She woke a second time to the soft rise and fall of Blue's fur under her cheek. At some point the lion had shifted to curl up with the Princess so that she rested against its shoulder and neck. The long, glowing tail laid lightly across her legs, the tip twitching ever so faintly. When it sensed her waking, it brushed a cool nose gently across her cheek and rumbled fondly.

'You've been carrying that all for a long time, haven't you?' came the voice, devoid of reproach, gently concerned, and feeling like it propped her up all at the same time. Blue swiped its tongue gently across the spot on her cheek it nosed and then just leaned companionably there. 'So many walls you have, my Paladin.'

"Everyone expects strength, calm, assurance, things that I may not have in me… but I find a way to make sure they see it." Allura spoke softly, reaching up a hand to stroke her lion's cheek absently. To be a Princess, presumably of what little remained of her people between her and Coran, to help pull together an Alliance and be a pillar within it.

To do it all and then become a Paladin and be Chosen of Oriande as well. It wasn't surprising that the house of cards that was her interface with the rest of the universe was on shaky ground. Asleep for 10,000 years and then the weight of so many worlds being thrust upon her without much chance to breathe, let alone put her mind in the place it needed to be.

"I never felt I really had a choice. So I simply -did- and trusted that it would all work out." she leaned into Blue's head and closed her eyes. It was so quiet here, it didn't feel like anything was needed of her. For once it felt like there was no pressure in her mind to keep up all the walls and gates that protected her innermost being from… everything. Just the throaty purr of her lion and the beating of her own heart.

'There is no shame in leaning on others. No shame in letting them into your pain and sharing it. When it is not purely your burden it carries much less weight.' Blue's tail twitched across her lap, leaving a faint blue afterimage of the sweep in its wake. 'You know I am always here, as are the other Paladins. They care so much for you, I think they would fall over each other to shoulder your weight.'

"They have so much on their shoulders already! They are practically children!" cried Allura, frowning as she dropped her hands to her lap. "They've seen and done things that children should never have to do or see."

'They could have refused… turned their backs on us and tried to find their way home.' There was a note of pain to the lion's rumble, as if the thought has not been far from its mind as well as hers. 'Yet they did not. They listened. They prepared. They took action. They fought for what they had no real comprehension of and it made them stronger. The rest you all take here will never fully erase the scars of what has taken place, but it is long overdue.'

Glancing down at her hands, Allura let her breath out softly from behind her teeth, rubbing her fingers against each other fitfully. She remembered how Pidge had nearly walked away from Voltron to find her family, the loss of Shiro that was only barely eclipsed by the joy of retrieving him, and Keith's absence with the Blade of Marmora. Yet, in their own ways, all had come back in the end. They hadn't abandoned each other or her.

They'd grown so much that she found herself hard-pressed to say that they were children anymore. Even for all her time in the cryo-pod, she was still not all that much older than they were, respectively. Shiro was closest to her age as far as anyone could tell, but no one ever really touched on it during their travels. It had never seemed important as the younger Paladins had looked up to her caring authority anyway. She felt she was somewhere between mother and sister to all of them and found that, in her heart, it didn't matter which one. Allura just wanted them all to come home safe, regardless of the mission of the moment.

'You all came home safe. Yes, you need to heal physically, but no one perished.' Blue rumbled, nosing at her cheek again as a tear streaks down it, catching the drop before it can reach her chin. 'They don't blame you. Stop blaming yourself.'

Burying her face in the lion's cheek for a moment, Allura let a few more tears fall around a shuddering inhale and exhale of breath. As she breathed out, her shoulders relax and she nuzzled the fur against her face. "I'm glad you're here with me, Blue. If you hadn't made yourself a presence here… I'd be in a right state. Thank you. For listening… and helping."

The lion rumbled reassurance but doesn't say anything in response, instead giving the Princess time to center herself. Having gone through two Paladins in such a relatively short time, it can only take its own refuge in patience. Eventually Blue notes that the Princess' breathing calmed and her head raised, gracing her with one of what have seemed rare, peaceful smiles.

'Do you feel up to a trip now, my Princess? You seem ready to find the rest of your family here. I think it would do you good to see them now.' Allura nodded and, after a full-body stretch, rose to her feet. Blue rose as well and, with an equally full-body stretch, grew steadily in size until of a size that its Paladin can easily ride. Nosing the Altean onto her back, the lion purred approval up at her. 'Hang on, dear one. We're going to go very fast here. Look for the comets as we get closer.'

"Comets? Where? Oh!" Allura barely had a thought to curl her fingers into a hold on her lion's fur before it padded forward a few steps and took off like a rocket. Granted it was a loping rocket, but the starfield passed by so quickly it almost steals her breath. Just as the expanse before them begins to whiten, she caught the aforementioned streaks of color angling towards the point they head for.

"Beautiful…" she murmured just as the white overtakes them…