Chapter XXV: The Aftershock
In her dream, someone was stroking her hair and gently humming. She sighed happily, not remembering when the last time had been that anyone had done this. She did not think to ask who it was, and to her it didn't matter. Idly, she tried to discern what song was being hummed, and realized there were words sang as well. A low, soothing voice that sounded eerily familiar, though she couldn't quite place it, filled her ears with words she didn't understand.
Until she did, she had been quite happy to remain believing it was a dream. But as the soft voice hovered near her forehead, Teelina realized what was being sung, and who was singing it. Slowly, leisurely, she opened her eyes and yawned.
Moria smiled tenderly at her, the paler woman's face inches from her own. She was resting on one arm, her head slightly suspended above the pillow adjacent to Teelina's own. Her other hand was poised above the Sorceress' head, gently stroking her long, red locks in a slightly maternal fashion. She was covered with the blanket that graced the top of the bed, as Teelina herself was. However, it was obvious from the younger woman's standpoint that the elder Dereskian was not wearing anything else. As the white-haired woman noticed the redhead's eyes open, she smiled gently, pausing in her singing. "Good morning, Teelina," she said softly, her voice low and calm.
The younger woman averted her eyes as Moria adjusted her position, more and more of her flesh becoming exposed as the elder woman stretched out her body. Resisting the urge her own body felt to stretch, the redhead instead cleared her throat, responding in a very civil tone that lacked any affection, "Good morning."
Lady Moria laughed slightly, her eyebrows rising at Teelina's reaction to her nakedness. Slowly, she moved her hand over the younger woman's cheek, lifting her chin so their eyes met. "This is no time to be getting shy, love," she said gently, a smile on her lips. She slowly slid her hand beneath the blanket, caressing the Sorceress' bare stomach.
Teelina's eyes widened as she became aware of her own nudity. She blushed and curled up in the blanket, the memories of the previous night suddenly dawning on her. Moria chuckled softly, her eyes twinkling.
"Did you think you had dreamed it, dear?" she questioned, bringing her lips over the younger woman's earlobe and nibbling gently.
The younger woman tried to respond as a shudder of pleasure coursed through her. "Yes..." she whispered. She sighed gently, looking back at the elder woman. "But I hoped I was wrong."
The elder Dereskian smiled back at her, releasing her earlobe gently. "It's good to know that I haven't lost my touch..."
This elicited a small laugh from the younger woman. "I don't think there was any fear of that after all of last night, Moria," she replied, smiling tenderly at the older woman. There was not a trace of her earlier resistance shining through her, and Teelina wondered why she had ever felt it necessary to defy the older woman as much as she had.
"You give me too much credit, dear," the elder woman responded, smiling and continuing to stroke Teelina's hair. "After all, you were only begging for the last three times," she added, laughing.
Teelina groaned at the memory, her eyes smiling. She decided it would be best to change the subject before she gave Moria any other ideas. "Did you stay here all night?" she asked, turning to lie on her back and look up at the ceiling.
Moria smiled at her, her fingers still playing with Teelina's hair. "No, love. Once you were asleep there were... pressing matters that needed attention, but I returned shortly after I left."
"And what did you do then? You don't sleep, so I imagine the night would have been fairly dull," Teelina commented, looking over at the elder woman questioningly.
Moria rolled over towards her, and smiled as the younger woman snuggled in next to her. "Not at all, dear. What's boring about having a beautiful woman asleep next to you?"
The Sorceress smiled at the compliment, stroking the elder woman's cheek gently as she was so used to having done to her. "Do you think we'll regret this after you leave today and we have time to think about it?" she questioned after a moment.
The elder woman tried to hold back a laugh. "I was just about to ask you the same thing, ainle." She smiled gently, twisting her head and kissing Teelina's palm as it stroked her cheek. The Dereskian word for 'angel' hummed in the air as they both thought about the quandary. "I doubt it, personally," Moria continued turning to face the younger woman. "After all, I've been wanting to do this for some time. And you cannot tell me you never really wanted to after all those years of my seduction."
