Thank you to all for following and reviewing! To one of the guest reviewers- you are on the right track as to what my intent was...great minds? The following may offer some clarification... Thank you all! xoxoxoxo
Explanations of names and Houses of Arus
When initially wrote this story back in the 90s, it had a completely different set up. There was no ring; instead, there was a sword that determined the heir the the Arusian throne, a sword that had rejected Allura and that General Graham had for safe keeping until the 'chosen one' would seek him out one day and ask for it. Based on the fact that I discovered another KA fanfiction story involving a sword, I decided to go a different route; however, I chose to hold on to the 5 houses of Arus as well as the Daughters. For the Houses, I wanted to use phonetic versions that were true to actual greek words (it is my mother land after all ;-) ); however, I did not use the traditional terms for the elements. I used a mixture of modern greek, formal greek, and some mythology. If you really look at some of my other stories, you may notice that I have actually used actual cities/areas in Greece for some of the Arusian locations, bodies of water, mountain ranges, and so forth. Moving on...
The House of Psychon comes from the Greek word psichi which means 'soul' so it is literally the House of Souls. This is the ruling house of Arus also refereed to as the House of Arus or Lion Kingdom. Next is the House of Ydra ( Y pronounced as long e, the 'd' pronounced like the 'th' in 'the') Ydra, in some cases, is the prefix used to reference liquid/water. Similarly, Aera refers to wind so the 3rd is the House of Aera. the 4th is the House of Fysi (feesee) loosely translated as the House of Nature, and finally 5th, the House of Iphestius (an Ifestio is a volcano).
Similarly, the names of the 3 remaining daughters have meanings that reference their element (unlike Allura and Romelle). Mimika, full name Demetra, of the House of Aera has the nickname of Mika as well. her name symbolizes harvest. Dasia, also called Sia, of the House of Fysi- her name is derived from Dasos which means forest. And last but not least, Shalhevet, nicknames associated are Eti or Shali, of the House of Iphestius. Her name is actually based in Hebrew and refers to flame. Just thought it would be fun to explain how I came up with some of this stuff :-)
This is a short one...
Disclaimer: I do not own or profit from Voltron/Go Lion. All OCs belong to me...
The Resistance: Book III
Chapter 11
The Castle of Lions rec room was considered to be the Voltron Force's home away from home: It was where they enjoyed going to relax and unwind. At the moment, this was not the case. Once Coran, Keith, Lance, and the three Arusian nobles settled in, Nanny appeared with water, coffee, and trays of finger sandwiches after having realized that none of them had a chance to touch the lunch she had prepared. Of course, the governess paid special attention to the commander, making sure to pour him a nice hot cup of black coffee- just the way he liked it. Keith accepted the hot cup of heaven and smiled his thanks to the old woman. With a dreamy sigh, Allura's care-taker nodded and excused herself, elated that the princess had found such a fine young man. Lance took notice and blew a puff of air that fluttered his hair out of his eyes. He then turned his attention to the agitated red-head.
"So, you always such a bitch?"
Coran choked on his coffee.
"McClain!" Keith reprimanded
Mimika and Dasia looked at each other, stifling giggles while Shalhevet snapped back. "Depends…are you always such a pompous jack ass?"
The Red lion pilot sat back in the armchair and crossed his arms in front of him "Wow…did you think long and hard about that one?"
"Enough! Lance…." Keith darted him a warning look to which Lance responded with a snarl. The commander then turned to Shalhevet.
"…and you, what the hell were you thinking unleashing your powers on her like that? You could have seriously injured her!"
The young woman gave an un-lady-like snort and narrowed her gaze "Watch it, Commander. Most men who run to Allura's aid end up dead. Comes in threes you know…two down, one to go"
Coran slammed his hand on the table "That's enough, young lady! I refuse to allow you to continue on insulting the Royal House of Arus, or the memories of those who gave their lives to protect it!"
"They weren't protecting Arus, they were protecting her."
"Allura is Arus, Eti! Stop blaming her for things that were out of her control!" yelled Mimika.
Lance jumped to his feet and got right in Shali's face "Seriously…what's your fucking problem?"
Eti narrowed her eyes "I am Lady Shalhevet of Iphestius and you will not speak to me that way!"
"Sweatheart, when you start acting like a lady then maybe I'll treat you like one. The princess is like a sister to me and I will not stand here and let you bash her…I will slap you- lady or not!" Lance replied, making sure to use air-quotes when stressing the word 'lady'.
Keith shot up from his seat and stood between the two. "Stop it! This is not what we need right now." He barked
Lance back handed him on the shoulder. "Dude…she's insulting Allura…don't you care?"
"About her opinion?" he shrugged "No, not really. The only thing Lady Shalevhet has offered 'till now are bitter words and a few fire balls. I could care less what she has to say. Besides, maybe if she were a little bit more like Allura…" he paused, turning to burn his gaze into Shali "someone might actually be willing to die for her as well." Lance was more than satisfied with the captain's retort, especially after seeing Shali flinch at the statement. "Now, let's all cut the bullshit, have a seat, and discuss where the hell we go from here." Keith walked back to his oversized chair and sat down, followed by Shali and Lance.
Coran cleared his throat "Very well…moving on…" He then addressed Mimika, Dasia, and Shalhevet "any ideas as to how to draw out Her Highness' powers?"
Mimika shrugged "I'm at a complete loss, Coran. Personally, I can't believe she was able to take Eti down." Shalhevet huffed at Mimika's statement and threw her gaze to the side.
"Maybe if we would have joined in? Over powered her?" suggested Dasia.
