(From Ashes) Chapter 10

             Pride: From Ashes
            Chapter 10
            The Knight of the Waters

The next morning, Allura's mind was still giddy with the thought of the Lions awakening. Coran had gone to see about the new 'Bonded' of the Yellow Lion, leaving Allura with Larmina to ponder how to get to know the rest of their potential partners better.

Very strong vehka brew was involved. Allura needed all the alertness she could get right now.

"I wish I could speak to them more freely," the princess was musing aloud as she drank. "I'm afraid I'll tell them something they have to learn on their own—I'm supposed to be able to nudge them, but—"

"Auntie, slow down." Larmina sipped from her own mug and shook her head. "You are totally on a vehka rush right now."

The rush wasn't just from the vehka, but her niece wasn't wrong, either. "I know… we've just been waiting for so long."

"Yeah." Frown. "For offworlders…" She held up a hand against Allura's reproachful look. "I know, I know. I don't have to be happy about it, okay?"

"I suppose you don't." It was still fair, she decided. But if the Earthlings were what she believed, Larmina would come around. "But no matter what questionable reasons the Lions might have for choosing these outsiders, they will help us. I believe that." She had to believe that. "Now that one has awakened, I just wish we knew… how are the others trying to answer? What progress have they made?"

Larmina frowned; that was a broad question. But she could offer one thing. "Well… I did see one of them who'd been swimming in the lake? With his clothes on, no less. And he was petting a bunch of gorcas to make a lion happy, or something." Allura was now curious, looking up and nodding for her to continue; she snorted. "Is petting the cephalopods supposed to be part of making a lion appear? …Don't you dare say yes, that was supposed to be a joke."

"No… that would not have a lion 'appear', but it could be considered a gesture of good will." Allura tapped her chin thoughtfully. Lake Almeria was large and deep; it was the correct place to be, yet not the correct path to take. "It sounds as if he's close… perhaps a small assist might be an option."

Larmina arched an eyebrow. Auntie had just said she couldn't tell them too much. "What, are you going to paint him a sign or something?"

"No, no. Just chat with him." She grinned. "A nudge, right? I have an idea." Downing the rest of her vehka brew, she gave her niece a quick hug and headed for the lake.

Watching her go, Larmina thought to her own duties regarding the offworlders and sighed. Had more Common lessons with Nanny really felt like a better option than leading an Earthling or two around the castle? What in the five hells had she been thinking?

Well, the sooner she got there, the sooner she could be done for the day. So she headed down to the tunnels.

Lady Hys was waiting. "Ach, Lady Larmina, you are late."

Late? How was she late? Precise timekeeping in the caves was not really a thing. Though if anyone could do it, Nanny was probably the one. "I was doing important royal things," she retorted, and dropped into a chair. "So what am I learning today?"

"More vocabulary." The governess plopped a large book down in front of her. "You have enough grammar to be intelligible to the hooligans, do you not? It must suffice for now…"

Larmina started to protest—it was the inability to string proper grammar together that made her feel dumbest about the language—then remembered the lake and paused. "Yeah, it's enough to get by. I talked to one of them yesterday, he actually said my Common was good! He says it's really hard to learn."

Nanny scoffed. "It is nothing compared to some. Be fortunate you were never obligated to learn the insect language! But I confess, you seem to have taken better to your language lessons than most of your others."

That was… not untrue, but also really hadn't been necessary, and Larmina shot her sullen glare. Then, as she remembered something else, it turned into her very sweetest smile. "The Earthling even taught me a new word."

"…Oh did he?" She clearly knew better than to ask.

Wasn't going to save her. "He sure did," Larmina confirmed brightly. "'Fucking'!"

Allendar would later tell her they'd heard Lady Hys yelling all the way out at the guard post.

*****

Hunk had, to his surprise, actually slept. Not at all surprisingly, he hadn't slept well. His dreams had shifted between robotic vultures juggling keys, a giant snake wearing lipstick and flirting with the Falcon—he blamed Daniel for that one—and wandering through an endless desert where the sand itself seemed to glow gold. It had felt like he was looking for something, but every time he got close, it was gone…

He knew who to blame for that one, too. And the moment his eyes opened, they glowed, and he was immediately over this.

"Ah! Good morning, Earthwarder."

"Oh hell no." They weren't doing this. He wasn't doing this. It was too damned early and his brain was not ready for robot lions, bonded or not.

Yellow just chuckled, because of course he did.

"Yo!" Hunk barged out into the rec room. "Team No Voices!" Everyone but Lance and Sven was there—had he slept in? Well, who could blame him? "Normal people! I need some normal, you're comin' with me!"

Pidge and Keith eyed him, exchanged shrugs, and went back to whatever they'd been doing. Vince, who'd been sitting on the couch and pouting about not having a datapad, looked up much more eagerly. "I'm normal!" The ninja next to him snerked, and he glowered in return. I am, damn it!

"Going… where?" Romelle asked. She was not against the idea, except she wasn't clear on what the idea was.

"Hell if I know, sister." Hunk waved his arms dramatically. "Let's find some scrap metal and do somethin' with it, ain't a shortage around here."

"Actually that sounds pretty fun…" Vince stopped and realized what he was saying. Crap, I am weird.

Rolling his eyes, Daniel stood up. He was the only actual normal person left, and he really didn't want the reminder. Nope. Gathering up his salalizards—all four of them, like a normal person—he left the rec room without a word.

"…Uh."

Keith looked around as if expecting Lance to go after him, except Lance had already left to work on his volcano problem. Which meant… I am the commander. "I'll go check on him." He stood and left as well, hearing a faint growl of approval in his mind.

…Okay then. Hunk shook it off; if he were Daniel he might not have wanted to hang out with the freaky glowy eyes either. Hell, he didn't want to anyway, and they were his eyes.

Mercifully, Romelle was still confused about the plan. "Scrap metal…?" What did they need with garbage?

"Dead metal that ain't doin' anything," the big engineer clarified. "It needs a new purpose in life." Which did not clarify anything at all, really.

"Dead metal," she echoed, shaking her head. Either she still didn't understand the nuances of Common, or she just still didn't understand the nuances of Hunk. Probably the latter.

Vince gave them both a mildly offended look. "Can we not pretend metal is at all adjacent to ghosts?"

"No death metal either?" Shrug. "Sure, don't have my music here anyway. But look, there's a bunch of busted-up ships or whatever out there, yeah? I know the Arusians already picked over all the stuff, but," he straightened and crossed his arms, "if I can't get us to build a decent grill outta what's left, my name ain't Master Blaster Hunk Garrett!"

"Perhaps it is Earthwarder," Yellow suggested, and Hunk's eyes glowed.

"…I hate him."

He'd grumbled that quietly enough that the others didn't hear, which was probably just as well. "A grill?" Vince grinned. That sounded like a great thing to have handy, if he were honest… he wondered if the traitorous food that was Arusian mushrooms would taste good grilled.

"What is a grill?" Romelle asked, knowing precisely what kind of answer she was going to get.

She got it—a completely dumbfounded look from Hunk and a small snicker from Vince. "…It's what humans do real cooking on, and now we definitely need one. C'mon!"

"He's not wrong."

"Okay…" That, as usual, had not clarified anything. But it sounded like she was going to get an answer soon enough, anyway.

