The many revelations and frantic hubbub seemed to kickstart Allura into Chief Mode. She paced from hut to hut, barking orders at any person who crossed her path. The riders were sent to the training arena to run drills, Lotor and Coran were sent to fetch maps and reports to begin planning their assault, and even Thace was given something to do. It was merely to sharpen weapons and change bandages on some of the injured dragons, but at least Allura trusted him enough to give him a job at all. The next few hours were a flurry of activity, distinct from the slow day before when all they'd done was sit about and wait for Lotor to say something useful.

The sun was just past its zenith when Allura took a break from strategizing, leaving Lotor to brood over maps with Thace's watchful eye on him and strolling across the dragon-filled plain with Coran at her side until they reached the hill that looked over the training arena. They were quiet for several moments, enjoying the slight breeze that ruffled their hair and observing the little specks of color that flitted here and there over the stone of the arena.

With a frown, Allura couldn't help but notice how the riders had scattered to the various corners of the pavillion. Keith was in one area, running sword drills with his left hand while Shiro watched. Across the courtyard, Lance and Hunk were doing target practice with a bow and crossbow, respectively. On the northern end Katya and her brother were practicing hand to hand.

This was their problem. Despite Lance and Keith mostly patching up their rocky relationship, the teens still struggled to work as a team. They trained apart, learned apart, lived apart- only coming together when it was time to fight.

That simply wouldn't do.

"I'm beginning to have doubts." She murmured, half to Coran and half to herself. Coran, gods bless him, immediately understood.

"I believe they need a leader, Princess."

Allura cast him a sidelong look. "I thought I was their leader."

"On the ground. In the skies you'd have to command from the back of my dragon, and Soothesong isn't suited for flight. The leader of the riders can't be grounded."

Allura sniffed imperiously, trying to cover up the fact that this very thing had been bothering her ever since the riders took to the sky for the first time as a group.

"Who, then?" She challenged, pushing herself to find an answer just as much as she pushed her advisor. "It cannot be Keith- he's far too reckless, and in the heat of battle is more likely to disregard the others and go off on his own. Lance relies too heavily on the opinions of his friends to make orders. Hunk is too fearful." A hand rose to her temple, a headache threatening to come on at any moment. "I would suggest Katya, but as long as she co-flies the Zippleback with her brother, she can't. A Zippleback cannot be flown if one rider has an advantage over the other."

Silence fell between them as they both pondered the conundrum presented to them. As they watched the riders continued their segmented training for several more minutes. A bit of motion caught Allura's eye, and she turned her gaze to see Shiro leaving his spot on the sidelines to approach the center of the pavillion.

She nudged Coran with an elbow, and both watched rapturously as the other riders gathered around Shiro. They couldn't hear what was being said from their position, but Allura still felt her jaw drop when he deftly moved them into a group combat exercise. It didn't even take that long, as opposed to when she did it and got a half hours worth of hemming and hawing.

"I believe the riders have already chosen for us."

Coran fumbled a bit for words. "But, Princess, Shiro doesn't know anything about dragons! And how will he fly with only one arm?"

Allura shrugged dismissively, already turning away from the edge of the hill. "Details to be worked out later. What matters is that they actually listen to him." Taking up her skirts, she scurried down the side of the hill towards the pavillion, Coran at her heels. Surprisingly enough the riders didn't let her presence break their concentration, and she easily wove her way through them until she found the man in question.

"Shiro," she said when she got close, "Come with me, please." She didn't miss the slight look of alarm that came over his face. "It's alright, just wanted you for some specialized training."

Shiro frowned, left arm rising as though to cross over his chest before he remembered and let it drop again.

"Specialized training? What for?"

"I'll explain in a few moments. For now just follow, please."

"Me?"

Allura had never seen a person look as shocked as Shiro did in that moment. Jaw dropped, eyebrows raised, the whole deal. She bit back her amusement, however, knowing that the situation was a serious one.

"Why me?"

"Well, to be frank, because the riders listen to you leagues better than they ever listened to Coran or myself."

Shiro was already shaking his head in denial. "No way. Keith and Matt, maybe. But the rest of them? Pidge doesn't take orders from anybody, and I barely know Lance and Hunk."

"It's not a matter of knowing, it's a matter of authority. The other riders look up to you, they follow easily, like just now in the pavillion."

He still wasn't ready to admit it. "But… how could I even lead them? I can't fly a dragon with only one arm."

