Chapter 10

Castaspella's words still reverberating through her mind, Teela turned to the doors of the balcony, turned back to the party, and discovered that she couldn't face it. There were faces staring back at her, some shocked, some appalled, and all extremely curious.

Oh, Ancients above! How loud were we? It was several seconds before the captain realized that she was already backing away, arms clutched tightly across her torso, heading to the edge of the balcony. Uncaring suddenly how it might look, Teela whirled around and vaulted the railing. The ballroom was on the second floor, and she landed easily in the garden below, her knees bending automatically to break the impact of her descent. Then she was running, hurrying down dark walkways, the gravel crunching beneath her slippers, bruising the bottoms of her feet as she ran.

She briefly considered going in pursuit of Adam, but with no magical powers and no equipment, it would be next to impossible to track him in the dark. Certainly, ballgowns were not suited to hectic pursuits and she had no idea where he might have gone. Let Castaspella comfort him, she thought bitterly. That's what she wants, and I'm sure he'll enjoy the fawning attention. Tears welled up, and Teela didn't even try to hold them back. Of course he enjoys Castaspella's regard. Who else has he been able to turn to? Who else has ever treated him as if he mattered? Certainly not… me.

Swallowing hard, all but blinded by the tears that streamed down her cheeks, Teela turned a shadowy corner, nearly bowled over a startled courtier, stuttered out a reflexive apology and ran on. She could hear the man muttering reproachments behind her, but it didn't matter. What does anything matter now? Adam hates me! He must hate me! Lighted windows passed by in a blur as she dashed through the shadows.

She rushed up a flight of steps, her slippered feet slapping on the tile, and only then did she realize that her feet had carried her not to her own quarters, but to the rooms occupied by her father. Without hesitation, she keyed open the door and went inside. Once in the outer room, she stopped and looked about her, soaking in every detail. Finding comfort in the familiar. Home. This was still home for her. She'd grown up in these chambers. She'd lain countless hours stretched out on her belly on the polished hardwood floor of the sitting room, moving toy soldiers across imaginary battlefields. Across the room from the entrance was the scarred old table where she and her father had passed lazy afternoons together, talking about their day while they assembled children's puzzles or bits of machinery that he was teaching her to repair. It hadn't mattered which. She'd loved it just the same.

It had been far too long since Teela had spent any real time here, and her heart contracted painfully when she saw a half-assembled, antique air compressor sitting forlornly in the center of the table. Pieces were scattered around it, waiting for some hand to pick them up and set them in their proper place. Looking at that table, she knew that her decision had been a lie. That she had been lying to herself was hardly shocking, she'd been doing it for years after all. But now, she had to face the truth. She could no more leave this place, leave her father and her friends than she could stop loving Adam. She would still resign her commission, as planned, but Eternos was her home and always would be. Maybe…

Maybe Father will let me live with him. Maybe I can stay here and find work in the city. Hurrying onward, she passed into the suite's more private rooms. On the left was the kitchen and, beside it, her father's office. There, too, she had spent the long years of her childhood, studying for her school tests, practicing to pass the officer's exam. And while she worked, her father had often been only a few feet away, working at his own duties, looking up periodically to make sure that she was still on task and didn't need any help. Sometimes, Adam would be beside her, studying with her for their shared classes. After all, Man-At-Arms had been teacher to both of them from the time they could walk. Whenever possible, he'd taught them together.

Father always thought highly of Adam. Always. Even when Adam changed, Father never scolded him for it, never chastised him for running away, for not being brave. He could see Adam's worth from the beginning. Why did it take me so long?

Her vision clouding with the ever-present tears, Teela moved away without going into the office, across from her now were her old room and her father's room. Creeping forward, she turned the handle of the door to her room and let it swing open. It was dark inside, but light from the exterior lamps shone in through the windows, decorating the room with scattered patches of light and shadow. It hadn't really changed at all. Her bed was still there, ruffle-edged quilts and all. An old, fat, stuffed gray pony named Berford rested against the pillows as if waiting for her to climb in and go to sleep, cuddling him close.

