Chapter Text
Another scheme of Skeletor’s foiled, yet He-Man was not his usual confident self. Having answered the call from his sister, he had travelled to Etheria and then joined She-Ra on a journey through space to liberate the Hive: ten thousand peaceful Bee People looking for a planet to colonise. They had been enslaved and forcibly turned into an army by Skeletor and his henchmen. Only the scout Sweet Bee, who He-Man had met on his last visit, managed to escape and reach Etheria. With the help of a crystal pegasus and a strange living meteor called Comet Cat, they had freed the Bee People and sent Skeletor packing. The stirring words of She-Ra convinced the Hive to change course and make Etheria their new home, after all.
He-Man, She-Ra and a delegation from the Hive were now at the main rebel camp, deep within the Whispering Woods. The Twins of Power stood apart from the main group, weary after the day’s events. She-Ra was already contemplating what the Hive’s arrival would mean for the Great Rebellion and their struggle against the Horde.
“Once enough of the Bee People are trained, we can start making plans to go on the offensive. We can begin liberating the town and villages bordering Brightmoon. Drive the Horde out of the neighbouring provinces, one at a time.”
He-Man was hardly enthusiastic. “They came here to live in peace, not be thrust into a war.”
She-Ra’s voice took on the hardened tone she had used before. A reminder that while he merely policed a criminal gang, she was effectively a General leading an army, “That is true of everyone in the Rebellion, brother. Like the Bee People, a tyrant took that choice from us. We will all need to fight if we’re going to take that choice back. I know it sounds harsh, but for the villagers who live in fear of being dragged from their homes and thrown on to a slave transport because Hordak decided to double their taxes on a whim? They would probably welcome a couple of Bee brigades standing between them and the nearest Horde outpost.”
He-Man sighed and hung his head “You’re right, sis. Sometimes I take it for granted how fortunate we are in Eternia.”
She-Ra softened her tone as she could sense her twin was troubled. “He-...Adam, what’s wrong? I’ve never seen you in such a mood after handing Skeletor a defeat.”
“I don’t know if I should even be thinking about it right now, given what happened today. It’s…a personal matter.”
She put a supportive hand on his shoulder. “Adam, you just gave ten thousand people their freedom back. You’ve more than earned the right to attend to your own feelings. Now come on, tell your sister what the problem is. I don’t want to send you home miserable.”
“Call it ‘an affair of the heart’.”
She-Ra instantly understood what that meant. “It’s Teela, isn’t it?”
A solemn nod was the confirmation. “The warrior woman, Huntara, came to stay at the Palace for a few days. I saw them together, and I saw how Teela reacted after Huntara left for space. For days afterward, her actions seemed hollow, like she was going through the motions to hide a great sadness. I could tell they had a very special connection. Now for the last several weeks, Teela has spent all her time training our friend Ileena to be a warrior. They sleep in the same room, eat together. spar together. They’ve become very close.”
“And are they…?”
“I don’t know. But the way things have gone lately, it is probably inevitable that they will.”
Seeing his forlorn expression, she said nothing and let her brother get it all off his chest. “Don’t get me wrong, whatever makes Teela happy, that’s the most important thing. But as Adam, I grew up with her and as He-Man, we’ve fought for each other and shared so many adventures. I guess I always assumed that we would be together someday. Yet another thing I took for granted. Now I may have missed my chance to tell her how I feel.”
“Because she is seeing other people right now?”
Another nod “All because of my stupid, disrespectful words. When I encouraged her to…”. He shut his eyes in pain. “I never considered that I’d be driving her away from me.”
She-Ra looked out at the campsite, feeling somewhat contemplative herself. “You know, we were both born to privilege. Our whole lives were planned out from the moment we were conceived. What was expected of us, what we were “destined” to be. I can see how easy it would be to expect life to follow the plan. I sometimes wonder what kind of person I would have become if…” A shadow passed over her face. “If I hadn’t been taken. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that the heart doesn’t care about destiny or expectation. It can lead you in some unexpected directions during the journey, even if the destination ends up the same.”
“I don’t know if it will be the same, sis. I’m not just sure anymore.”
