Hunk's heart thudded in his chest as he sprinted down the hallway. It was so simple. How had they never picked up on it? They'd literally spent almost an hour on the topic less than a week ago! Such a simple and effective method of passing a core concept down through generations, it had been used in every culture on Earth and across every planet in the universe.
He skidded around a corner, bouncing off a wall and nearly colliding with a couple of H'ress who scrambled to get out of his way as he regained his footing and charged toward the main cavern. For the first time he found himself cursing the fact that they'd all left their helmets on a shelf near the exit, since they weren't required for the translation link to the Castle. There was no guarantee that Shiiar'keh would be in the main room, but if he could comm Shiro, there was a good chance the Black Paladin would be with him, or know where he was, or where Matt was, either of them would do, he just needed to find one of them-
Bursting into the main cavern, he looked around frantically and almost swore. The pack leader's familiar dyed back was nowhere to be seen, although quite a few people had looked up at his abrupt entrance.
"Ah...Paladin...do you need assistance?" One Olkari asked cautiously, setting aside some sort of sewing project and getting to their feet. "You seem distressed."
"I...Y-Yeah." Hunk panted, only realizing in that moment that he was out of breath from his headlong dash. "I need to talk to Shiiar'keh. Like right now."
The Olkari didn't question him, just gestured back the way he'd come. "I believe they are in the main terminal room. Second hallway on your right and the fourth door on your left."
Hunk didn't wait a second longer, shouting a thank-you over his shoulder as he whipped around and charged back into the corridor. Every fiber of him was practically vibrating. He could be wrong, but something told him he wasn't. He whipped around the right-hand turn, ignoring what sounded like Pidge yelling somewhere behind him, and ran down the hallway counting the doors. Two...three...four! He ricocheted off the doorframe as he tried to brake, caught sight of Shiro, Matt, Shiiar'keh, and the local pack leader, Nohsk'wrell, looking at him in surprise, and immediately gasped out "I figured it out!"
"What?" Shiro crossed over to him, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Hunk, catch your breath for a minute. Deep breaths."
He was pretty sure he might actually explode if he didn't get to explain like right now, but following Shiro's instructions had become something of a habit over the last year and a bit so Hunk forced himself to pull air into his heaving lungs until they stopped burning. Shiro gave him an approving smile and nodded just as the other paladins arrived, clattering into the doorway with what looked like the entire nursery in tow. "Better. Now what were you trying to say?"
"I said, I figured it out. I know where Alfor's clue is hidden." Hunk couldn't keep the grin off his face. "We were looking in all the wrong places."
Shiro gaped at him for a second, then straightened, and Hunk was momentarily taken aback by having the older man's full attention. Shiiar'keh appeared at his side a moment later, equally intent. "You have? Where is it?"
Hunk took one more deep breath, then nodded to the crowd of children by the door. "It's in the children's stories, a fairytale, a lullaby, something like that. A way of passing down a message across generations that doesn't lose the core meaning even if the details might change a bit." He noted a hint of uncertainty in Shiro's expression and frowned. "Remember those ones about the Lions, Coran, Allura, and Alfor, that Kovirak told us about? She said herself that Marmora probably started half of them. There's stories here, too, about all of them. What's to say that Alfor and Fiorin didn't do the exact same thing?"
Shiro opened his mouth to protest, but was cut off by Shiiar'keh's startled bark. "Of course. It makes perfect sense. There are stories, passed down for twelves of twelves of twelves of cycles, that teach, subtly, basic principles of everything from survival to the nature of quintessence. Why not information about the aspects themselves? Nohsk'wr'ell!" They ordered. "Call for a conference of pack leaders! We must cross-reference all available information on the subject at once!"
The other H'ress growled an affirmative, turning back toward the computer console behind them with an agility that always caught Hunk by surprise. He leaned back against the wall, trying to calm his breathing the rest of the way, as the two pack leaders sent out comm requests and screen after screen appeared filled with the faces of the various pack leaders both on planet and aboard the ships currently moored to the elevators. Rapid explanations were made, and people began to come and go in the background of many of the screens. Compared to the complex bureaucracy of Earth, he couldn't help but marvel at the sheer simplicity of H'ress social organization. Need information from every single pack? Just conference call the pack leaders, they'll get the info and get back to you right away. A discussion was taking place between several of them, something about teaching records. Another screen popped up on another wall, dozens of files appearing in rapid succession. Transcripts of stories, he realized, squinting at the unreadable H'ress'wr text.