Her medals hung on the wall above her vanity. Her collection of sea shells and pine cones was still in place on the window sills. It was difficult to be certain in the dark, but she suspected that there wasn't a speck of dust anywhere. The room was just… waiting. For what, she wasn't certain. Stepping quickly inside, as if afraid to disturb that strangely solemn stillness, she snatched up the stuffed pony and then walked back out into the hallway, closing the door firmly behind her.

Clutching Berford against her chest, Teela tiptoed into her father's bedroom. There was no real need for stealth, but old habits die slow deaths. The bed was, of course, empty since Man-At-Arms was still at the ball, probably trying to calm the court down after Teela's shouting matching with the Queen of Etheria. Suddenly unable to bear any more, and heedless of her golden ballgown, Teela flung herself onto the bed, curling up into a ball on the chocolate brown comforter. Holding Berford close, she cried herself sick, wishing that she could be small again, wishing that she could start over.

When her father finally came home hours later, it was with none of the recriminations that Teela had been dreading. He just stroked her frazzled hair, pulled her into his arms, and covered them both with a spare blanket. They lay there, cuddled together until real sleep finally took her.

Feeling surprisingly calm for someone about to enter the lion's den, Adam raised a hand knocked on the door of his father's office. Though most of the residents of the palace, courtiers and servants alike, were still abed at this early hour, the prince knew that his father would be up and working. A late night at the midsummer ball would not deter the King of Eternia in the slightest.

As he'd expected, it was only a moment before a familiar voice called out from with the room, "Come in."

Adam opened the door and stepped inside, his emotions still shrouded by an unusual sense of calm indifference to the coming confrontation. Perhaps it had something to do with his change in wardrobe. Wearing a new shirt shouldn't seem like a life-changing experience, but his mother had always joked about putting on her armor in the morning. Maybe this is what she meant. Maybe we really are what we appear to be, he thought wonderingly. I dressed like a clown when I wanted the world to think me a fool and a buffoon. That worked remarkably well. So if I dress like I know what I'm doing, maybe the world will believe that as well. Unfortunately, Father isn't the world.

The king was seated at his desk, a sheaf of papers spread before him. "Oh, good morning, Adam," he said, looking up from his work with a smile on his face.

"Good morning, Father," Adam replied, as he shut the door behind him. "May I speak to you for a few minutes?"

"Of course, son," Randor said, his brow furrowing at the prince's serious tones. "Is something wrong?" he asked as Adam came forward and sat down in a chair directly across from his desk.

"Not… wrong, precisely," Adam demurred, crossing his hands in his lap and staring down at them. When he began to fidget with his fingernails, his father cleared his throat noisily.

"Adam?" the king said slowly, drawing the name out. "Adam, does this have something to do with what happened at the ball last night?"

The prince flushed darkly, vivdly remembering exactly what had happened after he left the ball – no, not what had happened, what he'd done. He'd been an active and eager participant, and it was high time that he stopped thinking of himself as a victim of circumstance. He'd chosen his path… so why was it so difficult to tell his father that?

When he said nothing, Randor cleared his throat and began again. "Son, I know you were distressed by Teela's decision to leave her position, and I'm sorry I sprung it on you that way. I assumed that she would already have spoken with you about her intentions. You've always been very close."

Not anymore, Adam thought, overwhelmed by regret for an instant. But he quickly shut the emotion down, clenching his fists and taking a slow, deep breath. "That's not what this is about, Father. At least," he shrugged, "not directly."

Lifting his chin, he met his father's eyes, and the patient concern that Adam saw there came as something of a surprise to him. Admittedly, he and his father had been getting on better ever since, well, ever since he'd died. But still… "You're not angry about the way I ran off last night," Adam said. It was not a question.

"No," Randor said, a tiny smile quirking up his lips.

"Why?"

Sighing, the king leaned back in his chair, turning slightly from side to side. Head tilted back, he gazed up at the ceiling as he said, "I guess I've finally remembered what's it's like to be young, single and in love." He snorted. "And to wish you'd been born a baker's son. I used to dream about tossing my crown in the nearest river and opening a bakery." Returning his gaze to Adam's face, he grinned broadly. "Your mother makes very good sticky buns."

For a moment Adam boggled as entirely new and non-food based connotations for that statement formed themselves in his mind. Then, giving himself a little shake, he said, "Oh."

"So," Randor said, still smiling, "I'm sure you didn't come to see me for a lecture. What is it you need, Son?"