"Sure you can!" Coran supplied with a grin. "One of the first dragon riders flew with only one foot! It's simply a matter of compensating for your weaknesses, just like any of the other riders."

"I'm not sure about this." His expression was tense and pensive. "I don't think I'm the right choice."

"You never know until you try." Coran's voice was gentler now, less obnoxious in its optimism. "Worst case scenario, it doesn't work out and we try something else."

Shiro stared at the grass, his left fist slowly clenching and unclenching at his side. When he finally looked back up, he seemed reluctant, but at the same time there was a bit of determination in the line of his jaw.

"Alright. We can try."

"Excellent! We'll begin straight away." Before Shiro could protest Allura had grabbed his hand, hauling him off in the direction of the hut where the dragon they'd returned with was still lurking. It had been napping in the shade of the building, but when they approached its eyes cracked open. Recognizing Shiro, it lumbered to its feet and took a few tentative steps forward. Shiro took a step as well before pausing.

Allura frowned as she watched the interaction. The two were obviously drawn to each other, but there was something holding them back; a certain hesitance.

"Shiro," she said softly, coming up alongside him and gently taking his hand by the wrist. "You must show trust to be given it in return." She pulled his hand up until it was held in front of him, palm presented to the dragon, who eyed it warily.

"I know." He huffed in answer. "I did this in the arena."

"Then why do you hesitate?"

Shiro is silent for a moment, watching as the dragon inches towards his hand, one agonizing step at a time.

"What if I'm just as bad as the Galra? As Lotor? They made us fight each other, I hurt him."

"And he hurt you." It was just a guess on Allura's part, but Shiro's flinch confirmed her suspicion.

"What if I can't be a good rider? What if I'm too broken?"

"He trusts you." Allura was right, the dragon had been creeping forward this whole time and now was barely a hands breadth from resting Shiro's hand on his snout. "He's showing you that. Can you trust him in return?"

"It's not him I don't trust." His fingers twitch, almost forming a fist before he remembers. "It's me."

"You don't have to trust yourself. Just trust that he knows what's best for himself." She knows that telling Shiro that isn't necessarily the best for him in the long run, but that's not what she's after. She's after results. The fallout can be dealt with after the war is over.

Apparently it works, because Shiro shifts and puts his hand on the dragon's snout, who makes a quiet rumbling sound in answer.

"You should give him a name."

Yet again, Shiro hesitates. "I don't even know what kind of dragon he is."

Allura opens her mouth to answer, but another voice beats her to it. One smooth and slimy with smug undertones that turns her stomach.

"It's an Armorwing." Lotor stepped out from the shadow of the hut, apparently having grown bored of pondering strategy. Both Shiro and the Armorwing recoiled sharply at his presence, the dragon planting one wing between the Prince and Shiro in a gesture of protection. He merely smiled blandly at them.

"Usually quite timid, but we found this one after it destroyed an entire flock of our Smothering Smokebreath scouts. Easier than the other dragons to manipulate as well- if he won he got armor, and if he didn't, well…"

Allura felt sick, felt her face turning red with rage. In all of the fuss about taking down Zarkon she'd forgotten one very important thing: Lotor had been the master of the Coliseum, and just as complicit in the torture of dragons as Zarkon. He was still his father's son.

"Thank you for your contribution, Lotor." She responded icily, and watched in satisfaction as his smirk fell. "If you don't mind, this is a private conversation."

Lotor allowed himself a small glare before forcing his expression to smooth over. "Of course, Princess. Excuse me." He bowed stiffly, then turned on his heel and marched off.

An awkward silence fell between the two of them, Shiro anxiously running his hand over the dragons horns as he fought to get his composure back.

"I should've let Keith kill him."

Allura glanced up in surprise. Shiro was facing away from her, jaw tight and the veins in his neck pulsing angrily. She sucked in a cleansing breath.

"Be that as it may, your dragon still needs a name."

Shiro considered, the dragon staring up at him with big golden eyes.

"I think I'll call him Bayard."

The dragon rumbled again and pressed against Shiro's hand, making Allura smile sadly.

"I think he likes it."

"Flying with one arm isn't that complicated." Katya said, briefly glancing up from her charcoal sketch to look at Shiro. "You'll just need a bit of it you can hold on to when your dragon does complicated moves."

"Like a handle." Hunk put in, bent over his own pile of papers. Katya nodded and chewed on the end of her pencil.

