As she looked up at the blue sky and rolling clouds, Teela wondered if this was what Preternia was like.
She lay on her back, naked amidst the short grass of the Evergreen Forest, her long red hair loose and unkempt. Next to her was her favorite lake, the sound of its cascading waterfall accompanying the occasional birdsong. The light of Eternia's sun kissed every micron of her bare, still damp skin.
Of course, that was not the only thing kissing her skin.
Draped over the left side of Teela's body was the purple-skinned Silaxian warrior known as Huntara. Her girlfriend, her devoted companion who would fight the entire universe in Teela's name.
Curled up on her right, a leg hooked around her thigh, was her former nemesis Evil-lyn. The devious witch had been abandoned by Skeletor and for the past few months, had struck out on her own. After sending mercenaries to interrupt Teela and Huntara's planned afternoon of passion at the lake, and watching as the hired beasts fled in terror from the two warriors' blades, Evil-lyn had surprisingly proposed joining in with their shared pleasure. Having no desire for a return to the days when they were enemies locked in bitter conflict, and harbouring a mutual attraction ever since their temporary alliance of survival a couple of years ago, Teela agreed and convinced Huntara to go along with the proposal. Even though her imposing lover still viewed the white-haired witch with distrust, she certainly showed no reluctance or hesitation as the three spent the afternoon making love. Both in the water, allowing themselves to be drenched as they moved around the waterfall, and on the rocks behind.
The least experienced of their party, Teela let her two lovers take the lead. Even with everything she had explored with Huntara in the two days since they met on Etheria, that was nothing compared to the education Lyn provided, awakening sexual appetites that Teela didn't even know she had prior to today. Yet rather than the rough, intense experience she was expecting, Lyn's ministrations were oddly gentle, soft, sensual, even somewhat submissive to the redheaded warrior. Showing a vulnerable side to her character that Teela suspected not even Lyn's previous partners got to see. But then, her previous partners were probably as evil and ruthless as Lyn had been herself, and would see vulnerability as a weakness to be exploited. No wonder she had such massive trust issues.
Over the course of a couple of hours, all three women had given each other quite the physical workout and had retired to the banks of the lake to dry off and rest together.
Teela's musings were interrupted as she felt Huntara start to move, rising to her feet. "Stay here, I shall patrol the area."
The redhead became concerned. "Is there more trouble? Do you need me to come with you?"
Huntara knelt down and put a hand on Teela's chest, speaking softly "Please, stay, rest." She glared at Lyn. "Whatever you promised your beasts, you have no doubt swindled them out of their payment. I shall ensure that if any of them have found the courage to return, they will soon regret it."
Lyn smirked. "Among the acolytes of Snake Mountain, courage and intelligence are in short supply."
Teela couldn't help but get the jab in "You do you realise what you've just said, right? Youwereone of them."
Far from losing her good humour at the insult, Evil-lyn seemed glad to have her verbal sparring partner back. "Correct, my dear. Iwas, and then Ileft. That's where the intelligence part comes in."
Huntara was not assuaged. "Nevertheless, I shall make sure." She then jabbed a finger at the witch. "You are responsible for her safety until I return."
Rather than be amused, the witch seemed almost hurt by the implication that she would do otherwise. "You have my word, not a single red hair will be out of place."
"They had better not…for your sake." Huntara then walked over to her armour and belts, left neatly piled next to Teela's uniform, removed her laser sword hilts from the discarded crossbelts and turned back towards the forest's edge. Making no effort to dress, she confidently began to walk across the grass, showing no concern that her muscular body was on full display.
Teela craned her head up to speak. "Huntara, if you're going out there, shouldn't you put something on?"
Her companion stopped and simply asked. "Why?"
As always with the stoic Silaxian, Teela couldn't tell if this was more of her dry wit or if the idea had genuinely never occurred to her. She settled for the former and grinned. "Why indeed? Just come back to me, OK?"
A slight smile formed at the edge of Huntara's mouth, then she curtly nodded and walked off towards the trees.
Evil-lyn watched her go, then looked up at Teela in bemusement. "Leaving me alone with you? I think she is finally starting to like me."
