1Accomplice

Life was just slightly better. Zarkon had quite forgotten the twitch on the bionic arm his wayward son had shown him, so lost he had been in his rage. Maybe he assumed that Hagar had repaired it. Despite having been smacked as he put it, Lotor could now sleep much better. In theory he also had liberty of movement. He simply had to remove the arm and throw it on the sofa. If his father looked at the signal his arm undoubtedly sent, he would assume Lotor was in is room. The prince simply had to avoid being seen.

He decided to test the theory. He would try for another escapade to planet Aris and see if he'd be caught this time... 'As yellow boy would say, thought Lotor, I'll bet my boots I won't be.' He didn't bother with his armor this time. He took instead an old set of clothes. The right sleeve hung uselessly, but curiously he didn't mind that as much as the insectoid appendage. As he didn't intend to be seen, he didn't care if his hair was a mess again. Anyway, his color-shifting cloak hid it. Like a little boy he concealed bundled blankets under his bed sheets, along with the bionic arm. He let the ugly hand poke out. He shaped the mass to look reasonably like a sleeping form and even put an empty bottle near the hand for added realism, should Hagar check his room. An odd sort of excitement washed over him. He escaped, wondering if he would see her.

***** ***** *****

Planet Aris had always mesmerized him. No wonder his father coveted this world. Trees swayed in the soft breeze, and there were flowers everywhere. Allura loved gardening and had the forest near the castle filled with shadow loving plants, ferns, Impatiens and Astilbe, a colorful flower that looked like a fluffed feather. He picked some. His father hadn't caught him, and that confirmed the tracking device theory.

Passing through this forest, you would always come across one of the princess's secret gardens, here a moss arrangement with a cascade, there a wild flower bed. It was enchanting, but none of this compared to the beauty of Allura herself.

Before the fateful "accident" he'd come very often to this place. It still amused him how easily he could evade security. He thought with a smile that if he had put all this ingenuity to work on the plans he devised to crush Voltron, he'd have succeeded long ago. Coming to the edge of the woods, he observed the castle complex.

The palace itself had a boring architecture; it was rather as if the same architect had designed castle doom and this one. Of course castle doom was uglier, but maybe it was just the effect of the light. Doom was lit by a feeble twilight that cut the palace in unlovely gray planes. Here, the rosy glow of the awakening sun gave the structure a magical aura.

The air was fresh and gave him a pleasant sense of being alive. Countless previous visits made the princess's routine quite well known to him. This early in the morning, she would come to tend her garden. The castle's personnel maintained the arrangements in the forests, but this one was mostly hers. She would talk to plants, or even to empty air sometimes; Allura fancied she could see her dead father. She would ask counsel, and listen quite carefully afterwards, as if Alfor was answering. But of course that was ridiculous. If there really was a stray spirit here, the spirit of her father, he would have warned her of his presence. He was the son of his assassin, after all. He wouldn't let him anywhere near his lovely daughter.

The prince had resolved not to show himself. He saw her. For once, she didn't wear her armour or her pink dress. She had a dark blue one, trimmed with cerulean blue lace. And her hair! She hadn't confined it in a tight bun as usual, but instead let it fall on her shoulders, and the dark colour of her dress made it shine as molten gold. Lotor closed his eyes. The sight of her caught him like a blow in the chest. His mind swirled with adoration. A lovesick adolescent, his father had said. He loved her with a passion that nothing could destroy. Staying away from her was a twisted torture. Why did he come here? He must have known he'd only hurt himself.

"Are you playing hide and seek?"

Lotor jumped and swirled around. A young girl stood there, maybe nine or ten years old. Perhaps older. She was looking at him curiously. He hadn't heard her coming, which was very strange, since his hearing was excellent, superior to a human's. She had long black hair, enormous, dark slanted eyes, and such a charming smirk on her impish face that he couldn't help but smile.

He was grateful the veil of his hood made his face invisible; it wouldn't do to terrify her. She'd scream an alert to half the planet. So he simply answered:

"Something like that, yes."

"You're a drule, aren't you? I see your blue hand poke out."

"You're quite clever."

"I know. Ma tells me I'm too smart. Let me guess. You must be one of the refugees, only the drules that were part of the resistance can stay here. You were hurt, too, I see your cape fall strangely on the right side and you wear a spy cloak on a sunny day, with the veil down."

"Half my face was torn off. You wouldn't want to see that, eh?"

"Hmm, no, I'd rather not. No offense meant."

"None taken, little one."

"I'm not Little. My name is Rose."

"What a pretty name. Here, Rose," said Lotor as he gave her his flowers. "I'm a secret admirer of our princess here. Would you carry this to her? I don't want her to see me, and I don't harbor any illusions, but I'd like her to have them."

"Who do I say they're from?"

"Don't. It would... complicate things. "

And, Lotor thought for himself, she'd probably throw them away.

"Be nice," he said to the little girl with a sudden inspiration. "Invent something. Describe me as someone else, someone dashing."