"Wonder if we could just add a loop of leather and call it good."

"No, it wouldn't be sturdy enough. We have to make sure it stays on through anything or Shiro will go splat."

"I'd rather not go splat." Shiro said with a wry look on his face, making Katya snicker.

"We could make it so his feet strap in instead, since he still needs to lead."

Katya scrunched up her nose and shook her head at Hunks suggestion. "No, what if we have to dismount quickly? It'd take too long and leave him vulnerable."

"Well we could make him a harness? And then we connect it to the saddle in more than one place."

"I think a harness would still be too complicated, but maybe a belt? And then that's connected to the saddle." While she spoke Katya drew a rudimentary drawing of a belt connected to the four corners of a very simple saddle. "We can connect it with hooks so that he can easily get on and off."

"But would hooks be sturdy enough to handle flight?"

"If we get even a handful of Gronkle Iron ingots we can make strong enough hooks to withstand anything-"

"But the Gronkles here can't make iron anymore because of the Galra, we'd have to find wild ones which is gonna be a problem with Zarkon hunting them all down."

"I'm sure we can figure it out- I don't think we have much of a choice if we want Shiro flying safely."

They seem to have completely forgotten Shiro was there in their mission to build him a saddle, so with no better ideas, he quietly slipped out of the room and left them to their planning. Outside of the hut Keith was waiting for him, accompanied by Red, who'd barely left his side since the battle at the Coliseum.

"Let me guess," He drawled when Shiro appeared in the doorway, "They started planning and completely forgot you were there."

"Yeah." Shiro agreed with a sheepish grin. "I figured it would be better to just let them do their thing."

Keith nodded in agreement, straightening up from the wall he'd been leaning on. "Hunk and Pidge made all of our saddles. If anyone can pull it off it would be them."

"Well, while we're waiting for them to pull themselves out of their crafting frenzy, why don't you show me how you fly, Mr. Hotshot Dragon Rider." He reaches out to ruffle Keith's hair as he speaks, making him duck away and stick his tongue out petulantly at him.

"Fine, but only because no one else will let me fly yet."

Shiro frowned at that, eyes going to the bandages that still stuck out of Keith's shirt, even a week after the battle.

"On second thought, if Mat and Pidge think you shouldn't be flying-"

"No, nope, too late, you already asked. Besides, if you can fly with one arm why can't I?" With that and a cheeky grin, Keith turned and clambered up onto Red, who seemed just as enthused to go for a flight as her rider.

"Try to keep up!" He called, and with a smirk and a beat of Red's wings, they were airborne. Shiro tilted his head back to watch Keith show off, shading his eyes from the sun with his hand. He couldn't help the small smile that crept onto his face. In a few days, once Katya and Hunk finished his saddle, he would be up there with him.

He couldn't wait.

Hunk and Katya proudly displayed the finished saddle to him a week later, of course immediately insisting he take it out for a test flight. He'd spent that week actively trying to get closer to his dragon, so there was barely any hesitation between them when he fastened the leather to Bayard's scaly green hide.

The design was as Katya had suggested; a belt with several metal hooks that locked in to corresponding rings on the saddle. They had a rudimentary clasp system, so that with a press of his thumb on the small lever he could release the hook from the ring, making dismounting and remounting as quick and easy as could be expected.

The moment he was locked in, the other riders mounted their own dragons and gathered around, all eager to witness Shiro's first flight. Allura and Coran were there are well, Coran on Skycracker to help supervise and Allura staying on the ground. Shiro's eyes found her, and they exchanged hopeful smiles.

"Any pointers?" He asked her. Lance took it upon himself to answer.

"It's like riding a horse!" He called over from the back of Glorywing, ignoring how they swayed slightly as the dragon occupied itself with preening. "They let you guide them because they trust you, but you have to remember they could just as easily turn and do something else. You don't command them so much as work with them."

Shiro quirked his mouth to the side. The advice might have been good, but Shiro had little to no experience riding horses anyway, so it didn't help him that much.

"Keith? You got anything helpful to say?"

Keith immediately shook his head, a smirk starting to grow. "Nah. The first time I rode Red she flew straight up as high as she could, dropped, then did a barrel roll. Not the ideal first flight."

Red huffed smoke in his face while Allura grumbled to herself- something about him not having a saddle.

"Don't overthink it." Hunk counseled. "Once you get in the air, all you have to do is work with the dragon. It's almost instinctive."

