Chapter 4 - Nature
"The history books in our libraries are incomplete. Arus has had a long history with the Drule Empire, unpleasant for both sides," he explained.
"Some more than others," the queen muttered under her breath. Lotor tossed her a pensive look before he continued.
"There was a war. At the height of your grandfather's conquering, planet Arus became a target of his. There was lots of devastation; many Arusians were enslaved at his hand."
"And yours," Allura added quietly, her hands folded in her lap as he listened to his recount of their history. Her eyes dropped downward to the teacup on the table in front of her. The pattern of spilled tea from the struggle had become extraordinarily fascinating.
"And mine," he added darkly. His eyes stayed fixed on Allura as he continued. She wasn't looking at him, but she could feel the intensity of his gaze on her. "Most of Arus was in ruins when the Galaxy Alliance sent help to Arus. They were looking to resurrect the great robot called Voltron."
"Haggar had shattered the robot into five pieces, and it now required five pilots to work because of that. I couldn't do it alone," Allura admitted. "I needed help. Without at least four other pilots, it was nothing. My people were dying all around me, our crops burning, and our buildings were in pieces. I couldn't repair my planet fast enough to keep up with the destruction." She hung her head lower, watching her fingers as they twisted together in her lap. "I couldn't save them. I failed them all. But then the Space Explorers came," she looked up with a hopeful look on her face.
Tarla followed her gaze to a tapestry mounted on a wall - woven in silken fibers was an image of five, colorful, metallic lions. "And we survived. And we started winning for the first time. We were able to cling to our dreams and our hopes for freedom." She nodded once, glancing back to Lotor to let him finish his retelling. A part of his chest clenched at the pain on the queen's face. The early years against Zarkon had been trying for her. He had not been kind to her, either, but the pressure and destruction his father had brought forth vastly exceeded his own.
" Voltron can be formed from the unification of the five lion ships," he continued, glancing away from the gentle queen. The frightening memories clearly etched in her face evoked a softness from him that he did not care to express, certainly not in front of Tarla. "For years, the Drule Empire sought to destroy the robot as it rallied and defended planets not yet under our control."
"Voltron is a defender - it does not attack," she added darkly. "I'm not sure where that came from, but there was only one instance where we attacked the Drule Empire, and that was Castle Doom itself. I still ache from that decision to this day morally, but it was tactically necessary. The onslaught against my people was incessant. We needed to end it. I knew Zarkon would never stop. He would never call it off and leave us alone. We had to send a striking blow to him." She closed her eyes against the haunting history. "It was our only option," she whispered.
"Any Drule would agree with you, Allura, that you made a tactically-founded decision," Lotor murmured across the room to her. Her icy eyes flashed open as she looked to him, shimmering with tears.
"It doesn't mean it doesn't weigh on me to this day." He recoiled at the pain behind her gaze. There was no regret. Princess and Queen Allura had never regretted. She had always followed her heart and done the thing she felt most right. On occasion, righteousness had conflicted with her heart, but she followed through. He realized that any guilt from such decisions she carried with her like a mantle.
"Reverse the roles and we would have done the same," he reiterated, trying to assuage her pain. She shook her head once, dismissively. When she glanced up to him, her eyes were again ageless yet her smile remained tense.
"It's behind us. …I'd like to think, at any rate," she said. Her face was hopeful but she awaited his word on the matter. The queen wasn't yet entirely certain that his visit was peaceful. When he nodded once, she smiled genuinely and clapped her hands together, fixing her gaze on the young princess.
"Would you like to meet them?" Allura smiled openly at Tarla, patiently waiting for her response.
"Meet… who?"
"Why, the Voltron Lions, of course!" She pointed to the roof and tilted her head to the side as a sub-sonic whoosh roared by. "They're training right now. We can go see them!"
"I… Father? Should we?" She looked to Lotor for guidance on the question.
"It's up to you, Tarla. I've seen my fair share of them in my life," he laughed softly. The low tone of his humor caused Allura to shiver slightly – it was reminiscent of the evil laughter she had often heard at precarious moments.
"If you'd rather not, that's alright-"
"No, I do! I want to see these fearsome lions," she said with determination. Her golden gaze locked on Allura and the queen only smiled weakly. It was clear Tarla did not care for her. The serpentine eyes narrowed, eager for information about the majestic robot that was capable of bringing destruction to her people.
"Let's go to the terrace, we can see them easily from there. It's not far," she added as the Drules rose behind her. Allura felt a twinge of wariness toward the feisty young Drule, but she wanted to do her best to bridge the gap between Doom and Arus.
Tarla felt her guard melt away as Allura opened up a set of double doors to a large, tiled balcony. The unfenced area was massive, and permitted a wide view of both the ground around the castle and the sky above it. Allura led the way toward the center of the spacious area nestled between the spires. The winds of Arus breezed around the trio, rustling hair and billowing Allura's gown.
She turned and smiled warmly to Tarla and gestured to the sky above. The five colorful lions flew about in magnificent arcs. Some shot missiles at one of the others, others still practiced plunges toward the earth.