Teela was using her hand to rub gentle circles on Lyn's back, occasionally drifting up to caress her close-cropped white hair. "Oh come on, she likes you. She wouldn't have done all of that otherwise."
"Still naive, after all this time. You didn't notice because you were caught up in the moment, as lovers should be. Your lady always made sure to position herself so I was never out of her sight, and never closed her eyes longer than it took to blink, even when we both had our tongues halfway down each other's throats. It wasn't because she suddenly trusted me, she agreed to have sex with me because you asked her to. Because she is madly in love with you."
Teela was stunned. She knew Huntara cared deeply for her, but love? She hadn't seen that coming. "How do you know?"
Lyn's reply sounded almost wistful. "I may not be capable of feeling it myself, but I know what love looks like."
Teela recovered. "Can't feel-? Now that I don't believe for a second. You went to a lot of effort and took plenty of risks to find me and make this offer. If you just wanted a roll in the hay, I'm sure it would have been much easier to seduce some maiden in the nearest tavern. It may not be on Huntara's level, but are you sure you don't feel something for me, even just a little bit?"
Teela could feel Lyn tense up, a sign that she was trying hard not to reveal her true emotions. Still in the mindset that openly caring about someone else was a sign of weakness. "I think her policy of not speaking too much is something you could learn from."
"I have been learning, actually. She believes that for the important things, we should let our bodies do the talking."
Having evaded one attempt to pry into her feelings, Lyn relaxed and moved more fully into Teela's embrace, resting her head on the warrior's chest. "I concur, it is certainly a far more eloquent language. If you know how to use it properly, you may tell the truths that you could never put into words."
Teela saw the opening and took it. "Indeed, and today you've used it to tell me a lot of things,"
Lyn looked up into those blue eyes and warm smile that she felt she didn't deserve.
"You don't have to say a word, I just want you to know…I care about you too," The warrior added.
Lyn said nothing, just lowered her head once more and exhaled loudly, hoping Teela wouldn't see the look on her face.
Several moments passed before the redhead spoke once more. "Strange given our past, but lately I've missed you, Lyn."
The witch had regained her taste for their usual back and forth. "I suppose that started once you finally admitted what I have suspected for years: that you hunger for a woman's touch as voraciously as I do."
Teela chuckled at how true that was now. "Guilty as charged. But I have been wondering: where have you been since we last met? What have you been up to?"
"Now, my dear. Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to."
"If I didn't want the answer, I wouldn't ask."
"Always so blunt, so direct. It's one of the things I like about you, Teela. It's also going to be the source of your downfall one day. I am…grateful for all you have given me, but the path I take once I have departed must remain an enigma to you."
"I thought we were going to turn over a new leaf and start trusting each other. I know it's a new concept for you, but this is not how trust works."
"I am aware, but the information you seekmustbe withheld. For your protection."
Teela craned her head up to look Lyn in the eye, irritated. "What is it with everyone lately? I've already had this conversation with her. I'm not some damsel who needs to be wrapped in cotton wool and sheltered from the world!"
Lyn returned the look and seemed…genuinely concerned? "As much as I normally find your anger to be quite endearing, Teela. If you could curb your temper for a moment, I will explain."
The redhead lowered herself back down and let out an exasperated sigh. "Go on."
"Today I intruded on your personal time, sent Beast Man and his cohorts on the attack, you and your consort routed them and I retreated to parts unknown, having left you unharmed. These are sufficient truths to placate your superiors, if they even choose to ask at all. But if I tell you the location of my current abode, you will have two options: betray my trust or face the consequences when someone in the service of Randor eventually finds me and learns that you kept the whereabouts of a wanted criminal secret from your King."
Teela was taken aback. "I…hadn't thought of it like that."
"Good thing one of us did. We both know you have the stomach for battle, but not for betrayal. As for option number two, we've had our differences, but Eternia is far more interesting with you in it. I don't want to see you rotting in a dungeon or…worse." Having come perilously close to admitting she cared about her former enemy, Lyn felt the need to add a little twist of the knife. "On top of all that, you're a bad liar."
Teela responded with a sardonic grin. "Why thank you very much."
Lyn met her with that devilish smile. "You're welcome."
