Chapter Text
“Atten-hut!”
Three sets of heels clicked together, bodies sharp and ready. “Yes sir!”
“Tuck that tail, Velta!”
“Yes sir!” The multicoloured B’hra’s striped tail swept close to her legs, but not touching the ground.
He stalked along the floor, eyes sweeping the three trainees, all stiff and wary under his gaze. “...At ease.” He murmured finally, and the trio relaxed. “As you’re aware, tomorrow is visitor’s day. So...”
They all looked a bit hopeful.
“Run laps until I get tired!”
All three of them blinked in surprise, uncertain how to take that.
“Lance, c’mon.” Keith called from the side, walking up. “Just a circuit.”
“Fine. You’re saved by my asshole of a fiancé. One circuit, scrub the Lions, and you’re free for the day.”
When none of them moved for a moment, Lance huffed. “What, you want me to make you run laps? Get goin’!”
“Yessir!”
They all shot away, like he had put a bullet by their feet.
Keith chuckled, shaking his head as he watched their new trainees head off. “You shouldn’t be so mean...” He said, leaning into Lance a bit. The Raptors swirled around the other side of the field, Orange and Violet involved in some sort of spar. Apparently, it was training time for the Raptors too.
On the edge of the horizon, Lance spotted two small figures silhouetted by the falling sun. Even from the distance, he could recognize Ru’al’s horns leaned on Ques’ solid shoulder, the two just basking in the sun with each other there.
The other lay his head onto Keith’s shoulder. “Mean is my necessity. They like it when I’m mean.” Lance grinned.
With a soft purr, Keith seemed to sway with him slightly. “You know we have to go to Kraken-burr today, right?”
“That’s why I wanted the kids to run laps until I got tired.” Lance’s arms wrapped behind Keith’s back, squeezing him in a reverse hug against his spine. It felt safe, comfortable, despite the discomfort that the position caused. “Also, have I mentioned how many hentai jokes I’ve wanted to make to everyone every time someone says ‘Kraken-burr’?”
“Only four times.” The half-Galra sighed tolerantly. “...since last night.”
Lance chuckled, releasing Keith as he turned toward Red, drying next to Black in the sunshine after she had been well scrubbed down by a few trainees.
“We should hopefully be back in time for visitor’s day.” He smiled, watching as Red stood up without hesitation, tail whipping around to flick off water. Black followed with a much slower motion, an old man resisting the age in his bones.
“We will be back in time for visitor’s day.” Lance corrected with a reassuring nod. “After all, we’re just there to negotiate right?”
Red’s claws smashed through the roof of the warlord’s palace, making short work of the cobbled-together stone and glass. It was meant to resemble an opulent castle, supposedly a mirror to the one that the warlord would ‘win’ once he had crushed his opposition.
What most people on the outside missed, was how the formerly-peaceful mining planet of Kraken-burr had turned into a bloody genocide, with the warlord’s band of fanatics trying to wipe every other idea off the map via terrorism and force. Among breaking the interplanetary form of the Geneva Convention, they were primarily wanted criminals rather than actual rebels trying to make a difference.
Which was why Voltron was called in.
The wind whipped dust around as Black landed on the dirt next to Red, their heads dipping down elegantly to allow their Paladins out. Nearby, the sharp-angled ships of the B’hra’s Outsider fleet swooped overhead, black-scaled peoples that ranged from the elegant, dinosaurian shape of of a B’hra to nearly rhinoceros-formed beings that towered eight feet in the air staring at the approaching ships.
The pulse lasers that were focused on every single enforcer in the warlord’s palace were certainly imposing, everyone putting their hands and claws in the air with wide, terrified eyes. Lance walked right up to the stunned warlord (like some sort of scaled elephant-shaped beast) still sat on his throne, too shocked to move.
