Krolia had five kits. Three sons and two daughters. The only strange part was how she acquired those kits.
When she was a young girl, Krolia dreamed of having a nice big family. She herself had two littermates, an older sister and a younger brother. Taulal could be a prick, but Krolia loved her sister. Thace was the best little brother one could ask for.
She had wonderful memories of her siblings growing up. They shared everything together. Despite the war that was constantly going on, they had security.
Their mother had been killed when they were young. An attack led by Warlord Ranvieg had broken into the camp where they had lived while her father was away at war. Their mother had been one of the first into action and had passed from her wounds shortly after the battle.
Krolia had used that to fuel her through the ranks after she grew old enough to enlist in the army. 14 was the age where they accepted cadets. She and Thace had enlisted immediately. Taulal joined in a year later.
It wasn't what she expected. The war was even more brutal than what she had been taught growing up. In training, she was taught anatomy of all the major races and a few minor. She learned what would kill any of those races. She learned how to follow orders, despite the fact that she didn't agree with them.
She also learned to pick up small bits of data and collect them over time. Like how the one teacher advocated diplomacy before conquering the planet. Or how some of their history was censored or classified.
Or how one of the teachers kept following her around.
It was Gren Jarrak. Krolia had not decided her opinion of him. When she confronted him about it (after telling her littlermates and grabbing a knife), he smiled.
"I would like to recruit you for treason."
That was very blunt. And very appetizing.
"If you would like to know more, meet me at these coordinates on the third quintant of next movement."
Krolia gave no reaction except a slight nod. She would decide what to do about that later. Now, she had siblings to talk to.
She had taken her littermates with her to the meeting. They were shocked, but made no move to stop them. At 17, the three of them joined the Blade of Marmora. They had to keep up their training as both members of the Empire and the Blade of Marmora. It was taxing, but it brought them closer together in ways that had not imagined.
They started splitting up more as they aged. Thace had the first long undercover mission. It took him 5 Pheobs, a standard rotation in the military. He had given the information to the Blade, but had not blown his cover. Taulal had the next one, but Krolia had not seen her return, as she had been assigned to her own.
The scientists had discovered traces of the metal that made up the Voltron Lions. They had built scanners that should be able to track down the Lions.
She had been assigned to the party tracking the Blue Lion.
It had not gone as planned. At all. For starters, they had actually found the Blue Lion. That was the first problem. Second was the fact that her ship was falling apart. Third was that she was not as good of a pilot as her brother and that definitely showed when she crashed onto a planet that they had yet to make contact with.
So yeah, not good.
And then she woke up in the arms of a man of a primitive species.
She may have tried to stab him.
Only a little bit. (Because she fell.)
It turned out that she had a giant gash in her leg made by the metal of her ship. She also had a concussion. Those did not work well together.
She let the man carry her, but kept her knife in stabbing distance. Faintly, she realized that the man had to have known she had her knife, because it was on the outside of her suit. That meant he must have left it purposely.
Or he was oblivious. That was also a possibility.
Her translator still worked, but it didn't have the language of this species. Krolia realized they looked like the depictions of the extinct Alteans. Perhaps they were descendants of them? It had been 10,000 years, after all. But, no. They were clearly their own race.
Krolia had studied for a phoebe before the translator started working. She had already learned some, but it was a wonderfully convenient tool.
Strangely, he seemed to want to keep helping her. She allowed it, because it was useful. They searched for the Blue Lion together. It took another five pheobs before they found it.
By then, Kriloa had decided she would stay.
She would build a device that could reach her littermates. She would contact Kolivan and tell him she was retiring from active duty. She could build a safehouse for members on this little planet. She would stay with her mate.
That decision was further cemented when she realized that HUMANS and GALRA were biologically compatible. Not expected.
She would not back down from the challenge. She always had wanted a family. It was a little unconventional, what with the whole on a pre-contact planet and everything that would freak out and try to kill her if she was seen, but she could work with it.
Their little kit was precious.
He was tiny, a little kitling that could fit in her two hands joined together.
His name was Keith. She had wanted to name him Yorak, but since he looked human, they decided he should have a human name. She still called him that, though. Mason told her it could be his "middle name". Krolia agreed with that custom.
Nearly two movements after Keith's first birthday, they decided to risk it and become officially married. On that day was a celebration called "Halloween", during which everyone disguised themselves.
