For all of you who continue to follow this story:
Shukran
Sukria
Gracias
Grazie
Merci
Köszönöm
Köszi
Kiitoksia
Thank you
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Allura turned the corner for her daily visit with Keith. To her surprise, she saw Lance sitting in the chair next to the bed. The red pilot had stopped visiting except for a brief check in the evenings. The sight of his best friend and commander lying unresponsive left him with feelings he did not want to analyze. As she watched, Lance threw his head back and laughed. Hurrying her steps, hope flared as she crossed the last few meters to the room. Stopping dead in her tracks, she saw Keith sitting up in bed with Cady in his arms, a smile on his face.
She must have gasped because all three faces turned toward her. With trembling steps, she forced herself to approach the bed, "You are awake!"
"Of course I am awake, Princess," replied Keith, "the good doctor has promised to release me this morning, remember?"
"But, I do not understand." Allura grasped the end of the bed and looked at the pilots in confusion. "You were in a coma just a few hours ago and Dr. Gorma is releasing you?"
Lance stood from his chair and placed a hand on Allura's forehead. "Think she has caught whatever you had Keith." He sent a smirk over his shoulder, "Now, don't they call this the kissing disease?"
Groaning, Keith grabbed a pillow from behind him and threw it at Lance. Allura blinked in confusion as it seemed to pass right through Lance. She rubbed her eyes, trying to clear them.
A buzzing noise grew louder, drowning out the laughter of the men and the little girl. The room seemed to fade around her and the buzzing grew louder. Panicked, Allura tried to reach for Lance or Cady and her hands passed right through them.
The room went black.
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Allura's eyes flew open and she quickly up-righted herself from where she had fallen asleep across the desk. The loud buzzing beside her ear called her to yet another meeting and griping session. In a fit of temper, she threw the device across the room where it fell into a corner continuing to buzz, albeit muffled by its new location. Slumping back to the desk, the princess folded her arms in front of her and lay down her head. Tears leaked from behind closed lids as the reality of the dream hit.
Only another damned dream. She had lost count of the number of times she woke during the night alternately joyful, confused, ecstatic, and thankful Keith had woken and lived only to realize her imagination had supplied another illusion. At first, she had recognized them as dreams. As her insomnia increased, so her ability to tell the dream from the reality decreased. The worries of the planet and her people kept her mind spinning. Allura found herself turning on the light every five or ten minutes as another thought crossed her mind and she wished to jot it down before forgetting.
Lance had stopped into see her earlier, appearing haggard and even his attempts at his usual humor fell flat. He continued to try and take on all of Keith's normal tasks as well as patrolling, assisting with recovery, only a portion of the myriad of required tasks. Lifting her head, she uncrossed her arms and rested her chin on the palms of her hands, fingers going along side her cheeks. Eyes narrowing she thought about the people around her. For the last three months, no one had taken a break from preparation, training, battle, rescue work, rebuilding, and the myriad of tasks needed doing. The castle staff had worked overtime to clean what they could after this latest attack while performing normal duties and recovery work. The kitchens ran 24-hours every day feeding troops, mechanics, hospital staff, and the regular component of castle staff.
As she sat, Allura wondered when the last time she had taken a break much less anyone else around her. Since before the announcement regarding Lotor and his return, came the answer. Abruptly, she sat upright in her chair and nodded to herself. With a press of the button, she summoned her secretary who arrived momentarily.
She smiled at Allura, "Just waiting outside the doors. I did not want to disturb you until absolutely necessary." Having worked for the princess for nearly three years, she had become accustomed to her employers work habits. Just before a meeting, the princess usually reviewed any documents necessary or used the few minutes to attend to another task. Arriving early only meant she waited on others and had less time to work. Ialla always timed her knock to leave just a minute to finish a last thought and arrive at the meeting on time.
Meetings with the princess began when the princess arrived. When Ialla had first started working for her, Allura had often waited for minor dignitaries or officials. Finally, Ialla had enough. She wanted to work for the princess, but not use her insane hours. With the help of Captain Kogane, she had developed a plan and approached the princess. Starting the following week, meetings would only occur during certain hours and would start when the princess arrived. Anyone arriving late to a group meeting would find themselves waiting until an appropriate break had occurred. Arriving late to a private meeting resulted in a cancelled meeting. Ialla would reschedule the meeting once. If the person did not arrive on time the second time, Ialla would assume the reason for the meeting no longer existed.
At first, Allura had blocked the idea saying as Princess her people needed access to her. With the Captain's backing, Ialla had stated a good ruler left time for themselves. If she did not take care of herself, how could she expect to take care of her people? Smiling, the secretary remembered the astounded look on her face. When Ialla had suggested the Captain would approve, Allura had quickly capitulated. The staff knew of Allura's feelings for the Voltron Leader and how she wanted to impress him.
The Captain also knew of these feelings, but never took advantage of them. He had taken his oath to protect and defend Arus to heart. The castle staff had watched him take the young monarch under his wing to teach her to defend her planet and herself. When the ruling council threatened to take away that right from Allura, he had neatly put them in their place. The Captain rarely raised his voice or spoke harshly, but few would stand and argue with him. He had hired Ialla to assist Allura. Rather than argue with the princess about her need for a secretary, he had simply presented Ialla as a fait accompli. She remembered he had told the princess he needed more time to train her on the lion and in self-defense. Therefore, he had interviewed and hired a secretary to help her with the day-to-day matters of rule.
