Chapter Sixteen
For the first time since meeting Adora, Prince Adam realized just how much the young woman's life had changed. After all, in less than one week she had become She-Ra, defected from the Horde, met her real family, been abducted for the second time in her life, escaped from Snake Mountain...
Maybe it's all finally caught up with her, he thought. This was the only reason, in his mind, for why Adora- sensible, rational Adora- was standing in the middle of his room at Ancients only knew what time of night, excitedly whispering a story that made no sense. Adam rubbed the sleep from his eyes and tried to follow Adora's frenzied tale. Something about Hordak...someone named Lena...their mother...Lena was their mother...
"Stop." Adam threw up his hands and shook his head, whch was already beginning to throb with the beginnings of a headache. "What are you talking about?"
Adora placed her hands on her hips and glared at him. "Were you even listening to me?"
"Do you even know what time it is?" he countered.
"Why does that matter?"
"Because this story will make a lot more sense when I've had about nine more hours of sleep."
"There's no time for sleep!" Adora yelled.
"Shhh!" Adam hissed. He glanced anxiously at the door. "You'll wake Father!" Then tempt him with false hope, he thought. This was something Adam could not allow to happen.
Adora sat down on the edge of the bed, balling the thick covers up in her hands. "We have to help her, Adam. We have to save her."
"Save who, Adora?" Adam asked gently. "Some woman you think might be our mother?"
"She is our mother, and we have to go rescue her, before it's too late." Adora frowned and looked down at her hands. "If it's not already too late," she murmured, and shuddered.
"It is too late, Adora." Adam said softly. "Eighteen years too late."
Adora looked up and stared at him through narrowed eyes. "You don't believe me?"
"Don't you see, Adora? This is exactly what Hordak wants. He wants you to walk right back into his clutches. He wants you to risk everything, even your very life, in the desperate pursuit of a woman who died long ago." The prince leaned forward and took Adora's hands into his own. "Listen to me, Adora. Our mother would want you to stay here, with your family, where it's safe. And if this woman, Lena, truly cares about you, then she would want the same thing."
Adora gripped Adam's hands and looked imploringly into his eyes. "You are absolutely right, Adam." she whispered. "My mother and Lena would want the same thing for me, because they are the same person." She withdrew her hands, stood, and began backing toward the door. "I am sorry you don't believe me, but I understand how you wouldn't. After all, you did not hear her voice as you lay dying. But I did. She was alive then, she was alive three days ago, and she might just be alive right now." The princess turned her back on her brother and opened the door.
"Where are you going?" Adam asked. Adora looked over her shoulder. A feeling of dread settled in Adam's stomach when he saw the determined gleam in his twin's eyes.
"I'm going to save our mother, Adam." Adora said, a note of finality in her voice. "The way she once saved me."
"Wait!" Adam leapt up and rushed to his sister's side, almost stepping on Cringer in the process. He caught her by the shoulders and spun her around to face him. She frowned.
"What?"
Adam ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. "I'll come with you," he muttered.
Adora's face instantly brightened. "Really?"
"Sure. I still think this is all some insidious plot of Hordak's," he continued in a stern voice, "but I will not let you go alone."
Adora threw her arms around him. "Thank you." she whispered in his ear. She pulled away and smiled at him. "I know you'll believe me once you see her." The smile faded, tears sprang to her eyes, and she muttered, "If it's not too late."
Adam still did not believe that what Adora was saying could be true, but at that moment, he prayed with all his heart that the woman named Lena was still alive. He knew that Adora would never forgive herself if she was not.
Somehow, Adam convinced Adora that they should wait until morning to depart for Castle Grayskull, and then to Etheria. "We need to plan this out." he argued. "And we really shouldn't leave without telling Father something."
The siblings did not sleep at all that night, and they were the first ones in the dining room the next morning, where they rapidly consumed their breakfast while darting anxious glances at one another and at their father.
The only person who noticed the twins' suspicious behavior was Teela. Duncan and King Randor were discussing that day's scheduled meeting with the Royal Council, which was expected to last all morning, and late into the afternoon. Teela glanced down at Cringer. She deduced that the large cat was not involved in whatever plot Adam and Adora were hatching, since he was eating quite happily from a bowl by his master's feet.
"Father?"
Randor looked over at his daughter, who had waited for a lull in her parent's discussion before addressing him. "Yes, Adora?"
"I would very much like to see some of the land surrounding the palace." She said, smiling sweetly. "Would it be alright if Adam showed me?"
"Of course." Randor agreed readily. "When were you planning on leaving?"
"Right after breakfast."
"Sounds good." The king took a sip of his water, swallowed, and added, "Take Teela with you."
"I think Teela is busy." Adam said. He looked over at his childhood friend, pleading with his eyes. "Aren't you?"
