The rest of the day pass by in a busy blur. Before Keith or the other paladins realized it, the planet's three moons had risen and it was best they get some sleep.
Keith hadn't been able to be alone with Thace again to speak with him privately, which annoyed him, but it couldn't be helped. Shiro did return to check with the other paladins, and did say he was going to sleep in the Black Lion for the night.
Keith noted he seemed reluctant to do so, but Keith and the others reassured him they would be fine and yes they would contact him if something happened. Leah had assigned all four paladins into one large chamber with four cots.
Keith would have prefered a bit more privacy, but he knew sticking together would make Shiro more comfortable. Not to mention the rebels were limited for space as is. According to Thace it was a miracle they managed to find four extra cots for them to avoid sleeping on the ground.
For the most part, Keith slept fine, however with all the cots tightly close together he awoke to find Lance's foot in his face. He jerked slightly as he shoved the foot away, but much to his chagrin, Lance didn't even blink an eye as he rolled onto his side.
"That guy could sleep through an earthquake," Keith grumbled as he sat up
A poke came to his side. He turned his head to see Pidge sitting up beside him on her cot.
"Morning," she whispered. "Able to sleep?"
Keith yawned as he massaged his shoulder. "Like a rock thanks to all that lifting we did," he said. "What about you?"
"About the same," she said and glanced to Hunk and Lance to check they were asleep. She covered her hand with her mouth. "How did you make out with Thace?"
Keith gave an annoyed growl as he hugged his knees to his chest. "A boulder would be easier to interrogate."
Pidge frowned as she blew on her glasses to clean them. "So, you weren't able to learn anything?"
Keith paused and reached for his dagger from under his pillow. "No, I do know for certain my dad's dagger is Galran made." He quickly explained what Ford told him as he handed the dagger for Pidge to examine.
"Old tribes, huh?" she muttered. "Well, that explains the symbol, but that doesn't mean for certain you're part Galra or that Thace is your dad."
Keith sighed as he took it back. "I know, but there's got to be some connection, right?"
"No doubt at this point," Pidge said as she leaned against him. "If Thace was a computer I would offer to hack him for you."
Keith chuckled. "I wish it were that easy."
"What do you want to hack?" Hunk said as he groggily sat up and rubbed his eyes.
Pidge coughed. "Oh, uh, just wishing I could get into the Galra main database to find where Matt is."
Thank you, Keith thought as he pretended to be fascinated by the edge of his blanket. He really didn't feel comfortable telling the others until he knew for certain what the whole story was.
"Don't blame you," Hunk said as he stretched his arms. "Still, at least you got a lead on your dad."
Pidge's face softened. "Yeah, but..I wish I knew where he was."
Keith patted her head at the same moment Hunk pulled her into a hug.
"I'm sure you'll find him, Pidge," Hunk replied. "Who knows, maybe he'll hear about Voltron and find out you're a paladin."
Pidge scoffed. "Be nice if it was that simple."
The door to their chamber suddenly opened and Maya poked her head in with Daien beside her.
"Oh, good, you're awake." She said and glanced to the still sleeping Lance as she poked him with her foot. "Well, at least the three of you."
Lance snorted as he buried his face into the cot. "Leave me alone," he muttered. "Want sleep."
Keith shook his shoulder. "Come on, Lance, time to rise and shine."
Lance gave a sighed as he unwillingly cracked an eye open. "Must we?"
Keith shook his head as he looked up to Maya. "Where do you want us?"
"Breakfast first," Daien said as he emerged from behind Maya with a tray of bowls. "Sorry it isn't much."
"As long as it's edible, I'm not picky," Hunk said as he took a bowl. He picked up the spork and shoved some into his mouth, and blinked.
"Hey, not bad," he said as he looked into the bowl. "Could use a touch of cinnamon or something, but it's not too bad. What is it?"
Daien shrugged. "Nothing special," he explained. "It's an old Galran dish, but Thace said to tell you it's a bit like 'oatmeal' although I don't know what that is."
