The rattle of dishes in the dining room startled Keith in the middle of a yawn. Usually he was the first one awake, except for Shiro some days, but the Black Paladin usually preferred training or meditation to food when he was up this early. And while Pidge was prone to all-nighters, she rarely emerged from her nest of electronics in the green lion's hangar unless someone dragged her. Wondering who else on the Castle's short list of inhabitants could possibly be up at this hour, the teen quickened his pace down the hall and silently pushed open the door.

Lance was probably the last person he expected to find on the other side, much less surrounded by a quantity of storage containers, empty except for crumbs of Hunk's baking, that suggested he'd been there for some time. The Cuban was staring down at his plate with a morose, anxious expression that looked out of place on features that usually held some sort of smile, poking and prodding a thick aquamarine pastry on a plate in front of him. One injudicious push caused the pastry to burst, eggplant-coloured filling spurting out the side, and Lance's expression twisted briefly into an odd mix of nausea and something else before he abruptly shoved the plate away from himself, propping his elbows on the table in the empty space and tangling his hands in his hair with a deep sigh.

Keith frowned, Lance's miserable mien surprising him with how much it bothered him, and considered his options. Option one, distraction, would normally be his go-to course of action when the blue paladin was out of sorts, but somehow, here in the early hours of the morning with no one awake except the two of them, it didn't feel quite right. Option two, leave before the other noticed him, was out of the question. Option three it was. What would Shiro do? Stepping closer, he rested his hand gently on Lance's shoulder. "Hey, you okay?"

Or at least, that was what he intended to say, except that the unexpected touch startled the blue paladin into an ungodly shriek and flailing of limbs, one of which smacked Keith squarely in the face and made him stumble back clutching his nose, so what actually came out of his mouth was "He-ow! What the fuck?!"

Whipping around in his seat and clutching his heaving chest, Lance stared at him wide-eyed. "Quiznacking hell, Keith, don't sneak up on me like that! You scared the shit out of me!" He cried, voice still high with fright.

"I was just trying to ask if you were okay!" Keith yelled back. Holy fuck, his nose hurt, was he bleed-yup, he was bleeding, he confirmed as he pulled one hand away from his face to check. He hadn't known the scrawny teen was capable of hitting that hard.

"Oh geez, fuck, you're bleeding." Lance realized, looking horrified. Casting about himself he came up with a handful of fancy cloth napkins and scrambled to his feet to press them carefully to Keith's face, examining the damage with surprisingly gentle hands as the other, too startled to resist, stood stock still in surprise. "I don't think it's broken, at least, but I think your eye is starting to bruise." He said softly, grimacing guiltily. "Sorry."

"I startled you." Keith felt obliged to point out, his words muffled by the wad of cloth pressing around his nose.

"And I flailed around like a dumbass and punched you in the face." The Cuban shot back. "Anything else blindingly obvious you feel like pointing out?" Lance was glaring now, posture defensive.

"No, I just...I meant it wasn't your fault." He stammered awkwardly. He'd been trying not to start a fight with the other paladin, dammit. "Like you said, I snuck up on you."

"Oh." The blue paladin deflated a bit. "Yeah, I just...wasn't expecting anyone to come in so soon." He glanced over at the stack of empty containers, cheeks reddening. "I should've remembered you're an early riser."

Keith nodded. "Is everything okay?" He asked hesitantly. "You're never up this early, and you looked upset." He carefully didn't mention the shadows under the blue eyes, visible now that they were in closer proximity.

Lance looked away again. "...Bad dream." He admitted finally. "I'll be fine." With an abrupt shift away from the uncomfortable topic, he carefully peeled the blood-soaked napkin away from Keith's nose, hissing sympathetically. "Yeah, you're definitely gonna have a shiner or two. Guess all those extra training sessions paid off, huh?" He joked awkwardly. "At least the bleeding's stopped. D'you wanna go jump in a pod for twenty minutes or something before Shiro sees?"

"Go jump in a pod before I see what?" Came a familiar voice from behind Keith.

Lance gave another shriek, stumbling back from the red paladin and pointing a shaking finger at the grinning figure behind him. "What is it with people and trying to give me heart attacks today?! Dios! It's not even breakfast time yet and I've got more adrenaline in my veins than blood! Geez!" He threw up his hands in exasperation, unfortunately forgetting that one of them still held a wad of bloody fabric.

