(From Ashes) Chapter 12

Pride: From Ashes
            Chapter 12
            The Knight of the Winds

The next morning found Hunk in the shadow of the Castle of Lions, arranging pieces of meat on two large grates and an extra tray from the Falcon. It wasn't a whole lot, but it was more than he'd expected… Captain Sarial had indicated they would have more later. Another hunting party had been sent out at dawn.

What better way to break in the new grill than a lunchtime cookout? And if the militia wanted to bring enough meat for the whole castle shelter, Hunk was only too happy to grill all of it.

He wasn't alone in getting things set up. Sven had volunteered as his grilling assistant, partly to escape the ship before too many teammates started asking him questions about his newly glowing eyes. Questions were not something he felt prepared to deal with yet. Which brought him to the other reason for volunteering: he just needed to focus on something else for a bit.

Holy shit, he was magically bonded to a giant sentient cat ship!

"What did she say these things were called?" Hunk asked as he finished filling one grate. "Rollies?"

"Yes, I believe so."

"They don't seem real rolly to me." The meat was pale and lean and decidedly flat. "Which is good, that'd be annoying."

"I would think that would make them hard to grill," Sven agreed, rearranging the other grate to allow for the last few strips. The Arusians had butchered and prepared the animals; he didn't even know what they may have looked like before.

"Totally. Okay, put that grate with the smaller pieces on the left, we'll tone the fire down a little on that side." Grinning, Hunk set the other grate into place on the right side of the grill. "Dual chambers ain't just for showin' off. Though they are for showin' off."

Nodding, Sven moved his grate into place. "Yes sir."

The engineer paused, then shot him a dirty look. "Dude. Bad enough the ninja calls me 'sir' now, you outrank me!"

Shrug. That was true, he supposed, but Hunk certainly had the authority when it came to cookouts. "It was a conditioned response to being told what to do."

As he finished the statement, his eyes glowed, and he followed it up by rolling them dramatically.

"So does your vision go all blue when that happens?" Hunk asked, opening up the fuel chambers and adding some weird Arusian charcoal—that was definitely the technical term for it—and dried grass. "Wonder if it's more or less weird than yellow."

"Yes! Everything is in shades of blue." He positioned the grate as instructed and shook his head. "It messes with my depth perception."

"Right? I'm no pilot, but I know driving, and it seems like that'll fuzz it all up, but what do I know…"

"Neither piloting nor driving are my forte, I can't imagine trying to do either with this nonsense." Rolling his eyes again, this time without any glowing, Sven mused with some irritation that Lance probably wouldn't have any problems. Maybe he'd ask for pointers.

Snorting in agreement, Hunk looked over the grill. Everything looked in order except for the most important thing… "I think we're ready for round one. Wanna see somethin' awesome?"

Did he ever. "Absolutely."

"You uh, might wanna stand back." As he spoke, Hunk retrieved one of the secure containers he'd dragged out to the desert from the Falcon, and carefully removed one of the fireblossom pods the vultures had helped him harvest. "I'm not sure exactly how hardcore this'll be."

If there was one thing Sven knew for certain, it was that anything Hunk thought might be too hardcore was something he wanted no part of. He took five large steps back, watching with not-quite-trepidation as the big man set the strange red pod in the fuel chamber.

Producing a long, sharpened stick, Hunk stabbed the pod with a whispered, "Poke." As it erupted into flame he yanked the stick back, but it was much too late. A scattering of ash fell to the ground, all that was left of the pointed half. "…Holy fuckin' fuzzmuffins, Batman."

Yellow roared with laughter in his mind.

Sven stared; not even a brief blue glow could wrest his eyes from the sudden blaze. "That's a lot of fire."

"And he's not even my fiery brother's cub," Blue agreed.

"Yellow told me I couldn't be too careful with 'em…" Grinning, Hunk put a second pod in the other fuel chamber and went looking for another stick. "He was not wrong."

"Apparently." The scent of smoke drifted by, and Sven absently watched a tendril or two rising up. "What are those, anyway?"

Finding another stick, Hunk got the second pod going and stepped closer to monitor. "They're from some kinda cactus out in the desert, apparently the vultures use 'em." One of the navigator's eyebrows shot up. "Oh, uh, they're Yellow's friends. They kinda scare me, no lie."

Firebombing vultures did sound a bit more disturbing than poisonous octopus snails, Sven decided. Only a bit, though. A small bit. "You should take Daniel to meet them," he suggested with a chuckle.

"Birds, bro!"

"I know. It'd be entertaining." That thought probably went past slightly immoral to downright evil, but with all he'd been through lately, he was okay with it. They had to get amusement somewhere… as the grill burned merrily, he gave a slow exhale. None of this was changing the reality, the soft ripple of water that seemed to lurk in the back of his mind. "Does it feel… different than before, to you?"

That wasn't precisely the level of clarity he'd wanted, and Hunk gave him a look. "Dude, narrow that down."

No doubt he'd deserved that. "The lions. Their presence. With Blue, before, I wouldn't always feel her, but now it's constant. It's like I have no alone time." He grimaced. "Ever."

"…Yes and no?" Hunk shook his head. He was pretty damn certain he understood what Sven was saying, even if it wasn't precisely how he'd have described the sensation of earth hovering around him. "Like, Yellow's there, but he's not there, until all of a sudden he's all the way there." Oh yeah, that was an explanation. "Also uh, I might've had a talk with him about boundaries earlier…"

"I can hear you, Earthwarder."

"…It didn't totally take."

"I haven't had that specific talk yet," Sven admitted, and heard Blue Lion's purr rippling through him. "Not sure how well that will go."

Heh. That was the question, wasn't it? "I mean, he's gettin' a little better. Probably just takes time…" He rolled his eyes, which glowed halfway through. "The Earth is patient!"

"I hope so." Sven wrinkled his nose. "Did you get a fancy title? Because she says I'm Icehunter, Knight of the Waters and Paladin of Purity, and I still don't understand what the hell that means." He shrugged helplessly. "What was wrong with Sven? There's so many more syllables now."

Hunk had started flipping some of the meat; now he stopped and looked back with a laugh. "Dude. I'm Earthwarder, Knight of the Earth, Paladin of Faith. Me'n Yellow had words about that, too…" He blinked and trailed off, then went back to tending to the grill. "Wait, purity? She knows you've started swearing, yeah?"

Sigh. "Yes, she knows. She's not a fan." Before the last few hours, he wouldn't have realized a disapproving purr could be a thing. He didn't want to talk about that. "I already had an alternate name with more syllables than my actual name. Viking! What am I supposed to do with an even longer one?"

Now that sounded familiar. "Right? Hell, nobody ever even used my callsign back with the Alliance, because I had a nickname and it was only four letters! Though…" Finishing with the rolly-flipping, he turned back to his teammate and shrugged. "I kinda like Earthwarder, I think? Just feels like it's askin' a lot. They all do."

"Is that not also what we had words about?"

My dude, lemme commiserate with my teammate here, yeah?

"Exactly," Sven agreed, feeling more relieved than he would've thought. At least he wasn't the only one of them having this problem. "Icehunter, though. How am I supposed to hunt ice?"

"Never been to a hotel, huh?" All that got was a mild scowl; Hunk turned back to the grill with a shrug. But his mind was latched onto it now. Knight of the Earth, Earthwarder, that makes sense… but Knight of the Waters, Icehunter…? "…I don't think it's that you hunt ice, I think it's that, like, you're ice and you hunt? Cuz you're the knight of water or whatever, and ice is water? That's how I've been lookin' at mine anyway, because if I'm supposed to ward Earth right after basically sayin' I might or might not be goin' back to Earth, we've got some problems."

An exceptionally bemused growl ran through his mind.

Sven was not much less bemused. "I mean, I suppose that makes sense, in a way that makes very little sense." He watched the wisps of smoke again and mumbled as he tried to sort it out. "I'm ice, and I hunt. What do I hunt?" Hunk's Earthwarder and he's bonded to the Lion of Earth, he's certainly at least warding the earth, if not the Earth… "Does that mean I'm hunting water?" A headache was coming on. Quickly. "Wait, if I'm ice and I hunt water, won't I melt?"

Hunk just stared blankly at him, then shrugged. Metaphors were overrated.

Mercifully, the smell of grilled filet of rolly—or whatever it was they were cooking—was beginning to attract attention from elsewhere.

Pidge had slept in, which was extremely weird and he wasn't wholly certain how to deal with it. The fact that it was broad daylight and damn near lunchtime, yet he'd barely been awake for an hour, was throwing him off… it wasn't his fault, he'd been up late learning how to make Arusian burn salve. Larmina had insisted on him making two small batches of his own without help, just to be sure he had it down well enough that she wouldn't have to talk to him again.

He was fine with that, really. And it seemed to be working, so…

In any case, he was off balance enough to let Vince drag him to the cookout without protest. Truthfully he'd have liked some time to just talk to Vince, but maybe food first was a good idea.