Forcing his hands to be still in his lap, Adam explained. "I told you that Castaspella has asked to come to Etheria for an extended visit?" The king's eyes widened and he nodded, gesturing for Adam to continue. "I've accepted her offer. And we'd like to leave this morning."

Randor leapt to his feet, his mouth hanging open. "So quickly!"

Getting to his own feet, though not quite meeting his father's eyes, the prince said, "I don't want to waste any more time. I feel like I've wasted too much time already."

"Adam, is there some need for such a rush? You're not in some kind of trouble?"

"No, Father!" Adam said firmly, his head snapping up as he met the king's troubled gaze with his own. "I just – I want this. And I don't want to wait."

Randor came rapidly around the desk and placed his hands on the prince's arms. "You're certain this is what you want?" he demanded. "You're positive?"

"I am," Adam replied without hesitation, trying to look more confident than he actually felt. She loves you. Just remember that. She loves you. You owe her a chance to make this work. Clearing his throat, the prince grinned wryly. "It's… only a visit, Father."

"All right, Adam. If this is what you really want, then of course I'm happy for you."

"Thank you, Father." The relief in his voice was more than evident, and perhaps that had something to do with Randor's sudden decision to reach out and ruffle his hair.

"Dad!" Adam protested, backing away. "I have to walk back through the halls like this." He finger-combed his hair as his father laughed.

"What time will you depart?"

"In an hour," Adam admitted. "I've been packing all night."

The king's eyebrows shot upward. "My, you are determined to go quickly. Will the Sorceress be – "

"No. Castaspella is using a spell of her own. She… she says she has an overabundance of power at the moment." Adam flushed once again, knowing just where she'd absorbed some of that excess energy. Now that had been an unexpected side effect of their union. Castaspella was so puzzled. Shifting nervously on his feet, he added, "She can manage for just the three of us. We'll leave from the main practice yard."

"Three? Oh, Cringer, naturally. Very well. I will tell your mother. Then we will see you there in an hour, at – " he turned and looked at the small timepiece on his desk – "ten o'clock. Correct?"

Adam nodded and turned to go. With his hand on the door handle, he paused. Without looking back at the king, he said, "Once I'm gone, ask Teela to withdraw her resignation. She may feel differently without me underfoot."

Then, before his father could reply, he slipped out of the room.

To Teela's immense surprise, Man-At-Arms actually accepted her decision when she announced the next morning that she did not wish to discuss the events of the previous evening. They breakfasted together in the suite's small kitchen, Teela wearing an old nightdress which she'd retrieved from the dresser in her bedroom and which, despite a certain minor tautness across her chest, largely still fit her. At first they ate in silence. Then, gradually, they began to talk of their work and their mutual friends, carefully avoiding any references to the royal family or Teela's resignation. They spoke of duty schedules and garrison rotation, ongoing experiments and upcoming projects. All very neutral. All very safe. And never once did her father reproach her for what he had to regard as her imprudent decision to leave her post as a captain of the guard.

Words, unsaid, hung in the air about them until Teela could hardly bear the weight of them on her shoulders. With no explanation she rose from her seat, said, "I'm doing the right thing," and marched from the kitchen. Once in her own room, she ransacked the drawers and closets until she found a baggy set of exercise clothes that would still fit her and was in reasonably decent condition. The dress, her literally golden ballgown, she left hanging neatly in the back of her wardrobe, hidden behind an assortment of old cloaks and worn out armor.

Her father was waiting in the sitting room, perched on the arm of the sofa, when she emerged a short while later, her face scrubbed clean and her hair pulled back in a neat braid. He looked troubled, even anxious, but Teela was not in the mood to listen to advice or admonitions. "I know what I'm doing," she repeated. "Really, Father. I do. And… and I'll talk with you later. After, well, after I've finished my duties for the day. We… I have something I want to ask you."

"All right, Teela," Man-At-Arms said with a weary sigh. "You're old enough to know your own mind." Coming over to stand beside her, he put his hands on the sides of her shoulders. "It's hard for a father to let his little girl grow up. Harder still when he sees her stumbling, knowing how the fall will hurt. But you have to walk life's road on your own. I only hope that you won't regret the path you choose this day. That's all." And with that, he pulled her into an embrace, clasping her tightly in his arms until Teela feared that her ribs would crack. Then, just as abruptly, the hug was over, and her father had disappeared into the suite's rear chambers.