They had taken great lengths to appear as enthusiastic people disguising themselves. Mason had dressed to look like her and they helped Keith do the same. They had then spent an hour trying to make her look less alien and like she was wearing an intricate costume.
They rode on the hoverbike to a small chapel and signed the contract. The entire excursion took less than three hours, but they were all glad when it was over.
It was one of her favorite memories of Earth.
Then another search crew came. They had reached the Blue Lion, despite their efforts to stop them. She had killed them the way she had been taught, quick and clean, using her luxite blade as little as possible.
She realized she had to leave.
They would come back.
Unless she led them away on purpose.
So she did. She tucked her blade under Keith's crib and kissed her husband goodbye. She climbed into the ship and left. She walked into the conference room with Kolivan three deca-phoebs late and mentioned nothing of her mate and son.
She saw her littermates again. Taulal hugged her and purred until Krolia cried. She cried over the fact that she had left her family. She sat in her sister's arms, letting her hold all of her weight. Thace placed his hand on her back.
The three of them cried together.
They all curled up in a small bed together, like they had after their mother's death. She told them what actually happened. She told them about the Blue Lion. She told them about her mate.
She told them about her son.
She told them how much she loved her little son. She told them how much it hurt to be away from him. She told them about his little purrs and mewls. She told them how he called her Mama and just wanted to be held.
For three deca-phoebs, she was undercover as the agent who had been to Earth. She lied about the Blue Lion. She told them how the natives were relatively harmless beings that were incredibly oblivious to the going ons of other sentient life.
She never said anything about how sweet they were. She never said anything about how easy it was to become attached to them.
She just cried every night about her family.
She talked with her littermates as much as possible. She even saw her father once. She wasn't particularly attached to him, as he was never very present during her childhood. Once again she felt a choking sense of loss come over her as she realized her son would feel the same way about her.
She vowed to finish the war as soon as possible. She tore into her duties with an intense ferocity. She became one of the highest ranked members of the Blade of Marmora.
She got time off for three pheobs seven deca-pheobs after leaving. She raced to Earth. She saw their little shack. She saw the hover-bike parked by the side. She heard laughter coming from within.
So she knocked.
And woke up from her dream.
She had been on a mission at the time, unfortunately. It was a stealth mission, unfortunately. She found herself in prison the next day, waiting to be brought before the Druids.
They could search through memories.
She desperately thought of a cover story. She first went through her time on Earth, locking away anything that could lead them back. She imagined that she had been in the first fleet sent there. She imagined the faces of the other pilots.
She imagined the pain from the crash. She imagined living in the desert for over two deca-phoebs. She imagined the second group crashing due to rebel interference. She imagined taking the ship and flying away during the night.
As always, the best lies were built upon the truth. When they came, she was not ready. They tore her stories apart. It took them over a deca-phoeb, but they found some of the truth. They saw the Blade of Marmora conference room, where everyone was wearing masks.
For not the first time, Krolia was grateful for the anonymity.
And then they found her mate. She refused to let them have her son. She hid her memories of him with a force. When they searched, she brought up memories of the warm fire with Mason.
She had two secrets to protect: her son and the Blue Lion that would protect him.
She did not know how long had passed, but one day she found herself before Emperor Zarkon himself. He and the witch tried to break her, but she refused. She would not let them have her son.
She was in the care of a medic with blue fur. One day, he flashed his knife at her from behind bandages. The Blade of Marmora would not save her, but he might.
Or he would kill her to protect the organization.
Suddenly, she recognized him.
"Ulaz?" she whispered hoarsely.
"Rest, Krolia," he replied, in a whisper even lower.
She knew it was him. That was her littermate's mate. Her brother-by-mateship. The one Thace had talked about nonstop before she was captured.
She found another medic caring or her after that. Krolia hoped she had not gotten him caught. She would never be able to live with the fact that she had gotten Thace's mate killed. She knew how terrible it was to be separated from one.
The next time she woke, it was on another transport ship. She was detained and had a gag over her mouth. She was on the ship for what she guessed was a movement.
The ship was attacked. Her brother ripped the gag off of her and led her to another ship. He let another member pilot despite being one of the best in the organization.
"Kolia, it's been seven deca-phoebs."
" 'm here now, brother."