Allura had protested, and Ialla remembered the captain's words. "You chose to fight for your planet in the most personal of ways. You chose to stand on the front line to defend those who cannot defend themselves. You chose your danger over your people's. I have supported and defended you in this decision, initially against my better judgment. You have a responsibility to maintain yourself in the best fighting condition possible. As your commanding officer, I have noticed your performance lately, lacking. This cannot continue. Either you accept help or I will find a replacement."
The captain had spoken in a matter-of-fact voice. Allura had turned to look at the woman standing next to the captain. Ialla knew what she saw. A woman in her late-thirties with dark hair streaked liberally with white. She had worn her best clothes for the meeting with the princess, carefully mended many times and specially re-dyed for the occasion. The simple peasant skirt reached only to her mid-calf. The rest of the material had gone to repairs and patches. She had turned the skirt several times and carefully darned any rips with small seams. Her simple blouse had thin patches, but a light under layer dyed the same color hid most of them. Like most of the planet, she made do with what they could scrounge. Since the arrival of the five pilots, conditions had started improving, but the first production of cloth would not finish for several more months. Little had come in with the relief convoys as equipment and food took priority.
She had dark green eyes with streaks of lighter green. Lines around her eyes and mouth showed she had used to smile much. The war with Zarkon and Doom had taken much of the laugher and life from the people. She looked thin, like much of the planet. No longer did they eek sustenance lives out of the caves, but it would take more time before the people looked healthy and plump.
The princess looked back to the captain, who simply stood, waiting the princess' decision. Sighing, she turned to smile at the woman next to Keith. "Ialla, is that correct? If you could come with me, I will show you my office and we can start on learning to work together."
"As you wish, your highness. Captain Kogane has already given me some instruction as to what you will require." Ialla hid a smile at the look which quickly passed over the princess' face. The captain knew she would try to work around his directives and simply took the possibility away from the princess. Although she would work for Princess Allura, Ialla's instructions came from Captain Kogane.
The Captain gave a brief bow to both ladies, "I shall leave to become acquainted." With that, he turned down the hallway, leaving the women eyeing each other.
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Allura smiled to herself. Over three years later and she could not imagine her life without her assistant. Ialla kept her organized and ready for whatever came. She had lost her family in the war with Doom and found the challenge of managing the princess to fill a void in her life. Within six months of working as Allura's assistant, Ialla had whittled the amount of daily paperwork and the amount of complaints she had to personally attend to a manageable amount. As the world started recovering, Ialla had approached the princess about expanding her staff. She could still handle the workload, but foresaw needing more people. Allura had given her carte blanche and the quiet office became a suite of rooms with a receptionist, page room, and four other women who had lost their families to Doom. Each woman had her own story.
The sound of a throat clearing brought Allura back to the present. Ialla stood waiting in the doorway. "Your highness?"
Rising, Allura reflexively brushed her hands over her trousers in an attempt to smooth them. "Just woolgathering, Ialla. I am ready. I also want you to work up a proclamation. When the military gives us the all clear, we are having a day of celebration. All work will cease and we will light bonfires and tell the stories of the men and women who have given their lives for our freedom and for our home."
Walking to the door, Allura continued to give details on what she wanted for the celebration. Ialla's fingers flew over her data pad as door closed softly behind the two.
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Over the next week, Allura noticed people walked a little straighter and attitudes had started to look toward the positive. As the news of the proclamation for the celebration had spread, people flooded the castle with requests ranging from simple to absurd. Ialla dealt with most of the requests; only passing those on to the princess she felt needed her personal touch, or when the princess needed a boost in her spirits.
Although Captain Kogane continued to improve in body, he still showed no signs of waking. For each day which passed with this news, the princess' spirits fell a little further. Ialla took it upon herself to find the positive in any news coming from the hospital. The celebrations and the resulting boost in her people's attitude went far into helping the princess stave off the depression.
Ialla looked over the latest report from Doctor Gorma. Physical therapy continued as did slow weight gain. Although the captain still looked like a starving slave, he looked better. Tests showed his left arm with extensive nerve damage and would require months of therapies and possibly more surgery to repair. The report continued, but Ialla carefully edited it to the most positive aspects before she would hand it to the princess. Originally, she did not edit the reports before giving them to Allura, but as the first week of the captain's coma persisted, found herself spinning the reports in a more positive manner. The princess did not have the luxury of wallowing over Captain Kogane's condition; too many other matters needed her attention. Ialla knew, in this instance, her interference made the difference in the princess' ability to function.
At the bottom of the report, Ialla's eyes widened. For the first time in nearly three weeks, a machine had detected a period of higher brain function. It had lasted less than a full minute and had not repeated at the time of the report. Chewing her lip, she looked at the innocent lines. The incident had not repeated. Less than one full minute. With a sigh, Ialla deleted the reference and paused before sending a concise copy to the princess' pad. The people needed their leader in front of them, not sitting at the side of a dying hero. She had her orders from Captain Kogane, and would follow them. He had given her a new purpose in life, a new life really. When he hired Ialla to help the princess, they had spoken at length regarding the captain's view of the princess. In essence, he needed Ialla to teach the princess how to delegate, how to take time for herself, and how to prioritize. Allura, he continued, although practical, had a streak of sentimentality which could undermine her ability to rule. He needed Ialla to act as a buffer between that sentimentality with ruthless efficiency. The people of Arus knew to play on their ruler's heartstrings; therefore, the ruler needed a filter. The captain believed Ialla, with her practicality in organizing the caves where the remains of her village had taken shelter and allocation of resources based on need and return would serve the planet well.
Ialla had taken that challenge upon herself. Stiffing her shoulders, she sent the report to the princess, then turned to the next item on her agenda.
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