Whatever Hunk was cooking smelled heavenly. "At least we know the grill works," Vince said with a small grin as they made their way over from the Falcon. "Not that I'm actually surprised. Hunk."

That made one of them. "Really? I didn't think he was serious." Or at least, he hadn't thought the goal was realistic.

"Smells like it, anyway." The other engineer shrugged. "It was actually pretty fun. Lord Coran helped."

Even Pidge had to admit that the thought of Coran messing with scrap metal under the big goofball's guidance was amusing. "De chyle."

Whatever that meant. It sounded benign enough, though Vince couldn't help noting the ninja seemed off this morning. Maybe. It was hard to tell in the best of times, and well, he'd been off for awhile. Hadn't they all? "You alright?"

No, he was not alright. "I'm…" He didn't want to talk about it. Then again… let him reach out. Vince had a way of doing that. "…The trip to the forest was weird."

Weird? With this team? On this planet? Surely not. "You found something though, right? You aren't burning right now are you?"

Pidge nodded. "It seems to be working. So far so good, kir sa tye?"

"Good." Vince smiled. "I was worried you'd turn into a lobster."

That earned him a look of confusion that he probably should have anticipated. Then the ninja shrugged. "Probably get along with mechka alright."

…Had that been a joke? Pidge had made a joke! Laughing, Vince decided not to ask if it had been an intentional joke; he'd just enjoy it. "So how was the forest weird?"

Oh, no. He was not answering that one. It would probably just freak his teammate out, anyway. "I think it's probably always weird. Giant wolves, angry Arusians, lion in my head, you know…"

"I don't know any of that, thankfully."

Yes, then he definitely wouldn't want to hear about mysterious anti-Arusian force fields, or whatever the hells it had been. And it stopped mattering as they rounded the corner of the castle and the grill came into sight. The very large grill, two distinct columns of pale smoke rising up from it, flames occasionally venting out a chimney-like structure in the middle.

"…Okay, I was not expecting that."

"Uh. Me either, really."

"Didn't you help build it?"

"Yeah, but I hadn't seen the finished product." There was a whole new attachment off to the side—was that a sear box? Vince was pretty certain it was a sear box. "Looks like he added more to it that wasn't even on the blueprint."

"Huh." Pidge really wasn't sure what else to say about that.

The two engineers weren't the only ones attracted to the burgeoning cookout. Allura had known it was planned, of course; she hadn't been quite sure what to expect. From what Coran had told her, a 'grill' was something quite basic—a kindness they wouldn't refuse from their guests, no doubt, but perhaps more quirky than exciting. The enticing smell of cooking that had started to drift into the castle said something else entirely.

Following the scent, she found the small group starting to assemble and waved a quiet greeting. No need to interrupt anything, and she was curious to watch just what the Earthlings were doing.

What Hunk was doing, at that moment, was noticing that people were starting to show up. Perfect timing; some of the smaller bits of meat were looking pretty perfectly grilled. "Yo!" He waved broadly to the new arrivals. "First batch is ready, come eat somethin'!"

Nobody was going to pass that invitation up—though Pidge was more interested in the grill than the food. Sven startled a little at the yell; he'd still been preoccupied thinking about melting, metaphorically or otherwise, and his eyes flashed blue for a moment.

"Really?" he muttered. "Now?"

"You are well aware that I am not in control of that."

So she'd said, anyway. Vince and Pidge had both hesitated at the glow, for entirely different reasons. But for equally different reasons, the lure of the grill was too strong for them to stay away. "Sorry," Vince said sheepishly. "Never getting used to that."

"You and me both," Sven grumbled.

Hunk chuckled. "At least you've got a normal eye color."

"Last I checked, glow is not a normal eye type."

By way of response Hunk just jerked his head towards Allura, who had not seemed the least bit concerned by the flicker. Why would she? She had glowy healing eyes of her own. The whole idea of 'normal', much like the mission, was kind of shot around here.

She and Vince filled two of the small plates they'd brought out from the Falcon, while Pidge recovered from Sven's glowing and circled the grill. He could see the signs of limited materials—not a single screw or bolt to be found, with simple but efficient latching mechanisms to supplement its structure instead. Finally he stopped and looked up at Hunk. "You made this out of battlefield salvage?"

Grin. "Sure did!"

"It's…" He looked down again and nodded slowly. "Impressive."

Once again, Hunk wasn't entirely sure how to respond to the ninja being nice, so he just grinned wider. "Thanks, little dude. C'mon, eat some uh… rolly?"

"Roli," Pidge corrected reflexively; they'd seen a couple in the forest. Even he had to admit that it smelled good, but he was a bit more concerned with other things… and having satisfied his curiosity regarding one of them, he couldn't distract himself from the other anymore. Sighing, he moved towards Sven. "Lieutenant?"

It was a welcome interruption to mental debates over melting. "Yes?" Though at least one person around here calling him by his name would be nice. "Please just call me Sven."

"Yessir." They both stared at each other for a moment as he blinked. "Uh, I mean, Sven." Why did none of the superior officers around here want to be called by their rank? "Did you…"

…How precisely did he ask this? There was no good way to say 'bond to a mythical robotic lion' out loud without sounding insane. Granted, they already knew they were all insane, but—

"—Bond to a giant sentient cat ship?" Sven offered wryly.

"Is that what you're calling me?"

Is it wrong?

"Hmph. I suppose not."

Pidge sighed in quasi-relief. It was still ridiculous, but at least he didn't have to say it. "Yes, that."

"Yes." His eyes glowed briefly again as he answered, and this time he didn't even bother to protest it.

Well, that was pretty unequivocal. "…I see."

Snagging a couple of strips of roli meat from the grill, the ninja retreated, leaving Sven to look after him in confusion. Should he ask what that was about? No, probably not. Pidge had his own lion to dissect his feelings.

Which she arrived to do almost immediately, of course.

He barely had time to try to get his thoughts together. The idea that Sven had bonded… why hadn't he expected that? No, he knew why. Sure, Hunk had taken the leap, whatever the hells that leap was. But he'd expected the team's officers to think differently—to think better of this.

And why the hells would he expect that? They didn't even want to be called by their titles.

"You did not really think that at all, did you, cub?"

He scowled. You know what I've been thinking.

"Even you don't know what you've been thinking."

That has yet to stop you.

Green Lion purred. And suddenly Pidge was through with this discussion, through with these questions, through with her being in his head—again. He had some thoughts, all right. And he was going to go discuss them with her, face to big green metal face.

Glancing over his shoulder to be sure no one was going to stop him, he headed for the forest.

*****

Typical.

Vince saw Pidge walk off, but decided not to get in the middle of it. He did have his new dose of weird to deal with, and pressing the ninja never went well. Instead, he focused on his food, which was like nothing he'd ever eaten before. The roli meat was silky and just a little bit buttery, and unsurprisingly, it was grilled to perfection.

This would taste good with Betrayal Mushrooms… he made a face. Just having that thought was a whole new betrayal. But it was true!

He wasn't the only one enjoying the food; Allura was fascinated. In the caves they'd mostly had to settle for boiling and convection, given the dangers of open flame in the confined space. Spices and such were long since exhausted. But she wasn't detecting any kind of spice in what Hunk had prepared, either; just a deep smoky flavor that set the meat off to perfection. He'd done this just with the proper application of fire? It was a welcome change, for certain.

Returning to the grill, she watched for a bit. The big Earthling seemed so casual, but there was a deceptive concentration and precision to what he was doing. A good choice for the Lion of Earth. Smiling, she stepped closer as he flipped a few larger pieces. "The way you've cooked these rolis is truly delicious."

Hunk startled a little and blushed bright. She's a princess! "Uh, thanks!" Dude, chill, you've been hangin' with a princess since Korrinoth. …But she's the princess of the planet we're on! He grinned to cover the flustered argument going on in his own head. "The Cap'n said she'd bring up enough, uh, rolis to take a bunch down to the shelters."

That was especially welcome news. Bringing the refugees up to this cookout wasn't quite practical, not least because she doubted throwing all of her people together with the strange aliens—not to mention Romelle—all at once would be wise. But at least they could have a treat beyond simple sustenance while she waited to bring them real hope…

Hunk's eyes glowed yellow, he groaned, and she giggled.

Vince noted the discussion and felt like he ought to join in, though he really had no idea what to say. Finally he retreated to what he'd been thinking earlier. "I bet rolis taste good with betr—I mean, uh, your mushrooms?"

The princess looked at him and smiled warmly. It didn't exactly take all of her powers of perception to recognize his shyness, and she'd heard from Coran's reports on the Earthlings that he seemed a bit timid. She'd also heard from Nanny that he seemed like a fine young man, which was the highest praise any of them were likely to receive. "Oh, yes," she agreed. "There's a special sauce based from a rarer type of mushrooms that is perfect with rolis." That particular type couldn't be grown in the caves, but… she looked between Hunk and Sven, and took comfort in her belief that such luxuries would return to Arus soon.