She tugged on his arm and directed his attention towards the campfire on the other side of the clearing. “Look over there. Bow and Glimmer.”
He-Man saw the pink-haired princess and the master archer sitting on a log bench together, warming themselves at the main campfire. Holding hands while Glimmer rested her head on Bow’s shoulder, a contented look on her face.
She-Ra explained. “A short while after your last visit, they finally admitted that they love each other and I’ve never seen them happier.”
“And I’m happy for them, sis.” Though his tone didn’t sound very joyful. “But what they have…that’s what I fear I may have lost.”
“You miss my point, brother. Do you think Bow was Glimmer’s first? She has had a fair number of dance partners in the time I’ve known her, myself included. It doesn’t mean she loves Bow any less, nor does it mean that what she shared with me or any of the others wasn’t real either.”
“So you’re saying…there’s still hope for me and Teela?”
“All I’m saying is that nothing is guaranteed when it comes to love. Teela’s heart may lead her to you in the end, it may not. All you can do is just keep being the good man I know you are. In the meantime though, perhaps you should follow her example.”
He-Man was surprised. “You mean, I should see other women?”
“The choice is yours, Adam. But if you want my advice, just relax. For the time being, don’t worry so much about who you want to grow old with and be open to what someone is willing to give you here and now.”
He gave it some thought. “I guess it couldn’t hurt.” He started looking left and right around the clearing. “I thought I saw Frosta here earlier. I’d like to talk with her. If she still feels the same way about me as before, then.I’m ready.”
In an instant, the consoling confidant was replaced by the teasing sister. “Why He-Man, I knew you were brave, but I didn’t know you had that kind of courage.”
That put a wry grin on his face. “I was just caught a little off-guard, sis. But I’m prepared this time.”
She smirked “Sure you are.” Then her expression became more sincere and she patted him on the back. “Just know that you don’t have to worry about me getting in the way this time. If you can handle the chill, then she’s all yours.”
“I can handle it, sis. And thanks for everything.”
“Anytime, brother.”
“Now I just need to find her.”
At that moment, Mermista happened to be walking by. She-Ra called out to the mermaid princess. “Mermista, have you seen Frosta anywhere?”
“Oh She-Ra, I saw her walking off into the woods with Sweet Bee.”
The golden warrior was alarmed “Uh-oh, this is not good.”
He-Man was confused “What’s wrong, sis?”
“Brother, all that time you were making eyes at Sweet Bee - not that I blame you - you probably didn’t notice that Frosta was incredibly jealous. Now that her rival is back, who knows what she might do.”
“You’re right, we should probably have a look around. Just make sure things are peaceful.”
As the twins started to move towards the treeline, they could hear Mermista chuckle to herself “I don’t think there will be anything to worry about, She-Ra.”
“What did she mean by that?”
“I don’t know, let’s just find them.”
As they got further away from camp, She-Ra spotted something strange about a cluster of bushes up ahead.
“Is that smoke?”
He-Man sniffed. “I don’t smell any smoke. Steam, maybe?”
“Hmm.” She-Ra zeroed in on the bushes. As she got closer, she could see that it was definitely steam wafting up to the treetops. There were also scents that assailed her nostrils. One she was quite familiar with and in the right circumstances, could drive her wild with arousal: a woman’s sweat. The other scent was pleasant enough, but strange that the two should be competing so strongly. It smelled like…honey. All of a sudden, the bushes jostled and there was the sound of hushed laughter. It couldn’t be, could it? Those two? Knowing this would be a shock to her brother, She-Ra contemplated leaving the steaming bush to remain a mystery. But she had to be sure and besides, if not her, He-Man might go looking instead.
Readying herself for what she might find, she peered over the foliage “Is someone cooking back here?”
All of a sudden, Frosta popped up into view, adjusting her dress which had slipped perilously low on her svelte frame. “Oh She-Ra, it’s you. You startled us.” The Ice Queen was visibly sweating and the steam was in fact rising off her body. As if she had stepped out of a sauna into the harshest winter.
The blonde warrior raised an eyebrow and asked a question she felt fairly certain she already knew the answer to “And just who might ‘us’ be?”
