Chapter Nineteen

King Randor should have been exhausted. Not only had he been in a grueling meeting for most of the day, but he had also been reunited with a woman he had believed to be long dead. Despite these facts, Randor had never felt more energized.

He stood against the doorway to his bedroom, watching Marlena as she moved around the dimly lit space. She stopped at the foot of the large bed, pressed her hand into the thick comforter, and bit her lip. Randor thought he knew why she was so anxious. He wanted to tell her that they did not have to sleep in the same bed just yet, that he would sleep in the garden if it made her feel better, but he stayed silent. Next, Marlena moved to the side of the bed and lifted the picture from the small table there. Her lips lifted in a sad smile as she ran a finger over the image. She gently replaced the picture and moved to the large window. She placed her hand against the glass and stared out at the night sky. Randor shivered. His wife looked so fragile in the moons' light, just like the ghost he had earlier thought her to be. He desperately wanted to know what she was thinking, for right now he felt that they were still so very far apart.

"May I go out onto the balcony?"

Randor frowned. Why was she asking such a question? Of course she could! Then he realized that Marlena was not asking if she was able to step onto the balcony, but if he would allow her to. For the first time he remembered that his wife had spent eighteen years imprisoned by tyrants; that she would have had to gain permission for every move she made, for every word she spoke. Randor met her pleading gaze and smiled gently.

"You may go wherever you wish, Marlena."

Marlena's fair skin reddened at the pure love in his voice. She held out a hand to him, a beckoning gesture. "Join me?"

Tears misted his eyes. "Always."

The breeze was cool on their faces. Randor tentatively wrapped his arms around Marlena, careful not to squeeze too tight lest she shatter in his arms. She leaned into the embrace and softly sighed.

"This is so beautiful," she whispered, "I've missed looking at the stars."

"I imagine the stars in the Etherian skies are different." Randor replied.

"That they are." Marlena agreed. "What little I saw of them-"

"'What little'?" Randor repeated. "Surely over eighteen years you would have seen a great many of them."

Marlena shook her head. "Hordak did not allow me to step outside the Fright Zone, or look out any of the windows. I never even saw the sky until four days ago." She immediately wondered why she had told him that.

Randor pulled her closer to him. "Oh, Marlena," he breathed. The thought of his wife, who had spent most of her young life in love with the heavens, being denied even a glimpse of the sparkling skies made his heart turn in agony.

"It's all right." She tried to reassure him. "Things might have been a lot worse." She stopped just short of revealing that they very often were.

"Did they hurt you?" He whispered the question into her hair.

Marlena thought about how careful Randor was when touching her, as if he thought she might be scared if he held her too tightly. She loved him for that, but she yearned for his touch. "Not in… not in the way I think you mean." She answered, and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"But they did hurt you?"

Marlena shrugged. "A few slaps and blows. Nothing serious."

He stepped back and gently lifted her chin so that she was looking into his face. She met his scrutinizing gaze without flinching.

"What they did to me," she said deliberately, "is nothing compared to the pain I would have endured if they had hurt our daughter. Adora was unharmed. That's all that matters."

"Marlena-"

She pressed a finger to his lips. "Let's not do this right now." She pleaded gently. "Later, perhaps, I'll tell you all you wish to know. But tonight, all I want is to look at the stars with you, and pretend that this is the way my life has always been."

He nodded. "Of course, my love."

Satisfied, she moved back into his arms. They stood that way for awhile, perfectly content to stare into the vast heavens. When next Randor glanced down at Marlena, her eyes were drifting closed.

"Are you tired?" He asked, concerned. "Perhaps we should go back inside and get you into bed."

"Not yet." She murmured sleepily, struggling to open her eyes and look at him. "I'd like to stay out here a little longer. Please?"

"Alright, but let's sit down, at least." He led her over to a long bench and helped her to sit, never moving his arms from around her body. She rested her head against his shoulder and placed one hand on his chest. Randor stroked her hair and sighed contentedly. He could have happily spent the rest of his life on that balcony, with the woman he loved more than any other wrapped safely in his arms.

