Thank you to all that take time to review~ even if I can't understand it! You are all awesome! I'm happy I got time to write this chapter today! Enjoy...

"Teela!" Adam, Man-At-Arms and the Sorceress exclaimed in unison as they surrounded her prone form. The Sorceress placed her hands on either side of Teela's head and closed her eyes in concentration while Duncan and Adam each sat on either side of her and held her hands.

"She will be fine," she said softly. "I fear she is just emotionally overwhelmed right now. Perhaps I should have waited until tomorrow to do this."

"Is the baby all right?" Adam asked her in concern.

"The child is fine," she assured him. "Let's get her up to bed; she will most likely sleep through the night."

Adam gently lifted her and carried her to the room they'd used the last time they'd been in the old castle and placed her onto the bed.

The Sorceress made a gesture with her hand and in a flash of pale blue light, Teela was dressed for bed.

Adam lifted her again while the Sorceress pulled the covers back and then he placed her into the bed. "Thank you," he said.

"You are most welcome," the Sorceress replied. She made another gesture with her hand and their bags appeared on the table nearby. "We will leave you to your rest and see you in the morning."

Adam nodded as they left the room and moved to change into his own night clothes, watching Teela for any signs of her stirring as he did so. Once he was ready for bed he climbed in beside her and took one of her hands in his, kissing the knuckles softly. He settled in beside his sleeping wife, but found that sleep eluded him for many hours as he worried over her reaction to the revelation she'd received that night.

When he awoke the next morning Teela was not in the bed beside him. Thinking that she might be in the lavatory he climbed out of bed and checked in there, becoming concerned when she was not to be found. Dressing quickly he made his way out to the kitchen, hoping that he would find her there. When she wasn't in the kitchen he began to panic in earnest; it wasn't a good idea for her to be wandering around the castle alone.

Heading back towards where the sleeping chambers were, he was surprised to see Man-At-Arms and the Sorceress emerging from the same room and an eyebrow went up in curiosity when he saw them look first at him then nervously glance at one another, before returning their attention to him again. Putting off his questions for later, he moved towards them.

"Teela's not anywhere in our room or in the kitchen," he told them. "I have no idea where she could have gone."

The Sorceress' eyes widened and she closed her eyes for a minute before opening them with a relieved sigh. "She is with the Spirit of Grayskull," she told them. "The Spirit is speaking to her about what she learned last night; she will come to the kitchen for breakfast soon."

Adam sighed and nodded they all made their way to the kitchen.

Teela had awakened just after sunrise and looked around the room in confusion. As the night's events returned to her she frowned and climbed out of the bed, glaring at her sleeping husband. She grabbed the clothing she needed and went to the lavatory to prepare for the day and when she emerged, the Spirit of Grayskull was by the door looking intently at her.

"Teela," the Spirit said to her, "I know you are angry at them for keeping the truth from you, but I would ask that you come with me so that I can show you something that might help to calm the anger you feel and answer many of your questions."

Teela frowned and thought of refusing, but changed her mind and nodded. She slipped on her shoes and followed the Spirit through the dimly lit corridors of the ancient stone castle, down a flight of stairs into a room filled with old scrolls.

There was a stone pedestal in the center of the room with a deep marble basin in the middle of it, filled with what looked like water. A comfortable looking chair appeared beside the basin and a table with a teacup and saucer and a steaming teapot appeared beside the chair.

"Please have a seat and help yourself to the erimint tea," the Spirit said to her.

"Thank you," she replied softly as she took a seat in the chair and poured herself a cup of tea.

What appeared to be steam rose above the basin and solidified into a white screen of some sort and Teela looked at it with interest as an image of a young woman that looked almost identical to her appeared.

She was caring for a wounded soldier in one of the rooms of the castle. His head and one side of his face was bandaged as was most of his upper body and it was obvious that he was unconscious.

"Your mother had already been alone within the castle for many years," the Spirit told her. "The weight of the solitude was heavy upon her, but she never complained. One day a member of the royal guard collapsed outside of the castle, barely managing to call out for help before he fell unconscious. Your mother heard the call and brought him into the castle and healed what wounds she could. He was near death because his injuries were so great, so she was unable to fully heal him all at once, but she healed the worst of his injuries and cared for him the best she knew how. When he awoke he was still very weak, but as your mother cared for him he grew stronger and as they spent more time together, they fell in love."

Teela swallowed and took a deep breath. "My father?" she asked softly.

"Yes," the Spirit replied. "They went to a nearby village and were married by the magistrate when he was strong enough and then returned to Castle Grayskull. Your father returned to the royal guard, but every night and during all of his off-duty time he would return to the castle to be with your mother. They had been married for just over a year when there was a war between the kingdoms of Eternia and your father had to go and lead the soldiers. Your mother had also foreseen the coming of a great army from another world that would invade Eternia, and they realized that because of their individual duties they could not be together as they wanted to be. Your mother and I feared that he may not be able to perform the duties he would need to accomplish if he remembered their marriage and their love for one another so we erased his memories of their time together and he returned to the palace, but we did not know at the time that your mother had conceived."

