Another week, another update, more madness amongst the Palace (along with a rather critical scene that was alluded to early in the story...and which was the original inspiration for this insanity). I'll explain more at the end. Onwards...
15: How the Jester and the Maid Saved Her Majesty (or, The Night The Great Secret Came Out)
Marlena, First Queen of Eternia, spent the four days and nights following her brief 'interview' with her son and daughter-in-law in a cycle of sleeping, using the privy, emptying whatever decanter of wine or liquor was closest to hand, then staring into space until unconsciousness overtook her. Whether day or night, the pattern was consistent, and positively heart-rending for the only two who, out of the entire Palace, were fully aware of it. Her Maid knew only that the Queen was keeping to her chambers, her son and his wife knew no more than this, and the rest of the Court noted merely that she was not seen in any of her usual haunts.
It was her husband and his Man-at-Arms managed to keep her distraction from being seen by any other in the palace, their children included, both agreeing that the rumors of her absence from Court were infinitely preferable to honest confirmation that the Queen was hovering on the verge of a complete mental collapse; the latter would surely convince many a noble and neighboring state The Crown had lost the Elder's blessing. How else could they interpret Adam and Teela's suddenly awaking from unexplained comas with subtle but unmistakable changes in manner and speech, followed by Marlena going mad?
They dared not even sound out Himon on the issue as too many ears and eyes were upon the healer's office and infirmary since Adam and Teela first fell silent to risk them hearing what needed to be kept hidden.
What neither Randor nor Duncan knew was that Marlena truly was hovering upon the brink of true madness, and their well-intentioned covering of her absence didn't help matters in the slightest.
It was actually inevitable, Marlena Glenn being as human as any other mortal, thus had limits to what her heart and mind could accept as real, or at least tolerate behind a veil of self-deception. She'd endured two decades of unending stresses, caused by first crashing on Eternia itself and having to integrate into a literally alien culture. The obvious similarities with Earth's medieval cultures masked tiny distinctions and manners that Marlena lived in constant fear of lest she give unpardonable offense somehow and her family's lives and home were made forfeit. She'd seen it happen several times across the years, often realizing it only in hindsight, and wondered all the while if it might have been prevented somehow.
Add to this the unending war with fiends and foes her scientific training and objective outlook often told her were impossible to exist, never mind routinely threaten to unbalance both the world and all of creation. How often had she consciously forced herself to believe that Skeletor's horrific visage was the product of laser-light holography rather than sorcery, or that she was made the victim of some ventriloquists' prank whenever Cringer spoke to her directly?
Twenty years since crashing her ship here hadn't completely convinced her that those same things were normal here, however hard she might labor to believe it.
And then there were her childr…her son. That he was the Champion of Eternia in this age was a tolerable discovery; she'd worked this out the first time He-Man had stepped into the public eye. Marlena consciously refused to dwell upon precisely how he managed this transformation, contenting herself to smooth the waters disturbed by the newly-risen tensions between Randor and Adam as best she could. The boy's coincidental shift in manner and conduct was so jarring and out of character for him, as many complained to her directly, it provided suitable distraction to the Court that they and Randor never seemed to connect one to the other.
It was likely best Randor had been blind to the obvious; her husband was a good man and a good King, but he was a terrible actor and couldn't manage even the simplest subterfuge successfully. For him to have known it was Adam, not some magically-constructed champion but his own flesh-and-blood, who was charging time and again and again unbeatable odds armed with only a sword would surely have left his hair white and heart broken. Certainly it had given Marlena many a sleepless night over the years.
There was a point, three days into her self-imposed 'exile' that this very thought had her laughing, first mirthlessly, then hysterically. Some small corner of her mind had the good sense to have her cover herself with pillows to muffle the sound lest someone overhear it. This hysteria lasted a fair length of time, her thoughts so a jumble and brain so starved for oxygen that Marlena soon had waking visions of herself attending tea parties in Wonderland dressed as the Mad Hatter and smoking from the Caterpillar's hookah.
