Birthright - Chapter 10 Birthright - Chapter 10
Planet Vallis
Alysson stood on the veranda as she watched the five ships in the distance start their approach. She then turned to as she saw another ship, a recognizable warship, approach from another direction.
"Looks as if our guests are arriving."
Alysson turned meeting Kellar's gaze as he came to stand with her. "This shall be a very interesting visit."
"If this Voltron Force are successful, do you think that they'd be willing to give up their weapon?"
Kelar smiled as he walked away. "When money is involved, my lady, anything is possible," he said. "And if what Anala says is true, we will be in for a very entertaining fight."
He walked over to a small bar and poured two glasses of wine. He walked back over to her and handed her one of the glasses.
"Were you able to find anything else on this Voltron Force?"
Alysson smiled. "You'd be interested to know that Prince Lotor is their....mortal enemy."
His brow raised at the sudden news. "Hmm, this will be very interesting indeed," he said as he took a sip from his glass. "Maybe with this fight, I will give everyone some extra rations for the week. I'm sure that will put some spirit back into their work."
Alysson nodded as she down her glass and walked away from the Veranda. She placed the glass down on a nearby table.
"I must ready for the welcome," she stated. "And see that quarters are ready."
Kelar smiled as he quickly intercepted her. "Don't bother, my dear," he said. "I've had Vera ready everything for our guests. Just relax. I haven't seen you take a time to give yourself a break."
"My work is never done, Kelar," she said as she met his gaze. "Readying the guests quarters are just one of many tasks that needs to be done."
He quickly shook his head, placing his glass down next to hers, then offered his arm to her. "As I said, Vera is looking over everything," he said. "Come, we have guests to greet, and I want you to be there with me."
"I've never welcomed any of your guests, Kelar," she said.
"We are going to do things a bit differently this time," he said. "Come, they should be landing soon."
She stared at him and breathed in deeply as she took his offered arm. "If you promise me to let me get to my work when this is all done."
"I promise," he said.
With that he escorted her out of the room.
Anala gave some last minute instructions to the Voltron Force once they gathered together.
"Kelar will be there to greet us," she said. "Princess, since you are the leader of your planet, you must greet him. Everyone else will be considered to be under you."
"Understandable," Allura said. She then turned to Keith. "Ready?"
Slipping on the faux glasses, he slowly nodded and joined Anala. He then noticed a dark ship in the distance.
"It looks like that we are not the only one Kelar is expecting today," he commented. He then turned to Allura. "What did you offer Lotor to get him to come all the way here?"
"A chance to get even with him for stealing his father's gold," Allura said with a smile.
Keith shook his head. "Whatever it is you have agreed with him, Al..."
"I know, I know," she said. "You wont have to tell me, 'I told you so'."
Keith nodded. "Well, we should head on over," he said. "We shouldn't let our lord and master wait."
With a nod, the Voltron Force started their trek toward the Castle.
Alysson breathed in deeply as she watched the two parties come their way. On the left, approached 6 youths, dressed in strange uniforms, that stood out against the vast greenery behind them. Red, blue, yellow, green and pink; then her daughter, Anala. From the right, came a party of 3; she did not know who they are, but the young man who led them must have been this Prince Lotor. She turned to Kelar as he smiled, seeing that his guests were nearing.
As the Voltron Force approached them, she could see Anala stare at her and silently signaled to her to remain quiet. Even Anala thought it strange to for her to be here, as it was not customary for Alysson to greet any of Kelar's guests.
The young woman in pink came forward, slowly removing her helmet that she wore, smiling as they came to stand before them.
"My lord, it is a pleasure to be here on Vallis," Allura greeted as she bowed before him. "I was elated to hear that you accepted our offer to show you our most powerful weapon."
Kelar nodded as she came to stand before him.
"I was surprised even more that such a weapon could be developed, Princess Allura," he said. "And even more that your people are led by a woman who is just as powerful."
