A/N - Sorry for the delay. I found out shortly after I had started this chapter that our business was going to be closed and I was out of a job. Trying to deal with that, my 85 year old grandmother being on the verge of dying and the holidays themselves have kinda done a number on my free time. Thanks for the patience.

-3- Right in Front of You

It was late in the morning the next day when Man-at-Arms finally had a moment to check on Leah. He had wondered all morning if she had woken up again and was concerned she might wake with no one there. Unfortunately there was no way he could abandon his duties to stay there the whole day. Man-at-Arms walked briskly down the hall, happy with the fact he was able to get there now. He was stunned when he walked into the room to see the sunlight spilling through the window onto an empty bed. There was a tray of untouched food on the stand near by. He didn't have long to wonder where Leah was. He felt a knife pressed firmly against his neck.

"Where am I?" a low, husky voice spoke into his ear.

Man-at-Arms didn't want to make any of her healing injuries worse by disarming her so he let her question him. "You are in the palace of Eternia."

She moved around just enough to look at his face. Her face was mottled with colorful bruises. He was amazed she had managed to not break her nose in the crash. She studied his face for a brief moment and her eyes narrowed. He felt the pressure lessen on the knife. "I know you."

"A friend and I rescued you and your companion from your ship. You crashed and you were both hurt."

She studied him a moment more and then lowered the knife. "What is your name?"

Man-at-Arms turned to face her and slowly reached his hand out to take the knife as he answered her. She handed it over without a fuss. "My name is Man-at-Arms but you may call me Duncan."

Leah's exertions finally caught up to her and she began to feel dizzy. Shaking her head to clear he vision, she reached for the door frame to steady herself but Man-at-Arms caught hold of her arm instead. She was mildly surprised at his strength as he led her back to the bed. It only took a moment before she was settled in and he placed the tray of food across her lap. She smiled a little sheepishly. "Thank you." She picked up the cup of now lukewarm broth and sipped it. "You said I was in a palace…am I a some sort of prisoner?"

Man-at-Arms shook his head. "Not at all. King Randor was concerned for you and your partner. He only wanted to see you both better."

Her head came up as his words suddenly seemed to register. "Where is Captain Travers? Is he alright?"

Before Duncan could formulate an answer, several healers rushed past the door distracting them both. He was puzzled by the commotion and excused himself to investigate. Stepping out into the hallway, he stopped the next healer to pass by and questioned him on the situation. Hearing the answer, Man-at-Arms hurried back into the room and took the tray from across Leah's lap. She gave him a questioning look. Not answering her, he went to one of the closets in the room while she got up again. He grabbed a robe from the closet and tossed it to her. "C'mon, I think you are going to need to be there." He held out his hand to her.

Without another word, she pulled on the robe and took hold of his offered hand. With her hand wrapped in his strong grasp, she was then being led down several corridors deeper into the palace. It was only a few moment when the reached a scene that reminded her of many of the medical drama shows back home. There were people milling around everywhere. Obviously Captain Travers had taken a turn for the worse and they were fighting to stabilize him. Leah stepped forward to see what was going on and to try to hear what had happened. Man-at-Arms was about to stop her when the king and queen appeared at his side.

The king looked at the commotion around the room. "What happened, Duncan?"

"The healers said he had some sort of hemorrhage. They are having a difficult time controlling the blood loss after all his other injuries."

The royal couple exchanged concerned looks before noticing Leah was standing a few feet away from them. Queen Marlena moved to speak to the woman when alarms went off in the room and one of the healers called for some piece of equipment. Leah pushed her way through the barrier of medical personnel, all of them too stunned to stop her. She took hold of the captain's hands and squeezed hard. Her voice cut through the room like the crack of a whip. "CAPTAIN TRAVERS…YOU WILL NOT STOP FIGHTING! WAKE UP!" The readings on the monitor changed. They were still unstable but there was definitely some change. Leah looked back down at his face. "I SAID WAKE UP! THAT'S AN ORDER!"