Thankfully for her tired brain and battered soul, the mix of exertion, alcohol and oxygen deprivation conspired to send her to sleep before she could start acting out the croquet game with the Queen of Hearts. Her dreams likewise cycled back to one particular moment, just barely seven days earlier, when all things changed for them all.
Adam and Teela had been laid out in the Infirmary for barely a full day and tempers were on edge all around. Randor raged at his heir's vulnerability, Duncan fretting at Teela being likewise, Marlena trying with little success to be everywhere at once so the Palace didn't come to a screeching halt, and Himon at his wits end to explain any of this. Their bloodwork came back clean of poisons or drugs, and Orko could detect no spell or charm to account for the pair's condition.
The little jester had made himself scarce after confirming this and had not returned, likely suspecting the King, Duncan and Marlena herself were so affright by this that they were ready to strike out at somebody, anybody, and he would make a very convenient target. Marlena thought him wise, not pretending to know the mind of either her husband or her friend and certainly not her own just then, so his fears were entirely rational.
It was also a pity because that very night she was keeping vigil on Adam while Duncan was seated beside Teela. They'd both become so used to silence that Teela's suddenly waking with a desperate gasp of air was like a thunderclap from a clear sky.
Both Duncan and herself were on their feet and at her side a second later, but Teela seemed blind to their presence, muttering in some unfamiliar language, weakly pushing herself upright as her hands cast around as if searching for something. "Teela, honey?" Duncan called to her softly. "Can you…can you hear us?"
"M'thur…muh…muhue arc tuhn…" Teela muttered, not pausing or fully rousing even as she slid off her bed landed on the stone floor. She crawled about on all fours for a few moments, clearly lost and in search of something. Marlena noted she hadn't opened her eyes, but kept silent as Duncan knelt carefully beside her.
"Teela?" he called to her quietly. This prompted Teela to stop and, after several deep breaths, she gazed about with squinting eyes. She did more than barely glance at either her father or her before returning to her searching.
"Teela? What are you looking for?" Duncan asked, his voice tightly controlled in ways Marlena hadn't heard from him in nigh unto 20 years.
"Tuhn arc…muh…" was Teela's muttered reply, her voice stronger for the frustration coloring it.
"What?"
"Thu arc…the sword!" She started swaying again, breathing becoming more labored. "I…need…the suh…sword…"
Marlena frowned in confusion. She was about to ask which particular sword she wanted when Duncan leapt up and fairly sprinted over to the room's only wardrobe, nearly tearing the door off its hinges in his haste. He quickly rooted about Adam's clothing, pulling out the ceremonial blade – what Marlena always presumed was a ceremonial one, at any rate – that Adam had taken to carrying with him everywhere.
Events seemed to speed up after that, so many once-unbelievable things unfolding as they watched they might as well have come simultaneously, rather than in the deliberate sequence that played out to them:
Randor entered the room, a question forming on his lips…even as Duncan sprinted back to Teela's side and pressed the pommel of the sword into her hand…both King and Queen watching in surprise as the girl shook off her father to stand and totter over to the still-unmoving Prince…her whispered apology of "Forgive me, love.." ringing off the walls as she raised both arms up…then brought the swords pommel down like a hammer on Adam's groin…the Prince suddenly waking with a loud exhale of shock, his hands reaching out to grab the sword handle as Teela fell to the side, unconscious again…the boy staring at the weapon for a moment with bleary eyes, heedless to the shocked stares around him...with great effort, he raised the sword to point directly at the ceiling overhead…Duncan rushed forward to grab Marlena and pull her from Adam's bedside…Adam's lips formed words that were barely a breath…Duncan grabbed Randor without ceremony and pushed both parents to the far corner of the room…the boy's words hitting both parents like a cannonshot to their hearts…
"By…the…power…of…Grayskull…"
Duncan pushed both parents with all his might into the corner, putting his inadequate form between them and the mass of lightning that cascaded down from above, hoping against all hope to shield them from the sight that was surely to greet them…
There, lying in bed, was the unmistakable form of the Champion of Greyskull…both parents seeing their son in the same for the first time…
An earthquake shook the palace at that same moment…even though only she seemed to feel it…and somewhere, someone was screaming at her…and addressing her by name…?