When the lions flew again…

"Really?" Vince blinked. "You have more than one kind of mushroom?" Of course they would. That was how mushrooms worked. Are they all betrayers?

Allura giggled lightly again. "Hundreds, but only so many are good for eating."

Hundreds! "Well, the brown ones, the uh, onpira? They're the only mushrooms I've ever thought were good for eating." Score one for Arus.

"If you spot a similar one, but with bright red veins, don't try it," she cautioned. "At least for Arusians, those are… very bad."

"I'll steer clear," he promised. Really, he couldn't see himself willingly trying any other kind of mushrooms. No sense pressing his luck.

As they spoke, others were starting to arrive. Lance was first, hoping the smell of food might have lured Daniel—there was no sign of the kid, but there was a princess, and that was for sure a welcome sight too. "Princess, hello!" He gave her his most charming wink, and was gratified when she blushed. It made the golden marks on her cheeks flicker slightly.

As it happened, Daniel was in the area. He was just hiding behind a few fallen chunks of masonry, having no intention of letting Lance find him. He had Toast on his head, Crouton draped over his shoulders, and a slightly rumbling stomach; seeing Lance distracted chatting with the princess was a relief. He darted forward to grab some food, waving quickly to the others and making sure he stayed very much at Lance's back.

"Yo!" Hunk shot him a thumbs-up. "Take some for the lizards too, if they want it." He had no idea what the lizards actually ate, but presumably Daniel did.

It had taken a little trial and error, but he certainly did. "They like insects. And snails. And worms. They're good, thanks though." Returning the thumbs-up, he retreated to the masonry. He'd have left altogether, just to be safe… but he might want seconds. Avoiding Lance had already resulted in skipping breakfast.

The debris shielded him from the grilling area, mostly. It didn't at all shield him from the castle, or the Arusian on one of the low balconies who definitely wasn't spying.

Okay, maybe Larmina was spying a little. And what precisely she was spying on was actually too interesting to ignore. So she jumped off the balcony and trotted up beside Daniel. "You found lizards!" As he startled and spun around, she looked at the one on his head and raised an eyebrow. "Lizard hat."

"I did!" he agreed excitedly; not even the angry redhead could ruin lizards for him. "And yeah, he keeps me warm. His name is Toast."

"Toast," Larmina repeated, and shrugged. Why not? "Avoid forest with them. Banewolves hungry." She reached up and patted Toast's head, then the one on Daniel's shoulders. "Good lizards." She did like lizards herself, though not near as much as the Earthling seemed to—she liked most animals. They tended to be better than people.

Banewolves? Daniel remembered Pidge mentioning giant wolves in the forest, and decided that was excellent advice. "Thanks for the tip."

Lance didn't stay distracted by Allura for long; the smells from the grill were aggressively reminding him of one reason he was here, and he wasn't about to forget the other. He approached Hunk and Sven, grinning. "Hey, Glowsticks."

"Hey, bro."

"Oh, joy," Sven muttered. "Another name."

"Don't worry, you'll always really be the Viking." He turned to Hunk, who was snickering. "Can I get some food to go? And have you seen the kid?"

Hunk had, in fact, seen all three kids, but he understood perfectly well what Lance was asking. "Have at it, bro. Kid was here not too long ago, uh…" He looked around, eyes flickering yellow, but between the smoke and the flame vent he couldn't see a whole lot. "He went thataway-ish."

"That way?" he echoed, following the highlighter-vision, and noted the large chunks of fallen masonry in the distance. Aha! "Thanks, dude."

Lance took a bit of the roli meat and nibbled on it, and it tasted damn good, but it couldn't keep his attention for long. He had big plans once he got his hands on the kid… he swore under his breath again. He'd been doing that a lot since Sven had come back.

Of course there were tunnels. Of course they had to find them for themselves. Because compatibility quests, or whatever. Lance wasn't even sure what his life was right now, which was why he needed the part of it that still kind of made sense. Daniel.

Grabbing the kid would neatly knock out two birds with one stone. Let him know Lance could not be avoided indefinitely, and have good company to find the fucking tunnels.

Circling around the masonry he caught sight of Daniel. He was talking to the red-haired Arusian—Lady Larmina, if he remembered correctly—and was completely unaware that Lance was heading his way. Good. With a smirk, he walked up directly behind him, getting an odd look as Larmina noticed him; he winked, which just got an even weirder look.

Well, time to make himself known. "BOO."

Daniel started, jumped, and the salalizard on his head tumbled off. "Toast!" he shouted after the lizard, then glared at Lance. "Mother of fucking shit! Whyyyyyy?"

Larmina had reflexively caught Toast, who promptly hissed at her. A lot. "Don't hiss at me," she snapped in Arusian, "hiss at the offworlder in the…" Looking up at the newcomer, she blinked. "…very cool jacket?"

Whatever she'd said, it sounded much less annoyed than Lance would've expected and had definitely been directed at him, so he grinned. "Ah, a lady of good taste!" She gave him that weird look again, and he turned his focus back toward Daniel. "Me? You're whying me? You're the one avoiding, kid. But I'm going to forgive you and ask for a favor."

Daniel held his arms out to reclaim his salalizard, which Larmina handed back without protest. She had no idea what was happening right now, and felt certain she didn't want to. Keeping his eyes firmly on Toast, the gunner shook his head and lied. "I have not been avoiding you." It was Larmina's fault, really. She'd been nice, it had distracted him from his avoid Lance at all costs plan. "I've just been busy with my lizards. They take a lot of care." He put Toast back on his head.

Neither of them noticed Larmina walking away. It seemed like a good time to get out of there and find somewhere else to definitely not spy.

Lance shook his head at Daniel's lying. It was to be expected, he supposed… and really he had more important things on his mind. "Do you want to go volcano hunting? I have a lead."

Volcano hunting again? Daniel narrowed his eyes, because he didn't trust this at all. There was no way Keith hadn't snitched. A 'talk' was coming, he could feel it. But he couldn't say no or it would look like he was avoiding him, which he was, but whatever…

Also, volcanoes. He didn't know what to do. And especially not when Lance gave his best hopeful face. Damn it. He had to find some excuse to get out of this.

"I uh… you see, I have… the lizards… the Captain…" Daniel stammered and inwardly swore at himself. What happened to your ability to LIE? He felt trapped, flailing, and then he saw Vince. Vince could be his savior! He rushed forward, grabbed the engineer's arm, and yanked him hard so he stood between him and Lance. "Sure, Vince was just saying how cool the volcano was." He gave him his best just go with it look. "Mind if he comes?"

"Bwuh…?" Vince sputtered, utterly confused. He'd been walking back to the Falcon to brush his teeth, maybe floss, he was sure a bit of roli was stuck in his teeth. And suddenly he was being abducted. Did he just say volcano?

Lance swallowed a sigh as he looked at poor bewildered Vince, and Daniel visibly trying to will him into compliance. The kid was really going all out on the avoiding this time, wasn't he? But it wouldn't save him.

"Fine, the more the merrier."

Daniel sighed, relieved. With any luck having Vince there as a buffer would stave off any talks. It was too hard to bury his feelings and bolt when Lance gave him talks.

For his part, Vince still wasn't sure what was happening and he was fairly sure he wanted nothing to do with it. But Daniel kept staring at him with a panicked please in his eyes. "We're uh, doing what now?"

"We're going to a volcano," Daniel answered immediately. And not having a talk.

"We're finding the fucking tunnels to the volcano," Lance clarified. "So I can meet the robot lion that lives there." He made a face as he said it, or more to the point, as what he'd said registered. His life was strange.

Vince looked between them. No, he really didn't want to be doing this, and he shot Daniel a halfhearted glare. The gunner responded with a panicked look, one that at least managed a dash of I'm sorry this time.

He sighed and nodded. Volcano hunting it was.

*****

The forest, as usual, was dark even in daylight. Still a welcome respite, even with the burn salve doing its job. Darkness, or at least twilight, was still the preferred state of the Shinori… even those supposedly unworthy of the name.

Pidge remembered the first time he'd seen sunlight.

No, perhaps that wasn't quite accurate. Balto's sun, a faraway white dwarf, was visible; it just looked like one of a thousand distant stars. What he remembered was the first time he'd seen sunrise, the whole sky filling with blinding light and brilliant color…

He'd been six.

—The planet was called Kruos. An Alliance world popular with tourists, filled with plant life that had evolved colorful crystalline armor. There was no native civilization, but it was important enough economically to merit a small garrison. That, apparently, was how his parents had first learned of it, when tourism was not exactly a typical Baltan pursuit.

"I was stationed here once," his father was saying as they sat on the dark cliffside. Crowded with people, and yet quieter than home. The voices here were only sounds, with no fragments barging unwelcome into his mind. It was the first time Pidge had ever experienced that, too; he was only beginning to learn how to protect himself from such things. "The Alliance considers this a light duty rotation, but it was overwhelming at first. What do you think so far?"

