I do not own Voltron or anything even remotely associated with it. Heaven knows if I did, I would still have the toys.

You will have to forgive me. There are LOTS of long paragraphs. If I apologize for the delay one more time, I think I'll shoot myself. :) Blame work, blame my encounter with a stupid blond boy, blame me for being a procrastinator of the best quality. Also, I was a little stuck on what to do...I know where I want to go with this, but it's the getting there that's hard sometimes. This chapter also marks the return of Cael. I realized that he had gotten pushed aside in all the Keith and Allura mess and that we hadn't heard from him in awhile, so he has a part to play again. Poor Cael, always forgotten in the midst of grown-up affairs. :) That said, enjoy.

Routines

The return of the Lions caused only the briefest stir among the lives of Arusians. Some breathed a sigh of relief that Voltron would soon be up and running once more while others simply shook their heads and grumbled over the fuss concerning a wartime weapon in times of peace. Inside the castle, the reaction was much the same. For the mechanics, it was a time of excitement for the Lions hardly ever needed repairs and they relished any sort of work that came their way. From the royal family, there was nothing beyond their official response stating that the Lions would soon be in peak condition and the damages they had sustained were, in short, nothing to worry about. Cael's presence was soon banned from the repair bays, not by either of his parents, but by the mechanics themselves. Undaunted, the young prince took to hovering outside the doors, waiting for someone to either go in or out so he might catch a glimpse of the ships within. Those who exited and returned were usually the members of the Voltron Force. Barely hours into the first repairs on the Green Lion, the mechanics discovered the craft responded better if Pidge was present than when he was not; a state that was found to be true for the other Lions as well. The Red had become particularly picky and refused to function for only a handful of individuals. Much to Lance's chagrin, Keith was still among them. He was not alone, however, in his displeasure that it was the Voltron Captain who first piloted all the Lions to make certain they were in working order. Granted, the flight was only for fifteen minutes and Keith promptly handed each Lion over to its specific pilot once he was through, but it was a sore point among the four men for a few days. Lance stated openly, and was not wrong, that Keith had done it primarily just to prove he still could. For once Keith didn't argue.

Only Allura failed to protest his test of her lion beforehand, her newfound timidity with her teammates something that unnerved all four of them. Privately Keith suspected that the fact of her flying was still not sitting well with her husband and it was affecting everything, especially her relationship with them. Still she faithfully attended patrols and had never been late, something which was an improvement from the past. It was one of the few facts he clung to in order to remind himself that it wasn't the past. Without his awareness of it, things had fallen back into the same pattern they had before. Patrol was at the same time, along with breakfast and dinner. Just as before, the Voltron Force preferred to dine among themselves though Liran had been overly gracious in extending numerous invitations towards them to join the royal family at dinner time. Their polite refusals were beginning to unnerve the Arusian King but he said nothing. The Chancellors also preferred to dine among themselves, though they ate with the royal family on a weekly basis. It was these dinners Keith suspected Liran truly wanted them to attend though he was too much of a diplomat to directly say so. Afer dinner, the Force usually hung out together in the lounge for a time until one by one, they left for their separate projects.

Hunk usually spent the time talking to his wife and kids or composing them letters. With each passing day Keith could tell the strain of being apart from them was beginning to wear on the Force's most cheerful member. Pidge divided his time between going over his questions with those closest to the missing pilots, something which Keith also participated in, and his makeshift laboratory. Two days was all it had taken for Pidge to commandeer one of the unused rooms in the palace for his new laboratory and he was there more often than he was in his quarters. In this case, Liran's disapproval had made itself more felt than heard. He frowned whenever the laboratory was mentioned and never failed to comment that rooms that had been abandoned usually were done so for a purpose. Pidge and the others ignored him. This left Lance. Lance who spent the most time with Keith in the lounge and yet always managed to disappear when his Captain wasn't looking. Where his second-in-command spent his time was not as much of a concern to Keith as to who he was spending it with. He would have wagered his life it was the Chancellor Calinda though he never saw nor heard of anyone else seeing them together. Lance's other favorite occupation was sticking his nose into precisely where it didn't belong, in this case it was in Arusian politics. Though he was slowly beginning to understand the situation on his own, every time Keith tried to question Lance on it, he was brushed aside. Whatever Lance was or wasn't scheming, it was clear he didn't want to involve his friend. Whether or not it was to protect him or to prevent him from stopping it, Keith wasn't certain. As for himself...Keith behaved no differently than he had in the old days, not counting his last few months. He trained, he wrote the logs, he read, he brooded, and he patrolled the palace floors before retiring each evening. After a week, he almost knew it as well as he had before. After two, it was as automatic as it had been. Everything was just as it was. Routine. It worried him.

