How To Drown In The Desert
CHAPTER TWO: An Essential Guide to Aliens
The sand-dweller's planet was a steaming ball of sand. Sloping dunes rose in every direction as the castle-ship soared over the planet and entered the atmosphere. The planet orbited near the sun, so Allura had to drive carefully to avoid being pulled into the star's orbit instead of just the planet's, but she did so expertly (like she did with everything, Shiro thought with a hint of pride).
The planet had very few oasis left, leading to overcrowding and fights over the limited water source. Still, they had been invited to the most luxurious of all, where the king of the planet dwelled, King Ilvaar.
"Have you ever come into contact with these aliens before?" Hunk asked nervously, fidgeting with his helmet. "Like, are they friendly, or are they friendly in the 'used-to-be-friendly-but-are-now-vicious-and-violent' kind of way like that planet you sent Lance and I to get the Yellow Lion―"
"The Sjarka are an intelligent, sensible race," said Coran. "Oppressed and damaged by the Galra, but living in such a harsh environment has made them grow wary of outsiders, and very resourceful to how to survive on their planet. They would be great allies! But yes," Coran smoothed down his mustache, "they can be rather violent."
"Great," Keith muttered.
"Are they as technologically advanced as the Alteans?" Pidge said. They already had their tablet out, downloading information from the castle's database, to have a kind of portable encyclopedia.
"Judging from the research I've done, they're decent," Coran answered. "More so than Earth seemingly, but not by much. Most of their technology is devoted to storing and finding water."
"But," said Lance solemnly, "is there a beach?"
Coran's mustache twitched. "I can look on our scanners for you for any large bodies of water?"
Lance clapped him on the shoulder. "Coran, you're the best!"
The alien paused. "Best at what?"
Shiro turned a snort into a cough as he walked up and stopped by Allura's side, just a step behind her. "Princess, is there anything we should actually know before we land?" he asked, as Lance tried to get Keith to help him explain human slang to Coran who listened with wide eyed interest.
She looked over the monitor for a moment, wearing the suit she wore in battle. A safety precaution more than anything else, just so that if a fight did break out, she'd be ready. It was safer than her usual gown, and much easier to fight in. He loved it when her hair was swept up like this (and just her hair in general, if he was being honest) and, not for the first time, he wondered how she could get it all into just one bun.
"The Sjarkans closely guard all sources of water, and any threats towards those limited stores will not be tolerated," Allura said smoothly, her fingers dancing over the holographic keypad. "They have buildings both above and below ground with an intricate set of tunnels connecting everything. That, and Keith's lion's elemental powers will be amplified by the intense heat, and Lance's may be weakened, or at least, he should use them sparingly."
Her fingers paused. "I also looked over how they show affection and intimacy. They're very tactile, especially in face, since they usually cover it when outside because of sandstorms, so things like nuzzling and nose touching is common among married couples. Do humans have those things too?"
A lump formed in his throat. "You mean like this?"
She glanced back at him, her fingers going slack as the tip of his nose pressed into hers. Shiro didn't know where the confidence to do such a thing had come from, only that he could see all the different shades of blue in her eyes, and even, if he looked closely enough, flecks of gold and silver. Heat rose to his cheeks, as his eyes flickered down to where he knew her lips lay, just for a moment.
"I suppose this will do," Allura said quietly. He could feel her warm breath against his lips, and it was almost too much.
He cleared his throat and stepped away. "So," he fought down the blush spreading over his cheeks, "it seems we know everything we need to?"
Except that I love you. Except that I'm in love with you.
Allura smiled faintly. "I believe so."
He managed to return it. "Alright." He looked to his Paladins, and raised his voice. "Alright team, suit up. We'll be landing soon."
The landing went smoothly. There was more than enough space around the Oasis, barren desert stretching out as far as the eye could see. Buildings made of stone and sand turned stable sprang up all along the lush oasis, ginormous palms trees with purple leaves casting shadows over the buildings that went on for miles. That was where most of the Sjarkans lived, Shiro reasoned.
And situated in the centre of the Oasis, next to a vast, glittering pool of water, surrounded by purple trees and bushes, with some green too, was the palace of King Ilvaar. It was made up of large domes stacked on top of each other, misshapen and beautiful at the same time. It reminded Shiro of ant hills, lopsided but sturdy and strong, made of grit and hard work by such tiny creatures. He wondered if the Sjarkans would resemble ants; he still hadn't seen any, although it made sense they wouldn't go outside during the day more than they had to.
They weren't even out of the ship yet, and Shiro could feel the heat pressing in from all sides. Thank God the helmets of their Paladin suits had cooling mechanisms installed, to help regulate extreme temperatures.
