A/N: I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for reading, and especially Craze, raelee514, Mako1, and Prairie24 for the wonderful reviews! I really appreciated them- in fact, they kind of made my day!

Keith clapped his hands over his ears the second he stepped into the rec room, a pulsing beat thrumming in his chest and reverberating through his skin. "What is that awful racket?" Much to his chagrin, it was Lance who answered, casually draped out over a couch next to Hunk, the two of them perusing an aeronautical salvage catalogue like it was the latest issue of 'Galactic Babes Gone Bad'.

"Pidge is practicing, old man." At the befuddled look Keith gave him, Lance laughed. "He's a universally renowned DJ, Keith. Our little midget genius is all grown up." He shrugged and said louder, "Grown up to have crappy taste in music, if you ask me, but grown up nonetheless."

Pidge, who'd clearly heard Lance if the hand gesture he threw them was any indication, merely pulled out an enormous set of headphones and plugged them into the bank of equipment he was spinning on. Even then, the beat could clearly be heard in the suddenly quiet lounge.

"Ah," Lance sighed, reaching over to turn a page in the catalogue in Hunk's hands. "So much better. I must really be getting old- twenty minutes of Pidge's beats is enough to kill my hearing now. I used to be able to listen to the kid go for hours."

Hunk frowned at him and turned the page back. "I think his music is awesome. And I'm not done looking at that compression gasket yet, buddy." He pointed a thick finger at a picture. "Tell me that wouldn't be perfect for Sara."

"Sara?" Keith settled himself in the nearest chair, feeling a little like an outsider in his own team. He was getting those types of thoughts less and less as the days passed, but it was times like this that really drove home the fact that he'd barely interacted with any of them for over five years. They'd all had their roles to play after Voltron was disbanded, but the others had found ways, both out in the open and covertly, to communicate and see one another, but he... well, he'd tried to limit contact to short communiqués and only when absolutely necessary. There was no need to endanger any of them more than needed, but now that the team was reformed, Keith was beginning to see the flaw in his logic. They'd all moved forward, progressed in their lives, while he'd remained locked on his mission to find and free Black Lion. But now he was trying to remedy that, reinsert himself in the daily doings of the team.

A delighted, dreamy smile floated across Hunk's face. "Sara's my newest creation. She's beautiful, Keith- a real work of art."

Lance leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, "Sara's a truck. A big, chop rod Frankenstein truck with tires so big even Hunk needs a ladder to get in her." He ducked the big man's swipe at his head, but caught a cuff to the shoulder on Hunk's second try. "Oof! Oh, come on, big guy. You know she's gorgeous, okay?"

Nodding, Keith leaned forward and listened earnestly as Hunk described Sara to him in depth. It was time he rejoined the Voltron team as a person, and not just a pilot. "Sounds great. Tell me more."

"I don't see why I have to do this," Larmina complained, tugging at the neckline of the dress she wore like it was trying to choke her.

Taking care to navigate the rocky path they were on, Allura followed her niece at a much more sedate pace. "Yes, you do," she explained patiently. "You're a princess of Arus, Larmina, and you know that means more than waving from a balcony and learning to pilot a Lion. We owe the people of this planet our best efforts, and that includes going out and speaking to our people, hearing their troubles, and sharing their burdens. We're only as good as the poorest farmer."

Ahead of her, Larmina used a boulder to hop a shallow stream instead of taking the small wooden bridge. "No, I mean why I have to wear this stupid dress, Aunt Allura." She yanked at the bodice again. "I feel like I'm suffocating. Why can't I wear my uniform like I always do?"

Ah ha. Sharing a knowing grin with the captain of their guard, Allura stepped onto the bridge, admiring the clear gurgling water beneath their feet. "Because you're not a child anymore. You're growing up into a young woman." Allura brushed a hand over her own gown, the material floating delicately under her fingers. "And our culture dictates that women dress in a feminine manner. Your uniform -and mine- are fine when we're dealing with training and flying, but you need to learn to embrace this, too. Arusian customs are just as important as those of other worlds. If you can't respect your own culture, how will you respect others when you represent our world in matters of state?"

Her speech was met with a loud groan. "I knew you'd say that. I still think this sucks, for the record."

"Noted," Allura replied dryly. "Why don't we focus on something else to get your mind off it? How about your training, or how your studies are going?" she suggested.

Larmina snorted. "Boring. How about..." She trailed off, her cheeks reddening slightly as she slowed and waited for her aunt to catch up. "Can I ask you something?" Cutting her eyes at the soldiers, Larmina asked under her breath, "You know, privately?"

With a discreet hand signal, Allura notified the captain of the guard to fall back a few paces. "Of course," she agreed. "Anything at all. You know I'll always answer you to the best of my ability, Larmina. I've told you that a hundred times."

The young redhead blushed harder. "How do you... I mean, if you like somebody... like like them..." Shaking her head fiercely, Larmina glared at her slippered feet. "How do you know if a guy likes you? Like really likes you?"

Allura smothered a grin. "Is there a particular boy you have in mind?"

The blush flared until the girl's entire face was as red as an Arusian appleberry. "No," she denied too quickly before amending, "Well, sort of. I... he..." She huffed. "Yeah. I guess so."

It warmed Allura's heart to hear Larmina stammer and stutter over a boy- she'd begun to despair of Larmina ever behaving like a normal, carefree girl after everything she'd been through as a child. Taking a deep breath, Allura tried to think back and grab that ephemeral feeling she'd had as a teenager of her first crushes. "Well, I suppose he pays attention to you- really listens to what you have to say, and he looks at you like..." Allura fumbled for the right words to describe the knowledge that a boy found you attractive and fascinating, until a face rose unbidden in her mind, a tanned face with piercing eyes and a mop of dark hair. Feeling her own face warm, Allura took a steadying breath. "When he looks at you, it feels like you're the only thing in the world. Even when you're joking, or arguing, it feels like nothing else around is quite as important to him as you. You feel special, and treasured, and so light that you're sure there must be butterflies in your belly making you lighter than air."

Larmina nodded. "And him? How do you know how he feels?"

The almost childish simplicity of the question stole Allura's breath and broke her heart just a little. "You know, Larmina. Even if he never finds the words, or the courage to give you the words, you'll know. The truth will be there in his eyes every time he looks at you, every time you accidentally touch." Sighing, Allura forcibly collected herself and pushed the youthful face of the Voltron Force commander from her memory. "You can't control feelings- not yours, and not anyone else's. All you can do is hope to meet a man to share your life with that will be honest with himself and you when it matters most. If he can't, then it doesn't matter if he loves you more than anything else in existence. Without truth and trust, attraction is nothing."

The remainder of the walk to Altair proper was completed in silence; Larmina absorbing her aunt's surprisingly sage advice, and Allura lamenting what could have been.

A/N2: Now before anyone starts going, "Ah ha! I know where this story is headed, pairings wise!" I'm going to say that things aren't quite so clear cut as you might imagine at this point. I haven't finished the whole story yet, but I have gotten far enough to say that there are a few romantic false starts, two or three unrequited crushes, one missed opportunity, a spectacularly epic fail at a first kiss, and a wedding dress (and a partridge in a pear tree!) in the future. I know who ends up with whom, and I really hope you enjoy the story as it unfolds!