"Alright." Shiro took a deep breath, held it, and let it out slowly. Then he dared to peek at his dragons face, who was looking back at him expectantly. "You ready, bud?"

Bayard rumbled his agreement and swept out his wings, giving each of them a test flap. Then he waited until Shiro tightened his hold before finally leaping into the air.

Shiro's stomach immediately dropped out of his feet, but it wasn't at all unpleasant. They ascended thirty, forty feet in the air- the others had taken off around him, already climbing faster towards the sun. Gently testing, Shiro leaned to the left and was delighted when Bayard banked his wings in that direction, pulling them in a tight circle.

He leaned down close over Bayard's neck and he reacted the exact way Shiro wanted him to- picking up speed in the direction of the horizon, chasing after the other riders. A grin cracked his lips and he had no desire to suppress it.

"How fast can you go?" He didn't actually expect Bayard to hear over the rushing wind, never mind understand the words, but suddenly the dragon was beating his wings harder, pushing them faster, and they quickly gained on the other riders.

He passed Hunk first, who gave him a big grin and a thumbs up. Then Katya and Matt, hooting and howling in excitement for him. Lance yelled something like 'I told you so' as he was overtaken, but the wind and the adrenaline rushing in his ears made Shiro unsure if he'd heard correctly.

With Coran watching from the sidelines, the only one remaining was Keith, who as Shiro watched pulled up on his dragon to perform a fancy loop-de-loop, giving him and Bayard time to catch up to him.

"Hey, Hotshot!"

Keith's head whipped around in surprise, and he pulled Red to a stop, waiting for Shiro to catch up before he spoke, still having to shout over the beating of the dragon's wings as they hovered.

"You up for a race, old man?"

"Bring it on!"

Keith smirked wolfishly, and before Shiro could blink he and Red had taken off. He and Bayard immediately gave chase.

It was exhilarating. Keith was barely a dragon's length ahead of him, streaking across the sky like a crimson comet with Shiro hot on his heels. The air was a dull roar in his ears, Bayard's wings beat on either side of him like a war drum, a green blur below the only reminder of the ground they'd left behind.

In the corner of his eye something flashed in the sunlight. He blinked a few times in irritation, but was completely ready to ignore the momentary distraction when Bayard suddenly jerked them off course, angling down and away from where they'd been chasing Keith.

"Bayard? What's going on?"

This time the dragon ignored him, opting instead to continue on his new path. They'd apparently gotten turned around, back towards the little settlement, where the makeshift forge Katya and Hunk had erected stood with a gleaming pile of scrap metal in front of it. Shiro blinked rapidly as they continued their descent, eyes watering from windburn and the reflections off of the metal.

Bayard thunked to an ungraceful landing right in front of the scrap pile, impact making Shiro feel like his very bones had been jostled. The dragon didn't bother to wait for Shiro to dismount- he simply crawled forward and shoved his snout into the pile of metal. Thankfully Shiro was able to get off before Bayard tossed the first bit of armor onto his back, using his sparking fire to weld the piece down.

The others found him there a minute later, staring in bafflement as his dragon repeated the process, slowly building himself a metal shell over his dull green scales.

The moment she landed, Katya was striking herself on the forehead with a sound of frustration.

"Of course, he's an Armorwing! How could we have possibly forgotten?"

Shiro heard Keith chuckle somewhere behind him, followed immediately by a yelp before Red lumbered into his line of sight, now riderless. By the others snickering he guessed Red had bucked him off in order to join Bayard, apparently wanting to help him. She carefully chose a piece of metal from the pile and tossed it to Bayard, who welded it into place with practiced ease.

After a few long minutes of metal tossing and welding, Bayard surveyed his new suit of armor and huffed to himself, seemingly pleased. He turned back to Shiro, tail lashing like a pleased dog, and ambled up to him to receive scratches. He seemed to move more easily now despite the extra weight, a certain confidence radiating from him that hadn't been there before.

Back in the air, the difference was even more clear. He flew slightly slower now, but there was much more power behind each purposeful beat of his wings. The sun glinted off of the metal, the armored dragon and it's dignified rider striking a commanding presence. One by one, as though they didn't know they were doing it, the other riders fell into one of their practiced formations. Only this time, rather than following Skycracker, they were following Shiro and Bayard.

Huh, Shiro thought, bemused. This might actually work, after all.