“Greetings.” He called, thrusting his hip to the side and smirking a tiny bit to the alien. Ascua swooped from the air, her wings brushing his hair as she came to rest smoothly and effortlessly on his left shoulder. A fizzling pop and flash of blue in the corner of his gaze said Keith and Kosmo had arrived, the half-Galra folding his arms in an intimidating manner. “We’re here to negotiate your surrender.”
An hour later, and Lance was drinking the equivalent of Krakian whiskey while watching the distant blue sunset on the edge of the planet. “This is a sweet place for a vacation.” He commented to Keith, who was watching the offending criminals have their original charges read to them by the law enforcement of the planet.
“We’re not having our honeymoon here.” Keith replied instantly, glaring at him a tiny bit, like he couldn’t believe that Lance would even suggest it.
You’ve shut down every single idea I’ve had… Groaning to himself, he put the whiskey down. “Ok, then where should we go?”
“I don’t know.” Keith shrugged again, smiling at Lance like this wasn’t a conversation that they had - word for fucking word - a week ago. “Just nowhere in like, the major circle of Coalition planets.”
Rolling his eyes, Lance walked over to him and slung an arm around Keith’s waist. “You get to pick the next option.” He said. “And I’m still writing this place down.”
Keith’s head dropped to the side and gently knocked into Lance’s, resting there for a moment. “...It’s alright.” He finally admitted.
“Thank God!” Lance laughed, shaking his head out, feeling Keith’s grin stretch out his cheeks. An odd sensation on the top of his head, but a welcome one. “Something’s ‘alright’ for the great Keith.”
A finger jammed into his ribs before Keith pulled away from him, waving down Black. After so long, Lance could see the comfort in his movements when Black walked over, his head lowering down to be level with his Paladin. Once, Keith had been scared when the Lion bounded toward him like some kind of kitten-beast, like he could land on and squish the much smaller human.
Lance just smiled as Red appeared by his side with a rumble, her head practically on the ground beside him. “Hey you.” He purred to her, resting a hand on one fang and pulling one foot onto her lower jaw.
Greetings, my Paladin. She rumbled in response, an echo that ran through his chest, called to his soul in a way that he always loved. A soulmate, for once and for always.
“Keith’s got the negotiation side of this covered.” Lance informed, watching as Keith talked to the current leader of Kraken-burr, clearly in his ‘Leader of an Intergalactic Coalition’ stance. “So I think we can get back to orbit.”
Red’s head pulled off the ground, pausing only a moment for Ascua to swoop through her jaws, darting through her mouth and into her cockpit like a feathered snake. If you do not go into your seat, I fear Ascua will fly us out.
He laughed in response, still just standing on the edge of Red’s jaw. One hand on her fang, the other hung by his side limply as the sun glittered over her inner mouth. “She knows not to touch it.”
But she is impatient. Red responded clearly. Over the years, the connection had deeped, slow and careful, like Red was forcing herself to step back into being a Lion of Voltron. Lance had really noticed it after she saw Alfor again.
She was letting him go, and as a result, her mental voice was becoming stronger, clearer, more brilliant to him.
As far as Lance knew, nobody else’s Lions spoke to them in full, complete sentences.
“Fine then.” He chuckled, taking a deep breath of the outside air. It smelled a bit like the freshness of Earth, the growth of new that all green and blue planets had. “...Yeah, I think this would be a great place.”
You always have had an eye for beauty.
Veronica was chatting with one of the mechanics nearby when they heard it.
The roar was, as per usual, the way of Rachel announcing she was back at the base for visitor’s day. She didn’t get to visit often, but when she did, it was always special.
Lance, sitting by Red’s feet and cleaning the emissive points on her claws, looked up when a shadow encompassed the glaring sun of the Arizona desert. At least he always had a tan now…
The shadow wasn’t an impromptu eclipse, but rather, the massive form of Mar, dropping from the sky like the dragon he was always destined to be.
His sheer size had prompted him to ask Ru’al at one point if male D’haku were bigger than females. Turned out, they were actually the same size, but it was just that Mar, even for a Mountain D’haku, was just fucking huge.