There was one thing that was beginning to differ from before and he clung to it in a desperate attempt to keep himself grounded even though it was painful to do so. His nightly patrols had become well known throughout the palace; once one of the guards had told him that it gave all of them a certain sense of comfort knowing that he was out there with them, making one last sweep of everything before settling down to sleep. Whether or not this was based on actual belief in his abilities or just another offshoot of his Voltron mystique, Keith didn't bother to determine. Over time, he had become friendly with a few of the guards, none who remained today, and had had his fair share of encounters with the palace's residents. To no one's surprise, the most frequent among them was Allura. It easily became a way for the two of them to be alone without attracting suspicion, even before... Not once had he encountered her during the present though he was certain word of his renewed habit had spread throughout the palace. Once he had even encountered Liran, who had been unable to resist making one of the comments Keith was now identifying exclusively with him, but of Allura there had been no sign. Lance had donned a blonde wig and pretended to be her the moment he head of Keith's renewed practice; the scuffle that had occurred in the corridors as a result of that incident was something known only to the two highest members in Voltron's command and the security cameras. But the Queen herself had not made an appearance and Keith highly doubted that she ever would. Things were not as they were in the old days; Liran had eyes everywhere and the moment they encountered each other in a setting that was not approved, the King would know of it and make his own assumptions. Secretly Keith suspected Liran of simply waiting for the two of them to be caught in some sort of scene together so he could crow in triumph. He would wait a lifetime. It was the boy, Cael, who he encountered this time, almost on a nightly basis now. The first time had caught both of them by surprise, even though he suspected the boy had gone on his nightly wanderings in the hope of bumping into him. Cael's knowledge of him never ceased to surprise. The most puzzling thing about it was its source. He knew Allura hadn't spoken of him and that while there was seemingly an abundance of information concerning him in the Voltron archives, it alone couldn't justify the boy's uncanny knack for figuring out his habits. Despite its initial awkwardness, his encounters with the young prince of Arus had become somewhat pleasant, there was something about the boy that continued to intrigue him. Even if he was Liran's son.

In a way it was fitting that Liran's son should be the thing that kept him grounded. He had only to look at the boy and remember that things were not as they had been, nor as he would like them to be. With every passing day he found himself wishing that Liran would make himself conveniently disappear. Though he encountered the King little, his presence was still felt in everything Keith did and it was becoming more than wearing. That and the fact that they were no closer to solving the mystery of the missing pilots than they had been when they first arrived. The comatose state of the only survivor had remained unchanged as well and Pidge's investigations, though interesting, more than fruitless. Ever a man of action, Keith was rapidly growing tired of sitting around waiting for the forces that were moving against them in secret to come back out into the open. Even if it did give him extra time flying the Black, he was anxious to be on his way and back in the comfortable life he had known at GG, however boring it might have been. The strain of Arus was beginning to be too much for him.

