Skeletor stood on top of a wooded hill on the very edge of the Evergreen Forest. From this distance, he could see Castle Grayskull and everything that was going on around it, and he was actually a little surprised to find himself there. He had no intention of bothering the castle that day—instead he had been on his way to Eternos to start a little trouble for Prince Adam—but when he had seen who had been on the drawbridge before it suddenly dropped to let the individual inside, he knew he had to stick around to see what was going on.

The Lord of Destruction turned to his companions, Evil-Lyn, Trap Jaw, and Beastman, and said, "I wonder why King Randor is at Castle Grayskull alone. I don't even see an AttakTrak in the area."

The others shrugged, and Skeletor turned his attention back to the castle. He wished he knew what was going on inside.

=)=)=)

Prince Adam stepped inside the throne room and took a deep breath as he watched his mother, his sister, and Man-at-Arms turn toward him.

His mother immediately came to him and slipped her hand inside his. "I waited until you got here to open the palace doors," she said. "Are you sure you want to do this? I know it has to be a little daunting, especially without your father."

Adam smiled confidently and replied, "You're here. Besides, I will have to do this on my own one day, so a little experience will be good for me."

As Teela walked inside the room, the queen purposely motioned her head towards the captain to make Adam look at her. When he did so, she whispered, "I sincerely hope you won't have to do this on your own. Choose your queen wisely and you won't have to."

Adam blushed as he turned back to his mother. He cleared his throat and asked, "Should we get things started now?"

"By all means," she agreed, and Adam immediately looked towards Man-at-Arms and nodded his head.

Instantly, Duncan left the room to open the outer doors, and Prince Adam and Queen Marlena ascended the throne hand-in-hand. When they reached the top, they turned around to face the incoming crowd and Adam took his spot in front of his father's chair as his mother took hers. He stood there and waited silently for everyone to get inside and stop moving before he said anything to the crowd.

It didn't take long for the spectators to see that today would be different. Not only was King Randor absent, Prince Adam was on the throne and holding a cane in his hand to presumably help him walk or keep himself steady. The people fell silent and watched the people atop the throne as they watched them.

Finally, Adam spoke, "I would like to welcome everyone. As you can see, my father, King Randor, will not be with us today. An urgent matter that needed his attention came to light, so I have decided to step into his place for the time being. We will conduct ourselves and business as normal." He then turned towards Duncan and said, "Man-at-Arms, allow the first visitor to step forward."

Duncan couldn't help but smile and feel a little pride at the boy's confidence and ability to take charge as the prince gave him his first order of the day. Right now, Adam was acting and speaking so much like his father that he wished Randor was there to see it.

=)=)=)

King Randor continued to wipe his eyes at the memory of his children's birth. He had no idea the Sorceress had the power to look back into the past at events she hadn't been present for, but he wasn't really surprised. He had a feeling the woman could do anything she wanted within these castle walls.

But instead of spending his time contemplating what the Sorceress could do, he watched the next moment the Sorceress had chosen to remind him of:

King Randor sighed in frustration as he watched Prime Minister Pangus leave his office for a brief break in their negotiations. They had been in there for almost two days, minus the breaks, trying to reach an agreement on the fate of a man who had committed a crime in the city of Primus. It was a delicate matter and Randor was frustrated that they were unable to see eye-to-eye on this one matter even though they usually got along so well.

He could understand why this time was different, though: a young man by the name of Danius had stolen from Pangus' daughter Celice. The girl owned a gold locket in which contained a picture of her late mother and it meant everything to the child. Because Danius had taken it from her while she had been outside playing and it had upset and scared the child, Pangus gave an order for the man to be imprisoned for the rest of his life.

Danius' wife came all the way to Eternos to plead with King Randor to talk to the prime minister. She explained that Danius had only wanted to provide food for her and his children and that's why he had stolen the locket. Randor had taken one look at the woman's clothes and the way her skin hung off of her bones, as well as the children's, and knew she was telling the truth. It didn't excuse his act of stealing nor did it make up for frightening the girl, but it changed the circumstances of the incident and he believed a lighter sentence should be given.

Randor wanted Pangus to reduce the sentence to a month in prison to teach the man a lesson, but the prime minister was adamant that the man was a threat to not only his daughter but the others in Primus. He didn't know what he would have to do to make Pangus listen to reason, but he hoped after eating lunch he would come up with something. He liked to handle things diplomatically instead of pulling rank as High King, but Pangus was almost leaving him no choice.