"I don't know." He'd been uncomfortable, on edge. "I don't think I know?" The strange glasses they wore were awkward, and made the surroundings murky. His mother and brother were elsewhere, and he didn't like being without his twin. His defender. Already he knew his place as varetya, that he had to always be on guard for threats.

Kruos so far seemed completely unthreatening, and he wasn't sure what to make of that. It couldn't be real, could it?

It didn't take telepathy for his father to read that thought. "It's not a trick question, Hiroshi."

Hiroshi. The name they had given him. Wanderer…

"Why are we here?" he finally asked. "You wanted to show me something, but there's just people?" He looked at the ground below, where leaves rustled silently. "And trees." He'd seen a lot of trees in his young life, and in his opinion, far too many people.

An enigmatic smile tugged at his father's lips. "Give it a bit longer."

Patience had never come easily. He'd fidgeted, eyes darting around, still waiting for something to strike where and how he least expected it. And it had done that. The sky was changing…

"What's going on?"

"Watch."

So he'd watched. The black skies had become blue, and other colors had started to bleed in from the horizon. It reminded him a little of the seasonal shifts in the Baltan ringlight, though the only colors there were silver and white cutting through the darkness…

And suddenly a sliver of pure brightness, blinding even through the protective glasses, was rising over the horizon.

"What is this?"

"Daybreak," his father murmured. "On most inhabited worlds, the sun rises and falls. It dictates so much of life. And yet, on Shinor, we once had no concept of such a thing."

Daybreak…

The sunlight had soon poured over the forest below, and the crystalline leaves cast it back up in a shimmering cloud of rainbow light. Everyone else on the cliffside was gasping in awe, looking down at the vibrant display. But Pidge's eyes had been focused upward, transfixed by the light.

"Carry this with you, Hiroshi, if nothing else. There is so much in this galaxy you cannot yet imagine. You'll learn, in time." His father's hand rested on his shoulder. "You'll find why we named you our wanderer, and you'll find where you truly belong."—

A thousand times after returning to Shinor, Pidge would have cause to doubt that promise. A hundred times after fleeing to Earth, he would hate himself for failing to fulfill it. But in that moment, awed by the alien sunlight, he had believed.

And here he was…

"You are distressed."

And there she was again. "Brilliant observation." He would've liked to glare at the lion in his head, but the best he could do yet was scowl through the trees. "Why the hells shouldn't I be?"

"I would not deny you your frustrations."

He wasn't sure how to address that, so he simply didn't. It could wait until he reached her and could glare properly. Distressed? Of course he was distressed.

On Arus, burned by the alien sunlight, he felt a hope he hadn't even fully grasped slipping away. Was that what she'd been trying to tell him before? It didn't seem logical. Yet…

Return to your Pride.

He saw it now. An ephemeral glimpse, like the prisms of sunlight dancing through the trees. Something he hadn't fully grasped, perhaps never could. But he wouldn't let it go without a fight.

*****

Romelle was relatively late to the cookout, but she was just as happy that way. It made her less likely to be noticed. She saw some of the Arusian militia arriving with more meat for the grill, and watched them pack up a bundle to take with them, presumably back to the refugees below. Taking advantage of the commotion, she slipped in to take a small bit of what remained on the grill and then retreated, hoping to find somewhere quiet and alone.

What she found was a slab of roofing that was now half buried in the dirt… she sighed. It still did hurt, to see the legendary Castle of Lions in this state. But right now it would at least help her a bit.

Except she wasn't the first to have the idea. Larmina had already chosen that bit of debris as her new place to not spy from, and blinked as the Arusian-ish-looking woman circled around it and startled.

"Oh!" Romelle took a step back. "Sorry." She was trying to avoid Arusians, this wasn't what she needed.

Larmina frowned. Auntie didn't want her being rude to the offworlders, and this one didn't have any cool animals with her, which limited her interest in sticking around. "I can go," she offered in Arusian. There were plenty of other broken bits of castle to hide behind.

"No, you were here first. I'm the unwanted one…" Romelle snorted. "…In more ways than one, I suppose." She turned to go.

With that, curiosity overwhelmed Larmina's desire to not talk to strangers. "What is that supposed to mean?"

It got her a look that was part startled, part doubtful. "You don't know?" Wasn't she a noble? An odd one, clearly, but…

Larmina straightened, crossing her arms. "You look way too Arusian to not be Arusian, but not Arusian enough to be Arusian." Ah, yes. There's that royal eloquence in your own language.

…She really didn't know. And much as Romelle didn't care to have a discussion on the subject, she was also tired of the looks. "You'll find out sooner or later, it may as well be sooner," she sighed. "I'm Polluxian. My ancestors came from Arus."

Polluxian… that word sounded vaguely familiar. Only vaguely. "Well, I didn't pay enough attention to my history tutor to know why you're acting like that's a bad thing. So I'll just not like you because you're an offworlder, and not because you're a specific type of offworlder, how's that?" Was having to trust some… estranged cousin or whatever she was better or worse than having to trust total strangers?

Though she would have expected to be annoyed by that statement, Romelle found herself searching for indignation that hadn't quite bubbled up. "Offworlder…" She chuckled softly and nodded. "I think I can live with that." After all the dwelling she'd done on ancient feuds and prejudice, there was something strangely amusing about an Arusian who was just… grumpy. "It's strange the way things have worked out, isn't it?" she murmured almost unconsciously.

Larmina side-eyed her. "I just said I don't like you."

"I heard you." Why wasn't she leaving? Maybe it was more than amusement. Maybe there was something familiar in the young Arusian's clear bitterness. "I don't think I like you, either, but etiquette does demand a certain civility towards my hosts."

Maybe the corollary of let them reach out was trying to reach out herself…

Hmm. There was something to that, Larmina decided. And Coran had told her to spy, if the Polluxian wanted to talk to her, maybe she should take advantage of the opportunity to spy in her native language. "So do you understand the Earthlings any better than the other not-Earthling does? They seem, uh…" Her thoughts went back to Daniel and his lizard hat. "…Weird."

Ask me an easy one, why don't you. "No." She shook her head. "They're very… confusing, and so much at odds with what I would have expected from my knowledge of the Alliance. But I think they mean well."

Easy for her to say. "But you were on their crew, right?" Somehow, Larmina's tone became more bitter than usual. "Must have been nice to be able to just go wherever you want. Don't know why you'd want to end up here."

Romelle froze up. "I… I'm not…" She winced, trying to fight down that reflexive objection, but it was too late. "I'm not exactly an original member of their crew." Oh, the hell with it. She'd learn this soon enough, too. "I only helped them escape from Korrinoth."

Korrinoth? "What were you doing on Korrinoth? Did Pollux get attacked too?" Did Auntie know about this? It felt like she should find out. To be safe. Some distant relative being on the sinycka homeworld seemed important.

"…No." Hunger vanishing, Romelle set the small plate on a bit of the debris and shook her head. She felt ill. But she'd also known, perhaps, that it wouldn't be so simple as only explaining herself once… sighing, she lowered her eyes. "I was there to prevent Pollux from being attacked," she said with a shudder. "I was to be married to their Crown Prince."

Wait, what? "…Who the hell are you?"

"Romelle Asira of the House of Lachesis," she murmured. No sense hiding it now. "Princess of Pollux."

Larmina stared at her, fumbling for words. What she couldn't shake was how familiar it felt. It wasn't the same at all, and yet… finally she just snorted and looked away. "At least you got out of the marriage you didn't want by something that wasn't having your planet bombed to bits."

Had she? It seemed too early to say. "I hope you're right about that."

…Oh. Larmina blinked as that sank in. Of course the Drules wouldn't have approved of any of this. And what they didn't like… she sighed, and found a spark of compassion trying to shine through. "Well, welcome to our little hellhole, Princess."

"Please, just Romelle." That was becoming a reflex at this point. "And…" I think she was trying. I think I might be trying… "Thank you?"

They exchanged small, uncomfortable nods, decided that was good enough for both of them, and silently watched the cookout together.

*****

Leading his unwitting companions into the castle, Lance quickly realized he had zero idea what the hell he was doing. Looking for tunnels? Feeling tunnels? He glanced at Daniel and Vince; neither looked like they wanted to be there at all. He felt a bit bad for Vince, but if that was what it took to get Daniel in here, so be it. He really didn't want to do this on his own. He wanted Daniel with him—it felt right. Important, even. Especially knowing the kid wasn't in the best headspace himself of late.

Nothing to do for now except keep going forward, he supposed. He needed to meet this damn voice in his head, and maybe then things would make sense. Speaking of the voice in his head… he held up a hand to stop the kids as they reached a branching corridor. "Okay, I need to converse with the lion, I think? Give me a moment."

Conversing with the lion, sure, why not? Vince shrugged. Daniel pointedly looked at one of his salalizards.

Alright, do I get a direction hint?