Husband and wife spent another half-hour sitting under the stars. Marlena's breathing steadied, and Randor was not surprised to find that she had fallen asleep. He kissed her forehead, but she did not stir. He smiled, lifted her into his arms, and stood, then stepped back into the bedroom and placed his slumbering wife on the bed. He thought that she was so beautiful laying there, her fiery tresses falling across the bodice of the gold gown.

He frowned. That gown did not look like it would be comfortable to sleep in, and it seemed to him that the clips in her hair might dig into her scalp. He sat down beside her, careful not to shift the mattress too much, and gently removed the clips. There, that was better. But the gown still needed to be removed. He could find her a nightgown to wear, but Randor was not comfortable with undressing and dressing her. He feared that she would awaken in the middle of the process and panic. He decided that, as much as he hated to do it, he would have to awaken her. He placed his hands on her shoulders and shook her gently. "Marlena." Her eyes snapped open, and Randor knew that he had made a mistake.

Someone was holding her down. She could feel large hands on her shoulders. A man's hands. A man who was going to hurt her. Bridden! She jerked her head to one side, trying to avoid the blow she was sure was coming. She wondered what she had done wrong this time, or if this was one of the physician's random attacks. She closed her eyes and waited for the assault to begin, forcing herself not to fight her assailant. He'd hurt Adora if Marlena resisted…

Randor was horrified to see Marlena's eyes gleam bright with terror, then dull in resignation. He knew that she was not seeing him, but someone else. As he called her name and gently shook her back to reality, he realized that the person his wife imagined hovering over her, pinning her to the bed, was someone who had hurt Marlena very badly, and for a very long time.

Her name. The man above her was calling out her name. Bridden had never bothered to learn her name. "You're just a slave," he'd told her, "here to do my bidding." Marlena turned her head and looked up into the man's face until it became clear, until there was no mistaking who he was.

"Randor."

He gathered Marlena against his body and held her. "I'm here," he whispered tenderly, "I'm right here." She shook violently, but did not cry. Randor felt horrible. "I did not mean to frighten you," he told her in a voice filled with shame, "I only wanted to wake you so that you could change into something more comfortable."

Marlena pulled back just enough to place a hand against her husband's cheek. "It's alright. I'm fine now." She looked into his eyes and winced at the guilt there. "You did nothing wrong. I was just… confused for a moment."

He nodded and gently rubbed her arms. Marlena stared over his shoulder, trying to compose herself.

"Perhaps I should change now," she said finally, "Adora said that she would leave a nightgown in the closet for me." She arose, kissed Randor's forehead, and walked into the large closet. She returned a second later with a long, flowing white gown, which she carried into the washroom.

Randor changed into his own night clothes while his wife was absent, then sat on the bed and awaited her return. When she stepped from the washroom, her face was cold and impassive; yet even from across the room Randor could see that she was still shaking. At that moment, he knew that there was no longer a question of who would sleep where. When Marlena sat on the edge of the bed, he moved close and pulled her against his body. The night was not so cool that they had to sleep under the covers, though Randor did unfold the blanket at the end of the bed and wrap it around Marlena's shoulders. Then they both lay down and stared out the window.

For a full hour, Marlena trembled like a leaf in her husband's arms. He kissed the back of her neck, massaged her shoulders, and breathed endearments into her hair. He whispered that he loved her, that he'd never stopped loving her, that he would personally make sure that no one ever, ever hurt her again. Eventually Marlena's body relaxed and she drifted off to sleep. Randor, however, lay awake for hours, unable to stop himself from envisioning all the ways in which Marlena might have been tormented by her captors.

"Never again." He vowed to his sleeping wife. "I promise you."

Then he thought of Skeletor, so intent on destroying his family. The villain would no doubt stop at nothing to get his hands on Marlena, the one person who had thus far been immune to his recent schemes. "I promise you," Randor repeated. Marlena shifted slightly and moaned softly, as if even in her sleep she knew how powerless such a vow truly was to stop those bent on her demise.

The morning dawned bright and clear, with not a cloud to be seen. Randor realized as soon as he awakened that something was not right. He was alone in the bed, which was wrong. Someone had been there before, sleeping in his arms. Marlena had been there. Had it all been a dream, then?

