This was a tricky assignment. Lance knew it would take all of his skill and ability to pull off.

He tiptoed over to where Keith had fallen asleep after their movie marathan, on one of the couches that littered the lounge, leaned over, and -

"GOOD MORNING!" Lance hollered into Keith's ear. He had been expecting the Red Paladin to let out a very undignified yelp and fall off the couch, like Coran had just a few moments earlier.

He got quite a different reaction from Keith. The Red Paladin didn't so much wake up as automatically attack, and Lance suddenly found himself face-down on the ground, one arm locked behind his back.

From the other side of the room, Pidge raised her head, yawning, her hair standing up on edge from static electricity, and she glared over at the Blue Paladin.

"If you ever do that to me," she said, quite evenly, "I will find you, and I will kill you with my mind."

Lance was too busy screaming, 'UNCLE! UNCLE! SWEET JESUS - KEITH - UNCLE!" at the top of his voice to hear her threat.

At the usual sound of Lance screaming after an attempted sneak attack on Keith, Hunk sighed, rolled over, and saw that the Red Paladin's eyes were narrowed into his usual expression of 'grumpiness', and that meant that Lance was in no real danger.

Hunk sighed again and sat up, mumbling to himself that he really needed to stop falling asleep mid-project. He had bits of paper stuck to his face, and he found a pen had somehow settled onto his arm. He shook his arm once, and the pen toppled onto the floor.

At the sound, Keith blinked around at the room, looked down, snorted, and released his hold on the Blue Paladin.

"Why would you do that?" Keith snarled at Lance, falling back onto the couch and rubbing at his eyes. "I almost broke your arm, you idiot - "

Lance was already getting back to his feet with an absolutely stupid grin of amusement on his face.

"I wanted to test and see if your arm's totally back to normal, man!" He said, pointing at Keith's arm. Keith dropped his hands from his face and glared daggers at Lance.

"I know it is," Keith snarled, "the sling came off yesterday, you moron - "

Lance just laughed, but Keith continued, his voice annoyed and serious. "No - Lance - I'm serious - I could have broken your arm - just - don't do that again, okay?!"

Lance opened his mouth to answer with something flippant, but when he saw that Keith was being serious, he blinked in confusion.

"Uh - really?" he asked, and Keith rolled his eyes as he got to his feet, reaching for his jacket.

"Never mind - just - forget about it - "

But Lance was curious now, and he pestered Keith with questions for the next several minutes until Keith finally threw his hands in the air and glared at Lance.

"Lance - just - God, you are so annoying!"

"But whadda mean you could have broken my - "

"I can't control my own strength sometimes, okay?!" Keith snarled at him. "Why do you think I train all the damn time?!"

Lance opened his mouth, shut it, and then said, seeming confused, "-uh - because you - like to work out?"

Keith facepalmed and gritted something between his teeth to himself, something that sounded like 'patience yields focus'.

Pidge overheard him as she and Hunk came over to join them. All of them had gotten dressed and ready for the day - more or less. Pidge still hadn't combed her hair, but that hardly counted.

"Oh - isn't that what Shiro told you on the - " she said, and Keith opened an eye and glared over at her.

"Yep," he said, his teeth still grinding together.

Pidge yawned again, and asked, her voice interested, "What, is it like, a mantra or a calming exercise or something?"

"I do those sometimes!" Hunk said.

What Keith wanted to say was something scathing, but he knew the Yellow Paladin was just trying to help, so he bit it back and said instead, "Yeah - it's great when it works - "

He glared over at Lance again, but Lance seemed to be thinking of something else already.

"Hey - isn't that a quote from a movie or something?" Lance asked, and Keith rolled his eyes.

"Yes, Lance, it probably is."

"Which one?"

"Lance, you just woke me up by screaming in my ear - what, do you think I have a file cabinet in my head where I keep all these things alphabetized or something-"

Lance threw his hands up defensively. "Whoa, man, okay, okay, I'm sorry!"

Keith growled back in answer, but Coran poked his head into the room and said, "Ah! Good, you're all awake!"

As the Royal Advisor came into the room, he said, quite cheerfully, "Ah! Another lovely day!"

"In the tunnels…" Pidge said.

"Underground…" Hunk added.

"With Shiro in a cryo-pod…" Keith muttered.

"And…we've already gone through most of the shows we can all watch together," Lance said. "At least for now…I mean…it's fun…but I can only binge-watch so many episodes before - "

Coran beamed at them all. "Which is why today, we're going to be doing something different!"

"And…that'll be…what, exactly?" Pidge asked, and Coran grinned at her.

"I think Rayzor will be bringing Beyris here today - so we can - "

"…babysit…?" Keith asked, and when the others turned to look at him, he hastily added, "I like the kid, I really do - but - um - don't you think we should…I don't know…-"

"Train? Exactly!" Coran said. Everyone except Keith sighed resignedly, but Coran continued.

"That is, I think we should all train in something I know we can use a bit of practice in - one on one teamwork!"

The four Paladins looked at each other.

"Uh…you mean…" Pidge said, and Coran nodded cheerfully at her.

"Pidge, Hunk, I've located some some power converters I thought you could use for a joint project," Coran said. "And Lance, Keith - I think you could - "

"Try not to kill each other every other minute?" Pidge asked. Hunk tried to hide a smile, but Coran nodded at her.

"Well - yes," he said, and Keith folded his arms and glared over at Lance, who rolled his eyes.