A small blush rose along Teelina's cheekbones as their eyes locked. "It's hardly my fault that you're so damned good at that.... But that still doesn't answer the question."
Lady Moria smiled gently at her lover. "Te lynïa... either we will or we won't. In either case, I am more at peace now than I have been in a very, very long time." She slowly kissed the younger woman's neckline, smiling at the soft gasp that arose from the other's vocal cords. "The future will be dealt with when it comes, love. Until then, why not just lie back and enjoy the present?"
"Mmmm..." the redhead exhaled, not wanting the Ancient Dereskian to stop by any means. "I think I can manage that...."
For that time, at least, nothing else needed to be said.
....................
Far off, in a place not accessible to the realm of the living, two lone figures sat by a pool of the clearest spring water. Reflected within its depths was not the purple haze of a sky that was above them, but instead it was another image entirely. In this instance, the image revealed in the pool was none other than what was occurring that instant in a certain bedroom of a certain old, gray castle in Eternia.
The figure on the left wore a smile, and the one on the left, a frown. Indeed, at first glance, it seemed the two women were complete opposites of one another. Where the one on the left was so pale you would swear her skin was completely absent of any hue, if not for her hair, which was so white it blinded you, the other had a darker complexion, with long locks of hair that was so brown it shown red.
Alessena, the white haired woman, smirked at her companion. "It seems our daughters have finally found each other, Zeena, daughter of Veena." Her voice was cool and calm, and her amethyst eyes twinkled, the same exact color as those of the woman reflected in the pool.
The Eternian snarled in return, her eyes low. "I wonder if your daughter knows she's having relations with a direct descendent of King Grayskull."
The Dereskian smiled. "I don't see why it would matter. That information didn't hinder me any, dear," she replied, winking. "But on that note, you could also question whether or not yours knows she's having relations with the last remaining scion of a Goddess' bloodline. Or, indeed, the one remaining link said Goddess has with the living world."
Zeena paused, her eyes locked on the image of her child and ex-adopted child, stretching her hand as if to touch the former. When she spoke, it was obvious her words were not meant for her companion. "I wish, for your sake, that I had been successful in my attempts to rid you of her...."
A small laugh broke free from the white-haired woman. "I sincerely doubt anything that you could have done would have kept my oldest daughter from that girl of yours. As she said, it was destined to occur. Especially after our little tryst, love."
"No preordained future kept me from killing you and your darling husband, Lessa," the former Sorceress spat, the nickname falling from her lips like a curse. "Or the rest of your damnable race, for that matter." She laughed heartily; the memory of those deeds happy ones to her mind.
Moria's mother's eyes began to whirl angrily, before the softest of chuckles escaped her mouth. "And yet, for all your plotting and successes, you are still stuck here among the Nine with all the rest of my people. Therefore, the very same people you worked so hard to destroy in life, you are now doomed to spend the rest of eternity among."
She rose and stood, a large smile on her lips as she indicated the pool. "Likewise, the very person you were trying to shield from Dereskian influence is now sharing her bed with arguably the most powerful of all our Queens, myself included." Alessena began to vanish before the Eternian's eyes, her laughter echoing in the air. "When all is said and done, my dear Zeena, which of us had the last laugh?"
After she had gone, the Eternian cursed loudly, her voice echoing over the seemingly endless sky. Never alone, but never with those I love, she thought to herself bitterly. Curse anything and everything that has ever been Dereskian and ever might be! And there, fuming in anger she had only brought upon herself, the Sorceress' mother remained.
.....................
Duncan worked away in his workshop, trying to discern exactly what had been done to the engines of the Master's flying machines. He had supposed at first that the engines' batteries had just been toyed with and would be very simple to fix. However, that simply was not the case. Whatever the Dereskian Queen had done, it had almost completely crippled the engines, and until he was able to get them back online, the Masters would have to resort to sky sleds for transportation.
As he worked, he let his mind wander, as he usually did when working. At times, such consideration of other items was an excellent way for him to keep his focus. In this particular occasion, his mind traversed back to the cause of his work: the most recent battle against Skeletor.
