And right after the next chapter, this happened!
The Sorceress Receives a Visitor of Her Own.
Contrary to what most thought, the Sorceress of Greyskull was every bit as mortal and frail as the next person. This meant that even she would and did succumb to exhaustion and slumber. She was always careful to take her rest only after casting select runes and charms upon herself and her private chambers, lest those things that dwell in the places between waking and death might find egress from the latter to the former through her dreams.
And, as with all mortals, Teela'na did dream. Oft times they were as incoherent and strange as any experienced by peasant and noble alike. One such dream that had been recurring of late where she was adrift in a wine-dark sea, towering waves of which threatened to consume at every breath. Yet, in these moment, Teela'na found herself far more afraid of the equally towering shape that bobbed and weaved just beyond her sight. The fleeting moments when conscious recall of the images came to her, the Sorceress was hard pressed to understand the fears this invoked, the emotions being far stronger than any of her normal anxieties or doubts (which, despite decades of discipline and meditation, she still had many). The wisdom of the Elders offered no guidance there, thus she would simply chalk it up to another gift of her frail, priceless humanity.
That one dream aside, there were legion more that simply left her sleep disquieted or less-than-restful. Those she found to be the more annoying.
Despite her seclusion within Grayskull, The Sorceress was well aware of events both great and mundane across the land thanks to the various scrying stones one of unnamed predecessors had wisely scattered across the world. She had attended carefully the movements of both her daughter and her husband since their awakening and return to public life, picking out small clues about their conduct and manner that risked tripping them at inopportune moments; thankfully both the looming start of the Open Court, combined with their being in near-constant movement for preparations of the same, gave a ready excuse for whatever small disquiet their new selves invited. To watch them move with such studied ease and perfect synchronization was utterly exhausting in itself; how the Palace staff managed to keep pace with them was a mystery.
It was the night before the Open Court was to convene, and Teela'na had retired to her bed early having observed the whirlwind that was Prince Adam finalizing the million small details that went into the opening night. Only the harsh scowl of his wife pulled him from his desk, must to the obvious relief of the Maid of the Court and her staff. Her eyes closed and mind stilled almost before her head reached the pillow.
No sooner had this happened than Teela'na started awake, certain her chambers were no longer occupied by herself alone. She remained still and calm, unwilling to give whatever intruder now watched her the smallest opening. Through close slitted eyes, Teela'na sought out sight of said intruder, and was so startled by the sight that greated her she was sitting up, eyes wide and staring, before conscious thought could hold her back.
The intruder was a frighteningly massive specimen of humanity: arms thick as the branches of the oldest-growth trees, body equally thick and perfect in physique, the smooth, bald dome of the head catching and reflecting the sparkle of the moonlight from above. As did the jeweled pommel of the massive, double-headed battle-axe his outstretched hands rested upon as the infirm would lean upon a cane. But what commanded all attention and focus were the impossibly familiar eyes that likewise shone through the room's dim gloom; they were the same shade of topaz blue she would behold in mirrors and scrying pools, and were the same that had beheld her but days earlier, when her daughter told her so very much of the life she had lived in what to herself and Eternia had known but a few short days.
Blue met blue, and Teela'na swallowed the spit in her mouth so that her vocal cords could could squeeze out a name that by all rights and decrees should have been...impossible.
"Huru?" Teela'na asked, frightened and awed. "Is that you?"
The massive figure inclined his head, eyes never leaving hers. The smile that curved 'neath his ferocious beard was equally unmistakable.
Teela's description of her middle son came to mind: He could stride amongst the legs of giants or be lost in either forest or fog, yet the boy would be unmissable. Oh, he was strongly built like his father, but with Huru it was always more his manner than his muscle that called one's eyes to him. 'Twas as if he shone with inner light brighter than the noontime sun. Yet he would never shout nor demand when he spoke. Heh, compared to him, Nyssa and Marr were chatterboxes who would never stay quiet!
The Sorceress of Grayskull eased herself to the edge of her bed that she might gaze upon her grandson in a more dignified manner. She moistened her throat once more and asked "Wh...why have you come here, Huru?"
The giant did not dign to answer her with voice, but rather with action. He stood and swung his axe upwards in a graceful arc, its long handle coming to rest on his shoulder. There was such speed and ease in the movement that Teela'na instinctively flinched, her eyes momentarily diverted as a result. She chided herself a fool for thinking herself in danger and quickly looked up, apologies upon the tip of her tongue.