A few more moments passed, before Lyn reignited the conversation. "Why don't you ask me what you really want to know? Am I going to harm your precious Royal family? Am I going to go after Castle Grayskull's secrets again? Will we have to meet in battle once more?"
Teela looked down. "Well, are you? Do we?"
Rather than answer directly, Lyn met a question with another question. "You weren't around for this one, but I'm sure your father told you. Did you hear about our run-in with He-Man at the Stone City?"
"I heard alright. One of your schemes to take the Power of Grayskull for yourself while Bonebrain wasn't looking."
"Mmm, indeed. And when it all went wrong, Skeletor's punishment was to make me carve a giant stone statue of his head."
"I saw that on our last visit to Snake Mountain. Wondered where that ugly thing came from." She couldn't help but tease. "I guess if the Palace needs a sculptor, we know who to call."
Lyn was unamused. "Yes, very droll. The point is that while he was 'supervising' my efforts, Skeletor asked me what I would have done with the Power if Ihadseized it for myself. In frustration, I yelled back that I didn't know. It was only after the words left my mouth that I realised it was the most honest statement I had ever made. I sought power for so long, I had forgotten what its purpose was. Even now, as I lay with you, I still don't know."
"And that's what got you thinking about breaking away?"
Lyn nodded. "I was up on that scaffold for a solid month, so I had plenty of time to take stock. Staring at that giant, hideous skull. I came to realise what a fool I've been, how many years of my life I've wasted. I threw my lot in with Skeletor because I was convinced that being at the right hand of such power would enhance my own. For a long time, it seemed that way. My magic was strengthened, as was my status. But what did it really get me in the end? Fighting battles that were not mine to fight, making enemies of those I had no quarrel with otherwise. Anything gained through serving Skeletor would only be used in his insane quest to obtain the unobtainable. By the time I was done with that statue, I had reached a rather depressing conclusion: I was not the power's mistress, I had become its slave."
As Lyn recounted her epiphany, Teela wrapped her arms around her lover's body and hugged her tight. "Still, you stayed with him a while before that whole business with Kothos came up."
"If I fled the next day, he would just use his magic to summon me back to Snake Mountain, as he did many times before. When I was thrown out of Kothos' flying fortress and washed up on that beach, I expected that Skeletor would wrench me away yet again. But night fell and nothing happened. The next day came and went. Then the day after and the day after that. Five days passed, five days of wandering my way back to civilization, before it hit me: he didn't care if I came back or not. I was finally rid of him. I made a vow to myself: if I seek power in the future, it will never again be at the expense of my freedom."
Lyn let out a mirthless, hollow laugh. "Ironic, isn't it? I've carved out a reputation as one of the most selfish beings on Eternia. Yet all the lies, all the suffering I inflicted was to serve the interests of another. Now that I am actually serving my interests alone, I have so far managed to be a lot less trouble to the world at large."
Teela had to admit that was true. "Certainly you've stayed off our radar all this time, so as strange as it sounds: let's hear it for selfishness, I guess."
"It is a most under-rated virtue."
A moment of silence passed before Teela responded. "Not to belittle everything you just said, but… you didn't answer the question."
Lyn sighed. "I will not sully what the three of us have shared today by making promises I may not be able to keep. But I can promise this much: when next we meet, you can be certain that whatever I do, it is my choice. Carnal affairs such as ours involve give and take, that is one thing. But in all other matters, I will be no-one's servant."
"Good to know."
Another period of quiet passed, enough for Lyn to start having doubts. Normally the warrior treated her every pronouncement with suspicion and rightly so. Why was she so readily accepting the witch's words now? "Teela…do you believe everything I just said to you?"
"That depends." She gave Lyn a pointed look. "Is there a reason why I shouldn't believe it?"
"I said it, isn't that reason enough?" A tinge of self-loathing was evident in the tone of her question.
"Not for me. Not anymore."
Lyn was shocked. "But you know me better than anyone, ally or enemy. My legacy is one of endless deception."
"That's your history, it doesn't have to be your future. I've seen a lot of people forgiven for their misdeeds, because they were genuinely willing to change. If that is what you seek, then you should have that chance. Even if no-one else chooses to give it to you, I will."
The witch was taken aback at being offered this olive branch of trust. "So…you believe me?"
"Doesn't matter if I believe your words, what matters is whether you believe them. Instead of questioning why you seek power, ask yourself: who do you truly want to be? Clearly it must be something different from what you were, or else you would have been happy to stay put at Snake Mountain." Teela reached out and cupped both sides of Evil-lyn's face, holding her full attention. "You just need to believe in yourself and you will be that person. You don't need to be tethered to the old ways, if you don't want to be. Anything I can do to help you, I will. I consider you - dare I say it - my friend."
"I daresay you dare much." Lyn offered a thin smile. "But that is nothing new."
"Then I'll dare a little more. I've known for a long time that there's a good person inside of you, scratching and clawing her way to the surface. If she needs it, I'll give her a helping hand. Let her break the cycle and leave the shadow of 'Evil-lyn' in the past."
Touched by such undeserved kindness, the white-haired mage spoke softly and looked intently. "Evelyn. When it's just you and me…my name is Evelyn."
"Evelyn." Teela rolled the name around her mouth, savouring the taste. "A beautiful name for a beautiful woman."
The beautiful woman rolled her eyes. "Please, Teela, you already talked me out of my clothes hours ago. You're going to give me a toothache with all this sweetness."
"Aww, just shut up and kiss me."
The mage raised up to meet Teela's face and lowered herself down, surprising the warrior by planting a soft, tender kiss on her forehead. Her voice husky with barely restrained passion. "If you're ready for some more, then I'mhappy to oblige. But I think we'd better wait until your lady love returns. If we start without her, she might consider it cheating."
"Fair enough. I can't get a read on what she's thinking a lot of the time, but I wouldn't trade what we have for anything…" Talking of their relationship brought a sad reminder. "At least, for as long as we have it."
Evelyn knew exactly what that meant. "She's leaving, isn't she?"
Teela nodded. "Her duty will take her away from this world soon. We both knew this would be short-term. We accepted it."
"But still…"
"Yes, still…."
Approaching footsteps interrupted the moment as Huntara came into view, returning her sword hilts to the crossbelts before walking back to her beloved.
Evil-lyn carefully extricated herself from Teela's embrace and sat up. "Ah, the conquering hero returns."
Teela followed suit, feeling rather stiff from remaining in the one position for so long. "Is everything alright?"
Huntara gave her companion the same barely-perceptible smile as before, then fixed her eyes on the white-haired witch. "No sign of the pigs or the ape man."
Lyn was nonchalant, even teasing. "That is a relief. Well, fine warrior. Here is your Goddess, safe and sound, as promised."
Teela turned to offer a warning. Knowing that, to Huntara, her well-being was no laughing matter. "Lyn, don't."
The mage didn't seem to take the hint. "What? We're all playing nice now, aren't we?" Teela just rolled her eyes and shook her head.
Huntara stood impassively, then she walked around to Lyn's side, knelt down and without warning, grabbed her chin. The Silaxian brought her face close to look deep into the other woman's eyes. Several tense moments passed, until finally Huntara spoke. "Perhaps I misjudged you. I had no faith that you would treat Teela well, but you have proven me wrong."
"It's a surprise to us both," Lyn admitted.
"Perhaps you truly do seek a better name."
"No guarantees about tomorrow." Her eyes darted towards her former nemesis and yes, her friend. "But for today, I think I've found one."
"Today will be enough."
Teela got up to her knees and sat to the side of both women, glad she wouldn't have to play referee after all. "How about it, Huntara? Got the energy for one more go-around before we head back to the Palace?"
In the second that Huntara broke eye contact to look at Teela, Lyn's hand shot out and grabbed the warrior's chin in the same way she herself was being held. The witch showed her typical malevolent grin, heavily tinged with lust. "We've played her soft games, now let's play for real…if you can take it."
Huntara responded to the challenge with a lascivious, almost animalistic, teeth-baring smile and practically pounced on Lyn. Teela watched with renewed desire as the pair rolled around on the grass, locked in a tight embrace. Hands frantically roaming everywhere, almost devouring each other with deep, forceful kisses.