Shiro's hand coming back to rest on his shoulder made him look up, to be met with another proud smile. "Good thinking, buddy. I think you just might be right." He sighed, flashing a slightly apologetic look. "I should know better than to doubt that brilliant mind of yours."
Hunk flushed at the praise, but smiled back at him. "Hey, I get that it's kinda crazy. But the H'ress already have an oral tradition, I bet they're totally capable of passing down even regular children's stories accurately for ten thousand years. And what better place to hide a message where no one would notice it?"
"That's a very good point." Shiro nodded in agreement. He put his other arm around Keith's shoulders as the rest of the group joined them, Pidge going to hover over Matt's shoulder where his fingers were flying over a keyboard to run a multitude of keyword searches and cross-references on the incoming files. "Guess we'll find out soon." He added, watching as Pidge made an acid comment and pulled up a chair to take over Matt's search.
They watched for a while as the stack of files piled up on the side screen and data scrolled rapidly across Matt and Pidge's terminal. Many of the pack leaders-most were H'ress, but there were several of other races and even a couple Galra in the bunch-were consulting with other people, probably either historians or people who normally worked with the children in their packs, anyone who would know the stories told to kids. Other people came in and out of the room they were all in, some sitting at terminals after a brief discussion with Shiiar'keh to add their own knowledge. At some point Allura, arrived, arms folded across her chest and looking distinctly anxious until Coran appeared and put an arm around her, both watching the ongoing work intently. Alejandro and Kurogane followed not long after, hovering silently in the background with unreadable expressions.
Pidge's console beeped and Matt looked over the results. "I think we've got something. Four stories and two lullabies that all seem to contain a very similar theme at one point. Too similar to be coincidental for that many unique stories."
"Go ahead. What does it describe?" Shiiar'keh nodded to him.
The tension in the room seemed to ratchet up a notch, and Hunk distractedly thought that the H'ress had some really impressive ventilation systems in their caves because there had to be at least thirty people crammed in there by now. Matt cleared his throat, looking over the search results, and frowned. "It's...weird. As best I can summarize, it describes a sleeping king on a mountain, and his daughter coming to him one day, and some sort of gift he left for her."
The H'ress blinked, rumbling thoughtfully. "The Sleeping King. I know that song, I sang it the other morning."
"Yeah, that's one of the matches. And it sure sounds like what we're looking for-a gift left for a Princess." Matt looked over at Allura and nodded. "Not sure about the rest of it, though."
Coran cleared his throat, and Hunk saw him tighten his hold around Allura's waist. "Sleeping could, conceivably, refer to a cryoreplenisher. After all, Allura and I 'slept' for ten thousand cycles in them aboard the Castle of Lions." He offered. There was an odd hesitance in his suggestion, though, and Allura made a pained noise. Hunk grimaced. God, he hoped they were right. For Allura to get her other father back, and Coran get his husband back, after all this time, would be beyond incredible. Especially after that incident with the corrupted AI on the Castle...the incident made his chest hurt with sympathy just thinking about it.
Matt looked doubtful, though. "The Icebringers don't-" he cut himself off abruptly, biting his lip and turning back to the console. "Anyway. That doesn't answer the question of where. There's a lot of mountains on Sh'raa H'ressnol, and there's nothing in these descriptions to narrow it down." He threw up another screen, text flashing onto it. "These are the translations of the relevant sections. I don't see anything to clue us in."
Hunk frowned, studying the blocks of text. His eyes focused on the smallest block, the rhyming lines suggesting a song, probably one of the lullabies. The king on the lonely mountain sleeps, beneath his queen the stars. And peace will come again one day, to all from near to far. The lions roar, the flowers bloom, outside the castle's peak. And the daughter comes again one day, to kiss the king to sleep. The gift her father leaves for her will bring her joy and hope, on the day she comes to say goodnight on the lonely mountain slope.