The red streaks caught Shiro's eye immediately, and he stepped forward to grab them for a closer look. After a moment he looked up again at Lance, then over at Keith, who could still feel dried blood under his nose and the soreness of bruises forming, his cheeks reddening under the older man's scrutiny. "...Do I want to know?" Shiro asked cautiously, raising an eyebrow and fixing the younger with a concerned stare.

"It's fine, Shiro." Keith waved it off, giving his pseudo-brother an easy smile. "I startled him and he decked me by accident. Good thing you weren't in range or we'd both end up looking like raccoons."

He could feel Shiro's eyes looking him over, weighing his statement for honesty like he used to back at the Garrison whenever Keith would come back with bruised knuckles and split lips, before the black paladin laughed. "Guess so. I always told you your cat-footedness would bite you in the ass one day. Maybe we should put a bell on you, just in case the next person you sneak up on has a bayard in their hands."

"Keep your kinky shit away from the breakfast table." Pidge groused as she arrived just in time to hear the last part of Shiro's comment. She threw herself into a chair, propping her elbows on the table as a yawning Hunk sank into the seat beside her. "So, who's excited to learn all about quintessence today?" She asked, unable to keep the excitement out of her tone as she reached with both hands for the carafe of liquid stimulant that served as coffee, despite tasting like an odd mix of lemons and toffee.

Lance groaned, flopping back into his seat. "I'm really hoping it'll be more hands-on, but with my luck we'll get lectured for hours. Heck, with my luck our teacher will be Iverson all over again."

There was a chorus of groans around the table at the thought as Keith helped Shiro pass out bowls of goo and set out more boxes of Hunk's pastries. Snagging a couple of croissants for himself, the red paladin tucked into his food. "They said to bring the Lions, so there'll be probably be something besides theory." He commented between bites.

"That's true." Hunk nodded, looking more awake now that he had food and stimulant in front of him. The yellow paladin crumbled bits of something black and flaky into his goo, looking thoughtful. "What I don't get is how they expect us to manipulate quintessence. As far as we know, Humans can't. They can't possibly have mistaken us for Alteans, can they?"

Lance snorted. "No way in hell. Not with that many on board their ship."

Shiro hummed in agreement, taking a large bite of a fruit tart, one of Hunk's more recent recipes. "Alejandro and Kurogane are the ones who said we needed the training, so we must be able to." He commented around a mouthful of berries. "Presumably something they've already learned."

"Maybe it's a Paladin thing?" Pidge suggested as she refilled her mug with stimulant. "Hence the Lions?"

"Find out when we get there, I guess." Keith shrugged. He could hear Red rumbling excitedly in the back of his head, and a sense of impatience that had him unconsciously hurrying his eating. He noticed the others doing the same, their own Lions obviously as eager as his own. Obviously as far as the Lions were concerned, this training was a good thing, and he felt any apprehension dissolving.

Soon enough everyone's plates were empty, the dishes washed, and the remaining baked goods returned to the storage room for later, Shiro giving them all an excited smile that made him look five years younger and was a welcome change from the anxiety he'd been showing the day before after the revelation concerning his arm. "Everyone suit up and be in your Lions in ten. Let's get training."

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Shiro was not surprised to find Allura waiting for him when he arrived at the Black Lion's hangar, dressed in her flight suit with her hair tied neatly up in a braided bun at the back of her head and staring up at the massive machine with an unreadable expression. What did surprise him was the shadows under her eyes and the way she adjusted and readjusted her wrist guards and gloves, anxious tells that she still kept hidden from her paladins more often than not. He cleared his throat as he stepped towards her, and was glad he'd announced his entrance when she visibly jumped and whirled towards him. Then again, he shouldn't be surprised everyone was on edge and jumpy after the events of yesterday. How else were you supposed to feel when older versions of two of your teammates suddenly appeared with the news that the war you were fighting would be lost disastrously unless you changed the right things?

