Disclaimer: I don't own Voltron or its original Japanese version Golion. Both are the property of their original creators and/or importers/dubbers. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

The Sindariin

Chapter Nineteen:

In panoply of ancient kings,

In chained rings he armored him;

His shining shield scored with sigiled rings

To ward all wounds and harm from him;

His sword glowed blue and brilliant,

An Eldain blade forged of lazon ore;

It felled his enemies most defiant

Thus he was when gone to tour.

Among the gods he was favored,

There flying Angmaal came to him;

Eliindaal's courage then wavered,

A destiny was bound to him

And crowned him with living might;

And dauntless with burning brow

He asked the Doom god for his fate;

It was then that Angmaal said with a bow,

'The tribes of Galra many and mighty

But are scattered by friendless bickering;

The god-King wishes them be one people rightly,

You shall be his champion glimmering;

Your will is strong, forged in reckless fire,

Your skills matched by none save the gods' own;

Forge for the gods a Galra Empire.'

- An excerpt from The Tale of Eliindaal as recounted by Telira ni Numrah in the First Age of the Galra Empire.

Among all of Eliindaal's harem, Leania was most favored by the great conqueror. And she bore for him a son, Narhline. But though he was favored by his father the king, it was his brother, Isiline, whom was named their father's heir. Isiline was born of the king's wife and though he was younger than Narhline by a count of years none could contest the young Prince Imperial's claim. But Isiline was also ill-liked by the gods and doom quickly found him. Eliindaal grieved for his son, for while he was not the favored one he was still well loved. In his hour of grief Angmaal, god of Doom and Destiny, once again appeared before the king.

'Do not grieve the loss of Isiline.' Said he. 'For he now sits in the halls of your fathers in the Otherworld. Do not look to what you have lost but remember that which is still with you. One son you still have, your line is not broken. Favored by the god-King you are and Menagroth blesses those that he favors. Narhline shall be king after you are gone and your line will never perish from the world. Though Eliindaal is mortal the blood of Eliindaal shall be eternal and one day stretch your great Empire to the stars.'

The great king knew that these words were true for Angmaal was god of Destiny and when he spoke it was not prideful boasting of Menagroth's might but Prophecy to be heeded. Thus it was Narhline, son of the harem slave, which succeeded his father as Emperor.

- Transcribed from the Annals of Galraprima in the Second Age of the Galra Empire, in the year seven after the Great Cataclysm (7 A.G.C.).

Legends and histories are funny things. An account of an event written by one who lived it could be called a 'historical document' for the decades (or even a whole century) following said event. However, there then comes a point when society comes to regard it, not as a reliable historical source, but rather just another ancient legend. The many tales of Eliindaal Galraprima, First Emperor of Galra, are some such documents.

While there is physical evidence to prove that most of the events of his life did, in fact, take place the majority of his legends can (and should) be discarded as fantasy. Most notable of these are his numerous conversations with the gods and their messengers. Whether one is religious or not it must be pointed out that his is the only tale in Galran history where the gods not only reveal themselves to a mortal but also take an active interest in him. It is a characteristic unique to Eliindaal's stories and no others.

A possible explanation for this is rather simple, however. No person before him had ever conceived of the idea of uniting the thirteen tribes under one rule before. Certainly warlords had tried to conquer one another, but none had even though to dominate them all. Remembering the superstitious mentality of the time, it is understandable that they would think such an idea had not come from Eliindaal himself but rather was a revelation or divine mission from the gods.

[…] The prophecy of the 'eternal blood-line' is another logical fallacy of early Galran thinking. Of course the Imperial blood-line would continue almost into infinitum. As ruler of the entire planet the Emperor would never be short of willing women with which to sire heirs on. It's a simple matter of numbers, the Emperor and his Princes (when they came of age) would no doubt sire more heirs and perspective heirs than war, intrigue or assassination could dispose of. Ergo, the bloodline would always continue. Nothing supernatural about it.