"Your Majesty?...Your Majesty?...Marlena…Are you awake?"
Awake? Wait…what…? Wasn't she already awake? She was shaking in a godsbedamned earthquake and who could sleep through that!
"Marlena…Your Majesty…?"
"Nuh…g'way!"
"Your Majesty?" Whoever or whatever it was had the most grating voice imaginable, every syllable lacerating her brain and sinuses (mustn't forget the sinuses!) with a serrated blade that should've been reserved for public executions…or Dalek impressions…did she have to deal with Daleks now as well as crazy hat makers…?
"Your Majesty…Marlena…please wake up…" the grating voice asked in that oh-so-annoyingly-sweet way the little creep had of teasing her into doing whatever she didn't want to do! It worked every damned time and she could never stay mad at him because…because…
"Muh…umm…uhm up…"
"Marlena?"
"Ah said…ah um 'wake…kay? Little creep!"
"Your Majesty?"
Marlena forced her eyes open to glare at the wholly expected and unsurprising image of Orko hovering at her bedside. "I…said…" she forced her voice to croak with clearest enunciation. "I…said…I…am…awake…you…little…creep!"
Orko simply cocked his head to one side, uncertain what to make of her pronouncement. If her throat wasn't dry as the West Desert, Marlena would certainly have added a few choice observations about his gender, behavior, and choice of partners; that none of that would have been applicable in the slightest was immaterial to her current state of mind.
Pushing herself upright and wrinkling her nose at the stink of well-aged brandy covering her nightgown, Marlena speared Orko with a venomous look. "What are you doing here?"
"Um…" the small magician prevaricated for a beat. "Teela asked I…"
"Teela?" Marlena blinked, her barbed tongue suddenly blunted to nothing, it was amazing she could speak at all. "She…she asked you to…"
"To look in on you," Orko nodded, voice and eyes earnest. "She heard you've been…absent from Court for the past few days and was worried."
Marlena however couldn't get her brain past the original point. "Teela…sent you?"
"Well, yes…"
"What about Adam?" Her alcohol-soaked brain cells were still trying to wring out a droplet of logic behind Orko's presence at her daughter-in-law's request. Why was it her and not Adam making the request?
"Um, what about Adam?"
"Why didn't Adam tell you to come here? Was he too busy to worry about…"
"I haven't, uh, seen Adam yet."
"You've been gone for the last…and you didn't go to see Adam immediately…and how in hell did you get into my bedroom?"
"Well," Orko murmured, unsure at the source of her anger and thus unsure how to proceed. "I found Teela first, by accident, and saw her…um…and she asked I check on you because you'd been absent for so long…I came in through the, uh, well…I didn't use the door if that's what you were worried about…the balcony door was still open a bit…um, how long have you been…ill…?"
The more he talked, the harder it became for Marlena to remain angry with him; his voice was too soothing, too caring, too damned musical to ever be angry with. She couldn't even get angry with how he'd just floated into her bedroom without so much as a by-you-leave, so instead Marlena took to cursing the one who sent him. It would be just like that wonderfully sadistic bitch Teela to send him to do her dirty work and get her out of bed, especially as she was now older had no dobut been doing this for awhile. Doubtless she was just aching for the chance to follow through with her threat to slap the spit out of her Mianthri's mouth…just to show her exactly who ruled the roost now…because her Mianthri was showing the world just how weak and how pathetic and…she was…and…and…
Marlena felt her stomach lurch, all but propelling her away from little Orko and his soothing voice and into the privy. She barely won the race to the commode and proceeded to worship that porcelain altar with much coughing and vile retching, doing so with vigor she hadn't displayed since her freshman year at University. It wasn't the sort of experience you live to forget, never mind try to repeat. Yet re-live it Marlena did, howling laughter of long-forgotten 'friends' resounding in her ears, drowning everything out until, all too quickly, it too vanished and she was left to kneel there, drained and shaking.