All this he brooded on and more during his latest nightly patrol of the palace. Three weeks on Arus and it was starting to feel like a lifetime. He had received weekly reports of his students from GG, as he had requested, but more and more GG was beginning to feel like another world, something that hadn't even happened to him. The only thing he could clearly recall was Sam's face and even that was beginning to face. Naturally there hadn't been any communication from her directly, just a mention that all of the staff missed him, wished him success, and hoped for his speedy return, especially a certain professor. Thinking of Sam always caused him a pang, but Keith couldn't bring himself to break his own rules and establish any sort of contact with her. From time to time he wondered how she was doing, but it was becoming less and less of an occurrence and for that he hated himself. While he had been brooding at GG, his inner musings had taken on a different theme since coming to Arus–something he should have suspected since he could no longer dwell on the past when he was effectively re-living it–and instead of focusing on what had been, he found himself analyzing his own character. Keith thought he had always been honest with himself but his change in scenery was giving him a different perspective and he realized that there were a great many things about him that were not entirely likeable. He wasn't even certain he liked himself at times, particularly where Sam was concerned, or his attitude at GG for the past ten years. He had lost himself somewhere; part of him had been left on Arus but now that he was here, he still wasn't complete. And though she was a part of it, Allura wasn't the only answer. There was still something infinitely wrong with him, something that he had to determine for himself. Perhaps that was why he had come back...perhaps that was why he was still here, cooling his heels, simply waiting...

Keith rounded a corner and recognized with the utmost relief the small figure of Cael against one of the few areas of the palace that had windows. Though kept partially shielded during the night, they were open enough to emit several streams of silver moonlight, one of which was falling across the pajama-clad boy as he dozed fitfully. Pausing, Keith simply looked at the young prince for a moment, a strange part of him pleased by the utter youthfulness of his features. Too often Cael wore the serious expression of an adult and it was only now, while he dozed, that a sort of peacefulness was able to invade his young face. Keith was able to see more of Allura in his features now, there was something about the shape of his nose and the way he was able to tilt his chin. They would come to him only in the briefest flashes, such as now, when Cael's guard was down and the innocence that flooded his features was very like the one that had once filled Allura's. His hair was even more unruly than usual, given its position against the window, and still that strange mixture of his parents. His pajamas were of a special make, available in the gift shop of the Voltron Museum and were white, with the five heads of the lions scattered about them. The Black, naturally was on the front pocket, but that was the only special attention given. Cael had informed him that there were six different varieties of the pajamas available for sale, one with each lion on the pocket and the sixth had the fully formed version of the robot. Given the circumstances, it was understandable that Cael was proud of the pajamas; they had been his idea and were one of the shop's top sellers. Keith had it on the highest authority that there were few little boys in Arus who didn't sleep in them. The Prince had obviously expected to wait awhile for him as he had also brought along a blanket, thankfully not emblazoned with anything Voltron, just the crest of the royal house of Arus on one corner. He was barefoot, as always, and the blanket was only haphazardly wrapped around him, almost as if it had been an afterthought. Still studying him with a faint smile, Keith wondered briefly at the faintest stirrings of tenderness within him as he looked down at Allura and Liran's son and then moved quietly over to join him. Gently lowering himself to the floor beside the young prince, Keith suppressed the impulse to rearrange his blanket and said softly,

"Good evening, Prince Cael."

The boy beside him stirred, his half-open mouth closing rapidly as he shifted his position and opened blurry eyes to survey his new companion. All at once the peacefulness faded from his tiny face and dismay flooded it as he beheld Keith.

"You weren't supposed to catch me napping," he said quickly, jerking back against the glass and nearly hitting the nearby pillar.

"I'm truly sorry, Prince, I must have been late in my patrol," Keith replied, unable to keep his amusement from showing as Cael tried to regain some sense of dignity. Rearranging his blanket so it covered his pajamas, Cael unconsciously ran a hand through his hair(and succeeded only in making it look all the more unruly)and said,

"You weren't late, I was early. I didn't meant to fall asleep though."

"It is well past your bedtime."

"You are not my father, Captain, don't pretend to be."

"I wasn't, I assure you, Prince. I was only stating a fact. Was there a reason you were early?"

"No. Not really."

Cael looked away and Keith knew he should not inquire further, but the sinking feeling in his stomach wouldn't be ignored and he asked even more softly,

"Your parents?"

"Father came to help put me to bed. He doesn't usually. Mother said so and he...they soon forgot about me. They always forget about me when that happens. He went with her...he doesn't usually do that either. I'm used to it...they've always been like this but...it's been worse since you came." Cael rubbed at his eyes and blinked several times, staring off into the darkness. Surprised, Keith said nothing even though his stomach was currently experiencing several unpleasant sensations. He didn't want to imagine what could possibly be occurring in the royal chambers nor did he want to think why Cael had mentioned it to him more as a fact than an accusation. He would have thought the boy would be prejudiced against anything that cased trouble between his parents. Most children would.