A noise at one corner of the room informed him that he was not truly alone. He sat up just enough to see an auburn head bowing over an open trunk. He breathed a quiet sigh of relief, then watched silently as his wife pulled a small blue blanket out of the trunk. She held the cloth to her face and breathed in its scent, then placed the blanket across her bent legs and continued to remove the contents of the trunk. Randor smiled to himself as his wife lovingly handled each and every trinket from their son's childhood. He slipped out of bed and crossed the room to join her. She looked up and smiled sweetly.

"Good morning." She held up a strip of leather with a word crudely etched into it. "What's this?"

Randor grinned at the curiosity evident in her face. He knelt beside her and ran a finger across the object in her hands. "This would be Cringer's first and only collar. Adam made it himself, but Cringer was never one for any type of restraint. If you look at the ends, you can see where he chewed right through the leather."

"Cringer?"

"Oh, that's right. You didn't meet him last night. He usually comes to dinner, but he sometimes becomes nervous at the prospect of meeting new people."

"So he's some sort of pet?"

"He's a tiger." Randor laughed softly. "Big, green, and scared of his own shadow."

"Our son has a tiger as a pet?"

"Yes. Adam rescued Cringer when he was just a cub, and they've been inseparable ever since."

Marlena frowned. "I've missed so much." The sadness of her tone matched that of her expression. She placed the collar back in the trunk, then began to return the other items, gently stroking each piece before relinquishing it to the darkness of the antique chest.

Randor watched her carefully. He knew exactly how she felt. They had both missed seeing their children grow up together. Eighteen years had passed, time that could never be recovered. As Marlena lowered the lid of the trunk, Randor suddenly had an idea. Tonight, he decided as they both stood and began to prepare for the day, he would give Marlena something almost as precious as all those missed years.

Adam walked into the garden and groaned. Several female courtiers were huddled near one of the large trees, giggling behind bejeweled hands. They spotted him immediately, and their giggles increased in volume. The prince might have left right then, but the sight of his mother sitting at the fountain forced him to continue. The young women were paying no attention to Marlena. This surprised Adam until he realized that no person his age would recognize the middle-aged woman as Eternia's queen. To them, Queen Marlena was a legend: beautiful, tragic, and far removed from the world in which they lived. Adam wondered how long his father would wait before announcing Marlena's return to the Eternian people.

The courtiers fluttered from the garden, to Adam's vast relief. Marlena stood and reached out to take her son's hand. "There's my popular son."

Adam's face flushed. "Is that some sort of Earth humor?"

Marlena laughed. "Surely you know how much those young women like you. You're all they talked about for the last hour."

"Really?" Adam twisted his foot and smiled bashfully. "What…um…what did they say?"

"That you're funny, intelligent, witty, clever. Oh, and handsome. The girl in the red dress said she'd like to bear your children-"

"Mother!"

Marlena shrugged. Her eyes glinted mischievously. "Who was the young lady I met yesterday at Castle Grayskull? Teela, wasn't it? She seemed like a lovely person, but those women are really jealous of her."

"Why?"

"They think you're going to marry her."

Adam thought his face would melt from the heat of embarrassment. "They said that!"

"You can hear lots of things when people don't know who you are."

Adam frowned. "What else did they say?"

"What do you mean?"

"I bet they didn't use the word 'brave' to describe me." He pulled his hand free and looked at the ground.

"What is this about, Adam?"

"I'm something of a clown." He sat down with a sigh. "I run from battles, or sleep through them. Everyone calls me a coward. I just thought I'd let you know, before you heard it from someone else."

Marlena reclaimed his hand and ran her fingers across his knuckles. "I didn't know that."

Adam tried to pull away again, but his mother would not let him. Instead, she stared intently at the side of his face until he felt compelled to turn and meet her gaze. He was stunned by the pure, unadulterated affection he saw there.

"What I do know," Marlena continued gently, "is that twice you came to Etheria and reunited your family, at great risk to yourself. Adora told me this morning that you did not believe that I was still alive, but you accompanied her anyway. That took a tremendous amount of courage."

"Any brother would have done the same thing. Besides, I didn't save Adora at all. He-Man did."

"Ah, yes." Marlena laughed softly. "The famous He-Man. That's the other person those girls were talking about. I haven't met him yet, though I suspect that I will soon enough. They said you're friends with him?"

Adam nodded.