That battle, even on the ground, had been one of the most physically exhausting conflicts to date. He couldn't remember a more ferocious encounter. It seemed that all of Skeletor's minions had increased in power. He had found it more difficult than usual to defeat Trap-Jaw, and noticed that the other Masters had had similar problems. Even Clawful, who was usually considered the most easily defeated warrior, was more difficult for them to overpower. True, they hadn't attacked in a while, so he presumed they had just redoubled their efforts in training.
And then there was that light show over the castle. Man-at-Arms paused in his work at the memory. He had never seen such a massive display of power, Eternian or otherwise. He had looked up just after Moria had intervened, her amethyst fire seeming to rip the sky in half. He had looked on in wonder as the sun had been eclipsed in a phenomenon that could not have been natural. When the powers themselves had crashed, the cries of their casters had filled his ears with a sonic boom so massive he had felt his eardrums might explode.
Shaking out of his reverie, he suddenly wondered what had become of both participants. He remembered the great wave of her own power fall crashing over the Dereskian Queen, but could not recall seeing her after it had passed. He had thought, at the time, that this meant the Sorceress had won the battle, and so had not bothered to think about whether or not she had been injured.
Inwardly, he cursed himself for his foolishness, and raced off to the nearest sky sled he knew to be in operation. He felt an absolute churl as he powered up the machine and raced off. The Sorceress could be dead or dying in her castle, and he had not even given her a second thought.
Some of the Masters looked up at his departure, wondering where he was off to in such a hurry, but then shrugged it off. Perhaps he needed a few extra parts from the local mechanisms shop before he could fix the transportation devices.
As Duncan neared the castle, he paused, recalling that the Dereskian Queen had merely vanished above it, and could still be somewhere nearby. He raised his facemask and activated his mace and did a routine scan around the castle. Finding nothing, he called for the Jawbridge to open, and cautiously stepped inside the Ancient building. Moria could still be inside, after all.
As he neared closer to the throne room, and beyond, towards Teelina's personal chambers, he would soon marvel at just how correct that hypothesis had been.
In her dream, someone was stroking her hair and gently humming. She sighed happily, not remembering when the last time had been that anyone had done this. She did not think to ask who it was, and to her it didn't matter. Idly, she tried to discern what song was being hummed, and realized there were words sang as well. A low, soothing voice that sounded eerily familiar, though she couldn't quite place it, filled her ears with words she didn't understand.
Until she did, she had been quite happy to remain believing it was a dream. But as the soft voice hovered near her forehead, Teelina realized what was being sung, and who was singing it. Slowly, leisurely, she opened her eyes and yawned.
Moria smiled tenderly at her, the paler woman's face inches from her own. She was resting on one arm, her head slightly suspended above the pillow adjacent to Teelina's own. Her other hand was poised above the Sorceress' head, gently stroking her long, red locks in a slightly maternal fashion. She was covered with the blanket that graced the top of the bed, as Teelina herself was. However, it was obvious from the younger woman's standpoint that the elder Dereskian was not wearing anything else. As the white-haired woman noticed the redhead's eyes open, she smiled gently, pausing in her singing. "Good morning, Teelina," she said softly, her voice low and calm.
The younger woman averted her eyes as Moria adjusted her position, more and more of her flesh becoming exposed as the elder woman stretched out her body. Resisting the urge her own body felt to stretch, the redhead instead cleared her throat, responding in a very civil tone that lacked any affection, "Good morning."
Lady Moria laughed slightly, her eyebrows rising at Teelina's reaction to her nakedness. Slowly, she moved her hand over the younger woman's cheek, lifting her chin so their eyes met. "This is no time to be getting shy, love," she said gently, a smile on her lips. She slowly slid her hand beneath the blanket, caressing the Sorceress' bare stomach.
Teelina's eyes widened as she became aware of her own nudity. She blushed and curled up in the blanket, the memories of the previous night suddenly dawning on her. Moria chuckled softly, her eyes twinkling.
"Did you think you had dreamed it, dear?" she questioned, bringing her lips over the younger woman's earlobe and nibbling gently.
