"Princess…"

Allura flinched at the sound of Lotor's voice. But then her shoulders relaxed, and she turned to face him for a moment, then turned away.

He came to stand beside her in silence. Allura was now in a special room reserved for paladins' armor and weapons. She stared at the red bayard. Her father had created it long ago, and now, with the perpetual war in the Universe, she wished the bayard would respond to her call. But this did not happen. Probably because there was no Lion and no paladin. In the hands of King Alfor, the bayard transformed into a blade. It remained useless in Allura's hands.

"What should I do?" she asked quietly, without turning to Lotor. "We need Voltron, the Lions are scattered across the Galaxy, and your father has the black bayard and the Red Lion. I have no home, no planet, no Kingdom, not even an army. I`ve lost my family. And I only have Coran… And you."

"It's not so bad," Lotor responded. "With my knowledge and experience in combat, we can stand up to Zarkon. Besides... I've received good news from my generals. Not everyone`s turned their back on me."

Allura saw Lotor's jaw tighten and his brows furrow. She knew who he was thinking of — Narti. She had chosen to join his father.

"But who will you lead in the attack? We don't have people for the army!"

"Right…" Lotor agreed. "But we'll figure something out. When Coran fixes the Castle, we will be able to go in search of allies. We'll start small. And I still hope for Ezor."

"But while we are alone, how can we resist your father's forces?"

Lotor's brows drew together even closer, and his eyes flashed with anger.

"He's not my father! Don't call him that!"

"All right," Allura said calmly.

There was a pause when each of them thought about something personal.

"So did you find out where the Lions are?"

"Not all of them. I know for sure where the Green, Yellow and Red are. The last one, by the way, is on one of your... I mean, Zarkon's ship. We have the Black one here in the Castle. But it is useless, unless others are found and we have paladins," Allura sighed and covered her face with her hands. "Where can we find them?"

"Why can't we be paladins?" Lotor asked.

"It's hard to explain, but I feel that the Lions are not waiting for us. Lions were designed for certain warriors, they are endowed with their character traits, and now we need somewhere to find paladins similar to the previous ones."

"Well, we can start with the first planet that suffers under Zarkon's power. Perhaps we can find volunteers there, and perhaps some of them will be suitable for the role of paladins," Lotor suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," Allura answered with a faint smile.

"You still haven't told me where the Blue one is," Lotor reminded her.

"Because it's so far away that I can hardly feel it. Very vaguely. It will take a long time to find it. But maybe if we meet the right paladin, the Lion will be found faster."

Allura picked up her father's bayard again. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine the power of the blade, tried to imagine the bayard turning into a sword. The Princess closed her eyes tightly as she pictured this image. But when she looked at the bayard again, it was the same as before. Allura could not suppress a sigh of disappointment.

A hand fell on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Princess, you have my blade. And it is at your service," said Lotor sincerely.

"Yes," she looked into his eyes. It was a fortune that the disgraced Prince had found her and brought her out of the suspended animation her father had placed her in. Now they were both determined to overthrow Zarkon.

"You still haven't heard from Acxa?" Allura asked.

Lotor shook his head.

"I'm afraid she may not come back, and we'll have to figure out what to do next."

"The others?"

"They will arrive soon, and I'm almost certain that we will have an army of our own, even if it is not large enough."

"That's something," Allura sighed, and walked out of the room. Lotor followed her. Suddenly she stopped and seized his arm. "Did you hear that?"

"No," he said in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"This sound… Do you hear?"

Lotor's pointed ears twitched, but he still didn't understand. Suddenly Allura laughed, and the Prince was completely lost and confused.

"It's him!"

"Who?"

"Blue Lion!" Allura looked at Lotor with shining eyes. "Prepare your blade, Prince, we are going to war."