Two different lines suggested the place they were looking for was on a mountain somewhere. But nothing to indicate a specific mountain. The song couldn't afford to be specific, anyway, there was too much risk of change over all the intervening years, which was probably why there'd been so many different versions hidden in different stories. But as he looked over at the story excerpts, they all seemed to give very similar descriptions, right down to the use of the word...castle.
But it couldn't be on the Castle. It was destroyed years before Holt came here. He thought to himself.
He ran through the words one more time, puzzling through each line. First line, Alfor sleeping somewhere on a mountain. The queen in the stars...no idea. Might be a beliefs thing. He'd have to ask Allura later. Second line, peace will come again...probably a reference to their time manipulation scheme. Nothing useful there. Third line, the lions roar...no lions here, except for the Voltron Lions. Might be a key to opening them, or maybe the Lions would react if they got close. If all else failed, they could fly a planetary search pattern, see if any of them reacted anywhere. Hunk filed the thought away and kept going. The flowers bloom...did that mean the mountain was in the equatorial belt? Or did the other mountains have some kind of tundra flowers on them? Outside the castle's peak...
Hunk paused. Peak. Odd choice of words for a castle. Most people would say tower, or spire, wouldn't they? Peak was a word you'd associate more with mountains...
"Oh my god." He breathed again. "Shiiar'keh," he called. The pack leader looked over and nodded. "Can you bring up a planetary topographical map? As detailed as possible, please."
The H'ress flicked their tail in agreement and tapped the keyboard, and a few people hastily stepped out of the way as a large holographic globe appeared in the air in the middle of the room. Hunk ignored them, and the whispers around him, stepping closer to the sphere. The level of detail was too fine for him to make out exactly what he was looking for with a naked-eye search. Instead he looked at Pidge. "Can you do a comparative analysis and see if you can find a mountain shaped like the Castle of Lions?"
Pidge's eyes widened. "Holy fuck." She gasped. "Hunk, you're a genius." She muttered, turning back to the keyboard and her fingers flying over it. On the globe, a navy blue marker appeared for a moment where he knew the Castle currently stood on a glacial plain, vanished, then reappeared-along with a second marker, about a fifth of the planet's circumference away and a bit further north. "Bingo. One match, way too close in structure to be coincidental. I think we've got it."
For a moment, no one moved. Then Shiro stepped forward, beaming proudly at Hunk. "Paladins, to your Lions. Let's go take a look. Princess," He turned to Allura, who looked a little startled. "I'd be honoured if you and Coran flew with me."
It seemed to take forever to get back to the entryway, to grab their helmets and sprint across the ice to the Castle of Lions. Hunk listened with half an ear as people distributed themselves between the various Lions, Coran and Allura in Black, Kurogane and Alejandro in Blue, the others remaining behind on some unspoken mutual decision. None of the Icebringers had followed either, probably because despite the location, despite the way the clues had been hidden, this wasn't really about them. This was about Allura, and about the Paladins, and about the two time travellers who had ended up here because of Alfor's desperate scheme. They had finally, hopefully figured it out, and the only question left was what, exactly, would be waiting when they arrived.
Mountains and ice fields flowed past under the Lions, marked with green streaks of trees. The comm link was open, but no one was talking, everyone busy bouncing questions around in their own heads. It was Pidge who finally broke the silence, the Green Lion leading as her paladin navigated them to the coordinates her scan had given. "It should be just up ahead."
A moment later they broke through a gap in the mountain ranges and Hunk heard the sharp inhalations of the others. Directly in front of them, icy slopes glittering in the morning sun, was a steep-sided mountain with four smaller spires around a larger central peak. The resemblance to the Castle of Lions was downright uncanny, although the mountain was probably larger. Had it formed that way naturally, or had Alfor and Fiorin modified it to serve as a landmark?
"Where do we go, Hunk?" Shiro called as they circled the formation.
Hunk bit his lip, thinking over the words. "Outside the castle's peak..." he muttered to himself. Probably somewhere on the central spire, then? Yellow didn't seem to be reacting, so maybe he'd been wrong about the line about Lions roaring. He nudged Yellow closer to the jagged cliffs, studying the slopes.