The room, however, was empty. The Sorceress felt a chill shudder through her as one might when confronted by a specter of prophecy. One of the stories Marlena had brought with her from Earth came to mind, but which of Dickens's troika of Yuletide ghosts her grandson was meant to embody escaped her.
Such aimless thoughts left her not a moment later when she caught a flash of movement just beyond her bedroom door. There was no hesitation this time, and no caution in her stride as quit both bed and rooom to pursue the giant who strode down the corridors of the ancient fortress.
"Huru...Huru, wait!" The Sorceress would call to him time and again, knowing full well it was pointless for, in his own way, Huru was indeed waiting upon her. Oh, she always trailed way back in his wake, but never once was he fully out of sight as he led her deeper and deeper into the fortress's interior. Were she not so focused upon keeping him in her sight, Teela'na would have realized exactly where he was leading her, a realization that would have sent her fleeing in the opposite direction.
Doubtless Huru knew or at least sensed this, as he led her on a merry chase down corridors that cross-crossed each other many times over, easing her towards the goal to which he'd been tasked.
When, at length, The Sorceress was left well-winded and slightly dizzy from the lengthy pursuit, which left her all the more surprised when Huru ceased the chase and stood as a sentinel in the deep shadows of the corridor he'd led her to. His great axe held before him as like an old man's cane, the double-headed blades resting upon the floor and his massive palms again resting upon the upturned pomel. His eyes however shone clear in the darkness, and they regarded her with a dangerous intensity.
Squaring her shoulders and forcing herself to meet his gaze forthright, Teela'Na asked "Why are you here, grandson?"
There was no missing how his cheeks again crinkled in a delighted, infectious grin at the acknowledgement of kinship...only for it to fade quickly into a scrowl of warning that commanded The Sorceress's full attention. She barely even noticed when he again effortlessly swung the axe upwards, this time to hold it parallel to the floor with a single hand, pointing its blades further down the corridor. His eyes had been pulled from her's and gazed in that direction as well. Thus The Sorceress did likewise look to there...and felt her heart and very soul run cold at the sight there.
It was simply a door at the end of the corridor standing ajar, one looking no different from the thousand other such doors one might pass either within Grayskull or outside its walls. Yet Teela'Na recognized it immediately as something more, her feet tottering towards the barely-open threshold entirely of their own accord. She passed the shadow-shrouded giant without a word or glance, her sight and attentioned consumed by the faint greenish glow that pulsed and flickered in the narrow appature. "That door..." her voice muttered independent of conscious direction. "That door...it cannot...cannot be opened...save by..."
She neared the impossible sight, the glow from beyond the door pulsing strong and stronger as she approached, all sense of self and control lost to that glow. Her senses reasserted themselves when she was but a handful of steps from the door, and her first instinct was to turn and flee. Yet all Teela'Na could do was turn her head and gaze back at her grandson, unsurprised yet saddened that he was no longer in sight. Beyond her gaze, the door swung fully open, this being felt deeply in both her core. The instinct to flee what was awaiting her there was so strong as to be overwhelming.
Taking a fortifying breath, she turned back to face the baleslight that pulsed and grew and consumed all. A single pulse after, and she herself was consumed by it...and within that ethereal light was waiting her...
Teela'Na, the Sorceress of Greyskull, awoke with a start and a desperate gasp, fingers instinctively forming powerful wards and shields that she might protect herself. Finding herself once more in her own bedroom, she allowed herself a breath of relief, only to have it die in her throat that same moment as she caught sight of a new addition to her spare chambers. Her attention was so transfixed upon...it...that she was only distantly aware of her daughter's telepathic entreaty.
Mother? Mother, can you hear me?
Somewhow Teela'Na managed to make her voice work. "Yes, Teela," she responded aloud, more to convince herself she was actually awake, even with evidence to the contrary literally staring her in the face.
We are coming to Greyskull. Adam, myself, father, and the King and Queen. Teela informed her, tone and pitch clearly communicating their arrival was not open to debate. Perhaps to soften the demand, she added Something has happened at the Open Court, Mother. Something we all must discuss.
"Yes," The Sorceress nodded, eyes still fixed upon the singular object that fairly dominated her focus: a mighty double-headed battle axe that occupied one of the simple chairs against the wall nearest the door.
"Yes," she heard herself repeat. "We have...very, very much to discuss."
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