The Honors List
Keith was in a good mood. Allura had been back for over two weeks, and he had put his plan into action. He had been able to have several nice talks with her, mostly about Arus. She told him about the changes that had come about, as well as the restoration of the buildings around the square. She had taken him around to the restored Cathedral, and pointed out the various art works. She was moved especially, he could tell, by the altar piece.
Keith admired everything, but knew the deeper meaning was lost on him. He was just glad that he and Allura were friends again. He realized that he had made many mistakes when he first came back. After the shock of the battle, he had been resentful of the role that Lance had taken on. Of course, dealing with Wade had not helped the situation. He knew that he had been self-absorbed and only thought about events in relation to himself.
He thought he was doing well with Pidge too. He made it a point not to mind if Pidge was up in Allura or Coran's office. Pidge had shared what researched he had been trying to do on the Nexus problem, and whether Balto had really been involved in the original programming of Voltron. Keith was still dealing with his suspicions about Allura and Pidge though.
It was more like his gut was telling him something was going on with them. However, he had not seen any evidence of a relationship. There had been times when that gut feeling had saved his life, but now he was thinking it was a side product of his feelings for Allura.
Keith had also reconciled himself to Daniel flying Blue. He and Larmina had taken over for Allura when she had been gone, but he knew that Daniel had done all the flying. Allura had flown Blue several times since she had been back, and Keith had realized that she had changed. She was still a top-notch pilot, but she wasn't a top-notch combat pilot anymore. There was a difference, and Keith was sure that the change in her related to what had happened when she had been kidnapped.
He was waiting for the official request to come, to let Daniel take over Blue. Keith had to admit that Daniel was a good pilot, and had bonded with Blue. Keith hoped that as he matured he would not be so rash. Then he thought of Lance, and decided that it would probably not happen for a long time.
While Keith was thinking his thoughts, Pidge, Hunk, and Larmina were in the rec room. Hunk was trying to teach Larmina how to play poker, with Pidge adding tips. Pidge was not allowed to play, as he counted cards and always won. She had tried to play with Daniel and Vince, but hadn't understood the game well, so she lost every time. Pidge had the programming from the Nexus up, along with the ancient Baltan alphabet. He was hoping to see if there were any similarities between them.
Daniel and Vince came into the room, and smiled when they saw Hunk explaining poker to Larmina. Vince said "You know I will kick your butt again, just like last time." Pidge looked up and said to Daniel and Larmina "Does he win every game?" They nodded their heads, and Larmina said "It is like he knows what our cards are!" Pidge gave Vince a hard look, and said to him "I think we need to talk later." Pidge was pretty sure Vince could count cards, like he could.
"I have something I need to talk about, well really ask about." Daniel said to Pidge and Hunk. They looked at him, and he went on "Several people have congratulated me on being on the Honors List. What does that mean? I didn't think we got grades in our classes here." Hunk said "That is right, Fall Court is next week. Let's see who else is on the list." He brought up a monitor, and started scanning.
"Fall Court, what is that?" Daniel asked. Larmina explained to him "The Kingdom holds two 'Courts' a year in the throne room, Spring and Fall. All the nobility, branches of the services, castle personnel, and whoever else wants to go get together." She stopped, and then went on "My Aunt wears full court dress and diamonds, and stands for several hours. In the spring the debutantes are presented, and in the fall, awards and honors are given out."
"What is a debutante?" Daniel asked, trying to process all the information Larmina had given him. "They are eighteen year old girls, who are being presented to society. It means they are considered grown up." Larmina told him. Pidge laughed and said "Larmina will be presented in a couple of years, you all should stick around!" Larmina gave him an angry stare at his remark. Hunk said "It means that they can get married." She glared at Hunk, and said "Who is on the list?"
Hunk was scanning it and said "Well, here you are Daniel; oh, Pidge, you, and I are on it too. Do you know why?" Pidge knew why, and he knew what their awards were, and suspected what Daniel's might be. He would have to confirm with Allie on that one. However, he didn't say any of that, instead said "I think it is something to do with the work we did on the restoration of Arus."
Hunk laughed and said "Either way, I'd better make sure my full dress uniform fits; do you boys have the correct clothes?" Daniel wasn't sure, but Vince said "Yes, we do." He turned to Daniel and said, "He means our dress uniforms from the academy, dude!" Hunk said to Pidge and Larmina "You should go over the drill with him, so he doesn't fall on his face!"
Daniel looked at Pidge and Larmina with alarm; he said "What do you mean the drill?" Larmina said "You really don't think you just waltz up to my Aunt and she gives you the award? It is a very formal process, designed to show respect for the throne." She turned to Pidge and said "Let's show him! I'll be my Aunt, and you can be Daniel."
Larmina went to the far wall, and said "Pretend that I'm my Aunt." She then proceeded to mimic swinging a sword around. Daniel looked at her and said "Why are you pretending to swing a sword?" He was starting to think whether he wanted to be involved in this 'court' thing at all. Back at home, a court was where you went when you were in trouble!
Larmina giggled and said "If my Aunt is bestowing a title on someone, she has a special sword that she uses, to touch the person on either shoulder. It is really heavy, and she told me once that the first time she did it, she almost decapitated the person." Daniel by now was looking very worried, and Pidge took pity on him.
