She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is produced by Dreamworks Animation Television, and both She-Ra and He-Man are owned by Mattel.

Chapter 3: Royal Affairs

(The Eternian Royal Palace: Later that Night)

It was a dismal scene in the throne room that night.

In his many years as a soldier, Man-At-Arms had delivered hundreds of death notifications to hundreds of grieving families, but never before had it been this difficult.

As he recounted the events that led up to this tragedy, the old captain felt as though he were on the witness stand, under the piercing gaze of some cruel and uncompromising arbiter.

Which in a sense wasn't that far from the truth.

King Randor was a seasoned warrior who had seen death a thousand times and what's more, he was Man-At-Arms' oldest friend. He knew that he was not blame for this fiasco.

Queen Marlena on the other hand was nowhere near as forgiving. Despite having once been a soldier herself, she was first and foremost a mother. And as such, the loss of her only son demanded swift and possibly violent retribution. He just prayed that her rage was directed towards Skeletor and his Outcasts, and not on himself or his daughter.

When Man-At-Arms finally finished his report, the old soldier raised himself from his genuflect and craned his neck upward to look his liege in the eye; both out of necessity and as a sign of respect.

For several moments, the King said nothing; stroking his beard in contemplation. While his Queen sat beside him; the picture of silent fury. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he broke the silence and said,

"Captain, when the explosion went off, who was my son?"

"I beg your pardon?" Man-At-Arms replied, soundly slightly confused.

"What I mean is, was Adam in his normal form or was he He-Man?"

"Oh, well, I can't say for sure, Sire. As I mentioned before, I didn't have a clear line of sight."

"But to the best of your knowledge my son was in his He-Man form at the time of the explosion?"

"Yes, Sire. I believe that is most likely the case. Given the circumstances."

"I see, then given the circumstances, we must assume that Adam is alive, until we find evidence to the contrary."

"Yes, Sire. I believe that is the wisest course of action."

"Really, then why didn't you mention it in your initial report?"

A sudden, awkward silence fell over the throne room. Despite having been friends with him for over three decades, Man-At-Arms still felt paralyzed whenever he fell under King Randor's hawk like gaze. Mind you, there was no malice or indignation in his tone, but something in those baby blue eyes of his just sent shivers down the old soldier's spine.

Instead of letting him respond, the King turned to his Queen, and after allowing his expression to soften up a bit, he said to her,

"Dearest, I'm afraid it's getting rather late. Perhaps you should retire for the evening while the two of us deal with this situation."

Now, Marlena wasn't exactly your standard storybook queen. In fact, most of the time she could be pretty bullheaded. However, after twenty years of marriage to the most powerful man on the planet, she had learned when to speak her mind and when to just duck out and let the men handle things.

Now was one of the latter.

"Very well." She said in as regal a tone as she could muster. "I shall await you in the bedroom."

And after giving both her husband and the Captain of the Guards a respectful curtsy, she quickly exited the room.

With the Queen gone, the two men were finally alone. And so, using every once of decorum he could marshal, and after combing through his exhaustive lexicon, the great King Randor calmly and eloquently asked his dearest friend the one question that had been weighing on his soul so heavily.

"What the hell, Duncan?"

"Randor, I…"

"Don't give me any excuses." The King said with cold intensity. "We both know you're much smarter than I am. So if the possibility of Adam's survival was obvious to me, then of course it was obvious to you. And knowing you as well as I do, it's safe to assume that you've already ordered Teela to start putting together a search party. But what I don't understand is why you tried to keep this from me."

Man-At-Arms was mentally chastising himself for pulling such an obvious and underhanded ploy. Regardless of his intentions or the outcome, he never should've tried to keep important information from his King. So, rather than dig himself in any deeper, the old soldier just sighed and spoke the truth.

"Because him surviving would be much worse for everyone."

To his credit, the King didn't react to this; at least not in any way noticeable to the human eye. He kept his cool just as he'd done countless times in the heat of battle.