"There's incredible," the princess breathed, seeing the mythical creatures of war for the first time. None of her history books had any images, and descriptions had been limited. She had never imagined how beautiful and deadly they were.
The gentle wind whipped up suddenly, causing gusts as Red Lion descended from the sky and landed on the tiled balcony itself. Lotor squared his shoulders as Tarla took an uneasy step back.
"Why did it land here," she whispered to her father. Allura looked back to the lion and tossed the couple a reassuring smile over her shoulder as she approached the beast.
"Everything will be fine. I'm sure a pilot is about to introduce him-"
"What the bloody hell, Lotor!?" Lance's familiar voice echoed off the spires rising around the platform before he had even exited the cockpit. The pilot launched himself out of the lion ship and rushed to Allura's side, glaring angrily at the Drule king.
"Easy, Lance. He's just visiting. This is his daughter, Tarla," she explained, gesturing to the wide-eyed young female next to him. Lotor's lazon sword was drawn and active in front of him.
"I…" He trailed off, looking between the three of them before removing his helmet. Salt-and-pepper hair flared around his rogue-like face. Despite the years, Lance had retained both his charm and his looks. His cheekbones were defined and the only indication of his years beyond his hair were the slightest of crinkles at the corners of his eyes. "So you're safe?"
Allura nodded to him silently, a smile on her lips.
"You can put that away, too," she said pointedly to Lotor. "I won't have the two of you dueling like schoolboys. What example would that set for Tarla?"
The princess gaped as her warrior and warlord of a father put away his sword, looking properly scolded by a mere human female. She's dangerous, Tarla reminded herself.
"It's been a while," Lance said at last, casting Allura one last wary look. She smiled reassuringly at him and Lance made a point to remove the pistol from his holster and hand it to Allura. She accepted the disarmament and after checking the safety, held it at her side. She watched carefully as Lance strode across the open space between himself and his former enemy. He stopped in front of Lotor and eyed him for a moment before thrusting out his hand as a peace offering.
Surprised, Lotor took it and returned the firm handshake.
"Welcome to Arus," he said cheekily, dropping his hand away. He glanced to the princess standing a pace behind her father. "My name's Lance," he introduced himself.
"This is Tarla," Lotor indicated. His eyes glanced over as a bemused Allura glided in to join the gathering. She handed Lance his pistol back and he holstered it once the tension had dissipated.
"How are they doing?" Allura looked to Lance and flashed her eyes to the robots overhead.
"They're coming along, still a little green. Solid candidates, however," he added. Black Lion flew close by overhead and Allura watched as it flew behind the castle.
"How's Cassandra handling Black Lion?"
"She's good. She's real good as a pilot," he explained. "Her commanding and leadership leaves a little to be desired, but they may develop with time. Hell, Keith was a terrible leader at the very beginning. You should have seen us all at Galaxy Garrison," he laughed, glancing to the Drules to include them in the conversation as well. "We were a mess. Honestly I still wonder why they chose us to come to Arus," he muttered.
"You were perfect," Allura assured him.
"You were one of the original pilots?" Tarla spoke up for the first time since the lion had landed. Lance nodded, his helmet tucked casually under his arm.
"Red Lion, to be specific," he said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder to the great beast behind them. "Princess here," he froze and looked to Allura sheepishly.
"It's been fifteen years Lance," she chastised him.
"But calling you 'Queen' just sounds weird," he protested. She playfully punched his shoulder but seemed untroubled by the slip in title.
"Allura here," he continued, watching her amused expression carefully before looking back to Tarla. "Was the original Blue Lion pilot."
"What." Tarla stared coldly at the queen in front of her. Allura shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. Mere hours ago she had only learned of a fearsome robot that had destructive capabilities within her empire. Since then, she had learned the history books weren't entirely correct and had met two of the pilots from her books.
"Well, that's technically incorrect. Sven was there before me, until Haggar injured him," she corrected Lance as she turned to face him, shelving her concern of the princess.
"And then he went and fell in love with your cousin and ran away to Pollux," he added.
"That's not quite how that all happened, but yes," she said, laughing softly.
"I'm surprised Red Lion was the one that descended from the sky," Lotor noted, watching again as Black Lion soared overhead.
"Why is that?"
"I would have anticipated it to be Black Lion," he explained.
Allura and Lance exchanged looks.
"Keith isn't here anymore," Allura began as she looked back to Lotor. "None of the pilots in the sky are from the original five, except for Lance. He's training the new generation. I don't know that they would necessarily recognize you, and certainly not as fast as him. We have a school now and a military and everything," she explained, clasping her hands together. "Arus has really pulled itself together." She sighed pleasantly, turning a warm smile as the sun arched overhead toward the horizon. "Prospering, even," she murmured more to herself.
Lance gave Lotor a pointed look. The king stared back coldly, well-aware of his hand in the destruction of her planet. The pilot thrust his thumbs through his belt loops casually and just shrugged after a moment. He glanced quickly up at Allura's gasp.
