Well, I got a few PM's recently. Some of you feel as though I should wrap this story up soon. While that is not my intentions, I'd like to hear what others think. I have a lot planned that hasn't even come close to happening, yet. I have multilayered plots going on, but I suppose I could break them up into sequels but probably won't. NOT to say that I won't listen to your opinions, which is why I'm asking for it, LOL. Anyway, thanks for the recent reviews. Let me know if you're still enjoying this story and want it to continue…
Teela's Visitor Chapter 52
The palace was still buzzing by the time the Royal Family had finished eating their breakfast. In fact, things were more chaotic now than they had been earlier. As soon as Adam stepped foot into the corridor, he was surprised to see carpenters, seamstresses, and maids hustling towards the Royal Hall. He was even more surprised to hear what some of the ladies in the groups were saying:
"Can you believe it? It's finally happening!" "I know. Prince Adam is getting married! You know that's why King Randor has us cleaning the suite!" "I knew it wouldn't be too long before he popped the question to Teela. He's been in love with her since they were kids."
Adam stole a side glance at his wife and mumbled, "Do you think everyone knew how we felt about each other except for us?"
"It sure seems that way," she answered.
At that moment, Queen Marlena stepped out behind them and answered, "It was so obvious! You two were inseparable from a very early age. At first, Randor had believed Teela was filling a subconscious void you had felt at Adora's absence, but I knew differently. You were always so fascinated by her even when you were toddler, and the looks you always gave her when you got older could not be mistaken for sisterly affections."
Adam blushed with a small grin. "No, I didn't feel brotherly towards her at all."
Marlena laughed, walked between them, and slipped her arms through both of theirs. She pushed them forward and said, "Well, we might as well get the ball rolling with all of these decisions we have to make. The first things to decide on are the decorations and the colors for the wedding. That will give us an idea for the apparel needed and the like."
Adam knew instantly that his mother was pushing them towards her sitting room. Undoubtedly, she had plans to keep them there for at least the next couple of hours, but unfortunately, he couldn't afford that right now. "Mom, I'm afraid I need to take a rain check on that."
The queen frowned at him disapprovingly. "You're going to skip out on your own wedding preparations?"
He winced when he realized how that sounded, but Teela quickly defended him. "Well, to be fair, Your Highness, Adam did arrange our first wedding all by himself and did a fantastic job. I suppose it's my turn now."
He grinned at his wife and countered, "Not at all. I'll be back by soon. I simply wanted to talk with your father after breakfast, remember?"
"Oh, yes," she agreed. "You should run along and do that."
He nodded in agreement and looked back at his mother. "I'll be back soon, Mother, and then you can have me for the rest of the day unless something comes up." Without waiting for an answer, he trotted off after Man-at-Arms so she couldn't stop him and question why he had to talk to his mentor.
When he stepped into Duncan's workshop a short time later, Adam saw him standing at his workbench, picking up his rock softener invention. "What are you going to do with that?" he asked curiously. Duncan had made the rock softener to destroy boulders in fields workers needed to use for crops and things of that nature, but it was hardly the right season to be planting, so he wondered if something was wrong with it.
Duncan turned to the prince and asked, "Have you been outside since you hit your head?"
Adam wrinkled his brow and replied, "No."
"The dragon and what we had to do to stop it left quite a mess in its wake. Some walls and buildings have crumbled. I think to clean it up, it's simply going to be easier to destroy the rubble and bring new materials in."
Adam stepped forward and said, "But wouldn't it save money to use some of the old materials if we can?"
"Yes, if we can, but…"
He shook his head and said, "It's not a big deal, Duncan." He took the Power Sword from his back and yelled, "By the Power of Grayskull…"
When he was He-Man, he smiled. He hadn't realized it until now, but he had still had a slight headache from his concussion, but now that he was He-Man and that dull pain was no longer there, he could feel the difference. He looked at his mentor and stated, "He-Man can salvage what we can use again. Then, you can use the rock softener for everything else."
Duncan nodded once and began to step away to presumably lead outside, but He-Man reached out a hand and grabbed his shoulder. "Hey, this isn't the reason why I came. I wanted to know what happened at Castle Grayskull. We never had a chance to talk about that."
"Oh!" Duncan said as he set the softener on a nearby table. "So much has happened since then that it slipped my mind."