"You holding up alright, Princess?" he asked softly, inclining his head slightly toward her still-fidgeting hands as Black rumbled a greeting to him. He could feel the Lion nudging his own worries with concern and sent back a mental brush of reassurance. Forewarned was forearmed, no pun intended.

"Of course." Allura said stiffly, abruptly pushing her hands down to her sides and staring resolutely up at the giant machine. "Why would I not be?"

"Oh, I don't know…" Shiro reached up to rest a hand on his Lion's muzzle as she dropped her head to extend her ramp. "Maybe because two days ago we thought we were on the verge of winning this war and then yesterday it turns out we were squarely on the path to losing it?"

Allura's head whipped toward him again, eyes wide with surprise, before she deflated with a weak laugh. "That's a very...blunt...way of stating it, I suppose."

He snorted, gesturing for her to precede him up the ramp. "Three months until Lotor's ready to come after us. We don't have time to dance around the issue."

"No, I suppose we don't." She admitted, striding into the airlock with an easy grace. "Lotor, Haggar, Zarkon...How can we hope to stop all of them? It took a massive commitment of resources just to incapacitate one of them, and even then we took many casualties."

"I'm sure our time travelling duo has some ideas."

"How can you be so certain?" She stopped, glancing back at him. "They've been exceedingly tight-lipped about most of their history between now and when they came from. While I realize that may be simply because they don't wish to discuss painful topics, there may be some critical information that they're hiding that could mean the difference between success and failure. How can we hope to bring down the Empire without knowing more about what our enemies are capable of?"

The black paladin stopped short, staring at the Princess in confusion. "You...think they don't want us to succeed?" He asked hesitantly, trying to follow her line of thinking. He knew that as a diplomat she was used to trying to spot ulterior motives and never taking things at face value, but this…

"No, I know that our success is what they desire. There's no mistaking that." She clarified quickly, pursing her lips as she continued on into the Black Lion's cockpit to rest her hands on the back of the control chair. "I am merely concerned that they may not have any better idea than we do about how to achieve it, but don't want to admit to that fact."

"Is that all." He blinked, following her and settling into his chair in front of the controls. "I thought that much was already obvious."

"You...what?" Shiro grinned, hearing the usually unflappable Altean floundering in confusion. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because like I said, it was obvious? To other Humans, anyway." He explained, powering up Black and feeling her rumble and stretch physically and mentally. "If they had a solid plan in mind they would have told us straight up. Instead they're trying to give us anything they know will provide an advantage, and warning us about the major pitfalls we need to avoid. Granted you had a good point about how something they aren't telling us could be crucial, but it's not malicious and we can bring it up with them at a later date."

There was a protracted silence, and he didn't need to look over his shoulder to know that the Princess's markings were glowing bright with embarrassment. "...I see. An Altean would have explicitly stated that their only intent was to provide information rather than strategy. I shall have to remember the difference."

He gave an apologetic chuckle as Black's boosters roared to life, launching them out of the hangar to join Red, who had just emerged. "Cultural differences strike again. In your defense, though, your diplomatic training didn't cover Humans. For now let's just worry about making the most of the advantages those two are trying to give us, shall we? And we can figure out how to make use of those advantages once we know exactly what they are. Kurogane didn't explain much about these aspects of quintessence, but they sound important."

Allura frowned, drumming her finger on the headrest of his chair as the Green and Yellow Lions joined them in hovering beside the Castle of Lions. "I believe so. I know they have to do with manipulation of quintessence, but unfortunately that was a subject that was not a priority in my training, given my position as Princess. I was taught enough to operate the Castle, communicate with the Lions, and participate in certain key ceremonies, but beyond that my education was focused on culture and diplomacy."

"That's still more training than any of us have had." Shiro reassured her as Blue finally emerged, taking her place in the formation around the Black Lion. "You'll do fine." Pushing the control levers forward he sent Black arrowing through space toward the Long Wind, almost invisible against the background of stars except for the warm yellow glow of an open hangar door waiting for them.

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Hunk shifted nervously and felt Yellow brush his mind reassuringly. The heavily-armored Lion stood just behind where he sat cross-legged on the floor of the hangar, a different one than they'd been in yesterday. This one was empty and smaller, with just enough space for the five Lions to stand in a loose circle around the group in the center. The five paladins, Allura, and their teacher, an older Altean who introduced himself as Malrento, were seated in a smaller circle between the Lions, with Alejandro and Kurogane off to one side and behind Malrento.