The younger woman tried to respond as a shudder of pleasure coursed through her. "Yes..." she whispered. She sighed gently, looking back at the elder woman. "But I hoped I was wrong."
The elder Dereskian smiled back at her, releasing her earlobe gently. "It's good to know that I haven't lost my touch..."
This elicited a small laugh from the younger woman. "I don't think there was any fear of that after all of last night, Moria," she replied, smiling tenderly at the older woman. There was not a trace of her earlier resistance shining through her, and Teelina wondered why she had ever felt it necessary to defy the older woman as much as she had.
"You give me too much credit, dear," the elder woman responded, smiling and continuing to stroke Teelina's hair. "After all, you were only begging for the last three times," she added, laughing.
Teelina groaned at the memory, her eyes smiling. She decided it would be best to change the subject before she gave Moria any other ideas. "Did you stay here all night?" she asked, turning to lie on her back and look up at the ceiling.
Moria smiled at her, her fingers still playing with Teelina's hair. "No, love. Once you were asleep there were... pressing matters that needed attention, but I returned shortly after I left."
"And what did you do then? You don't sleep, so I imagine the night would have been fairly dull," Teelina commented, looking over at the elder woman questioningly.
Moria rolled over towards her, and smiled as the younger woman snuggled in next to her. "Not at all, dear. What's boring about having a beautiful woman asleep next to you?"
The Sorceress smiled at the compliment, stroking the elder woman's cheek gently as she was so used to having done to her. "Do you think we'll regret this after you leave today and we have time to think about it?" she questioned after a moment.
The elder woman tried to hold back a laugh. "I was just about to ask you the same thing, ainle." She smiled gently, twisting her head and kissing Teelina's palm as it stroked her cheek. The Dereskian word for 'angel' hummed in the air as they both thought about the quandary. "I doubt it, personally," Moria continued turning to face the younger woman. "After all, I've been wanting to do this for some time. And you cannot tell me you never really wanted to after all those years of my seduction."
A small blush rose along Teelina's cheekbones as their eyes locked. "It's hardly my fault that you're so damned good at that.... But that still doesn't answer the question."
Lady Moria smiled gently at her lover. "Te lynïa... either we will or we won't. In either case, I am more at peace now than I have been in a very, very long time." She slowly kissed the younger woman's neckline, smiling at the soft gasp that arose from the other's vocal cords. "The future will be dealt with when it comes, love. Until then, why not just lie back and enjoy the present?"
"Mmmm..." the redhead exhaled, not wanting the Ancient Dereskian to stop by any means. "I think I can manage that...."
For that time, at least, nothing else needed to be said.
....................
Far off, in a place not accessible to the realm of the living, two lone figures sat by a pool of the clearest spring water. Reflected within its depths was not the purple haze of a sky that was above them, but instead it was another image entirely. In this instance, the image revealed in the pool was none other than what was occurring that instant in a certain bedroom of a certain old, gray castle in Eternia.
The figure on the left wore a smile, and the one on the left, a frown. Indeed, at first glance, it seemed the two women were complete opposites of one another. Where the one on the left was so pale you would swear her skin was completely absent of any hue, if not for her hair, which was so white it blinded you, the other had a darker complexion, with long locks of hair that was so brown it shown red.
Alessena, the white haired woman, smirked at her companion. "It seems our daughters have finally found each other, Zeena, daughter of Veena." Her voice was cool and calm, and her amethyst eyes twinkled, the same exact color as those of the woman reflected in the pool.
The Eternian snarled in return, her eyes low. "I wonder if your daughter knows she's having relations with a direct descendent of King Grayskull."
The Dereskian smiled. "I don't see why it would matter. That information didn't hinder me any, dear," she replied, winking. "But on that note, you could also question whether or not yours knows she's having relations with the last remaining scion of a Goddess' bloodline. Or, indeed, the one remaining link said Goddess has with the living world."
Zeena paused, her eyes locked on the image of her child and ex-adopted child, stretching her hand as if to touch the former. When she spoke, it was obvious her words were not meant for her companion. "I wish, for your sake, that I had been successful in my attempts to rid you of her...."