Allura smiled. "Again, I thank you for your gratitude, my lord," she said. "If I may, I want you to meet the member of my crew. They pilot my planet's most beloved creation and have trained under me for the last year."
She then turned to Lance, meeting his gaze. He nodded and they all slowly removed their helmets.
"My lord, this is Lance of Planet Neve," she introduced. "Pilot of the Red Lion, which is fueled by the hot core of Planet Arus itself.
Lance nodded then turned to Hunk.
"And this is Harry of Planet Terra, as we call him Hunk," she said. "He pilots the Yellow Lion, fueled by the earth.
"The young one is Pidge who has lost his home to and has been adopted by the people of my planet," Allura explained. "He pilots the Green Lion, powered by the life force around us."
She then stared at Anala, who then turned to Keith.
"And I wish you to meet my most bravest of soldiers," Allura said as she turned to Kelar. "This is Captain Keith, pilot of the Black Lion, the most powerful of all the lions that form Voltron."
Kelar smiled as he met their gazes then came to face the young captain, pinning him with his own.
"Keith was it?" he asked. "And what planet are you from?"
"None, sire," he said.
"None?"
"A long and bitter history, my lord," Allura interjected. "We don't even know where our Captain has originated. But his service to us has been excellent in all aspects."
Kelar nodded then smiled as he turned to Alysson. He noticed that she was staring at the group, but slowly shook her out of her gaze.
"A pleasure to meet all of you," he started to say. "I want you to meet my Court Advisor of sorts. This is Lady Alysson. She oversees all that happens in the Castle, so I thought it best to introduce you all to her before she gets back into her rhetoric and you won't see her during your time here."
Alysson turned to Kelar, and with a smile she stepped forward and curtsied before them.
"A pleasure to meet all of you," she said. She then stood and greeted Princess Allura. "I hope that my daughter was not a burden on you. She does have the odd habit of making people feel guilty for not helping her or taking her in."
"Lady Anala was an excellent guest, my lady," Allura stated. "After hearing of her stories of her home, we could not wait to come here."
"She also has the tendency to exaggerate as well," she said. She met her daughter's gaze and motioned for her to come to her. "I'm sure that she has told you much, and I hope that your stay here will be worthwhile. I know that the travel between here an Arus, is a long one."
"Not at all, my lady," Allura said. "And since your daughter has told us much, we thought that we would bring you a gift."
"Gift?"
Allura turned to Keith who was holding a small satchel. He slowly stepped forward.
"Anala has told us the love you have of exotic flowers," Allura said. "We have brought you a rare flower from my home planet, that we thought you might find interesting, to add to your own collection."
Alysson met the young man's gaze as he came forward, opening the satchel to pull out a small vase, that held a cutting from a small plant.
"All Arus, we call it Melryl," Keith said as he handed it to her. "It is the flower that symbolizes a strong family."
Alysson slowly nodded. "In this day and age, a strong and loving one is all one needs to survive," she said. She then smiled, turning to Kelar. "If it pleases you my lord, your other guests have arrived."
Kelar turned as Prince Lotor led his entourage and came to stand before them. The young Doom prince then knelt to one knee as he bowed before Kelar.
"My lord, it's a pleasure to finally meet you," he said.
"Ah, Prince Lotor," Kelar said as he directed his attention toward them. "I must say that it's a pleasure to have you here. After our last encounter, I thought you would stay away from my forces."
Lotor scowled a bit, but then met the gaze of Kelar as he stood once again. "On the contrary, my lord, it only made me think of how weak my father's forces really are," he said. "I thank you for point out that we were no match for your weapons at that time. However, I believe that we are now ready to show you that our Robeast monsters can best any of your weapons."
Kelar smiled. "We will have to put your claims to a test," Kelar said. "And a test it shall be. Lotor, Im sure you already know the Voltron Force."
The two groups faced each other, and Allura slowly nodded to him.
