Note: This one has been languishing on my computer for far, far too long... turns out it helps when you, like, work on things. Anyway, this is my first actual fic for this fandom, but shout-out to preschool me in 1986, playing MOTU with my dolls. (Barbie makes a good evil henchman, btw.)

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"Perhaps the past and present, your dreams and destiny,

are more intertwined than we know."

– The Sorceress, "The Power of Grayskull"

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One: party fouls

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"Teela, dear, you look lovely."

It was the fifth time tonight someone had told her that, but at least this time it wasn't a middle-aged nobleman in his cups, or a young man with a bet to win, or a snide court girl. Still. It took Teela a moment to put on a smile before she turned.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," she told the queen, dropping into a half-hearted curtsy. "And thank you for the, um, dress."

Queen Marlena smiled. "The seamstress did wonders, didn't she?"

The hem was too long, and the stays dug into her ribs, and she couldn't eat anything for fear of it falling into what the seamstress had politely referred to as milady's décolletage. But you didn't say things like that to the queen who'd had one of her own dresses made over so you could wear it to a party.

Even if you didn't want to wear it. Or go to the party.

"The color is nice," Teela said, being as honest as she could.

The queen's smile took on a knowing gleam. "You'd rather be in armor."

The snake staff didn't fit on her flimsy belt, and the lady's maid who'd helped her get into the dress had made such a fuss about the concealed blaster that Teela had reluctantly left that behind as well. At least she'd won the battle over her hair: it was in her usual style, not the painfully fashionable updo the maid had wanted.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Teela looked around the great hall again, barely rebuilt in time for the occasion, and grimaced. "Actually, I'd rather not be here at all."

"Mm." The queen took a glass from a passing servant's tray and lifted it in a brief toast. "This celebration is for all of the Masters who so bravely defended Eternia from the Snakemen – including you, Captain. Let the people honor you. You've more than earned it."

In another corner of the great hall, applause broke out; Man-E-Faces and Orko were reenacting the last battle against King Hiss, somehow without any magic going awry. The other Masters were scattered around the hall, enjoying themselves despite likewise being stuffed into finery. People were dancing, laughing, talking, having a wonderful time.

And, best of all, there were zero Snakemen threatening an attack.

"I know," Teela said, sighing as deeply as she could in the stays, "but… I would feel better if I could check in with the Guard. With so many of the Masters here, it would be the perfect time for Skeletor to try something."

Marlena smiled again. "I'm sure He-Man can manage any problems that arise tonight. By the way, have you seen Adam?"

No, she hadn't. And, looking around now, there wasn't any sign of him in the hall. Teela bit down on a curse. He was probably asleep somewhere, just like he always was – when he wasn't running from the battlefield.

If Adam made her drag him out of the stables in this dress, she would kill him, crown prince or not.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, I'll go find -"

The queen, too polite to interrupt, quirked an eyebrow instead, and Teela stopped herself mid-sentence. Something about this was amusing Her Majesty to no end. "I know where Adam is, dear. I suppose what I meant to say was – has he seen you?"

Teela frowned. "I'm… not sure I understand."

"Never mind," the queen said, still smiling. "Come by the royal apartments tomorrow morning, as soon as you're able. Now that the Snakemen have been dealt with, some things in the palace will be changing."

"Of course, Your Majesty." Another curtsy. She already missed bowing.

Marlena nodded and began to move off, though she paused a few steps away and looked over her shoulder, eyes dancing. "And Teela – I order you to enjoy the festivities."

Teela stared after the queen for a moment, then grinned. Enjoy herself, huh? She had a few ideas about that –

"Teela!"

She whirled, one hand going to the staff that wasn't on her belt. "Adam! What is it?"

Her best friend, who was not only awake but wearing his formal court clothes, grabbed her by the arm and tugged. He was slightly out of breath, as if he'd been running. "Thank the Elders. Come on!"

She let him drag her through the crowd of party-goers, dodging white-haired duchesses and near-sighted counts. Without tripping over her skirts, thank you very much. "What are you doing?"

"Escaping!"

Teela looked behind them, but saw only a handful of teenage girls – probably the daughters and granddaughters of the nobility they'd been ducking around. "Escaping what?"

"Them," Adam said, slowing down at last. He made a face. "They've been hanging on me all night. What's wrong with girls?"

"I don't know," Teela said, a touch acidly. She pulled her arm free of his grip, courteously not breaking any of his bones in the process. They'd come to a stop just shy of the cleared space being used for dancing, and the music was much louder here. She had to raise her voice: "If I see one, I'll ask."

He grinned at her – an expression she'd seen a million times. It was the one that had mischief hiding behind it, and used to be followed by a dare to put spiders down an important person's shirt, or raid the kitchens after midnight, or some other bit of devilry. "Oh, sorry, not you," he said over the noise. "I meant normal girls."

She snorted. "If that's supposed to make me want to help you escape…"

"You're part of the Royal Guard," he said, pointing at her. Then he pressed a hand to his chest, wide-eyed with false innocence. "I'm part of the royal family. You have to protect me. There's an oath and everything."

"Okay, fine," Teela said, rolling her eyes and trying very hard not to smile. "How may I aid you in your escape, O Prince Adam?"

"Dance with me," he said immediately.

She glanced at the dancers, then back at him, then at the determined flock of girls steadily moving in their direction. Putting Adam into the middle of what was, essentially, a well-lit, open stage - "That's a terrible escape plan."

"No, it'll give me time to come up with one." The wide eyes were back. "Please, Teela?"

