Queen Marlena's Story

As the Bright Moon of Eternia made its way across the night sky, the doubled lights created the flared effect of moons day. It was bright enough to accomplish the ordinary tasks of a workday, but most Eternians preferred to spend the time in more special activities. When Adora knocked on the door of her mother's chamber, she was admitted by Mari-Libana, the Queen's companion, who greeted her with a finger across her lips, indicating the need for silence. Adora made her way into the room that was bathed in the streaming moons' light. Marlena sat cross-legged on a low ottoman, facing the large great windows that had been opened to the night. On a table in front of her sat a brazier glowing with hot coals. A large bowl of water seemed to catch the lunar reflection and throw it back into the room. The silver light of Bright Moon mingled with the bluish glow of Dark Moon to create the characteristic metallic sheen of moonsday. Marlena was wearing her deepest purple velvet robes. She had removed her headdress but her hair remained pulled to the back of her head. Eyes shut and cast down, she scarcely seemed to hear Adora enter the room.

But when Adora moved into the circle of moons light, Marlena opened her eyes, smiled, and motioned for her daughter to join her.

"Moons light is one of the greatest beauties of Eternia," the Queen remarked. "Earth has nothing like it, with its simple solitary lunar orb. What is it like on Etheria?"

Adora took up the thread. "It is beautiful, like this," she responded. "The colors are different, the moons smaller, perhaps. But I have always loved moons day best of all the time. Even in the Fright Zone, surrounded by Hordak's metal machinery, moons day was an inspiration. I have always felt stronger at this time. More at peace with myself. More beautiful."

More beautiful? Marlena smiled inwardly. She must remember that even her very beautiful daughter might not always realize her true loveliness. Aloud she said, "The Moons Day is a powerful time for women, you know. Eternian women have found that their female bodies respond to those energies. It's a good time for great magic. It is said to be extraordinary good luck when a child is born during the Moons Day."

A child? Adora perked up her ears. Instinctively she reached for the herbs on the table. She recognised the familiar leaf of "sage," and the homely "coltspaw," healing herb that her own horse Spirit loved to nibble. But her hand found a reddish stalk covered with deep purple blossoms.

"That is sorceress' cap," informed Marlena. "If you are willing to give yourself over to its power, we may find that our conversation this evening can touch us even more profoundly. Mari-Libana?" The wise woman stepped out of the shadows where she had been listening patiently. "What measure would you suggest?"

As the older woman bustled among the jars and packets shelved to one side of the queen's chamber, Marlena explained to Adora. "Mari-Libana was nursemaid to your father and his brother, and took me under her wing when I arrived. She delivered you and Adam. Her command of the lore and the old ways of Eternia is surpassed only by the Sorceress, and as a midwife and a healer, perhaps she has no equal. Would you mind if she joined us?"

Adora nodded assent, and in a few minutes, Mari-Libana had joined the circle. She tossed a small bowl of herbs into the brazier and mumbled something under her breath. Immediately, the air was filled with a sweet perfume. As the women breathed deeply, they began to relax. Marlena spoke.

"The reason that the Eternians assumed that I was in command of the Earth ship was quite simply because I was the only woman on board. In their history, it had always been a queen who ruled. In her role as great mother, the Queen was expected to care for the others, and answer for them as she would her children. According to the old lore, the first queen of Eternia was named Mari-Daliena. So great was her magic and so highly was she held in esteem that the title "mari" became a honorific title of great respect for women. When the Eternians heard my name, they were convinced that I was the incarnation of their first queen, returned to save them."

Mari-Libana spoke for the first time. "Or, at least, some folks could be talked into believing that."

Queen Marlena continued as if she had not even heard the interruption. "All the signs were there, but I did not know enough to interpret them properly. Randor had asked if I would accept him, not the other way around-it was not just a formula of the time. I thought that he was embarassed to be a second son, but he was embarassed not to be a daughter. Randor was in desperate need of a way to legitimize his claim to the throne. When I appeared, literally, out of the sky, he saw it as an omen and would have done anything to achieve some sort of alliance. He did not expect me to come fresh to the marriage bed--no high queen was expected to be exclusive in her desires. As a matter of fact, he did not actually propose marriage. He merely asked to be my "consort." Queens on Eternia do not marry."

A brief silence followed. "Did not marry," snorted Mari-Libana finally. "They do now."

"I'm not sure how long Horde Prime had been infiltrating Eternia, biding his time. Certainly much of the advanced technology that we had noticed from outer space had been introduced by his agents, perhaps centuries before, gradually. At first, people only recognized how much easier the work was, and how much faster they could travel. They did not know--perhaps only a handful of people knew--how indebted they were becoming to outside sources of power, to the control of Horde Prime's trade monopolies. Horde Prime chose a family to groom into his own agents, the lineage of one Queen's disaffected younger sister Sitilla, who was the grandmother of Miro, Randor's father. Eventually, this younger branch of the family achieved considerable wealth and power. Handsome young Miro became the consort of Queen Maxilla. The Hordak faction made its move."