As if in response, Sweet Bee rose up out of the bushes, her headband skewiff. Both women had obviously kiss-swollen lips and smeared lipstick on their faces.
Frosta recovered from the surprise and assumed her usual confident pose. “When I heard the Hive were back on Etheria, I felt it was my duty to come and extend the hand of diplomacy.” She put an arm around the smaller Bee woman’s shoulder, who reciprocated with an arm around the Ice Queen’s waist.
She-Ra couldn’t keep the amused look off her face “Diplomacy, eh? Is that what it’s called now?”
Sweet Bee spoke in that demure, shy tone of hers “Is something wrong, She-Ra?”
“Err, why would there be something wrong?”
“You and He-Man appear to have been searching for us.”
The Princess of Power looked back to see her brother’s mouth agape, a shocked look on his face. She then addressed the question. “The last time you were here, Sweet Bee, ‘there was a very…tense situation. We just wanted to make sure everything was alright.”
Frosta was in good humour as she looked back on her past behaviour. “Things did get a little heated, didn’t they?”
She-Ra smirked and waved away the steam drifting towards her. “Seems like they’re heating up tonight, as well.”
Frosta and Sweet Bee looked at each other with mischievous grins and chuckled. The insectoid girl clearly wasn’t as innocent as she seemed.
The ice empress explained. “After Sweet Bee left, I thought about it and realised that anyone who can get me that hot can’t be all bad. When I heard the Hive was here to stay, I wanted to come and talk to her. Turns out she can teach me a thing or two about how to cool down.” And with that, the bee girl turned her back to the sweating ice Empress and her wings buzzed excitedly, fanning the steam away from Frosta.
She-Ra was delighted to see former rivals reaching an accord. “Well, if the two of you are happy, then we’ll leave you to your…’diplomacy’.” She then leaned in and spoke softly to Frosta. “We’ll cover for you if anyone asks back at camp. Since you’re out here, why don’t you treat Sweet Bee to a Walkabout?”
The Ice Queen’s eyes lit up. “Oh She-Ra, thank you. That would be just wonderful.”
The Bee girl asked earnestly, “What is a ‘walkabout’?”
Frosta turned her affectionate gaze back to her new consort “I’ll explain it when we’re alone again. You’ll love it, I promise.” The happy couple linked arms and walked off deeper into the Whispering Woods.
She-Ra turned her attention back to He-Man, who was once again forlorn. “I’m sorry, brother. Not off to a good start.”
He sighed. “No, but hardly surprising.”
“I have an idea. Get your rest tonight and in the morning, I’ll fly you to Mystacor. I’m sure Castaspella will be delighted to see Prince Adam again.”
“You don’t need to go to all that trouble for me, sis. Especially if it turns out to be another disappointment.”
She put a reassuring hand on his shoulder “You won’t be disappointed, Adam, trust me. I know the word gets thrown around very loosely, but Casta is a friend. No more, no less. Ever since that day Bow and I helped her reclaim Mystacor, I’ve only seen her interested in one person and that’s you. The real you. Not He-Man and not the version of yourself you show to everyone on Eternia. After all, you don’t really believe that trip you took through her magic pool was an accident now, do you?”
That particular memory did raise a smile out of him. “Well no, but I didn’t want to say anything.”
“You’ll be in safe hands with Casta, Adam, I know you will.”
“I trust you, sis. If nothing else, at least it’ll be a fast ride home.”
“There’s no rush. Meanwhile, let’s just go back to camp and get some sleep.”
As they started back, He-Man had one last question. “Err, sis. If you don’t mind me asking, what is a “walkabout’ anyway?”
She grinned as the question brought back happy memories. “It’s something that couples and even some close friends will do from time to time. They’ll leave camp at night and when they’re far enough out, that’s when they’ll start the Walkabout.”
“Which is?”
“In no particular order: they shed their clothes, take a stroll in the moonlight and do what lovers do. The magic of the woods has a way of ensuring that they don’t get lost, nor are they discovered.”
He-Man quietly took this news in. “Umm, dare I ask how you know all of this?”
She-Ra shot him a wink “Now now, He-Man. What happens in the Whispering Woods, stays in the Whispering Woods.”