A/N: I'm back! This is chapter 2! It was originally going to be much longer, but it got so long that I decided to split it into two parts! That means I already have most of the next chapter finished! I hope to have chapter 3 out by the end of February, beginning of March! Also, I fixed the chapter title for chapter one! This is crossposted on Wattpad under the same username!

Once again, a big shout out to my beta readers, 100000000fandoms and moonlightonroses

In this chapter, we meet some of Lance's closest allies and learn a little more about his mysterious new ward!

Two Movements Ago: MALBERAK GALAXY, PLANET ZELFOR

"We'd like to thank you for defending our planet by hosting a ball for the Paladins of Voltron and the brave Rebellion members that helped us fight back against the Galran Empire!" Cheered planet Zelfor's ruler, King Chiffa.

Zelforians were furry creatures with markings colored into their already vibrantly colored hair. They were any shade of color, from the grayish color of King Chiffa, to the deep blue of the royal advisor, Shermel.

The ceremony so far was nice. Simple, short, and full of praise for Voltron and the Coalition. The Zeforians were going to be a great addition to the Coalition, and by the size of the Zeflorian audience cheering, Lance could tell they were going to be loyal and determined, too. Zelforians were known for their stealth abilities. They would be able to help the Coalition recover more prisoners and information without having to directly attack the Galran Empire, which is what they needed sometimes.

Lance could attest to their abilities. After all, they did manage to sneak him off of Earth and to Zelfor for Wire training when he was 13 and return him safe and sound a year later. If he was being honest, the alliance was secured the second Chiffa saw him step out of the Red Lion.

Zelfor was one of the few planets the High Council of the Tatar Alliance deemed okay to make an alliance with. It was also right next to a particularly strong line of quintessence, so it was a great place to set up a communications hub for the Alliance.

Quintessence lines were literally long strings of condensed quintessence in the quintessence field. Certain quintessence master species that could breach the field could use the lines to send messages back and forth. Taldonians were especially good at connecting to the lines, so they were the ones usually in charge of them. Other species could learn to connect, sure, but Taldonians were naturally able to do it. That was why it was a great honor for Lance to have been sent right next to one of the biggest and most active quintessence lines for training.

"Paladins and Rebel fighters," started the King, startling Lance out of his thoughts, "Please allow us to lead you to your rooms for the night. We offer you our hospitality if you are willing to accept." Allura smiled and nodded.

"We would be honored. Thank you," The Princess, ever the diplomat replied. The King smiled and waved for his servants to take the Paladins to their rooms. Hunk shimmied his way next to Lance and eagerly started talking.

"Ooo, what do you think they'll have for dinner? Maybe some special alien soup? Oh, oh! Or maybe some sort of space chicken! Man, I'm so hungry, I could eat anything right now!" Hunk groaned, salivating at the thought of dinner. Lance laughed and shrugged. Zelfor's food was actually pretty close to Earth food. Just... a lot of it was on fire.

"I don't know. I'm honestly just tired after that battle," Lance answered. The battle might not have been hard, but it was long and Lance just wanted to crawl under the covers of his bed and sleep for the next three days.

"Aren't you going to go to the ball?" Lance nodded.

"Duh. I'm not going to miss out on dancing with some alien chicks, but I'm going to take a nap first. This boy needs his beauty sleep, you know!" By now, the orangy-red Zelforian that was directing them made it to the rooms and started showing which belonged to who.

The first one was for Allura, grand and perfect for the princess. Next was Coran, who had an equally fancy room. After Coran was Shiro, who had been helping with diplomacy stuff a lot more since he wasn't piloting a lion. Keith, Hunk, and Pidge all got rooms color-coded by their armor (not the lions they piloted). They were smaller than the others, but still pretty big and fancy.

"I'll see you later, Lance. Enjoy your nap! I'll wake you up before dinner!" Hunk called as he stepped into the room.

"See you later!" Lance followed their guide as they showed him to his room.

"Your room, Red Paladin." Lance nodded in thanks, then walked inside.

Blue walls greeted him. It was a medium size room with a small sitting area, an egg-shaped bed that looked hella comfy, and a door that led to what Lance guessed was the bathroom.

He smiled to himself as he thought back to his first time on Zelfor. He had a room just like this one.

He sighed and put is bayard on the tiny wooden table in front of the dark red couch near the front of the room, the color popping against the light blue colored walls. Then, he shucked off his armor and put it next to his bayard, leaving him in just the skin-tight suit underneath. Finally, he walked over to the fluffy white blankets in the bed and prepared to flop down on them...

...only to be tackled by said blankets as they jumped at him.

"HEY!" Lance screamed, trying to throw whoever was on top of him to the side.

"Lance! Wait! It's me!" cried the figure as they rolled off of him. Lance quickly sat up and stared at the person in front of him.

The stranger had white fur covering their body with blue marks covering their forehead in a striped pattern. Bright green eyes stared back at Lance as they patted down their gray button-down. A button-down with the Zelforian insignia for royalty on the right breast pocket.