Keith exchanged a suspicious expression with Pidge and both gave a silent nod. Yeah, that's just adds another reason to talk to him. How would he know what oatmeal is?
Hunk's eyes widened. "Wait, are you telling me Galra food is actually delicious?"
"Traditional, yes," Maya explained as she folded her arms. "The disgusting gruel they give to prisoners and slaves not so much."
Hunk gave a bit of a sigh of relief. "Well, that's makes me feel a bit better. I would feel conflicted finding the enemy's food to be better than what we eat." He stirred, paused and gave a shaky smile to Daien and Maya. "Uh…no offense."
"None taken," Daien and Maya said in flat tone and in perfect unison, causing Keith to ponder if they were use to such statements.
"Where's Thace?" Keith asked as he rose and took a bowl.
"He went to do a perimeter check with Stig," Maya explained as she leaned against the wall. "Should be back by mid-morning."
Keith frowned. So, questions will have to wait again, terrific.
"In the meantime," Daien said as he looked to Pidge and shifted. "I um..thought you and I could try to transfer some of data to back up drive, while we look for your brother."
Pidge blinked and Keith knew why. She had been hoping to get a second glance through the archive. However, after the others arrived Pidge hadn't been able to get a chance to go searching again. She had been afraid she missed her chance since Leah stated they had to begin transferring the files for backup and transfer them to the ships.
"Sure, but is Leah okay with that?" Pidge asked.
"Yeah, and Slica and Vector will be transferring data too," Daien said with a shaky smile. "So, figured it couldn't hurt."
"You three on the other hand are going to help load weapons onto the ships and help with Ford if he needs it," Maya stated in a sharp tone.
"Yay, more lifting," Lance said as he got his armour on and looked under the cot. "Let me just grab.." He paused and raised his head with his eyes wide as saucers. "My bayard isn't here."
The others stared in alarm. "Are you sure?" Pidge said as she looked too. "Maybe you left it in your lion?"
"No, I saw him put it under his cot," Keith said as he brought his out. "I still have mine."
Pidge checked under her pillow. "Mine's here, what about you, Hunk?"
Hunk checked under his bed and his eyes widened. "Mine's gone too!"
Keith chewed his bottom lip and looked to the two Galrans. "Could somebody here have stolen them?"
Keith didn't want to assume, but he knew Lance and Hunk were careful where they kept their bayards. If a rebel did take them, that was going to make things more complicated.
Daien shook his head with his face full of dread. "No way…at least I can't imagine. This doesn't make sense. There's no one here that would take them!" He looked to Maya to reassure him. "Right, Maya?"
Maya was silent with a thoughtful frown on her face.
"Maya?" Daien asked, fearfully.
She gave a deep frustrated sigh. "Daien, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we see 'you know who' in front of the paladins' room before we came in here?"
Daien paused, blinked and moaned as he slapped his forehead. "You're right, we did."
"They had their hands behind their backs," Maya added.
"And they had that 'I did something that will get me in trouble' expression they're known for," Daien said, dryly.
"Um..who exactly are you talking about?" Lance asked as he rose.
Maya shook her head as she stepped outside. "Follow me, you two," she said with a growl. "I believe I know exactly where your bayards are."
The paladins exchanged baffled looks as Hunk and Lance quickly followed.
"I'm confused," Pidge said as she looked to Daien. "Who took the bayards?"
"The last person you would want to have them," Daien grumbled.
"What?" Keith said with a raised eyebrow. Was it that bad?
"Eat and let me explain," he said as he leaned against the wall. "It will all make sense in a minute."
Keith and Pidge both gave puzzled looks, but ate as they listened.
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"So, where exactly are we going?" Lance asked as Maya lead them down a tunnel.
"No where dangerous I assure you," she said and paused. "Although, there are some people here that would rather have their foot cut off then come in here."
"That's not reassuring," Hunk said, nervously.
Lance opened his mouth to mouth to respond, but stopped when they heard echoes of high pitched voices. He frowned, but Maya said nothing as they ducked into a chamber. The voices grew louder, but it all became clear as he and Hunk entered.