"That you are, my sister. Count yourself lucky if Taulal lets you leave the room for another rotation."
"How did you find me?"
He smirked at her weakly. "I have my sources."
Suddenly, it dawned on her. "Ulaz."
He blinked, taken aback. "You remember him?"
She smiled, weaker than he meant to. "He is your mate, of course."
He hugged her again. "We kept tabs on Earth, Taulal and I," he said. She waited for more information, not knowing what to say. "Nothing new. No more search parties. No investigation of the pilots. What age did you say enlistment of the program was?"
Knowing instantly what, no, who, he was talking about, Krolia started crying again. "He could be training to be a pilot now. He could be coming to space soon."
Thace was correct. Taulal did not allow her to be in a room by herself for over a phoeb. After that, it was only for short periods at a time.
"Every time you go on a mission, you don't come back. I don't want you to leave again."
Kolivan took her off of missions for the time being, so she stayed on base. She met a young member during that time. He was only recently graduated from the training program. Like that of her littermates, his cover had yet to be blown. He was on base in shifts.
She picked up his schedule. Two movements on base and three off. She learned his name and age. He was Regris, a young man who could still be considered a kit if caught in the right lighting. He was 17 deca-phoebs.
Two deca-phoebs older than her son.
His parents had died when he was yung. He had bounced arong between families before ending up with the Blade of Marmora. He had started training at 14 deca-phoebs. He had become a member at 16.
He had no partner assigned, but Krolia took care of that.
She took him in. He was a flighty little thing. He avoided topics that bordered on treason, which was, quite frankly, ridiculous, considering what he did.
She told him so.
She kept training the young kit. He reminded her of her son. He was clearly of mixed races, the most prominent being Galra and Shinon.
After a deca-phoeb, he told her about his younger sister. They had been split apart ages before. He told her about how she was blind. How she used quintessence to sense everything.
Krolia thought she must have been sent to be a Druid. She pondered on that for a while before mentioning it to him. He took it well.
She took care of him. She watched him grow. She sent him off on missions and welcomed him back. She felt almost happy.
And then she realized her son didn't have this.
That her mate was left to raise him alone on a planet that would shun him if they found out he wasn't fully human.
But she pushed through those thoughts with more burning desire. She finally told Regris of what she had been sent to do on Earth.
He had hugged her. Said that her son would understand. That she was a great mother.
It burned. Her heart ached. She longed to hear those words again, but at the same time was terrified. Was this forgetting her family? Was it replacing them?
Her sister was the next to notice. She said that she was glad that Krolia had found someone to nurture. She said that she was glad Krolia found someone to be a mother for.
Krolia had been out of sorts for the next movement, but realized it was true. She loved Regris like she loved her son. It was okay. She wasn't forgetting her family. She was just loving a kit who needed it.
Regris had been sent undercover on the mission to excavate the Red Lion. It hadn't gone well. He had been caught. She snuck into a ship, only to find her littermates and Ulaz (that one was a shocker) waiting for her.
"We're not letting you go alone, Krolia."
Her eyes widened at the implication. They wouldn't let her go alone, not they wouldn't let her go. They climbed into the ship with her, leaving not much room.
Thace saw her misty eyes. "I'm not leaving my oldest nephew in prison for attempting to save the universe."
Ulaz nodded sagely. "He may also need medical attention, so I came."
Thace and Taulal had wicked grins. "You love that kit just as much as us, admit it," they respond in unison.
Ulaz flushed, which was impressive, considering the fact that his face had a fine layer of fur, like most Katan-Galra hybrids. That spoke volumes over his actual intentions.
They quickly snuck in the warship (Admiral Sendak's, one with some of the highest tech defenses) and found the prison cells. Regris was there, a little banged up, but otherwise okay. He was very shocked to see a rescue team made up of his new family.
It went unspoken for a while, but they all recognized it. Regris was her second son.
Eventually, it became spoken.
Regris had been reliving his time as Sendak's prisoner. Krolia had been running her fingers through his long hair, but it hadn't helped. At the moment she decided to wake him up, she shot into a seated position, a cry on his lips. "Mother!"
Krolia was unsure what to do. Was he talking about her? Was he talking about his mother? She wrapped her arms around him and purred reassuringly. "I'm here, kit."
He blinked. "Krolia? Is that you?"