She narrowed her own eyes and gave him a hard stare, not really thinking it over but wanting to make him sweat a little. After all, he was asking her to dance, in a dress, in front of most of Eternia.

Thank the Elders she'd insisted on flat shoes.

"Your Highness," she said, making her best, deepest curtsy, gaze demurely on the floor, voice perfectly polite, "I would be honored to accept this dance."

Adam stared at her as she rose. Stared long enough, with a blank enough expression, that Teela began to wonder if some of milady's décolletage hadn't made an appearance during that curtsy. If it had, well, she would just have to leave the party and go find a dragon to eat her.

But then he grinned broadly, exclaimed, "Great!" and unceremoniously dragged her onto the dance floor right as the musicians finished one song and struck up for another.

It was a folk dance, where several partners joined in two lines to make the figures. Teela was familiar with it, and so was Adam, which made sense because they'd both had the same dancing master, years ago.

The dance instruction had been for Adam only, until Teela had committed the grave tactical error of teasing him about it. The next morning she'd found herself being escorted from the training field to the dancing salon "on the express orders of His Royal Highness the Prince."

Jerk.

But if he'd been trying to get even, his plan had backfired: Teela was great at dancing. And Adam, despite all his complaining, was no slouch either. They'd ended up having a lot of fun during those lessons.

He was doing a credible job now, weaving in and out and laughing whenever he missed a step, and the other dancers seemed delighted to have the crown prince in their midst. Teela caught a glimpse of the girl flock standing off to the side, watching dejectedly and-or seething with rage.

Ha! she thought, smug. That fixed them.

And miraculously, she managed to get through the whole thing without once stepping on her hem. Everyone on the sidelines clapped when the dance was over, even Roboto, who probably didn't understand dancing (or applauding) anyway.

Meanwhile, the flock was moving in.

Teela put herself between the girls and Adam. "So what's the plan?"

He scratched at the back of his head and looked sheepish. Elders! He'd forgotten all about his "escape plan," she could tell. Sometimes she thought he was ageing backwards, becoming more of a child while the rest of them were maturing. "Um… another dance?"

"Ugh," she said, but obligingly extended her hand. "You owe me."

"Believe me, I know," Adam said, taking her hand as the music began. This time it wasn't a folk dance, but one of the courtly ones: you only danced with your partner. He winced. "Okay, I really owe you."

Two dances, in a row, with the prince, would be enough to set every gossipy tongue in Eternia to wagging. It was ridiculous, of course, but pretty much everything about court was. Another reason Teela preferred open combat.

"Yes you do," she said archly. "I'll take my payback tomorrow morning. First light. Training field. Bring a sword."

He groaned, and for good reason; she was absolutely going to mop the floor with him. "Come on, Teela -"

"Or… I can let a normal girl cut in."

"Fine, fine," he said, scowling at her. He spun her out into a reasonably graceful twirl, and when she got back, he'd returned to his usual good humor. "So what did my mother want?"

Teela shrugged. "She wants to discuss something with me. Changes around the palace."

"Yeah, no kidding." He nodded over Teela's shoulder; on the turn, she looked that way and saw King Randor and her father talking. "Father's got this grand diplomatic plan to make a tour of our allies – some of them got hit by the Snakemen pretty hard. Harder than us, if you can believe that. We're going to offer aid where it's needed, renegotiate treaties, all of it."

"Wow," she said, impressed. "That's going to take months."

Adam sighed. "Yeah."

Teela looked towards the king again, mentally calculating the security arrangements, though that honor would presumably go to her father. "It's a long time to be away from the palace, especially now."

"Which is why I'm going," Adam said grimly. "Not Father."

A laugh slipped out before she could catch it. "You?"

"I've made diplomatic trips before," he said, indignant. "Successfully! You were there for some of them, remember?"

In a dress even more galling than this, once. The toe of her shoe caught in her hem, and she hastily corrected. "So what's the matter this time? Afraid it'll cut into your busy napping schedule?"

It was hardly the worst thing she'd ever said to him, but for some reason Adam's face clouded over with true hurt and Teela realized, belatedly, that she'd gone too far.

With perfect timing, the song ended. They came to a stop amid more applause.

"Adam," she said, but the words I'm sorry stuck in her throat. She wasn't sorry, not really. There was too much to do to defend Eternia, and he was doing too little of it. She shouldn't have to apologize for pointing that out.

At the same time, he was her friend, and she'd struck home, with what she knew was a low blow.

"I –"

"Thank you, Captain," he said, cutting her off. He gave her a formal bow, but his eyes were cold and his voice was decidedly unfriendly as he finished: "For doing me the honor of this dance."

It was a dismissal. A rude one, at that. She bobbed the worst curtsy of her life and left the dance floor, pushing past some of the flocking court girls on her way. Half of them shot her evil looks; the other half sneered. She couldn't have cared less.

The twinge of regret was already turning into anger. How dare he act like that! He knew he was the laughingstock of Eternia – the lazy, cowardly prince who couldn't be counted on in battle except to run away. And he was going to dismiss her for telling him the truth? Some friend!

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her father moving towards her. The last thing she wanted was another lecture about being patient with Adam because she "didn't know the kinds of burdens he carried." Please!

She shook her head, veered off into the thickest part of the crowd, then made her way outside the hall altogether. Hopefully her father would take the hint and not follow her.

The queen had ordered her to enjoy the party. At this point, there was only one way to obey.

Teela headed for her quarters. She needed her staff and armor if she was going to patrol.