Fourth installment. This is mostly description and a look into Lance and Hunk's friendship.

WARNING: I do not own Voltron nor make any money off this. It's just for fun and writing practice. Enjoy!

Admiration

Flying over the surface of Arus depressed Lance. Even though the worst of the raids had ceased due to the protection of Voltron, reconstruction would be a long time in coming. Occasionally attacks got through and their fights with Zarkon sometimes spilt out onto the landscape. Most areas remained desolate as the citizens still feared going out into the open, but it amazed him the ingenuity of the people. They had developed underground farming techniques using solar arrays and sunlight tunnels. (Fungus had long since become a staple in their diet, to which Lance was still getting accustomed.) They had planted fruit trees in the middle of dense forestry in order to hide their produce and moved much of the livestock into the caves or mountain ranges. Still, food had been scarce during the long Drule invasion and things weren't improved much since.

Hunk had asked him to come out to a new site on the southeastern continent. Lance knew he'd been giving engineering advice to various groups all over the planet for their renovation projects. He hoped it was doing the people some good even while his own consciousness was disheartened.

Hunk signaled him to land near a low cliff. Ochre reeds grew on either side and it took Lance a minute to realize they were wheat fields since they were not aligned in perfect rows as they would be back on Earth and they were overrun with weeds. No, they were disguised to look like empty grassland. Very clever.

Hunk left Yellow Lion and moved toward the cliff edge, Lance following at a brisk pace behind him. An opening hidden from above ran down and inside the earth. After some distance, Lance stepped into a large room dominated by a huge, turning water wheel connected to a rotating, vertical wooden shaft which in turn was transferring torque to another disc busily crushing seeds upon a circular platform. Stacks of wheat lay against the left wall while workers bagged the harvested grains ahead to the right. Dampness hung in the air bringing with it the scent of minerals and earth and something else. It was … odd, yet familiar, but Lance couldn't place it.

Hunk led him through a doorway to the right into a smaller room with four large kilns, one of which was currently active. Puffs of a rich, dark smell, not quite burnt, assailed his nostrils mixing with the odd smell from earlier that had grown stronger. Lance furrowed his brow in confusion but got no response from his teammate who was already continuing into the next room. As he crossed the threshold, that oddness became overpowering.

"What is that smell?"

Hunk paused and sniffed. With a look back at his friend and a small hint of a smile, he replied in a low voice, "Oh, just yeast."

Lance was still confused as he examined the contents in this room. Nearest the entryway meter-high metal vats boiled water while other vats heated brown-colored substances. Next stood a row of metal cylinders easily five meters tall, one-and-a-half meters wide, with shallow domed tops and funnel-shaped cones on the bottom. One worker was draining a murky fluid out of the second container from which the yeast smell was emanating. The two men walked further into the room, past more vats and a large filtration system, finally ending in a simple dispersal machine.

"You going to tell me what all this is?" asked Lance irritably.

"This is just all the production line. What I really wanted to show you is downstairs. This way," he said gesturing through another doorway.

This tunnel snaked around and downward more and the air became chilly. The lower room was dimly lit but Lance could make out rows and rows of barrel crates and more storage space not yet filled. His eyes enlarged at the size of the underground space but really bulged when the thought occurred to him of what this might actually be. "No, no way. It couldn't be, could it?"

Hunk watched his reaction with a glitter of mirth in his deep brown eyes. "Right this way, my friend." He walked over to a corner where one keg had been propped up and tapped. Taking a glass mug from a nearby shelf, he poured an amber-colored liquid into it letting it foam up a bit on top and handed it to Lance who hesitated for an instant until Hunk gave him a miniscule nod.

Brought to his nose, the nectar gave off a very floral smell which almost made him sneeze. The first taste was slightly bitter but changed to a medium caramel and ended in a smooth, clean finish. It was heavenly. Taking the second swallow, Lance closed his eyes and sighed in contentment. "It's been so long…."

Hunk chuckled in amusement then poured himself a drink. "This is the first batch of ale just finishing fermentation. I thought you would appreciate it."

Lance studied his fellow lieutenant and said, "Hunk, you don't get enough credit. Thank you." For the first time in a long time, Lance felt his spirits lifted. Thanks to the man in front of him, Arus' future was beginning to look a bit brighter.