He wasn’t even fully grown, his curled ram-horns not into a full spiral at the sides of his head, and he already dwarfed Senja by nearly a full foot when standing upright. Swooping down, large back legs bent a bit to catch his weight when he landed, wings scraping the ground when he beat them to maintain his balance before slowly leaning forward and dropping to the ground properly.
“Whoa, boy…”
Rachel’s clear voice was reassuring to Lance in a few ways, even if it was so much older now. A strange sensation, to hear his twin sound older than he each time he heard her, but he never minded. She was a little arrogant over being the older one though.
Mar’s massive head turned to stare at Lance, golden eyes narrowing to slits as his nostrils flared, catching Lance’s scent fully. He did this every time, something Lance knew well. Ru’al had explained that it was because he smelled very similar to Rachel, and scent was important to D’haku.
The D’haku’s head lowered slowly, allowing three beings to slide from between his wings.
Rachel, clear and bright and brilliant, smiled at him happily. She was in her early thirties by appearance, a bit different than when Lance last saw her. Last time, she had been half pregnant.
Vol’air’n, bluish-violet scales gleaming in health and confidence, stepped off Mar with a confident smile, patting the D’haku’s shoulder gently. He was no longer just Rachel’s best friend, that much Lance knew.
After all, there was a reason she had been pregnant.
And the reason, holding to his mother’s hand, was now about the size of a five year old human.
Lance just stared for a moment, a little bit gapemouthed at the kid stood beside Rachel, half-hiding behind her leg.
He was an odd thing to look at, double jointed legs and yet, a human face. From the face, the only real way to tell he wasn’t fully human was the small fangs that poked from his upper lip, the clear blue eyes that slitted in the intense sunlight, and the small lines of scales that traced up his cheeks.
His lower half held double jointed legs, lightly coloured with pale grey-indigo scales. He had five toes, unlike a B’hra’s three, and a short, single-tipped tail that only came to around his calves.
Lightly golden skin, hair the same colour as his scales, and small, tan horn nubs poking from the top of his head. He was just staring at Veronica and Lance with equal parts apprehension and wonder.
Lance couldn’t help but stare back. After all, he knew that there would be a child as a result of Rachel being pregnant, but… wow.
“Hey guys!” Rachel called, smiling happily as she came forward slowly. “Tim, it’s ok. This is Uncle Lance and Auntie Ronnie.” She chuckled when the boy pulled back a bit, claws digging into the dirt. The words got him to pause, stepping a bit forward now with a curious look in his eyes. “Lance, Veronica… This is Ti’tim.”
The boy was willing to slide a few more inches forward now, staring at them. He had five fingers, but each one was tipped in sharp nails, very similar to his father’s side of the family. “...Hello.” He whispered in a sharply accented tone, clearly not quite used to either speaking English, or using a translator.
Lance guessed the latter, just by the way his voice was stiff and accented.
Rachel smiled a bit as Vol’air’n came forward. “C’mon, Tim.” He said, calling to his son for a moment to let Rachel meet up with her siblings.
The boy ran to his dad immediately, practically bouncing after his father’s longer stride, walking away to where Mar was resting on his side, the D’haku standing instantly when Ti’tim reached to pet his snout.
“...What.” Was all Veronica got out.
“So uh… I have a son.” Rachel laughed nervously. “Vol said he would be, but I didn’t believe him.” She said gently.
“He’s… just wow.” Veronica gasped, still watching the boy. He couldn’t pass as a full blooded human or B’hra, but instead, he looked more like a fairy child, like a Pan of myth and legend. He even moved like he was on air, not quite bound to the ground. “...Don’t take this the wrong way, Rachel…” She hesitated. “But I didn’t expect him to make it to term.”
She chuckled wistfully. “I’ll be honest, neither did I.”
“How old is he?” Lance asked softly, finally pulling out of his reverie to consider that his sister had a child. A half-B’hra child that was proof the species could crossbreed.