Still feeling slightly numb from his impassioned speech, Teela headed back to her own rooms. More than few of the people that she passed in the halls whispered into their companions' ears and craned their necks to get a better look at her. But she was determined neither to be embarrassed, nor to allow any of the anxiety that she felt to show. She would behave as if nothing untoward had happened. She'd serve her duty shift as always, and then…

Then I'll find Adam and tell him everything. I know I hurt him dreadfully last night, but he'll understand once I explain why I have to leave. It will be humiliating to admit how I feel, but Adam will be kind. He always is. Why, he must have girls falling in love two and three times a week. We'll both have a good laugh about it, and maybe we can still be friends.

Growing tried of the curious stares that she was garnering, Teela decided to take a shortcut through one of the guest wings. Maybe, after a time, I can convince Adam's that I'm over him, she thought, with a strange combination of hope and sorrow. Then we can go back to being good friends, like we used to be. If I keep living with Father and find a job in the city, I'd still be able to spend time with Adam. Or… maybe… just maybe… if I grovel enough… if I'm sorry enough… maybe he could learn to – The captain shook her head sharply, rubbing her eyes so hard with the heel of her hands that she nearly walked into a wall. Stop it, Teela! She commanded herself as she stumbled gracelessly around a corner. You're getting ahead of yourself. First you have to make up for what you've already done. Adam always takes everything so much to heart. He's probably holed up in his room with the lights off. He might even be –

Teela came to a dead halt. The prince wasn't in his chambers. He was standing not fifteen yards down the corridor. Standing, in fact, in the open doorway of the Queen of Mystacore's guest suite. And Castaspella was with him. Dumbstruck, Teela had only enough sense left to duck into an alcove before they saw her. Peering around the edge of the curtain, she watched in horrified silence as Adam lifted the Etherian witch's hands to his lips and kissed them each in turn. Castaspella's girlish giggle echoed down the long hall, seeming to fade far too slowly, and Teela found herself gritting her teeth. Oh, yes, Adam's completely devastated, she thought in wry fury. I can see just how much I've really hurt him. Why, I've never seen him look so totally miserable!

When the prince stepped into the wizardess' chambers, Teela could bear no more and dashed out of concealment, sprinting down the hallway lest she be spotted by one of the lovers. With her newfound speed, she made it to her own rooms in no time at all. She fought the lock, finally managed it, and bulled her way inside to collapse crying on a chair. How long she stayed there, alternately cursing the prince's name and bemoaning the fact that he didn't love her, she wasn't certain. But eventually nature's call, insensible to heartache, roused her from her mire and set her on her feet again. She emerged from her bathing chamber a half-hour later, clean, properly dressed in her uniform and determined not to shed a single tear more. She still had two hours to kill until her shift began, so Teela began to straighten up her rooms, an endless monologue monopolizing her thoughts.

Castaspella can have him. Let her deal with his flightiness, his cowardice, his unreliability, his immaturity. Let her wrestle with his willful disregard of his duty as a prince of Eternia. Yes, she thought. That's the way to look at it. Good riddance to him. I'll get past this. I'll get over him. I can't imagine what I ever saw in him. He-Man is a hundred times the man that he is, a thousand times the warrior.

And then, shifting a pile of laundry off her bed, Teela saw it, a large bundle wrapped in brown paper, sitting on her bedside table, propped against the wall. It was a meter tall, two-thirds of a meter wide and at least a decimeter thick. Adam's present. Unbidden, her feet carried her closer, and, before she quite knew what was happening, the package was laid out on the bed, and her hands were tearing at the paper. He was so eager for me to see this. Beneath the paper was a protective layer of muslin and beneath that... a painting in a frame.

Two children, one tow-headed, the other with hair the color of flame, were sitting on a log in meadow, their arms around each others' shoulders, their faces raised to the sky overhead, the smiles on their faces as dazzling as the sun that shone down upon them. Teela remembered that camping trip. Somewhere, in fact, she had this very image preserved in a holocube. Her own father had taken the picture. Adam… well, he must have had the painting done from that original image. Her eyes strayed downward, searching for the artist's signature. When she found, all the breath went out of her at once. It was signed simply, "Adam." He'd painted it himself, with his own hands.

