Chapter Two: "Meetings and Partings"

Passing over the Fertile Plains, Stratos could feel the tips of feathers grow cold. He shook his wings a bit, getting the blood flowing into them, then pumped to keep them moving. "I hate the cold," he said straight-forwardly.

To his left, Buzz-Off grinned. "No kidding? Only a few months of it, Stratos, and then it'll be spring again."

Stratos gruffed. "Only a few months . . . at least you have the warmth of the Hives of Insectia."

"Warm in the winter, cold in the summer. You should consider moving in with us."

"No, I believe our peoples have spent enough time living together in the deepest caverns of the Mystic Mountains."

Buzz-Off nodded. "Yes . . . and thank you for that. If I were in your place, I'm not sure if I would taken charge of your people as well as my own. Thank you."

"Yes, well, I'm sure you would have."

The pair neared Eternos now and dove from the clouds, towards the Palace. Snowflakes swirled around them as the details of Eternos became clearer. Still recovering from the Second Horde War, Eternos was swiftly being rebuilt. Avions and Insectoids had agreed to help in the reconstruction, granted that Eternos aid in the restoration of their homes.

It was an easy treaty, one that was going to be expanded on during this conference. Stratos could see the different banners from the kingdoms gathering at the Palace gates: Moriana, Arcadia, Lizardia, Tree-People, Cave-People, Fantus, Aquatica, Morigor, Ice Kingdom, the Golden Isles, Tahrin, Ahberron, and both North and West Eternos.

Stratos reminded himself that Stephan and Johanna had arrived a little earlier than the others, hoping to spend some 'family time' with their nephew and niece - Adam and Adora.

Both Stratos and Buzz-Off landed, and were immediately greeted by Teela. "Welcome back, gentlemen," she opened with a smile.

From behind her, Addison peeked out and smiled. "Hi Unca' Stratos."

Stratos smiled and walked over to the child. He lifted him up. "Greetings young Addison! How are you today?"

"Good," the four-year-old answered. "I went to school today!"

"Really?! And what did you learn?"

"I learned that you're a Avon!"

Stratos laughed. "That's an Avion, young man. But you're close enough."

Teela took him. "He was so excited. He wanted to tell you in person," she said, holding her son. "He misses your bedtime stories."

"Well, I'm scheduled to remain here for a few days. Maybe I'll have the chance tonight. Would you like that, Addison?"

"Yeah, Unca' Stratos."

Stratos rubbed the boy's hair. "I'll see you then."

"Well," started Teela, "they'll be meeting in about an hour. I'd love to stay and chat, but it's somebody's nap - "

Addison pouted. "No nap."

"- and it looks like I'll have my hands full. I'll see you after the meetings. Bye, Stratos, Buzz-Off."

"Teela, Addison."

Buzz-Off nodded. As she carried Addison off into another part of the Palace, the Insectiod turned to Stratos. "It's so weird."

"Oh?"

"Seeing Teela with a child. It's just so . . . odd."

"Change is a constant in our lives, Buzz-Off."

"You can say that again."

The pair walked towards a large set of stairs that led to the meeting tower. It was the highest tower in all of Eternos, and was used many years ago for meetings between peoples. Out of the entire Palace and city, it was the least damaged during Hordak's attacks.

At the top of this tower was large, round meeting table. There were no walls to the meeting room, only glass windows so as to view beyond Eternos to the horizon of Eternia. Adam sat at this table, looking over a few notes and papers. When Buzz-Off and Stratos arrived, Adam looked up with surprise.

"Buzz-Off! Stratos! Good to see you. You're a bit early, but that's all right. Please, have a seat. The others should be coming at any moment," Adam said, seeming a bit tense. "Would you like anything to drink?"

"No, thank you," Buzz-Off answered, sitting down at his designated chair.

"You seem stressed, King Adam," Stratos observed.

Adam smiled at his two old friends. "I am stressed, yes. More nervous than anything else, though. I'm concerned about the meeting. A lot of old enemies are going to be sitting down here. It's not something that's going to be easy to swallow - on both sides."

"You're also going to have a lot of old friends here, Adam," Buzz-Off assured him. "Don't worry about it too much. Things will be fine."

Adam nodded and leaned back in his chair, surprised at just how much those words actually affected him.

Adora walked along the corridors of the Eternos Prison, and eyed the occupants of the cells. The Snake Men and the Horde Elite were all kept under lock and key, of course, but she wanted to know. What did they know about the disappearance of the other races? They were here - on Eternia - when it happened. If any of the them, it could HELP her quest

Bow stood at the end of the corridor, his good eye looking carefully at his enemies in the cells. "Bow," addressed Adora. "Did you ask them? Are any of them willing to talk?"

He shook his head. "No. None of them. Most of all, him." Bow pointed to Grizzlor. This didn't surprise Adora. It was Grizzlor who had taken Bow's eye. "Of course, I can't say that I've really taken it upon myself to be completely civil with him."

She rested a hand on Bow's shoulder. "Take it easy, old friend. I've got to get to the meeting. Why don't you get someone else to handle the rest of your shift?"

Bow nodded and Adora left him with a frown. As she exited the prison, a welling amount of sorrow filled her stomach. Here she was on Eternia, working to bring order to chaos - when her own world was transformed into a wasteland. Light-Hope's power was working hard and freeing it, of course, but at what cost?