He-Man nodded in agreement. "Yes, which is why I came while I could. The queen already wants to kidnap me for the foreseeable future. She almost got me before I could get here."
Man-at-Arms laughed and said, "I'm sure she is very excited. You can't blame her."
"No, I don't."
Duncan's smile soon faded and he replied, "The Sorceress didn't really have any new information besides what you know. She believes, like we do, that Durriken and Skeletor will work together to bring Morgoth back to this dimension. How they do that is the question we must ask ourselves."
He-Man sighed and said, "Undoubtedly, it will involve sorcery of some sort. That has me worried, because it could happen at any time if that's the case. In my vision earlier when I pumped my head, I saw Durriken and Skeletor. If we hadn't won earlier, they would have shown up to the palace. That means they've already agreed to work together." He shook his head. "We can't let them prevail, Duncan. I have so much to lose now: Teela and A.J. Losing either is unfathomable."
Man-at-Arms placed his hands on his hips and asked, "What do you think we should do?"
Groaning, He-Man shrugged animatedly. He flung his hands up and exclaimed irritably, "I don't know! I'm at a loss! This is a little out of the usual realm of things! I feel like I should go to Snake Mountain and separate them!"
"Separate them?"
He nodded. "Yeah, they can't work together if they're physically not together. I want to take Durriken and keep him as far as possible from Skeletor. And, of course, I'd be able to talk to him about everything. Maybe we could convince him to drop all of this nonsense, but I know that's probably wishful thinking."
"Maybe it's not such a bad idea, He-Man. Maybe we should go to Snake Mountain instead of cleaning up." He looked around the room and asked, "Where's Cringer?"
He-Man shrugged and replied, "I haven't seen him since this mo…" He paused. "Actually, I haven't seen him since dinner last night. He wasn't at breakfast this morning." He began to look worried.
Duncan didn't notice He-Man's expression. He merely commented, "If we are to go to Snake Mountain now, I think we should have Battlecat with us, wouldn't you agree?"
"Yes," He-Man said, looking towards the door. "I'll go find him." Without waiting for a response, he left the room hurriedly. He went to all of Cringer's usual spots to take naps throughout the palace and couldn't find him anywhere. When all that failed, he stood in the middle of the hall and wracked his brain for other places to look. The truth was he was worried and it was nearly overwhelming him. He realized then that he had been a horrible best friend and pet owner recently. He'd left Cringer to his own devices pretty much since Teela and he had gotten together, and now he realized that maybe the feline hadn't been as supportive as he pretended to be the few times they had been together…
Or maybe something had happened? That was entirely possible and likely. Never before in their lives together did Cringer choose willingly to stay away. Something was wrong.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he realized maybe Orko knew something. Besides himself, Orko would be the next person on the list that his friend would like to hang out with. The Trollan wasn't in his bedroom, so He-Man immediately went out into the courtyard and called for him. He was taken aback by the destruction that he saw there—large boulders, walls, and pieces of rubble littered the ground everywhere inside and outside the palace gate—but he couldn't let that stop him from his current mission. He had to find Cringer!
Orko had the hearing of a hawk. He could hear from miles away, so He-Man knew he would catch the jester's attention eventually.
Within several minutes, he was relieved to see Orko floating towards the courtyard from outside the palace gate. Then, he frowned when he saw that Cringer was not with him.
"He-Man!" Orko cried worriedly. "Is something wrong?"
He-Man nodded and asked, "Have you seen Cringer? I can't find him anywhere! I'm worried."
Orko rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at the ground. "Uh, Cringer?" he questioned. "Why are you looking for him?"
The Trollan's response interested He-Man. It was obvious Orko knew something, because he wasn't suddenly worried about his friend being missing. In fact, it almost seemed like Orko wanted to avoid the conversation. Playing along with Orko's line of questioning, he answered, "I need to go to Snake Mountain. Durriken is there and I want to separate him from Skeletor. They're out to destroy my relationship with Teela and I wanted to take Battlecat with me. Besides, I haven't really spent any time with him recently. I wanted to rectify that."
"Oh, well…I don't know," Orko muttered.
"You don't know what?"
Orko shrugged and replied, "I don't know what to say."
Deciding to be blunt, he stated, "Orko, I know you know something. I can tell. Do you know where Cringer is? Take me to him!"