"My lord, we have had some run ins with Prince Lotor before," she said. "We know of the power his weapons do posses, and they have, once in a great while, put us in a delicate situation. Strong as they are, we were able to defeat whatever he has thrown at us."
Kelar smiled. "Well, I want to see how both your weapons fare, Princess," he said. "Until the contest tomorrow, I want you all to keep it out of your mind. This will be neutral territory between you two."
"We will honor the truce," Allura stated. "So, the contest shall be hosted tomorrow?"
"Why yes," Kelar said. "I want it as soon as possible. Im sure that you wish to be on your way when you have.proven your weapons capabilities."
"We hope to offer everything and anything we can," Allura stated.
"As do we," Lotor added. "Nothing but the best."
"Alysson, would you be so kind as to show our guests in?" Kelar asked. "They will be quartered into the West Wing."
"Yes, my lord," Alysson stated. "If you will all follow me."
"Thank you, my lady," Allura sated.
Kelar smiled as he watched them enter the Castle.
*Your guests are quite young, my lord*
"Youth can blind them, Xue," Kelar stated as he then turned to the dark figure. "What have you found?"
*The Princess is indeed alive and living here on Vallis, my lord,*
"Alive?" Kelar asked. "How?"
*It seems your assassin killed the wrong person all those years ago,*
Kelar slowly nodded. "And do you have any idea as to who it is?"
*There are forces at work here that I cannot penetrate, my lord. And those I have questioned have not seen her.*
"Then how do they know if she is alive or not?"
*She had a child, my lord.*
"What?!" Kelar asked. "What do you mean?"
*An unusual trait was found on that terran world she had escaped to. It seems that she was able to mother a child, before her disappearance.*
"And is this child alive?"
*I have not found any information to believe that it is, my lord. Last recorded instance was the child being adopted by a family on Earth.*
"All things considered," Kelar stated as he thought to himself. "Xue, find as much as you can on this child. If Lyana wont come forward, we will use her child against her."
*As you wish my lord.*
As Kelar turned around, Xue had disappeared. He then turned back to the Castle.
"Lyana.."
Planet Vallis
Alysson stood on the veranda as she watched the five ships in the distance start their approach. She then turned to as she saw another ship, a recognizable warship, approach from another direction.
"Looks as if our guests are arriving."
Alysson turned meeting Kellar's gaze as he came to stand with her. "This shall be a very interesting visit."
"If this Voltron Force are successful, do you think that they'd be willing to give up their weapon?"
Kelar smiled as he walked away. "When money is involved, my lady, anything is possible," he said. "And if what Anala says is true, we will be in for a very entertaining fight."
He walked over to a small bar and poured two glasses of wine. He walked back over to her and handed her one of the glasses.
"Were you able to find anything else on this Voltron Force?"
Alysson smiled. "You'd be interested to know that Prince Lotor is their....mortal enemy."
His brow raised at the sudden news. "Hmm, this will be very interesting indeed," he said as he took a sip from his glass. "Maybe with this fight, I will give everyone some extra rations for the week. I'm sure that will put some spirit back into their work."
Alysson nodded as she down her glass and walked away from the Veranda. She placed the glass down on a nearby table.
"I must ready for the welcome," she stated. "And see that quarters are ready."
Kelar smiled as he quickly intercepted her. "Don't bother, my dear," he said. "I've had Vera ready everything for our guests. Just relax. I haven't seen you take a time to give yourself a break."
"My work is never done, Kelar," she said as she met his gaze. "Readying the guests quarters are just one of many tasks that needs to be done."
He quickly shook his head, placing his glass down next to hers, then offered his arm to her. "As I said, Vera is looking over everything," he said. "Come, we have guests to greet, and I want you to be there with me."
"I've never welcomed any of your guests, Kelar," she said.
"We are going to do things a bit differently this time," he said. "Come, they should be landing soon."
She stared at him and breathed in deeply as she took his offered arm. "If you promise me to let me get to my work when this is all done."
"I promise," he said.
With that he escorted her out of the room.