The healers were shocked for a moment at the woman being on her feet at all and being there in the thick of the fight for her comrade's life. The captain took an unsteady breath and for the first time, he managed to open his eyes. Leah grinned down at him. He moved his mouth to speak but no words came out. Leah read his lips and grinned. You don't out rank me. She squeezed his hand again. "You can take it up with a panel of inquiry when we get home." The corner of his mouth twitched up for a moment before his eyes rolled back and all expression faded from his face again. His head dropped back on to his pillow. Alarms went off all around the room. Leah shook his shoulder. "Travers! Captain Travers!" He was slipping away, she could tell that looking up at the screens blinking. "Dammit. Rio! RIO! C'MON Pull out of this! You've handled worse than this before your morning coffee! RIO!"

There was no response this time and a healer pulled her away so they could attempt revive him. They tried to no avail. The healers shut off the screens and alarms as Leah stood by silently watching, her arms crossed over her stomach. After a moment the healers parted and Leah stepped to the side of the bed. She looked at the body of her friend and partner. All but one of the healers slowly filtered out of the room. Leah didn't move for several minutes, simply staring at Rio's unmoving form. Man-at-Arms, the king and queen quietly stepped into the room. Leah turned her head slightly, acknowledging the movement behind her, before reaching down to pull the sheet up over the captain's head. She closed her eyes to compose herself before turning to face Duncan and whoever else was there.

She was shocked to see the king and queen standing behind her with concern written across their features. Her fatigue from her earlier attack on Man-at-Arms and the stress of the situation caught up to her again and she swayed, grabbing for closest solid object. Man-at-Arms leapt forward, wrapping his arm around her waist to keep her from sinking to the floor. She looked pale and shaky as they group left the room, Leah leaning heavily on Man-at-Arms. She glanced up at the queen several times as they led her across the hallway into an unused room. As Duncan eased her down into a chair it finally hit her why the woman wearing the crown looked so familiar. "Marlena Glenn…You're Marlena Glenn. There is a memorial for you at Cape Canaveral"

The queen looked particularly surprised by the pronouncement. "Yes. I would have thought that the other astronauts would have cleared that up."

Leah looked confused for a moment as her brain fought to work through the problem. Her mind finally gave her the answer. "The astronauts sent to stop the meteor. Of course, you wouldn't know about that." She shook her head a moment in annoyance at herself. "There were damages to the ship, they didn't make it back. The ship burned up in the atmosphere. The only thing we knew was that they lost contact for some time and that they managed to stop the rock." She sank back in the chair, her head falling back, reciting the events having sapped the rest of her energy. Man-at-Arms noted to himself the explanation to why Leah and her companion were sent out. Their superiors simply didn't know about the dangerous wormhole.

Grief hung heavy in the room. The astronauts had become friends in the short time they had been on Eternia and the sorrow of their loss was added to the sadness in the air. King Randor stepped forward and placed a hand on the woman's shoulder. "We are all very sorry for the loss of your comrade."

Leah picked up her head to look at the king "Thank you." she said quietly and slid her gaze over to the queen. "You were part of the Air Force before joining the space program; do you remember the specifics of a military burial?"

Marlena nodded.

"Is it possible to arrange that here?"

The king answered for his wife. "We will make whatever arrangements need to be made."

Satisfied with that, her head tipped off to the side and she studied the wall for a scant moment before she was asleep.

----- -----

It was three days later when all the preparations were finished under the queen's careful supervision. Leah spent most of those days in bed, hardly speaking and staring numbly out the window. Several times members of the royal family came to keep her company. They didn't know if she was normally that quiet and withdrawn or if it was a reaction to her partner's death.

A small grove on the edge of the Evergreen Forest was chosen for the burial site. Leah stood with the King, Queen, Prince Adam, Man-at-Arms, and Teela as the casket was removed from and attack-trac by a troop of the royal guard in formal uniforms. The queen had worked with the tailors to have a flag made and this was draped across the coffin. Leah watched from her place in the small crowd as the guards hefted the casket to their shoulders and carried it the distance to the grave. She self-consciously tugged at the grey tunic she wore, feeling very out of uniform during this somber ceremony.