A small laugh broke free from the white-haired woman. "I sincerely doubt anything that you could have done would have kept my oldest daughter from that girl of yours. As she said, it was destined to occur. Especially after our little tryst, love."
"No preordained future kept me from killing you and your darling husband, Lessa," the former Sorceress spat, the nickname falling from her lips like a curse. "Or the rest of your damnable race, for that matter." She laughed heartily; the memory of those deeds happy ones to her mind.
Moria's mother's eyes began to whirl angrily, before the softest of chuckles escaped her mouth. "And yet, for all your plotting and successes, you are still stuck here among the Nine with all the rest of my people. Therefore, the very same people you worked so hard to destroy in life, you are now doomed to spend the rest of eternity among."
She rose and stood, a large smile on her lips as she indicated the pool. "Likewise, the very person you were trying to shield from Dereskian influence is now sharing her bed with arguably the most powerful of all our Queens, myself included." Alessena began to vanish before the Eternian's eyes, her laughter echoing in the air. "When all is said and done, my dear Zeena, which of us had the last laugh?"
After she had gone, the Eternian cursed loudly, her voice echoing over the seemingly endless sky. Never alone, but never with those I love, she thought to herself bitterly. Curse anything and everything that has ever been Dereskian and ever might be! And there, fuming in anger she had only brought upon herself, the Sorceress' mother remained.
.....................
Duncan worked away in his workshop, trying to discern exactly what had been done to the engines of the Master's flying machines. He had supposed at first that the engines' batteries had just been toyed with and would be very simple to fix. However, that simply was not the case. Whatever the Dereskian Queen had done, it had almost completely crippled the engines, and until he was able to get them back online, the Masters would have to resort to sky sleds for transportation.
As he worked, he let his mind wander, as he usually did when working. At times, such consideration of other items was an excellent way for him to keep his focus. In this particular occasion, his mind traversed back to the cause of his work: the most recent battle against Skeletor.
That battle, even on the ground, had been one of the most physically exhausting conflicts to date. He couldn't remember a more ferocious encounter. It seemed that all of Skeletor's minions had increased in power. He had found it more difficult than usual to defeat Trap-Jaw, and noticed that the other Masters had had similar problems. Even Clawful, who was usually considered the most easily defeated warrior, was more difficult for them to overpower. True, they hadn't attacked in a while, so he presumed they had just redoubled their efforts in training.
And then there was that light show over the castle. Man-at-Arms paused in his work at the memory. He had never seen such a massive display of power, Eternian or otherwise. He had looked up just after Moria had intervened, her amethyst fire seeming to rip the sky in half. He had looked on in wonder as the sun had been eclipsed in a phenomenon that could not have been natural. When the powers themselves had crashed, the cries of their casters had filled his ears with a sonic boom so massive he had felt his eardrums might explode.
Shaking out of his reverie, he suddenly wondered what had become of both participants. He remembered the great wave of her own power fall crashing over the Dereskian Queen, but could not recall seeing her after it had passed. He had thought, at the time, that this meant the Sorceress had won the battle, and so had not bothered to think about whether or not she had been injured.
Inwardly, he cursed himself for his foolishness, and raced off to the nearest sky sled he knew to be in operation. He felt an absolute churl as he powered up the machine and raced off. The Sorceress could be dead or dying in her castle, and he had not even given her a second thought.
Some of the Masters looked up at his departure, wondering where he was off to in such a hurry, but then shrugged it off. Perhaps he needed a few extra parts from the local mechanisms shop before he could fix the transportation devices.
As Duncan neared the castle, he paused, recalling that the Dereskian Queen had merely vanished above it, and could still be somewhere nearby. He raised his facemask and activated his mace and did a routine scan around the castle. Finding nothing, he called for the Jawbridge to open, and cautiously stepped inside the Ancient building. Moria could still be inside, after all.
As he neared closer to the throne room, and beyond, towards Teelina's personal chambers, he would soon marvel at just how correct that hypothesis had been.