So in shock were the Space Explorers that when the door to the room burst open and the prince ran out, looking considerably wild about the eyes, they couldn't do a thing. He sprinted down the corridor, pushing blindly past the other boys, and was gone before they could do anything but stare.
They looked at each other silently, and as one ran after the vanished prince. Pidge stopped long enough to stow the speaker and the small black disc, hiding all traces of his electronic eavesdropping. And then he, too, began to chase Saber.
***
It was neither they, nor the search parties Koran sent out, who found the missing prince. Allura herself found him. The 'meeting' in the small room had ended fifteen or so minutes after Saber bolted – which was exactly one second after he heard the words 'arranged marriage'. The king and queen of Prydain couldn't stop apologizing to Koran – although really, the old man seemed to regard their decision not to tell Saber as wise, considering that the prince really might have escaped to his…Cavalry Command….or whatever his army was called.
Maybe he should have put off telling Allura, too.
In any case, Allura (who had been a bit put out by the fact that the older ones were discussing her upcoming marriage as if she wasn't there) had exited the room, and then, lost in thought, wandered around the castle. Once or twice, she thought she heard the boys calling to each other, but never actually saw them.
And then she found him.
***
"So that's why you were so tense. I thought that surely a mere visit couldn't make you that scared."
"So that's why you were so relaxed. I was surprised, you know – you were treating it like a sort of…lark."
"If I had known, I assure you, I would have not been so nonchalant." Saber shuddered. "Marriage – ugh." He cast a quick glance over at Allura. "Er…no offense meant, Your Highness. It's just that, um, well…"
"You don't want to get married yet? Not ready for commitment? Still need freedom?"
"…"
"I could say something like 'typical commitment-shy male' or something like that, except – " Allura grinned, a little sheepishly, a little conspiratorially. "I agree."
They leaned against the railing of the balcony they were on, companionably silent. Amazing what a shared cause – such as keeping your guardians from marrying you off – could do to unite people.
"Is that why everyone was glaring at me earlier?"
"Who's 'everyone'?" Allura asked, sincerely puzzled.
"Your guards. Earlier today, the ones who escorted us all in?"
"Oh, them!" Allura said. "They aren't, well, exactly guards. They're a team of pilots sent by Galaxy Garrison. Space Explorers is what they call themselves. They're the ones who pilot the other Lions."
Saber nodded. "I see. They're your team, then."
Allura looked sidewise at him. "What, no cracks about how come real Arusians aren't the ones piloting the Voltron Lions instead of offworlders?" She got that argument a lot.
Saber shrugged. "If you've managed to keep Zarkon from taking over your planet for so long, then you must be really – what's the term – clicking together. If your team works well together, what does it matter where they come from?"
Allura grinned. "You have no idea how many times I've tried to tell people that."
***
It had been a very stilted dinner that night. Koran and the Prydaini rulers got along like a house on fire, speaking quietly at one end of the table. No doubt planning more ways to force their will on himself and Allura, Saber thought bitterly, using his fork to stab his salad with a little more force than was strictly necessary. He was seated at the other end of the table, right next to Allura – too far away to hear them.
The Space Explorers, who had been introduced to the Prydaini royals according to their real status, sat at the table as well – and though they were perfectly polite to the Riders, the way that they kept flicking venomous glares at Saber made the young man slightly nervous.
And despite his newfound friendship with the Princess, he couldn't exactly talk to her at the table. He wanted to dissuade his parents, not encourage them. Further, he had the feeling that Allura's team – protective little bunch, weren't they? – would have taken the Saber-hating up to another level if he had dared to speak a single word to Allura. Oh boy.
***
Saber stood in front of his parents, glaring at them with coldly furious green eyes. The Riders had been put into a most spacious suite in the guest wing, a magnificent set of rooms with Persian carpets from Old Earth, Arusian carved darkwood furniture, and other various beautiful things from all over the galaxy. Arus knew how to entertain visiting royalty in style. Best of all, since there was no one else in the guest wing, Saber could yell all he wanted.
But yelling had never been his way. Instead, it was a curious thing about Saber that the angrier he got, the more still and quiet he became, drawing more and more into himself, intensifying himself.
Oh yes, Lan knew the signs. And Saber was now very angry indeed, judging by the way his son stood before him like a statue of ice, fists clenching and unclenching by his sides but not moving aside from that. He raised his eyes – green, like his son's – to meet that furious gaze. Why was it that other peoples' rages got compared to fires, while Saber's was more than anything like ice?
"Marriage, father?"
"A prince has duties to his kingdom," Lan answered coolly, his tone easily as frigid as Saber's. "And though you ignore them often enough to go gallivanting around the New Frontier – " Saber's fists tightened, " – this chance for formal alliance will not be ignored, Saber."
"Aren't Arus and the UK allies already?"
"We are, but not as close as we could be – and the only thing that could give us the desired degree of alliance is joint rulership – which, in turn, can only be achieved by bonds of marriage." He shrugged. "Royalty can ill-afford to throw away the advantages they gain by marrying. It is likely one of the most important things you can do for your kingdom, if it is done correctly. That is why we have been planning this ever since you were in your mother's womb."
Saber's eyes narrowed.
"Your mother and I were betrothed, just as you were, Saber," Lan continued. "And surely you know that we are very much in love, and have been for the whole of the marriage."
Saber, who knew the story – it was one of the UK's most beloved tales – retorted, "However, you neglect to mention that your marriage was arranged with your input and you'd been best friends before that – for nearly all your lives. That's not exactly the case here."
Jalanda stepped inside the room then, and spoke for the first time. "Saber, bachgen, please try to understand. We are Riders – our lives are always lived for Prydain. And we hoped you'd understand that, and…"
"I love the Highlands just as much as you do, mother, father – but though I will gladly fight and die for its freedom, I will not marry a stranger just for a political advantage!"
"You're not strangers. You said I and your father were best friends since birth? Well, bach, guess what? So were you."
"…what?!"
"We took you to Allura's christening ceremony – you yourself were only around seven months old – and we held you over her crib, and you cooed and reached down and took her finger."
Jalanda smiled for a moment at the memory of it, and how she and Allura's mother, Kitania, had smiled and ooh'd and ahh'd over the cuteness of it. Lan and Alfor, men that they were, took it as a sign that the marriage they'd arranged was a stroke of genius.
"We visited Arus fairly often in those days – and the Arusian royals visited us as well. Lan and Alfor were good friends, you know. And Kitania was my first girlfriend – we met at school. I was the one who introduced Alfor to her. And, Saber, you and Allura were best friends. We've always had a bond to the Arusian ruling house."
Saber shook his head, disbelieving. "I…I don't remember this…I don't…"
Jalanda held up a small holocube. She pressed her finger against a small red button on the side. In the air above the cube an image appeared, of two small blond-haired children standing in the forecourt of Prydain's royal palace. It was a spring day, Polaris's pale sunlight adding a platinum gleam to both fair heads, and the little boy, grinning lopsidedly, held a battered looking teddy bear out of the reach of the girl, who was jumping for it.
"You called her Ally…."
And just like that, Saber remembered.
*bach: Welsh term of affection