“Four, human years anyway.” Rachel chuckled. “A bit bigger than a human kid, huh?” Turning toward them, she was smiling like the proudest mother ever. “He was when he came out too, little bastard…” She muttered softly, glaring at her husband-mate. “I almost killed Vol when I figured out how big he was.”
Veronica seemed to pause for a moment. “Don’t the B’hra lay eggs?” Then she and Lance both put it together.
“Holy shit, are you ok!?” She demanded instantly, stepping closer.
“How did they fix you up?” Protective instinct rearing up from his heart immediately, Lance glared a bit.
Holding up her hands in defence, Rachel laughed. “Guys, Mountain D’haku give live births! I was fine. Even if one of my doctors was basically a veterinarian, but hey, she fixed me up.” She shrugged.
Rachel just sighed. “Ok. The kid. He looks like he’s six!”
“D’haku grow faster. He’s under the curve for his age, actually.” She chuckled, smiling at her boy as the hybrid ran over, practically galloping. It was a little strange to watch him like that, but he came to a screeching halt by Rachel, claws gripping to the sandy ground.
“Ma’oh, it’s flat!” He said instantly, grabbing her arm and pointing out, toward the endless plane of the desert around them. “Where’s the grass?” He sounded slightly distressed.
It was then that Lance had to remember, the boy probably only knew the capital city and the mountains, or the grassy plains of the outer cities, or an island.
“That’s what it’s like in this part of Earth, Tim.” She chuckled. “Auntie Ronnie and Uncle Lance can tell you about it.” Her voice got a bit louder to draw the other two into the conversation.
Now the boy looked at them properly, slitted eyes flicking between the two of them. “...Why’s there no grass?” He demanded quietly.
“The sun here’s too bright, and there’s not enough water to keep growing grass all the time.” Lance answered.
“Sometimes there’s plants. Those happen around lakes and rivers.” Rachel added, bending down to be at eye level with the kid. He looked her over carefully.
“...You look like ma’oh.” He stated, eyes narrowed. Rachel blinked, no idea what to say. Then he looked to Lance. “You smell like ma’oh.”
Vol’air’n walked over with a laugh. “Hatchling, that’s because she’s ma’oh’s older sister.” He said. “Like your friend To’pan’s hatch-pair, Fris’kil.”
That seemed to make sense to the kid, who hopped toward them in a few short motions, staring up at them with those wide blue eyes that Lance knew were the same as his own.
“...you’re ma’oh’s hatch-pair?” He asked with a truly awed expression.
“...Yeah.” Lance nodded, noting Keith’s footsteps coming from the background.
“That’s amazing!” He breathed, hopping between his feet like an overexcited little dog, launching at Lance and hugging his legs. Lance almost fell over trying to brace himself against the ridiculously strong grip of the kid.
Keith leaned over Lance’s shoulder, tipping his head in a completely Galran motion of confusion. “...What.”
“This is my nephew.” Lance chuckled, patting the kid’s shoulder before he darted off to Rachel next. “His name’s Ti’tim.”
“...He’s fucking adorable.” The tone was lower and quiet, practically whispered in Lance’s ear.
All Lance could do was nod in return, trying not to grin.
The McClain house still felt like an ill-fitting suit to Lance, but he was willing to put up with it for his mother and Rachel.
When his parents and grandmother saw Ti’tim, it was like a bomb had gone off in the house, all excited laughter and grins. To say there was a few oddball glances at Lance and Veronica was an understatement, but Lance had stopped caring about that a few years back. He had three children, thank you very much. And one day, they’d ride into battle with the Lions they were trained to fly.
Ti’tim was determined to chase Ascua through every part of the house, closely followed by Nadia and Sylvio who were exactly as curious as a pair of teenagers would be about their alien cousin. He didn’t seem to care, preferring to wander the house and find everything he possibly could.
“Hey, Keith!” Rachel called. “How goes the building on Polen?”