The pain and embarrassment of spitting bile from her already empty stomach and feeling her throat and guts burn in agony while doing so, equally cleared her mind of the poisonous, irrational hatred which gripped her thoughts but moments ago. With clearer thoughts, Marlena felt pathetically grateful Teela had sent Orko instead of kicking down her chamber doors herself, as Marlena presumed she was prepared to do.
By the same token, she felt a tad irritated with her nominal daughter-in-law; getting pulled out of a multi-day bender was one thing, but it wasn't likely to steady the nerves of the Court to see their Queen suffering through a hangover. Granted, that was her own damned fault as well, but still!
Not caring if Orko was floating there or had made himself scarce again, Marlena stripped off her gown and stepped into the shower, fumbling hands barely able to work the temperature settings or even use the soap and loofas properly. She didn't bother much with the latter, content to shiver under a chill-to-icy torrent; it helped focus her thoughts beyond the massive headache that throbbed at her temples, as well as motivate her to actually finish washing herself properly with a minimum of primping.
It was a minor blessing that Maureen was so busy organizing the Summer Court that Marlena, for once, wasn't in danger of literally tripping over her as she exited the privy right then…
That thought immediately brought Marlena up short, her head buried in a towel and hands freezing in mid-rub. Maureen was organizing the Open Summer Court alone?! That affair was nothing short of a logistical nightmare under the best of circumstances, even with a designated double-brace of Maids and Clerks concentrating on it. A single Maid, the Queen's Maid no less, doing it all atop her own portfolio of daily work…was the girl suicidal or what?
The Queen's thoughts became positively salty for the curses that silently ran through them right then, with herself being the exclusive target of each and every invective. It certainly helped beat back the impending migraine that Marlena braced herself for once she found the girl and got a proper look at her damned work desk, a place she'd been unforgivably absent from.
She was gratified that Orko had not made himself entirely absent while she nursed her nausea and washed up. Rather he'd busied himself cleaning away the empty bottles she'd left littered about and gotten rid of the brandy-stained bedding, putting a fresh set atop the mattress that Marlena hadn't seen in some years, a whole two decades in fact. Certainly it smelt musty enough for her to wonder where Orko had found it.
Marlena shook that off as a worry for a later time, busying herself with dressing and wrestling her hair into a semi-respectable form that (she hoped) wouldn't lead to too much whispering in the halls amongst the mavens and posers who seemed forever in evidence there. She thought about asking Orko for assistance, but discarded the idea; the little guy tended to combine over-earnestness with a complete lack of understanding of human fashions. Better she just comb it and wear it down for the moment.
Finishing dressing and perching her cornet on her head, Marlena turned and asked "Orko?"
"Um, yes, Your Majesty?"
"Could you please accompany me? I think I will need your help for a bit."
"Um, my…help?"
Marlena nodded severely. "Yes, yours. Please follow me." With that, the Queen of Eternia marched out of her rooms and down a side hallway, not trusting herself to so much as glance in any direction lest she give the slightest hint of how fragile her façade was, making a veritable beeline for her private office. Orko had never been there, and therefore dogged her steps closely.
The hour must have been later than she thought, Marlena concluded, given how few posers, courtiers, and assorted nobodies there were in the halls right then. The Clerks and Maids were out in force, so that was reassuring; either Adam or Randor must've been clued in on the activities of the Queen's Maid, and taken their own steps to keep things moving smoothly. God, just thinking about the growing list of things she'd have to deal with now, immediately, was momentarily enough to tempt her to turn on her heel and crawl back into the nearest available bottle, making sure to pull the cork in after her.
She shook her head harshly, dispelling the idea as she pushed her office door open. The room's only occupant was Maureen herself, her petticoats and skirt looking decidedly 'lived in', her head pillowed in her folded arms. Surrounding her were small piles of papers, and one not-so-small pile that perched precariously near her desk's left edge. Three trays of picked over finger food and two teapots were in evidence as well, Marlena carefully stepping over and around these to regard the young woman seated there. Not daring to disrupt the Maid's desk, the Queen turned to her own, suspiciously clean and orderly one. The only thing that looked out of the ordinary there – besides the complete lack of correspondence or other official papers it was normally drowning in, that is – was a volume of Erskaine's Court Histories sitting open there. Marlena had a terrible suspicion why Maureen felt the need to bring such a disreputable book to her workspace, and it angered her all the more.