Waving to Pidge, who didn't look at all disappointed to be missing whatever was about to happen, Hunk led the other two out the nearest hatch. "We're goin' on a scrap hunt!" Though as soon as they were outside, that seemed easier said than done; he didn't actually remember where any of the junk they'd seen was. Or more to the point, the stuff was just kind of everywhere… except for the places it wasn't… he looked around the meadow and frowned, then headed for the scorched area in front of the forest. It seemed like as good an option as any.

He was not going to the desert.

Vince still felt like this sounded more fun than anything on Arus so far; granted, that bar was pretty low. He kept his eyes open, but the meadow itself had been picked pretty clean. "What do we need, exactly?"

"Whatever we can get, little dude!" Hunk grinned. "No but seriously—your basic grill is real simple, yeah? You need somethin' to put the food on and somethin' to hold the fire in. Anything else we can get to make it cooler is just a bonus."

"Sounds right." Vince nodded. "Gran Diva had a wombat painted on the side of hers."

"No kiddin'? That sounds adorable. Don't grill wombats though, poor things have enough problems."

"Nah, she just likes them for some reason. Them and flamingoes."

"Good taste!"

Romelle had given up on following the conversation, and was keeping an eye on the ground. So far she'd seen several hopping insects and a few leaves that had blown in from the forest, but no metal. She wondered if it really mattered. At least it is something to do?

"There!" Hunk caught sight of a glint in the distance. His hunch looked to have been right; the stretch of scorched earth hadn't just been from a little errant weapons fire. This kind of mess took crashed fighters and jet fuel. "That's a start."

Looking up at where he was pointing, Romelle narrowed her eyes skeptically. It looked like it had once been an aircraft wing. Now it was a rusted and broken frame, more holes than metal. "I hope you know what you're doing, because I'm…" She started to say not so sure, but what did she know about it? After a moment she hedged. "Confused."

Hunk reflexively opened his mouth, to ask her what exactly Big Dumb Hunk had ever done to make her think he knew what he was doing. And then he paused.

Why are you hiding?

"…Trust me, sister. I'm an expert." He winked, and his eyes glowed. "Oh, come on."

She gave him a sympathetic half-smile. "Your eyes are still annoying you?"

"Like you wouldn't believe."

"Does it feel as weird as it looks?" Vince asked as they reached the broken wing.

"Yeah? No? It's freaky. Doesn't really 'feel' like anything, I guess, but everything goin' all yellow is just weird."

"Huh. Like the world is getting highlighted?"

"Welp, hadn't thought of it like that, but it's highlighter-vision now."

Vince snorted and started circling the wreckage; Romelle giggled. Though as their attention turned to the metal, she still wasn't convinced… she poked at one of the corroded supports and made a face.

"This grill must be incredible to be worth… this."

"Once he cooks something on it, you'll understand." The younger engineer found a crumpled sheet of metal on the ground and picked it up. It might be useful.

Hunk was pacing the area, poking at the frame and nodding. "Think I see what they were doin'. Take the components and the reinforcing bits, but they didn't need the metal. Not the base stuff, anyway. Can't really make weapons or armor outta aerospace alloy, and that's probably what they needed, yeah?"

"Probably, yeah."

"Possibly." Romelle picked up a few scraps that looked as if they'd been punched through, either by weapons or scavengers. "With all that was destroyed, perhaps they didn't have the… facilities to reforge things, also?"

"Could be," Hunk agreed, grabbing a large support and yanking. It came free in a shower of rust. "You wouldn't wanna do that in the caves unless you're real sure about your ventilation… and it'd get you some unwanted attention outside."

Vince hesitated a moment, the words reminding him that the Drules were still coming… nope. He was not going there right now. Scrap was way more fun. He found a bundle of what looked like viable wires half-buried in the dirt, and collected them; they could be useful for something, though probably not a grill.

Still more bemused than anything, Romelle followed the engineers to a few different wrecks. At least she could carry things. And she found this interesting… both of them seemed more animated and confident than she'd ever seen them, even if Hunk did occasionally stop to curse at his lion. It was hard not to smile at their enthusiasm, and to wonder what this team must have been like before. In lighter times…

We were all different once. Perhaps we can all heal… I hope.

"I think we're good!" Hunk finally declared, looking over their pile of metal. "Not gonna be able to have this spit fire or anything cool, but we oughta at least make somethin' decent!" Frown. "We uh, should head back to the castle though, yeah? Not gonna be able to weld this thing together, gonna hafta be gravity."

Vince grinned, then flushed as his stomach growled. "I'm getting hungry just thinking about grilled food."

"I'm gettin' hungry because…" Hunk paused, and his eyes widened. "Uh, I think I was in such a hurry to get out here I didn't even eat breakfast?" He mentally retraced his steps. There was no denying it. "I forgot BREAKFAST!" Yella Fella, what did you do to me?!

Yellow purred, which was not a suitable apology.

Vince burst into laughter. "It's all that glowing."

"Yeah, sure." The big engineer snorted. "Glowy eyes: not a part of a balanced breakfast, or a balanced bomb guy." Though he hesitated at the last part. Sure, he felt off-balance. Was that the same thing as unbalanced?

Taking off the mask would be a whole lot easier if I knew where it stopped and I start.

Noticing the hesitation, Vince eyed him. "Balanced?" That was not a word he'd have associated with the big guy, ever. But he seemed different today, in ways he couldn't fully place…

Hunk matched his look and shrugged. "Happens, yeah?"

"Yeah," he agreed, nodding. Maybe it did.

Romelle looked between them, and then at her armful of metal. "Well, should we go and get this… grill thing put together?"

"Heck yeah, sister." With a sweeping gesture, Hunk started leading them back to the castle. "Let's do this!"

*****

This swimming search session wasn't nearly as intensive as his first couple, but Sven wasn't really looking for anything this time. And not just because he already knew where the entrance was—not that it mattered, he couldn't get to it—but because he couldn't stop thinking about what Hunk had said.

The lions want us to stay.

He popped up for air and relaxed on the surface for a while, letting himself float around the lake. Staying had not been a part of the plan. Even as they'd started realizing that the original plan wasn't necessarily going to work… staying had not been part of any plan. At least not his plan.

Though really, had he ever had a plan? He'd been indecisive from the get-go. Just going along with whatever the group decided, really. He was so used to needing to make the others around him happy, that he'd refused to actually make a choice.

Even coming to Arus to begin with, he'd just gone along. If he'd objected, insisted on wanting to go home, he'd be letting the team and the mission down. But a decision wouldn't have made actually coming here any easier, because he knew damn well his parents wanted him back. They were surely worried by now… so he'd just agreed to go with the majority, and told himself he was being a supportive second in command.

Though why should he be surprised he couldn't commit to a decision? When had he ever gotten to make a choice—one that was truly his? The only genuine decision Sven had ever made was to forego college and become a Galaxy Alliance navigator. But even that didn't feel like it had actually been his decision, considering how it ended up. The whole point of becoming a navigator was to get off of Earth, and that was…

…Really not how it went.

—He'd never been as angry with his parents as the day he'd gotten his first assignment, just after graduation. They'd been congratulating him the day before. Telling him how proud they were of him. What a joke! And not the kind of joke he liked, either. He remembered storming to their hotel room, assignment orders in hand, the Sergeant's condescending tone ringing in his ears.