"Sense me," the gruff voice answered in its usual cryptic style.

What the fuck does that even mean?

"Your instincts have done you well so far, cub. Trust them."

"Well that's fucking unhelpful." Lance groaned, annoyed, and wondered why he'd expected anything different. The closer he came to answers, the more impatient he got. Why couldn't he just be given a straightforward direction?

Daniel tried not to glare at the ground. He still wasn't cool with the team talking to things that weren't there, especially weird mystical robot lions. "Maybe it's like when I found Boss Dread," he muttered. "Just walk around and we'll find it." Really he wasn't sure he wanted Lance to find the lion, but…

"I'm supposed to sense him." Lance sighed, closing his eyes. Had he felt a flicker of warmth from the left? Good a guess as any. "We're going this way."

"Okay."

Vince shook his head as he followed. He was definitely a third wheel, but he was in the middle of this now. Might as well keep going… as if reading his mind, Lance looked over at him. "Vince, dude. If you see a ghost ask them if they know about the tunnels, would you?"

"I hope I don't." This was uncomfortable enough without being reminded about ghosts. "But why not, I could try…"

They walked in silence for a while, and Lance found himself taking turns he'd never seen without even questioning them. Was he actually sensing warmth? Really?

We are where we are felt.

Trust your instincts.

His instincts always had served him well, true. But this felt like something well beyond that. This was magic. He'd never had magic in his life before…

…Before he touched that red metal. And now here he was, feeling that warmth, that oddly peaceful presence. It was comforting, even when it worried him… more to the point, even when it irritated him. Like now…

"Are we going in fucking circles?"

Vince shook his head. "Haven't seen this hall before." A lot of the castle corridors did look similar, but this one was too dusty for them to have already come through.

"I'll take that as a good sign." He glanced at Daniel, who was being too quiet. "So, busy with lizards, huh kid?" Lizards my ass. He didn't buy that excuse, but he could play along. "How are they settling in?"

Daniel gave a muted shrug. Don't fall for it. He's trying to lure you into a false sense of security. "They've been good." Toast and Crouton burped a few sparks.

"Well, the one you wear as a hat seems comfy. Toast, right?"

"Yeah. He's cool…"

Right. A fiery salalizard was cool. Lance felt like he was quickly losing this battle, and desperate times called for desperate measures. "Are you doing an impersonation of Keith?"

"…Excuse you?" Daniel sputtered. Vince snickered; that earned him a glare and a shush that made him quickly regret it.

"You're being all monosyllabic, it's not fucking like you."

Bury and bolt. Bury and bolt. He tried to keep the mantra looping through his head—he was supposed to be avoiding talks—but he could not let an insult like that stand. "I just don't have anything to say! That's not a crime, and it's sure as hell not Keith-comparison-worthy!"

"Well it's damn weird, and I'm weirded out enough, kid." He stopped a moment, tracking the tendril of warmth through a doorway that no longer had a door in it. "You know, hence why I'm trying to sense my way to a volcano."

Snort. Again with the magical lion robot reminder. "You're weirded out enough?" And really, Lance had insisted on bringing him along. "I guess I have a higher standard of weird than someone having nothing to say."

Lance eyed him and an extremely uncomfortable-looking Vince, and decided he couldn't call him out directly. At least not right now. But fuck if he was just letting this stand. "Alright, fair… you be quiet and fucking weird if it makes you happy, I'm just happy you could come with me."

Daniel ground his teeth, Lance sighed, and Vince cringed. Conversations with Pidge are less awkward than this.

"He is important." The Lion of Flame's voice felt somehow hotter in Lance's mind.

Fucking right he is, Lance thought back without hesitation, and took another turn.

The gunner trailing behind him was fuming. He hated it when Lance did that; he couldn't just leave it be. No he had to be all big-brother-y and do that face. The just happy to have you here face was almost as bad as the damn disappointed face, it was infuriating. Why couldn't he just get mad? Daniel could handle mad.

Arriving at a set of stairs distracted Lance from anything else he might have said. They went down, but the hallway also continued forward and felt slanted downward itself. His instincts weren't immediately taking him anywhere.

"Okay, give me a minute to… fucking sense," he said irritably, closing his eyes. It didn't feel any less ridiculous than the first time he'd tried it.

Daniel fought off a groan; he felt trapped, and the fact that he couldn't bring himself to bolt while Lance's eyes were closed didn't help. As if answering his thoughts, Toast burped and sent a few embers brushing against his skin; he jumped. They had discussed this! "You do that on purpose." Toast just burped again.

Daniel felt yelled at.

The commotion wasn't helping Lance's concentration. Grumbling, he tried a little harder to focus on the warmth, the path… and he felt something tugging his attention to the stairs. "Okay, we're going down."

"Maybe your senses aren't as good as you think they are," Daniel spoke without thinking and immediately wished he hadn't. Why bother trying to irritate him? Wasn't like it worked. Ever.

"I pride myself on my instincts, but this feels like flying blind. I don't like it," Lance admitted as they walked downward, and Daniel ground his teeth more. Just like he'd predicted.

"Yet you are following the path," the lion whispered.

Lance startled. I am…? There was no further response, and he sighed. "Apparently, I'm doing good."

"Really?" Vince sounded surprised.

"Yeah," he laughed, "that's what I said." His gaze lingered on Daniel for a moment; at least the kid had said something snarky? But now he just shrugged.

At the end of the stairs, Lance turned left, feeling more and more sure of the warmth he was following. Was it just his confidence building, or was it that they were getting closer?

"The salalizards are getting warmer, if that means anything," Daniel mumbled.

"Yeah?" Lance smiled. More at the fact that Daniel had shared it, though its echoing his own thoughts about the warmth should probably be encouraging too. "I'd ask them for directions, but I think that'd be considered cheating." He remembered the last time he'd tried that. "But keep sharing any salalizard updates."

Daniel wordlessly turned his thumb upward in response.

Talk to me, kid. Lance grumbled to himself and took another turn at the bottom of the stairs. They were in what looked like a service hallway now. "So… you two haven't been up to anything interesting?"

Though Vince was pretty sure the question wasn't really meant for him, Daniel had hauled him along for some reason—he was getting the distinct impression it was to run interference. So he answered anyway. "Just helping Hunk with the grill."

"Just lizards," Daniel muttered. "Really." And sitting around feeling bitter. Which reminded him… "Oh!" The exclamation came out before he could stop it. Great. Now he'd have to explain.

"Oh?" Lance repeated, maybe a little too quickly. He could work with this.

Well, why not? Daniel decided. It wasn't about his feelings, maybe it would be a good distraction from what Lance was actually trying to do. "I joined the Arusian militia."

Both Lance and Vince stopped dead in their tracks. "You what?"

"…I joined the Arusian militia." Daniel looked at their blank stares, confused. What was wrong with that? Was he in trouble? If anything he was being responsible, he shouldn't be in trouble.

Is that like him? Well, maybe, he does do unexpected things… "Why?"

Shrug. "'Cause their leader asked me to? It's not that big a deal, okay?"

"Captain Sarial, right?" Vince smiled slightly. "I like her."

"Yeah, she's cool." Except for that nonsense where she kept having expectations.

"Wait." Lance was not any less confused. "Someone asked you to do something and you said yes? Just like that?" It wasn't the militia part that surprised him, he supposed, just the easy acceptance. Who the fuck is this Sarial person? Just—how?

He was pretty certain he felt a growling chuckle.

Daniel grimaced, trying to get ahead of any trouble he was in. "Well yeah, I mean she just asked me to…" Oh. "…Okay, I get it now." He really hadn't thought it was a big deal until they put it like that.

"It's just surprising, that's all." Tread carefully. "They probably need the help. Tell the captain I'm available if needed, too?"

"It's a good thing you're helping them out…" Vince shrugged. It felt like he should offer too; he didn't have much else to be doing. But… "Should I volunteer? I don't think I have the skillsets they'd need."

Daniel ignored Lance—he was not supposed to be talking to him, damn it—and focused on Vince. "You might. I mean, when she asked me for help it was to escort her and some other dude to fix some tech thing. And then she asked if I could help with other stuff, and then I kinda officially joined. It was better than sitting around thinking about how—" he snapped his mouth shut, but not until after a strangled sound escaped. Every time. How did it happen every time? Lance was just there and suddenly he was letting things slip…

Lance ducked his head to hide his smirk at Daniel's oh fuck face. Vince almost asked, but took one look at Daniel's expression and thought better of it; he was afraid he might get a faceful of salalizard embers if he poked.

"About how what, kid?" their pilot asked innocently.

Daniel glared. "We're not talking about this, 'cause there's nothing to talk about. You would just disagree with me, and we both know you already know 'cause Keith's a no good rat—" —Oh for fuck's…!

Lance eyed him, and Vince, who was biting his lip with a mix of amusement and mortification. The exchange was oddly entertaining, how Lance seemed to just be able to make Daniel blurt things out by existing. Vince wasn't sure he'd ever seen Daniel trying all that hard to not talk… maybe he didn't really know what was going on, but he knew it was, if not exactly funny, at least not not-funny.