Blue Lion slammed into one of the nearby hills and tumbled into the moat. She winced and watched her old lion settle onto the pedestal at the bottom of the lake. She ran to the edge of the platform to peer into the moat, holding on to one of Red Lion's talons for support.
"Is he okay?"
Lance groaned, following behind her.
"Yeah. Jonesy is… he's… he's my special project. He's good in the heat of combat but he's pretty uncoordinated otherwise. Good guy, good fit for the team. Little clumsy, though. We're working on it," Lance admitted, running his hand through his hair. Allura backed away from the edge and made her way back toward the Drules.
"Good thing Blue Lion is used to an unskilled pilot at the helm," she replied.
"Allura," he glared at her. "You are not unskilled. You're one of the best." She paused to regard him as Lotor and Tarla came to join them near the paws of Red Lion.
"Was," she corrected. "And even you have to admit, right after Sven was out of commission… at the very beginning? I was…" She trailed off, letting him finish. When he squirmed, she nudged him. "Say it."
"…an absolute disaster."
Tarla's eyes widened at the crude words spoken about and to the queen. She was genuinely surprised when Allura only nodded and giggled.
"Exactly," she agreed.
"There was dire need. Emergency situation. We had had years of training at-" Lance stopped when Allura leaned forward and put her finger on his lips.
"Yes, you're correct. All of that is correct, but emergency situation does not magically make me have skill when before I met you I had never even held a pistol before. I was terribly under qualified, but it was a necessity. Between you and Keith, I shaped up pretty well. You'll do the same for Jonesy," she added with a smile, dropping her hand back to her side. "Don't give up on him," she patted his arm. "Skills are taught. Good character and team synergy isn't something that you can teach," she reminded him.
He nodded once, and then looked to Lotor.
"Good seeing you from friendly skies," he said cheerfully. "Gonna get back to my students now before they all crash." He gave a salute to the monarch before bouncing back to the fiery lion and launching into the air after the rest of the party had time to step back.
Allura smiled to the stunned king and alarmed princess.
"So, there you have it. The robot lions!" She pointed up at the sky as the vessels – save Jonesy – moved in to practice flying in the ever-critical Voltron formation.
"How many are left?" Lotor's deep voice startled her from her thoughts and she glanced to him as he came to stand in front of her. Allura's head tilted up so she could look up into his eyes.
"I'm sorry?"
"The pilots, the five of you. How many are still around?"
"Oh," she murmured, glancing away. She stared out as the sun began to caress the mountains and sent the sky into an orange glow.
"Lance is still here. He works with the new recruits. We have a few Voltron teams now, so if someone's injured… well. They don't get stuck with a Princess Allura situation," she murmured dryly, a wry smile on her lips. "Hunk is nearby, he's working in a scrapyard a couple parsecs over, it's his dream job. He can build the most amazing things from what would be garbage. He likes the challenge. He comes over periodically to help service the lions, or repair any damage. He's really the only one who knows how. The computer can to it automatically, but it's still a reassurance to have a person check the work."
"And the others," he encouraged, his eyes never leaving the top of her head as she watched the sunset.
"Pidge founded his own academy in the Azure Quadrant for robotic electronics. He was teaching, but I think it's more administration now," she said. She hesitated. "And, well I'm sure with your position, you've heard about Keith."
"Admiral of the Galaxy Alliance," he affirmed. "I had heard. It must be difficult to be away from him," he hedged warily. Allura startled and looked up to him.
"How do you mean?"
"To be so close to someone but to be light-years apart. Do you see each other very often?" She shrugged again at his question.
"I miss all my friends that aren't near me, but it's such a promising time for everyone. We're branching out, finally embracing the hopes and dreams we've all been chasing for so long. I never expected us to always stay together – that would mean to hope for perpetual war. It's made working with the Alliance much easier, too. The prior administration catered to my whims because they were fond of Voltron but really gave little regard for my people. Keith is still sometimes stonewalled by the Council voting against him, but it's much better than it ever was before. We actually have the representation we should have had from the beginning," she explained, flashing him a smile.
"But to be so far away from your husband must-"
"Husband?" Allura stepped back from the king in shock. She looked over to an equally confused Tarla before looking back to Lotor.
"I just assumed-"
"Keith and I aren't anything. He's not my husband, I never married," she explained, watching him carefully.
"What." The expression on Lotor's face was nearly unreadable.
"I never married," she repeated, crossing her arms over her chest warily. "I just never met the right person at the right time," she supplied mysteriously, gliding by the startled princess. Lotor stared after the magnificent woman as she made her way back into the castle.
"It's almost nightfall," Allura continued. "Will you be staying on Arus tonight or returning to Castle Doom?"
Lotor stopped by Tarla and glanced down to his daughter.
"Stay, I would imagine," he said, watching Allura's back.
"Excellent," she said. "I can begin work with Tarla tomorrow then. I'll show you to your rooms, and then to dinner." She picked up walking again, heading down the hallway back toward the residence chambers.
More chapters! That's two in one day! (For anyone following Hades' Covenant, that also got an update.) Bridges has not been forgotten, I promise! I'm on a roll! As always, I love your notes, even if its flames. Thank you for reading!