"What was the point of becoming a top-tier navigator just to have daddy pull strings to keep you safe behind a desk?"

What had been the point? His mother interfering he'd seen coming, he knew she'd try to keep him as safe as possible, no matter what he wanted. But his father? Councilman Sebastian Holgersson had not been thrilled with his decision not to get a formal education, he knew. But he'd at least thought the man respected his choice. Apparently that wasn't the case.

He'd barely made it in the door before the anger escaped.

"Deep Space Defense Force?!" The most boring job a navigator could get. There wasn't any actual navigation involved. Math, yes. Some similar principles, sure. But it wasn't navigation. It was mostly tracking asteroids, from behind a computer. Occasionally you got to send an email to intel, but not even that very often.

His parents had stared at him wide-eyed; he wasn't known for yelling. Finally his father had nodded.

"I see you've heard." The assignment orders crumpled in Sven's hands. "Your mother and I thought it was in your best interest."

"My best interest or yours?" he'd snapped.

"This family's!" His mother closed her mouth in shock, whatever she was about to say forgotten. His father wasn't known for yelling either. "And I don't like your tone."

"What does that mean?" Sven couldn't see how his staying on Earth was better for the family's interest. Their personal interests maybe, but why did their personal interests trump his own?

"It means you staying here, not only keeps you safe, and alive, it keeps you available." Sven took a deep breath, biting back the words that wanted to come out, letting his father finish even though he didn't want to hear it. "You'll be able to attend council functions and state dinners, this family will look together in front of the press and other politicians. Which as you well know will allow me and your mother to keep our jobs in the coming elections."

Of course. Now his father getting involved made sense. He was a good person, really. Just very… focused. The better position he held at work, the more money he made; the more money he made, the better off the family would be. The family came first… that was his main goal. Always had been, and always would be, no matter what it took.—

And that understanding had been why Sven caved. He'd backed down. Apologized for his outburst, said he understood and respected their decision.

But he hadn't really respected it. Like they hadn't respected him.

In the end, it hadn't mattered for long. He'd ended up off Earth anyways, though even that wasn't a call he'd really made himself. When he'd gotten bumped to an Explorer Team Sven had never felt freer, more in control of his life, but had he really been? Nothing surrounding this assignment had been his choice. It was all just a happy accident that he just went along with. It was even political nonsense that had gotten him here!

Thoughts that usually stayed in the back of his mind, safely pushed away, began surfacing. He'd always thought returning to Earth was inevitable. Not only inevitable but something he should do, and should even look forward to. He had responsibilities. To his parents, friends… hell, even the Alliance. He was supposed to travel across the galaxy, have adventures, and then return to Earth and put his family at ease.

Wasn't he?

Even with a magical robot lion running amok in his brain, who was being so polite and quiet, he still felt bound to that planet. Was it really what he wanted, though? To go back to Earth?

No… he didn't. He wanted freedom, adventure, everything that went along with space travel. But it wasn't as if this… what had Hunk called it? This 'bonding' thing promised him that either. It would just end with him tied down somewhere else, wouldn't it?

A soft chuckle echoed in the back of his mind, and he scowled. He'd jinxed it. "I'm glad you find my inner turmoil amusing." He was not glad.

"I don't at all find it amusing. I do find it odd, that a cub with such tenacity and determination would so easily bend to the will of others?"

"Tenacity—what?" Was that a compliment or an insult?

"Both. Neither. It does not matter. What matters is what you will decide."

"What I decide? You mean as long as I decide what you want." He knew he was being cynical, but that was always how it worked. "As long as I bond to you?"

Growl. "No. I want you to make a decision. It must be purely your choice, your wish. Why would I want to bond to someone who has no desire to bond with me? I have higher standards than that."

"I don't know what I want!" Well, he did and he didn't. "And it doesn't matter, because even if I did you're hidden in an underwater cave!"

"Are you alright?"

He startled at a very different female voice, one definitely in his ears and not in his mind, and whirled around in the shallows. Princess Allura stood on the shoreline, looking a little concerned. Apparently his thrashing around and screaming had once again attracted a royal to his lake—when had it become his lake? It was surely their lake! Oh, he was losing his mind.

"…Yes, I'm fine, just frustrated." He should have stopped talking, but he was at his boiling point. And she had asked. Shouldn't have asked if she didn't want an answer. "I'm being lectured by a magic robot lion on my poor decision-making skills—"

"You are not." She sounded both fond and exasperated.

"—And at this point it doesn't matter what I decide—"

"It does."

"Will you stop interrupting me?!" Allura quirked her head at him and gave a small chuckle, and he winced. Right. When he yelled out loud at the lion, other people could hear it. "Sorry… but like I was saying, my decision won't matter because I can't seem to get to her either way."

She watched him as he wound down, then gave a small, wry smile. "So you aren't fine," she translated.

"…Maybe that wasn't the word," he admitted, then blinked. He was pretty certain he'd just done what they weren't, strictly speaking, supposed to do. But whatever. Another thing that wasn't going to matter, because the damned lake was still a lake.

The princess seemed deep in thought as he scolded himself, and at one point tilted her head as if listening to an unheard voice. Which was absurd, except that Hunk had said she'd been informed about him and the Yellow Lion, which meant…

She nodded slowly. "You don't know that there are tunnels, then?"

…There are what?! He clambered out of the water and stared at the princess in disbelief, then turned to glare at the lake. "What tunnels?"

An enigmatic smile crept across her lips. "They are in the castle…"

…Oh, no. "And that's all you can tell me, isn't it?"

She nodded. "I'm afraid so."

Well. He exhaled slowly and shook his head. "Of course. Why not?" It was just a castle. There was a finite amount of area to search. Large, but finite. Really very large…

"Perhaps you should get started," the Lion of Water suggested with amusement.

…Perhaps he should.

*****

Pidge had gone through the closets on the Falcon again. He'd done that along with everyone else when the Xaela was first captured, but nothing had fit—no surprise. Of course in theory he could just wear something much too large for him. But that restricted his movement, fumbling around in a mass of extra fabric, and with potential danger lurking everywhere he'd rather have dealt with the sunburn. Now that they had a better grasp of Arus and what dangers they did or didn't face, he could pull on a bulky alien hoodie over his chameleon suit and merely be edgy and uncomfortable.

He was sitting on the Falcon's tail assembly, staring at the distant forest in frustration. Keith had said to continue on the current path, but what path was he even on? It felt like he'd missed a lot. And all the talk of 'bonding' had not helped him at all.

What are you afraid of?

Failure, but… he was starting to have at least an inkling of what else he was meant to consider.

Failure is betrayal…

"Cub."

Shut up! You wanted me to consider, now let me consider.

"I was merely going to ask you about 'situational awareness'. You have spoken of it before, have you not?"

He blinked. "What the hells is that supposed to—" As the reflexive question escaped, his eyes just as reflexively darted around, and fell on Lance. The pilot was standing on the ground and staring at him. "…Oh."

Lance had been having another unproductive conversation with his own lion—in that same room with no wall, staring out at the smoke from the distant volcano and wondering how the hell he was supposed to get inside. It had not been helpful, and he'd had enough of brooding, so he'd headed back to the ship. And there had been the ninja.

