Voltron: Legacy

Chapter 18

Not much later, we had each found a present for Jason. Xaroc gave him a cool knife to use for close-quarters fighting, since his bayard was a ranged weapon, Mari had drawn him a picture, and my present was, I privately thought, the lamest.
It was a little lion’s-head pendant I’d been whittling out of a piece of heavy purplish driftwood from my home planet. I’d found a bit of silky green cord to hang it on and put it in a box, but I was still worried he wouldn’t like it. Then we all set up some party decorations in a spare room with Emma’s help, and Linnea brought in a huge chocolate cake that, for some reason, had sixteen candles stuck in it.
“It’s a birthday tradition in some human cultures.” She explained. “The number of candles represents the number of your new age. My Dad always does it on our birthdays.”
“Oh, is this the one where you light the cake on fire?” Xaroc asked.
“Just the candles, but yes.”
She grinned. “Cool.”
Then Jason stumbled in, Leilah behind him with her hands over his eyes.
“Okay birthday boy, take a look.”
She removed her hands, and Jason laughed in surprise.
“Guys, this is amazing! Thank you.”
He quickly set up his computer and video-called his Dad.
“Hey, there you are! Happy birthday, kiddo!”
“Hey Dad.” 
Mr. Morris laughed, running his hands through his neat curly beard.
“Jeez, you’re sixteen now. I can’t really believe it. Oh, and these must be the other paladins. Hi there.”
We all introduced ourselves, and then Linnea lit the candles and we all sang “Happy Birthday To You!” at the top of our lungs before Jason blew the candles out and we dug into the cake. After that, it was time for presents. Leilah and Emma had worked together on their present, transferring a bunch of the weird old music Jason liked into a newer format so he could play it on his computer and in the Green lion. He gave an appreciative whistle at the knife from Xaroc, and was even polite and encouraging about Mari’s scribbly drawing. I handed him the box with the pendant in it, feeling a little nervous. He opened it, took out the pendant, and his face lit up with a brilliant smile.
“Whoa. Karah, where did you get this?”
“Um, I made it.”
Jason stared at me. “You made this? For me? That’s freaking incredible! Thank you.”
“Aw, you’re welcome.”
The party ended on a good note, with Mr. Morris saying goodbye and jokingly warning us to keep his son out of trouble, and us girls explaining that we tended to find trouble more often than he did. It was a good day.

The next month passed in a blur. We were almost constantly travelling, and between fighting Archanai hive-ships and catching not one but two crews of the space pirates that lived out here on the fringes and bringing them to the local law enforcement, Voltron saw plenty of action. I had a bit of a growth spurt, shooting up two full inches, which balanced out the muscle I was starting to put on from hours of fighting and training. A few moments stood out amidst all the chaos, though. The first one was my own birthday, my seventeenth. Lucky for me, it happened on the same day we had a rendezvous with the Blade of Marmora while bringing one of the space pirate crews in for a trial. Keith spotted us as we were walking out of the courthouse and before we knew it, everybody was getting their faces licked by Kosmo as I introduced my new friends to my older ones.
“Happy Birthday, Karah.”
I grinned. “You remembered!”
“Yep. I got you a present, too.”
He handed me a little box. I opened it and inside were two things: a spiked leather strap and a bunch of flower hair clips made out of delicate gold filigree.
“The spikes are for when you’re on missions, in case somebody grabs your braid. The flowers are just for pretty.”
I hugged him.“They’re gorgeous. Thank you.”
Xaroc got a crushing triple hug from her Moms and Axca, and Keith got an equally crushing hug from Shiro. When we finally said goodbye, everybody was sad to leave.

The next thing I remember in real detail is Linnea bursting into me and Mari’s room, flustered and excited.
“Leilah asked me on a date!”
I grinned. “Really? What are you guys gonna do? I mean, you know, besides smooching.”
She blushed. “Apparently there are fields of bioluminescent flowers on this planet. If you can find the rarer-colored ones they’re supposed to bring good luck. We’re taking a picnic dinner to look for some.”
“Aw, sweet.”
“I’m not sure what to wear.”
“I am really not the person to ask about that, Linnea. You might have better luck with Emma, she likes pretty clothes.”
“Got it! I’ll go ask her!”
“Good luck with your date. I have absolute faith that you will be better at romance than me.”
I was a pretty low bar, considering that I’ve never even had a crush in my life, but I wasn’t going to tell her so.
“Thank you!”
She dashed off, barely remembering to close the door behind her. Since she and Leilah came to breakfast the next morning joking together and holding hands, I assumed things had gone well.

My third vivid memory from that time, while not quite as happy, still was an important one.
I had gone over to Jason’s room to talk to him about something trivial, found it empty, and gone looking for him. I found him in Green’s hangar, sitting hunched over on the floor between two of the lion’s claws.
“Is something wrong?”
“Yeah.” He said without looking up.
I sat down next to him. “You want to talk about it?”
He stayed silent for a minute, then said, “My Mom’s getting married again.”
“To who?” I asked.
“Harrison, her boyfriend.”
“Not to your Dad?” I asked, confused.
He laughed bitterly.
“Nope. She already did that, and then they got divorced when I was five. Dad tried to be nice and responsible about the divorce, but no, Mom had to turn it into a big fight and try to make me pick a side. I wanted to stay with Dad, and she’s been mad at me about it ever since.”
“That’s crazy.”
“I know.”
Another long pause, then he continued.
“We’ve never really gotten along since then. She does the bare minimum amount for me that she agreed to in the divorce paperwork. Never anything else. Did you notice how she didn’t call on my birthday? That wasn’t just because we’re in space, she never calls. Sometimes she’ll mail me a card with some money in it, and that’s about it. You want to know why she and Harrison are getting married?”
“Why?”
“They’re having a baby. A baby girl. And Mom says I don’t get to meet her, she wants to keep the baby away from me and Dad and maybe even write me out of her will. I’m finally going to be a big brother, except I’m not, because I don’t even get to meet my own little sister. How messed up is that?!”
Jason hid his face in his hands and started to cry. I wrapped an arm around him.
“Have you told Leilah?”
“Yeah. She was really helpful about it, but she seems to think my Mom is like, evil or something, that she’s having another baby to try and replace me.”
“What do you think?”
He sniffed a bit and heaved a shaky sigh. 
“I think she just wanted to try again. You know, new husband, new kid, kind of a fresh start after she screwed up last time. But that’s pretty close to wanting to replace me. I just . . . I don’t get it, Karah! I mean, I know she doesn’t love Dad anymore, but me? I’m still her son, whether either of us like it or not.”
“Honestly I think it’s up to you, whether you’re her son or not. I mean, you’ll always have her DNA, but that’s not what makes a family. Look at Leilah, or Xaroc, or even me.”
“You’ve got your sister.” Jason pointed out.
“Yeah, and I love her. But I’ve also got Keith, who’s like some kind of Dad slash big brother combo and has honestly been a better role model for me than my actual Dad. I’ve got you guys for my annoying close-in-age siblings, and Voltron. That’s my family. You’ve got a right to choose who you want in your life, and once you’re eighteen it’s a legal right too. I’m not trying to push you either way on that choice, but I wanted you to know it’s an option.”
Jason nodded. “Thanks, Karah. You’re getting pretty good at this whole advice-giving thing.”
I puffed out my cheeks, then blew out the air in an exaggerated huff. 
“Well, I’m getting a lot of practice.”
That got a shaky laugh out of him.
“True.”
Maybe I really was getting better at being a leader, I mused as I left the hangar. I couldn’t have known, then, just how much all my newfound skills were about to be tested.