- An excerpt from "A Rational Study of Eliindaal" by Emering fin Argavin (1956 A.G.C. – 2008 A.G.C.), published in the year two-thousand and eight after the Great Cataclysm (2008 A.G.C.).

What my colleague, Emering, conveniently leave out of his somewhat bias 'study' of Eliindaal and specifically his Eternal Bloodline is that our current Emperor, the great Daibazaal (whom has claimed no title) did not produce an heir until the latter half of his reign. This was not from lack of 'willing bed-partners' as my colleague would imply, but rather, (and this is just theory, mind you) the gods were waiting. Angmaal did say that the Empire would 'stretch beyond the stars' and we have succeeded in fulfilling the Destiny god's prophecy.

However, now that we have reached the stars and are continuing to expand we are also needing to adapt. New slaves, new foods, new weapons, new treasures are flowing into our fair capitol every day. But along with them come new problems. The gods know that and, in their infinite wisdom, know that we cannot continue to be as we have always been. That is why they have given our great Emperor the young Prince Sincline. He is the combination of our great Empire's Eternal Blood-line of Eliindaal and that of an alien woman. A cross-genus hybrid such as he could not exist if not by the will of the gods and the gods do nothing without purpose.

Prince Imperial Sincline, future Emperor Sincline will be as a new Eliindaal and unite the tribes of the stars under one rule. As it was in the First Age it shall be again, the son of a slave shall sit upon the Golden Throne as Emperor.

- Taken from a pamphlet circulated shortly after the publication of Emering fin Argavin's book, author unknown (2008 A.G.C.).

…

"Test it again." Sincline growled. He stood with his arms crossed, his feet set and his features set in a seemingly permanent scowl of displeasure. As demanded, Fala's human doctor had run a paternity test on the fetus within her, but the results had shown that it was his and the couldn't be so. After the second time the results came back the same, however, he decided that the human must be lying to protect Fala and (after giving the woman a severe beating) he called in his own doctor.

Robline had taken new samples and run new tests, but even he showed that the child was the Emperor's. They had been going through this for several hours now and everyone was exasperated, but still the Emperor persisted. For reason's unknown to the Galran doctor he maintained that the child couldn't be his.

"Your Eminence, we have tested it several times already. The results will not change, I assure you." He said this with a low apologetic bow of submission that did little to placate the Emperor's mood.

"I told you." The Empress muttered from her seat on the examining table.

"You be silent!" Her husband snarled. He pinched the bridge of his nose where a stress headache had been throbbing for the past hour. He had already taken several pills for it, but the headache refused to go away. "Test. It. Again."

Doctor Robline sighed in resignation and once again disappeared into the lab to run what must have been the tenth test with what must have been the eighth samples. The doctor had no idea why the Emperor would continue to maintain that it couldn't be his. While he did not care to be ruled by a human woman for an Empress he had heard no rumor of infidelity on her part, nor did he think any man could have snuck in at any point. The Emperor was to careful with whom was allowed to see her and her Guard Captain was to good at her job for any secret lovers to slip through.

Alone again in the infirmary, Fala studied her husbands scowling face, the tight set of his shoulders, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. He was radiating nothing but hostility and unbridled fury. He actually did believe that he was sterile.

"Sincline…" She ventured, unsure if it was safe to call attention to herself or not. He had not laid a hand on her since dumping her on the examining table on which she still sat and, in fact, had tried to keep as far a distance from her as he could in the small room.

"Are you ready to tell me the name of your little bastard's father?" He snarled at her.

She flinched at the harshness of his voice and the venom in his words. But slid off the examining table and crossed the room to him all that same, trusting in the fact that he claimed to care for her than she would not be severely harmed.

"Yes." She whispered, soft gentle hands reached up to cradle his face and she stood on the tips of her toes trying to close the distance between their eye-levels. He made no move to help her close the distance and so it was to his chin that she said, "His name is Sincline Hangalra, son of Daibazaal and Emperor of the Galra Empire."