Teela had frowned at this latest revelation, but she kept silent and listened.

"Your mother was thrilled to be having a child and she determined that she would raise you on her own until the day that Eternia was free and then she would tell your father of your existence and return his memories to him," the Spirit told her.

The image changed to one of the Sorceress cradling a tiny baby girl with bright red hair. She was laughing and playing with the baby and cuddling her close, softly telling her how much she loved her and speaking of her dreams for their future.

"Your mother loved you with her whole heart," the Spirit said softly. "You made her happy and kept the loneliness away, and you made the separation of her and your father easier for her to bear and gave her hope."

The scene changed again to one of Teela at about three or four months of age in a nest high up on a cliff. Merman and his goons were climbing up the side of the mountain trying to capture Zoar, who was fighting with everything she had to protect the child within the nest.

Man-At-Arms was climbing up the cliff and he managed to stop Merman and his thugs before he climbed up to the nest and looked down upon Teela. His eyes widened in surprise as the Sorceress told him that she could not keep the child safe and asked him to take her and care for her.

"Your mother had moved you to the nest after Castle Grayskull had been attacked and you had nearly been killed. She had managed to save you and defend the castle, but she knew that it was only a matter of time until something terrible happened because she had seen that the Horde~ the army that would invade Eternia~ would fall, but that one who was once a member of the Horde would rise to try to conquer Eternia and would cause a great deal of suffering. She also realized that you needed to be around other children and people, not locked inside a castle your entire life. So she called Man-At-Arms to come and when he took you from the nest that day, he promised to love and care for you as if you were his own child."

The image on the screen showed the Sorceress lying across her bed in the castle sobbing uncontrollably and then changed to show her over the years watching Teela in the magic mirror as she grew. The love her mother felt for her was clearly visible each time she watched her child, but so was the pain she felt at not being a part of her life.

"Your mother has always watched over you even though she could never be a part of your life," the Spirit told her. "When you came to the castle for the first time she was nervous and excited because she would finally get to speak to you. She has kept the secret of who she was from you because she feared that if Skeletor or another evil being found out that you were her daughter, they would stop at nothing to get to you and use you to obtain the power contained within the castle."

"Who was my father?" she asked the Spirit softly. "Is he dead?"

The image on the screen went back to the day that her father and mother were parting ways, when her mother removed his memories from him. This time, the image showed her father's face and Teela gasped in surprise.

"Man-At-Arms is your father Teela," the Spirit told her. "It was no random choice that your mother made when calling him to the cliffs that day and asking him to raise you. He has recently regained his memories and while he wanted very much to tell you that he is, in fact, your biological father, he could not do so without revealing who your mother is. They agreed that they would tell you when you could finally know the truth about your mother."

"So why am I finding out now? Is it because of what I did last night?" Teela asked.

"It is," the Spirit replied. "It was foretold that you would be the next Sorceress of Grayskull when your mother's time as the Sorceress was ended. Your mother has prayed fervently that your powers never awakened; that you be spared the loneliness and pressures of the Guardian. Now that they have awakened you must be trained to shield yourself from your enemies and you must learn to control them."

"But how can I be the Sorceress of Grayskull and the Queen of Eternia one day? How is Adam supposed to be He-Man and King?" she asked.

"Your destiny is not to be the Sorceress of Grayskull," the Spirit told her. "You will be a powerful sorceress and play an essential role in the fall of those that threaten Eternia and Grayskull, but there is another that is destined to replace your mother; it will not be long before the new guardian appears. As for Prince Adam being both king and He-Man… that will be revealed in due time."

Teela blinked as her eyes filled with tears and she swallowed hard a couple of times. "What do I do now? This is all so overwhelming."

"I will leave you to reflect on what you have learned," the Spirit told her softly. "If you want to see anything else about your parents, just think of it and it will appear on the screen. When you are ready to see your husband and parents again, just step out into the corridor and I will lead you to the kitchen where they are all waiting for you."

"Thank you," Teela said quietly as the Spirit disappeared. She sat for a while longer, watching images of her mother with her when she was a baby for the short time they were together. As she watched the image of the attack on Grayskull and her mother's desperation to save her and protect the castle, her hand went to her lower abdomen and she thought about what she would do in a similar situation. If it meant saving her child's life, could she give him or her up? Realizing that she would do anything to protect her child, she began to have a better understanding of the decision her mother had made~ and what it had cost her to make it.

Standing, she took a deep breath and moved to the door, glancing back once more at the image of her mother holding her close with tears streaming down her face just after the attack on Castle Grayskull. She opened the door and looked at the Spirit.

"Please take me to my mother."