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fifteen: no place like it
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Her father had called the palace before they'd even fired up the Wind Raider, letting the Masters know that the search was off. So Teela expected to see a couple of them waiting when they arrived.
And yup, there was Mekaneck, and there was Ram-Man, waving and grinning from the courtyard… as were a good two dozen Guardsmen and nearly as many courtiers.
Oh, and the king and queen of Eternia.
"I've been gone for less than three days," Teela said, disbelieving. She waved in return, of course, then sat back, arms crossing over her chest a little defensively.
Next to her, Adora was also sitting back and crossing her arms. Probably pretending that she didn't care about the view. Or the welcoming party.
Maybe she truly didn't care.
I don't have anyone.
But maybe she did.
"As I said. We were worried," Father said, not looking away from the controls.
Adam, sitting next to him, turned halfway around and said with a grin, "Yeah, for some reason people like you."
Teela rolled her eyes. There was no time to snark back, though, because they were landing, and she should try to look professional in front of all these people.
Elders. Three days! Imagine if she'd been gone for a full week.
The Guardsmen and court gawkers crowded in as soon as the Wind Raider's engines shut down, cheering and clapping. Then they crowded right back out, because Mek and Rammie were wading through, clearing a path for the king and queen.
Adam vaulted down first, landing beside his parents. Queen Marlena slipped an arm around him and pulled him to her side. A small, affectionate gesture, one repeated hundreds of times across the years. Teela hardly even noticed the sting any more.
Teela disembarked, followed by Adora and Father. Only one of them was grabbed off the ground and into a spine-snapping hug by Ram-Man.
No prize for guessing who.
"Teela!" Ram-Man said, setting her delicately back down. "We been lookin' for ya everywhere!"
Teela caught the side-eye Adora was giving the big warrior, and wondered if it was out of jealousy because she wasn't getting a hug, or relief because she wasn't getting a hug. "Me too," she said, grinning up at him.
Mekaneck, always more mellow, just nodded at her - though he couldn't keep a pleased smile off his face either.
Before she could quite stop herself, she scanned the crowd again, looking for He-Man. Of course he wasn't there. He would've been searching farther away than anyone else, probably. It might take him the better part of a day, or more, to get back to the palace.
Disappointment twinged anyway.
Ugh! Every time time she thought she was done with that stupid, stupid crush... She shoved it aside again and refocused on things that actually mattered. Like greeting her sovereigns.
Teela gave a crisp bow to King Randor. She intended to do the same to Queen Marlena, but was stopped mid-motion when the king laid an avuncular hand on her shoulder and declared, loudly enough to be heard down in the city, "Captain Teela! Good to have you home!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty," Teela said. Inwardly, she was reeling. Three. Days. Why was everyone acting like this?
The king kept a hand on her shoulder, the better to propel her along towards the palace itself. The rest of their group followed, with Ram-Man bulldozing ahead and Mekaneck dissuading anyone from tailing too closely.
"We were all concerned when you disappeared," King Randor continued, still using the booming, jovial voice he typically reserved for winning over reluctant heads of state. "But our enemies have underestimated your abilities once again!"
They entered the nearest palace building, one of the smaller, administrative wings, and guards shut the doors behind them. Their group were the only occupants of the corridor.
The king's hand dropped from her shoulder. In his normal voice, he said, "You're all right, Teela?"
She looked at Father, who gave a slight nod. "I - uh, yes, Sire."
Randor patted her on the shoulder, also normally. "My apologies for the show out there, but Marlena wanted to make sure no one got the wrong idea."
Teela looked at the queen, who smiled. "Welcome home."
Political stagecraft. Another ugh. Nevertheless, she was grateful: the king and queen had publicly welcomed her, with a compliment to her skills. Her disappearance must have been a hot gossip item; the greeting would smooth her return to the (ridiculous) swirl of palace life.
She had said thank you so many times recently, it was getting ridiculous. But once more couldn't hurt.
The queen waved it away. "And who is this?" she asked, turning her warm, gentle smile on Adora.
"This is a former enemy officer," Teela said quickly, before Adora could botch her own introduction by being a flat, cold automaton with no friends. "She's here to help."
The queen's interest sharpened, although her expression stayed mild. Teela noticed Father had drawn the king a short distance away, and they were having a very quiet, urgent conversation about something that was making King Randor look increasingly grim.
No prize for guessing what.
"Queen Marlena, this is Force Captain Adora," Teela said, trying to finish the introductions before she missed anything good. "Adora, this is the queen."
The queen gave Adora a long, thoughtful look. Maybe she too was trying to square the fluttery name with the battle-begrimed, unsmiling soldier standing in front of her. Really - who'd named her? Not Shadow Weaver; the witch would've given her a name like Demona, or Darkana, or anything suffixed "the Destroyer."
You know. Something subtle.
Adora bowed. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty."
"Likewise," the queen said. Her eyes flicked over Teela's shoulder, and her smile widened even as she stepped to the side. "Incoming, dear."
Teela turned just in time to see a very excited Orko flying at top speed down the corridor. "Teela!" he cried, throwing his arms wide to greet her - except, of course, he forgot to slow down first.
Orko didn't weigh very much, but any amount of mass, with sufficient velocity, could knock you back a few steps. Teela wasn't braced for an attack, and she sure wasn't expecting two skinny arms to be wrapped around her neck in a tight hug, or to have most of a hat slap into her face. She stumbled and would've gone down in the single most humiliating moment of her career (minus that time the Snakemen smashed her helmet underwater and she couldn't activate the emergency buoyancy device and He-Man had to drag her to the surface like a big dumb rock)...