A shadow caught his eye and he yanked back on the controls to get a better look. The dark maw of a cave mouth loomed, high up and nearly hidden by the rocky folds and crags unless you were at exactly the right angle. It looked huge, easily big enough to fit the Black Lion, and there were several spots close by where other Lions could perch safely and give their paladins and passengers access to the level floor of the cave. And if he'd needed any further proof, as he watched the sunlight broke through a patch of clouds and glinted off carvings on either side of the cave. Carved statues of lions roaring. "Bingo! Follow me, I see where we need to go!" He pushed the controls forward again, diving toward the cave opening.
Up close, it was even bigger than he'd realized. They could probably fit all five Lions inside the cave, although they'd be single file and last one in would have to be first one out. Then the shadows abruptly engulfed them and he found himself in a large bubble of a cave, easily large enough for all the Lions, and lit by soft streaks of aqua quintessence running across the curve of the ceiling.
Hunk heard the awed exclamations of the others as he landed Yellow on the far side of the cave. The Lion sent him a wave of pride and amusement that the others were so impressed by his element, and Hunk couldn't help but chuckle as he patted the console. "Yeah, it is pretty cool, huh buddy?" Yellow had a right to be proud, though. Hunk would be the first to admit that caves were some of the most impressive and underrated natural structures to exist. He joined the others on the cave floor, which was smooth underfoot and unexpectedly devoid of stalactites or stalagmites. But then, those structures were formed by the flow of water, and it was barely warmer in here than outside on the icy slopes. Any water was frozen solid.
"Now what?" He asked as he reached them. They'd all ended up standing close to Black, in the middle of the cave. "This is definitely the place. Where do we go from here."
"We were just discussing that." Shiro nodded. "Nice work on figuring it out. Later you'll have explain just what it was that made you figure it out. For now, though...Pidge?"
Pidge nodded, tapping at her wrist computer. "We've got the mountain, saw the roaring lions...haven't seen any blooming flowers, though. That's probably our next clue."
Shiro hummed an agreement. "Everyone spread out and search the cave. Look for anything that looks like blooming flowers."
They scattered, scanning different sections of the wall and floor. Hunk's area was smooth and clear. Too clear to be natural, he thought. Alfor must have done something to carve this place out specifically to hide whatever he'd left behind. The Icebringers must have incredible equipment for stone-cutting, with the intricate way their caverns were put together, and Alfor'd probably borrowed it.
His musings were interrupted by a shout from Keith. "Over here!"
Keith's find was unquestionable. A single panel of rock wall, with some kind of closed door in the center, was intricately carved with a relief of juniberry flowers. Shiro clapped his brother proudly on the shoulder as he stepped forward to examine the door. "Nice work. Now we just need to find some way to open it."
That proved easier said than done. The door's seam was airtight, and there didn't seem to be any obvious activation mechanism, even when they examined the relief carvings in detail. No buttons, no moveable bits, not even a switch.
Lance frowned, folding his arms as he scowled at the door thoughtfully. "Maybe it's voice-activated somehow?" He suggested.
"As good a guess as any." Hunk muttered. He leaned in and pressed his ear to the wall, knocking lightly to see if he could sound out the control mechanisms. If they couldn't open it normally, maybe he could find some way to take it apart manually. He kept a back-up toolkit in Yellow at all times.
"What would the password be, though?" Pidge shot back. Green's engineering scanner had failed to locate the mechanism, much to her annoyance.
"How should I know?" Lance flung his arms out in either direction, nearly smacking Kurogane. "Oops, sorry. Anyway, Allura, Coran, you knew him best, got any ideas? I'm guessing our usual Earth passwords like 'Open Sesame' aren't gonna be particularly useful here."
Coran frowned, humming, thoughtfully. "Perhaps..." He turned directly to the door, clearing his throat. "Linnata Shei Callast. Coran Hieronymous Wimbelton Smythe." He paused a beat, frowning, then rattled off a few other phrases in Altean that didn't translate. He gave the door an uncertain look. "Odd. Alfor was not skilled at passwords, to say the least. Those were the ones he usually reverted to."
"Yeah, but Holt wouldn't have known any of those." Kurogane pointed out. He ran light fingers over the carvings, expression distant.
"So maybe it is an Earth phrase after all?" Lance offered. "Alfor and Fiorin looked into the past and saw a lot of stuff from our first year-ish, right? Was there any phrases that we used a lot that they might have thought would make good passwords?"