She glanced at the page number to memorize it, then shut the book with deliberate vehemence. This was partially out of spite – Marlena lightly if actively loathed Eternos's unofficial historian of noble minutiae – and partially as a test to see just how worn out her reliable shadow was. When the woman didn't more than stir, Marlena picked up the volume and slammed it onto her desk. This was sufficient to rouse the Maid, whose head shot up and eyes went wide as dinner plates, immediately zeroing in upon the Queen, who stood in direct and clear view.
"Your Majesty!" Maureen quickly made to curtsey and bow as protocol normally dictated and which she never failed to execute with grace. Instead she was unsteady on her feet, clearly stiff at the joints, and looked dizzy in the execution. It was all Marlena could do to keep from bursting into hysterical tears watching her once-unflappable reduced so, knowing full well she was the singular cause of it.
Instead she darkened her scowl and snarled "Oh, get up, girl! That's just embarrassing." Maureen stood as directed, but kept her eyes averted. Marlena sighed dramatically and cast a gaze towards the Maid's overburdened desk. "Correspondence, I presume?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"You've been keeping up to date on everything, I presume?"
"Of course, Your Majesty." The frown in her voice was unmistakable, and doubtless was reflected upon her lips. A welcome sign if ever there was.
"Then why is it cluttering up your desk and not mine?" To emphasize the point, Marlena picked up the Erskaine volume and brandished it like a mace. "In fact, why is this waste of paper and ink polluting my office in the first place?"
Maureen huffed a small breath and stated flatly "I was endeavoring to find a diplomatic way of informing the Count of Drassel Valley that his petition for entrance to the First Tier of Petitions this year is neither appropriate nor merited." It was an open-but-unspoken secret between them that Arlec Syn'Stell, reigning Count of that scenic but otherwise forgettable bit the northern coastline, was senile as a stone, and that all petitions from his house were penned by his ever-ambitious wife (who was also his junior by a scandalous twenty-eight years). The woman had more boldness than He-Man, his Battlecat, and all the Masters combined, and balanced it with a complete lack of discretion and subtlety that all but guaranteed she'd remain the sovereign of nothing but her husband's barely-mentionable manor. Elders help her when Arlec finally passed on and one of his more sensible brothers took over.
Still, trust Maureen to search of a diplomatic way of telling the Countess something as simple as "no". That she was resorting to Erskaine for inspiration was entirely like her, really. The Maid just didn't have a mean bone in her body, which was both a blessing and curse given the sgiven the ng and curse for was both a blessing and curse for her. "others took over.
or by a scandalous twenty-eight heer idiocy she had to suffer through trailing in the Queen's wake day after day.
Marlena gave her a noncommittal sound and pondered her next move. The Maid clearly had gone all out in managing her desk and affairs whilst simultaneously working to execute what no sane person would otherwise attempt; Marlena didn't dare step into the latter just yet, especially given she had no clue how much of little Maureen had secured thus far. The correspondence and petitions was a different issue entirely.
"Very well," she declared. "The Countess' annual petition aside, you've clearly finished most of the answers, yes? And that small pile near the blotter are ones that require more…finesse…in answering?"
"Well," Maureen prevaricated for a breath. "Those are ones I have more difficulty composing an answer to."
To this Maureen gapped at the Maid, realization just how serious Maureen was in her answer a tad slow in dawning. The Queen shook her head and groaned "Someday I shall teach you how to write the word 'No'. Mark me on that." She gazed at the competing piles, then fully upon her Maid. "You've clearly put your time in for both this day and too many besides, girl, and I need a Maid who can at least stand up without needing crutches."
"Your Majesty…" Maureen attempted to protest, which proved a waste of breath as the Queen ignored her.
"You're dismissed from duties until 12 Bells High the day after tomorrow," Marlena decreed. "If fact, you are ordered to your bed and to remain there all of tomorrow."