"You lie." He pushed her away.

Off balance she clattered to the floor, but buttocks painfully impacting on the hard tiles.

"I'm not you!" She snarled back up at him, blue eyes blazing. "I don't lie as easily as I breathe. You said you were sterile and I believed you! I can't believe I believed you."

"Half-breeds are sterile, Fala." He growled back at her. "Every grade-schooler knows that!"

"Yeah, and mammals and reptiles aren't suppose to be able to cross-breed either." She shot back. "Every grade-schooler knows that too! According to any biological-science you use, you should not exist but you do. Obviously, biology doesn't apply here, so why are you even trying to apply it? Go ask a witch if you're sterile. I'm sure they could give you some magical reason why you're not!"

He opened his mouth as if to speak but no words came out. He glared down at her, his golden eyes smoldering with un-channeled emotion. She pulled herself to her feet and met his gaze, not willing to back down. She had done no wrong and she refused to be treated as if she had. After long moments of their staring contest Sincline gave up and left, slamming the infirmary door as he did so. Fala flinched at the sound but was relieved that he was gone.

Robline reentered not long after that with the results from the latest test that were no different from the pervious ones. He glanced around the room in confusion. "He left?"

"Yes." The Empress muttered, not looking at him.

The doctor sighed. None of this made any sense to him but then again, the Emperor's moods have always been capricious, even when he was child he was mercurial and volatile.

…

Sincline slammed the door to his chambers with nearly enough force to shake the door from its hinges. He strode over to his liquor cabinet and, selecting a bottle of yarbara, took a long gulping swig of the blood-wine.

He wasn't sure what to think anymore. His whole world had suddenly been turned upside down. For almost all his adult life he had been sure that he was incapable of fathering a child. After all, none of the women in his Collection had ever become pregnant. Every night he'd been having sex since puberty almost, and nothing. Nothing before now. He bangs Fala for a couple of weeks and suddenly boom! 'You're a father!'

"This is bullshit!" He snarled aloud.

As his wife had said on the night she refused to be his ardan, it was to soon. If he had known precautions would have been taken. He was just starting to enjoy her the way he wanted to and now he had to share her. The gods must be punishing him for something. The gods! He suddenly remembered his words to Fala that night, 'It would take an act of the gods…'

Sincline did not consider himself to be a religious man, he believed the gods existed and he offered them worship every now and again, but he was certainly not what you would call 'devout'. But just because he did not pay much attention to them did not mean that they weren't watching him. After all, it was by their will that he was even born in the first place. As Fala so kindly pointed out a few moments ago: he should not exist. Of course the gods would keep tabs on him and certain gods might take his words spoken that night as a challenge.

'It would take an act of the gods…' Well, the gods had acted and now he had to live with the consequences. "What kind of deus ex machina bullshit is this?"

His question went unanswered, however. The gods had not spoken to a mortal since the days of Eliindaal (assuming they had ever spoken to him in the first place), so of course they would not come down to explain a few things to him. In fact, they probably thought his cluelessness over this situation was fucking hilarious.

Sincline took another swig of wine and stormed back out of his room. The shrine was at the end of the hall. He rarely went in there, his father had never put much emphasis on religion and Sincline sometimes wondered if (before he was born) if Daibazaal had been an Atheist. He had always scoffed at any mention of the gods and reminded the prince not to 'fall for any of the superstitious non-sense'. Yeah, 'cause it was totally 'superstitious non-sense' when a reptile-mammal hybrid is born or when a sterile half-breed somehow manages to father a child.

He glared at the statue of Menagroth in the center of the room. "What's your game?" He demanded. "What do you want from me?"

The statue offered noting in reply. It was made of stone and, in fact, could not speak. Sincline let out a groaning sigh of exasperation and sank to the floor before the god-King. "What am I gonna do?"

