Keith slowly got better at controlling his quintessence and the more he did, the more he felt sure he needed to hide this fact form lotor.

Lotor treated him as either a non-issue, or with contempt. Now that he was shiros favorite, he seemed to hog all of the black paladins time. Keith had no way to talk to shiro without either Lotor or someone else present.

After a while pidge and Hunk picked up on Keith wanting alone time with the older paladin so they tried to make themselves scarce, but Shiro caught them and demanded that they stay.

"Something is wrong," Keith stressed and Hunk nodded. Pidge shrugged.

"So, what are we gonna do?" she asked, "the man is clearly not going to listen to any of us-"

"That's what's wrong Pidge," Keith said, "Shiro would always listen to us, always."

"Are you saying that that isn't shiro?"

Hunks question came out of left field and smacked keith in the face. No one spoke for a long time. Then they all laughed.

"Right, whatever."

They shook their heads. The idea was ludicrous, but deep down inside, they couldn't shake the idea now that it had been spoken out loud.

()

Shiro had no idea what he'd gotten himself into.

He now had his own room on THE kryes ship. He had free reign and the other galra largely ignored him. He was allowed to go anywhere he wanted and even leave any time he wanted.

But curse his curiosity, he wanted to know what Krye knew and wasn't telling.

He took a jet out just to see what Krye would do, but nothing happened. He flew back and instead was scolded by a galra captain for taking out a half fueled jet.

He was being scolded for not taking safety measures.

Like a Garrison cadet!

"Have fun?" Krye ask that day over dinner.

"A little," Shiro admitted, "I've always wanted to fly one of the jets."

"They have a light turn touch," Krye said knowingly, "and smooth when switching from no gravity to gravity."

Shiro knew that simply by watching them when they were fighting all those years, that's why he'd always wanted to fly one. He may be more mature than the other paladins, but he was a pilot at heart.

They ate in silence and sat in silence afterward. This was the time set aside for them to talk about anything sHiro wanted. Any grievances he had and…anything else.

"Are you going to tell me now?"

"Maybe later," Krye said, "I'm still not convinced you wont run away after I tell you."

"Maybe I should just go."

"Maybe," Krye shrugged, "Either way I intend to accomplish my goals and no one will get in my way."

"And that goal is?"

"The witchs' complete death."

Shiro paused over the dregs of his cup of milk tea. He had learned that every word Krye spoke was on purpose and there were no mistakes.

"Complete?"

"Good night," Krye said instead and stood, leaving through a door opposite from the one that lead into the corridor.

"I will take you to your room," Qaltok said.

"I know the way," Shiro said, a little indignant.

"I will follow then."

Shiro rolled his eyes and left, Qaltok following.

"My lord looks forward to his meals with you," Qaltok said after they were far enough away from the room, "I wished to thank you."

"Why?"

"Because with you here he's at least getting one good meal a quintant."

Shiro stopped, "So to him I'm a game to play and to you I'm a nanny?!"

Qaltok snorted, "You are hardly a game or a nanny. I'm simply expressing my gratitude, what you do with that is your business I suppose."

He turned and walked back the way he had come.

()

What was it that Shiro trusted about Krye?

He couldn't put his finger on it at all. He simply just felt comfortable with the guy! He didn't speak a lot, but when asked a question would explain in detail.

…

Almost like Hunk or Pidge or Keith.

Was that it? Did Krye remind him of the others and that's why he felt like he could trust him?

Then Shiro realized what it was.

It was the other galra on the ship.

He caught a few laughing, more than a few smiled naturally, one complained loudly and made his friend laugh. But no one was punished for being 'flippant' or 'not serious'. No one was punished for complaining or asking "stupid" questions.

More than once Shiro and Krye were interrupted at dinner so one of the Hanger crews could ask for a specification of an order. Krye was unbothered and the only one who got upset was Qaltok, but even he didn't mind as much as other generals might.

His men did not just respect the lord, they loved him.

Shiro dug a little deeper. Riplish, a captain, just so happened to be the first he talked to. The galra was skittish and young, even as a captain, and it took Shiro some time to get the kid to talk.

"I was always considered a mistake," he said, finally putting his work down to talk, "I was pushed onto one ship to another. I became quite famous that way. No one wanted me on their ship and if they did it was because they thought they could fix me.