"But…but…"
"Maureen Caltal, second daughter of Tristan and Haleen Caltal of village Brockstrom," the Queen glared with naked if harnessed fury. "I will countenance your efforts to keep my office, my desk, and my place in Court from becoming overwhelmed when I am otherwise distracted. I will even tolerate your attempts to organize the Open Summer Court absent either instruction or support from the Crown. What I will not tolerate is your efforts to do both, thereby risking your health to the point where I will be left to fend for myself without you!" She paused for dramatic effect (and to get her breath back), then thundered on.
"Damn you, woman! Do you think, seriously think for even one instant, that you are not an absolutely essential member of this Court? Don't you realize how vital you are to Randor and I? There is no-one who can replace you! I would be lost, utterly and hopelessly lost, in a cold minute without you to organize my desk, and Randor would be worse!" Marlena dramatically huffed and puffed for the count of six, letting her blows land but not giving the Maid sufficient time to think about what exactly she was saying.
It might have been a stretch saying she'd be lost without Maureen, or that she was vital to the functioning of the Court, but much of one. Marlena positively dreaded having to work through the library-worth of missives and petitions she was peppered with daily, and having someone as discerning as Maureen to organize them beforehand. The girl…no, the woman had the right eye for it and a methodical nature that made the tedious work look simple. Without her, she'd be left with just Randor for a helpmate, something she knew he'd make a game effort at if asked, but would flounder and flail at it and likely leave her in a worse lurch than when they started.
Marlena had long-ago come to the conclusion that while she might survive without her competent and dedicated Maureen, it would be a perpetual struggle not to succumb to the kind of homicidal madness monarchs seemed prone to, no matter their planets of origin. If that meant pumping her Maid's ego up a bit whilst simultaneously yelling at her for doing her job better than the Queen was doing her's, well, there were worse ways to combat a hangover.
At the mental count of six, Marlena took a final, dramatic sigh and softened her tone at bit. "Maureen, I need you to be at your best, especially if you and I are to manage the Summer Court properly this year. Yes, you heard me correctly: you and I will be overseeing that pageant of foolishness this year. I can barely make it through the day without your support, so you can but imagine how terribly lost I'll be starting the Open Court now."
"But then shouldn't I…"
"You are in no condition to fetch tea, never mind organize a million details. Now, I have Orko here with me and we shall complete the work you've started on this…multitude of missives." Marlena gestured grandly towards the two desks. "After that, we'll work out a proper division of labor for going forward." She glared the Maid into pre-emptive silence. "That's of course after you've gotten a decent amount of rest and food in you."
"Your Majesty, please…"
"Maureen," the Queen glared at her again. "Either you return to your chambers under your own steam, or I'll have Orko here cast you into slumber, then summon Roan and have him carry you back." Her eyes narrowed once more. "I will give him very detailed, written directions as to what, exactly, he is to do with you. Am I understood?"
The color literally drained out of Maureen's face as Marlena and Orko watched, eyes wide and bordering on disbelief. Orko's expression (what was visible of it, anyway) mirrored this, but thankfully the Maid was too focused upon her Sovereign's cold glare to notice. She quickly marshalled herself however and gave a polite if stiff curtsey to her queen, then turned to quit the room.
Marlena turned to regard the Maid's desk when she heard the latter pause and speak at the door. "There is a petition from…"
"Maureen!" was the Queen's answering snarl. "I'm writing instructions to your guardsman!"
Whether it was the Queen's wildly atypical manner, or the calmness with which she made her threat, it proved more than enough to drive the Maid to hurry off. Once the clap-clap of her retreating heels upon the uncarpeted floor outside tapered off and faded entirely, only then did Marlena allow herself to relax and lean heavily upon the desk before her as the door drifted shut. "Oh, thank heavens," she breathed aloud. "I really didn't think that would work…"
"Um," Orko stuttered, floating uneasily nearby. Marlena looked towards him and offered a wane but genuine smile.