He did not want to be a father. He had never thought he would and so had never planned for it. He had had a plan for when the time came for him to name an heir, but that had nothing to do with having a child of his own. His entire life plan was suddenly thrown out the window and Sincline had no idea what to do. He felt a bit like an idiot teenager at the moment and did not like it.

He took another sip of his wine and wondered exactly what he was going to do.

…

Fala didn't want to return to her rooms on the residential floor for fear that her husband would be there. But she really had no other place to go within Demon Castle and had no real friends to confide in. With a heavy heart she entered the lift that would take her back to her chambers.

She saw no sign of Sincline when she stepped off into the corridor and breathed a small sigh of relief. She dashed to her rooms and locked the door behind her.

The Empress sat for long moments in silence, her mind reeling from the evening's events. So much to process in such a short time. She still couldn't believe it, not really. Everything had happened so fast she wasn't sure if it wasn't some vivid nightmare. One moment she had been sick all over the floor, then suddenly in the infirmary being told she was pregnant, and then Sincline was yelling, accusing her of having an affair, then back to the infirmary again. Unreal. All of it just seemed unreal.

But it was real.

She didn't want to believe it, but all her symptoms suddenly made so much more sense now! In fact, if Sincline hadn't claimed to be sterile before it would have been the first thing to pop into her mind.

'Fala, what a fool you are.' She reprimanded herself. 'What am I going to do now?'

Yes, what was she going to do? While she wanted nothing more than to get away from this awful place and return home to Altea she was painfully aware that that would be impossible now. Sincline was still in socked denial, but as soon as he came around to the reality of their situation he'd be twice as cautious with her as he was now. If she managed some how to slip out of the castle he would hunt her until she and his child were returned safely to Demon Castle. And if Kogane and the Golion team came to rescue her…

'Kogane…'

Fala buried her face in her hands. An image rose to the surface of her imagination. Black Lion tearing a wide hole through Demon Castle's walls, her beloved Kogane jumping out and racing through the halls in search of her, screaming her name in desperation to find his lost princess. He burst through the doors to her chambers and froze at the sight that he would see. Fala sitting on her sofa nursing an infant child with Sincline's blue skin and golden eyes... She would look up, her eyes shining with unshed tears...

'Kogane... I'm sorry.'

It seemed the sorrowful vision would come to be a prophecy of doom for her now. She was carrying Sincline's child and he would never allow the Golion team to take her or it from him. He did not like to louse and he did not like other people touching his things. If she was rescued, if she was returned to Altea her husband would fallow like the very devil on their heals and once he got her back he would destroy the Golion team and possibly the super-robot as well. He would destroy her planet down to the last blade of grass as retribution for attempting to take her from him.

No, in her heart now Fala knew she could never leave this place. Demon Castle and planet Galra were her home now. The Altean-born Empress knew this and despaired.

…

Sincline had gone through several stages of communion with the gods. The first was angry ranting and accusations that they were tormenting him with not other purpose but their own entertainment. Then he had switched to fearful and apologetic, apologizing to the gods for his behavior and asking their forgiveness. After that he reminded himself that they were only statues and have no supernatural powers over him, he called himself a fool for falling into such a ridiculous trap of superstitious non-sense. The, realizing how much he sounded like his father in that moment, switched back to the apologetic petitioner asking for pardon. After that was self-depredating humor, he laughed at himself and the way he had been acting and though how amusing he must appear to the gods with all the non-sense he was babbling.

This continued on for several hours, his switching from anger, to fearful, to skeptic, to apologetic, to amused… finally he settled on accepting but apprehensive. He muttered a brief prayer to Vianya, goddess of sex and fertility; thanking her for the gift she had given him and promising that while he did not appreciate it right now, he would try to in the future. Then to Maltessak, god of parenthood; asking for strength. Then one to Aradianya begging for Fala to requite his feelings for her now that she was to be mother of his child. And finally, a prayer to Angmaal, god of doom and destiny, asking him to kindly keep his divine nose out of other people's business.