"And what exactly does that mean?"

"It means that despite what your son likes to think, he is not immortal." Man-At-Arms explained in a stern yet respectful tone. "I have no doubt in my mind that Adam survived the explosion, and the fall, and the river. But no one, not even He-Man, can endure that much punishment without taking damage. If he is indeed alive at this very moment, as I suspect he is, then he is most likely in a great deal of pain. Lost and alone somewhere in the Evergreen Forest, with broken bones and internal bleeding. Without proper treatment and soon, odds are he'll die. And he'll die in one of the slowest and most painful ways imaginable."

Once again, Randor didn't react to this news in the way you'd expect. Instead he just sat quietly and waited for his old friend to finish.

"I've already assigned Teela to put together a search party, and while I have tremendous faith in her tracking skills, the Evergreen Forest is just too vast. And even if she had the entirety of the palace guards at her disposal, the odds would still be against her." The old captain paused for a brief moment to banish a random unpleasant thought from his mind before continuing. "I tried to keep this from you and Marlena because I didn't want to needlessly raise your hopes only to have to dash them later, or burden you with unnecessary details. Because in all likelihood, this will not end well."

"I see." King Randor said, finally breaking his silence. "Then your goal was to spare my feelings and those of my wife. To spare us the painful details of our son's probable demise. Is that it?"

"Yes, Sir. I believe that is the best way to put."

"How very considerate of you, Duncan. I've always said you were a good friend." The King said warmly before his expression grew stern and cold. "Never do it again."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Do you think me a child, Duncan? Do you think me so emotional, so irrational, that I need to be shielded from certain realities?"

"Randor, I only meant…"

"Well I am not a child, Duncan. I can read and write and think for myself. And I can speak quite eloquently too. I can even pronounce long, complex words, such as 'dishonorable discharge' and 'humiliating dismissal'."

"Sire, I…"

"Let me make one thing clear, Captain. I may be your friend, but above all else, I am your King. And lying to your King, for any reason, is a serious offense." He continued, his tone calm yet cutting. "It is not your job to decide what I do or don't need to know. Your job is to give me all of the information available so I can make informed decisions. And if said information happens to impact my or my wife's emotional state, then I will deal with it, not you. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Sire. 100%."

"Good. Because the last thing I want to do is tarnish your sterling military career over something as trivial as a failure to communicate." The King said as his tone and expression finally eased up a bit. "Now, back to more important matters. Where is your daughter on rescuing my son?"

"I gave her the order just before I came to see you." Man-At-Arms replied, his voice laced with trace amounts of paternal pride. "So knowing her, she's probably on her way out right now."

XXX

(Elsewhere in the Palace)

With her trusty gilded staff in hand and determination in her eyes, Teela strode confidently down the marble hallway; about two dozen Royal Guardsmen following close behind.

It was going to be a difficult assignment, not to mention an awkward one, but as God as her witness she intended to see it through. Not that she had any personal stake in this mind you. Sure, her sparring session with the Prince and the subsequent ribbing she gave him may have motivated him to act recklessly in a dangerous situation, but ultimately the fault was his own.

No, this was not about guilt or any other such shallow emotions. This was about duty and the future of her planet. Eternia needed strong leadership and since King Randor was not immortal their had to be an heir to the throne. And for better or worse, Adam was the next in line.

Many, her father included, had already accepted that the Prince would not be found in time to save his life, but Teela refused to believe such nonsense. Adam was many things, but weak wasn't one of them. He possessed the legendary power of the Elders and, although she would never say this to his face, an indominable will that greatly surpassed it.

No, Adam would not die, not like this. He was too damned stubborn.

The young Master and her band of 'volunteers' were nearing the southern rampart where they were to mount their Wind Raiders, when a familiar voice chimed in.

"Hey, Teela!" said the owner of said voice as he floated up to the young woman; forcing her to come to a halt. "Phew. Thank goodness I caught you before you left."