"I am sorry if I am the cause of..."

"It's not you. It has something to do with all of you but they'd still...even if you weren't here. I don't think Father expected you to be here this long."

"In that he and I agree. There's a piece of all this that's missing and I can't figure out what it could be."

"Me neither," Cael replied simply, drawing his knees up to his chest and lacing his arms around him. It took all of Keith's control not to laugh. Instead he satisfied himself with shooting the oblivious Prince an amused look and copied the boy's pose. For several moments the two of them simply sat there in silence, each stealing a look at the other when they weren't looking. Leaning back against the window, Keith let out a long sigh and said,

"All parents fight, Prince. I'm sure mine did, though I don't remember them. You are lucky, in a way, to have that concern. I don't think you need worry too hard over them, however."

"I don't like my father, Captain," Cael said after a moment. Keith started and turned to look at him. The boy was staring straight ahead, his hands now resting across his knees and clenched into two tiny fists. Squeezing his eyes shut, Cael continued,

"I don't like anything about my father. Sometimes I wish that he wasn't my father, that anyone else, even Coran, was instead. He doesn't like me either. He tries to hide it, but I can tell. I wish they would fight so badly that he'd have to go away, or that Mother would have to take me with her somewhere, even if only for awhile. I've never been anywhere but here since he doesn't like traveling anywhere and he won't let us go ourselves. I haven't even seen Valian and I'd be a Prince there, too, if I went. My father keeps me from doing everything I want to do."

"If His Majesty is unable to see what a fine boy he has for a son, that is his problem and not something you have done or will do. I suspect he imagined you would be just like him and the fact that you are not bothers him."

"I'm nothing like him," Cael said passionately, his eyes flying open. Tilting his head to one side, Keith studied the impassioned prince for several moments before saying carefully,

"I'm not certain I agree with that." Cael's mouth dropped open and he fixed Keith with such an expression of betrayal that the Voltron Captain nearly regretted his words.

"There is much about the two of you that is opposite, I won't argue with that, but there is something of Liran in you. You have his smile...not so much in the way it looks, but in how you use it. You have his understanding of people as well. You don't use it the same way, not yet, but I've seen the two of you in social situations enough to see the same reactions on your faces. There is something of him in you, Prince, whether you like it or not. He is your father."

"You didn't say that he's my father and he loves me no matter what he says or does."

"Excuse me?"

"Everyone always says that to me. 'Remember, Cael, your father loves you, even if he doesn't show it well.' Nanny says it the most, Mother has too. Why didn't you?"

Cael's gaze was suddenly earnest and Keith had difficulty meeting it. He couldn't say what he really thought: that Liran loved only himself and that took so much out of him it didn't leave much room for anyone else, but he could think of nothing else to tell the boy.

"Prince, I don't know your father well enough to judge his feelings. All fathers love their sons, however, even the ones that disappoint them through no fault of their own. Would it have helped for me to remind you of it?"

"No. I still don't like him and he still doesn't like me. You're just being different from everyone else again. Aren't you going to tell me that I should like my father?"

"Why are we having this conversation if you've already decided what I should say?"

Cael shrugged his tiny shoulders and shifted slightly under his blanket.

"I don't know. This isn't like any conversation I've ever had about my father and me before. Even Lance said the usual thing. You haven't. It's different."

"Lance told you to like your father no matter what?" Keith asked, his brows seriously threatening to merge with his hair.

"Not exactly. He just said there was no changing it and I was stuck with him so I'd better get used to it. Why?"

"Hypocrite thy name is Lance. Ask him about his father sometime and see what he tells you."

"I have. He says he was a great pilot and was always bringing home interesting things from his adventures. Galaxy Garrison has a whole textbook devoted to him." Keith nearly choked on his own tongue. For several moments he found it terribly hard to breathe and the young Prince of Arus looked at him with increasing concern.

"That's what he told you?" Keith finally managed to gasp out, grasping the sides of his own uniform for support. Still looking concerned(and appearing frighteningly like Allura), Cael nodded and replied,

"He didn't say much. Lance doesn't like to talk about himself, you know."