Allura came to stand by his side, a golden ring beset with blue jewels on one finger, just visible over the part of her suit that covered the back of her hand. She took Shiro's hand, and he felt the ring press into his skin, knowing he wore a silver one with the same jewels on the same hand. (Alteans wore rings on opposite hands, typically right and left, respectfully, symbolizing two parts of one whole.)
"That's the landing signal," Allura said, leaning closer to him and pointing at the insignia flashing across their green-lit monitor.
He squeezed her hand on instinct. "Here we go, then."
The castle of lions landed without a hitch on the shifting sand dunes, on the outskirts of the condensed village. As the ship's engines died down, the locals started to emerge from their huts.
They had skin the colour of sand, a few shades darker, with thick, short coarse hair pulled down underneath the flaps of their head scarves. Their bodies were swathed in pale cloth, revealing hardly any skin to the harsh sun, fabric pulled over their mouths, but everything else of their faces was visible. The Sjarkans had flat snouts of flesh, squashed and pushed up like a camel's nose with wide, flared nostrils, even if their skin seemed to resemble human's, if a tad more scaly. Their eyes were a soft, glowing yellow, far less ferocious than their glaring dual suns. Bat like ears sprouted out of either side of their heads, popping through slits in their head coverings, tailor made, even if their ears were rounded instead of pointy.
Shiro tried not to stare as he and the Paladins, Allura, and Coran disembarked from the castle.
"Outsiders!" the Sjarkans murmured amongst themselves, voices hoarse and gravelly, even of those who appeared to be female judging by the slight differences of their outfits and slimmer builds. They wore thick golden earrings on the tips of their ears, and their partners wore ones embedded with thin slivers of blue jewels. "Aliens!" The families held their children closer, smaller mirror images of their parents with ears a tad too large for their smaller heads.
"Do you think they have food?" one asked hopefully, standing next to their sibling. Their large ears perked up and wiggled in interest.
"Don't be such a beetle-head," the older one snapped, and the younger one scrunched up their face, their large nostrils flaring.
The younger one shoved the older one only for one of their parents to break them apart, and the crowd of Sjarkans parted too, making way for their king.
And he was clearly the king from the golden crown on his head, and the beard poking over his mouth coverings, which he tugged down with a hand wearing silver gauntlets for protection. Rings glittered on his stubby fingers and bracelets on his wrists. The glow in his eyes dimmed to reveal a softer brown hue underneath the yellow.
"I am King Ilvaar," he announced, throwing his arms wide. His beige garments were baggy under his arms and made it almost look like they were poorly made wings. "Welcome to the Oasis of Osock, we are the Sjarkans, and this is our home."
Allura bowed graciously. "Thank you for the lovely welcome, Your Majesty. I am Princess Allura of Altea, my royal advisor Coran, the Paladins of Voltron. And.." her expression faltered for a moment and she squeezed Shiro's hand; he quickly returned it, their eyes meeting nervously. What if they couldn't pull this off? "This is the leader of the Paladins...and my husband, Shiro."
The words felt heavy and light in her mouth all at once, foreign but sweet. She supposed it would get easier the more they said it. A thrill went through her at the thought of Shiro introducing her as his wife, even if it was only pretend. The lightness faded.
Ilvaar smiled. "It is an honour to meet you all. Please, come to my palace, you must be tired and famished after such a long journey. Your offers of assistance against the Galra are greatly appreciated."
"We intend on making good on our offer," Allura replied, and the king's grin widened, before he turned to his people.
"Let us throw a grand feast to welcome our honoured guests!" he declared. "Let it be known from this day onward, we will no longer live in submission to the Galra, we will no longer live lives of unquenchable first! We shall drink and dine and drink some more, from the springs of the Goddess and all that she has blessed us with!"
The Sjarkans threw up their hands, stomping the ground with their three toed feet and kicking up sand. "Sajar! Sajar!" they cried. "Long live the king!"
It didn't seem to occur to most of the commoners that none of them would be allowed to attend the feast.
The king waved an arm, beckoning the Paladins forth, and Allura's warm hand was a surprising comfort as she and Shiro took the lead. Shiro shifted his fingers and moved to lace his through hers, and gripped her hand tightly. They'd handle whatever came their way together, just like they always had.
Even if they were pretending to be a couple instead of the just the two friendly, companionable leaders they actually were. Because the idea of her and Shiro ever being anything else was ridiculous.
Completely and utterly ridiculous.
So she really shouldn't have been so pleased by the feeling of his fingers entwined with hers.