As first he assumed they were in a chamber filled with very small Galrans. However, the echoes of giggles, and playful grins gave clear signs what they really were.
"I didn't realize there were kids here," he said surprised as he and Hunk glanced to Maya.
"They normally have a bit more free range," Maya stated as she searched the chamber. "But with everything that's been going on, we placed them in here to keep them out from underfoot."
Lance leaned against the entrance and looked them over. He had never seen Galra children before and dang it, he never expected them to be so..so cute. They were small and fluffy, with ears twice the size of their heads. They kind of reminded him of his aunt's german shepherd when he was a puppy. They certainly looked as energetic as puppies. There were children of other alien species as well, some he recognized and some he didn't.
Still, it was clear they were all children with the way they were climbing, laughing and playing around. It gave Lance flashbacks to family reunions when his cousins and younger siblings were racing around.
Maya's eyes narrowed as she marched to a group of kids sitting in the far corner.
The kids sat with their backs to them as they approached. A small Galran boy, probably no older than eight, was speaking.
"Arrg, why can't we get them to work?" he growled.
"Maybe you have to bite it," a Galran girl said who was sitting next to him.
"Why would he bite it?" a green reptilian alien boy asked.
"You're just not doing it right!" another Galran boy argued.
Maya halted and tapped her foot. "TRAL!" she barked.
The boy jumped in fright and spun around, while making sure to keep his hands behind his back as did the Galran girl.
"W-what?!" he stammered as the other children with them ducked behind them for cover.
Maya glared as she kneeled to his level and held out her hand. "Hand it over."
Tral winced and gave a forced smile. "Hand…what?" he asked innocently.
"You know what," Maya said in a disapproving tone. "Or do I need to go fetch your mother?"
Tral flinched at that and his ears folded back onto his head. He glanced to the the Galran girl and gave a nod. Both of them meekly lowered their heads as they revealed both bayards from behind their backs.
"I thought so," Maya said as she took them and handed the bayards to Lance and Hunk. "Sorry about this, Paladins."
Wordlessly, Lance took his bayard, glanced at the children. He felt the fear and anger boil inside him as his big brother instincts took control.
"Guys, this is NOT cool, AT ALL," he said firmly as he pointed to the bayard. "You can't take something that's not yours!"
Tral winced at the tone as he rubbed his arm. "We..were just looking."
"These things are weapons not toys!" Lance continued as he kneeled. "You're lucky you didn't hurt yourselves."
Granted, since only a paladin could activate the weapon it wasn't likely the children could. Still, he wanted to make certain these kids remember that it could happen. Last thing he wanted was for these kids to try again with a different weapon and not be as lucky.
"Lance is right," Hunk said in the same firm tone. "You don't take someone's weapon, especially if you don't know how it works."
The children exchanged a look of shame and dread as they crowded next to each other.
"We're, sorry," Tral whispered.
"How did you guys even managed to take them?" Hunk asked as he scratched his head. "Kind of amazing that you got past Keith and he didn't see you."
"Tral is good at sneaking around," the Galran girl said. "His dad taught him how."
"Unfortunately," Maya muttered as she rose.
Lance glanced around and noticed some of the other children had stopped their playing to watch them. He returned his gaze to Tral's face and judging by the guilty look had gotten the message through his head.
"Right, now that the lecture is over," he said as he gave a little smile as he stood up and held his bayard, "want to see something awesome?"
Tral and the other children frowned curiously as Lance dramatically held up his bayard and had it switch to gun mode in front of them.
The children's jaws dropped and much to his delight, jumped up in excitement.
"No way! How did you do that?!" Tral asked.
"Special paladin secret," Lance said with a wink and turned his head to Hunk. "Show them yours, Hunk."
Hunk jerked slightly, obviously hadn't expected this turn of events, but caught on quickly.
"Uh, sure," he said as he held up his bayard. "But we're only showing, we're not shooting in here."
The children nodded as they drew closer. They watched with baited breath as Hunk transformed his bayard in front of them.
"Whoa," the children said in unison.
