Chapter 7: Shiro
Shiro hobbled down the stairs into the infirmary. Coran was cleaning one of the sleep pods.
"Ah, Shiro, everyone was looking for you earlier. Is everything alright?"
"Yeah," Shiro said, taking another step down the stairs to the level floor. He winced as the movement jabbed at his stomach. "Well, no, not really. Can you hook me up in one of these things and check to see if I'm really okay?"
"You need a check up?"
"Yes. That's one name for it."
"Anything, you want me to look for in particular?"
"Strange brain activity. I thinkāI think I might be hallucinating. I know my heads been scrambled since I was a prisoner of the Galra, but this is different."
"Alright then in, you go." Coran turned on the control panel to the pod next to him, which unlocked the seal on the pod.
Shiro entered the pod and watched as Coran locked the pod and then everything went dark.
Shiro woke a few minutes later when the pod was reopened. He stepped out of the pod, his stomach feeling much better.
"I ran a full diagnostic and you're in perfect health. Nothing wrong with your brain or any other part of you, for that matter. You seemed to have been developing a bruise on your abdomen, but the pod was able to heal it. However, I doubt your concern is for a mere bruise."
"It's not. Earlier today, I thought I saw a person on the ship. I've never seen them before. He had the markings under his eyes like yours, so I think it was an Altean, but even so, that's impossible."
"Perhaps, and this is the first time you say it's happened."
"Yes."
"Hm." Coran looked over the diagnostic again. "Well, there's no signs of anything being wrong."
"Coran, does the castle have logs of Alteans that used to be on the ship with picture identification? Maybe I can describe him to you and we can find him in a database."
"I doubt the database will be any help. It has five hundred years of Alteans coming and going."
"I forgot about that."
"However, it won't hurt to try. Maybe I can even identify him. What did he look like? Coran began pressing buttons on the control console.
"He was tall, young early twenties, at most, and appeared to be wearing a military uniform. He also had brown eyes and blond hair."
"What is blond hair?" Coran asked.
"You know it was yellowish."
"Oh, you mean lumid hair."
"Sure, Coran, lumid hair does that help." Shiro crossed his arms, leaning in to see if anything came up on the screen, but didn't see anything.
"You just described a soldier with lumid hair."
"And brown eyes."
"And brown eyes, Shiro that very well could be any number of Alteans at the time. At least over half."
"Well, it's all I have to go on. How was I suppose to know a young soldier in the castle with lumid hair was so common." Shiro thought about Keith but pushed it aside, remembering his promise.
"Soldiers often patrolled the castle and Alteans often had light colored hair. It's a reflection of the Altean energy. The more Altean energy one possesses the lighter their hair. That is for adults. Children are a little more complicated. Their hair tends to be lighter and before they become a full adult, their energy tends to fluctuate and can sometimes be unstable."
"How old are they when the energy fluctuates?"
"Oh, I would say somewhere from twelve to twenty earth years."
Shiro smiled, "A teenager."
"If you say so. Allura and past members of the royal bloodline possess a large amount of Altean energy, which is why her hair is white. It is also why I am unable to power the castle. I do have quite a bit of Altean energy, but not nearly as much as the princess, and as I get older my Altean energy only slowly diminishes."
"So Alteans don't have dark hair." Shiro started to twist a strand of his white hair, between his eyes. He still couldn't remember how it had happened but figured just like everything else related to his capture by the Galra, he would remember sooner or later.
"Not normally no. If they are half Altean there is a stronger chance, but it's very uncommon for Alteans to have brown hair and rare to have black."
"Why, is it looked down upon to have dark hair?"
"No, not so much disgraced, as it is pitied. As I said, Alteans with dark hair don't possess as much Altean energy, which can result in limitations and for children, who are born with dark hair. It can also be harmful to their health. Altean energy is our life force, without it, particularly, at a young age, many died before they reached maturity."
"Hm." Shiro paused, taking in this new information. "What about Allura's dark shin?"
"What about it? The Altean energy doesn't affect skin that is strictly genetic. Alteans had all different types of skin tones. It doesn't matter."
Shiro smiled again. "You're right about that."
"In most cases, the lightness of one's hair didn't matter either unless part of the royal family. It was always seen as necessary that the ruler of Altea possess the most Altean energy. If there was another that possessed more, wether they be from a noble family or not, they were to be the successor. I've never known that to happen, but when King Alfor was little, he didn't expect to be crowned king.
Kestle:
As always thanks for reading :)
I made an outline for the next four chapters, so hopefully, I can get more organized.
I've kinda been just writing each chapter as I go, but know I'm hoping to have an actual plan.
I normally have the whole story figured out before I start writing, but this one's different.
My only guideline before was deciding what I don't want you to know yet. :P
It's been fun writing as I hope it's been fun reading.
I know it's kind of slow moving, but I hope you all continue to read on :)
Next chapter will be Tuesday.