Finally the pilot nodded. "Yeah, you're right, Keith's a fucking rat… BUT. I already fucking knew, kid. He just verified I was on the right track. And…" he pointed at himself and then at Daniel. "I do fucking disagree. A lot. And we will talk about it more in depth, sooner rather than later."

"Not if I can help it!" Daniel protested, then remembered they shared a room and inwardly groaned. Maybe he should try sleeping in his room in the castle… then he realized further that the thought of Lance telling him he was wrong about this was oddly comforting, and he rolled his eyes.

"Pfft. We'll see about that, kid…" Lance started walking again.

"You are so annoying."

"I'm fucking awesome."

"Completely disagree. So annoying…" But he said without any heat. It was annoying, it just made him feel good at the same time, but Lance didn't need to know that…

Toast burped again, and Daniel glared. He didn't need that commentary, either. Vince just shook his head, bewildered. He was not like this with his moms.

They fell silent; there were still tunnels to find. Lance focused again on sensing the growing warmth… it was getting easier, he realized, and he felt lighter somehow. He'd broken through—sure, he and the kid still needed to talk, but at least they'd made some progress. Even if Daniel was pretending they hadn't. And suddenly the warmth felt so close he could almost touch it, and he quickened his pace as they turned a corner…

Lance stopped short.

They'd found it.

It was an open room, with five equally spaced tunnels cut into the walls. There were five of some sort of shuttlecraft too, each pointing toward one tunnel. Awe, shock, and confusion all mixed together as he stared at the room, realizing they'd walked into something even bigger than they'd thought. Somehow.

He'd never seen anything like this. It was both natural and manmade, rough and hyper advanced. The shuttles seemed to be some kind of metal he'd never seen before… or had he?

Vince was already at the shuttles, touching them, an awed grin on his face and all nervousness forgotten. Meanwhile Daniel was staring at the tunnels, completely unable to hide how totally awesome he thought this was…

Which would be the first time the kid hadn't disagreed with him today.

Vince looked up, clearly reluctant to tear his eyes away from the small craft. "I've never seen shuttles like this…"

"I doubt many have," Lance stammered. "This is… fucking wow…" His eyes zeroed on one tunnel, feeling an instinctive warmth from it. That was it. That was his way to the lion, to something bigger than himself… to something he wanted, needed, badly enough he felt it scratching underneath his skin.

"This is kind of awesome," Daniel said finally, proving his earlier point.

"It's fucking completely awesome. It's this way, come on!" He raced forward and felt Daniel on his heels, all pretense abandoned.

"…I guess we're running?" Vince chuckled and cast one more longing look at the shuttles, then took off after them.

Lance felt ecstatic, free, finally feeling like things were going right, though also a bit nervous as to what was really awaiting him. But it was his impatience winning out above everything else, and he sped up still further…

Only to round a curve and skid to a halt, eyes wide, trying hard to not believe what he was seeing. "No." Maybe he could will it away. "Oh hell no."

"Oh, no," Daniel echoed from behind him.

"No, no, no. No."

Vince caught up, winced, and walked right up to the obstruction that was suddenly ruining their pilot's day. He touched the wall of rocks and looked back with an apologetic expression. No way around it… literally.

The tunnel was caved in.

"…Gotta be able to get past this right?" Lance said finally, trying to keep his tone hopeful. But as he got closer it looked impossible. "Fuck."

Daniel shrugged. "I'm not the person to ask."

"Maybe we can move the rocks…" Lance poked at the obstruction, trying to pull a larger slab of stone out, and the pile rumbled ominously.

"Uh, that seems pretty unstable though…" Vince really wished he'd just stayed with the shuttles. "Probably should talk to Hunk."

Probably. "FUCK."

"Patience, cub…" the lion whispered.

"Fuck. That. Lion!" Lance yelled, kicking the rocks—then he hopped backward, regretting it. Ow. "Fucking figures."

Daniel frowned. He didn't like to see Lance upset, but he also wasn't completely disappointed that he couldn't reach the magical robot lion. With a shrug, he held out Crouton. "Have a salalizard. They're pretty good at stopping my tantrums…"

Okay, he was being a bit of a brat, but not acting like a brat in this situation would just be wrong. Lance had just kicked a pile of rocks.

Swearing again, even more colorfully, Lance looked back at Daniel and arched an eyebrow. Kid didn't want to talk, wanted to avoid him, but was also holding out one of his precious salalizards for him…

He still had him.

It didn't help his impatience or frustration with the lion situation, but it did make him feel better. So he accepted the lizard with a grin, then turned back to the wall of rock. "Don't suppose you can break this down with fire?"

Crouton sneezed out a few tiny sparks.

"Good try, but guess not." Lance sighed. Vince was right… this was a job for Hunk.

*****

Sarial had arrived to the cookout just in time to see her newest recruit being dragged off somewhere; she could've sworn she'd heard something about a volcano. Well, she couldn't pull him away if his crew needed him. Since then she'd been kept quite busy—coordinating logistics, securing a perimeter, pretending not to notice Allendar sneaking a plate out for Hanso when he was supposed to be eating his own lunch. Ultimately she was one of the last to eat, though she was fine with that. At least now, unlike over much of the winter, they could be sure there was enough to go around.

She was finishing up when Coran approached, having finished his own meal and studied the surroundings for a bit. He'd been keeping a careful eye on the Earthlings. Even their leader's guard seemed down, just slightly, right now; it was the perfect time to get a few more answers.

"Are you up for a little fun, Captain?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't the grill fun?" Over the last two days she'd helped build a grill, recruited an Earthling with a salamander on his head, gone on an extended hunting campaign, and been invited to an actual cookout—they hadn't had this much fun since the sinycka came.

The old knight chuckled. "Yes, but pretending we know they're all soldiers and springing that on their leader would also be fun."

Aha. "That sounds less than noble." Shrug. "Sure, let's."

"Noble is a luxury we can't afford," he answered with a shrug of his own, and she nodded. The knightly ideals of Arus had given way to pragmatism long ago.

"You're so certain about all of them, then?" Sarial did have her suspicions about Daniel, and Hunk had kind of slipped up while they'd been assembling the grill. But there were a few she still hadn't even met, and then there was also Vince.

Vince, though, was a large part of why Coran had such confidence. "Fairly certain, yes. With the exception of the Polluxian." The revelation that Earthlings might go to military school for decidedly non-military pursuits had forced him to expand his horizons. "Unconventional soldiers, but soldiers."

Unconventional. Yes. That rang true. "I think you're onto something. Let's find out."

Keith had been keeping to the outskirts of the grilling area; he'd arrived a bit late anyway, some practice katas had gone longer than planned. It was good to see his team enjoying themselves somewhat, and being able to offer at least a bit of assistance to the Arusians. Maybe a cookout was a little thing, but the little things could be important…

He was sitting on a small stump, but stood as Coran approached. The advisor gave him a small smile. "Hello."

"Hello, Coran." He nodded to the woman with him; he assumed, based on what he'd seen of her activities around the grill, that this must be Captain Sarial.

"How's the sword working for you?"

"Rather well, thank you. It's a bit heavier than what I'm used to, but I'm adjusting quickly."

"Good, I'm glad." Coran studied him sharply for a moment. "If you don't mind, Captain Sarial and I had a question for you."

That answered that. "I'll do my best to answer it."

"We were wondering how such an odd group of soldiers came to be together on one crew. Sarial thinks you must be in the service of the Alliance, whereas I'm not so sure."

Sarial had resisted giving him the skeptical look she wanted to until that last part; fortunately, Keith was entirely too stunned to notice. He blinked slowly once, twice, struggling to keep his expression even. How…? Turning, he looked over to Hunk and Sven, but they were bundling up some more roli for the shelters and weren't going to save him.

Hunk said it best. Mission is shot. Really, really shot…

"…Yes." It was on him now, and there was no avoiding it. He felt an approving purr in the back of his mind. "We're an Alliance Explorer Team." Coran nodded and exchanged glances with Sarial, pleased his plan had worked out so easily. "I apologize for not being up front about it, but I'm sure you can understand our hesitation."

Coran nodded. He could at least somewhat understand it; Alliance troops on a nominally Drule-occupied planet was even more of a sensitive issue than if they were simply civilian travelers. "What was your mission?"

Why the hell hadn't they come up with a contingency plan for this? But then, the name would help. "Our mission was rather… esoteric. Most Explorer Team missions are. But just that, really… exploring, and reporting back to the Alliance if we found anything of interest."

And now they were back to the nonsense. "Of course," Coran sighed, making no effort to hide his disbelief. Though he didn't voice it, either. See where it goes…

Sarial's thoughts had gone elsewhere. She'd seen Alliance maps; she knew Arus was a bit outside of what they considered known territory. Their leader was evasive, but he might not actually be lying. There was one point she knew for a fact he'd left out, though. "And Korrinoth?"