On the way to the palace, Shiro tried to take in as much as he could: the sloping buildings, the lush purple and green leaves, the wells made of brick that seemed to go down forever, so far he couldn't make out any trace of the bottom, the shoddy wooden stalls lined up along narrow marketplaces, boasting fresh fruit that looked like scaly, hot-pink eggs and a few other things that looked not Earthling exactly, but a little more Altean or Arusian.
Shiro didn't think he'd ever totally wrap his head around how many aliens―all so different and similar all at once―existed out here.
Pidge had taken their tablet out and was silently scanning while they walked, Hunk keeping a watchful eye on them in between awestruck looks at his surroundings, to make sure they didn't walk into anything. If it proved a real hazard, Shiro would ask Pidge to stop, but for now he thought it was a good idea: going in blind to any situation was a disadvantage, and knowing the layout of the city and the rest of Osock would be a big help if anything went wrong.
After how easily the Galra had infiltrated their castle, passing undetected among the many Arusians, he'd never let something like that ever again.
In between the skinny legs and three toed feet and narrow gaps between stalls and houses, creatures scurried around. Sloping, furry beasts, the size of large dogs, with huge bat like ears and glowing yellow eyes that reminded Shiro far too much of the Haggar's (he resisted the urge to shudder) slinked between stalls and garbage pails, feeding off scraps. Their teeth looked razor sharp, and if they weren't so outnumbered, travelling in small packs of threes and fours, Shiro got the feeling they wouldn't hesitate to attack and devour anyone they could get at.
Brightly coloured birds of orange and yellow with bulging eyes perched themselves on rooftops, and every time they shifted in their perch their talons would fall off and drop to the ground, only for new ones to poke out from underneath their feathers. One Sjarkan had set up a basket of woven leaf strips (judging by the purple colour) underneath a cluster of them, the basket steadily filling with the peculiar, silver claws.
Tied to posts and slurping some thick yellow sort of soup from troughs were animals that seemed to resemble camels. They had far bonier legs and three humps, with long, winding necks like a giraffe's, but the colouring of their fur wasn't too different than the Sjarkan's skin, and they had the same sloping forehead and squashed nose, slippery ropes of saliva hanging from their open mouths, full of soft rectangular teeth. Herbivores, and used for transportation.
Shiro relaxed as they passed a few tied to one post, and even laughed when Lance excitedly approached one, cooing, and it spit a gawk of saliva in his face.
"They don't seem to like you much," said Keith cheerfully. "Guess we have something in common."
Lance frowned at him. "Wow, thanks." He wiped some of the spit off his face with his hand and tried to smear it on Keith.
"Boys, be professional, please," Shiro admonished.
The Red and Blue Paladin froze in an awkward position, arms suspended and slapping uselessly at each other, before separating and smoothing themselves over, straight backed and straight faced. "Of course, Shiro," said Lance. Keith coughed into his arm.
Shiro tried not to smile, and leaned over to Allura, their hands clasped between them. "Think we're making a good impression?" he asked softly. At the sight of her, his small grin broke over his face―he could never help it, when he was around her.
Allura returned his tiny smile with one of her own. "I certainly believe so. They cannot afford to waste much resources, so throwing a feast such as this proves how eager they are for our help. I only hope we can follow through and give them the assistance they need."
"With you at the helm, princess?" Shiro looked at her with pride in his eyes. Sometimes, he thought Allura forgot how incredible she was. "We'll be just fine."
Her cheeks turned a light pink, but he had already turned away. She squeezed his hand. "Thank you, Shiro."
King Ilvaar's palace had smooth columns of stone parading at the front with purple leaves strung between like banners, thinned out and woven together in elaborate braids. It was easily the largest building in Osock, grand and made of some white glittering sort of stone, despite the grains of sand that stuck to everything. Thin layers of sand were scattered over the palace's steps, as they climbed the stairs towards the entrance.
The inside of the castle was no less grand, with tall domed ceilings and more pillars along the walls, tapestries of red and white yarn adorned along the walls, showcasing important moments in Sjarkan lore or history (Shiro wasn't sure). Most of them seemed to portray love stories, lovers clasping hands or being reunited, or something along those lines. Even in the tapestries, little lines of white showed where the wedding earrings hung from the Sjarkans' ears.
"They really like marriage, don't they?" Shiro murmured to Allura.
She stroked her thumb over the back of his hand for a moment. "I doubt Coran would have had us do this unlike it was completely necessary," she spoke from the corner of her mouth, a slight twitch of the jaw.