Hunk blushed and laughed. "Yeah, it is rather cool, isn't it?"
Lance beamed as he leaned back and spotted out of the corner of his eyes one child that hadn't gotten closer. She was a small Galran girl, about five years old if Lance was guessing correctly. Some kind of ribbon like string was tied around her ears that reminded Lance of hair ribbons his little cousin would wear.
She was quietly drawing on several sheets of blank paper with a small charcoal piece in her hand. She held a determined expression on her face that small children only had when they were trying extra hard.
Lance drew closer as he tried to figure out what she was drawing that required so much concentration.
Let's see, circle, face, a tail..wait claws. He snapped his fingers as he loomed over her.
"Hey, good job drawing the lions," he praised with a thumbs up.
The little girl looked up in shock, bolted from the spot as she abandoned her drawings. Lance wanted to assure the girl he meant no harm, but could do nothing as the girl ran, clung to Tral and hid behind him.
The boy gave a yelp at being tackled suddenly and glanced down. "Xenia, what's up with you?"
She said nothing as she meekly buried her face into his side.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare her," Lance said with a frown.
Tral sighed as he shook his head. "Not your fault, my sister just doesn't like meeting strangers."
"Oh," Lance said softly as Maya confirmed with a nod. His eyes landed on the remaining sheets of paper and he knew what to do.
He carefully picked one up, removed his gloves and fingered the texture. Bit thinner than what I'm use to, but this will do.
He sat on the floor, but made certain he was at a safe distance so he wouldn't scare Xenia again. In his experience, children were often like rabbits, you had to sit still to lure them in and prove you weren't a threat.
"Hey," he said with a friendly grin, "want me to do something neat?"
The children, and even Maya, held inquiring looks as Lance spread the paper on the floor and started to fold it. Hunk moved towards him to glance over his shoulder.
"You making a paper crane?" he asked.
"Yeah," Lance said as he did another fold. "Bit rusty though since it's been awhile."
Still, his fingers moved with a mind of their own. His older brother taught him and after making so many, Lance had a habit of folding them when he was bored. He had even done it out of napkins a few times. He also found it was the perfect to get kids to warm up to him.
Lance grinned as he finished the last fold and held up his creation. "Ta da!" he declared. "It's a paper crane."
He held it high for the children and even gave the small paper wings a little flap.
The alien children said nothing and all looked to each with a baffled expression like they were wondering if Lance had gone crazy.
"What is that?" Tral asked in an unimpressed tone as he folded his arms and Xenia peeked around him.
"It's a paper crane," Lance explained as he held it out to them.
"What does it do?" asked the Galran girl.
Lance shrugged. "Doesn't do anything."
"Then what's the point?" Tral asked in a confused tone.
"What's the point?" Hunk said as he frowned and sat next to Lance. "You kids clearly need some arts and crafts classes," he said.
"I don't even know what that is," Tral said with a huff, but cut off as Xenia moved out from behind him and scurried closer to Lance.
Silently, she kneeled and seemed memorized by the paper crane in Lance's hands. "Pretty," she muttered.
Lance grinned. Exactly as planned. "Here, you can take it," he encouraged. "Go ahead. You can keep it if you want."
Xenia blinked like Lance was insane to give up such a precious treasure and gently picked up the crane. She held it up, twirl around with it and giggled before looking back to Lance.
"Can you make another one?" she asked, hopefully.
"Of course I can," Lance said as he picked up another sheet of paper. "I happen to be the paper crane master."
"C-can I have one too?" one of the Galran boys asked as he raised his hands.
"Me too!" chirped another one.
"Settle down, settle down," Lance said as waved his hands. "There's enough of me to go around."
He quickly became engrossed to the children's questions and didn't notice Maya approach Hunk from behind him.
"I will admit," Maya said, "I didn't think the Blue Paladin was this good with children."
Hunk scoffed. "He has a huge family back home," he said as they watched Lance make another crane. "If anything, this is a nice break for him."