"I know these past few days haven't been - easy," Coran said, and as no one denied it, he continued. "I know you're all worried about Shiro, but Allura tells me his condition is - is very good, all things considering. He'll be back to normal soon, and in the meantime, we just have to do whatever we can to keep the team working well together."

Keith's fingers tightened on his jacket as he looked down the corridor, down to the infirmary where Shiro still slept in a cryo-pod.

That damn witch Haggar.

Keith wanted nothing more than to find the witch and kill her, but he forced himself to listen to Coran.

Imagine Haggar flying out an airlock later, he told himself. Focus now.

"So - Keith, Lance, I thought that you could try - "

But Coran was cut off by the sound of alarms and sirens.

As the Royal Advisor turned towards the door, the Paladins all looked at each other again, quarrels and annoyances forgotten. Even Lance looked serious.

"Coran, do you know what that alarm is for?" Pidge asked, intentionally keeping her voice controlled. Hunk was biting his fingernails out of nervousness, and Keith had already reached for his bayard.

"I think - " Coran said, and then he jumped as something in his pocket began beeping. He quickly pulled what looked like a cellphone out of his pocket and pressed a button.

"What is that?" Hunk asked Coran, who said, "A handheld communicator - Rayzor and Aurelis thought it was a good idea for me to have one, to stay in touch - "

Just then, a small screen opened up on the device, and the Paladins saw Rayzor's face. His expression was serious, but not alarmed.

"You've heard the alarms?" he asked, and Coran nodded. "I was just about to ask you - what do they mean?"

"They mean there's enough seismic activity in the area to warrant an alert," Rayzor said. "All inhabitants are to stay inside designated safe areas until the activity ceases."

"How long might that be?" Coran asked, and Rayzor shrugged. "Usually no more than a day or two. Sometimes we can go for weeks without the alarms occurring. It's nothing to worry about."

Keith moved so he could have a better view of the screen. "What about the infirmary?" he asked, his concern for Shiro showing in his voice. "Is there any chance th-"

"No," Rayzor said, and his tone was reassuring, not dismissive. "The tunnels that are inhabited are quite secure. There's no chance the infirmary would suffer damage. The sirens are more of a - preventative measure, to keep people from taking unnecessary risk."

He broke off then, seeming to listen to someone speaking to him in the background. When he returned his attention to the screen, his eyes had gone hard.

"It seems my attention is required elsewhere - Council business. Coran, I have a request. My niece, Beyris - could you - "

"Absolutely," Coran said. "We'll come get her - we can bring her here, she can stay with us while you attend to the other matters."

There was evident relief in Rayzor's voice. "Thank you. I think she'll be glad of the company."

A small voice piped up from somewhere near the ground, and Pidge smiled to hear Beyris' voice.

"Is that Coran?!"

Rayzor smiled down at someone who wasn't shown on the screen. "Yes, Beyris - "

The screen shuddered and bounced a little, and then Beyris' face peeped over the edge of the screen. She'd clearly somehow managed to angle the screen so she could see them.

"Hi Coran!" she said as she waved. Coran smiled and said, "Hello, Beyris. You're certainly wide awake!"

Beyris beamed. "I got up early," she told them earnestly.

"Early is…one way of putting it…" Rayzor muttered, but he was still smiling.

Lance waved at Beyris. "We'll see you soon, okay?!" he said.

Beyris waved back. "Okay! I'll go get my things!"

Rayzor took the comms unit back, and he gave them the directions that would take them only through the safe areas. "Whoever comes shouldn't encounter any trouble," he said. "I'll make sure any guards on that route know members from your party are coming. If they have any concerns, don't hesitate to contact me."

"Got it," Coran said. He ended the call, and turned towards the team.

"Right," he said, tapping the comms unit against his chin. "I think…I think Keith and Lance should go get Beyris."

"YEAH!" Lance whooped, pumping his fist. Then he blinked. "Wait - me and Keith?"

Coran nodded. "I know you two struggle to get on sometimes, but I think a new setting will do you both a lot of good. And Beyris likes you both - I'm sure it will be all right."

He held out the comms unit towards both Keith and Lance. "If you have any questions, just turn this button - it's tuned to Rayzor's frequency. If you'd like to contact me, just turn it the other way - that'll connect you to Aurelis' comms unit. I'll be in there with Allura while Pidge and Hunk work on their project in here."

Lance almost reached out towards the comms unit Coran held out to them, but he saw that Keith was watching him and hesitated.

Teamwork had to come from both sides. And anyway, it didn't really matter which of them held the comms unit.

"You could hold it, if you like," he told Keith. "Or I could. Whatever."

Keith shrugged, his expression resigned. "Go ahead."

Lance took it from Coran then, and he and Keith turned towards the door. Just before he left the room, Lance slapped his forehead and ran back into the room, grabbing his bayard.

"Can't hurt to be careful," he said, and Coran nodded.

Keith, of course, already had his bayard, but he'd waited for Lance just outside the door. Coran took that as encouraging sign.

Together, the Red and Blue Paladin left the lounge, and Coran waited a few moments before poking his head out of the door to see if they had gone in the right direction.

They had.

Coran let out a quiet sigh of relief as he went back into the lounge to help Hunk and Pidge set up their joint project.

He had faith in Keith and Lance. They were both very competent Paladins.

He just…hoped they could work together.

Surely a walk down a few corridors wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility.