21st year of the reign of King Randor I
Season of Chill
307th day, 18th bell
Every so often, I hear a thud somewhere in the distance as He-Man chases down another trooper.
Every few seconds, I hear a 'clunk' as the head of Teela's staff hits somewhere on Dragstor's cybernetically reinforced body. It seems that he's neither immune to blunt force nor easily disabled by it. Adora takes a few moments to study him, and then-.
Then she lunges, swords piercing his chest near the gap made for his wheel. He shudders, a mixture of blood and oil splattering on the floor as she withdraws her blades. As he falls, purple and red mist rises from our bodies and dissipates into the air around us.
I think that's it.
I relax slightly from my crouch, a sign Queen Marlena picks up on immediately, striding through the broken door to-.
Oh. To a… Child's nursery, now somewhat damaged. The ring lights up immediately, tendrils reaching out to right the crib, mend the dresser and remove the tears from the carpet. I… Guess that this is where the kidnapping happened, then.
"Thank you, Teela. And who are..?"
Queen Marlena's eyes widen as she gets a clear look at Adora's face. She doesn't look the same as her father or her mother or her brother, but even beyond the hair and eyes there are features she clearly shares with them.
"You..?"
Adora for her part is trying to look at Queen Marlena, but her eyes are constantly jerking to some point of interest in the room she was taken from. Does she actually remember, or did Orko's spell actually shake something loose? Or is she just-? Unused to a room for children this different from the whelping chambers of Etheria and unused to duplicity.
Okay, how do I work out-?
The world glows orange as my point of view suddenly changes, and I see that Adora just lunged at the place where I was. Why-what-?
Construct shield and traverse towards the queen in case-.
Adora's eyes widen! "Mother, watch out!"
She throws herself at me again, swords slamming rhythmically into my construct as she tries to punch her way through!
"He works for Skeletor!"
"What? A-ador-?" Queen Marlena looks somewhat bewildered, and I-.
She knows. She's been playing along. That wasn't a 'I distantly remember this person', that was a 'this is my mother' reaction. And while I don't think she's strong enough to put a regular sword through my shield, I don't want to find out that she can draw on the Power of Grayskull under extreme stress without her Sword of Power.
"You work for Hordak."
"That was before I remembered-." Her eyes go to her mother again, before she forces herself to keep her eyes on me. "My memories started coming back. Shadow Weaver did something to my memories, but coming here-. I started to remember again. You told me that you serve Skeletor!"
"I told Despara, Force Captain of Hordak, that I work for Skeletor."
She pulls her swords back a little. "We have been lying to each other?"
"I'm afraid that it looks like that."
"Who are you?"
"Orange Lantern. Member of the Masters of the Universe… At least, until Sir Duncan gets here."
"Evil-Lyn?"
"Used to work for Skeletor, is currently on probation. I-I think-" I raise my right hand and point to the shocked Queen Marlena. "-that the Queen wants your att-."
Queen Marlena grabs her daughter, swords awkwardly forced out to the side. Adora appears to not know what to do. She either can't or doesn't want to move her arms to sheathe her swords. But she doesn't appear to be trying to hug back. But this is clearly a highly emotional moment for both of them so I move to step out of the ro-.
Ah, hello Teela's staff.
"Now Orko's spell has stopped working, I want an-."
"Marlena?" King Randor enters the room, right hand on the hilt of his sword. "I heard-."
He stares at the sword-bearing young woman his wife is embracing.
"Who is this?"
I gently nudge Teela's staff aside as I perform a shallow bow. "Princess Adora, your majesty. Teela and I will leave you to reacquaint yourselves."
"A-?" He blinks, then his eyes widen as he takes her in. "Dor… A?"
I attach a strand of orange to Teela and then transition us out of the room.
Teela scowls. "Warn me before you do that."
"Sorry. And… Sorry about this whole thing. I'm pretty sure that I've made a series of sub-par decisions-."
"I'm glad that you recognise that." I clench as Sir Duncan strolls down the corridor towards us, Teela Na close at hand. "But right now I'm most concerned about Evil-Lyn."
"I'll deal with that right away, sir, and recluse myself to the castle until tomorrow."
Sir Duncan thinks for a moment. "You should take someone with you, just in case. I know Adam doesn't have a date-"
Teela and I share a cringe.
"-so-." He notices our response, then looks uncertain. "Did he find a date?"
"He was-. He was flirting with Adora without knowing who she was." Sir Duncan winces. "And I think… After a certain point, you sort of have to trust people. I don't think that.. coming back mob-handed is.. going to help her recovery."
He nods slowly. "That's taking a risk, but alright. Send a message to the Sorceress when you find out what she's been doing. And I'll expect a full debrief from you tomorrow."
"Thank you, sir. Excuse me."
The world shudders, and I'm in front of Castle Grayskull. Whose drawbridge is down. Okay..? I walk forward, looking around just in case-. Something triggers the moment I cross the threshold, and-.
And an instant later the Sorcerer's staff appears in front of me. Taking hold of it, I feel it as I reconnect to the Power of Grayskull, and focus to dispatch an impression of success and safety to Teela Na.
"Surprised?"
Evelyn is still carrying her own staff, but makes no aggressive move towards me as the Castle finishes connecting to me.
"No. Pleased, certainly."
"Oh? Did you bring no one with you?"
"No."
"I think I should be insulted. I had a speech prepared, on the subject of how foolish I would have to be to throw away this opportunity. And now I won't get to give it."
I shrug as I walk past her into the Castle.
"You can give it to me, if you like. And tell me what you've learned about the Sword of Power."