"I know, but...Lance, you've certainly outdone yourself this time. Tell me, Prince, was it your plan to read this textbook devoted to Lance's father once you were at GG?"

"I sent in a request for it, but it always says that it's checked out. Mother says she's never heard of such a thing and Lance insists he doesn't own a copy. I don't know why he wouldn't, considering he has to be mentioned in it. He likes that sort of thing about himself, even if he won't talk about it."

Shaking his head, Keith promised himself that he would talk to Lance in the morning about saying whatever popped into his head in Cael's presence. The surprise that awaited the boy when he found out what Lance's father had really been like...he didn't want to be there for it. Lance was not someone to talk to about a father/son relationship which was probably why he had given Cael the story he had in order to stop further questions. Keith understood Lance's reasoning; he would have been leery of telling the truth himself if he had had a father like Lance had. Cael was still studying him curiously, almost as if he were some specimen that Pidge had run through a test and was now behaving in an unpredictable manner and Keith threw him a reassuring smile.

"Never mind the textbook, Cael, I don't think you'll ever get to read it. Lance's father certainly was an interesting pilot, though, I will say that for him."

"Have you met him?"

"Once."

"I thought he was dead."

"He is...now."

"How did he die?"

"I don't know the details."

"You do, you just won't tell me." Sulkily folding his arms, Cael stretched out his legs and continued, "I don't know why everyone always refuses to tell me things. I'm not a baby. I understand what's going on."

"Prince, I know that you are not a baby and that you are capable of understanding things that most nine year olds wouldn't even know what to do with, but that doesn't mean I'm going to tell you every last little detail of my life or of Lance's. What happened with his father is his business, not yours or mine, and if he wants people to know, he'll tell them. Ask him when you're older."

"Now you sound just like everybody else."

"I thought I was supposed to."

"I don't want you to."

The pair fell silent again, Cael because he was too busy sulking and Keith because he wasn't certain what to say. His relationship with the young prince was an enigma to him. He knew Cael enjoyed his company otherwise the boy wouldn't constantly seek him out night after night, or appear after his training sessions with the Black to quiz him on how the flight went and what he thought of the others progress. But the boy seemed to always have an idea of how he was going to respond and when it didn't match, he became agitated. Logically Keith supposed it was all the years Cael had worshiped him as Voltron's captain, but he had thought the boy was past that after their first few meetings. As for himself, he wasn't sure what he wanted from Cael either. Part of him wanted to be the young prince's friend, just as Cael desired him to be, while the other wanted to remain aloof to spare both of them the pain of their inevitable separation. After all, the boy was the living embodiment of something he pretended did not occur, something that could at this very moment be occurring in the royal apartments as the best way to atone for a quarrel, however frequent the quarrels might be. That was yet another painful thought and he scolded himself both for having it and feeling the pain it brought. What went on behind the closed doors of the royal apartments was no concern of his and he certainly shouldn't see Cael as the representation of it. Not anymore at least. It was only at times like this, when he was at his wits end at how to handle the boy that he was reminded of how Cael's existence had come to be and how it was the perfect excuse to abandon any sort of a relationship with him. It was these kind of thoughts that he didn't like about himself though he didn't know how to stop them.

"Will things really be better when I'm older?" Cael asked suddenly, wiggling his toes in a regular pattern and finding it completely fascinating. Briefly fascinated himself, Keith smiled wryly and replied,

"No. When you're older, you'll be wishing you were younger. It's funny how it works, but that's how it usually turns out."

"Do you want to be nine?"

"No. But I don't want to be thirty-five either," Keith answered honestly, placing his hands behind his head and leaning back against them.

"How old do I have to be before people will tell me things?"

"That I don't know. It'll depend more on you. There is no specific age where it's okay to know things that people didn't used to tell you. Don't you want to enjoy being a boy? You only get to be one once, you know. You'll have many years to be a man."

"I hate not being able to know things. If I was a man..."

"There would still be things that your mother would keep from you, or that Coran would deem it better that you not be privy to, or that I and the other force members would prefer to keep private. No one knows everything about someone else, Prince. You can only know that about yourself."