"Ashewatudi?" Lance asked, confused. The Prince of Planet Zelfor smiled, revealing sharp canines.

"The one and only. It's been awhile, hasn't it?" replied the Prince.

"Holy crow! Ashew, what are you doing here?" Lance leaped forward and engulfed the laughing Prince in a hug.

"I was here for diplomacy practice and saw that you were one of the Paladins of Voltron! That is so cool, Lance!" Lance pulled back and stood up before grabbing Ashew's fluffy paw and bringing him to sit on the couch.

"Isn't it?! Dude, this whole thing is awesome! Excluding, you know, the whole war part," Lance replied, waving his hands around wildly. The two had gotten very close when Lance was on Zelfor. Practically brothers. It was a sad day when Lance had to leave, but they managed to send messages to each other every once in a while. Especially once Lance learned how to send messages through quintessence lines.

"True! How have you been? I can only imagine it's tough being a Paladin." And so, Lance started going on about Voltron and everything that happened while he was in space. Ashew nodded and gasped along with the story. Eventually, they moved onto other topics and got caught up.

Ashew groaned about diplomacy training, while Lance, in turn, gushed about all the new aliens he saw. Time flew, and before they knew it, there was a knock on the door. The door slowly started creeping open.

"Oh! Uh, Hunk! Bud! I'm already aw-" Lance scrambled to stand up and hide the Prince when Nyma and Rolo both slid into the room, closing the door behind them.

"Sorry, but we're not Hunk," Nyma chuckled, walking over to the couch. Rolo, and now Beezer as Lance could see, followed behind, clutching something in his hands.

"Nyma. Rolo. A pleasure," greeted Ashew, standing up and bowing his head. They returned the greeting, then they all sat down on the chairs around the table.

"You've met before?" Lance asked, confused about how Nyma and Rolo knew the Prince.

"We're your nosy cousins, Lance," Nyma started, "Emphasis on the nosy." Lance shook his head but smiled. He should have figured the two would dig into his communicator's history when they had the chance.

"Indeed. It was...quite the shock the first time," Ashew added. Lance was about to ask why Ashew looked like he was having war flashbacks when the blanket Rolo was holding suddenly sneezed.

"What was that?" Lance scooted forward to try and look at the figure enveloped in the cloth. Rolo sighed and revealed a small Aldonian toddler. Their skin looked like broken pieces of rock, the cracks revealing the red hot skin underneath. Small bursts of flame licked their way into the air every once in a while.

Must be a fireproof blanket Lance mused to himself as he stared at the toddler. The toddler's bright yellow eyes stared right back at Lance.

"What the heck is an Aldonian doing here?" he asked. Nyma shrugged.

"We found them in the woods of a nearby planet we recently freed. There was nobody with them." Ashew's eyebrows crinkled in confusion.

"But there haven't been any Aldonian envoys in this galaxy for at least six pheobs. Why would there be a child there?" All of them pondered the questions as the toddler stared at his own hands as they lit up with small flames.

From what Lance learned before, Aldonians were known for their fierce loyalty. It was highly unlikely that the kid was just dropped off out of nowhere. He also noticed the kid had small chunks of charcoal covering up some of the cracks on his skin, meaning they had been by themselves for a little bit without someone to clean them up.

"There are probably tons of Aldonian families that would take them in, right?" Lance mentioned, "If we get this little guy to a drop-off, we could get them reunited with their own species."

"We already have a drop off set up, but..." Nyma trailed off, looking to the side and biting her lip. Lance quirked up an eyebrow,

"But...?"

"We kinda need you to drop the kid off for us," Rolo finished, holding the kid up to Lance like he was baby Simba. Lance blinked twice at the child, then back at the Rebellion members.

"Are you guys kidding?! I can't just bring a kid onto the Castle of Lions! Allura would kill me! Not to mention that I don't have time to take care of a kid! ALSO not to mention, I can't hide a living, breathing kid away from them!" The toddler jumped at Lance's screech, causing Rolo to drop him. Lance and Ashew both rushed to grab the kid before they fell. The Aldonian ended up pressed tightly against Lance's chest, sniffling from the scare.

"See? They already like you! Plus, Ashewatudi can help you!" Nyma pulled Rolo up from the chairs and started walking towards the doors.

"Nyma! Don't just-" Lance stood up, hugging the kid awkwardly.

"You obviously-"

"Don't you dare-"

"-have this under control-"

"-walk out that door! Ny-"

"-so we'll just be on our way!"

"-ma get back here right now-"

"See you later Lance! Bye Prince!" The door slammed shut as Rolo and Nyma disappeared into the hallway.

"NYMA!"

Who is this mysterious new kid? Why were they left behind? And most importantly, how is Lance going to manage to keep him hidden from the rest of the Paladins? Stay tuned to find out! Questions? Comments? Cheese? All are welcome in the comment section! Thanks for reading, and have a fantastic day/night/evening!