Randor rose reluctantly and decided to leave the office so he could eat with his wife. Just as he was about to turn in the direction of the dining room, he heard Adam talking to someone, and he was shocked at what he was hearing. He crept over to a nearby window which looked out onto the courtyard and listened to his son who had stopped playing with the other children to talk to Pangus.

"I heard about the meeting you and my father are having," said Adam as he sat beside the prime minister who was sitting on the bench alone.

"Oh, really?" questioned Pangus, surprised that a child that looked to be around ten or eleven—despite the fact that he was King Randor's son— knew anything about the matter at all.

Adam smiled, obviously comprehending what the man was thinking, and said, "Dad doesn't know that I know. I'm sometimes curious about what goes on in his office from time to time, so I go next door to the library and listen through a vent in the wall occasionally."

"I see," replied Pangus. "And, since you are talking to me about this secret, I assume you have thoughts on our meeting that you'd like to share."

Adam nodded and looked around to make sure no one was listening. "I agree with my dad that you should let Danius go."

Pangus opened his mouth to argue but closed it when he realized he would be arguing with a child.

Adam saw the man's reaction, but he trudged forward anyway. "I know how hard it must be to let a man who could have hurt Celice go, but the fact is the man was trying to get food for his family."

"Your father has told me all about that, Adam."

The prince nodded and replied, "Then, why don't you understand? Imagine if it were you and Celice living on the street. You couldn't find a job that paid enough to take care of your family and they were starving. What would you do?"

Pangus grimaced as he answered, "I'd do almost anything."

"Exactly," pounced Adam. "Danius was wrong and he should be punished, but he shouldn't pay for it for the rest of his life. If you lock him up and never let him out, his wife and kids will be alone to fend for themselves. It will make the situation ten times worse."

As Pangus nodded, Randor stepped away from the window and went outside. "Adam!" called Randor.

The young prince immediately smiled and ran towards his father. "Yes, sir?"

He looked at the boy sternly and asked, "What were you just doing?"

He looked down and started kicking softly at a rock on the ground as he admitted, "I was talking to Prime Minister Pangus."

Just as Randor was about to ask a more specific question, Pangus walked up to Randor and said, "Okay, I will let him go after a month, but only under the conditions you stated before we left your office. He must leave Primus and come here to Eternos."

Randor nodded and shook his hand. As Pangus walked away, the king turned to Adam and exclaimed, "I'm so proud of you, son! You accomplished something in less than five minutes that I couldn't do in two days!"

Adam grinned as he held his palm up. They gave each other a high-five which was something Adam did with his mother all the time. Now that Adam had finally gotten his father to do it, the boy was amused and laughed loudly and continuously.

Randor shook his head at him, bemused that their unusual interaction had amused the prince so, and started to walk away. As he reached the door to go back inside, he heard his boy call out to him. "Yes, son?"

Adam smiled and questioned, "Do you know what I think might make things better for Danius and his family?"

When the king shook his head, Adam suggested happily, "Make him join the guard." At his father's astonished look, he continued, "Think about it, Dad! He has to come to Eternos per your agreement with Pangus. If he joins the guard, you can keep an eye on him to ensure that he doesn't cause any trouble and he'll get a salary and a place to stay, which will get him and his family off the streets."

King Randor stared at his ten-year-old son in a moment of awe and then grinned proudly.

"Danius turned out to be one of our best soldiers," whispered Randor as the image faded. He looked at the Sorceress and smiled. "Adam had been a tremendous help that day. All on his own, he had solved my problem with Pangus and provided Eternos with one of its best future warriors."

"Yes," the Sorceress agreed. "Adam is a truly remarkable young man."

Randor smiled and said almost in wonder, "He is, isn't he?"

The Sorceress turned towards the king and said, "You say that as if it were a surprise."

Once again, the Sorceress waved her hand at the mirror and another moment from the past was seen:

King Randor watched as his wife rushed down the throne to hug Adam. The prince had been gone for a little over a week—he had supposedly been on a mission for the Sorceress of Castle Grayskull. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out why she would want to send Adam anywhere. Regardless, he was glad his son was back safe and sound in Eternos.

"Where have you been, Adam?" he heard Marlena ask. That was a question he also wanted to know the answer to.

Instead of answering, Adam settled his eyes on his father. "That's part of the surprise I have for everyone," he stated happily. "I know the Sorceress told you I would have one and I do. Once everyone sees what it is, I'll be able to answer everyone's questions about where I've been and what I've been doing more freely."