Anala gave some last minute instructions to the Voltron Force once they gathered together.
"Kelar will be there to greet us," she said. "Princess, since you are the leader of your planet, you must greet him. Everyone else will be considered to be under you."
"Understandable," Allura said. She then turned to Keith. "Ready?"
Slipping on the faux glasses, he slowly nodded and joined Anala. He then noticed a dark ship in the distance.
"It looks like that we are not the only one Kelar is expecting today," he commented. He then turned to Allura. "What did you offer Lotor to get him to come all the way here?"
"A chance to get even with him for stealing his father's gold," Allura said with a smile.
Keith shook his head. "Whatever it is you have agreed with him, Al..."
"I know, I know," she said. "You wont have to tell me, 'I told you so'."
Keith nodded. "Well, we should head on over," he said. "We shouldn't let our lord and master wait."
With a nod, the Voltron Force started their trek toward the Castle.
Alysson breathed in deeply as she watched the two parties come their way. On the left, approached 6 youths, dressed in strange uniforms, that stood out against the vast greenery behind them. Red, blue, yellow, green and pink; then her daughter, Anala. From the right, came a party of 3; she did not know who they are, but the young man who led them must have been this Prince Lotor. She turned to Kelar as he smiled, seeing that his guests were nearing.
As the Voltron Force approached them, she could see Anala stare at her and silently signaled to her to remain quiet. Even Anala thought it strange to for her to be here, as it was not customary for Alysson to greet any of Kelar's guests.
The young woman in pink came forward, slowly removing her helmet that she wore, smiling as they came to stand before them.
"My lord, it is a pleasure to be here on Vallis," Allura greeted as she bowed before him. "I was elated to hear that you accepted our offer to show you our most powerful weapon."
Kelar nodded as she came to stand before him.
"I was surprised even more that such a weapon could be developed, Princess Allura," he said. "And even more that your people are led by a woman who is just as powerful."
Allura smiled. "Again, I thank you for your gratitude, my lord," she said. "If I may, I want you to meet the member of my crew. They pilot my planet's most beloved creation and have trained under me for the last year."
She then turned to Lance, meeting his gaze. He nodded and they all slowly removed their helmets.
"My lord, this is Lance of Planet Neve," she introduced. "Pilot of the Red Lion, which is fueled by the hot core of Planet Arus itself.
Lance nodded then turned to Hunk.
"And this is Harry of Planet Terra, as we call him Hunk," she said. "He pilots the Yellow Lion, fueled by the earth.
"The young one is Pidge who has lost his home to and has been adopted by the people of my planet," Allura explained. "He pilots the Green Lion, powered by the life force around us."
She then stared at Anala, who then turned to Keith.
"And I wish you to meet my most bravest of soldiers," Allura said as she turned to Kelar. "This is Captain Keith, pilot of the Black Lion, the most powerful of all the lions that form Voltron."
Kelar smiled as he met their gazes then came to face the young captain, pinning him with his own.
"Keith was it?" he asked. "And what planet are you from?"
"None, sire," he said.
"None?"
"A long and bitter history, my lord," Allura interjected. "We don't even know where our Captain has originated. But his service to us has been excellent in all aspects."
Kelar nodded then smiled as he turned to Alysson. He noticed that she was staring at the group, but slowly shook her out of her gaze.
"A pleasure to meet all of you," he started to say. "I want you to meet my Court Advisor of sorts. This is Lady Alysson. She oversees all that happens in the Castle, so I thought it best to introduce you all to her before she gets back into her rhetoric and you won't see her during your time here."
Alysson turned to Kelar, and with a smile she stepped forward and curtsied before them.
"A pleasure to meet all of you," she said. She then stood and greeted Princess Allura. "I hope that my daughter was not a burden on you. She does have the odd habit of making people feel guilty for not helping her or taking her in."
"Lady Anala was an excellent guest, my lady," Allura stated. "After hearing of her stories of her home, we could not wait to come here."