After settling the casket into place, they carefully lifted the edges of the flag and folded it as the queen had instructed. The lead guard turned on his heel and formally presented the triangular folded flag to Leah. She accepted the flag with a smart salute to the guard, tucking it into the crook of her elbow. The guard returned to his fellows and they raised weapons. Being used to the sound of lasers, the loud crack as the seven guards fired made the entire group jump, except Leah and the Queen. Three shots from each guard. After the last shot rang out, the eighth guard raised a horn to his lips and began to play a piece of music Man-at-Arms later learned was called "Taps". He was surprised when Leah stepped forward out ahead of the group from the palace as the music was played. She stood straight as if a board was strapped to her back and saluted the casket as it began to lower. She stood that way; expressionless and at attention, with the flag under her arm until the casket was completely lowered. She then turned on her heel and nodded her silent thanks to the queen. A noise from above caused them all to look up. A falcon circled the site and let out another cry.

Prince Adam and Man-at-Arms exchanged looks, knowing they needed to get the rest of the group back to the palace before going to Greyskull. Fortunately, there was nothing else to the ceremony they were observing for the fallen solider and Leah, drained from the ordeal, needed to get back to rest. It was less than an hour later when Adam and Man-at-Arms crossed the drawbridge to Greyskull.

The two men entered the throne room to find the sorceress sitting on her throne. She smiled down at her guests. "How is the woman healing?"

Man-at-Arms spoke up. "Leah seems to be healing well according to the healers. She took her partner's death very hard."

Adam nodded. "She has hardly spoken to anyone. Mother, Teela and I tried to talk to her while making the arrangements for the burial but she hardly spoke."

The sorceress was quiet and thoughtful for a moment before speaking. "She is alone now, in a strange world. I feel fear from her. She wants to trust that we are friends."

Duncan looked uncomfortable as he asked the next question. "Sorceress, you don't believe she is a threat, do you? You don't think…."

The wise woman cut off his thought, shaking her head. "No; Skeletor had nothing to do with the crash or their arrival." She looked off in the distance for a moment again. "However, I am certain Skeletor will attempt trouble." Her eyes focused on Duncan meaningfully. "I would recommend taking close care of her." She turned her gaze to Adam. "There is something about this woman that Greyskull is calling to. Once she is well enough I would like to meet her."

----- -----

Evil-Lyn grimaced, rubbing her wrists as she slinked down the streets. Skeletor had been angry at the lack of information about the two foreigners several days ago. He was even angrier today when she reported the death and burial of one of the people from the spaceship hadn't been a rumor after all. He had sent a jolt of power through the link he had created to speak to her. Now her hands and wrists ached where the power had scorched her skin. It was getting to be late afternoon and she still was yet to find a way to get close to the woman. Evil-Lyn was about to sneak back to the tavern to eavesdrop on the palace guards when another conversation caught her ears.

Two women were looking over some of the foods in the market and their conversation happened to be just what Evil-Lyn was looking for. An old woman was paying one of the merchants for a basket of eggs as she spoke to her companion. "Mara, how is the woman doing since the burial?"

The younger woman looked up from the vegetables she had been examining. "Leah seems to be doing better. She is talking a little more now. She seems very sad though."

The older woman nodded. "That is to be expected, youngling, losing someone close will do that."

"Kelene, do you think there is anything I can do to help her?" the younger woman asked as they turned to leave.

The older woman nodded to her friend before speaking to the vegetable merchant. "Have these sent to Chef Alan at the palace. Tell him Kelene sent them." The merchant nodded and set aside the purchases. Now Kelene turned back to Mara. "Just give her time. She will come around. Right now she needs time to heal inside and out."

Evil-Lyn grinned to herself. That would be perfect. She snuck behind the booth and picked up one of the vegetable baskets, setting off for the palace. The two palace servants had given her the way to get into the palace as well as information on the condition of her quarry. So the woman was bedridden. That would make her task far easier. She would be able to get close to her and be back to Snake Mountain within a few days. She smiled to herself thinking of how pleased she would make Skeletor.

