Allura took a deep breath as she wandered the halls of the Castle of Lions; it was late in the dim cycle for the ship, when some of the paladins preferred to rest. Two of them were often still awake at the late hour. One was the Black Paladin, Shiro, as his sleep was not restful, and he was often found in the Command Deck or the Library studying the cultures of this part of the galaxy. The other was driven by something that Allura could fully understand and appreciate.
The Green Paladin, Pidge, was driven by her quest to find her father and brother. A quest that consumed much of her free time, and worryingly devours much of the time she should spend sleeping, resting, or otherwise keep her health up for saving the universe. There were many examples when the Princess had come upon Pidge or Shiro during these late hours, and all but physically dragged them to their chambers to rest.
However, unlike the previous times she'd walked these halls, she was alerted to another being present by a soft sound that she recognized instantly. She had made it a few times herself, it was the sound of someone trying to cry silently, and failing. Following the soft sound, she found herself going into a secluded part of the castle.
Allura entered into a secondary dining chamber, which had hosted many wonderful state banquets and dinners in the peaceful times before the Galran invasion. But it was something much more to Allura, for there was a double-sized window that she remembered used to stare out over the fields of Juniberries back on Altea, and had a wonderful view of the oceans on Arus. However, now it was nothing but the endless darkness of space with tiny pinpricks of light drifting past the viewport. Even with the dim lights of the castle, it was easy to find the source of the noise that had gotten her attention.
Stopping in mid-stride she frowned as she saw something new about the source. Pidge was curled up with their head on their knees, and her entire body was shaking. In her hand was some sort of floppy, shiny sheet, which Allura could catch glimpses of two figures on it. The image was causing Pidge emotional distress, but it was important to them to keep it from the others. Allura wished to help, but Pidge had never accepted her offer to visit to talk.
'But they had never refused you either,' a gentle voice that reminded her of her father whispered in the back of her mind. Reaching up, she released her hair from the bun she wore it in and let it flow down her back. She remembered her mother always had her hair down when she was comforting Allura, and hoped that it would serve as well for the humans.
Walking softly, she moved towards the crying paladin, not making her presence known in case of scaring Pidge away. Sitting on the ground next to her, Allura waited a few seconds before speaking. At least that had been the plan, instead Pidge spoke first. "It's massive… and I'm just… so small…"
Looking over at Pidge, she found the paladin wasn't even looking at her, and strangely the glasses they always wore with their casual clothing were missing from her face. Her teary eyes were distant and unfocused, and in the dim light Allura could note the redness along the outer edges. The slight gleam of tears on Pidge's cheeks reminded her of something her parents used to do when she was upset.
Reaching into her suit pockets, she pulled out a patch of soft cloth and began to wipe the trails of moisture from the paladin's face. The jerking of the head and sharp focusing of the eyes suggested that Pidge hadn't even noticed that she had settled in until they came into contact. "Princess?"
"Can you call me Allura?" the princess asked softly as she continued wiping the tears from Pidge's face. How strange, she had tears coming from her nose as well as her eyes. "As you said, I am not your princess."
Oh, that wince looked like it was not the right thing to say to Pidge. "I'm sorry about that Allura… I was angry and shouldn't have said that," the female paladin stated while avoiding the gaze of the woman wiping away the tears from her face.
"I meant that in jest Pidge, and I hold n-"
"Katie, my name is Katie, if you're Allura right now," the emotionally vulnerable girl cut in softly as she put her hand on Allura's arm. "And I am sorry. I-"
"You were concerned about your family and felt I was being unjustly harsh," Allura cut in this time, watching as Pidge took the cloth and folded it before wiping her eyes. She was then surprised as the usually aloof paladin leaned against her, resting on her shoulder with a pillow of hair. "Do you want to talk about why you were crying here?"
"No," was the blunt reply, before she continued talking. "But I feel like I should. I was working on translating some of the captured Galra information, and got thinking about Matt and where he might be. Then I thought about where we've been, and realized just how impossible it was for me to search every system Zarkon could hide them in. And my mind just continued to tear into my hopes of finding my family. So I started walking along the halls to try and calm down, before I ended up here, and… I just kept staring into space, realizing how small I am in this big universe."
Allura watched as Katie rambled, baring herself to the Altean with more than words. The lack of glasses made her eyes softer somehow, but they kept searching around the room as though to figure out what to focus on. Her hands worked the cloth, as though needing something to do. And her lips seemed dry and trembled slightly as she spoke.
This wasn't Pidge.
"We are small, but like a single stone dropped into a still pool, our changes will extend beyond just where we splash down," Allura offered, trying to help the poor girl put their efforts into perspective.
A small smile spread on Pidge's face, the pain passing and the emotional maelstrom calming. "Thank you."
Allura pulled her into one of the arm holds that she'd seen Shiro give the others, draping her arm around the smaller girl's shoulder, and pulling her into a soft squeeze. She remembered that the others had called it a hug, and it seemed appropriate to use it again. In the back of her mind, she wondered if this feeling of warmth was normal, but she enjoyed it.
"Can we stay like this for a little longer?" she asked as her eyes drifted to look at the girl she was trying to comfort, only to blink as she realized that Katie had somehow fallen asleep on her.
Maybe a little while longer was acceptable after all.