"Yes, my kit. It is me."
"Oh."
"What is it?"
"Um, well..." Krolia knew he wasn't going to finish the sentence. He still avoided questions he thought would make others uncomfortable.
"I may not be your mother, but I think of you as a son."
They sat there for several vargas, late into the night.
Krolia and Regris had been assigned to research Prince Lotor. They did not know much. They knew he was a half-breed, born before the rise of the Galra Empire 10,000 years ago. They also knew he was about the age of Regris. Those two facts conflicted greatly until they discovered a horrible secret:
He was never supposed to inherit the throne, so he had been kept in a cryogenic sleeping pod for the 10,000 years they didn't want him awake.
He had been gathering allies for the last few pheobs. Like him, they were half breeds shunned by the Galra Empire. There was a druid, a Khelmian pirate, a Katan halfbreed that clearly got her stature from her Galra side, and a little Jyrnian who had excellent aim.
Krolia and Regris came to the conclusion that they were going to overthrow Emperor Zarkon. It took a few phoebe to gather enough evidence to convince the other blades, but Krolia and Regris got permission to try and sway them to their side.
Well, their side or Voltron's, which was being piloted by humans.
They introduced themselves as members of the Blade of Marmora. They wanted to sway the crew into active treason against the crown. They were willing to join the group if needed explaining that they, too, were halfbreeds.
Then the Druid took off her mask. She looked like Regris.
She was Narti, Regris' younger sister who he had been separated from. She nudged him forward, and they had a touching reunion. Lotor seemed to be smiling softly and accepted them into the group.
They were the bridge between groups, doing missions for both before fully joining Lotor's crew. She was not kept from her family, though.
In fact, all of the generals accepted the invitations to Taulal's wedding with a smile. (Well, a less intense scowl in some cases.) Taulal had been overjoyed to meet more halfbreeds.
He said that they were going to overthrow the Galra Empire, but had pressing concerns that needed taken care of. They would join with Voltron once they had dealt with those concerns.
It took another deca-phoeb before they found out what those concerns were. Lotor had kept the Alteans alive. They lived in a colony that had recently split into two. The second colony had been training them to use their quintessence to sustain their ships.
Something had gone wrong during the last test, so they were in quintessence vials, slowly regaining their natural levels. Lotor had gotten the quintessence from Haggar. He had her fly the ship to the colony with Regris and Narti.
He was going to go join Voltron.
Warlord Ranveig intercepted them. The three of them were taken prisoner after a long fight and split up. Their ship was taken.
They needed the quintessence to save the Alteans!
A small Blade came to their rescue. That was entirely unexpected. Krolia had no idea they even knew they were captured. Even then, why would one be sent to rescue them?
"Come on. We need to get out of here."
Had Krolia not been distracted, she would have realized that he was speaking English. She would have realized that he was her son.
"There are two more prisoners here. I'm not leaving without them or the quintessence. The mission must be finished."
He growled a bit but aqueissed to her demands. "Fine. We have to hurry."
They snuck around the ship and found the cell where Regris was. They broke him out and moved to find Narti. It took a bit longer to both find her and break her out. It was very hard to imprison a Druid, after all, even if she was hiding her true prowess.
She had clearly noticed something, but it wasn't immediately relevant when they had an important mission to restore the second Altean colony.
When finding the quintessence, they found the beast that was experimented on... as well as Ranvieg. The four of them found Ranveig a quick battle, but the beast was another story. Narti was still drained, but the new Blade pulled out his knife and finished it.
Her knife.
Suddenly, his words caught up.
English.
Her knife.
This was her son.
Her knees felt weak as the revelation crashed upon her. She collapsed. Regris ran over to her, Narti comforting her through Kova, who had met up with them during the battle.
"Keith..." she whispered.
He turned to look at her slowly. "How do you know my name?"
She pulled the mask off her face that Ranveig had seen fit to leave in her cell. His eyes widened. Regris looked floored, suddenly realizing what was going on.
"You're my son," she answered, words thick with emotion.
He looked frozen in place, unable to speak.
Regris was still able to function, however, so he put one hand on her arm and one on Keith's. He pulled her up. "We still need to get the quintessence to the Quantum Abyss."