"She also has the tendency to exaggerate as well," she said. She met her daughter's gaze and motioned for her to come to her. "I'm sure that she has told you much, and I hope that your stay here will be worthwhile. I know that the travel between here an Arus, is a long one."
"Not at all, my lady," Allura said. "And since your daughter has told us much, we thought that we would bring you a gift."
"Gift?"
Allura turned to Keith who was holding a small satchel. He slowly stepped forward.
"Anala has told us the love you have of exotic flowers," Allura said. "We have brought you a rare flower from my home planet, that we thought you might find interesting, to add to your own collection."
Alysson met the young man's gaze as he came forward, opening the satchel to pull out a small vase, that held a cutting from a small plant.
"All Arus, we call it Melryl," Keith said as he handed it to her. "It is the flower that symbolizes a strong family."
Alysson slowly nodded. "In this day and age, a strong and loving one is all one needs to survive," she said. She then smiled, turning to Kelar. "If it pleases you my lord, your other guests have arrived."
Kelar turned as Prince Lotor led his entourage and came to stand before them. The young Doom prince then knelt to one knee as he bowed before Kelar.
"My lord, it's a pleasure to finally meet you," he said.
"Ah, Prince Lotor," Kelar said as he directed his attention toward them. "I must say that it's a pleasure to have you here. After our last encounter, I thought you would stay away from my forces."
Lotor scowled a bit, but then met the gaze of Kelar as he stood once again. "On the contrary, my lord, it only made me think of how weak my father's forces really are," he said. "I thank you for point out that we were no match for your weapons at that time. However, I believe that we are now ready to show you that our Robeast monsters can best any of your weapons."
Kelar smiled. "We will have to put your claims to a test," Kelar said. "And a test it shall be. Lotor, Im sure you already know the Voltron Force."
The two groups faced each other, and Allura slowly nodded to him.
"My lord, we have had some run ins with Prince Lotor before," she said. "We know of the power his weapons do posses, and they have, once in a great while, put us in a delicate situation. Strong as they are, we were able to defeat whatever he has thrown at us."
Kelar smiled. "Well, I want to see how both your weapons fare, Princess," he said. "Until the contest tomorrow, I want you all to keep it out of your mind. This will be neutral territory between you two."
"We will honor the truce," Allura stated. "So, the contest shall be hosted tomorrow?"
"Why yes," Kelar said. "I want it as soon as possible. Im sure that you wish to be on your way when you have.proven your weapons capabilities."
"We hope to offer everything and anything we can," Allura stated.
"As do we," Lotor added. "Nothing but the best."
"Alysson, would you be so kind as to show our guests in?" Kelar asked. "They will be quartered into the West Wing."
"Yes, my lord," Alysson stated. "If you will all follow me."
"Thank you, my lady," Allura sated.
Kelar smiled as he watched them enter the Castle.
*Your guests are quite young, my lord*
"Youth can blind them, Xue," Kelar stated as he then turned to the dark figure. "What have you found?"
*The Princess is indeed alive and living here on Vallis, my lord,*
"Alive?" Kelar asked. "How?"
*It seems your assassin killed the wrong person all those years ago,*
Kelar slowly nodded. "And do you have any idea as to who it is?"
*There are forces at work here that I cannot penetrate, my lord. And those I have questioned have not seen her.*
"Then how do they know if she is alive or not?"
*She had a child, my lord.*
"What?!" Kelar asked. "What do you mean?"
*An unusual trait was found on that terran world she had escaped to. It seems that she was able to mother a child, before her disappearance.*
"And is this child alive?"
*I have not found any information to believe that it is, my lord. Last recorded instance was the child being adopted by a family on Earth.*
"All things considered," Kelar stated as he thought to himself. "Xue, find as much as you can on this child. If Lyana wont come forward, we will use her child against her."
*As you wish my lord.*
As Kelar turned around, Xue had disappeared. He then turned back to the Castle.
"Lyana.."