My lord never demanded or ordered me onto his ship. He asked me what I wanted and then made it happen. I'm not a captain because I'm good at it. I'm captain because I worked for it. He saw my skills and my weaknesses and then allowed me to make those weaknesses into strengths. He gave me room, and that's what I needed. I will follow my lord into the witches maw if that's what it takes."

There were many similar stories from others.

In fact, three of the 6 generals were simply privates and never held a title in their lives.

"But they're so skilled," Gil sighed, "They kept their skills under the notice of all the higher ups they were under until Krye came and told them that he knew all about them. They figured if he was good enough to figure that out on his own, then they should be on board with him all the way."

"That's no reason to follow someone," Shiro admonished.

"No, but he saved their lives by giving them an out," Jahk added in, "Privates and lower stationed people with that kind of skill and talent are often killed or ruined by the higher ups because they don't want competition."

"They're everywhere," Gil nodded, "but you won't find them easily. They're too smart to let it show."

"But our lord has found most and the rest came to him when they realized this was a safe place for them."

"Is Krye aiming to be emperor?"

"I hope so," Gil said, "I mean, we did destroy the Kral Zera, but if we could get everyone to be lead and feel as good as we do serving Krye, then that would be wonderful."

"I don't think he's 'aiming' for it," Jahk said, smacking Gil over the head, "lord Krye is much too humble."

Shiro wondered at the humble statement, but he also agreed that he wasn't 'aiming' for the throne.

But Lotor was.

The more time he spent here, the more he realized how wrong lotor truly was.

()

"Fine," Shiro walked into dinner that night and sat, "tell me and I promise to not run."

Krye tilted his head a little, "promise?"

"A lesser form of an oath," Qaltok replied quietly.

"Ah," Krye nodded, "I trust you to keep your word then."

They were served their meal and Krye ate small bites under his helmet.

"Well," Shiro asked, not touching his food yet.

"Lotor and the witch are working together," Krye said conversationally between bites.

Shiro tensed and almost ran from the room, but he had promised he wouldn't.

The others were tangled in the witches plans and they had no idea. HE had been there as well and had almost died because of it!

"…what makes you say that?" Shiro asked instead, wanting specifics.

"Qal," Krye waved a hand and the general walked around the table to show Shiro a video on his tablet.

The video showed the druids taking Shiro from his cell in Zarkons castle, and then the video skipped ahead to show Zethrid and Ezor taking him back to his original cell…but that wasn't him.

"How many times did you question Lotor?"

"Well…all the time, but I question everyone, even myself, that's just-"

"but Lotor hates being questioned," Krye cut in, "so he replaced you with a you that would agree with him. And the witch could make that happen."

Shiro had come to terms that there was a clone of himself, but this was still…

"So what's your plan?"

"So glad you asked," Krye put down his fork, "I wanted to kill Lotor first for what he did to my engineer, but being with you makes me realize that Lotor really is a small part of the bigger picture. You really have a calming effect on people."

"…thank you?"

"the witch shall take priority, but for that to happen we have to lure her out. She's vanished and we can't seem to find her at all. Without Zarkon she is now more powerful than she's ever been before."

"How?"

"What?"

"How does…how did zarkon make her weak?"

Krye was silent then shook his head, "I can not speak of that in detail. Not now, at least, but rest assured its true. She is now more powerful, and she's got her own goals. Our goal is to end her, not just stop her, but to end her and her power."

"How are we going to do this?"

"We'll use lotor to lure her out. She cares about him, so she'll come out if he's in danger."

Shiro wanted to ask why she cared that much, but he was already feeling like a dunce and didn't want to ask anymore.

"Hagar, the witch, is Honerva," Krye said, and when that didn't get a reaction from Shiro he added, "Honerva is Zarkons wife, Lotors mother, and legal empress of the Galra."

"Nooo," Shiro shook his head, "Lotor said she's died."

"Weather or not Lotor realizes she's his mother or not is debatable, but facts are facts."

"and how do YOU know all this?" Shiro asked, really needing this answer, but Krye, again, took his time answering anything personal.

"The witch and I have come to a few…understandings," Krye replied, "She stays out of my head, and I'll stay out of hers."

He stood, most of his food untouched, "Good night."

He left, leaving Shiro to wonder about what exactly he'd gotten himself into.