"Now then." The alien eyed them sternly, making Hunk gulp anxiously. "Before we begin, I need to know exactly what I am dealing with in terms of knowledge, ability, and prior training."

Allura spoke up first, looking as nervous as the yellow paladin felt, but he supposed even Princesses got back-to-school jitters. "I am mostly trained in manipulating my own quintessence, and have sufficient strength to operate a standard teleduv several times in a few vargas. I learned half a cycle ago that I also have the necessary abilities of an amvel nayeta, but I'm entirely untrained in that area. My knowledge of the colour theories is also minimal at best, especially where the Aspects are concerned."

Malrento frowned, but nodded to Shiro to speak on behalf of the Paladins. The Black Paladin sighed, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "We're of a species that hasn't discovered quintessence yet, so we don't know much about it. Only what we've seen or been told since we got to space, such as Balmeras and teleduvs. It's probably safest to start from basics for us." His eyes flicked over to the two time-travellers. "I'm not aware of any natural ability we may or may not have."

The Altean hummed thoughtfully before turning his attention to Alejandro and Kurogane. "And that is where you two come in. I understand you received some training before your...return?"

Hunk straightened, remembering that morning's discussion, and further around the circle he saw Pidge doing the same. Even Lance, Keith, and Shiro seemed to perk up with curiosity.

Alejandro sighed frustratedly, scrubbing a hand back through his shoulder-length hair. "Honestly? Not much. By the time someone realized it was something we could do, we were too run ragged to sit down and learn, and there was a shortage of those qualified to train us." He huffed softly. "We do know a few things. First, for us Humans, the Lion bond is definitely part of it because after Kurogane lost Red, he couldn't do it anymore. Second, for Paladins, some of the aspects manifest as new abilities for the Lions and some only affect the Paladin. There may be a pattern there, I don't know, we didn't learn enough of them between us to have enough information there."

"How do the aspects normally manifest for non-Paladins, then?" Pidge spoke up before Hunk could, the same question on the tip of his tongue. "And why is it different for Paladins?"

"Probably similar abilities, but given to the person instead of a machine." Kurogane responded, then shrugged. "And no clue. Like I said, we had bigger problems."

Hunk raised his hand slightly before speaking, and Alejandro nodded to him. "When you say new abilities, what do you mean? Like laser eyes or something?" He tried to picture himself lasering the Galra and grinned. That'd be one way to get the job done.

"Sort of. This'll make more sense once Malrento explains the aspects, but the ones we managed to access were Blue's combative characteristic, which gave her a whole bunch of maneuvering thrusters that made her crazy agile," Lance's face lit up at the thought, and Hunk could see him already imagining how versatile he'd be in battle, "Red's personality trait, which let Keith teleport kind like the Druids do, and man did that make the Galra scared of him," further around the circle, Keith was smirking delightedly at the idea, "and Green's personality trait, which gave our Pidge the ability to do limited healing by touch." Pidge looked startled, staring down at her hands in consternation. "And then there's the natural element, which all of you have already used before at this point, if I remember right."

"We have?" Hunk blurted, exchanging confused looks with his teammates and Allura. He was fairly sure he would have remembered doing something with quintessence manipulation before, or noticed if the others had. The others looked equally baffled, except for Pidge, whose expression was one of dawning realization.

Kurogane nodded, a small smile on his face. "You have. Fire, water, forest, earth, and sky. Red's rail gun, Blue's sonics, Green's plant cannon, Yellow's heavy armor, and Black's phasing."

Instantly everyone started talking over each other at once.

"I fucking knew it!"

"Phasing? When did I do that?"

"...Figures Keith would be the one who did it first."

"The second time we fought Zarkon, I think. Remember how you took the black bayard from him when Black sideswiped him?"

"Allura, did the old paladins figure out any of this?"

"I...I don't recall. I didn't normally have the opportunity to see Voltron in combat. I'll have to check the records when we return, perhaps my father left information…"

"Are all the aspects gonna give us cool upgrades like that?"