Those next few days were a blur. It was hard to process the fact that her son was in space. It was equally hard for him to process the fact that his mother was in space. Regris and Narti seemed to be alternating between watching it all go down and trying to calculate the sheer odds of the situation.
Keith had to fly them through the groups of white creatures that could easily tear through metal, as he was by far the best pilot. (Narti may have been a Druid with the ability to use quintessence, but she was still blind, unless merging with the mind of an ancient Altean creature resembling a cat counted.)
They arrived at their destination and started using the purified and concentrated quintessence to restore the Alteans. There were nearly 100 who were in the pods, but they only had enough to help two thirds of the people. They had collectively decided, along with the other colonists on the moon, to help anyone under the age of 20 first, then the more severe cases. Several of the Alteans were close to having their quintessence restored naturally.
For the most part, their plan worked.
That did not take into account the youngest cadet. He had sustained not only the most quintessence drain, but also the most severe injuries. They were honestly a bit shocked he was still alive. They didn't think they had the technology to heal him. The quintessence could only do so much and the pods were really not meant for much else.
"The Castle of Lions!" Keith cried.
The others in the room turned to look at him. "What?" asked Regris.
"We can take the kid to the Castle of Lions."
"The three of them looked at him in confusion for a second before it dawned on them: the ancient Altean castleship. The one with supposedly an ancient Altean princess. The one with Altean healing technology.
Krolia seemed to find a flaw in this plan. "How are we supposed to get them to help him? They are not known for accepting random aliens on their ship."
Keith grimaced. Perhaps that was supposed to be a smile? It could be hard to tell sometimes. "I'm not random to them. I just have to call them."
Narti gasped. "Red," she whispered, along with sending a feeling of warm flames and knowledge of a person.
Since she usually communicated in cryptic monosyllabic answers, this was not surprising. The shocking part was that it made sense.
Keith knew the Red Paladin. (She would later learn how wrong she was. Keith definitely did not know himself. At least, not before their life-changing field trip together.)
They broached this topic to the other Alteans. It went shockingly well. They agreed, on the condition that they stopped by the first colony. There had not been communication between the two in deca-phoebs.
They left the following quintant with two vials of the quintessence in case something went wrong and a lot of mail. (Seriously, a lot of mail.)
They arrived at the colony very soon after leaving the moon. They explained their presence and were welcomed openly. They explained what had happened at the second colony and proceeded to give everyone their letters.
A young woman marched up. Her lavender eyes glinted. Her pale hair flowed behind her indignantly. "Where is my letter? I know Bandor wrote one." Her voice was cold and even. She was confident that she was right.
Their eyes widened and they looked between each other.
"Uh, miss..." Keith trailed off."
"Romelle," the girl replied.
"You should come with us," Regris finished.
Her terror was masked by false confidence as she followed them into the ship. They led her to the room where Bandor was in the healing pod, wearing an oxygen mask and submerged in pure quintessence.
"What happened to him?" she demanded.
"The new ships were dangerous. He was the pilot, but even he couldn't safely return," Keith responded.
She placed her hand on the pod. She stared at the young boy's pitiful state. "Where are you taking him?" she whispered.
Regris stepped forward and placed a hand on her arm. "The Castle of Lions, where Voltron and the Paladins dwell."
She nodded, but kept staring at the young boy. Krolia noticed that their markings looked similar. They must have been siblings. "How long until you leave?"
"We plan on leaving first thing tomorrow morning," Keith replied.
The next morning, they woke to find Romelle waiting outside the ship. She had a bag packed and was resting against the edge. Narti smiled.
She woke up when the door opened. "I'm going with you."
Regris hugged her.
Krolia was touched. "Okay."
It took all of thirty doboshes after leaving the Altean Colony for her to start sobbing. She curled up into a ball by Bandor's pod and cried. Narti sat next to her and leaned her head against her. Romelle clutched on to her and cried harder.
"He adored Lotor," she told the Druid. He wanted desperately to join the second Colony. He knew that the times he came to recruit were random, but he hoped anyway."
Silence was their answer, for they knew not what to say.
"He was accepted immediately, despite the fact that he was a child. They whispered about how high his quintessence levels were. They whispered about how they couldn't let the opportunity pass by."
Krolia looked at Bandor again. He was far too young to be involved in the war, but the chances of them staying out after arriving at the Castle of Lions were slim. She hoped that he, at least, wouldn't be involved.
