Archaic was, well…old, right? Yeah, it was old. That was kind of in the name.
Old enough that the current populace had had their 'origin story' so to speak, how Ancients were first created, muddled and changed and altered, to the point where they just gave up. There was a planet, they were on the planet, and so on so forth. Good enough.
The planet was split into its separate climates, so the leadership should be as well. The Water Ancients'-known on Archaic as Syrens-current leader was their Queen. They ruled by Matriarchy, all of Archaic did, so Her Highness was usually away on missions with the Fire Ancients'-Draegons'-Queen.
On one of these mission, they happened to run into the freedom fighters. This had started with a misunderstanding, as everything always does, but they struck a good friendship with them. Good enough that King Alfor of Altea had invited them to a ceremony for his only daughter, Princess Allura, celebrating her birth.
The Queens were surprised to hear of this, when they first received the letter. Queen Krolia of the Draegons was unsure, as was Queen Camila of the Syrens. They had discussed it until almost hours before their needed departure time, and settled on going, taking their young sons Prince Lance and Prince Keith with so they could be introduced.
Alfor wanted them to meet his child, so why not let him meet theirs?
Queen Camila actually had four other children, but they were all either busy with their training or on diplomatic missions of their own. Prince Lance was happy to spend time with his mother though, and not only her but Prince Keith (Queen Krolia's only child) as well.
Prince Lance and Prince Keith had been inseparable since they were born and met. The longest they had ever been apart was their incubation period, if you want to count that. Adorable, really.
On their way to Altea, which was a pretty fast trip on the back of a Space Dragon, Queen Camila made sure to drill into Prince Lance and Prince Keith all kinds of manners, rules, and every lesson of etiquette known to the universe. She informed them about aliens that they knew weren't even going to be there. Worry warts, turns out, are universal.
At their arrival, they may have spooked a few Alteans; big, scary, purple Draegon and all. But Alfor welcomed them with open arms. Literally. Apparently, he was still a child because he hugged Queen Krolia's leg while she was in Draegon form, saying stuff like 'quiznack it's a Draegon that's so cool Coran get a picture of me and the Draegon '
When they finally had everything calmed down, Alfor, with pride, showed them his wife and newborn daughter. Queen Melenor was kind and sweet, and the way she readily shot her husband's attempts at tomfoolery down made her down right respectable. He also introduced his long-time best friend and Princess Allura's godfather, a strange, orange-mustached man named Coran. He often spoke about history and told lore stories. If anyone other than Prince Lance noticed the sad looks he gave to Alfor behind his back, nobody had shone it.
Queen Camila was the first to hold Princess Allura, and she held the newborn with such ease that is was a little astonishing to the Alteans. Queen Camila was a Syren, obviously, and Syrens were clingy, sociable, and often had large families. She came from four siblings and had five children of her own. If ever you have a nervous Syren, give them a baby to hold. They melt immediately.
Little Princess Allura was pretty adorable, giggling when Prince Lance would make silly faces at her or softly cooing when it was his turn to hold her. The two were a sight for sore eyes. The Altean Princess just loved Prince Lance, and he loved her, getting a little dopey while holding her even (Syrens and kids, am I right?). If anyone noticed a certain red Draegon being a little miffed, nobody said anything.
Then Queen Krolia was holding her. The Prince was extremely reluctant to let go of her, but relented. Draegons usually gave off an intimidating sort of presence, it came with the territory of being able to shift into a giant creature, but the Princess didn't seem to have any problems. She wasn't as playful as she was with Prince Lance, but she didn't cry or anything.
Queen Krolia, ever the stoic character, looked at Alfor with a straight face and said, "She will be a strong warrior. I sense it." Only Queen Camila and the other Ancients knew that those words weren't worth shit. Draegons couldn't sense anything like that, but Alfor, with his childish adoration of Dragons and pride for his daughter combined, he believed Krolia whole-heartedly, telling anyone else for the rest of the day that a Draegon told him she would be a great warrior. Queen Camila couldn't always keep from laughing, confusing many.
And finally, it was Prince Keith's turn. Keith didn't really like kids, but not in the sense where he couldn't stand them. Obviously any kid could be annoying. Some could be brats for no absolute reason. Some could demand things that just weren't reasonable. All pretty good reasons for one to decide that all of them are shit.
That wasn't Keith's problem. Look, he's from a planet where his usual surroundings are lava and fire and explosions. Just this morning he was walking his way to the Black Lake wading through rivers of magma. Doesn't hurt Keith of course, he's a Draegon.
But not all kids are Draegons. Most kids are pretty weak. They cry just by being held by the wrong person or get hurt by the sun from looking through a window. They're fragile. And that makes Keith paranoid.
So when she's set within his arms by his mother, neither Ancient nor Altean did anything. They seemed to just look at each other, assess each other. It was baffling. Not one peep from the previously giggling baby.
They started getting worried actually. Not worried like they thought Prince Keith was hurting her or she was in pain. But when any child just goes quite, you kind of have to check them, because that could mean anything right?
So they do, or were about to, when Princess Allura's tiny arm suddenly goes up and meets one of Prince Keith's horns. The Draegon Prince, ever adorable, follows the movement with his eyes. He looks cross-eyed at the tiny fingers touching the ridges and moving up and down over them.
Neither of the two did anything for a few seconds, before the others present burst out laughing. Alfor, Coran, Lance, and Krolia were doing nothing to hide it, laughing loudly and unabashedly. Melenor and Camila both had hands in from of their mouths to cover their giggles.
The day got easier from there. Allura was constantly passed around people, but she seemed happiest either with her parents or Lance. Prince Lance had embraced this, promising the Altean royalty that he would be her big brother. He pulled Keith into it as well, saying they'd love to see her again.
Alfor laughed, but promised so.