"But I want to know," Cael said simply, for once seeming like a nine year old boy and Keith couldn't help but smile. Turning to face the young prince, he waited until the boy was meeting his gaze unfalteringly before he said,

"Wanting to know is all well and good, Prince, but simply wanting to know isn't the same as having the right to know. Knowing things, at least where other people are concerned, is usually a matter of trust and that trust can only be earned by you. For instance, I know that I have earned some of your trust because three weeks ago, you wouldn't have told me that you didn't like your father. You should also know that you've earned mine, because I have started to answer some of your questions about the past. Maybe not all, but some, and that, Prince, is something for you to work on."

"What if I were one of your students and I asked a question..."

"Your ability to find loop-holes in what I say is astonishingly like your father's," Keith put

it, effectively silencing the boy. Face screwing up into several different expressions, Cael fiddled with the edge of his blanket and said finally,

"All right, Captain. I think I see your point. You're offering me a fair exchange. Information about me for information about you."

"No, that's not it at all. Prince, I'm offering you a friendship. The information comes along with it, but that's what I'm offering."

"Can a grown-up be friends with a boy?"

"Does the boy want to be friends with a grown-up? I think that's the more important thing."

Cael simply stared at him, his eyes growing wider by the moment and increasing the resemblance to Allura that Keith found so unnerving. Sometimes she seemed to look out at him from his eyes and this, unfortunately, was one of them. Why did the two of them always have to have such an effect on him? He had thought it exclusive to Allura but Cael had the same power over him, even though he was trying wildly to hide it. He was succeeding, at least with the boy, but Lance and the others knew just as he did that were the Prince to ask something of him that he could grant, he would be hard put to refuse him.

"Captain, I..."

Cael was cut off by the sound of footsteps sliding against the polished castle floors and instinctively Keith moved in front of the young prince. He was too occupied in scanning their surroundings to see the look of wonder on the boy's face as he looked at the broad back now shielding him from whatever was in store for them. Nor did he witness the wonder's transformation into something else, something that the young prince of Arus had only felt towards his mother and never the man who was his father. The footsteps grew louder and the figure of one of the palace guards skidded into view. Instantly Keith relaxed though he maintained his protective position in front of Cael. Gasping for breath, the young guard caught sight of the Voltron Captain and tried to come to a stop. He nearly collided into Keith in the process. As he regained his breath, Cael peeked out from behind Keith's back to snicker softly. Keith promptly put him behind him again, one hand holding the prince in place as the guard straightened and saluted promptly.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your patrol, Sir, but you were last seen this way and since you were still awake..."

"What is it?"

"It's the Bl...pilot, Sir, Frank. He's awake."

"What!"

"You must come quickly, Sir. They don't know how long he'll stay awake for and he's asking to speak to someone. Their Majesties have also been sent for but it'll take them some time and..."

"I'm coming. Prince?" Only then did Keith reveal that he was not alone and the guard gasped, a look of true horror overcoming his features as he recognized his future ruler crouched behind the Voltron Captain. Ignoring the young man briefly, Keith put his hands on Cael's shoulders and searched the boy's features for several moments.

"I can't let you come with me and I can't trust you to go back to you room if I say so. This man is going to make sure that you do so. I am trusting you to stay in your room once you're there. If I find out that you've violated that trust, you won't find it pleasant. Can I trust you to do this for me?"

"I'll stay in my room, Captain, I promise."

"Good."

Keith smiled down at him and took off at a run towards the infirmary. He didn't look back once over his shoulder to see if either Cael or the young guard obeyed his command. He was placing that much trust in the boy, something that he wouldn't have done even with his teammates in the early stages of their relationship. He only hoped that some part of Cael valued it. Irritatingly he suspected he would have to speak up on behalf of the guard; Liran would be most displeased his son had been present for this discovery and it was going to take more than a few words to convince him not to take it out on the unfortunate young man. It was all irrelevant in light of the fact of Frank's being awake. What the only survivor of the Lion attacks would have to say, if he could say anything at all, was the missing piece Keith was after. Or so he thought.