"Then, by all means, bring us your surprise," said the king and he couldn't help but notice that Adam looked extremely excited.

King Randor didn't really need to watch the mirror to remember what happened that day. It had been one of the happiest days of his life. But as he continued to watch the scene unfold, he found that the mirror was following Adam so he could see what he hadn't that day:

Adam stepped inside his bedchambers and found Adora sitting on his bed nervously. "Are you ready to meet our parents?" he asked as he crossed the room.

"Adam," whispered Adora fretfully.

The prince heard the anxiety in her voice, so he sat beside her and took her hand in his. "What's wrong?" he questioned. "Are you still worried that Mother and Father won't like you? They will love you, Adora. I know they will, just like I do."

Adora turned towards her brother and said, "It was a lot easier meeting you—I felt like I had already known you for years."

Adam slipped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "That was different because you found out I was your brother before I did," he whispered.

"No," she disagreed, "from the first moment I met you, I knew there was something between us. I couldn't tell exactly what, but it made me trust you. I know I wouldn't have gone to check out the accusations you made against the Horde for anyone else—Hordak was like a father to me, after all."

Adam smiled despite her words about Hordak and hugged her tightly. "We're twins," he replied softly. "I think that gives us a connection we've never had with others. I felt the same way when we first met…well, after our battle." Adam laughed at the fact that his sister had actually captured He-Man. That didn't happen very often and she had accomplished it on her first try. "I liked you instantly and I knew I had to convince you that the Horde was evil."

Randor gasped at the moment. "They fought?" he questioned frantically. "Why did no one tell me this? What happened?"

"Watch," the Sorceress said, unwilling to answer any questions at this point. "Obviously, everything turned out well."

Fighting the impulse to be irritated at the Sorceress for not answering and for speaking to him in such a manner, he turned back to the mirror.

"I'm so glad you did," whispered Adora as she pulled away from her brother and stood. She took a deep breath and said, "Let's go meet our parents."

Adam smiled and led the way to the throne room. As they stepped to the doors, Adam whispered, "I'm going to step inside and tell them to close their eyes."

When Adora nodded, Adam stepped inside.

"Okay, would everyone close their eyes? I want to get the surprise into the room before you see it," requested Adam.

Queen Marlena sat on the throne again and smiled while Randor sighed and complained, "I hope this surprise is worth all the waiting and things we have to do to get it."

Adam merely smiled and nodded. "It is. Trust me. Cover your eyes so I know you're not peeking."

When everyone did as they were told, Adam went back to the door and motioned for Adora to come inside. Her response was unexpected: she shook her head and started to back away. Her father's words had made her question whether her presence would be worth all the hassle Adam was putting them through.

Adam stepped in the corridor and took her by the hand. "Everything will turn out well, I promise," he whispered. When Adora shook her head again, Adam continued, "They will love you. Please don't back out on me now."

Adora looked at Adam with tears in her eyes and he started pulling her inside. "I'll be beside you every step of the way," he promised.

After a few more moments of resistance, Adora finally gave in and willingly walked to the center of the room. Adora took a few moments to look around and then settled her eyes on her parents. She fidgeted a little, nervous about the moment that Adam would tell them to lower their hands. Wondering why her brother hadn't done so, yet, she looked at him.

Adam was staring at her, giving her time to adjust to the moment. He mouthed "Ready?" at her, but her reply was interrupted by their father.

"Well, Adam, we—we've done as you asked. Now, where is this surprise of yours? Must we wait all day?"

Adam squeezed his sister's hand tightly for a brief moment and replied to his father, "All right, you can open your eyes now."

Teela was the first to see Adam's surprise. She immediately asked, "Who's that?"

Duncan, who was completely surprised, could only say, "By the Ancients!"

As for Randor, he quipped as he opened his eyes, "It's about ti—" His words immediately ceased as he exhaled sharply. He couldn't believe his eyes and he knew his wife felt the same way when he heard her also exhale. He could scarcely believe what he was seeing—his son and daughter were standing side by side, together at last. He knew it was her because she was so much like Adam: blonde hair, blue eyes, pale skin, and evidently similar styles. They both were wearing matching long-sleeved white undershirts.

"Adora!" exclaimed Marlena as she rose from her seat.

Hearing his daughter's name spoken aloud sent a jolt through the king and he found himself running down the throne steps with his wife to meet Adora as she ran toward them exclaiming, "Mother! Father!"

All three of them collided in a moment of pure joy and tears. He held Adora tightly as his wife also held on to her and cried, "My daughter! Oh my dear, sweet daughter!"