"You want me to lie?"

"Surely an intelligent girl like you can whip up a romantic secret admirer that will make her dream a little, no? I so love to see her happy, and she mustn't like drules too much. She certainly didn't appreciate being pursued by one all those years..."

"You mean prince Lotor, don't you? Ma told me about his love for the princess. I always thought it was a rather sad and romantic thing, you know..."

"Allura doesn't. Please?"

"Oh, all right, I'll say you're a tall guy with his hair to his waist and a beautiful, very white smile. All dressed in black. With amazing eyes."

Lotor smiled as she perfected her creation. He thanked her, truly grateful, and disappeared in the forest. Minutes later, Rose saw the telltale ripple in the air caused by a cloaked ship. She gave him a good five minutes to make his escape, and then got out of the forest to give the flowers to Princess Allura.

"How nice, Rose," she said with a tender smile. "So you still take morning strolls in the forest? You should be careful, you know, sometimes strange people go in those woods."

Allura took the flowers. Astilbe. A good choice, she loved them.

"Thank you, my little Rose," she said.

"Actually, I didn't pick the flowers. They're a gift from prince Lotor."

Allura started.

"He was HERE?"

"Just at the border there," Rose said indifferently. She saw Allura becoming all worried. "He didn't hurt me," she continued. "He didn't even tell me who he was. He was all bundled up in a spy cloak. I sneaked on him..."

"You WHAT? Rose, he's very dangerous! You could have been hurt, or kidnaped!"

"He was just looking at you and he was so intent! I thought at first that he was a castle spy. They look at you like that too... And they wear the same camouflage cloak. I see them every now and them and I love sneaking on them, they think they're so smart. It's fun to see them jump out of their skin. They say I'd make a good spy, too... I saw this guy wasn't one of them when he turned. His hand was blue; he had to be drule..."

"Rose, your very cleverness will put you in big trouble one of these days. You must promise to be careful. And no more ridiculing my spies, ok?"

"Ok..."

Allura saw the little girl's smug expression and didn't believe her at all. She sighed. She had to go to the morning practice. She was also irritated. If a thirteen years old kid, no matter how clever, could sneak on her spies she needed to have the whole system seriously checked. She would ask Coran to see to it. Rose had that charming little smirk that reminded her of something, but she couldn't place it.

"I should box your ears, you know? Nanny will have a fit! I have to go now. I don't want you to go back in the woods. He could still be there."

"Naw, I saw his ship. It was cloaked, but did you ever notice how cloaked ships make the air currents move weird? Just like when it's very hot. He left all right."

"Nevertheless, I'll escort you home. Come with me, young brainstorm."

Allura took her by the arm and brought her in the palace. The little lady wasn't fazed at all.

"Where's your pink dress?" She asked.

"In a trash can. Pink was ok when I was a teenager. Besides it was falling apart. Nanny will probably have yet another one made, but a girl can try..."

"Ma must have thrown a fit! That's a good move. You look much better in that awesome, sinister dark blue. It makes your hair shine so! You must have blasted his neurons."

"Rose!"

Rose noted with a bit of amusement that Allura was still holding the flowers. She graciously let the princess lead her to Ma. Of course Nanny wasn't really her Ma. Her real mother had been killed in the war, and her father, even though he was a noble, was such a drunkard and a loser that the formidable Queen of the Servants had taken her under her wing. She spent all her time there now, and Ma was Nanny's new, sarcastic nickname. She was such a moralist... lecturing was her favorite activity. Rose would have sworn she had a parallel brain. She could do any action and keep on lecturing regardless. She was quite certain that Ma could play chess while lecturing. Rose had developed the "sure and unhum" technique. You threw one every now and then and she'd think you were actually listening. She was using this technique now with the princess.

Rose loved living in the castle. She liked all of the Voltron Force, but her particular favorite was Lance. He played such daring and hilarious practical jokes... He told her countless stories of his wild days before the fall of Doom. The joke of the sexy black dress he had forced Allura to wear on a ball still made her laugh. Lance just had no shame. He said things that made the others turn beet red. The antics of the Voltron team made Rose howl with laughter. (Author: Not Mine, all credit to the respective authors. For those stories go to the short stories in the Beyond Denubian, they're cool)

Ma wasn't there when she got home. The Queen of Castle Servants was undoubtedly lecturing a poor employee somewhere in the castle. Rose said bye to Allura and sat. She thought again of the prince. As soon as he had turned she had known it was Lotor. She analyzed clues like a miniature computer. The missing right arm, the spy cloak, this gazing at the princess... She was also pretty sure he wouldn't hurt Allura, since he could have done it already. He was just there to watch and dream. She decided to get immersed in serious cartoon watching. It would bring him out of her mind, for she couldn't stop thinking about the encounter. He'd had such a sad voice. Now there was someone who wouldn't laugh at any story, no matter how funny. She sighed and turned on the 3D platform.