He doesn't want me to go, the redhead realized. At that moment, an army of shadow beasts could not have kept Teela from accompanying the royal heirs on their 'tour.' "Not at all." She grinned maliciously. "I'm free all day."
They saddled three Stridors- the mechanical horses that were another of Duncan's many inventions- and galloped away from the Palace immediately after breakfast. The twins chattered to one another, and to Teela, as if nothing at all was wrong. Yet they set an almost frantic pace, and Teela soon realized that they were headed straight for Castle Grayskull.
"That's it!" Teela said, interrupting a seemingly innocous discussion about Eternian flora and fauna. She stopped her metal steed and glared at Adam and Adora. "I'm not going any further until someone tells me what is going on."
The prince and princess looked at each other and sighed as one. "We're going to Etheria, Teela." Adora answered reluctantly.
"Etheria!" Teela's eyes narrowed. "Does this have anything to do with what we talked about last night?"
Adora nodded. "Hordak was telling the truth."
Teela frowned. "So Lena was lying the whole time?"
Adora's brow furrowed. Clearly she had avoided thinking about this. "Yes." She said finally, "She lied to me."
"Please don't tell our father, Teela." Adam said. "You don't have to come with us. In fact," he glanced over at Adora, who was chewing her lower lip, "I think we'd prefer to go to Etheria alone. But this is so important to Adora, and I won't let her go alone."
"Why not just tell your father the truth?" Teela asked, even though she already knew the answer. King Randor had suffered enough over the years, and it would be cruel indeed to raise his hopes.
"We need to keep going." Adora said then. Her face had settled itself back into the calm mask she normally wore. "Are you coming or not?"
Teela looked down at her com-link, considering. She could lose her post over this. Then she thought about the quest she had once taken to find her own mother. She had come away from that experience knowing nothing more than that her mother, whoever she was, loved her deeply- but that knowledge had been, and still was, enough to justify the journey.
"I'll go to Grayskull with you. And I won't tell your father." She smiled sadly. "After all, everyone should have the chance to meet their mother."
The trio made the rest of the journey in silence. No one spoke again until they were standing in the throne room of Castle Grayskull. Adora explained everything to the Sorceress, who listened impassively to the entire account. When the princess finished her tale, Grayskull's mistress asked Adam and Adora to accompany her to another part of the castle. Teela was surprisingly agreeable to being left alone.
They walked to the same room to which the Sorceress had followed the Sword of Protection. "I wish I could tell you if your mother still lives, Adora." The Sorceress's low, majestic voice filled the underground cavern. "Your destiny has always been tied to Eternia's, yet I only felt a connection to you three times in eighteen years."
"But you'll help me?" Adora asked anxiously. "You'll open the portal to Etheria?"
Grayskull's mistress nodded. "Of course, Adora. Your need to know your mother is great, and justifiable. Everyone should have the chance to meet their mother."
Adora glanced over at Adam, who gave her an 'I'll explain later' look. They stepped back as the Sorceress created the mystic gateway. She looked over at them, smiling wearily. "Are you ready?"
Adora stared into the portal. Beyond the swirling shadows lay the answers to the questions she had been asking all her life. Beyond the mist, dead or alive, was her mother.
"I've been ready."
Days started early in the Whispering Woods. There was always food to gather, uniforms to mend, herbs to grind into poultices for wounds... By midmorning Marlena was walking back to the camp, carrying a large basket of fruit. The others who had accompanied her into the grove were still filling their own baskets, working at a leisurely pace. Marlena, however, was too accustomed to the frenetic pace of the infirmary. She had plucked fruit from the trees like a woman possessed, though by what she refused to consider.
Queen Angella had informed her yesterday that Hordak had returned to Etheria, alone. For some reason, the Etherian queen had seemed to know how much Marlena needed to hear this. She was right, too. Marlena no longer stumbled through her chores, too focused on what might be happening worlds away to notice Queen Angella studying her. Now as she approached the camp, Marlena saw her hostess standing in the cool shadows of the trees, speaking to two people whose backs were turned to Marlena. Queen Angella caught her eye, and Marlena ducked her head. She walked into the food tent and placed the basket on the ground. The fruit would be made into jam, which would then be spread onto the bread the camp's residents ate for breakfast.
Light suddenly flooded the tent. Marlena turned, surprised, and saw that someone had pulled open the flap of the tent. That same person was standing in the entrance, a black figure silhouetted against the bright sunlight, holding back the flap of the tent. Marlena was suddenly reminded of her nightmare. She stepped back, wincing when a basket scraped her ankle. The flap was dropped, and the person stepped into the dimness of the tent. Marlena's chest tightened when she saw the face of the woman standing before her, the achingly familiar blue eyes that seemed to be really seeing her for the first time.
The woman stepped closer, pushed a strand of shining gold hair from her face, and smiled nervously.
"Hello, Mother."