"...I guess you're right. I didn't even think about it until now, how I got the bayard from him…"

"Dude, he said their Keith could teleport and Pidge could heal. We're gonna get superpowers"

"Hey, how come you didn't mention any of my or Shiro's upgrades?"

Hunk's question seemed to cut through the excited chatter, bringing an abrupt silence as the others glanced at him and Shiro, then looked over at the older pair. They seemed caught off guard by the question, but Hunk felt a surge of guilt for even asking when he saw the raw, pained expression on Alejandro's face, the way Kurogane seemed to close in on himself. He mentally kicked himself for not thinking before he spoke. "Nevermind, okay? We'll find out soon enough, right? But we can't do that without learning more about quintessence." Turning physically to face Malrento, he set his face into a grim smile. "We're ready to learn whatever you can tell us."

The others slowly accepted his firm refocusing of the topic, although Pidge seemed reluctant to let the topic go, narrowing her eyes at a visibly relieved Alejandro before turning her attention back to the matter at hand. The older Altean smiled approvingly. "Well handled, Yellow Paladin. You are a credit to your quintessence." Seeing Lance frown and open his mouth, the green-haired male held up a hand to forestall the question. "Patience, Blue Paladin. Make yourselves comfortable and we will begin with basic theory."

There was a slight shuffling as a few people adjusted position, Lance letting his legs sprawl out in front of him, Shiro moving to sit on his knees, and Pidge pulling up her wrist computer to take notes. Allura shot Lance a disapproving look, which failed to have any effect, and sighed. "Whenever you're ready, Malrento."

"Very well." The older man cleared his throat, looking around the circle. "Quintessence is the basic energy of life. It fills every living thing, as well as the world around us." Hunk closed his eyes and listened carefully, trying to visualize what was being described. "There are five colours, as we interpret them, red, blue, green, yellow, and black. While the natural world tends to simply have quintessence that corresponds to its nature-green in plants, black in the air, and so on, intelligent beings most often have a mixture of colours corresponding to their own natures. A being with very red quintessence might tend toward aggression and impulsiveness," Keith's cheeks reddened as every eye went to him, "but someone with a mixture of blue and red could be aggressively protective of those they care about. While most individuals have quintessence that is a mixture of colours, the five of you are a rarity in that your energy is composed of one colour and one colour only."

Pidge's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Is that why we were able to bond with the Lions to become Paladins?"

Malrento smiled, nodding approvingly. "That is correct. Each of you has the same colour of quintessence as your bonded Lion, without a trace or tint of another colour. If there was, you would not be compatible with them. Now, each colour has come to be associated with a number of characteristics, grouped into categories called aspects. The first, and most obvious is the natural element. Fire for Red, Water for Blue, Forest for Green, Earth for Yellow, and Sky or Void for Black. Then we have the combative characteristic, which denotes the way in which a person might go about dealing with difficulties in their life. Red goes where their instincts tell them, for better or for worse. Blue adapts to the new situation, rolls with the punches and comes up swinging. Green learns, attacking the problem from unexpected angles or the easiest route. Yellow plans and strategizes, choosing a solution and seeing it through. And Black makes use of every resource available to them, choosing the right ones for the task."

As he spoke, Hunk considered each of his teammates. Acting on instinct instead of thinking was practically Keith summed up in three words where combat was concerned. And Lance was nothing if not adaptable, even if it tended to leave him accepting unpleasant situations rather than trying to change them. Learning was what Pidge did best, even if she didn't seem to know how to give up sometimes. And Shiro, for all his youth, was a natural leader, although in Hunk's opinion he still had a bad habit of preferring Keith or Pidge for missions simply because he knew them better.

"After that we have the physical analogue, the role each plays in a group. Red is blood, a sharer of energy. Yellow is bone, strong and supportive. Green is nerve, distributing information. Black is mind, a decision maker. And Blue is heart, holding everything together and giving the group life."

That was pretty straightforward, and fit what Hunk had observed of his fellow paladins. Pidge and Shiro went without saying, and judging by their expressions they knew it too, nobody could get the rest of them fired up like Keith on a tear, and Lance seemed to have made it his personal mission to be the annoying older/younger brother to everyone in the Castle, pulling them out of their own heads and distracting them from their worries.