Unsurprisingly, the interloper turned out to be a short, bluish, vaguely elflike creature dressed in the traditional red and gold trappings of a Master Sorcerer. And although its face and body were largely concealed by its flowing robe and floppy hat, Teela recognized the figure instantly.

"Oh, hello, Orko." She said in a stern yet polite tone. "It's nice to see you too, but I can't stop to talk. I have an important mission to accomplish."

"I know. That's why I'm here." The Trollan mage replied cheerily. "I wanna help you guys find Adam and bring him home."

A few snickers arose from the crowd behind her, but a quick glare from Teela put a stop to it.

"That's very… thoughtful of you, Orko. But we have it under control."

"I know that, but I can help speed things up. I've been working on this new spell…"

Upon hearing the word 'spell' several of the senior guardsmen winced and braced themselves for whatever mayhem was about to ensue. But alas, no such thing occurred. Instead, Orko just pulled something out of his sleeve and held it up for all to see. To everyone's confusion, it turned out to be a tiny silver ball on a long silver chain.

"See, I found this book in the library at Castle Grayskull and it's all about dowsing and how to…"

"Dowsing? Seriously, Orko?" Teela asked annoyedly. "We're trying to find the Prince, not a well."

"I know, but dowsing can be used to find all sorts of things. Just bring me along and I'll lead us right to him."

Despite the assuredness in the Magician's voice, Teela was not convinced. But still, she didn't want to hurt the little fellow's feelings. So she tried to break it to him gently.

"Orko, I understand that you and Prince Adam are very close, and your devotion to him should be commended. But I think it would be best if you just stayed here."

"What? Why?"

"Because you're a screwup." Said one of the nameless guards, instantly earning another scathing glare from the young Master.

"No, you are most definitely not a screwup." Teela told the Trollan in an attempt to spare his feelings. "You just… possess certain qualities that would make you… less than helpful in this situation."

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Orko asked, clearly seening through her cheap ploy.

"sigh. How do I say this? Do you remember three years ago when you volunteered to take care of the Royal Gardens while the regular gardener was on vacation?"

"Yeah, and I did a pretty good job."

"Yes you did, until you used your magic to summon a rain cloud and a bolt of lightning started a fire."

"Which my magic helped put out." The Mage argued defensively.

"Okay… but what about last year's Royal Summit? Remember how you used your magic to create a dessert from your home dimension? A dessert that gave everyone food poisoning."

"The recipe only served five people. I had to multiply the ingredients in my head and I guess I got confused. But that won't happen this time. Honest. The dowsing spell is real simple. All I have to do is animate the chain with my magic and it'll show us where to go."

"sigh. Alright, I didn't want to have to bring this up, but do you remember six months ago when you animated that suit of armor to act as the Queen's bodyguard?"

"Uh… yes." Orko answered, suddenly sounding very uncomfortable.

"And do you remember what happened?"

"It… It may have attacked someone because it thought they were making rude gestures at the Queen."

"But he wasn't making rude gestures, was he?"

"No, Ma'am."

"Then what was he doing?"

"…being deaf…"

"Exactly. Look, Orko, we all know you mean well, but your magic… well, it's just too unpredictable. And the only time it doesn't cause problems is when you use it to entertain. So why don't you just stick with that and leave the heroics to people who know what they're doing. Okay?"

"Okay…" Orko replied ruefully as he floated out of Teela's way; hanging his head in shame. "Good luck on your mission."

"Thank you." She said respectfully. "And don't worry, we'll have Adam back home in no time. Just you wait."

And with that, she and her fellow would be rescuers resumed their march to the ramparts; leaving the Trollan Mage to sulk in privacy.

"So… I'm just a screwup, am I? Only good for making people laugh?" he said aloud as he tightened his fist around his silver Dowsing Chain. "I'll show them."

End Notes:

Thanks for reading and I'll see you next time.