After a moment of enjoying the feeling of having his daughter in his arms once again and hearing Duncan explain to Teela who Adora was, Randor looked up to see Adam standing off to the side with a soft smile on his face. He released his daughter to go to him as he heard Marlena say to their child, "Look at you, how lovely you are!"

"Oh, Mother, I'm so glad Adam brought me here!" exclaimed Adora, happily.

"Son," Randor said as he reached Adam and clasped him firmly on the shoulder, "I want you to know that today, you've made me the happiest man on all Eternia." They hugged for the first time in a long while and it felt wonderful to Randor.

"The Royal Family of Eternia is whole once more!" declared King Randor as he slipped his arm around Adam's shoulders. "And, by the Ancients, I swear that nothing shall ever separate us again!"

Once again, Randor found himself wiping tears away from his eyes. It seemed like that moment had happened only yesterday and truthfully, it hadn't been all that long ago.

"Like I said, Adam is a truly remarkable young man," the Sorceress said, repeating her earlier sentiment.

Randor found himself nodding. "He is," he agreed again. He turned to the Sorceress and continued, "I've always known that. I just…get so frustrated because he doesn't always show that. When he was younger, he was so involved in things. He read all the time and he took an interest in the kingdom. I mean, you saw it! He was sneaking into the library to eavesdrop on my meetings! It doesn't make sense that he changed so drastically once he got older!"

The Sorceress stared at the king and said simply, "No, it doesn't." The Sorceress suddenly waved her hand again, but this time instead of a scene of the past, he saw a montage of him talking about Adam and giving his son reprimands:

"If only he were more of a prince…"

"Now Orko, I would like to request a trick: make my son appear. On time."

"Now show Jeremy a good time. You are certainly qualified in *that* department."

"Adam, if you insist on acting like a clown, do it elsewhere. You are interrupting important business."

"I'm sure you have more important things to do with your time…then do it and let *us* get on with protecting the kingdom."

"Well, he'll need more than that if he wants to rule someday."

In reply to Teela saying, "Why can't Prince Adam show some interest in something other than fun, fun, fun!" the king stated firmly, "I wish…he would."

"No, the ceremony must begin on time. If Adam wishes for the people of Eternia to know that he has better things to do than listen to them, then let it be on his own head."

"I'm afraid my son doesn't take this problem seriously."

"…if you're right and there is 'nothing' going on here, then that means Adam really is the lazy, foolish, and horrible prince that everyone thinks he is. Either way, I don't like it."

The Sorceress held her hand up to stop the images. "Would you like to see more?"

King Randor shook his head as a substantial amount of tears poured from his eyes. He backed away and the Sorceress sighed.

"I do not show you these things to hurt you," she said as she followed him to the throne steps. King Randor sat down and looked up at the Sorceress as she stood before him.

"I know," he whispered. "I asked you why I didn't deserve to know Adam's secret and you showed me why. I understand."

The Sorceress shook her head and replied, "But you don't understand, not completely." She waved her hand at the mirror again and a lightning fast montage of happy moments played: moments of a smaller Adam running to his father and jumping into his arms, moments of Randor exclaiming how intelligent and special his son was, moments of Randor simply smiling at the boy for something he had done…

"What has changed over the years is not Adam," the Sorceress explained when the images stopped again. "What has changed is you and what you notice."

Randor looked at the mirror, which had gone back to doing its normal function, and he stared at himself as the Sorceress continued to speak.

"You have made the assumption that I have deemed the others worthy of knowing Adam's secret." She shook her head in denial. "The only person I ever willingly told was Duncan and that was because I needed his help to help Adam. Other than him, everyone else simply took the time to notice. Not all of their revelations happened right away. Teela's was recent, but they found out on their own and you will know Adam's secret when you take the time to notice, like you used to, how extraordinary your son really is."

Randor looked down at his feet and nodded slowly. He understood, and with that acceptance, the anger he felt towards his family, Man-at-Arms, Teela, and even the Sorceress melted away. He finally understood that he was the one standing in the way of getting to know his son and understanding his son's actions.

When he stood, he nodded once at the woman before him and whispered, "Thank you."

As Randor started to walk away, the Sorceress called out loudly, "King Randor."

When he turned around, she motioned towards her mirror and announced, "I have one more thing to show you." When the king stepped back to the mirror, he was greeted by the sight a falcon turning into the Sorceress. She ran to Duncan, gently took a small red-headed baby from his arms, kissed the child's forehead, and hugged her closely. Afterward, the Sorceress placed the baby back in Man-at-Arms' arms. Randor gasped as he heard Duncan say, "I promise you, Teelana, that I will take care of her to the best of my ability."