Overwhelmed, Teela gaped at his neat autograph. She hadn't even known he could paint. But this dual portrait was quite good. Not a master work perhaps, but it was lively, full of light, and happiness and love. And, it must have taken him weeks to complete it. Swallowing hard, she let her eyes roam over the frame, a glistening dark wood, relief carved with a forest motif. She ran her hands alone the edges of the frame, feeling the leaves and trees, the animals and birds. Then, absently, she turned it over and discovered an inscription written in Adam's hand upon the back.

Of all the gifts you have given me,

It is the joy of your friendship

I treasure most,

And the sound of your laughter

I carry in my heart.

For a moment the room spun dizzyingly as Teela forgot to breathe. Then, with a strangled cry, she let the painting fall back to the mattress and dashed from the room. She had to find him. She had to tell him everything. She had to tell how she felt… before it was too late. She raced to the prince's rooms, knocked on the door, then pounded when there was no answer. In the end, believing that he might be hiding from her, Teela used her own security codes to break into the room. But he was not there. She hurried next to Queen Castaspella suite, knowing the humiliation she courted and not caring in the slightest. Once there, she wasted no time on knocking, but used her codes to enter the suite straightway. But the wizardess and her prince were not there. The rooms were empty, devoid of any sign that they'd every housed a guest, in fact.

"Where are you?" Teela begged, her plea unheard by any save herself.

Cursing, she ran from Castaspella's bed chamber only to find herself confronted by a servant when she reached the outer sitting room. "Oh, Mistress Teela," the girl cried with a small squeal of nervousness. "You startled me." She placed a hand melodramatically over her heart, and gazed at the captain with wide eyes.

Her patience strained to the breaking point, Teela grabbed the girl by the shoulders and just stopped herself from shaking the creature. "Where are they?"

"Who?"
"Castaspella and Adam! Where are they?"

Trembling, her pupils huge, the girl stammered out, "They're departing from the practice courtyard, Mistress. They should be leaving at any moment."

Heart racing faster than her feet, Teela released the hapless servant and ran for the courtyard. NO! she screamed. NO! He's can't be gone! Not to Etheria! Not with her! Elders and Ancients, please! She must have looked quite mad, for courtiers and servants alike scattered before her. When at last she turned down the final corridor, she saw only a small party waiting ahead – King Randor and Queen Marlena, Princess Adora, Orko and Cringer – no doubt there to see them off. She had no breath left for shouting, but she ran as fast as her feet would carry her, rushing toward that sunlit courtyard. As she neared it, she saw Cringer walk over to stand beside Adam. Then, when Teela was still a good five meters away and hidden in the shadows of the hall, the wizardess took Adam's hand in hers, placed her other hand upon Cringer's furry green head, and they vanished in the blink of an eye.

There was a strangely weightless sensation in Adam's stomach, as if were falling from some high place. It was nothing at all like traveling through one of the Sorceress of Grayskull's portals. For one thing, during those journeys, the prince was aware of his surroundings, even if they were a bit chaotic. When you stepped into a portal, you didn't simply step out again on the other side. The Sorceress had once explained to him that it was like walking through a long, underwater tunnel. The portals were merely the doors on each end of the tunnel. Traveling to another world under Castaspella's control, however, was an entirely different experience.

The world around him was utterly black. Not the darkness of a nighttime sky or a closed room, but truly and completely black. He couldn't even see his own body, and only the slight queasiness of his stomach reassured him that it was still there. But what this mode of transportation lacked in visual stimuli, it more than made up for in an overabundance of sound.

It was great deal like standing in the middle of a hurricane, with whole buildings flashing past… except Adam could feel no wind. There was also a rhythmic thumping that sounded somewhat like a drum and echoed all around them. Them, of course, being a relative term since the prince couldn't actually tell if the queen of Mystacore was still standing beside him or not. He suppressed a twinge of nervousness – Casta would never abandon me in a place like this – and concentrated on his breathing. Unfortunately, it was about that moment that it occurred to him to wonder if there was any air in this strange never land.