"The last group, the personality trait, consists of two groups. The emotional trait and the mental trait. These can be trickier to pin down because they can manifest in many different ways. It is also, in my experience, the most difficult aspect to learn to use, as it requires one to be aware of and in tune with those traits in ways you may not expect, and the emotional and mental traits must be in balance with each other. For Red, passion must be tempered by respect. For Blue, loyalty should be reigned in by trust. Green, courage balanced with curiosity. Yellow, patience limited with understanding. And for Black, love bolstered by will."

There was a profound silence. A lot of that list was...unexpected to say the least. Passion made sense for Keith, but respect? Weren't loyalty and trust practically the same thing? Pidge had curiosity and courage both in spades, shouldn't she have already been able to use the personality aspect?

No, Hunk realized, frowning, it wasn't that simple. None of the aspects were. Malrento may have summed them up in ways that made them sound simple, but people were complicated and by extension the aspects must be too, since they were supposed to be characteristics of those people. What the Altean had said about the traits manifesting in unexpected ways must hold true for all of them. Especially considering…

"Zarkon was the previous Black Paladin." He didn't realize he'd spoken aloud until Shiro made a strangled noise of shock and Allura gasped, similar noises of confused realization coming from the others, even the two time-travellers.

"Yeah, I mean, will is one thing, but love? That guy?" Lance interjected, brows furrowed as he looked between a pale-faced Shiro and Malrento's stoic expression.

"As I said, there are many, many ways in which the traits can manifest, and they are not always the most obvious or the ones you might expect. After all, the Emperor of the Galra certainly loves himself, does he not? And there may be other ways in which love is expressed in his actions of which you and I are unaware."

"I guess…" Lance didn't seem convinced, tucking one knee to his chest and resting his chin on it.

"So," Pidge interjected, fingers still flying over the tiny keyboard of her wrist computer, "how do we go about learning to use these aspects? 'Cause healing fingers would be damn useful considering how often those two get battered, bruised, and lightly maimed." She jerked her head at Lance and Keith, smirking and rolling her eyes when they protested.

Malrento chuckled, inclining his head to her. "Meditation, first and foremost, to learn to consciously reach for your quintessence and draw on the abilities once you have them." There were scattered groans from Lance, Pidge, and Keith that had Hunk exchanging amused looks with Shiro and Allura, the latter rolling her eyes. "And getting in touch with the relevent part of yourself. For example, the natural element is normally learned by surrounding yourself with the appropriate environment and learning to be comfortable with it."

"...So like how I learned to the sonic blaster when I was fighting underwater, and Pidge got the plant cannon after she learned how to work with plants on Olkari?" Lance tilted his head to the side.

"Precisely. The others are not so simple, obviously. You will need to think about yourselves, your thoughts, emotions, and interactions. Analyze your strengths and weaknesses, and those of your teammates. Sometimes an outside perspective can help. Consider your role within the team, and how you fit together both in battle and out."

"...In other words, meditate, then meditate some more. Then more meditation." Keith muttered, drawing a disapproving look from Shiro and a snort from both Lance's. Kurogane elbowed his partner, which did nothing to dissipate the other's amused grin.

Malrento chuckled. "Your Red is showing." The comment made the red paladin flush, which only made Pidge giggle and make a comment about it showing even more, worsening the problem. Hunk laughed softly, leaning over to nudge Pidge to leave the poor boy alone.

She grinned back at him. "So, meditation, meditation, meditation. No time like the present, I guess." She tipped her head back to smile up at Green affectionately, who peered down at her with a happy purr. "Whaddaya say, girl, wanna show these losers how it's done?

"I'll show you a loser!" Lance challenged from across the circle as he rearranged his limbs to sit cross-legged. "Last one to learn an aspect's got Kaltenecker duty for a month, and first gets to pick where we go next shore leave."

Keith smirked at the blue paladin over his shoulder. "Hope you like cowpies, then, sharpshooter, I'll cheer you on from the beach."

"Okay, settle down guys." Shiro laughed softly. "...And besides, we'll be going mountain climbing when I win."

"Oh hell no!"

Hunk chuckled, closing his eyes and letting the playful banter of his teammates soothe him as he reached for his bond with Yellow.