He exited the shrine room mentally exhausted and slightly tipsy. He had managed to drink the entire bottle of yarbara in there and swayed slightly as he walked back to his own chambers.

He dumped the empty wine bottle in the sitting room waste bin and staggered through the door to his bedroom to flop down on his bed. He pulled his boots off and threw them hap-hazardly in the general direction of his closet before crawling under the covers still clothed and falling asleep.

It was several hours after that that he woke up again, he had not rested that long and was still tired, but he hated sleeping in his clothes and rolled out of bed to strip them off. He remembered how Fala would watch him when he would strip in front of her. How, to spite her protests, her eyes would follow his movements and rove over his exposed body. She at least found him a pleasure to look at, why couldn't she segue that into an emotional connection. That was how his feelings for her had started. Looks first, feelings later. Wasn't that how most relationships worked?

Well, she could be content to just look for a while, because as fragile as she was and now that she was pregnant on top of that, he didn't plan to touch her! He would not dose her with the aphrodisiac anymore for fear that it might harm the child and without it their coupling would return to what it had been before, when he was still convinced he could impress her into caring for him with his bedroom skills. She had always come away from those encounters injured in some way and he would not do that to her while she was pregnant. Not when he could run the risk of hurting not only his wife but his child as well.

…His child…

The idea was still just a bit to much for him to believe right now. He had thought himself to be infertile, incapable of fathering children for so long that he wasn't sure if it were really real or not. He wondered if this were how his father had felt when he had learned that a human slave was carrying his child, or if the old bastard had even cared at all.

Sincline paused in unlacing the fly of his pants. He once again thought of the comparison between his mother and Fala. The two resembled each other in appearance and now their lives were paralleling as well. The Emperor retied his fly and exited his chambers heading for his private study. He dug his mother's picture out of his desk and scrutinized it.

It was not a holo, but rather a paper printout from one of her files. When Sincline had been younger he pestered his father about her until the old man had finally dug up and printed out a picture of her to placate his nagging child. Sincline had thought she was the most beautiful person in the world when he first saw her. At that time he failed to see the sadness in her eyes. He wondered what it was like for her, what her life was like as the mother of the heir apparent. If only he could have spoken with her once. He had no memory of her, she had died when he was so young.

"I wish you were here now." He told the picture. "For myself and for Fala."

For Fala… He had no idea what this pregnancy would do to Fala. He was confident that it wouldn't kill her; his mother had apparently survived him (only to be killed by his father an undisclosed time later), but what other damage might it cause her? There were no textbooks on interspecies breeding because, aside from him (and now Fala's child) it doesn't happen. Where would they go for help and advice and information? The only other person in existence that had gone through it was dead. If only his mother had kept a journal or… or his father's scientists had kept files!

Of course they did! It was a medical marvel, an impossible occurrence, every doctor, scientist and researcher in the Empire would want to study her! They must have kept records of their research! Hadn't his very picture of her come from a file?

Sincline dashed from his study back downstairs to the Executive Library where official records and classified documents were kept. The clerk on duty was dozing at his desk when the Emperor entered, startling the man. He blinked at him, barefooted and shirtless and asked, "Your Eminence, how may I be of ser-"

"Give me all the files on the slave Nienor Hurin." He commanded.

The clerk was slow in following the direction, still groggy from his nap. He returned to the desk carrying two trays of datadisks, which he extended to the Emperor.

"This is all of it?" He asked.

"Yes, Your Eminence." The clerk nodded.

Sincline took the files and retreated back to the royal residential floor and barricaded himself in his rooms to read.

…

(A/N: Perhaps I should reverse the genres for this fic from "Drama/Angst" to "Angst/Drama". That does seem slightly more fitting, wouldn't you say?)