Just when he was on the verge of true panic, the world popped back into place around him with the sudden force of a blow. Adam slumped to his knees, breathing hard, his heart pounding a sharp tattoo in his breast. That's what that drum sound was, he realized. It was my own heart. I wonder if the hurricane was my breathing? A small, strained laugh escaped his lips, and he covered his face with his hands.

"Oh, Adam, my darling, I'm so sorry," Castaspella said worriedly, dropping to her knees beside him. "I should have warned you. Traveling the ether sometimes takes people this way, especially if they've never done it before. Should I fetch the physician? Can I get you some honeyed tea? What about a hot water bottle, or would you prefer – "

Adam got to his feet without displacing the wizardess' hold on his arm. Smiling wanly down at her, he said, "I'll be fine in moment, Casta. I don't need a physician, I would like some tea, and I can't imagine where I'd put a hot water bottle. I feel as if I've been swimming around in an arctic lake, cold and shivery all over."

Slipping her arms all the way around his waist, Castaspella smiled mischievously up at him. "Well, then, we'd better see what we can do to get you warmed up," she purred. Pulling back, she produced a steaming cup of tea out of thin air, handed it to him and took him by his free hand. "You need a long, hot bath."

Looking around him, Adam saw that he was standing in middle of an enormous bedroom. There were five doors scattered across the room, all of them closed. A collection of softly upholstered chairs was gathered around a fireplace on one wall. Opposite it was the largest bed the prince had ever seen. Situated on a raised platform, the bed was round and easily twice as wide as his own bed at home. The linens were the deep, rich color of old gold, and the creamy white canopy that hung over the bed was trimmed with thread of gold. There was an overabundance of pillows of all shapes and sizes in shades from dark rose to a faint blush. Garlands of pink roses climbed the bedposts like trellises and wound around the frame of the canopy.

It was the frothiest, most inherently female confection that Adam had ever seen, and he was struck by an overwhelming comprehension of just whose room he was standing in. "Are these," he cleared his throat. "Are these your chambers?"

Castaspella nodded, and started to draw him toward one the doors. "Now, let's get you that bath."

"Not here!" he protested shrilly. "Surely not here!" He knew he was being ridiculously modest considering that he'd all but promised to spend his life with this woman… but he'd never had a lover before and it was all dreadfully embarrassing.

What will the servants think? What will the courtiers think? Has Casta brought lovers home with her before? It was an unsettling thought. He knew she wasn't a virgin as he had been, and he certainly didn't hold that against her, but the idea of being one in a string of her inamoratos was distressing.

The wizardess laughed her tinkling, bell-like laugh and leaned her head against his shoulder for a moment. "No, darling, not here. Your own quarters are just down the hall from mine. It was simply easier for me to bring us here because I know these rooms so well." Her eyes twinkled as she said, "Besides, I wanted our first few moments in Mystacore to be private ones. I'm sure you can understand why."

Adam opened his mouth to reply, but before he could say a word, she was kissing him. It was amazing just how many different ways to smooch there really were. For this time was nothing like either of the previous occasions on which she had kissed him. It was playful, heart-rending and intensely possessive all at once. After one startled moment, Adam kissed her back, eagerly joining in her frenzy while trying to keep the tea cup from spilling. The bath would have to wait.

Idly kicking at a scuff mark on the hallway floor, Adora contemplated life at the Eternian court without Adam. It was certain to be both boring and nerve-racking, a bad combination overall. Without her brother there to guide her behavior, the princess knew that she would make an endless series of mistakes. Eventually, irritation would win out over parental affection, and her mother and father would become genuinely annoyed with her for the first time in her life.

Adora was not looking forward to that.

Nor was she looking forward to having to explain to Seahawk exactly why it was that she had to remain on Eternia. She couldn't, in all conscience, tell him She-Ra's secret, so he'd have to settle for royal obligation, and he was bound to choke on that. She could just hear the bitingly sarcastic comments now. I hope Adam realizes how much I love him, to do this. She sighed. I owe my dear brother so much. I just hope Castaspella can make him happy. If only Teela hadn't been so frightfully obtuse. If only she hadn't behaved like such a shrew. She must be blind. All of them are… utterly blind.

She was so lost in her own thoughts that, before she even knew it, she'd arrived back at her own rooms. Going inside, she continued to run over one nightmare scenario after another. The image of her fathering yelling, "You're a coward just like your brother!" was particularly distasteful.