...but two strong hands grabbed her arms, one on each side, and kept her feet steady and her dignity intact.
Well. As intact as it could be under an Orko hug.
Teela looked at Adam, on her right, and Adora, on her left, as they let go. Adam was amused, and Adora was annoyed. Teela was feeling a little bit of both, herself.
"We thought you were gone forever!" Orko wailed, squeezing her more. Between this and Ram-Man, she was going to need physical therapy. And speaking of Ram-Man: he and Mekaneck were standing off to the side and grinning broadly. Traitors.
"Um - I'm not," Teela managed. She made a help gesture, and Adam came to her rescue.
"Okay, okay, give her some air, Orko," he said, tugging on the back of Orko's scarf. "How'd you get back to the castle so quickly, anyway? I thought you were still searching."
Orko released his death grip and floated backwards, bobbing up and down a little. "Well… I thought I'd check the ruins of Zalesia again… Turns out the Faceless One doesn't like juggling! Who knew, right?"
Adam covered his face with one hand, but Teela suspected it was so Orko (or anyone else in the corridor) wouldn't see him laugh.
Further revelations about the Faceless One's entertainment preferences were forestalled when King Randor said, "I'm afraid there's no more time to celebrate. Captain Adora, is it? We'll need a report immediately."
"What's going on?" Mekaneck asked.
"The end of the world," Adora said, with all of her usual charm.
Mekaneck looked startled. So did Queen Marlena. Ram-Man mostly looked confused.
"Is there a briefing room nearby, Your Majesty?" Adora asked the king. Polite words, brusque tone.
"Of course," King Randor said. He turned to Father and said, "Can you connect us to the other Masters' communicators? Everyone should hear this."
Father said, "We'll have to use the monitoring room," as if he'd already thought of it some minutes before. He probably had. A good soldier planned ahead.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to join you," the queen said to the king. She commonly sat in on meetings regarding civil matters, and it was normal for her to turn up at military meetings, too, but the Masters' business was the king's remit alone. "This sounds very dire - even more so than usual."
"Of course," King Randor said again. This time the obvious worry in his voice was tempered with equally obvious affection. He held out his arm, and Queen Marlena took it. They began walking, and everyone else trailed behind them.
Teela realized, a few yards down the corridor, that they had all paired off: the king and queen, Adam and Orko (now discussing the failed juggling trick), Mekaneck and Ram-Man, herself and Father.
Adora had no one.
This was home for Teela. But Adora would never have that luxury. The people she grew up with were evil and would probably try to kill her if she ever went back, and the Great Rebellion's reception would only be lukewarm, since half of them also probably wanted to kill her. And here on Eternia, where at least no one was going to murder her, Adora was a total stranger.
Teela slowed her steps to fall in beside the other girl, a few paces behind the rest of the group. Adora looked at her, eyebrow raised.
Teela shrugged.
Adora didn't say anything, but one corner of her mouth twitched, as if she was trying not to smile.
"So what did Evil-Lyn say about them?" Teela asked, pointing a thumb at the group ahead.
"Nothing complimentary about those two" - meaning Ram-Man and Mekaneck - "and nothing at all, really, about the queen. She left out your jester, too."
Teela tried to remember if Queen Marlena or Orko had ever had direct dealings with Evil-Lyn, and couldn't think of any. Then again, it might speak more to the witch's ego than her experiences; she'd view both of them, and particularly Orko, as far below her attention.
"The king? And my father?"
"Smart. Good soldiers. Dangerous to Hordak's plans."
Teela looked at Adam, who had pulled the two Masters into his conversation with Orko. All four of them were laughing.
Not dangerous to Hordak's plans; not a good soldier; but Teela had to admit that her father was right about the prince. Adam was a natural diplomat, and as long as someone else - for instance, He-Man - was doing the fighting, he'd be a good king. People were drawn to him. Liked him. It was effortless.
She caught herself smiling a little, just watching. "What about Adam?"
There was a pause. Then Adora blew out a heavy breath and said, "I was supposed to kill him. And his parents."
The smile fell right off Teela's face, and she came to an abrupt halt. So did Adora. Everyone else kept walking, though Mekaneck ticked his neck up a few notches and turned it to keep them in his field of vision.
Teela kept her voice down despite the bright red tide of fury filling her vision. "You know you'd have to get through me first."
Adora said, matching her anger, "I'm not going to hurt anyone except Hordak."
They glared at each other for a few seconds. Long enough to make sure the other understood how serious she was.
Which was pretty serious: Adora's hand was resting on the grip of her blaster, and Teela's hand was resting on her staff.
"So are we good?" Adora asked, her voice still hard.
Fighting in the palace was okay if you were, say, being attacked by giant snakes, but was otherwise considered a no-no. Teela deliberately took her hand away from her weapon and said, "We're good."
Adora said, "You know, we can have a rematch whenever you want."
Teela snorted. "Maybe after the end of the world."
"Maybe," Adora said. She grinned then, wide and sudden and mischievous, and turned, blonde braid swinging, walking briskly to catch up with the others.
Teela hesitated for a moment before she followed, caught by the déjà vu of that unexpected smile.
If Adora didn't spend most of her time as an emotionless robot - if they'd been on Eternia all the while - Teela would've have noticed it before now.
Adora and Adam kind of looked alike.
Weird.