"Hmm...Form Voltron?" Pidge suggested.
"I'm a leg?" Lance grinned at Hunk, who snorted and turned his attention back to the wall. There had to be some way to open it, it didn't appear to be sealed shut in any way...
"I say Vol, you say..." Alejandro teased, elbowing Kurogane, who blushed.
"I'll stick you in a wormhole." Kurogane muttered back.
Allura groaned, rubbing her forehead. "Paladins, please..."
"Oooh, good one, Allura!" Pidge laughed. "How about 'girl, you've activated my particle barrier!'"
Lance squawked. "Hey! When did this become pick on Lance hour?"
"It's not our fault your pick-up lines are so memorable and so terrible." Pidge smirked.
"Excuse me! I'll have you know that I, Alonza Teodosio Vidal McClain-Martinez, have-"
He was cut off by the sudden loud grinding of a long-disused mechanism that seemed to come from almost right under Hunk's ear. He quickly jumped back in alarm as the door, protesting loudly, opened slowly upwards to reveal a long curving hallway cut into the rock and lit by more streaks of quintessence in the ceiling. The end was hidden from sight by the curve of the passage. There was a moment of silence as they all looked to Allura. She swallowed hard, and Hunk could see a hint of anxiety in her expression before she mastered it and strode forward into the opening, Coran following immediately. The others fell in behind her, single file even though there was room for two people to walk side by side.
The passage sloped slightly upwards as they walked, a giant spiral. Hunk let his thoughts wander as they went. He couldn't stop thinking about that first line of the song. The king on the lonely mountain sleeps... Had Alfor managed to get a cryopod from somewhere and hide it here? Was he waiting for his daughter to return and wake him up? But then why hadn't Holt done the same? Was she not able to activate the pod, even though the entry from the cave seemed to be accessible to anyone who knew the right password? Or had Alfor's return been short-lived, the re-awakened king lost with the Green paladin and her Lion when Sh'raa H'ressnol fell?
He was so lost in thought he nearly collided with Alejandro when the other man stopped abruptly in front of him. Backpedalling quickly, he peered around Alejandro's shoulder to see what was going on, but all he could tell was that the hold-up seemed to be at the front of the line, where the passage made a sudden sharp turn to the left. Shiro had moved up beside Allura, and he could see him talking quietly. Her response was too low for Hunk to hear, but there was no mistaking the pained quality of it. Coran was on her other side now, nodding to Shiro's words, and there was a tenseness, a tiredness to his features that Hunk had never seen before except for that day at the Blade base. Whatever was up ahead, it wasn't good.
Shiro had turned away now, and made a cutting gesture with his hands. "Everybody back down." He ordered, in a tone that brooked no argument. "They'll rejoin us in a bit."
Pidge frowned, trying to peer around Shiro to where Allura and Coran had disappeared around the corner. "What? But what about-"
"Now, Pidge." Shiro's tone was unexpectedly sharp, and Pidge's eyes widened, but she obeyed without further protest, turning around and coming up beside Hunk as they all started the long walk back. Hunk kept his eyes on Shiro, though, and his heart clenched at the sorrow in his eyes.
When they reached the entrance cave, Keith turned to Shiro with a frown. "What was that all about? We went all the way in there, and you just suddenly turn us around without even going in? The information we're looking for is in there, and we can't look at it from down here-"
"The information wasn't the only thing in that cave, Keith." Shiro sighed, then pulled off his helmet and ran a hand through his hair. "There was also...an Altean grave marker."
The king on the lonely mountain sleeps.
A pained sound slipped from Hunk's lips, mingling with the equally horrified exclamations of the others. Of course. Sleep didn't have to be literal. It could also mean death. And there was that other line, too. On the day she comes to say goodnight on the lonely mountain slope. He felt like an idiot for not figuring it out sooner, but he'd been so fixated on finding the place that he'd forgotten to even consider that the later lines of the song might mean something too. Allura and Coran had been at the front of the line, they'd been the first to see into the room, see a grave marker hidden inside a mountain that was all that was left of a father and a husband. What a cruel blow that must have been, especially after Coran's crypod suggestion. They must have been so hopeful, only to have it dashed away completely...