---- -----

Man-at-Arms peeked into Leah's room and found one of the serving girls chatting with the woman while she ate her breakfast. Nodding at the sight he slipped quietly down the hall. He would stop in to see her later in the day. He was pleased to find that she was finally starting to open up to some of the palace folk. They made sure the same servents waited on her so she had familiar faces about her. The sorceress's comment about her wanting to trust them had given Duncan the thought. If she saw the same people all the time she would be more comfortable than if an ever changing array of faces were passing by her. Not that it had been difficult. The same serving girl had already been bringing Leah her meals, Mara having developed a liking for the Earth woman. Duncan noted the two were becoming fast friends. He had also made a point of stopping in to see her daily even though she was now out of danger from her injuries. Even the healers were marveling at the speed of her recovery but were insisting she still stay confined to her bed until more of the internal bruising healed. He wondered to himself if her quickly mending wounds had anything to do with Greyskull and the statement the sorceress had made about the castle calling to her.

He was nearly to his work shop when he heard Teela call out from behind him. "Father! Wait a moment!"

Man-at-Arms paused to wait for his daughter, her tone of voice set him wondering what the trouble was. She jogged up to her father and immediately launched into an explination about a lightening strike the previous night knocking out a shield generator near a science station bordering the tar swamps. "I was thinking that since it is a relatively simple trip to go fix the generator and come back that maybe Leah would like to go along. Then she could get out of the castle for a bit."

Man-at-Arms thought a moment and sighed to himself. Even though she was healing well he wasn't sure he wanted her traveling across the realm just yet. He also knew Teela and Leah had been getting to know each other and Teela looked forward to the oppertunutiy for a long talk with Leah about the military training back on Earth. The trip would give the women that chance and the odds were that it would be perfectly safe for Leah to go but Man-at-Arms knew the healers' orders. "Teela, I think it would be best if she stayed here yet. Just until the healers say she isn't in danger of aggrevating any of her injuries."

The captain of the guard nodded, slightly disappointed and followed her father into the workshop to gather tools for the repair task. After several minutes of preparation and discussion on how the generator should be fixed, Teela left to go to the hanger bay to leave. Man-at-Arms watched her go and couldn't help but feel a twinge of trepidation. He shook off the feeling, turning to his latest invention. With any luck his new anti-grav ray would be ready for a field test in a few days. He had designed the machine to help move large pieces of building materials and to remove large debris for the farmers on the fertile plains. He spent several hours re-calibrating and adjusting the ray until he could pick up a large metal container. He heard the door open behind him and he finished moving the crate across the room before turning towards the new arrival. He had been expecting Prince Adam for some time now, figuring he must have been delayed. When he turned around he was startled to find it wasn't the prince at all. Leah was standing near the counter, leaning against it watching him.

"That is amazing. Did you design it yourself?" she asked as she stood up straight.

Man-at-Arms switched off the machine and set it on the workbench. "You aren't supposed to be out of bed." He tried to put annoyance in his tone and failed. He was glad she was able to be up and about even if she shouldn't be.

Leah shrugged and flashed a sly grin. "I feel much better and I wanted to go for a walk. It is nicer to walk when you have a destination in mind so I decided to try to find your infamous workshop. I heard you working so I decided to come in and watch." Her military training suddenly reminded her of protocol. "Oh! If I'm not supposed to be seeing this I will leave. I apologise. I didn't even think about security clearance."

Man-at-Arms chuckled at her imagined oversight. "No, no. Not at all. You are perfectly welcome to look around." She took advantage of the invitation and began looking over his other inventions while he put away the tools he had been using. He moved across the room to walk alongside her, telling her what each machine was and what it did. She surprised him by offering suggestions on how to improve certain functions of some of the inventions ad she wasn't afraid to ask him questions if she was unsure of what something was or did. They kept up the tour for nearly two hours. It was finally Leah's stomach which told them it was time she return to her room. Man-at-Arms politely offered to escort her there.

Leah sighed when they crossed the threshold of her room. Duncan could almost hear her thoughts and he grinned. "Would you like it if I stayed with you for dinner tonight?"

Leah looked surprised. "I would be delighted but won't Teela be expecting you?"

Man-at-Arms shook his head. "Teela won't be back until later this evening. She had a repair mission to take care of."

Leah smiled at that. "She must take after her father."