alex can do anything.”
“Who’s Alex?”
“Oh, she’s the best! She can climb trees.”
Lena puffed out her chest once more. “So can I. That’s not anything special.”
“Yeah, but Alex can do it so fast! And she always finds the best apples. And one time, she put be on her back and swung through the trees, just like a monkey!”
Lena narrowed her eyes on Kara, looking her up and down. “I could do that too.”
Kara swung her legs excitedly. “Could you? That would be so much fun!”
Her eyes fell on the bird again. It’s eyes were half lidded, and it was breathing slowly. “But first… we should find someplace safe to put the baby.”
They found a hole in the tree that Lena had been sitting in, and filled it with leaves and grass to put the baby bird in. Lena dug through the soft earth and found some worms, dangling them over the bird’s head and encouraging him to eat.
Once they returned to the palace, Kara ran up to ask her mother if they could stay in Thorul for the week. Lena stood by her side, her eyes trained on Lillian. Lillian frowned at her dirty clothes and the mud covering her hands.
“What did the two of you get up to?”
Kara looked at Queen Lillian and the displeasure on her face, and began to worry. She looked back at Lena and took notice of how different she looked from when they had first met. Her hair was falling out of it’s ponytail, her sleeves were rolled up and her arms and knees were covered in dirt marks.
Kara opened her mouth to apologize and say it was her fault, but Lena beat her to it.
“I was climbing a tree in the garden and I fell. There’s no need to worry about it, Mother.”
Kara smiled to herself, grateful for her new friend covering for her.
Lillian looked curiously between the Princess and her adopted daughter. Allura, upon seeing how Kara was enjoying herself, agreed to extend their visit, despite Zor-El’s return.
On their first day, Lena and Kara spent their whole time in the garden, under the tree. Kara collected the worms, not wanting Lena to get in trouble again, while Lena worked on making a proper nest for the bird. Kara talked to Lena about every little thing that came to her mind, yet strangely, Lena remained quiet.
When she returned to her mother that night, she told her about how quiet Lena was, and Allura reassured Kara to keep talking.
“Some people are just harder to get through to, my dear. But if you truly like her and want to be her friend, continue to open up to her. Show her that you are a kind person.”
On the second day, Kara brought Lena an apple.
She had arrived to the garden early and gone on a hunt for apples. Eventually, she found a fruit similar in shape to an apple, but it was unlike any she’d ever seen before. This ‘apple’ was strange. It smelled sweet, but it was purple and had a slight fuzz to it.
When she presented it to Lena as an apple, she was surprised to see the young girl laugh.
It warmed Kara’s heart to see the usually quiet girl laugh so happily.
“This is a Nori fruit, Kara, not an apple,” she told her, picking it out of her hands. “How did you find it? They’re very rare around these times. They grow mostly in the spring.”
Kara shrugged shyly. “My father said that if you put your mind to it, you can do anything. I really wanted to find an apple and I searched all day for it. Although… I guess since I didn’t find an apple, it wasn’t right.”
Lena used her nails to dig into the soft flesh of the Nori fruit and pick it apart. She gave the fruit to Kara, saying she didn’t enjoy sweet things.
“That’s ridiculous. How do you not enjoy sweets? They’re… sweet!”
“I just don’t like the way they make my teeth hurt.”
“You’re so silly, Lena.”
Lena used the skin of the fruit to drop it’s nectar into the baby birds mouth. “Nori fruit are supposed to be rich in nutrients.”
“Then you should really have some!”
Kara shoved a piece towards her, and Lena turned up her nose at it. But she looked at Kara, smiling so widely, encouraging her to try, and so she plucked it out of Kara’s fingers and dropped it into her mouth.
She chewed and swallowed it quickly, detesting the flavour. But she grinned at Kara for it. No one had ever forced her to eat something like this before.
The baby bird flew away on the third day. Kara and Lena watched in amazement as it stepped out of the hole, ruffled its feathers, and took off quickly. It was still quite small, and they lost sight of it once it went past the trees. A golden feather floated down from where it disappeared. Kara rushed to pick it up.
“Look what he left us!”
“Kara, that can’t possibly be from him,” Lena replied dryly, crossing her arms. “It’s far too large and it doesn’t match his colour.”
“Well, where else would it come from..” Kara twirled the feather in her fingers, a look of realization and excitement spreading on her face. “Oh, my Rao. He must have sent it!”
“Rao?”
“My mother tells me that when Rao is especially pleased with one of his followers, he will grant them a token. She says that if you wish upon one of these tokens, you can have anything!”
Lena thought that was ridiculous. There was no such thing as great deities. Lex had explained to her that it was a fairytale, something that not only assured children, but adults as well. But seeing how lovingly Kara held the feather, she didn’t feel like refuting the thought.
Kara held out the delicate feather to Lena. “Here, you keep it.”
“No, thank you, Kara. I’m no child of Rao.”
“But you saved the bird. The wish is yours.”
“Keep it, Kara. I never would have thought to save the bird unless you had been there.”
Kara grinned, but held the feather closer to her chest. Lena shook her head at Kara in amusement. If she’d wanted the feather, she never should have offered it. Lena wouldn’t have kept it, anyways.
On the fourth and fifth day, Kara and Lena spend their time in the palace. Lena offered to show Kara to the library, but Kara was far too energetic to sit around in silence all day. She forced Lena to play ‘tag’, which Lena understood to be an excuse to have children chase and tackle each other in the name of sport.
“Once you leave,” Lena shook her head at Kara, who had once again caught her against a hallway wall, “Maybe I can finally have some peace and quiet in the library.”
But when Kara and Allura departed for Krypton, Lena felt… empty.
Kara smiled and waved at her through the carriage. She saw that Lena’s face was once again passive, and gestured at Lena to smile, pulling up the sides of her own face. Lena slightly grinned.
Kara turned back to her mother.
“When can we visit again?”
***
A month later, Zor-El finally gave in to his daughter’s pleading, and sent her to Thorul for another week in the supervision of her aunt Astra.
“Princess Lena!”
Lena’s silent reading was rudely interrupted by a melodic voice. Lena looked up in surprise at blue eyes. Kara was standing in front of her in a summer dress, radiating excitement, a wooden ship in her hands.
“Your mother told me I could find you here.”
Lena stared at Kara. Was this a dream? She opened her mouth and closed it several times, unsure of what to say to this apparition. Her gaze fell on the ship Kara held in her hands, and she finally asked, “What is that?”
“This is my favourite toy,” Kara held it out to Lena. “It’s a ship built by my Grandfather. Well, the real ship is much bigger of course.”
“Why are you giving it to me?”
“I wanted to thank you. For the feather you gave to me. I know they pale in comparison, but this is the least I could give to you in return for the token you gave me. And the fun thing about it is, it actually works! Come with me, I’ll show you how.”
Lena was still in shock as Kara took her hand and led her outside.
“What are you… how did you get here?”
“My aunt Astra brought me.”
“Why?”
Kara let go of Lena’s hand, having arrived at the palace gates. She grinned toothily at Lena. “To see you, silly. I had to give you a present!”
Lena’s heart skipped a beat. “You came here… just to see me?”
“And to have Nori fruit again. They don’t grow in Krypton, can you believe that?”
Lena followed Kara in a daze to the fountain where they had sat with the baby bird. Kara turned a dial on the toy ship, and set it in the water. It began to propel itself.
Lena grinned in amazement, watching the boat travel across the fountain on its own.
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