Adora had kept herself busy while here on Eternia, in the vain hope of not thinking about Etheria. In her own way, Adora was trying to help Eternia and therefore feel better about not being able to help Etheria. That was why the growing obsession about finding the lost peoples of Eternia was so important to her.

Entering into the Palace, she was soon joined by King Stephan of West Eternos and Queen Johanna of North Eternos. Adora had the chance to be with her aunt and uncle earlier in the day before heading to the prison. Both had been held in their respective castles when Hordak attack. Unlike their brother - and Adora's father, Randor - and his wife, they were trapped on Eternia and had no chance to escape.

"Any luck asking the prisoners?" asked Johanna.

"None," answered Adora. "Not yet, at least."

Stephan gruffed. "Not surprising, really. Like they would divulge ANY secrets."

"You never known, uncle. Maybe I can beat it out of them."

With that, the entered the meeting room. Adam smiled and waved his arms out. "Excellent, you've arrived," he greeted. The table was filled with the other representatives - including Icer, Lodar and Batros.

"Now, if you'll take your seats, we'll get started . . ."

"Damn stupid robots and their damn stupid tech," muttered Duncan as he walked along the lab in the Central Tower. Despite keeping their database, all other Horde technology was being ripped out of the lab by Duncan. For all the evil it did - it had no place in the presence of good.

Careful of his injured leg, Duncan bent down and crawled beneath a computer junction. As he started to work at disconnecting it, a loud alarm began to go off.

Duncan snarled and pulled himself out from the junction. Reaching for his cane, he hoisted himself up and limped over to the location of the alarm - an interstellar detection array. It was a new invention, installed by Horde technicians. It was next on the list to be removed, although Adam was reluctant about it.

His fingers pressed against the keys, and he silenced the alarm. "I wonder what set that off," he wondered aloud and immediately went to answering that question. On the screen before him, a map of their solar system appeared - and revealed something at it's boarders, heading towards Eternia.

Duncan recognized this 'something' and made for the door. Adam needed to be notified at once.

"You MUST be joking, Hordak!" laughed King Hiss. "A attack force against Darksmoke?! Ha! You can't even get a scouting party up there without Granamyr burning you to a crisp."

Hordak snorted. "Hiss, you have no idea what this war was about," the former Horde leader replied. "The First Horde War a moral one. Assaulting Darksmoke was a symbol that the Horde feared nothing."

"Bah! It's foolish!" King Hiss snapped. He wheeled closer to the glass of his cell. "No, the way to take down Darksmoke is to take the surrounding kingdoms and consolidate power through all the other conquered regions. That way, he'll have no choice but to attack - but with such a firm hold on the rest of Eternia, Granamyr will fall."

Since their capture, King Hiss and Hordak were stuck debating war tactics while sitting across from each other. Their prison was located underneath a mountain about a mile from Eternos. Their cells were set parallel from each other, separated by eight feet. Three sides of their cells were pure, thick metal and the sides facing each other were glass (with option blast doors). To keep from accessing their powers, a device not unlike Skeletor's old magic stealer was placed beneath the floor, siphoning it from them.

Hordak prepped his counter-argument, but a sudden sharp pain seared his brain. Hiss smiled, knowing what it was.

"So, it's true then," Hiss whispered.

"Silence, Hiss!" snapped Hordak, his good hand on his forehead.

"He's coming back . . . the big bad brother is coming to Eternia . . ."

"I SAID SILENCE!"

As King Hiss began to cackle and laugh, Hordak spun around slammed his fist against the door-shut panel. A thick metal door slid over the glass, hiding him from King Hiss's view. But it didn't matter, the laughter was still heard.

"No," Adam stated as straightforward as possible. "We will allow you, Lodar and the Kobloids to return to your city - but the anti-slavery laws will remain in place."

Lodar slammed his fist onto the table. "You have no right - "

"He has every right," Princess Rana of Targa spoke.

"Our kingdom was twice besieged by slavery - once by the Kobloids, then again by Ahberron," her sister Raya pointed out.

"I stand by King Adam," Batros said then.

"You - ?!" gagged Lodar.

"Yes," Batros sneered. "Tell me, Lodar, what's to stop you from coming into my kingdom and enslaving my people? I agree with King Adam on this subject."

"Lodar, either you abide by these rules or there will be war," Adam told the Kobloids. "We'll be doing monthly inspections to make sure you're following these laws."

Lodar didn't answer, but Adam was certain he had Lodar's answer pegged. The Kobloid had no choice in the matter, really, and was tired of herding his people through underground caves.

"Okay, next up on the agenda - "

Just then, there was a sudden knock at the door. Adam excused himself and opened it. Man-At-Arms stood there, looking like he was about un-load some serious news on the newly-appointed king.

"Just one moment," Adam said to the representatives. He stepped into the stairwell and shut the door behind him. "What is it, Duncan?"

"My apologies, but there's been . . . an interesting development."

"What?"

"Horde sensors have detected something at the edge of the solar system, passing by Phantos as we speak and heading to Eternia."

Adam's eyes grew wide, and his heart skipped a beat. "Can you identify what it is?"

"Ships. It's hard to get an estimate, but it appears to be a large convoy," Man-At-Arms answered. "Whoever they are, though, they began transmitting an encrypted message to Eternos. I've never seen it before, but I'm guessing you have."

Man-At-Arms handed over a computer pad. Adam looked over its contents and nodded in shock. He looked back at Man-At-Arms. "This changes everything," he said.

"I figured as much. Then it's who we think it is?"

"Yes," Adam answered. "Primus."