Keith winced. "Korrinoth was not part of the mission." He'd already told Coran the truth there, really, but saying that's the one thing I was honest about felt like it wouldn't help his case. So he sighed. "We were transiting through space claimed by the Ninth. We should have been protected by treaties, but they attacked and boarded our ship nonetheless… we fought them off, but our hull was compromised. We couldn't breach back into hyperspace before a second ship arrived to capture us."

He sounded too pained for any of that to be a cover story, and it at least lined up with what they'd said before. Both Arusians nodded in sympathy. "And then?"

"They declared us pirates and forced us to fight in their gladiatorial arena." Now that he'd started, he found it hard to cut himself off, though his voice was lowering as the memories assaulted him all over again. "Each battle was more difficult than the one before, until the last. We faced this… monster. Something called a robeast. We defeated it, but lost three of our crew." His voice was barely a whisper now, and he heard the lion growling softly in his mind.

Daniel had told Sarial about the robeast, and she'd reported it to Coran. The information had seemed pertinent, but how it had fit together was less clear. Things were falling into place now… "I'm sorry for your loss," Coran murmured, and Sarial nodded and lowered her eyes in agreement.

Keith nodded, quietly grateful, and let out a long breath. "As a reward for our victory, we were meant to be honored with a feast. But we didn't want any part of it. We took advantage of them letting their guard down to escape. That's how we met Romelle… she offered to help us, as long as we brought her along."

Blinking, Sarial looked at Coran. The Polluxian had been where? He waved it off for the moment; he could fill her in later on what they knew of that situation. For now, it was best to let Keith finish.

"We stole a ship to escape Korrinoth, then escaped over the border into the Seventh Kingdom and swapped ships with some smugglers. And then…" He shrugged helplessly. "We ended up here."

Coran nodded, sighing. It was quite the story, and it did line up with the bits of information they'd gained so far. "Well, for what it's worth, we are glad you've made it here."

It all made sense. Except… "But why here?" Sarial asked. "Arus seems like a strange place for aliens seeking shelter from the Drules?" Perhaps they hadn't had the range to get back to the Alliance, but Arus could hardly have helped them with that…

Good question, Coran thought, hiding a hint of a smile. He should bring Sarial to all of his small talk interrogations.

It was a good question, though Keith was significantly less pleased by that. Damn it…

"Trust them." The low, rumbling growl echoed through him. "Two are bonded…"

Trust them? It wasn't about trusting them. Not really. "Our mission would have brought us here sooner or later," he said hesitantly.

"You can do better than that…"

Could he? Coran's narrowed eyes seemed to be saying the same thing. "What part of your mission, precisely?"

The part where we were searching for a mythical weapon, and it's actually here. No, he couldn't say that at all. But then, the best lies had a bit of truth to them, didn't they? Their 'fugitive'… he could use that same principle. He hoped.

"…We were researching local myths and legends," he said finally, shaking his head. "We were going to be passing by here, and Romelle knew the Drules had conquered your planet. We had no idea you'd retaken it. We just knew… we needed to honor our lost, to complete what we could of the mission. So we hoped we might be able to sneak in and salvage something here, before the Drules could ruin it all."

He wasn't a particularly good liar. Coran could tell he was still hiding something significant, though the answer was more deceptive than outright false. But they'd pressed enough for now, and gained a good deal more information than they'd had before.

Sarial could tell from Coran's expression that the questioning was over. He looked suspicious, yet… satisfied? She felt like she was missing something—well, she was quite certain she was missing something. But she was pretty sure Coran was getting part of it. Probably something related to why these alien guests were so important to begin with.

For her own part, she wasn't quite ready to be finished here. "Perhaps you could tell us more about your… other explorations, then?" Maybe he would let something more slip. Maybe he wouldn't. But she was actually quite curious to hear what other tales this Explorer Team might have to tell… and they were supposed to be having fun, weren't they?

Keith raised an eyebrow. "Well…" He did have stories, no doubt. "There was one planet with a library at the end of a river of lava, and to even gain access I had to fight a… lizard kangaroo?"

Immediately, he once again had their full attention.

*****

The massive tree stump that hid Green Lion was dark and silent as before. The air shimmered as Pidge stormed in, the cloaking giving way; apparently she was willing to entertain his distress.

Good.

"This is inevitable, isn't it?" he demanded before she could say anything. "The others. They're all going to stay." Only two had done this 'bonding' thing so far, true. But if Sven—never mind his reliably rational nature, the team's second in command—was staying, it felt like the rest was only formality. "And they're—and you're going to expect me to do the same thing."

To his intense annoyance, the lion answered calmly. "Nothing is certain."

"Feels pretty damn certain to me. And why are you in my head, if not?"

"You misunderstand. Of course I want you to bond to me." A breeze whistled through the hollow. "But it is a curiosity. The decision to bond is deeply personal, yet you come with the assumption that your team's choices must dictate your own."

Well that wasn't what he'd expected to hear. He took a step back, trying to sort through it. "They have to, don't they?"

"Do they?"

"Why wouldn't they?"

"Why indeed?"

Up until now, Pidge's annoyance with the mystical metal cat had been very much his own. She knew too much, and he didn't appreciate it. Suddenly he knew how the others felt when the lions they spoke to said too little. "You're not helping."

"Perhaps not. How can I help, then?"

…He had not been prepared for that, either. "Wait, really?"

"Yes." She growled, ruffling the moss. "What is it you believe I can do to solve the dilemma you've come to blame me for?"

Oh. That sounded much more like what he'd expect from her. And as he searched for an answer, it became all too quickly apparent that he didn't actually have one.

They're going to stay. The mission be damned, they're all going to stay…

The mission. He'd always had to cling to the mission. Every new assignment, he tried to remind himself he was just there to do a job, to make himself useful. He had sworn himself to the Alliance, and his honor—his worth, such as it was—lay with that oath. But he'd failed to fit in, failed utterly to uphold it, until this team.

This team, where he'd nearly been managing, until it had all fallen apart. This team, where he'd been trying to recover from the blow—encouraged by her, no less!

Where had it gotten him?

I'll follow my orders. But which ones?

To remain loyal to the Alliance now would be to fail his team. To stay with his team was to betray that oath. Both were unacceptable. What could even Green Lion do to untangle that knot? Nothing short of undoing what had already been done could solve this.

"Can it not?"

"Stop that!"

There was silence in the den for a few moments, broken only by the faint rustling of the moss. Then the lion purred; he scowled. The sound was so deep and gentle and reassuring, and he wanted no damn part of it. It wasn't so simple…

"…Why did you tell me to go back to them?" he asked finally, anger draining away into frustration. "Why not just take someone else? And if you even think about answering that with 'yes, why' or something…"

"I assure you I am thinking about it." She sounded amused, but somehow sympathetic at the same time. "How could I simply choose someone else? Do you think yourself some interchangeable pawn?"

"Yes!" Wasn't he? "I show up to do a job, I fail, I get kicked out to somewhere else. You have to have better options."

"And yet, you were given more chances. Your skills were too valuable to lose. Is that not how you found yourself as part of this Pride?"

Explorer Teams. Right. Pidge snorted. "Sure, I was worth throwing into the middle of nowhere to search for something ridiculous they didn't believe exists…" He trailed off, blinking. He was talking to that ridiculous thing that might not exist right now, and annoyed as he was at her… manners. "Um, no offense. I guess."

Green Lion's bell-like laughter echoed through the hollow. But it faded swiftly. "Very well. Why did I tell you to return to your Pride? Because you needed them, and you know this. That is why you've come to argue with me, is it not?"

…Not how he'd have phrased it, exactly. But he couldn't seem to summon up an argument against it, either. "Fine. But you're the one saying their choices shouldn't dictate mine!"

"Did I say that?"

Hadn't she? He thought back and blinked. Mijtairra. It was bad enough for her to know what was going on in his head. He really didn't care for the ancient mythical lion being able to outwit him.

…Which sounded a little silly when he phrased it like that.

"Tell me then, cub. Your Pride and your oath stand opposed. But what value is an oath that is not sworn freely?"

Pidge froze. "What?"

The lion said nothing. Of course now she stopped talking. He was left to be plunged into the memory on his own, his first steps from the shuttle onto Earth… alone. He wasn't supposed to have ended up alone. But he was, and with nowhere else to go, no other options, he'd sworn himself to that world. To the Alliance. To the only purpose that had presented itself, the only duty he could see.

There had never been any choice involved.

"No," the lion murmured. "You have the right to choose your path, cub. A right you have never been given before, but here you stand at the crosswinds."

Pidge shook his head slowly. It sounded so logical, so inviting. It sounded like such tortured sophistry. It sounded so right…

"It can't be that simple."

"There is nothing simple about it. You must determine if your honor requires you to hold to empty words of ritual… or to those who have earned your respect. And that decision can only be your own."