Keith beamed immediately. He was proud - ‘As you should be’, Lance had reassured several times - because he had been one of the deciding factors on the new Galra homeworld. Polen was a gorgeous place, exactly as rough and tumble, but brilliant and stunning as Daibazaal had been.
Admittedly, Polen was a sphere, like most planets, but none of the Galra seemed to care. They had a new homeworld, slowly being built from the ground up.
“So far, everything’s going well! We actually have to take the trainees there on…” He glanced to Lance.
“Friday.”
“Yes. I need to pay my mother a visit, and I think that Jevyki would like to spend a few quintants on-world.” Keith stated. “It’s been a few weeks since they’ve gone back to a safe spot.” He sighed, shaking his head. Lance had seen the stressed out young Galra crying in Keith’s office a few times in the week.
“And Velta needs to get out of the base too. I can only tell that kid to go on so many runs.” Lance groaned in agreement, shaking his head. Velta was way too high energy, but that was fine. In combat, she was fucking terrifying, a sudden calm letting her flow through training drones with a scythe. At least Blue liked her.
“At least Darius is a sane kid.” The Black Paladin’s sigh of relief was clear.
Everyone laughed at that. “The human’s the sane one.” Veronica added, shaking her head.
“More like crazy enough to keep everyone else in check.” Lance rolled his eyes.
“I’ll have to go there too, don’t I?” Pulling out her phone, Veronica checked dates. “Ah, next week.”
Rachel looked over. “Does being Earth’s representative of the Galactic Coalition keep you busy?”
Veronica let out a sigh, and shrugged. “It’s either complete chaos, or I don’t do anything for three weeks.” She shook her head. “No inbetween.”
“Ah.” Rachel chuckled. “At least it’s fun.”
“That, it definitely is. I get to see Acxa every weekend.” She winked.
Another set of laughter went up while Keith took his hand under the table and rubbed his thumb. Then he tapped out a pattern on the skin.
‘I LOVE YOU’.
Lance, for now, just smiled, and tapped it back.
Standing in full Paladin armour on the edge of the Atlas’ landing bay was always a bit nerve wracking, especially when you had three highly inexperienced Paladins of Voltron trying to land inside the stupid thing. “Ok, Velta, come forward, slowly!”
“Slowly, this time. Easy on the throttle.” Keith reminded, flying Black just a little ways away. Close enough to snag one of them if they decided to throttle too fast.
Fortunately, Blue had good enough instincts, and this time Velta guided her into the hangar easily enough, her paws flexing to walk forward a few feet, like a proper cat. Velta was great at guiding her on land or water, less so in the air. “Good! Jevyki, nice and easy this time.”
Green slowly slid into the spot next to Blue, almost missing due to being too slow. The Atlas hovered, but it always was moving a small bit. “Whoo…” The young Galra exhaled into the mic.
“Aw, you knew you were gonna do it.” Velta encouraged.
“Fuck off.” Jevyki grumbled with a nervous laugh.
“Save it.” Keith ordered. “Darius!”
Green shot forward with all her regular energy and landed effortlessly. Darius was definitely the most talented in a Lion, like an extension of his body.
“Nice work. Everyone disembark, we’ll call you when it’s time to leave!” Lance said with a soft chuckle as Black slipped in next to Red and the doors to the endless void of space slid shut.
You are rough with them. Red teased.
“They’re chaotic little shits…” Lance muttered back, but he was smiling.
The three teenagers, not much younger than Lance and Keith had been when they stepped into their Lions, immediately darted off to some unknown corner of the ship, barely seen by anyone’s eyes.
“God, how are we gonna explain to Kolivan that we taught his son human swear words?” Lance asked as he walked down the hall with Keith.
Keith only rolled his eyes. “I think we’re just gonna let him figure that one out himself.”
“Well well well.” A familiar voice said as they entered the bridge. “You two. Never call, never write, never come up to see me unless you need somethin’...” Pidge turned around, smirking at them through the pale blue visor of the linking system for the Atlas. “Getting as bad as Allura, guys.”