"Well, from what I've heard of him, I cannot imagine that this He-Man person would befriend a coward."

They were both silent for a long moment. Then Adam grinned sheepishly. "So they said I was cute, huh? How cute?"

The look of confusion that crossed Marlena's face was brief. "Of course." She nodded sagely. "You have a reputation to maintain, don't you?" She smiled. "I did mention the girl who wants to have your babies, didn't I?"

"Yes!"

They both laughed, then Adam's face softened. "How did you get to be so wise?"

"It's not wisdom so much as it is observation. I've learned a lot over the years about watching people, trying to determine what they're going to do before they do it." Marlena stood before Adam could ask what events had made her hone such a skill. "I think it's time for lunch. Is your father usually in attendance?"

"Always. I don't think anyone wants to miss lunch, not even the people Father is meeting with now."

"Good."

As they walked side by side from the garden, Adam marveled at how talented his mother was at shifting the conversation away from that which she clearly did not wish to discuss. Perhaps he had something in common with this strange, proud woman after all.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Of course, dear."

"Because you don't have to, if it's not what you want. We can wait awhile longer."

"I don't think so, Randor." Marlena tilted her head in the direction of the balcony. "Listen to them. They've been waiting all day for this announcement. One more hour, and they might actually riot."

"She's right, Father." Adam and Adora chimed in as one.

Randor knew that. He had wanted to keep Marlena's return a secret for a few more days, giving their family some much-needed privacy. But even though the younger generations of Eternians might not recognize Marlena, their parents certainly did. He knew rumors were flying, and he was fairly certain that the gossip and speculations could be traced directly back to the older palace servants and courtiers who had crossed paths with the queen. When the aged Lady Ailsa had walked into a wall after seeing Marlena, Randor had finally admitted that it was time to confirm the rumors.

This was why the entire Royal Family was assembled near a balcony that looked out on the entire city. They were dressed in their finest. Randor wore his crown, and the twins both wore solid gold circlets. Adora's hair was piled on top of her head. Only Marlena's head was bare, and her hair fell around her face, tamed only by the gold clips Adora had given her the day before. Randor had retrieved her crown from the museum and was holding it behind his back.

Duncan stepped inside from the balcony. "Are you ready, Your Majesty?"

Randor glanced over at Marlena, who smiled nervously. Adora had wrapped a reassuring arm around her mother, since she had endured this ordeal only a few days before. The king looked back at Duncan. "As ready as we'll ever be, I think."

Tradition dictated that Marlena travel at her husband's side, but this would destroy the dramatic effect the family was going for. So Randor stepped out onto the balcony first, followed by Adam and Adora. The crowd began clapping, cheering, and shouting out questions. Marlena's heart pounded in her ears. The last time she had been exposed to such a large crowd, her daughter was dedicating her life to the Horde. The woman took five deep breaths, counted to ten, and regally joined her family to face their people.

The sun was just beginning to set, spilling its dying rays over the city, casting shadows on the faces of the crowd so that Marlena could not see her audience. They were undoubtedly able to see her, however, for the entire city seemed to fall silent when she came to stand before Randor. Teela and her father were standing off to one side. The younger woman looked about to burst with excitement. Duncan was considerably more sedate, but he winked at Marlena when she saw him.

Randor looked deep into his wife's eyes. "It's not too late to leave, my love." He murmured softly.

Marlena knew that he was offering her more than a reprieve from the crowd. He was giving her the chance to lead a different life, one where she was not the target of everyone who hated him. Yet she'd had that chance once before, when Randor had proposed marriage. She had known the risks then, and she knew them now. The road to her destiny might have taken unexpected turns, but the destination had never changed.

So it was with certainty and pride that Marlena stared into Randor's face and answered, "My husband. My king." Then she bowed her head.

Randor brought the diadem into sight and placed it on Marlena's head in one fluid motion. He wanted to savor the sight of the gold circlet against her bright hair, but sudden tears prevented him from doing so. She lifted her face and turned to look at the crowd. Smiling, she took Randor's hand in her own, then reached over and grabbed Adora's. The princess caught Adam's hand. Then, for the first time in their collective history, the Royal Family of Eternia stepped forth together. A stubborn sunbeam washed over them, illuminating their joyful faces. Below them, the crowd went wild.