What is he doing up there?

He's him.

You could ask?

You should apologize.

That conversation with himself was not accomplishing anything either. Sighing, he accepted the inevitable. "Hey, nin… Pidge."

"…Hi?" Pidge wasn't sure about the look on Lance's face.

"Yeah, hi…" Waving, Lance grumbled to himself again in frustration. Fuck's sake, McClain, you are supposed to be charming!

Humans. "If there's something you need, you can just say so."

"Yeah, about that." Flynn's laughing at you right now. "Um, could you come down here?"

With a shrug, the ninja stood and vaulted off the horizontal stabilizer, complete with a midair flip that had only been partly aerodynamically justified. He landed unsteadily and cursed under his breath about the oversized hoodie. "Okay."

Handy talent, if a bit showy. Lance smiled uneasily and tried to figure out words; dealing with Daniel was so much easier. "I owe you an apology, so basically, this is an apology? I'm sorry."

For a few moments they stared at each other in silence. Finally Pidge found an answer. "…For what?"

…Well doesn't that figure. Blinking, he searched for an answer himself—he didn't particularly want to have to go over it again, but here they were, so… "I got angry, it happens, you've probably noticed it a time or two, and I took it out on you and you bolted." He nodded weakly. "For that."

"Oh. Okay. Uh, it's fine." Pidge was ready to leave it at that, but paused, his mind wandering back to the advice he'd given Romelle. Feeling Green Lion's approval almost changed his mind, but… "I didn't bolt because of you." There had been a hell of a lot more to it than that.

"Yeah?" Lance smiled weakly; he wasn't sure he totally believed it, but he'd take it. "I wasn't really angry at you, either. Fucking weird how that happens, huh…" He trailed off. He knew what else he needed to say, but he desperately didn't want to. Can I handle that conversation?

He wasn't going to be given a choice in the matter, because as they stared at each other in silence, even Pidge was pretty sure he saw where this was going. "…It's not your fault he's dead."

Oh, shit. Nope, definitely can't, but you're in it now. He felt the lion at the edges of his mind and narrowed his eyes. "Fucking Drules' fault he's dead."

"…Yeah. Their fault." Pidge didn't really want to have this conversation either; it had just felt like he ought to make some attempt at reassurance. He looked to the sky and exhaled. It had been the Drules. The team owed them some payback, and they would have that opportunity sooner rather than later, except…

"So what are you thinking about this lion thing?" Lance asked. It was probably way too obvious an attempt to change the subject, but then, this was Pidge. "I'm pretty jealous, you've seen yours. What are they like?"

The ninja blinked. "I… wasn't really in a mindset to appreciate her." Thinking back, he could remember she was beautiful… but she'd been lecturing him!

"That is kind of you, cub… and that was barely a lecture." She sounded amused.

"Still, pretty amazing, right?" Lance had no idea what he expected a fiery robot lion to look like, if he were being perfectly honest. But it had to be badass, didn't it? Maybe someday he'd find out. "Don't suppose you have any advice on how one might get inside a volcano?"

He felt his lion chuckle.

The thought of offering to toss him into the volcano passed briefly through Pidge's mind. No, Flynn would definitely not approve. "Very carefully?"

Lance couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, that's all I got too."

For a few more moments, they just stood there, silent and awkward. Both of them knew there was too much more to say, that neither of them were ready for that discussion. And the mention of the lions had Pidge back to where he'd started.

"…Are you from Earth?"

Lance startled. Huh? That had not been an idle question, clearly… and maybe, with what they were learning about the lions, it did make sense. "Uh, not really. I'm from Beau Terre…" Why does it always hurt to say that? "It was a colony of Earth. Until the Galra left it looking a hell of a lot like Arus does now."

…That actually makes a lot of things make more sense. Pidge studied him carefully. He still didn't think Lance would understand what was bothering him. Not like… no. Stop it. He might not get it, but he doesn't need to. It mattered that they were trying, didn't it?

"Sorry."

The pilot raised an eyebrow. "For what?"

"Everything?"

Daniel is so much easier. "That's a hell of a lot, maybe narrow it down?"

Oh, he wants to be particular. "Drules and Galra." Frown. "…That wasn't an apology, that was an expression of sympathy."

That didn't sound quite like Pidge, but Lance knew who it did sound like. And he smiled faintly, despite himself. "Look, Pidge. If you need something, ask, okay?"

Blink. "Sure?" He probably was going to need something, if this lion really wanted him. He barely knew how to pilot. But it seemed too early to bring that up.

"Fucking sure."

"Yessir." He took a deep breath, bracing himself. "If I really am stuck with one of these lions, I… I won't fail." Him. Or my Pride…? "Any of you."

Huh? Lance stared at him blankly. I do not know about your Grumpy Ninja, Flynn. "Alright?" Then the first part hit. "…And would you fucking please stop calling me sir, do I look like Keith?"

The ninja gave him an odd smile. "That never entirely worked for him either, you know."

So he'd heard. "I'll keep reminding you."

Shrug. "Are we finished, sir?"

What a brat. Though he had to admit it was kind of endearing. "Yeah. We're good. Air cleared and all, right?"

…Had there been a problem with the air? He started to ask, then Green Lion's amusement stopped him. Oh. Right. "Yeah."

"Good." The pilot eyed him. "And remember, when or if you know what you want from me, just ask."

"I will, Lance." Without another word, he vaulted back up onto the Falcon's tail… and cursed profusely as the baggy hoodie got caught on a bolt.

Lance stared after him for a moment, hearing his lion roaring with laughter in his mind, and finally just slowly shook his head.

Daniel is so much easier!

*****

Keith had followed Daniel out after he ran off, but that was easier said than done. He wasn't sure where the young cadet might have gone, honestly, but he had to at least try… he paused a moment and exhaled, frustrated. This wasn't something he needed right now… no, that wasn't important…

"Is it not?" The now-familiar growl rumbled through his head and down his spine, and he blinked.

"I'm the commander," he said quietly. "I have to focus on my team first." The lion seemed to accept that, though he wasn't sure he'd have called the answering growl agreement. Perhaps understanding.

He eventually found Daniel sitting under a tree in what looked like it might once have been an orchard, or perhaps a garden. The strange lizards he'd brought back from the volcano were milling around him. "Daniel, are you alright?"

Oh fuck, why? Daniel groaned and rolled his eyes, careful not to dislodge the salamander on his head—he'd named the one that liked it up there Toast. He liked toast. He didn't like overbearing commanders intruding on his sulking. He carefully patted Crouton, the salamander in his arms, while Lizzie and Kermi napped on either side of him, and scowled.

"I'm fan-tabulous."

"The way you ran off kind of says the opposite."

"I…" He grimaced; he was really not a fan of being called on his bullshit by people who weren't Lance.

Keith dropped down onto a nearby rock, leaning towards him, watching him. He felt another soft growl in his mind… not that he needed the encouragement, but he appreciated it nonetheless. He thought. "Talk to me, Daniel."

"I don't…" Daniel took a deep breath. "I really don't want to do that thing we do, where you sit there all stern and… m-wordy and we have an awkward talk about feelings. I hate talking about feelings."