Lance huffed to her as he climbed up onto the command station, the shorter immediately hugging him. “I keep trying to set up coffee…”
“My protege isn’t good enough yet.” Pidge rolled her eyes. “You’ve got Red and Black, come up here sometime.”
“If we do, we have to bring the rookies.” Giving her a hug as well, Keith shook his head. “And I thought you told us to keep those three off here.”
“As often as possible. God, we were really that dumb when we first flew, huh?” She asked with a groan. “I wake up thankful every day that I lived through training.”
“We all do.” Keith agreed with a low chuckle. “Have you heard anything from Hunk lately?”
With a shake of her head, she examined a screen quickly. “No, he’s still off in butt-fuck nowhere, serving food to the desperate leaders of the worlds.” She chuckled. “Having the time of his damn life though, so…”
“That’s good to hear at least.” Lance chuckled. “Can you give us a passage through to Polen?”
“See what I mean? Never come up until you need something…” She shoved Keith in the side. “Yeah, I’ll get Merla to patch you through. See you guys on the return. Stay for a while then!”
“We’ll have coffee!” Lance agreed, settling in while they got the Polen warp communicated to them.
Polen’s ground was much the same as Daibazaal’s was originally; rocky, a dark sort of burgundy, and unyielding. The only major difference was the miles of water and blue-green grass (flowering orange across half the globe) that made the planet a rainbow of shimmery colours. It was full of life, full of energy… It was beautiful. A perfect place for a new homeworld.
When Lance lowered to the ground, Red turned to watch the others come to the landing pad too, ensuring she was ready to help if one of the younger Paladins couldn’t quite get there.
Red had explained once, while Lance and the others were brand new, the Lions helped a lot, guiding their instincts, their motions, everything. The new Paladins needed a bond of trust and aid, not immediate combat ability.
Jevyki stepped out first, ripping their helmet off and inhaling deeply in Polen’s fresh, unsullied atmosphere.
Their reddish fur, rippling like a lion’s mane around their head, accented the Galra’s young face. They’d grow up to be stunningly handsome, something Lance could tell from this early.
Velta was an odd thing to look at, for a B’hra, anyway. One, her name was unbroken. Unheard of, primarily. Two, she was a remnant of evolution in a fascinating way. From her black-white striped tail, orange body and pale tan underbelly, to the fur that lined her head, pointed ears that stuck out near her horns…
She was odd by B’hra quality, making her stranger still by human quality. She never let it slow her down.
Darius meanwhile, would’ve been better suited to a planet with more light. Dark skin, black hair, deep hazel eyes... The kid was getting dates on weekends off base.
“Where’s Krolia?” Lance asked Keith, watching as his fiance pulled off his helmet.
“Knowing her? Probably with Nyzxrael.”
“Isn’t he just trying to run the damn Empire?”
“Yeah…” Keith sighed, shaking his head with a loving smile. Lance clapped a hand on his shoulder, holding Keith to his side, then headed up toward the Palace, leaving their proteges to their own adventure.
They were led into the throne room with guards on either side as guides for guests, not threats.
“Paladin Keith! Paladin Lance!”
The silver-furred Galran hybrid stood up, five long tails sweeping the ground behind him as he walked closer with a soft smile on his face. He was exotic, even by Galra standards, sharp cheekbones, four sets of retractable fangs… Something called a Silvalkai was one of his parents.
The only thing that Krolia had ever mentioned regarding the Silvalkai was that they were so ancient and powerful they were practically myths. Which would make sense, Nyzxrael gave off a very mystical air, like he didn’t quite belong on the mortal plane.
Krolia got off the chair she was sitting on, near the throne, clearly just acting as an advisor and company to Nyzxrael. “Hello Keith…” She murmured, instantly pulling her son into a tight hug while Lance shook hands with the four-fingered creature before him. It was hard to imagine Nyzxrael as anything but a starlight being, but he was really as normal as any Galra hybrid.