"My brother was eleven deca-phoebs when he left to go to a colony where we both knew we would never hear from each other again unless I somehow got accepted."
Keith started shuffling around awkwardly, but he placed his hand on her shoulder for a second before checking on the flight path.
"I knew I wouldn't be," she finished bitterly.
"Incoming attackers, strap in quickly!" Keith yelled suddenly. They were at a loss, they were in the Quantum Abyss, why would there be attackers?
Those white things that devoured metal.
They were in big trouble.
They flocked around the ship and started attacking. "Hurry, put on pressure suits! They're going to get in!"
Krolia rushed to get Romelle a spare suit. She handed it to her and quickly helped her take off unnecessary clothing that would get in the way of the suit. Romelle thanked her, but she was already checking on Bandor. They needed to get a suit ready, in case of the worst case scenario.
The white things swarmed their ship. "Romelle, help me get him out!" Krolia ordered.
Romelle jumped. "He'll die!" she cried in panic.
Krolia shook her head. "He is stable enough to survive and we have one small vial of quintessence for an emergency. He needs a pressure suit and oxygen tank now, though, because we will likely crash."
Romelle blinked remaining tears from her eyes. "Okay."
She walked to the pod and used the handprint scanner to open it. Some of the quintessence drained into the bottom of the pod to be filtered and reused, but most of it spilled out into the ship. She caught her brother, who fell limply into her arms. Romelle carefully took off the mask that had been feeding him air for nearly half a deca-phoeb.
Krolia helped her pull the pressure suit on him. It was annoyingly slow going and the white creatures were successfully destroying their ship.
"We're evacuating in four doboshes!" Regris called. "I'll get all our rationed food and water! Krolia, once you finish with Bandor and Romelle, we need more clothes and blankets! Romelle, once you finish, we need the quintessence and other medical supplies! Narti, hold Bandor! Keith, keep us alive until then!"
They followed his orders. Regris picked Bandor up. "There's a breathable climate up ahead, I'm aiming us for that, but we won't make it!" Keith yelled.
"Understood, Krolia called back from the cargo hold of the ship. Everything was a wreck. There were a few white creatures, so Krolia shot them and grabbed some of the clothes as quickly as she could.
More white creatures kept crawling in. Krolia decided, after she killed them, of course, that she should give them a species name. Very few people ever went into the Quantum Abyss, because it was usually a last resort for escaping Zarkon. Even fewer people who came back from the Quantum Abyss returned.
Those white creatures were probably why. But at the moment, she had more important things to deal with. Namely taking care of a bunch of kits.
She had seven cloaks and two blankets in a bag by the time she decided that it would be too dangerous to stay in the cargo hold. She quickly killed the rest of the white creatures and met up with the others. Romelle had the quintessence and a few first-aid kits. Narti was clutching the little child in one arm and helping Romelle pack with the other.
Krolia took her lead and sealed the little pack closed and strapped it on. It wouldn't get in the way of her jetpack, but it would be pretty awkward. A large chunk of the cargo hold fell off and a crack in the wall appeared with a little whit visible behind it. The oxygen was being sucked out of their ship.
Keith ran in a few seconds later. "We're closer than I thought we would get, but we have to go, now."
They nodded in understanding and Regris strapped a pack to him, presumably food and water. Regris and Keith strapped their blades to their suit and Krolia grabbed a few small knives and followed suit. Romelle and Narti had packs and Regris was carrying Bandor, who was still unconscious.
Keith cut a hole in the wall and they jumped out, grabbing each others' hands. Krolia was in the middle with Narti and Keith on her left and Romelle, Regris, and Bandor on her right. They all used their jetpacks to aim for an oddly shaped celestial object. They flew in silence, sparin as much oxygen as possible.
They reached the... Krolia decided it was a Space Whale after about a varga of alternating whose blasters were on. They had much less blaster fuel to waste than oxygen, as they could restock on the latter once they reached the Space Whale.
Once they landed, Regris, Narti, and Keith set up camp. They got along well, which pleased Krolia. She was glad her children got along. Hopefully this would bring the four of them closer together.
Romelle was holding Bandor. She had taken his helmet off and was cradling him gently in her arms. Krolia felt tears come to her eyes as she remembered how she used to hold Keith.
"Wake up, Bandor! Wake up!" she cried.