Huh? That was unusually blunt, even for Daniel. Keith looked down at the ground briefly before looking back at him. "Being all m-wordy, as you put it, is what I do. It's part of the job description." The team's well-being was his responsibility. He already didn't feel he'd been doing a great job of it on Arus, what with how damn deep they all were in over their heads.

"This isn't something you can fix." Honestly, Daniel barely understood what his head was saying himself, and there was no way he wanted to tell Keith that he was afraid of being left behind.

"Maybe. Maybe not. But can't try to fix what I don't know." A soft, concerned growl rippled through his mind again. This time he definitely appreciated the encouragement.

The sense that he was being watched and judged, perhaps less so…

Daniel narrowed his eyes. This was bullshit. "Yeah, well, if I'm going to be forced to talk about feelings and have those weird chick flick moments you seem so fond of, I'd rather do it with someone who genuinely gives a fuck rather than someone just doing their job."

Wincing, Keith hissed in frustration. Nice one, Kogane. That's exactly how you wanted that to come across. "I do care, Daniel. You're a part of this team. When the four of you joined…" Flinch. No, don't go there, don't think about the four of them. "…you may have joined later than the rest of us, but it doesn't make you any less valuable."

"But I'm not going to be much longer!" He snapped it before he could stop himself. He didn't want to talk about this, he could handle his feelings on his own, but his ability to keep his mouth shut was questionable even when he wasn't pissed. He had protocols, a specific plan for this kind of situation. Bury his feelings and bolt.

Not that the plan had worked out well the last time he tried it. Daniel's mind flashed back to Alcieux, the moment in the snow—forever ago, it felt like. The plan had failed spectacularly that time, but that was because Lance was… Lance.

And where was that getting him now?

Keith was just staring at him, trying to put things together. "What? How can you say that—why would you think that?" Was it me? Where did I go wrong? No, he shook that off. The gunner had always been volatile, and this was a volatile situation. Blaming himself wasn't the answer. Figuring out how to fix it was.

This isn't something you can fix.

Hell if he wouldn't give it all he could.

Daniel was still scowling. Why did he have to explain everything? "I'm literally the only normal one left. There's no magical robot lion yapping away in my head, I don't see ghosts, I don't heal people, I don't spark! I'm just… here! I'm not fitting in, okay? And I know how this works. If you don't fit, you get left behind."

…Oh. Keith bowed his head and sighed; he remembered hearing something like this before. Authority fucks you over, man. "Daniel…" But what was he supposed to do? How did he prove a negative? How do I deal with this?

"As a leader."

He blinked. Had that been his own thought, or…?

"You know how to lead." That time it was definitely the lion.

Keith paused. You know how to lead. He did, yes… but everything had felt so damned out of control since they got here. Since they'd left Korrinoth—no, since they'd been taken there in the first place. He'd been doing his best in an uncertain situation…

Hadn't he?

A much older realization flooded over him as he looked at Daniel, the hostility and fear in his eyes. We're all we have. It was as true as it had ever been, with everything going insane around them. And as much as he tried to command, it took more than just commanding to lead.

"Daniel, we won't leave you behind," Keith assured him, looking the young cadet in the eye. "We can't. We do need you. Granted, you're very… proactive and you do things without permission, but…" Sigh. "Even I have to admit, you've gone out and found some valuable information for us, even if I don't always approve of your methods."

It wasn't reassuring. "You might not do it on purpose but you all will. Even Lance. It's just what happens…" Every single time, and he was stupid for forgetting that. "I don't want to talk about this! I don't even like you!" He winced as Kermi burped some embers, the yelling upsetting her. Fortunately they just smoldered out in the dirt.

Keith grimaced. That had been unusually blunt, too. Do I push? There was more there, and he knew it, but he very much doubted trying to get the kid to relive whatever had caused his skepticism would help. "Lance really likes you a lot, Daniel. I don't see him doing that to you." It was all but unthinkable, really. "As for me, you don't have to like me. I won't hold that against you. But we do need you. If you're the only, as you put it, normal one… we will need that balance. None of us asked to have magical robot lions talking in our heads." He heard the Lion of Storms snort softly in his mind at that, but it couldn't really argue the point. "Nor any of those other things. They just happened."

Groan. "That doesn't… he won't…" Ugh! What part about 'you all might not do it on purpose' did he not understand? "That just sounds like some witchy woo-woo bullshit." He shook his head. "Look, I don't want your mentoring. I'm not Cam." Cam was the one who believed in all that balance and karma shit. Not him.

Keith looked away, a pang of regret racing through him. Regret, and loss, and feeling like he was failing in his duty… feeling like he'd failed it long ago. He'd lost his people. "No, you're not Cam. But the two of you had such a good connection, even as much as you were at odds. And now… you're here and… he's not. And that has to mean something, Daniel. I don't know what, but it does."

"Such pain and regret." The lion's whisper reverberated through him, and he nodded a silent agreement.

The gunner snorted. "Yeah. It means he left." And he managed to do it in the most stupid way possible. He'd been Daniel’s only true peer. And he'd left him. With his stupid fucking I owe you bullshit. Keith needed to leave this topic the hell alone.

Lowering his eyes, Keith took a moment to consider his options. He hadn't been allowing himself to go there. He couldn't. But if opening himself up would help… "I miss him, too. And the others. Jace and Flynn…"

Opening himself up did not help. "You're gonna need to fuck right off. He was a dumbass. He was also my friend, but he was mostly a dumbass." Probably why he was friends with you in the first place. As for Jace and Flynn… he hugged Crouton a little tighter, images of Jace dying on top of him flashing to the forefront of his mind. No, that memory could fuck right off too.

Reflexively, Keith's eyes narrowed slightly. "I'm not going to fuck off." No. He's baiting you, don't get angry. He watched Daniel in silence for a few moments, and it wasn't exactly anger that was boiling up. More a feeling of… indignation, but not on his own behalf. "Why do you call him a dumbass?"

He had his suspicions. Cam had died, yes… valiantly. Honorably. He deserved to be respected for that, not called a dumbass. By his friend!

A knowing growl followed, and he calmed. Listen to him. It was so alien to him, so wrong. Try to understand.

But Daniel wasn't interested in making himself understood. "Just… please, leave me alone." He was trying so hard not to just shoot this man, but if he kept poking at this particular wound he made no promises.

Sigh. This was only serving to upset them both, and knowing when to cut his losses was also part of leadership. "Okay, fine. I'll leave." Keith stood and looked down at him. "But we won't leave you behind. You're important to this team, whether you believe that or not. And even if you don't like me… if you need to talk and Lance can't, I will." He started to walk off.

Watching Keith walk away, Daniel suddenly felt a little bad. The guy had only been trying to help. He was really bad at it, sure, but maybe he should at least throw him a little bone. And the fact that he was even thinking like that felt weird, but…

"Look, Keith. I don't like you very much, but I do respect you. Okay? Even if you seem addicted to these mushy feely talks." You'd think that sword up his ass would prevent tendencies like that.

Keith froze and slowly turned back to Daniel, a look of shock on his face. The kid looked like admitting that had been physically painful. "Thank you for your honesty. And, well," he paused and scratched the back of his head, "I hope it doesn't diminish your respect for me, but I am only human. I do have feelings, too." He gave him a small grin, and then headed back to the ship.

