Voltron: Legacy

Chapter 28

"How do I look?" I asked nervously.
The promised week had passed, and Xaroc, who actually liked fashion, was helping me get ready for the party in a little side room of the huge altean citadel.
"Perfect." She said approvingly. "Take a look."
She gently grabbed my shoulders and spun me around to face the mirror.
"Whoa." I breathed.
Instead of my normal straight braid, Xaroc had helped me do a more complicated six-strand one that hung gracefully over my right shoulder, dotted with the gold flower hair clips Keith had given me. My dress was black velvet and sleeveless, with a slightly obscene amount of intricate gold beading on the bodice front and a network of thin straps criss-crossing over the open back. The skirt reached my ankles and had a little beading on it too, and it was so voluminous that it swung gracefully with every little movement I made. The shoes thankfully didn't have heels, they were just simple flats. Xaroc had even put a little mascara and eyeliner on me in spite of my protests, and I was surprised by how much of a difference it made.
I grinned. "You really know your stuff, Xaroc."
"Yup." She said proudly. "I have to go get myself ready now, so shoo."
When I came out into the hall, my other friends each gave me two thumbs up. They were all gussied up too.
Linnea looked like some kind of sunshine goddess in a dress that was a similar style to mine, only made of deep golden yellow silk with shiny copper beading, with her long hair up in a pile of curls that made her look way older and very sophisticated.
Leilah could have been her nighttime twin, wearing a long-sleeved dress made out of layers of thin, floaty chiffon in different shades of blue, dotted with tiny pearl beads that looked like stars. A mother-of-pearl butterfly pin held her hijab in place, completing the look.
Jason had an altean-style formal tunic and pants in dark green silky fabric, complete with gleaming silver embroidery and a pair of polished mahogany-colored boots.
When Xaroc came out, we all clapped. She looked like some kind of bombshell movie star in a fiery red silk dress that matched the others as far as the skirt went, but the bodice was almost like a corset and glittering with shiny silver-black hematite beads. She had her braid coiled up in its usual bun, but there was a huge red rose stuck in it to match the dress.
We all looked each other up and down, making little last adjustments.
"Alright." I said. "Time to face the music."
We stepped out into a huge ballroom, filled with people from all over the Universe, all dressed in their finest and waiting. Waiting to see us. The crowd parted as they noticed us, whispering. The whispers quickly turned into cheers as the entire wall behind us slid down into the ground, revealing the lush gardens outside, with our lions sitting proudly in the middle of it all. I had to hand it to Coran, he'd planned our entrance like a true showman. We walked up to a little podium, where the former paladins were waiting. Shiro stepped up and gave a bit of a speech, which I tuned out until he pushed me forward, whispering. "Your turn. Good luck."
"I will get you for this!" I muttered back, then turned to face the crowd.
I hate public speaking, absolutely hate it. So for me, this was almost worse than being captured by Sareth. Wait. Where was Sareth? I scanned the crowd until I saw her. She looked gorgeous in a slinky white dress, but was leaning up against the wall like she wanted to disappear.
Well, I couldn't do that, so I had to say something.
"Hi." I started, pitching my voice to carry over the crowd. "I know most of you have never met me, but you might have heard of me, since I'm the Black paladin of Voltron and all. A lot of you were there at the meeting we had that night, when the lions chose all of us. But I don't think any of us there, or really anybody, could have anticipated all the places this journey would take us. Through the Universe, yeah, but also through our own hearts. We've gone from strangers to family."
I paused, then went on, "Through our adventures, we've probably made a lot of enemies, but more importantly we've made a lot of friends, friends that made our victory possible in a very real way. Because if being a paladin has taught me one thing, it's that no matter what happens, we're never as alone as we think we are. If you have the courage to trust people, to reach out to them, and to fight alongside them for what you believe in, then just about anything is possible. That's not just true for me, it's true for every single person here. If we work together, we can make big changes, and those changes can make a better world.
We've got a long way to go, there's still messed-up stuff happening pretty much every day. But for the first time in my life, I have faith that we can get there. All of us. We can get to a point where nobody has to fight alone. Hopefully Voltron can help with that. Because we're back, and we're back to stay, as long as the Universe needs us. Um, thank you for listening to me ramble."
The room erupted in cheers, and Sareth gave me two thumbs up. I stepped back, shoving Jason forward. He gave a little wave.
"Hi. I'm Jason, the current Green paladin. I think we've had enough big profound speeches for one night, am I right?"
The cheers turned into laughter, with a few shouts of "Yeah!" and "Damn right!" from some of the teenage alteans.
"Okay then. Who wants to get down and dance?!!"
More cheering. Jason laughed.
"Then let's get this party started, y'all!"
He pulled a little remote control out of his pocket, pressed a button, and the lions all opened their mouths. Instead of roars, music came blasting out, playing a fast, dancy human song. I laughed in amazement as people flooded the dance floor.
"That was incredible! How did you pick a song everybody would like?"
He shrugged. "The appeal of P!nk's "Raise Your Glass" is pretty much a Universal constant. Like, up there with gravity."
Katie snorted. "Alright, then, show me your moves."
"Okay!"
Everybody except me and Shiro headed for the dance floor, Mari dragging Keith along at a breakneck pace. I grabbed Shiro's hand.
"C'mon!"
He shook his head. "I don't dance, Karah."
"You do tonight." I said with a wicked grin. "Consider this my revenge for making me give a speech with no warning."
The Captain of the Atlas sighed. "Oh, alright. I guess I'll go make a fool of myself."
I clapped him on the back. "That's the spirit! Hurry up, I'll show you some moves."