Maya grasped her chin as a thoughtful expression washed over her face. "You know, I can put him on child care duty. As long as he keep the kids out of adults way, it's fine."
Hunk raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yeah, besides it was my turn today," she stated. "So with him on it, it gets me out of it."
Hunk frowned as he raised an eyebrow. "Can't help, but feel you're just using him to your advantage here."
"And you think he would object to it?" Maya asked with a smirk.
Hunk glanced to Lance who was beaming and laughing as he let one of the children climb his back.
"Naw," Hunk said. "He probably needs this."
As if to prove his point, Xenia squealed with delight as she crawled into Lance's lap and the Blue Paladin let loose the biggest grin as if he won the best prize ever.
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Keith finished placing the swords into the crate before wiping the sweat off his forehead.
"Hoping that's the last of it," he muttered. He then picked up one of the swords and gave it a swing. It was a bit heavier than the swords he was use to working with, but not too much that it was unbearable.
"This wouldn't be bad to fight with," Keith muttered.
"It was forged from the Tharex System, they known for their sword making skills."
Keith turned as he spied Thace enter the chamber and looked around. "You made good progress here," he said with an approving nod. "But I thought the Yellow and Blue Paladin would assist you."
Keith placed the sword back in the crate. "They're just handling..a mishap they had this morning."
Once Daien had explained he and Maya suspected it was one of the kids that had swiped the bayards, Keith and Pidge had decided to keep it just between them. It sounded like Maya would give the kid a good lecture if Lance and Hunk didn't beat her to it. It didn't seem worth it inform the others about it and cause some unneeded trouble. They had enough to do as is.
He was afraid Thace would question it more, but said nothing as he went to one of the empty crates. "I noticed back on Cevis you are quite talented in sword fighting," he said. "I've been wondering who your teacher was?"
Keith paused and frowned. Was Thace trying to get to know Keith better? He folded his arms as he sat on a crate.
"I didn't have a teacher," he said. "I mostly self taught myself until I got some actual lessons when I was 13."
Keith had read and watched A LOT of instructional videos online to try to improve. Hard part had been to try to practice with wooden swords when his foster parents weren't around to stop him. He didn't get any formal classes until Shiro's parents had signed him up in middle school.
"Besides that though," Keith continued with a shrug. "I just try to practice when I could."
"Yeah, to the point I had to take the sword away so you would go to bed," Shiro's voice called out.
Keith turned his head as he saw Shiro entered, and was glad to see him with a more relaxed smile. He offered Shiro a grin as he went over.
"Hey, you doing okay?" he whispered so Thace wouldn't hear.
Shiro nodded. "Yeah, much," he said as he ruffled Keith's hair. Sleeping in Black helped me clear my head quite a bit."
Keith gave a half smile as he weaved through his hair to straighten it. He glanced back over to Thace and noticed the Galran was giving them a thoughtful expression.
It was then Shiro looked to Thace too and gave a more solemn frown.
"On that note," he said as he approached him. "You are the one that saved Keith when he crashed landed on Cervis, and let us be able to escape from Zarkon's, right?"
Keith held his breath as he watched. Thace narrowed his eyes and set his tablet aside. "I am," he replied.
Shiro gave a small smile. "I should have said this yesterday, but I wanted to say thank you. We wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for you." He pointed back to Keith. "And he's family to me. I'm grateful that you took care of him when I couldn't."
Keith blushed a little and kept quiet. I wasn't in that much trouble.
Red gave a deep growl in her voice and gave images of how badly injured Keith was into his mind.
….Okay, fine, I was in trouble, he silently told Red. No need to rub it in. His lion gave a soft protective growl and noticed she sounded a bit amused.
Thace was silent, but gave a slow nod. "You're welcome, but..I should be thank you and the other paladins for willing to fight on Zarkon."
Shiro gave a soft smile as he nodded. "Then perhaps we'll call it even," he said. "At least for now." He folded his arms and turned back around to Keith. "Where are the others by the way?"
"Pidge is in with the computers," Keith explained. "She's giving a hand transferring and backing up the data."
"What about Hunk and Lance?" Shiro asked.