Just thinking about it made him feel sick, made him long for his moms and sister, the safety and warmth of their arms. "They're...they're probably gonna be a while, right?" It was obviously Shiro's intention to let the two have some time to grieve in private before anything else happened. "'cause, uh, I'm...I'm gonna go call my moms for a bit. See how they're doing."
"Good idea. I should do that too. Alejandro, Kurogane? You want in?" Lance's voice cracked painfully, making Hunk wince. His friend was probably feeling just as bad.
"You go ahead." Kurogane nudged his partner. "I'll stay with Keith and Shiro. Go talk to your mom, alright?" Alejandro nodded, looking pained, and leaned in to kiss Kurogane's cheek before jogging off toward the Blue Lion with Lance.
Pidge was already making a beeline for the Green Lion as Hunk turned and headed for Yellow, and he grimaced as the blue glow overhead glinted off tears on her cheeks. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kurogane make a shooing motion at Shiro, then he was inside Yellow's waiting ramp and the airlock walls blocked out the rest of the room. He hurried the rest of the way to the cockpit and dropped into the chair, feeling Yellow's concerned nudge at his mind. "I'm okay, buddy." He muttered. "Just...really need to talk to Mom and Mama right now." He tapped at the keyboard, routing a comm link through the Castle to the communicator he'd left with his family. A quick check of the time told him they should both be home, probably getting ready for bed.
The communicator buzzed a couple times before the connection went through, his Mama's face appearing on the screen. "Hunk! Sweetheart! It's good to hear from you!" She smiled happily, then it faltered to a look of alarm. "Sweetie, are you alright? You're crying. Is everything okay? Are you hurt? What happened?"
"N-No, I'm not hurt." He wiped hastily at his cheeks. He hadn't even realized. On the screen, his Mom appeared beside Mama with a concerned exclamation. "I just...really needed to talk to you guys. See you. We, uh, we...we found Allura's Dad's grave, and it just..." He trailed off, unable to find the words for how he couldn't think of anything but seeing his own family, reassuring himself that they were safe, alive, there and waiting when he came home again.
Luckily, they seemed to understand without him having to explain anything to them. Mama made a pained noise of sympathy. "Oh that poor girl. I'm so sorry. But I know she'll be able to get through this, with all of you looking out for her. You've all become very close out there. But we'll keep you company until she's ready for all of you to come be there for her." She smiled softly, running a finger down the screen in a gesture that would have been a hand caressing his cheek if he'd actually been there. "Asoese made a new friend yesterday, and you would not believe the trouble the two of them managed to get into when we took our eyes off them for five minutes..." She rolled her eyes expressively.
She proceeded to give him a blow-by-blow account of Asoese's adventure exploring a storm drain with her new friend, a rather adventurous child named Delaine who was visiting from Ireland. The escapade had lasted several hours, involved a dozen police officers, a team of sewer maintenance workers, and one absolutely frantic uncle who'd been watching the girl and her twin brother while their father was busy. By the end of the retelling Hunk was in stitches as Mom described Asoese vigorously protesting being subjected to a bath even after literally swimming in sewer water.
"...it's easy to laugh about now, but let me tell you, that child is grounded until she's twenty for scaring us like that." She concluded with a disgusted growl.
Hunk laughed, nodding in agreement as he wiped tears of amusement from his eyes. "She's going to be an absolute terror her whole life, isn't she? Tried to make friends with a beached shark when she was two and just never stopped."
Mama snorted. "And don't we know it." She sighed, glancing off to the side. "I think we need to let you go, baby. Will you be alright?"
"Yeah, I think so." Hunk's smile faltered at the reminder of exactly why he'd called in the first place, but he straightened in his chair. Allura and Coran needed them to be there for them once they came down from the cave. "Thanks, Mom, thanks, Mama. I love you guys. Give Asoese a hug for me, will you?"
"Of course, sweetheart. We love you too. Stay safe, okay?"
"Will do. Talk to you soon." He cut the connection off with a sigh just as Yellow nudged his mind. Allura and Coran were coming back. The team's support would be needed, and Hunk was the core of that support. "I hear ya. Let's do this." He squared his shoulders and headed for the ramp.