Adora was breathing deeply, listening deeply. She had been raised by Hordak and worked many long years beside him, but knew little of Horde Prime, who was his superior and seemed to be the source of his authority and power. She did not know her grandfather Miro at all, but there was emerging a picture of her father very different from the affectionate, jovial man she had come to love over the past week. She found that Mari-Libana had placed a glass of wine in front of each of them. Adora suddenly had a great thirst and drained her cup completely. As if on cue, Marlena resumed her speech.

"Horde Prime is a patriarchy, through and through. One of the many ways in which Horde Prime cultivated his position on Eternia was to play on the ego and vanity of the men here. You are the brawn, the ox that pulls the plow, and the arm that wields the staff, he would whisper to the guards at the castle, the farmers, and the soldiers. Might makes right. Shouldn't you be in charge? As if Hordak ever believed that physical strength was superior to mental and magic power! As if Hordak understood the secret of life!" Marlena's disgust came through plainly, but she suppressed her outburst and resumed the recitation.

"At first Hordak would only allow men to fly the planes and run the machines, and no one remarked anything at this division of labor. Then he refused to let women know anything about how the technology worked at all, or even that it existed. Eventually he encouraged the men to disrespect women in all ways, to treat them as inferior, or as property." Marlena sighed. "In this, of course, Hordak Prime is very similar to my own homeland Earth. And luckily, most Eternian men do not really believe this propaganda."

"Miro was not a bad man, but he was vain enough to question the Queen's right to rule. He sulked if the Queen paid attention to any but him, and demanded increasing loyalty and gifts from her. The Queen knew little or nothing about the power wielded by Hordak, who was making more and more of the important decisions. And worst of all, Miro saw to it that Maxilla only bore sons: first Keldor and then Randor."

Despite the wine and the herbal potion, Adora was extremely agitated. What her mother was telling her smacked of the worst kind of bias and suspicion. "But Mother," she cried. "Women bear sons and love them. How can you condemn Miro's queen for having boys? How can you see a conspiracy in that?"

But it was Mari-Libana who responded. "Oh, it was a conspiracy all right. Complete with an inside source. Me."

Adora's mouth had been open, and she shut it abruptly.

Mari-Libana continued now. "There are ways to assure that a girl baby is born, and I thought I was performing everything according to form, as Eternian Queens have always desired a daughter to be the first born. But Horde Prime scientists have their methods, too. DNA, genetic management. I was young and very ignorant then about hordian medecine. But even so, I knew what I was doing was wrong, helping Miro's doctors with their blood samples and the drugs, and the radiation treatment."

Mari-Libana paused, and then turned to acknowledge the young maiden. "You're right, Adora. Can't do without boys. I raised those two as if they were my own. It's just…," she hesitated. "Well, I now am less enamored of hordian science and machinery and technology than I used to be. If we want to be at peace with the world around us, we need to bring back the old ways, and put a rightful Queen on the throne."

"And are you not a rightful Queen, then, mother?" Adora faltered. The question unspoken was just as loud. And am I not a rightful princess?

"Are you asking about the genealogy? Miro's grandmother was a second daughter and her female descendants have a claim to the throne, and your grandmother Maxilla was in the direct line." Mari-Libana laughed and eyed Adora closely. "Do you not feel as if you might have the power?"

This time there was no mistake. Mari-Libana knew that Adora was She-Ra, she felt sure. But it was best to say nothing at this point. The story was not done yet. Whatever the nurse might feel about having men on the throne, she warmed to the subject of Miro's boy children.

"Never was there more attention lavished on a child in Eternia," she exclaimed. "Perhaps it is true that sometimes the Queens of Eternia had ignored their boys every bit as shamefully as Hordians ignored their girls. But you couldn't say that of Keldor and Randor; they had the best of everything, incuding tutors and doctors, every genetic enhancement, every miracle of hordian medecine. As the second son, Randor was raised very much as any prince might be, with an emphasis on sports and warrior arts. His good looks and charm encouraged Miro to use him as spokesman and diplomat from a very early age, for even as a baby, Randor could cajole and persuade."

"But ah, Keldor! Was there ever a mind so thirsty for knowledge? Was there ever a heart so keen to know the hidden truths of nature and beyond? Destined to rule from the moment he was born, Keldor was not only primed with learning of all sorts, but constantly reassured of his greatness, his power, and his intelligence. He had his winning way, too, I can tell you," smiled Mari-Libana. "But when he did not achieve his desire, he could be cold and unforgiving."

"Before long, Hordak had moved into the castle, blessed with the title First Tutor and Advisor to the Prince. In the basement rooms he built laboratories of all sorts, and to Keldor he began to reveal the secrets of Hordian lore. The two were inseparable, and rumors began to circulate that the relationship was not a healthy one. Hordak's influence was overweaning, and it was clear that Keldor was destined for a great career not only in Eternia, but in worlds beyond."

Adora could scarcely suppress her own curiosity. "I have lived my entire life with Hordak. How have I never heard the name of Keldor, if he is the greatest student of my own guardian?"

