For #allurashipweek2k17. Day 4- Family/Home.
A continuation of Day 3- Dreams/Memories. Do not have to read that to understand this one.
Cover art by queenofthecute on Tumblr.
The Castle could fly, sail through time and space, be the anchor to her soul when she felt it withering away every time it moved further and further from Altea.
Allura missed her planet, the ocean's spray, the juniberry's scent, the clouds that opened up to razor-sharp and boiling-hot rocks falling from the sky for the waters to embrace. She never thought she'd miss it this much as she looked out at the universe before her with all its living creatures and its multitude of planets. Her heart ached but she pushed it down because she was a Princess and she had to be strong.
She nursed the dull throbbing she had pushed down to her stomach until one day, Coran said something in Altean and she had stared a little too long, a little too hard, to try to make out what he said. She felt Altea slipping further and further away and it must have shown on her face because Shiro reached for her hand under the table, fingers grazing over her knuckles in a comforting manner.
She didn't resist and held his hand tight, as Coran blinked once, twice, his face flattening before regret overcame it.
"It appears I've been remiss in my duties, Princess."
Her guardian's hands came up to clasp together as if in a sign of prayer before they flattened against the table. "My apologizes. I should have taught you about our culture. About our language. Lest it be forgotten."
At Shiro's tightening grip, she knew she wasn't the only one to remember what happened the night before when Voltron's leader had came out of the shadows to gift the universe with light with his vow of fealty, and honor, and blood. Even if he wasn't of her blood or Coran's. But the gesture was there and it warmed her, made the dull throbbing inside her subside just a little and gave her just the slightest courage to look Coran in the eyes.
Have no shame, his eyes said.
Allura looked over at Pidge who said something in Altean, at Hunk whose smile captured the room before diving back to his food, at Lance with his thumbs up, at Keith's slight nod and slip of a smile curving up on his face, and at Shiro and his steady hand in hers. And as she pushed to her feet, rising above the others whose gaze rose along with her like she was starlight above, she did not have shame for not remembering the correct salute to signal a dignitary or the way she was supposed to hold her tea cups or how she should sit with legs crossed when in the presence of polite company. This was home for now as Shiro's hand slipped from her grasp. Here she'll have to settle until the day came when she could mourn the scattered ashes of what used to be hers.
But until then, this was home. The team was her family.
She had no shame in calling them that.
- I was going to write a wholesome story and then it turned into a not so wholesome story about Allura forgetting her culture.
- Reviews are much appreciated.
- Enjoy! :)