"No…it wouldn't have worked." resigned Shalhevet, earning raised brows across the board. The exotic noble rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. "Her instincts are spot on…she would have been able to evade anything we dished out at her…to an extent. She would have struggled, but not enough to force her powers to surface."
"The princess took her training seriously, Lady Shalhevet, with Aaron…and the Force." Said Coran
"Obviously." she hissed.
Keith ignored the reaction "She's also too proud. Crazy as it sounds, she'd consider falling back on her powers as a sign of weakness." He added, taking a sip of his coffee.
Lance rubbed his chin "Heh…you're right…she would…"
"So, what is the solution?" asked Coran "How do we draw her powers out?"
"With all due respect, Coran…it doesn't appear that she needs them…" began Keith but Dasia quickly interrupted. "Oh, she'll need them…we all will."
Mimika continued "Sia's right, gentlemen. According to the prophecy, Haggar's been holding back considerably- only because Zarkon limited her involvement. I highly doubt that Lotor will do the same. From what we gather, he's been studying the lot of you quite closely over the last two years…all in preparation for this…the New Uprising."
Shalhevet got up from her seat and began to pace in front of the window. She stopped and leaned her forehead against the glass, looking out at the Arusian landscape. She had a difficult time recalling the last time she had seen Arus look as beautiful- maybe as a child? The three women were locked away for so long and the last time they had been on the surface, Arus was at the height of war. Shali drew a deep sigh and turned to face the group.
"Allura will not use her powers unless she is desperate…as if she has no other choice- no weapons at her disposal and possibly some level of confinement. She will need to have no other options- a life and death situation, if you will- and not necessarily her own."
Lance arched a brow "Just what exactly do you have in mind?"
The Arusian noble made her way back to where the group was sitting. "I'm not quite sure…yet; however, as Coran previously mentioned, it is up to us to draw her powers out, is it not?"
"Yes…but…" Keith was cut off.
"Then you need to let me handle it." The fiery red head turned to the other two women "We must find Romelle and begin to discuss a strategy. Of the four of us, she is the closest to Allura and will be able to help us uncover her Achilles heel" Mimika and Dasia nodded in agreement. They turned toward Coran, Keith and Lance and offered a slight bow "Gentlemen, If you would excuse us" The men stood up to acknowledge as the three determined women exited the rec room.
As the door closed behind them, Keith turned to Coran. "I don't like this."
Lance crossed his arms "Either do I. That woman's got a lot of rage in her. I mean…so does Lura-lu…but that crazy bitch is different."
Coran shook his head at Lance and turned his attention to the captain. "Keith, son, I understand your concern but, you heard Alfor- Time is of the essence. Allura must come into her powers."
Keith blew out a breath and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't understand. What happened between those two?"
Coran glanced at his feet before meeting their gaze. "Lady Shalhevet was Prince Aaron's betrothed. Eti was always jealous of Aaron's devotion to Allura and the significant amount of attention he gave her. After the, ehem, incident, Shalhevet ended her engagement to Aaron. It would be the last time she would see him alive and she held the princess personally responsible."
"What incident?" Keith assumed it had to do with Aaron's death…he was wrong.
Coran closed his eyes and gently rubbed his forehead "Gentlemen, you do remember Princess Francesca, do you not?"
Keith cringed at the mention of her name while Lance snorted "That Slut bag? Who could forget…"
Coran cleared his throat. "Yes…well, her ulterior motives for you Commander were not the first attempt. Princess Francesca had asked Allura to meet her in the garden for tea, and asked her to bring Shalhevet so that they may air out their differences. Needless to say, Francesca was in the garden with Aaron and when she heard the young ladies approach she threw herself at him. The two were caught in a rather uncompromising situation. Eti was convinced that Allura had known about it and that was why she insisted for her to join them"
Keith and Lance bombarded the advisor with questions. Coran sat back down in his chair and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he attempted to explain. He stated that King Alfor had reached out to Carthica IV for assistance against Zarkon. Francesca had joined her parents on the diplomatic visit to Arus. When the sultry young royal feasted her eyes upon the Arusian prince, she instantly lusted after him. Taking advantage of the tension between a young Allura and Shalhevet- Prince Aaron's fiancée, Francesca decided to try and befriend the Arusian princess in hopes of gaining access to her brother. Being an empath, Allura wasn't fooled. The young princess may not have gotten along with her soon-to-be sister –in-law; but, she knew very well how much Shali and Aaron loved each other. The only reason that Allura had agreed to meet for tea was to shut Francesca up once and for all. She was sick and tired of the obnoxious princess following her around trying to gain her favor and she also knew very well that Eti would tell Francesca off- something that Allura was excited to see. It all backfired, however, when Eti stumbled upon the passionate lip lock between Aaron and the Carthican princess. Eti's heart shattered. Aaron ran after her making every possible attempt to explain, but Shali didn't want to hear it. Instead, she quickly grabbed her belongings and headed back to Iphestius in Arus' southern hemisphere. Allura immediately located her father and explained what had happened. The visiting royals were instantly escorted off Arus. Aaron was devastated, not speaking to anyone for days. He made several attempts to reach out to Shali but she would not respond. Aaron then turned all his attention to his beloved little sister, knowing that his time with her would be limited. At Aaron's funeral, Shalhevet cursed Allura and swore that she would never forgive her for taking Aaron away. Not only did she blame her for the break-up, she blamed her for his brutal murder as well. Shortly thereafter, Shalhevet was hidden in protective custody alongside Mimika and Dasia by the Lion spirits until the time would come for the daughters to unite and rise against Haggar.