"Oh, my dear," Adora's mother rejoined softly. "You know Keldor well. But perhaps by another name. Skeletor!"

"Skeletor is my uncle? But... but how?" Adora faltered.

"The story of Keldor is too long to comprehend at once, for like many creatures of genius, he is complex and self-contradictory. His devotion to the science of Horde Prime is legendary, and not a month goes by when we do not hear of some great invention, or some new creature he has fashioned in his laboratory, for his own devious pleasure. He became obsessed with the secret magic of his teachers, and to gain mastery over it, stopped at nothing to purify himself. He became so consumed with justifying the self-sufficient powers of males that he denied himself all contact with women, and purged his own body of desire by ridding himself, literally, of his flesh. In his great obsession with controlling all things, Keldor ran afoul of his own mentor. Ultimately, this world cannot contain both Skeletor and Hordak."

"It shouldn't hold either one!," retorted Mari-Libana. And her two companions silently added their assent.

Bright Moon was well past its zenith; this long narration had carried them into the the small hours of moonsday. Marlena sighed, and shifted stiffly on her cushions. "Naturally, in his inhuman condition, most Eternians did not want to name Keldor the King of Eternia. For many of them, a male ruler was only a temporary measure in any event, and the king's sole duty would be to sire a daughter who would rule as Queen. When Keldor disappeared into the nether regions to work his dark magic, they turned reluctantly to the second son. But Randor needed to make an alliance that would prove him worthy of the honor. In his desperation, he was almost ready to send envoys to the proud ruling house of Etheria, and beg one of his distant cousins to share his throne. But I came along instead."

Queen Marlena reached for her glass of wine, not merely kept full by Mari-Libana, but also spiced with those sorceress' herbs that were strengthening her for this night of ordeal. She laughed, wiping her mouth. "I was the perfect wife for Randor! I had the right name, and the right lineage---a rainbow child with no actual meddling mothers or sisters on the scene. I was a highly trained professional inter-stellar voyager, intelligent, aggressive, and strong, a potentially good queen. And yet, like every Terran woman, I assumed marriage to be the highest good and the most respectable state for females. I thought I was being tough to negotiate an exclusive and unbreakable commitment from Randor, but in so doing, I unintentionally gave him more power than he could ever have hoped to ask for himself. In our wildest dreams, Terran women only dare hope to be equal to men, never superior. The strongest Earth wife is weak compared to an Eternian ruler. In my deep ignorance of what an Eternian queen might be, in marrying, I fear that I betrayed the many women on the planet now, and in the generations to come."

But as she had earlier promised, Marlena stopped short of another apology to the small circle of women. She dropped her voice. "Your father, like any good Eternian boy, treats women like goddesses on earth. I was --and am -- incredibly happy with him. He is gallant and handsome and he loves me. I am at heart an Earth girl, and he is the husband of my childish Terran dreams. He has been a good king and vital to the defense of Eternia against Hordak and Keldor... rather, Skeletor. I have to believe.... I do believe that what has happened has been for the best. Up until now."

No one spoke, but Mari-Libana emptied the contents of a different little dish onto the fiery coals. The smoke now smelled slightly bitter. Gradually all three of the women were drawn to gaze into the bowl of water. Wordlessly they watched the reflections as the smaller Bright Moon passed behind Dark Moon. The light in the chamber was now deep blue, the silvery sheen of Bright Moon eclipsed. It was the moment of moonnight. Outside the window, very very close, an owl hooted. Marlena and Mari-Libana exchanged quick glances and smiled. Adora realized that they had been waiting for a sign, the voice of the owl . Queen Marlena turned her gaze upon Adora, her golden brown eyes holding the brilliant blue orbs of the princess fast.

"What I am about to tell you is known by very few people," she spoke solemnly. "All knowledge is power, and this knowledge is great power. I have held it for a long time… we have held it for a long time, afraid to use it, concerned not to use it. But it is for you, Adora, to know and to act, if necessary. Do you accept this story that I am about to tell you? The tale of your own conception and birth?"

Time seemed to stand still. The reflected shiny blue orb of Dark Moon floated on the still surface of the water. The burning herbs crackled on the glowing coals and furls of smoke wafted through the air. Without thinking, Adora reached her hand to touch the smooth marble of the chamber floor. She felt the castle throbbing beneath her touch, as if the rock were alive, calling to her. She knew that there were dark moments in her own past, places that she had been afraid to contemplate. But, like her mother before her, however strange her journey had been, she felt that it was her destiny, her calling as Princess Adora, and her fulfillment as She-Ra.

Adora inhaled deeply, and the breathing calmed her. She turned to look at Mari-Libana, whose wise face meet her own gaze with understanding and compassion. She addressed her own mother, sharp and cold in the blue light. What Queen Marlena was about to tell would surely be as difficult for the mother as for the daughter. Adora knew what her decision must be.

"Speak," she whispered. "I am ready to hear."

http://www.toolcity.net/~acarr/shera/fanfic/qms2.html
Last modified May 1, 1999
acarr@toolcity.net