He twitched softly, but otherwise did not respond. This caused Romelle to burst into tears again.
"We found a cave that would be a good place to sleep," Regris suggested softly. Romelle nodded and stood up. She was still carrying Bandor, who once again moved a bit.
They followed him to the nice little cave. Keith and Narti were making a firepit under the area that had a natural spot to let the smoke out. They had dragged logs and large leaves in what was probably supposed to be a bed area. It was all together in a large rectangle with the skeleton frame about 12 feet wide and 8 feet long.
Keith gestured to the finished middle. "We made sure he had a spot," he whispered.
She smiled through the tears dripping down her red cheeks. "Thank you." She sat down with him and refused to leave him.
A bright white flash came from outside. It was blinding. Their surroundings changed. Krolia was unsure what she was looking at. She was back on a Galra ship. It didn't look like a Blade ship. It didn't look like what she was used to either.
She saw Narti. She ran to her, but Narti didn't react. "Narti!" she cried, but got no response. Narti didn't even twitch.
Krolia looked around. What was going on? She saw a screen in front of Narti. It was blank and silent. She realized Narti was glowing faintly. She must be practicing.
Krolia walked closer. Narti looked young. Much younger than when Krolia had met her. She was shorter than Krolia and her purpley blue cheeks were rounder than they were supposed to be. Krolia was very confused.
The door opened. "Narti, you are required at the dining hall."
Narti nodded sharply and followed the tall man. They arrived at the dining hall. Other pairs were arriving.
There was a cloaked Druid standing in the center. "Tonight, there will be a demonstration before you are permitted to eat. Perform well, students, as we train to become the best in the Empire, loyal servants of Emperor Zarkon and High Mage Haggar."
Krolia watched as a young man, older than Bandor seemed, stepped up when his name was called. He controlled another students' movements with quintessence for a few ticks. When he stopped, clearly drained, there was a round of applause. Narti was one of the students clapping for him, smiling faintly.
Most of the other students were unable to perform so well and Krolia realized that it was quite an advanced technique.
When it was Narti's turn, she stepped forward and touched four students. There was a spark of quintessence where her fingers touched them and their eyes glowed for a second. They followed her and stood behind her.
They split into pairs and bowed to each other. With a faint movement of Narti's hands, they started sparring. Narti was incredibly still, something that only happened when she was truly concentrating. The other students' bodies stumbled a bit, but were otherwise unharmed. Krolia was in awe.
So was everyone else in the room, with the man who brought her in beaming proudly. She slumped and the other students did the same for a few seconds. They raised their hands to their heads and rubbed a bit.
"Impressive," the Druid said. "We should all aspire to be as dedicated as our young prodigy, Narti."
Her surroundings changed again, and Krolia realized she was back in the cave. By the time she had cleared her head, she noticed Regris was hugging his sister and Keith was blinking and shaking his head. Romelle's ears were twitching and she was staring at Narti in confusion. Bandor was still unconscious.
"What was that?"
"Was that one of your memories, Narti?" Keith asked.
She nodded.
They attempted to contemplate that for the rest of the day. It was mind-blowing. Why had they seen that? Then Bandor woke up.
He stared at Romelle for a long time. "Am I dreaming?" he asked.
Krolia's heart hurt.
"No," Romelle whispered, brushing his hair out of his face, "you are not dreaming. I found you, Bandor. We're going to get you to the Castle of Lions, the ancient castle of Altea."
He smiled weakly and tried to go back to sleep, not once letting go of Romelle. Krolia passed them another cloak as they already had one and a blanket.
The bright white flash came again, and this time, it seemed to be a scene from either Romelle or Bandor's memory. They were young, the age difference between them made clear. Bandor was holding a blanket and a toy. Romelle was by him holding similar objects.
"No," Bandor protested. "Don't want to." He looked about three deca-pheobs old.
"Yeah," Romelle agreed. "We don't want to go to Auntie Grynnir's house. We want to stay with you and Aunt Cyrai."
The man chuckled. "I know, but you have to go."
Romelle pouted and Krolia was awed by her cuteness. Her hair had adorable braids with her bangs hanging down. Her tiny marks and giant eyes were an adorable combination.