Keith coughed as he rubbed his neck. "Um…Maya took them to see the kids."
Shiro blinked puzzled as Thace raised an eyebrow. "The kids?" Shiro asked.
"Long story," Keith explained. "I'll tell you about it later."
Shiro seemed tempted to ask more, but kept his frown as he turned to Thace. "I should go check on them. Where do I go?"
"It's the third chamber from this one," Thace explained. "You'll find a long tunnel, but they should be at the chamber at the end of it."
"Thanks," Shiro said as he proceeded to leave and patted Keith's shoulder. "Be back in a bit."
"Sure," Keith said as he watched him leave before turning back to one of the crates. He paused as he felt eyes on him and looked up to Thace.
"What?" Keith asked, concerned.
"You two seem close," Thace commented.
Keith nodded as he shrugged. "We've known each other for a long time," he explained, "plus he's also my foster brother."
Thace paused and seemed a bit surprised. "Foster brother?"
Keith chewed his lip. "It's like how you guys will take in orphans. We have a system on Earth where people will care for kids who have no families."
Not that it was a good system in Keith's opinion. He'd known too many other foster kids that had gotten screwed over by it. Keith had been one of the luckier ones.
"I'm familiar with the concept," Thace interjected, "but..you didn't live with your parents?"
Keith gave him a hard look. He wants to know about my parents? He rotated his shoulders. Well, maybe I'll finally get some answers out of him.
"I don't have any parents," Keith said flatly. "I never knew my father and my mother, Amy, died when I was a kid."
He watched the Galran's face like a hawk. Thace's face was unreadable though. Keith saw no hint of surprise or shock, but he lowered his eyes and noticed Thace's arms were folded and his grip had tightened on his arms. He was almost squeezing it.
"I'm sorry for your loss," he said quietly as he turned his head. "That..must have been difficult."
Keith swallowed as he hugged himself. "Yeah…it was." He raised his head to him. "I've been wondering for awhile, but..you've been to Earth, haven't you?"
Thace was quiet. "I..have, it was a short visit though."
Keith held his breath. "Why were you there?"
Thace kept his back to him. "It's not important."
"I kind of think it is," Keith said as he stepped forward. "You keep dodging questions every time I bring it up."
He heard Thace take in a deep breath. "Some questions are best left unanswered, especially if one is not ready to hear them."
Keith growled. "And you get to decide that do you?!"
Thace sighed as he turned back around. "In this case I do."
"That's not good enough for me," Keith said as he stepped forward. "Part of the reason I came here was to get answers, and somehow you're connected." He raised his hands up. "And, frankly, I'm getting sick of the run around here!" He reached and held up his dagger.
"Why do you have the same symbol on your dagger that I do on mine?" Keith asked. "The one that was suppose to belong to my dad?"
Thace was silent.
"Are you seriously going to keep standing there and not say anything?" Keith accused as his anger burned inside of him.
Thace kept a tight frown and he shut his eyes.
Keith 's hands shooks in frustration. "Fine! If that's how you want it!" he cried as he turned on his heels and stormed out.
He exited the chamber grumbling under his breath as he made plans to go find Ford. He hoped he had something for Keith to hammer.
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Back in the chamber Thace rubbed his eyes as he sat on the crate. "What a mess," he muttered.
"You can't blame him," said Leah and Thace cracked an eye open to see her enter.
"You heard all of that?" he asked.
"Was rather hard not to," she said as she sat next to him. "Thace, you need to talk to him."
Thace ran a hand over his hair. "If I do, his world is going to change forever."
"And being a paladin of Voltron hasn't already?" she said gently as she patted his arm. "Thace, I understand your reluctance, but the situation has changed." Leah frowned. "If anything else, you owe it to that boy."
Thace was silent as he took out his dagger and ran a finger over the blade. Leah patted his shoulder as she stood.
"I'll leave you alone, I need to go check on my children," she said as she went to leave, "but please reconsider."
Thace could not say anything as the dagger in his hand suddenly felt much heavier than it did moments before.