Randor immediately turned to the Sorceress with his mouth gaped open.

The Sorceress smiled sadly at his expression and said softly, "I wanted to show you that you are not the only one who suffers because of secrets that can't be told until it is time. Even I have felt the sting of the secrets this castle makes me keep. I trust that you will keep what you have learned about Teela a secret."

Randor nodded, feeling extremely dumbfounded at what had been revealed! The Sorceress of Castle Grayskull was Teela's mother!

=)=)=)

Skeletor stared at the castle and debated whether he should change his plans. He had designed a plan to take Prince Adam from the palace yet again so he could see the desperation of his enemies as they tried and failed—he would make sure of that this time—to get the boy back, and yet a better opportunity had presented itself. He still wanted Prince Adam, but the use of his father would be a more sure fire way of ensuring his success.

He now knew that there was more to the young prince than he had led on and that they might need the added leverage of having King Randor in their grasps. After all, despite Beastman's whining and bumbling, he was a difficult opponent for a mere human to defeat, and yet, Prince Adam had accomplished that feat with no weapons or any other outside help. He had stood before a foe more powerful than him and won. Skeletor was impressed and with that came what others might call fear. The boy was barely a man. He had many years to mature into the person he could one day become, and if he already had the ability to stand up to Beastman, he knew the prince had the potential to be a horrible sight for him to behold in the future. He wanted to stop that future—at this point, it became more important than taking over Eternos or even Castle Grayskull. After all, one day King Randor would die and he was confident that he would far outlive the king. If Prince Adam could not take the throne, he knew he'd have an easier time taking over the planet and Castle Grayskull at that time. Of course, that still left him with He-Man and She-Ra, but as he had explained to the others earlier, the heroic duo seemed to care about Prince Adam. They had come to his aid recently and he wondered if getting rid of Prince Adam would be just the catalyst he needed to destroy his greatest enemies. All of these possibilities made it imperative for his men and him to get the prince out of the picture.

Skeletor's thoughts were interrupted by the sight of Castle Grayskull's drawbridge opening once again and someone in a long gray coat and hood stepped outside. He knew this had to be King Randor, who was trying to disguise himself since he was alone. Undoubtedly, the king realized he had spent quite a while in Castle Grayskull and now most of the planet was awake, which meant it was easier for him to be noticed if he walked around with his normal ensemble visible. Skeletor grinned as the figure began to make his way towards him.

Skeletor motioned for his men to move back and whispered, "It's King Randor, no doubt. It looks like we're about to get our bait."

As the others smiled, they hid behind several trees and waited patiently for Randor to reach them.

Once the king had walked up the hill and turned to stare at Castle Grayskull once more, the villains stepped out from their hiding places. "Well, how nice of you to visit us, King Randor!" exclaimed Skeletor in false gratitude. "We have been expecting you!"

Randor immediately whipped around, pushed the hood from his head, and yelled, "Skeletor!" He quickly ran to the side and picked up a large stick he saw laying on the ground.

Skeletor merely chuckled at the king's actions and turned to Beastman. "Get him, you fool!"

With a snarl, Beastman tried to do as commanded. He ran toward King Randor, but unfortunately for him, he still hadn't recovered from his fight with Prince Adam, so when King Randor twirled around him and hit him in the head with the stick, the beast immediately fell to the ground and stayed there.

Skeletor, letting out a frustrated groan, yelled, "Why do I surround myself with incompetent fools?"

Intent on proving Skeletor's opinion of them wrong, Evil-Lyn and Trap Jaw surrounded the king and laughed. "You're ours now, Randor," said Trap Jaw smugly. He held up his arm which had a freeze ray attached to it at the same time Evil-Lyn held up her wand.

King Randor saw that both were about to shoot at him so he did the only thing he could: he dropped to the ground at the last second hurriedly as both fired. Evil-Lyn's energy bolt hit Trap Jaw in the chest which sent him back several feet and slammed him into a tree. As for Trap Jaw's freeze ray blast, it hit Evil-Lyn and froze her instantly.

Skeletor shook his head in annoyance as Randor got to his feet and started to run. The king had only gotten about twenty feet away when Skeletor held up his Havoc Staff and hit him with an energy bolt from behind.

Immediately, Randor fell to the ground and the last thing the king heard before he passed out was Skeletor's sadistic laugh.