King Ilvaar and his many servants lead them to a huge room that opened up onto a balcony, curtains rippling over the exit way. Wind drifted into the room, with more servants brushing away a light dusting of sand. From inside, Shiro could see grains of sand sticking to the curtain and fading into it. Whatever the curtain was made of made the sand dissolve; he could only imagine the effect was amplified on the outside of the curtain.
The actual room was no less impressive, with the same high domed ceilings. Columns lined the walls with intricate symbols etched into the stone, winding over the pillars diagonally. They almost looked similar to Altean, but he wasn't sure: all alien dialects looked the same to him written down. He'd ask Allura later.
Banquet tables were laid out, weathered wood of a pale brown colour. The rest of the room was open and spacious with tiled floors, sand stuck in the crevices between the chipping red and white tiles. This room must have doubled as both a dining hall and a ballroom.
Would they be expected to dance, Shiro thought nervously. He had never been good with dancing. Yes, he had slow danced with Susie Jenkins at a middle school dance in 8th grade, and stepped on her feet; it wasn't a memory he particularly wanted to relive. Would he step on Allura's feet?
"Shiro?" She tugged on his hand, and he blinked, coming back to the present. The Paladins were already being herded out of the vast room. "King Ilvaar's advisor is going to show us around the rest of the city."
He smiled apologetically at her. "Sorry, princess. I spaced out."
"Spaced―means that your brain left your body? Went someplace far away?" She tried to remember another Earthling term for it; it was on the tip of her tongue. "Zoned out?"
Shiro's eyes brightened. "Exactly, princess."
Allura smiled faintly as they followed everyone else out of the room, letting their clasped hands swing between them.
King Ilvaar's advisor, Noruku, was an awfully skinny Sjarkan with no earrings. "Married to my work," he had answered without needing to be questioned, and then had spent the rest of the day spitting facts at them. When buildings were constructed, what their purpose was, what most Sjarkans did. He wouldn't tell them how the water was harvested, nor how it was stored, or what the holes with metal lids in the ground were for, but Allura supposed they were entitled to their secrets.
Besides, Coran had said they would need to establish trust.
"Is it unusual for a Sjarkan to not be married?" she asked curiously.
Noruku nodded. "Oh yes. Not unheard of, but uncommon. Only those who go into the religious order for the Goddess, or palace servants are exempt. Marriage is a very sacred bond among our kind. Whether romantic, platonic or sexual, finding a life partner is an important step within our people."
"It's not just for reproduction?" Shiro raised his brows.
Noruku nodded. "Children are a part of most but not all marriages. It's a decision left up to the individuals. A Sjarkan's munuð―it transcends regular relationships. It is difficult to explain, in other languages. Then again, I suppose it is equally as hard to define love as a simple entity."
Allura's gaze dropped to Shiro and lingered, her eyes shining and framed by long tresses of silvery hair, some of her hair having come undone from its bun due to the heat. "I suppose so," she agreed, her heart swelling inside her chest. She quickly looked away before he could notice.
"When do the Galra usually come by?" Shiro said, his features hardening.
"They should be stopping here in a week and a half, to take whatever water they can. They have started to not bring as many soldiers, but... five against at least ten as many. Do you really think you can defeat them?"
"Voltron is the most powerful weapon in the universe," said Allura proudly. "Of course they can."
Noruku still didn't quite look convinced. "I hope so, Princess of Altea."
The sound of bells rang out, and they swivelled around to see a large golden bell swinging from side to side from the topmost tower of the palace. Pidge climbed on top of Hunk's shoulders to get a better look, not that the yellow Paladin minded.
"Ah, wonderful." Noruku clapped his gloved hands together, stubby fingers bulging underneath the fabric. "The feast is about to begin! You and the rest better go to the dressing rooms to change into the appropriate attire, servants at the palace will show you the way. Oh, and Princess, you and your husband will be expected to dance, as is custom for all marriages between able-bodied partners."
Shiro stiffened, but Allura merely smiled. "Thank you for letting us know, Noruku. We'll be sure to join in on the festivities."
The two leaders hung back, the rest of their team strolling ahead of them and walking excitedly. Shiro was sure his palm was horribly sweaty, from her having to hold it all day, the intense heat, and now the nerves bubbling up inside of him.
He lowered his voice. "Princess," he began.
She caught the look in his eyes and gave him a small smile. She looked almost amused. "Yes, my Paladin?"
A thrill went through him, but he did his best to ignore it. "I'm not really a good dancer―"
"Lucky for you, I'm an excellent one." She winked at him and his cheeks turned pink. "Just follow my lead." When his frown deepened, her eyes softened. "Trust me, Shiro."
That was one thing he knew how to do, and he nodded, swallowing down his nerves. "Always, Allura."