“How are you, Lance?” Nyzxrael purred softly, tipping his head.
“I’m great. Glad to be here.” He smiled, dropping the hand just a second before Krolia pulled him into a bone crushing hug as well.
Krolia finally set him down, smiling. “How have you been?”
“Dealing with your son.” He joked in response.
“I will make you sleep in your Lion.” Keith grumbled in response as he too, greeted Nyzxrael with a Galran bow.
Shifting his weight with a soft smile and a shake of his head, Lance just chuckled. “How about you, Krolia?”
“Glad to be off the throne.” Her ears flicked a bit as she glanced to Nyzxrael. “Fluffy tail can have it.”
“You think you’d spend less time in the room then.” Nyzxrael responded haughtily, a mysterious smile on his face. “I have an empire to run.”
Keith just glanced to Lance, and Lance got the message. Nyzxrael was just fond of Krolia, and vice versa.
Apparently, this was just their relationship.
Dinner was a lovely affair, testing the newest crops from Polen’s own soil in proper culinary wonder, discussing the current status of Polen’s rebuilding and designing by their best developers. “We hope to further the development of proper warp engines. The current ones were discovered to be putting off radiation that can be harmful to the engineers.”
“That’s not good…” Keith murmured quietly.
“Precisely why it’s being changed.” Nyzxrael said with a smirk, prompting a laugh out of everyone.
When Lance took another sip of his drink and glanced at Keith, still laughing at something his mother said, he found himself, and the universe, at peace
At home a few quintants after, Lance received an incoming video request from Allura on his computer, prompting him to immediately pause everything. “Keith! Allura’s on the call!” He shouted while answering, turning to smile as Allura appeared on the screen.
She was exactly as beautiful as always, hair done up like a proper queen’s, her dress flowing in colours of blue and pink and gold, a contrast to her skin and hair. “Hello again Lance. I apologize for the late call.”
“Never apologize, Princess.” He smiled. “What’s up?”
Romelle appeared in the screen as well, in a golden and white dress that flowed seamlessly across her shoulders and down her back, a special outfit made for the queen’s consort and right hand.
“Actually, I just wanted to see how the new Paladins were training.” Allura chuckled when Romelle sat next to her, waving to him. “How are they doing?”
“Well, Darius continues to do nothing but his level best, but the other two are still learning. They’ll get better, it just takes time.” He reassured. “Fortunately, there’s not too many time constraints on them.”
Allura and Romelle laughed softly, the latter turning away from the screen. “That is the most anyone could ever ask for.”
When Keith returned and Romelle happily greeted him, Allura announced the biggest news; Romelle was pregnant with the next heir to the Altean throne.
“Congratulations!”
“That’s great news!”
After the encouragement, Lance asked a few questions of ‘donors’. Allura explained that certain Alteans were hermaphrodites, and it just varied on body type on ‘male’ and ‘female’. Those who were hermaphrodites were normally those of massive magical ability, and as a result, could bring forth and harbour the two forms of their bodies.
Learn something new every day. Lance thought.
You are always learning. Red reassured with a hum in his mind.
The sun was setting, bathing the sand in it’s clear, brilliant orange light.
Soft whooshing of wind was a distant noise from passing cars, no less welcome than the subtle glow of Varadero in the space behind them, sitting on the beach.
Leaning on Keith’s shoulder, the weight of an arm around his waist with his own over Keith’s back. Kosmo leaned against their backs, a comfortably fluffy pillow to rest against while they watched Ascua carve lines in the water over the setting sun.
“...I think I’m ok.” Lance murmured softly, almost disbelievingly.
Keith exhaled in a low laugh. “...I think I am too.”
So Lance sat, watching Ascua dance over the ocean, his heart sitting next to him, the only thing in his hearing becoming the steady lap of waves on the sand, the subtle swishing and noises of the wind and city behind him, and the dull hum of two hearts beating as one.
And he was satisfied.