"He-Man," complained Orko. "I made a promise to Cringer."
Astounded, he took a step back. "You made a promise to Cringer to what? Not tell me something? Since when has Cringer ever hidden anything from me?" He felt tears swarm to his eyes, but he tried his best to hide them. He didn't do too good of a job, though, since he felt one slide down his cheek. He rubbed it away irritably and said, "Well, I guess he wouldn't want to go, then. I'll go back to Man-at-Arms and…"
"He-Man!" Orko called out as He-Man walked away. He flew in front of the hero and waved his hand. "It's not what you're thinking."
He-Man looked down at the ground and shook his head. "You don't know what I'm thinking, Orko. I think I've been a horrible friend and neglected Cringer, you, and everyone else. I've been a little blind to everything besides Teela recently and that's completely my fault. I know that. I can understand why Cringer would be mad at me and now he's giving me a taste of my own medicine. I…it's okay."
"It's not that," Orko insisted. When He-Man began to walk away, Orko called his name again to get him to stop. When the hero didn't, Orko snapped his fingers and yelled, "Miggle maggle wiggle way, make that strong man want to stay!"
He-Man let out a surprised gasp when he suddenly found his feet stuck in some kind of sticky goo. While he could move his feet, he couldn't move too far. He twisted his body as far as he could and called out a little angrily, "ORKO!"
Orko flew over with a laugh and said, "That's not quite what I wanted, but it will do."
He-Man stared at him, none too enthused, and replied, "Let me go! I have to go to Snake Mountain. I don't have time to hang out here."
Orko shook his head and responded, "Let me take you to Cringer, He-Man. I told him he should have told you, but these things are never easy to share. Maybe he'll be appreciative that I did it for him."
"What is it?"
Orko chuckled and said, "You'll see! Let's grab an AttakTrak!"
=)=)=)
The trip to the Vine Jungle took far longer than He-Man would have liked. He knew Duncan was probably worried and wondered where he had gone, but he just had to find out what was going on with Cringer. Orko's reaction to everything had calmed him down a lot, though. The jester laughed from time to time, which meant it couldn't be too bad…he hoped.
They had been traveling in the jungle for a good thirty minutes before Orko told him to get the AttakTrak to stop. Once they were outside the vehicle, Orko flew to his side and whispered, "I don't know exactly where he is, but he'll be around here somewhere."
He-Man was surprised. He didn't think his cowardly companion would ever seek to go to the jungle by himself. What had possessed him? Then, he realized maybe Orko had gone with him and his calling earlier had made Orko leave. This was quite a distance away from the palace, but he knew it was still possible.
Watching Orko float away, he followed him quietly. After walking around for about five minutes, Orko dropped to the ground at the bottom of a hill and looked back at He-Man. He brought a finger to his scarf where his mouth was and shushed him. He then waved his hand to motion for him to come over. Going along with Orko's theatrics, He-Man crouched down and made his way to the hill. Slowly, they made their way up the embankment.
On the other side of the hill, there was a clearing and He-Man saw something that made him gasp and then smile. There was Cringer with another green and orange tiger, and if he wasn't mistaken, his feline companion was a female.
Instantly, He-Man rolled over on his back and stared up at the trees above him. He chuckled and tried to keep the reaction as quiet as possible. It figured—it really did—that Cringer would find a love interest now, of all times possible. He knew then that this cemented some of the images he had seen of the future. More than likely, A.J. would have a feline companion during his early youth and gratefully, it would be Cringer's offspring, just like he had hoped.
Crawling back down the hill, He-Man walked several feet away, lifted the Sword of Power, and changed back into Adam.
Orko flew over and cried, "Adam, what are you doing?"
"I want to meet her as Adam, not He-Man."
"Are you crazy? That's a wild tiger! She barely tolerates me!"
Adam gave several soft pats to Orko's back as he walked by. He walked up the embankment and stood there. Neither tiger noticed since they were pouncing at each other playfully and rolling around in the grass. He walked down to the clearing and sat at the bottom of the hill. Cringer was laughing while the female cat growled. Adam didn't know how but he could tell it was a playful growl and she had no intention of hurting Cringer.
It was only a matter of seconds, though, before the female tiger knew something was wrong. She started smelling the air and then turned to look to her left. Her eyes met Adam and instantly, she arched her back and let out a fierce growl as her hair spread out wildly in every direction.
