The call from Kolivan comes through on Keith's private communicator. It's unusual that Kolivan would bypass the bridge and go direct to Keith and his stomach drops at the thought of what it could mean. He manages to extricate himself from Lance and goes to his room to take it.

He flips it on and Kolivan's face fills the holoscreen.

"Keith, I must caution you against this."

There's no felicitations, no greeting, nothing of any kind to that effect. Instead, the Galra rebel fighter just stares down the lens, his jaw tight. Tighter than normal, if that were possible. Keith sucks in a deep breath.

"Caution against what exactly?" Keith stares defiantly back.

"It is one thing to gather all our allies and fighters in one place for a well-planned attack, quite another to do it for a mere bonding ceremony."

Bonding ceremony? Is that what the Galra call it? Keith frowns as Kolivan continues. "Half of the coalitions leaders could be wiped out in one fell swoop!"

"We've moved the castle into a secure quadrant. Zarkon won't know. And even if they did, there wouldn't be enough time to move their fleets into a position to mount an attack."

"Lotor is still out there. He may have aided us against Zarkon's witch but we can NOT trust him. And this bond…" Kolivan's eyes narrow further. "Do you plan to continue your work with the blade?"

"Of course, I do."

"Your bond will compromise you."

"It won't," Keith insists. "Shiro understands that. Whatever needs to be done-" his mind flashes back to the barrier attack, "-then it will be. This changes nothing."

Kolivan hisses. "It changes everything. A blade and a paladin of Voltron? It can not happen!"

"I'm not listening to this, you're not going to change my mind."

Keith cuts the connection before anymore can be said and sags back onto the bed. His heart is racing at the confrontation, a little in anger, a little in fear that Kolivan might well be right. He shudders and curls in on himself, tries to convince himself that his marriage to Shiro won't change anything.

But if the Blade won't accept him back, then were would he go? There aren't enough lions to go around and he even though he misses Red, he can't take her from Lance. And Black belongs with Shiro.

Maybe he could team up with Matt, join the rebels. Voltron and the castleship will always be the closest thing to a home, but he needs to be able to play his part too.

He's bitter. Can't they just have this? After everything they've given up, everything they've had to endure - Shiro especially – can't they have this one thing. It's childish to cry over – the universe certainly doesn't do them any favours but…

God, he wants this. He wants to marry Shiro. And Keith never lets himself want anything.

In another part of the ship, Coran is standing in front of the row of paladin armour, tapping his foot and twisting his moustache in contemplation. He glances from the armour to the dark mass of material on the floor in front of him. One pile is blood red, the other the darkest hues of midnight.

One of the space mice squeak and he looks down at them where they hover around his feet. One of them jumps into a pile of what looks to be feathers and a small cloud rises up to colour the air.

"Yes," he says he says to himself. Or maybe to them. He's not quite sure. "Yes, that could work beautifully. Oh, Coran, I always knew our talents as an intergalactic fashion pirate would one day come into play. Today is that day!"