Daniel felt instant regret, but just shook his head and cuddled his lizards. Then a completely different regret hit. Oh, fuck! What if he tells Lance?

Kermi let out a few more sparks.

Pausing on the boarding ramp, Keith looked back at where he'd left the cadet. Why had he said that last part? It didn't feel right… no, he knew why he'd said it. Trying to reciprocate the admission somehow. Except his own damn feelings didn't matter…

"Do they not?"

He hesitated, looking back up at the mountains in the distance. "What are you trying to tell me?"

The lion just purred softly in his mind.

*****

Coran had not intended to go on patrol, strictly speaking. He'd intended to talk to Captain Sarial, to get her impressions of the one called Hunk. She'd only really mentioned him being an expert in explosives; helpful so far as it went, but not nearly enough. His character, his mannerisms, the feeling she'd gotten from him—they needed everything they could get.

And she'd been on patrol, so here he was.

"He seems harmless," she was saying, a small frown on her face. "Large and exuberant, but not a threat."

"Hmm." On one hand, not a threat was good. On the other, entirely harmless was probably not what they wanted from the chosen of one of the Great Lions. "He's important." If only I could tell you why. "We need to learn more about him. Would you really call someone who knows his way around explosives harmless?"

Sarial considered that for a few moments; she, too, would really like for Lord Coran to tell her more. But she knew it wasn't an option at this moment. "If he wanted to be dangerous, he certainly would be. But isn't that true of most?"

"Indeed, that's…" As they passed around the corner of the castle, motion up ahead drew their attention, and Coran's words died on his lips.

"Are those…?"

"I believe they are." Two of the visitors appeared to have set up shop on a broken stretch of what had once been the castle's outdoor tiling. And they appeared to have a very large pile of debris with them. "What are they doing?"

"…No idea."

"Well." Not what he'd anticipated today, but he was starting to get used to that. "I suppose we ought to go find out."

As it happened, upon reaching the castle with their materials, Hunk had remembered the minor detail of tools. So he'd gone back to the Falcon, leaving Vince and Romelle to sort the collected scrap into piles: "Little metal, big metal, metal that super needs blowtorched to clean it off, and other stuff!"

So far, "metal that super needs blowtorched" was most of it. Romelle was trying to watch what Vince was doing to judge, but when in doubt, it went to the cleaning pile. Mostly…

"That one should go to the middle pile," Vince suggested as she looked over a largely untarnished plate. "Uh, I think… sorry, if you have questions feel free to ask?" He probably should've led with that.

"Thank you, Vince." She set the plate down and moved on. "I'm definitely… unsure of all of this."

"Yeah, it's a bit out there. But that's what Hunk does best, I think."

That did seem to be true. "He certainly is different. And he seems… distraught? over the lion."

"I'd be freaked out if my eyes were glowing, too." Vince snorted as he said it. You're always freaked out these days. As if on cue, he heard footsteps that were not from the Falcon's direction, and looked up to see the two Arusians approaching. Blinking, he looked down at their pile of scrap and belatedly wondered if they ought to have asked permission.

Approaching had not made the project they were stumbling across any clearer. "Hello," Coran took a moment to remember their names, "Vince. Romelle."

"Hello, Captain Sarial and," does he have a title? Oh no, "Mr. Coran?" Vince gave his best grin as his ears flushed.

"Coran." Romelle gave a short nod. "Captain."

Sarial eyed the woman skeptically for a moment, unnerved. She knew what a Polluxian was… but if Coran wasn't going to make an issue of it, she certainly wouldn't. The old knight was offering them a wary smile as he looked at the metal. "May I ask what's happening here?"

"Oh, uh." May he ask? It was his planet. "Hunk wanted to build a grill, to do some cooking, so we sorted out some scrap."

"A grill?" Coran repeated. He'd have asked if it were a weapon, but that wouldn't be for cooking. Do they mean an oven?

Romelle gave a small shrug. "I'm as confused as you are, but he seems confident." Vince looked between them and shook his head slightly; something had to be getting lost in translation here, grills could not just be an Earthling thing.

"You can work with… this?" Sarial asked, eyeing the pile. The militia had picked over everything in useful condition for miles. None of this was what they'd have called useful.

"Well, I don't think I could on my own? But Hunk says he can, and I believe him."

Hmm. Coran mentally appended that to the list, along with 'aura of harmlessness, explosives expert, and robot lion tamer'. "And whereabouts is—"

"Uhhh, heya, Your Advisorness! Cap'n!" Hunk arrived with an armful of tools just in time, and did his best not to reflexively panic. Yellow, I swear to… I dunno, you… if you let my eyes do that glowy thing right now…

"I told you it is not my doing."

Well find a way to make not-doing it your doing!

The lion gave a mildly bewildered growl.

Captain Sarial smiled, entirely unaware of his mental tug of war with a mechanical cat. "Hello again."

"Hello, Mr. Hunk." Coran nodded in greeting, then eyed the piles of metal. "I hear you can turn this into a… grill?"

Oh, more of that, huh? Excellent. Time to spread some cultural appreciation! "Heck yeah we can, and it'll be awesome." Looking down at the piles himself, he paused and gave a low whistle. "…Uh, we're gonna hafta do a lot of torchin' for this to be usable." Grin. "You two wanna help?"

Sarial blinked, Vince snorted, Romelle bit her lip… and Coran didn't even hesitate for an instant. "Certainly." It was a perfect opportunity, and he was a hospitable host. "We are at your disposal. Just tell us what to do."

Oh, he is not prepared. Vince hid his own snicker.

With a huge grin, Hunk set out the tools he'd brought—good thing they had two of everything! "Okay, so this is the pyro solvent! It's usually for keepin' the engines clean." He set two spray bottles down. "You give the metal a squirt, then heat it up to detach all the gunk," he set a blowtorch next to each bottle, "then someone's gotta give it a good scrubbing," a couple of rough tarp-like things, "to do the actual removal. Meanwhile," he waved something paper-adjacent, "I'll start on the blueprint." And hopefully be staring at paper so the Arusians don't see this glowy-eyed stuff, because OH no. He looked at the blank expressions surrounding him and gave a thumbs-up. "So, who wants to do the fire?"

"I have a decent acquaintance with fire," Sarial offered. They'd had plenty of use for blowtorches while scavenging; the alien ones Hunk had produced didn't seem that different. Also, she could not help but want to see Lord Coran on 'gunk-removal' duty.

Coran was actually on the same page. "I volunteer to scrub." It was not at all outside his expertise.

Exchanging looks with Vince, Romelle shrugged and picked up a blowtorch. "First time for everything."

"Scrubber it is." Vince was relieved. He did not trust himself not to spark under these circumstances. With fire. It wouldn't be good.

"Perfect! Let's rock this." Hunk fled to the blueprint without looking like he was fleeing, and not a moment too soon as the world went yellow. Hoo boy. Glancing back over his shoulder to see what they had to work with, he wondered why the hell he'd invited the Arusians to join the party.

Yellow seemed to find all this funny. Of course he did.

They worked in silence for a few minutes. Vince soon found the scrubbing oddly relaxing; was this what he'd needed all along on his meditation quest? It didn't seem practical. Next to him, Coran couldn't help a slight chuckle. It reminded him of his days as an apprentice, scrubbing floors, weapons, and boots. Legend had it his boots had been the shiniest any knight had ever worn.