Cringer looked over and widened his eyes when he saw Adam. Instantly, he jumped in front of his feline companion and growled.
Immediately, the female relaxed her stance, but she stayed away as Cringer approached them.
"Adam! Wh-what are you doing here?" He then glared at Orko.
Orko laughed nervously, but before he could explain, Adam answered. "Don't blame Orko, old buddy. I was really worried about you. I couldn't find you anywhere, and I thought maybe you were angry at me for spending so much time with Teela. Orko didn't have a choice really. I thought you possibly...didn't want to…spend time with me anymore or something." He widened his eyes as he looked at the female. It suddenly dawned on him that it was still a possibility. Maybe Cringer would want to stay in the jungle with his friend. Maybe he'd want to stay indefinitely. "Uh, I mean…" He looked around frantically. "I don't know what you want now. I just…I had to see for myself that you were all right."
"I'm f-fine, Adam," Cringer muttered as he brushed his paw back and forth against the grass several times.
He nodded and stood. "Well, I guess I should leave. Like I said, I just wanted to make sure you were okay."
"What about Snake Mountain?" Orko asked loudly.
Adam closed his eyes and wished Orko would have kept his mouth shut. He reopened his eyes and said, "It's not a big deal. I'll go alone. I hope to see you at some point today, Cringer, if you can." He started to walk up the hill when Cringer ran in front of him.
"I'll…I'll go to Sn-Snake Mountain if you need me to, Adam. Would you like to meet her before we leave, though?"
Adam's brow rose. "Does she want to? Her reaction when she saw me wasn't exactly friendly."
"You s-startled her," Cringer stated. He walked down the hill again and growled at the female. When she growled back, he turned to look at Adam and motioned with his head to walk over.
Adam stood at Cringer's side as the female tiger approached slowly. When they were within reaching distance of one another, Adam asked, "Does she have a name?"
"Not a human one." He growled at her and she responded in kind again. "She says you can give her one if you wish."
"Oh!" Adam said slightly surprised. He hadn't expected that one. "I don't know, Cringer. What do you think?"
He shrugged his two front legs and replied, "Well, sh-she doesn't cringe or run from f-fights, so anything like that is off the table."
Adam smiled as he thought about her earlier reaction to him. She had been ready to fight at a second's notice. "That gives me an idea," he said. "I'm not saying this should definitely be her name, but I'll call her 'Casidhe' for the time being. It means 'brave.'"
Cringer growled at Casidhe and she nodded her head in what Adam assumed was acceptance of the name.
Kneeling down so they were at eye level, Adam said, "Hi, Casidhe. I'm Adam. I'm Cringer's best friend, but I'm sure he told you that."
Cringer growled at her a few times and she spoke back.
Cringer turned to Adam. "She says it's nice to meet you and that she's heard a lot about you."
"Hopefully good things?" Adam questioned.
"Of course, Adam," Cringer said. He then spoke to Casidhe and she stepped forward. She rubbed her head under Adam's fingers and he immediately scratched behind her ears like he did with Cringer all the time.
"I told her you would do that and that she would like it," Cringer said.
Adam knew she did like it, because he could feel and hear the enormous purr erupting from her body. He grinned as he looked at Cringer and said, "I guess this answers my question if other tigers like you can talk, too. I guess your ability might really be from Castle Grayskull?"
Cringer shrugged. "I don't know," he replied. "So, are we going to Snake Mountain?"
"Only if you want to. You can stay with Casidhe. I don't want to intrude. I know you really don't like doing these things or turning into Battlecat."
Cringer looked back at Casidhe and stated firmly, "Well, w-we haven't done a lot together recently. I'll make an exception to my usual reluctance for once."
Adam laughed as he stood. He was glad that he now knew what was going on with Cringer and that for once, his friend would go with him to Snake Mountain willingly. Afterward, he couldn't wait to tell Teela the news! Cringer had a girlfriend, which in turn would one day give A.J. his feline companion. He could already imagine her surprise when he told her. He grinned happily.
=)=)=)
I know. There were hardly any moments with Teela! Sorry! And since I have a slight headache, I'm not sure how well this chapter reads, but I hope you liked it anyway! Let me know, please!
