Jealous – Resentfully suspicious or envious; watchful in guarding

"I think you spend too much time with that Romelle," Nanny mused as she folded one of Coran's shirts.

"Whatever do you mean, Nanny?" Allura asked to avoid rereading Coran's thesis on interplanetary politics.

"Oh… She's just so… She's a bad influence," Nanny said.

Go on and tell me how you really feel, Allura thought sarcastically. "I don't see how. I actually think of her as a role model." That's probably a bad idea, but I don't regret it… yet…

"Really, Princess! She's no role model for you!"

"And why not?" Allura asked.

"She drinks like a fish!"

Allura shrugged. "Romelle has an iron stomach… and liver… and veins… and brain, but her heart seems pretty human. She can out-drink Sven, and he's Norwegian! And then she did an entire crossword puzzle and stopped Sven from dancing on the table. That sounds pretty mature to me."

"A princess should know her place," Nanny said authoritatively, as though that summed the matter up.

"Romelle's not a princess anymore. She's Queen-Regent now," Allura pointed out.

"That's just what I mean!" Nanny fumed. "The way she went about it—it's just… just…"

"Unheard of?" Allura asked. "That's how Romelle described it. I wish I could have been there when she marched right into the Imperial Senate and started issuing orders!"

Nanny groaned. "The impropriety of it!"

"Impropriety was putting Prince Bandor in charge of the empire. It's the best thing for Romelle and Sven to act as regents! And the boldness to make that decision and follow through!" Allura gushed in bittersweet spite.

"And that Sven…"

"What about Sven?" Allura asked. "He's just about the most noble member of the Voltron Force—aside from Keith," Allura added with a near sigh. "And it's all so romantic! She turned down Prince Lotor, and in a way he actually took it to heart! I can't do that. Then when he tossed her in the Pit of Skulls, Sven and Romelle found each other…" Allura sighed again. "And saved each other…"

"Romantic fantasies!" Nanny said in the same tone she probably saved for terms like flesh eating virus, economic disaster, genocide, and bikinis. "Men flying around in lions are no men for princesses. And Sven knew his station and had the honor not to pursue her—"

"But Romelle knew that stupidity was second nature to every boy," Allura declared triumphantly and waited for Nanny to contradict her. She continued. "Romelle knew what she wanted, and she was focused enough to get what she wanted. Now she's happily married, a Queen, and one of my prime role models."

Nanny folded one of Allura's track suits with frightening efficiency.

"Nanny… Are you all right?"

"What do you care what I have to say? Go ask Romelle."

The discipline of a pilot failed her, but the discipline of royalty kept Allura from laughing out loud. "Nanny, are you jealous of Romelle?"

Nanny snapped and folded one of her dresses.

"Well, Nanny—don't worry. I'm jealous of Romelle too."

Word count minus notes: 500

A/N: Keith, and especially Lotor would have been proper, but I can't help it… Romelle is just too awesome. And this gave me an excuse to partially explain her near immunity to all alcohol—Pollux (of the universe I'm writing) has a social drinking culture—pitcher of wine and pitcher of water at every meeting, like the Romans. Also like the Romans, this causes trouble, but we're not going into that right now. So, anyway, in this social drinking culture no one is more social than the Royal Family, and over the centuries they've gotten a bit immune. In some this means they drink more than anyone ever should and make ruined idiots of themselves. In Romelle's case, she has the advantage over every single Senator that by the time they are slobbering drunk, she's doing the hard hints on a crossword puzzle.

And now for this:

Proverbs 23:29-33

(29) Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? (30) Those who linger long at the wine, those who go in search of mixed wine. (31) Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it swirls around smoothly; (32) At the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper. (33) Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will utter perverse things. (34) Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying: "They have struck me, but I was not hurt; They have beaten me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?"

Note: If it really bothers some readers that much that I put Bible verses with something as completely unrelated as Voltron, I would like to point out that no one made those readers read them. This is not meant as an insult, but a reaction to past friction. Please have a nice day.