The Courtship Of Adam's Father (And Mother)
by Rob Morris
Crown Prince Randor was growing desperate and heartsick. The visitor from Earth had enchanted him, and made his upcoming assumption of the throne bearable even with the pain of his father's vanishing, and the wild stories of invaders appearing from thin air.
"Lady Marlena, I ask only that you allow me to begin courting you. What happens from there is beyond men or kings to affect."
Marlena Glenn in fact liked this earnest young ruler very much. He was what a king was supposed to be, but rarely was, back on Earth. But she was a determined one, from the times she was told there were no girl astronauts to the time she earned her spot on this reconnaissance mission.
"I have a mission, Prince Randor. Whether Lord Duncan can repair my ship or not, that hasn't changed. If you can do something, anything, to aid that mission, then if it takes twenty years or more, I can one day tell Earth what became of my piloting instructor, and also the prior effort to locate him, cut off when my team captain announced she had found him, but then suddenly returned to his unknown location."
The terms were laid down, and Randor declared them acceptable.
"It shall be so! If it takes all I or one day my heirs have to offer, Eternia will not rest until we learn the fate of John Blackstar!"
The courtship began, and indeed it was their heirs who one day unraveled the mystery.