"Adora?" The word was a half croaked, half sobbed.

The princess' head snapped up, her eyes widening in surprise. Teela, the captain of the Eternian guard, was sitting on a couch in Adora's sitting room, crying into her drawn up knees. Her eyes were swollen with crying, and her cheeks flared red. She did not present a pretty picture, and the princess' heart went out to Teela despite the captain's typical pig-headedness.

"Teela, are you all right?" she asked, going over to sit beside the other woman.

The captain turned a teary-eyed gaze on her. "Does he love Castaspella?"

Adora blinked furiously for a moment, shock emptying her mind of all thought. Teela apparently took her stupefaction for reticence, for she grabbed Adora's hand. "Please tell me!" she begged. "Please! I have to know! You're his sister! His twin! I know he'd tell you how he really felt! Please!"

Giving herself a little shake, the princess said, "I'm not certain. I know he's very fond of her, but I'm not sure that even he would call it love yet." Teela made a choking little sob and jerked away. Adora let her cry for a few seconds while she battled with her own conscience. "I – I know he has feelings for you as well, Teela."

The captain's sobs broke off as if throttled. She raised her head and locked gazes with Adora, staring fixedly into the princess' eyes with a look of such intense, half-mad desperation that Adora genuinely feared for the other woman's sanity.

"He has feelings for me? He told you?"

With a tremendous sigh, Adora said, "Yes, he told me. In fact, he once told me that he loved you. He said you were the only woman that he could imagine spending his life with. But that was before – "

"Before Castaspella!" Teela snarled, leaping to her feet and beginning to pace the room. "How dare she pursue him in this way! How dare she love him! How dare she see what a – "

"Wonderful man he is?" Adora finished for her. Teela stopped in mid-pace and seemed to deflate as she nodded sadly.

"Now I've lost him… " Standing in the middle of the room, her bedraggled hair hanging loosely around her head and shoulders, Teela began to cry once more. She buried her face in her hands, not so much trying to stifle the sobs as trying to block out the all too painful world that surrounded her.

Teela's muscles all seemed to let go at once and she dropped to her knees, crying out her broken heart. Couldn't she have figured this out a little sooner? Adora thought tiredly. She felt for the other woman, but there was also a certain karmic justice in it all, considering how much pain Teela had caused Adam over the years. The captain had earned her pain as far as Adora was concerned. Unfortunately, that didn't stop the princess from feeling sorry for her. Worse, hurting Teela would hurt Adam, since Adora knew very well that her twin was still desperately in love with the fiery captain of the guard.

My nieces and nephews are going to be overly sensitive, hot-tempered scholars who commit serious mayhem on the battlefield. What an interesting life these two are going to have as parents. Mother should enjoy watching them flounder while Father tries to offer sage advice. Ah, well…

Dropping to her own knees beside Teela, the princess put her arm around the other woman's back. "It's not too late, Teela. They're not married yet."

"But, by the time they come back from Mystacore, if he even comes back at all… "

Adora ground her teeth, trying to suppress her aggravation. "So go after him… now!"

"But how?"

"I'm fairly certain that, if you ask her nicely, the Sorceress of Grayskull would be willing to create a portal to Etheria for you. How do you think Adam gets there when he comes to visit me?"

"I've never been to Etheria," Teela said thoughtfully, clearly considering the notion. "I wouldn't know my way around, but if I was to go straight to Mystacore, all I'd have to do is find Castaspella's castle."

"That's true. Or, if the Sorceress sends you to the Whispering Woods, you could ask one of the rebels to show you the way. They're all extraordinarily fond of Adam, so I'm sure you'd have no trouble at all finding a guide."

"Still," Teela moaned. "I've made such a hash of things. What if he won't see me? What if they got married the minute they got there? What if… what if he just doesn't love me anymore?"

The princess gave Teela's shoulders a small squeeze. "There's only one way to find out. So why don't you – " Before she could even begin to enumerate her suggestions, Teela was up and moving. She dashed out of the princess' chambers, leaving a startled Adora sitting on the floor, her shirt damp with the other woman's tears.

Typically impetuous, she reflected. I've done all I can. The rest is up to them. She chuckled. If Teela does manage to win him back, their lives will never be dull.