"I do apologize you had to see that, my friend. That one," Marlena nodded towards the office's only door. "She's more stubborn than Adam when he's got his back up against whatever devilry Skeletor is at. Yes, yes, I know," she waved off whatever protest or deflection the jester might have attempted. "Adam never stays to fight the good fight. Bah, as if there's such a thing as a 'good' fight!" She shook her head in private disgust, then settled herself where Maureen had been when they arrived.
"Enough of that," the Queen declared. "Orko, please come over here," she requested, politely but with that trademark firmness that sent every courier, clerk, maid, minister, and even the King scurrying off on whatever errand she directed them to. Orko was no more immune to it than those other worthies, and so floated himself to hover at her elbow.
Marlena slipped her signet ring off her finger and handed it to Orko. "Okay, here's what we're doing: I'm going to read over this pile she's finished. I'll fold the ones I'm okay with and will drip wax to seal them. When I hand them over to you, please press my signet on the wax. Do that quickly so the sign takes hold. Any questions? No? Good."
The Queen set about her work and Orko, being the smart passenger, kept whatever questions he might have had to himself. Marlena glanced at each answering missive no more than 10 seconds at a stretch, easily folding them by quarters to close and tipping a lit candle over the aligned corners. Orko quickly moved forward to press the ring's signet upon the wax, sealing the note shut. The jester then took the sealed note from the Queen and dropped it into a wicker basket beside the desk for pick-up later.
"Um, Your Majesty?" Orko trilled after a short while.
"Hmm?"
"I could fold those for you…"
Marlena snickered, and not in a good way, as a response. "Sorry, little one. But right now I don't trust my fingers to do anything as simple as pressing my seal onto wax. Complex hand-eye coordination, on the other hand…" She folded six notes and sealed each as she said this, making it look as if it were the simplest thing in the world. Orko blinked several times, then pressed the Queen's ring upon each and said nothing further.
The Jester and the Queen would spend the remaining hours of the night, and all the hours of the morning after, catching up with the notes and missives that made up the lifesblood of the Palace. They worked as old friends are wont, what little discussion there was involved quick instruction from the latter to the former on how to do this or that.
The Clerks delivered the twice-daily submissions on schedule, neither of them commenting upon the presence of Her Majesty or the absence of Her Maid. Rather they simply picked up the out-going missives and left the office as silently as they came.
Word leaked out, quietly of course, that the Queen was once more out and about and seeing to the Court's business, which in turn lead to many a sigh of relief amongst most of the Maids, Clerks, Pages, Junior Secretaries, Royal Cabinet, Guards Garrison, and every other person who worked in the Palace that wasn't otherwise obsessed with their own title, standing, or advancement. A few of the functionaries even did small dancing of joy, though never in sight of anyone of title or rank.
So welcome was the news, virtually no-one noticed the sudden absence of Captain Teela. The few who did, however, quickly found themselves pressed with new and urgent duties by the Prince himself, and so they soon forgot this issue entirely.
As was intended, as the Captain had a most important – and long overdue – appointment within a certain fortress of greatest antiquity.
Author's Notes/Excuses: it was noted by a few readers that (a) Marlena was acting a little, and then alot out of character, and (b) she'd been absent for awhile, which was even more out of character for her. This chapter was always planned to bring her back into her own (even if she seems a tad scarier than before), so I hope this satisfies at least some of those reader's concerns about her.
Secondly, Marlena's dream-memory was likewise also planned from the start. Readers might recall a MOTU story here at ff-dot-net called "Highest Bidder" by a particularly brilliant writer named Eideann. I've shamelessly riffed off that work in two important respects: Adam being a 'fountain' of magickal energies, and his being bound to a single magick-user. I've likewise borrowed a more subtle image from the story: the image of Adam and Teela being laid out unconscious together. In a very real sense, Eideann is the parent of this whole epic. If they're watching and reading, I hope they're happy at being such an inspiration (especially given the story hasn't been updated since 2006!).
Anyways, reviews and critiques are welcome. Flames most definitely are not! Next update should be any day now (depending upon inspiration, motivation and if I can get it out of my AlphaSmart 3000, that is.