Romelle was quickly getting up to speed with the blowtorch—the open flame had been startling at first, to be sure. But pretending the metal was Lotor's face helped. Sarial was efficiently heating her own metal and keeping a wary eye on the very enthusiastic Polluxian. She seemed much scarier than Hunk, truthfully.

"So how does this 'grill' work?" Coran asked after a bit. It seemed like a good place to start.

"You put the food on a grate over a fire," Vince explained. "Though it can get more complex." He tried to sneak a peek at Hunk's blueprint, but Hunk himself was very much in the way.

He arched an eyebrow. "Like when camping?"

"Campfire grillin' is totally a thing!" Hunk confirmed.

Interesting. Not an oven, then. It fit the current state of Arus, he supposed… certainly too primitive to be something they would ever have been excited about before. Perhaps it held a more important place in Earthling culture? In any case, he kind of enjoyed the word. "So how do you know how to build one of these 'grills'? And why?"

Talking with his back to the group felt weird, Hunk decided, but it was safer. "I could give ya the whole shpiel from culinary science class, but nobody needs that, yeah? Grilling is tasty and it's healthier than uh, a lot of what Earthlings come up with, and you can make grills that shoot fire and stuff and it's totally awesome." As he spoke he added a small flame vent to the design. Just on principle.

Remembering what Coran was trying to do here, Sarial eyed the big man curiously. "Culinary science? Aren't you the 'bomb guy'?"

Now Hunk was glad he wasn't facing them just because of how bright red he blushed. "It's all chemistry, sister!"

The two Arusians exchanged shrugs; it did make sense. Coran started scrubbing a new piece of metal. He's smart. That much was clear, his affect aside. Certainly no sign he might be a danger to Arus. Though the only real proof he wasn't was the word of a magical sentient lion, and he still only had so much reason to trust that.

Romelle paused a moment, wiping some sweat from her forehead. Fire, it turned out, was hot. She noticed Sarial looking at her and decided to take a stab at being friendly herself. "So, what did you do before… all this happened?"

"I was the librarian in the castle village." She knew nothing about Pollux except that it existed, so she couldn't ask anything particularly intelligent in response, but open-ended might serve them as well anyway. "What is Pollux like? What did you do there?"

…I had to ask that to be friendly. Wincing, she looked away briefly. "Pollux is a beautiful world. Much more water than Arus." It sent a pang through her; she knew how unlikely she was to ever see that beauty again. She didn't want to talk about it. Though the only thing to change over to wasn't much better. "I had, um… a sheltered but educated life."

Even when it wasn't coming from a recalcitrant teenager—or was it? She couldn't actually tell how old Romelle was—Sarial knew 'not going to get any more answers' when she heard it, and opted not to push. Coran knew more, and nodded in satisfaction; that dodge confirmed that she was indeed their princess, in his mind.

Vince was abruptly struck by the fact that a princess was sitting there blowtorching metal. He exchanged shrugs with Hunk, whose eyebrows had gone up in a very Sven-like fashion; if she didn't want to say anything else, it was her call.

"What about Arus?" she asked, desperate to end the awkward pause as quickly as possible. "Is… was it… as pretty as it seems to have been, before the Drules attack?"

Nodding, Sarial decided to let Coran handle any further answer. The old knight nodded sadly. "It was… and it will be again." He shot a brief but pointed look at Hunk, who was glancing back at their collection of metal, before returning his attention to Romelle.

Okay, why did it just feel like Mustache Dude was looking right at me?

"Indeed, why would you think such a thing, Earthwarder?"

Oh. Oh no. Hell no. What do they know, exactly?

"Less and more than you suspect. I cannot say with confidence."

…You are the least helpful mythical robot lion I've ever met.

Coran had continued while Hunk was arguing in his head. "There was a bridge not too far from here that I found particularly beautiful. Perfect place to relax and unwind. It's still standing, but not quite as sturdy… it's hard to relax while you're worried about falling through it." He gave a little chuckle and returned his focus to scrubbing.

Despite herself, Romelle found his serene attitude a bit… comforting? "Hopefully you can rebuild it soon."

Vince wanted to say something there too, but he couldn't quite find words for it. Instead he looked at the piece of metal Coran was working on, then back at his own. "How are you getting it so… shiny?"

Now he laughed outright. "Practice. I did a lot of scrubbing during my apprentice days."

"Apprentice?"

"Of the Golden Knights. Most trainees didn't scrub as much as I did, though. My instructors thought I was much too… clever." Even Romelle giggled at that.

Hunk was close to done with the blueprint, with no major emergencies, so of course he'd let his guard down. Just a little. Just enough to chuckle, "Never let the brass think you're too clever, bro."

…Oh crap.

And there it was. So he is a soldier as well. Coran had almost concluded he couldn't be… he side-eyed Vince, just in time to see him fumble and drop the metal he was working on. Are they all? Any assumptions he might have made about military discipline or decorum had to be abandoned.

Dwelling too long, too obviously, would not help. "What is a 'bro'?" he asked easily, as though nothing important had been said at all.

That was not what Hunk had been expecting to be called on. "Uhhh, it just means…" Nor was it something he'd ever needed to explain before. It didn't help that Vince, Romelle, and even Sarial were looking at him with obvious interest. No backup, then. "Uh, it's short for brother but usually just means 'any dude' when you don't do formality, which I totally don't."

His eyes chose that exact moment to glow.

YELLOW!

Sarial flicked her blowtorch off, blinking, trying to figure out if she'd really just seen what she thought she'd seen. It was gone, if she had… she looked to Coran instead, and caught a look of excitement crossing his face before he swiftly schooled his features. Was that it? Was that what we were looking for? She didn't think Earthling eyes were supposed to do that.

"Hmm. Interesting." Coran had gotten himself back to his usual calm in a matter of seconds. "I would ask what a 'dude' is, but I'll just attempt to discern the meaning from context."

"It's a colloquial term for 'person', I believe." Sarial had a lot of question she wanted to ask, and knew too well that she couldn't. "Sometimes specifically a male person?"

Hunk breathed a slow sigh of relief. Had they not noticed it? The blowtorches had been on. "Sometimes, but I call everyone dude, dude."

"I can verify that," Vince chimed in, looking between them. If nobody was going to comment on the weird, he certainly wouldn't…

"So, assembling this grill?" Romelle asked, finishing off the last of the metal and trying to come to Hunk's rescue. It was only fair.

"…Yeah! Looks like the metal's ready, and just in time!" He held up the blueprint. "Cuz I've got stuff to do with it!"

Vince's eyes widened at the blueprint. He is good. He'd known that, of course, but there was knowing that and then there was looking at a plan to make what looked like a dual-chambered grill and smoker out of scrap metal. This is totally going to make even Arusian mushrooms better.

As they got to work on the assembly, Coran approached Hunk and stood close, in the guise of getting a better look at the blueprint. Instead, he spoke quietly enough that the others couldn't hear. "Princess Allura trusts the Lions' judgment to a fault, and I trust her. Meaning we are putting our trust in you. I ask, for Arus' sake, that you not blow it."