"The Princess, more than likely, will put a medal around your neck." He said, and then went on "There is a certain way you walk up to her, and what you do. Here, watch." Pidge went and stood on the opposite wall from Larmina. He said "Your name will be called, so you will walk up so far." He demonstrated that, stopping about three feet in front of Larmina. "After you get to about here in front of her, stop and salute. You will be in uniform; if you were in civilian dress you would bow." Pidge looked over at Daniel, to make sure he was following what was being said.
He continued on "After you have saluted, she will incline her head, and you will step one large pace forward and stop. The medal will be on a ribbon, which she will take from the tray next to her. Once she picks up the medal, you will bend from the waist, so she can put it around your neck. After she does that, you stand up, salute again, she will say a few words, and then you step back several paces. You stop, and only then can you turn around and go back to your place."
Pidge and Larmina looked over at him, and were shocked to see him laughing. Lamina went racing over to him and demanded "What are you laughing about!" Daniel kept on laughing and said "You people really expect me to do all that! I'm from earth! We don't have any of that silly garbage about royalty and the dignity of the throne!" Hunk and Vince were looking at him with a shocked expression on their faces.
Daniel went on "This place is so out of date, no one goes in that kind of business anymore. On earth everyone is equal, no one is 'The Protector of the People, Defender of the Faith' that seems to be what happens here. Don't get me started on that entire religious BS that goes on, everyone knows god is not real!"
Daniel had barely gotten that last sentence out before Larmina had tackled him to the ground, saying "Don't make fun of my Aunt that way! Who do you think you are?" She was especially mad at his flippant use of two of her Aunt's titles. Hunk and Vince looked over at Pidge, and Vince got very scared. He had never seen cold fury before, but he was now. Pidge had gone very stiff, his eyes were very narrow, and his mouth was drawn in a tight line.
"Larmina, get up!" He said to her, in an authoritative tone, and then said "Larmina!" Vince was surprised when Larmina got off of Daniel without another word. Pidge walked over to Daniel and said "You are entitled to your opinions. I would suggest though, that you remember that you are a guest of Arus. Before you make comments about the culture of the planet, you should take some time to learn about it." He turned and walked out, with Larmina right behind him.
Daniel got up from the floor, and looked over at Hunk and Vince, "What was that all about. They were really serious about all that throne stuff?" Daniel had grown up on earth, and was used to speaking his mind. Vince said "I have never seen anyone that mad! Even when I was flying with Keith, he wasn't that scary." Hunk looked over at Daniel, and shook his head at him, saying "I think you just crossed a line you shouldn't have."
Daniel went into dinner that night, still puzzled about the reaction that he had gotten earlier. From his point of view, things were weird in Arus, so what! When he got to the table, he saw that Larmina and the Princess were not there. He wasn't surprised about the Princess, because she couldn't always join them; Larmina was usually there. He noticed that Pidge was not there either.
Keith came in right behind Daniel, and said "Is Pidge eating with us?" Hunk looked over at Daniel, and then said "He said he was having dinner with Larmina and the Princess." Daniel reached for some food, saying as he did "Do you suppose he salutes the Princess before he sits down to eat with her?"
Lance looked over at Daniel and said "Danny my boy, you amaze me. When you have already dug yourself into a hole so deep it is falling in on you, you keep digging!" Daniel looked over at him, not understanding; and why wasn't anyone eating? Keith said to him "You have caused a lot of trouble today, Daniel." Daniel looked surprised and said "But how?"
Keith said to him "You have insulted the Crown Princess, the Royal House, the Kingdom of Arus, and their religion. You also mocked Pidge's beliefs." Hunk said "You don't do that to someone." Daniel looked up in disbelief, and said "He really doesn't believe all that does he? I thought he just went along with it to keep the Princess happy."
Hunk said "He is very faithful, he prays every night, and goes to Church every Sunday!" Daniel looked surprised and said "But he is a genius! He is the most logical person in the world; there is no way he believes in all those fairy tales, stuff about god, and the royal family!" Hunk did not understand about Pidge and religion, but he knew that it was very important to him. As far as Hunk was concerned, that is all he needed to know, and he would stand by his friend no matter what.
Keith sighed, and said "I don't know how Pidge's mind works." At the back of Keith's mind he was thinking 'that is so true', but what he said was "I don't know how he reconciles the whole thing. What I know is that he is very loyal to Arus and to the Princess. And Larmina is very loyal to her Aunt and her heritage."
Daniel was not a bad kid at heart, and he was starting to realize what trouble he was in. The Princess had always been kind to him, and he did fly her Lion a lot. He looked around the table and said "I guess I put my foot in it, huh?" When he got no response from anyone, he said to Keith "What do I have to do to make it right?"
Keith picked up a platter, and after taking some food off of it, started passing it around. He said to Daniel "Tonight you are going to write a formal letter of apology for what you said. Tomorrow morning at breakfast, you will present it to the Princess." He stopped, looked hard at Daniel, and then went on "You will also at breakfast stand up and in front of everyone apologize to the Princess and Larmina for insulting Arus, and to Pidge for mocking his beliefs."
Lance laughed and said "And when you get done apologizing to Pidge, you can tell him thank you. I understand he got Larmina off of you before she took you out!" Vince, who had been quiet through all this, wondering what was going to happen to his friend. He said now "He just ordered her off, and she listened! I've never heard him talk like that before."
Lance said "I don't know if it was his growth spurt, but he has really been feeling his oats lately!" Hunk said, "I would have to agree with that." Keith hoped that it was only his growth spurt.