Pretty soon, the party was in full swing. Like he'd promised me, Shiro was making a fool of himself, doing completely ridiculous dance moves and making the other former paladins fall over laughing. Romelle, Hunk, and Linnea were talking about some kind of obscure thing involving chocolate, while Mari chased Linnea's little brothers Alec and Emry around, crawling under the buffet tables and running between people's legs.
Xaroc was explaining some kind of sword-fighting move to some young men who seemed just as interested in her as the explanation. I hoped they realized what they were getting themselves into.
Leilah and Lance were doing the Chicken Dance completely out of time with the music. Typical. Jason and Katie were chatting animatedly about something called a tesseract in between guffaws at Shiro's expense, and Keith . . . well, he didn't look too happy, but at least he'd found something good to eat and was munching it while he leaned against a wall. Occasionally Kosmo would pop up out of thin air and snatch somebody's food, but mostly the wolf just stayed glued to Keith's side, sniffing the air nervously. Parties weren't really his thing.
"Watching everybody?"
I jumped. I hadn't realized Sareth was standing next to me. She smiled wryly.
"For somebody who wanted to be an Empress, I have a lot of unease around big crowds of fancy people."
"You wanna go out in the gardens, then? There might be less people."
"Sure."
We walked out past the lions, looking up at the stars and enjoying the quiet and the cool night air. Finally, Sareth said, "I never really thanked you properly, did I?"
"For what?"
"Saving me from myself. I doubt I'll ever be able to repay you for it."
"You already have." I whispered. "You let me save you. You never questioned that I meant it."
She gave me an odd look. "You're a lot more mature and selfless than you let on, aren't you?"
"Oh, I don't know about that." I said with a grin. "I'm not a stick in the mud yet, am I?"
"Nah. You're pretty great."
Another song started up, and I bowed to Sareth.
"May I have this dance?"
She raised her eyebrow.
"Just the two of us? Under the stars? To a love song?"
I suddenly realized that I had kind of accidentally set things up like that. I blushed, backing away a little.
"I, I didn't mean to . . . oh crap. I'm really sorry, Sareth, I wasn't trying to . . . please don't kill me!"
She laughed softly and grabbed two of my hands.
"Karah?"
"Yeah?"
"Shut up and dance with me." She said, echoing the song's chorus.
So I shut up, and we danced, and I thought contentedly to myself that whatever it was we'd just started, it was going to be good. I had Voltron, I had my family, I had my friends, and I had Sareth, whatever she was to me now. This felt like the beginning of a new chapter. And for once, I felt fully prepared and ready for whatever the Universe was planning to throw at me next.