Earned his respect? Again, he couldn't quite seem to find an argument against it. Whatever doubts he'd once had about this team—whatever ability to understand humans he still lacked—he had come to respect their skills. But looking up at the lion, he realized why it didn't sit quite right. "And to not fail my team, I don't just have to give up on my oath to the Alliance. I have to accept you."

That had not been a question.

"Do you truly believe they would see it as a failure if you reject my call?"

That hadn't really been a question either. But he paused to consider the answer nonetheless. Would they? No, it didn't matter. "They might. They might not. I would."

The purr he got in response seemed encouraging, somehow. Was he on the right track?

What the hells was the right track?

His mind drifted back to Flynn. What would he say? Would he agree with her, would he approve? It wasn't as though he'd had any great love for the Alliance's command structure… and he'd damn well have dropped it all for magical mechanical cats. Did he have to accept this, to honor him?

Green Lion growled. "As I told you, the decision must be your own."

Deeply personal. Right. But…

Suddenly he understood.

"He—they all died for us. We can't fail the mission, we can't fail them. And if the mission now is this… bonding, if everything's changed, they'd be part of that too." He exhaled slowly. "Isn't it still my decision, if what he'd want matters to me?"

"…Yes." The lion purred softly. "Do you see it? You come to me out of loyalty, to the living and the dead. It will inform your path, as it must. But the first step onto that path remains your choice, my cub. So tell me… what do you choose?"

…She knew the answer to that. She had to. But he knew he wouldn't get out of this without admitting it, either. Lowering his eyes, he dropped back to sit in the moss, shaking his head.

You'll learn, in time. You'll find why we named you our wanderer, and you'll find where you truly belong.

"I want to stay," he whispered. "With my team. With my… Pride."

"And is that your choice? Even if it means trusting me?"

Trusting her. Was that what he was doing? He was trusting the rest of his team… those who'd bonded, and those who hadn't yet. Perhaps he was trusting the other lions. But to bond himself, not knowing what it meant, except that he could stay where he belonged…

"…Yes."

The great lion pushed one paw forward slightly, silver claws gleaming through the shadows. "That is all I can ask of you now. The rest will come in time."

He looked up at her and took a low, shaky breath. This was insane, wasn't it? At least he could wait to see what the others did, surely. He should've. And yet… all the times he could have given up, laid down and died, he'd never stopped searching. He couldn't stop now, either. If he ran away now, why had he ever tried at all?

Rising slowly to his feet, Pidge stepped forward and touched Green Lion's claw.

—The wind ripped through him, around him, stripping away the ground and the walls until the whole world was a vortex with him at the center, acutely aware of the sounds of the forest ringing in his ears and the zephyrs of the breath in his own lungs, and a distant echo of an ancient myth became a shadow, a physical form, but before he could fully glimpse it—

He stumbled back, falling into the moss again, gasping for breath as the entire hollow flickered green around him. "Komora…"

"Rise up, my cub." The lion's voice felt different, somehow, ringing with the breeze. "Knight of the Winds, Paladin of Loyalty." The words flowed through him, and he blinked as he took them in.

Knight? Paladin?

"I'm… you know I'm a ninja, kir sa tye?"

Green Lion gave an enigmatic chuckle. "You are not the first of those I've bonded to, either. You will understand in time."

…She'd what?

This was going to be an adventure.

*****

The roli meat was finally gone; Captain Sarial and a couple of the other militia members had taken the last batch to the shelters. All that was left was to clean the grill and douse the flames. Hunk exhaled slowly, looking around. It had been an epic cookout, ruined castle and lion in his head and all… it had almost felt something close to normal.

Maybe we can actually get used to this?

Grilling was one thing and flying was another, of course. But today he was going to be optimistic, damn it.

Princess Allura had been there the whole time, observing the group, having small conversations. She'd discussed the distribution and logistics with the militia, of course, getting an idea of the situation; they had brought up a full day's supplies to be prepared, and reported the morale boost was noticeable. It was good…

Now she approached the two at the grill. The two she'd most wanted to talk to, away from the others. As Hunk noticed her she smiled and gave a small nod. "I must admit, you have me very curious about what other possible dishes you can make."

He chuckled sheepishly. "All kinds! It's a handy hobby." If cooking was what he could do to be helpful around here right now, he was all for it. Way better than—

"It does seem very handy." She smiled and lowered her voice, just a little. "I was also wondering… what does the Yellow Lion sound like?" Hunk blanched and dropped the tongs he'd been using; they bounced off the grate with a clatter. "I know what the ancient tales say, but what is he like, really?"

"You knew she'd been informed."

Don't you EVEN! "Uh." Hunk flailed to recover—not much helped by the fact that Sven, after pretty much choking on his own spit, was visibly struggling not to burst into laughter. "Uh, he's very… gravelly?"

The princess had also noted Sven's struggles, and gave him an apologetic grin; he wrestled his composure back into place. At least it was Hunk and not him being questioned.

"You think she is unaware of you?"

…Oh. Well not now that you've ruined the fantasy.

Blue purred.

Hunk had no illusions that gravelly would be enough of an answer, but he was too blindsided to come up with much else at the moment. "What do the tales say?" he finally managed. Yeah, get her talking.

"Well, that depends on the region." Allura tilted her head, recalling all the stories she'd read. As if she hadn't memorized them all, dreamed of them all taking to the skies… "Some say he's a bit of a prankster, in his lighter moods. Others think of him as creative, able to shape the earth and stone. But most of all, the tales agree that he is ever protective and caring."

Huh. So you've got good publicity. Yellow purred smugly in his mind, and Hunk had to admit there might be something to it. The lion had gotten kind of panicky when he'd almost gotten eaten by a cave serpent, and technically they hadn't even been bonded yet. "We're still kinda gettin' acquainted," he said, a little apologetically. "But I wouldn't bet against any of that?"

The princess smiled. "Yellow could always be counted on. His word is solid."

"Now that I can tell ya for sure. Dude's persistent." Frown. "And patient." He lowered his voice to a whisper as he turned to retrieve the tongs. "And he'll tell you all about it, even if you don't ask him…"

"I can still hear you, Earthwarder."

And you know I'm right!

"Perhaps."

Eyeing Sven, who still seemed amused by Hunk's predicament, Allura tilted her head again. "Blue Lion is calm and elegant, yet playful. She calculates her fights carefully, and she always plays to win."

The navigator considered that and nodded slowly. "That sounds accurate."

"How kind. I haven't been called anything but irritating in a long time."

Oh, for… he rolled his eyes, and Hunk shot him a small smirk that he probably deserved.

Looking between them, Allura could easily detect their unease. And who could blame them? They were strangers to this planet, and that went both ways… she gave a small bow of her head. "I know that it's a huge thing, having our Great Lions ask for your help. I'm incredibly grateful that you've accepted."

Coran's request-slash-threat went through Hunk's mind again. He wanted to reassure her—to promise they'd rock this lion thing—but it still felt a bit early to be making promises like that. So instead he gave a helpless shrug. "We don't even have magic on Earth, yeah? This is a heck of a learning curve, but…" He looked over at Sven, who nodded in agreement. "We're gonna do our best."

He felt completely safe promising that.

"Thank you." The princess smiled again. "If there is anything I can do to help, let me know."

Looking at Sven again, Hunk abruptly wondered why he was the one carrying this discussion. The diplomatic Viking was right there, and in the meantime he'd spent most of the mission proving that he shouldn't talk to aliens without adult supervision. But…

"The Earth is the foundation."

Maybe he was starting to get it.

He'd barely finished the thought when a gust of wind slammed into him, strong enough to make him stumble back a step. His eyes glowed, and didn't just glow—for an instant he could've sworn the yellow cast of light was dancing around him, like leaves…

What the fuzzmuffins?!

Next to him, Sven's eyes glowed as well, and he felt the rustle of the wind… though it seemed like Hunk had been hit with something more. "Um…" It wasn't exactly a question, but it wasn't not a question.

Allura looked between them, and closed her eyes for a moment. She'd felt something herself—not a physical sensation, precisely, but an intuition. Black Lion's low growl confirmed it. The winds danced again to an unheard song, and they were another step closer…

Hunk shook his head, trying to clear it, and found himself looking at the last few traces of grill smoke. It told him what he'd already known, instinctively; the gust he'd felt hadn't been real. Which could only mean one thing. His eyes went to the distant forest, leaves rippling beneath a soft breeze, and a word seemed to simply appear in his mind. A name?

"…Windseeker…"

*****

*Eeeesh. We’re so sorry for the sudden extended hiatus but uh, Things Happened.
        Short version: the person who herds the cats got sick.
        Longer version: ..and after four months of doctors and tests still doesn’t know what’s wrong with her. But she’s at least able to deal with her symptoms a lot better now, so we’re back in business!
        We are going to switch to a biweekly schedule for a bit, at least until real life gets its shit a little more together. Fingers crossed for that to be sooner rather than later.