Hunk froze, his eyes widening—he might actually have gone for them glowing right then. Of course, when it might've been helpful they didn't. "Dude, you're talkin' to the bomb guy…" The first, reflexive joke died on his lips. No. He'd signed on for this… "…Think I know what to blow and what not to, yeah?"

That was good enough for the moment, Coran decided. "Good to hear." He returned to normal volume and looked at the metal. "Now, what do you need me to do?"

*****

The tunnels had not turned out to be nearly as difficult as Sven had feared. Once he had the thoroughly counterintuitive fact that he could reach the bottom of the lake through the castle, he'd been able to feel his way there without much difficulty. It was the water, the sense of it, seeming to flow through the corridors once he actually knew to look…

We are where we are felt.

Finally he found himself in an open cavern… five openings in the walls greeted him. Five! There were tunnels, they all had tunnels! And he could feel the water from one… he saw the shuttles in the center of the room. He had questions. But the shuttles were clearly not functional, and the questions would have to wait.

Taking a deep breath, Sven stepped into the tunnel where he felt the lion's energy, and shook his head. A fucking tunnel. That led straight to his lion… he sighed. Again with the his.

Maybe 'straight' to his lion had been an overstatement. The tunnel wound and curved gently, no doubt avoiding underground obstacles. That didn't bother him. He wasn't having to hold his breath, and that was the important part…

No, wait. The important part was that they'd been here the entire time. And Sven wasn't fool enough to believe that his lion hadn't known they were here.

"I needed to confirm that you were compatible."

"You needed…" Sven sighed and decided to just let it go. He was distracted, anyway, as the tunnel suddenly changed. It straightened and became partially glassed in—or had it always been? What it had been passing through before was probably featureless dirt. But now what surrounded the tunnel was water.

He took a few moments to admire it; the lake was really beautiful down here, when he wasn't having to swim in it. Then he moved on, his mind racing again.

So close to finding this lion…

Finding her may not even matter if he couldn't make a choice. He needed more information. How was he supposed to make a decision without knowing the consequences? Well, he knew of at least one consequence. He would have to stay. Which would make both his parents and the Alliance very unhappy. And he wasn't entirely against that, he just needed to know if it was worth it.

"I will tell you what I can."

Sven's reply was cut off by shock. The tunnel opened up into a large cave, but that wasn't what left his mind blank. It was the very large robotic cat that reminded him, both in size and position, of the Egyptian sphinx. Except blue. Very blue. She looked elegant yet dangerous, which fit her voice; stepping to one side, he could see two sleek silver wings anchored to her shoulders. One shoulder had something familiar etched in. The blue sigil from the temple…

He circled around to the front, where her paws were laying in the water that filled half the cavern. "Wow." Her golden eyes glowed, as if in greeting. "Wow." It needed to be repeated. "I— You're— Wow." That was the last time.

She chuckled. "I am the Blue Lion, Lion of Water. I'm glad you find me so impressive."

"That's a bit of an understatement." He stared for another minute, excitement filling him as reality sank in. They'd found it. The team's wild goose chase wasn't a wild goose chase after all… he shook his head, he needed to focus, this was work and he had questions. Or more accurately, no answers. "But I don't know if I want to bond. I don't understand what you're offering, or if it will give me what I want. And I get the feeling that it's not something where I can just decide to walk away and be done with it if I have second thoughts later."

She growled, and it echoed through the den. "You are correct."

"What does this bond entail?"

"The semantics of the bond is not what worries you. Ask what you wish to ask."

"You…" She was right, the particulars didn't really matter. "I'd be giving up an entire life—" Sven groaned. This wasn't working.

"Is it the life you want?"

"No…" Even after joining the team, it still usually felt as if his life was out of his control. Explorer Team crazy was better than some alternatives, sure, but…

"What do you want?"

"I want to make my own choices!" He threw his hands up in the air, and his voice echoed throughout the cave. "I want adventure and space, and I don't want my life manipulated into just being what someone else wants."

"Is that what you believe I'm doing? Manipulating you into giving me what I want?"

"I hope not, but I don't know." It would be so much easier if he could just know.

She gave an indignant huff, before wrapping his mind in reassurance. "I am not all-knowing. I cannot, and will not, promise you an exact future. Nor can I manipulate the outcome of your decision. But I can promise you that it is your decision whether or not we bond. My bonded must choose that path of their own free will. What happens after that decision will be up to us and our Pride."

My decision…

He looked down at the wet sand, then back up at the lion. How was he supposed to make a decision like this alone? It wasn't even about choosing between going home and staying with his team—not really—not without knowing what the others would choose. And how was he supposed to know that?

"Purify your thoughts, cub. What do you want? What do you feel?"

Purify…

Sven crouched, running his fingers through the knee-deep water he was standing in. It was icy cold, sharpening his focus. Take everything else away… the Drules, the Alliance, the Arusians needing their help. Flynn, Cam, and Jace dying. Earth and his parents waiting… all of it aside. Would he say no?

But even that wasn't the question. Freedom wasn't just throwing aside everything he cared about, everything that mattered to him. It couldn't be. What did it mean to purify his thoughts?

What did he want?

The freedom to make my own choices. And that freedom was an illusion, if those choices wouldn't be respected…

His eyes widened. There. There it was. The real question.

"…Okay." He nodded to himself. He knew what awaited him on Earth. A life he hadn't hated, but not the life he'd wanted, either. With Blue, he knew next to nothing of what awaited him, but the choice had been his. The choices would still be his. Because his team, and his lion, respected him in a way his parents simply did not. The freedom for what he wanted to matter… wasn't that all he could really ask for? "Okay. How do we do this?"

Blue Lion's eyes glowed once again, and she shifted, rising up into a sitting position with a soft mechanical whirr. Sven's eyes widened further as the water sloshed around him, and the temperature definitely dropped. The lion pushed her paw towards him, and he got the idea… walking a few steps forward and taking a deep breath, he placed his hand on the arch of one of her claws.

His vision went blue.

—A cold ripped through him like his whole body was in water. He could feel the creatures swimming around in the lake above him, the swirling rivers and the rushing rapids flowing out of it. The blue lion in front of him anchoring them together like solid ice—

Blink. "Wow." He'd taken his hand off her paw, but he could still feel her. A calm presence in his mind, but different from before… more solid, constant.

"You are the Knight of the Waters, and my Paladin of Purity."

Wait, what?

"You will be called Icehunter."

"I will?" How did someone hunt ice?

"Yes."

Well, okay then. Sven's mind was flooded with hundreds of things he didn't understand, but he couldn't seem to form them into actual questions. His brain was too overloaded with the fact that he'd just bonded with a giant sentient robot lion of water. Now he understood why Hunk had seemed so erratic about it—it was a lot to try to take in all at once. Maybe he needed a nap?

"And now, my Icehunter, I have a task for you."

So that was a no on the nap. "Yes?"

"Something of mine must be retrieved, for me to be truly operational. A key." Blue seemed irritated with that, but didn't expand on the irritation.

"A key?" Sven remembered the circular object Hunk had shown them. It hadn't looked much like a key, but that wasn't nearly the weirdest thing he'd seen since starting the mission. "Where is it?" Hopefully it would be easier to get to than she had been.

Blue just chuckled in response to his thought, and Sven sighed. "Of course."