Shetook Bandor's hand and they walked outside. There were several other houses nearby and she walked to one of them. She opened the door and walked in. A lady with vibrant blue hair and deep brown skin saw them on the couch. "I made cookies, kids."
Krolia once again found herself in her body. Bandor was incredibly shocked. "What was that?" he rasped.
"I don't know," Romelle replied.
They decided that the whie flashes showed random impactful memories. They also learned they happened around three times a day. They figured they could last about two movements without more food, but started hunting on the second day. They had plenty of knives, after all.
They discovered that the water was drinkable, which was a relief. They boiled what they would need the next day the night before and kept it cool for drinking. They learned a lot about each other through the flashes.
Like how Mason had died when Keith was still a very young kit. Or how Regris had his arm broken three times due to the actions of a hateful pure-blooded Galra. How Narti missed her mentor, despite the fact that he was working for the Galra Empire. Romelle was the one who tried to wake their father up from a disease after his death. Bandor had been the only child close to his age at the second colony in the pilot program.
Krolia wished they hadn't gone through such hardship. That was impossible to wish on anyone. Those kits needed to be cherished and loved.
In order to preserve warmth, they all slept together. They shared the blankets and the cloaks and snuggled up close. Krolia often found herself with both Regris and Narti wrapped around her. She took care to stroke their hair.
Really, the worst part of the whole trip was how little they could shower. Water had to be used sparingly, and there were 6 of them. Yeah, not a good combination. Plus, they didn't have brushes. Krolia often found herself running her claws through the children's hair.
Romelle's was a struggle. They ended up copying her. Anyone with hair that was longer than shoulder length, which translated to everyone except Bandor, put their hair in a braid so it wouldn't tangle as much. It only mostly helped. It also felt weird.
Bandor just chopped any hair that was too long off with a knife. Then Krolia would get involved and even it up.
They stayed like that for a year before anything particularly interesting happened. Keith found a wolf pup. Bandor loved it. He and Keith were adamant that the wolf would tell them it's name though, so they just referred to it as "the wolf".
The rest of them thought it was weird, but it was adorable, so they didn't argue. Nati eventually decided she would start giving it options of names, but he kept turning them down. Once, they got three days on a name, Comet, before he told them no.
(Three days was more than enough for the rest of them to get latched on to the name. She couldn't stop thinking of him as Comet. It was a problem.)
On one of their routine checks, they found the abandoned ship marking the way out of the Quantum Abyss. They used their jetpacks to get there, wary of the white creatures. They found none, so they boarded the ship.
It had enough fuel to get them out of the Quantum Abyss, so they could call for help. They called Lotor right away. It took three days for them to get a response, but they headed towards the Castle of Lions' last known destination.
On the third day, Lotor picked them up. After two years, they were very excited to see someone else.
"How long has it been for you?" he asked, aware that time in the Quantum Abyss was strange.
"Two deca-pheobs is our estimate, give or take a phoeb," Keith replied.
Lotor nodded grimly. "It has been nearly one for us. I sent Acxa to check in with the colonies and find you, but she returned without any information. I was certain you were dead. It is good to be proved wrong."
Krolia smiled at him. "It is."
He led them to the small shower the ship had. "I assume you will want to use these. I left some soaps there. Feel free to use any of them. I will be piloting us back to the Castle of Lions."
They decided to go by age, youngest to oldest. Bandor showered first, then Narti, Keith, Romelle, Regris, and her. It was lovely to be clean again.
She realized that her hair would neve be the same. That was unfortunate. She had finally gotten used to the braid. Krolia supposed she would cut off most of it later. She had clean clothes and she was going to relish in that.
They arrived in the Castle of Lions. Bandor and Romelle were ecstatic to meet both people who had lived on Altea and the Paladins of Voltron. Krolia was too, if she was being honest. These people had cared for Keith during his time as a Paladin. She was incredibly thankful for that.
Keith walked in first and was immediately tackled by hugs. "Uh, hey guys. So, this is my mom. These are the other kids she adopted, Regris, his sister, Narti, Romelle, and her brother, Bandor. And this is our wolf."
The Paladins made room for the rest of them to join the hug, and they joined in. It was surprisingly pleasant to be around people again. Lotor tried to walk by, but the other Alteans grabbed him and joined the hug. It was nice.
Krolia had her family. All was well.
Except for the fact that the wolf needed a name. But that could be fixed at a later time.