Chapter 8-
Repercussions
Allura sighed inwardly at the thought of another day inside Lotor's base. And yet, as she climbed out of bed, the young princess couldn't suppress a feeling of elation. Today was the day she was to send a message to Arus. Why she was so giddy she didn't know, but anything was better then the depression she had been in.
Shifting through a neatly stacked pile of clothes she found a simple yet stylish dress to wear. Captive or not, Nanny would still lecture her if she wasn't acting her status. I hope everything is all right she thought saddly.
Lahana entered the room and approached her respectfully. "Do you require any help m'lady?" Allura glanced back at her thoughtfully but shook her head.
"No, I think I can manage, but thank you for asking" she turned to look at herself in the mirror to get an idea of what the dress would look like on her.
"Does this look okay to you?" Allura asked, turning around to face the young woman. Lahana nodded.
"Of course, m'lady," but with a sly grin she added, "Are you trying to impress a certain prince?" Despite herself Allura blushed.
"No, of course not! I just want to look descent when I radio to my planet today! Besides if I don’t look the part of a princess, I’ll hear no end of it from my nanny." Lahana shrugged and glanced at the far wall of the room. She turned back to the princess.
"What time were you supposed to be there anyway?"
"Eight thirty....why?" she hesitated momentarily in getting dressed.
"...Well, because its nine o'clock..." The princess spun around to look at the clock with horror on her face. As quickly as possible she finished getting dressed, picked up her skirts and ran out of the room as fast as her legs could carry her. It's not good to be late to send a message to your planet...or leave a foul tempered prince waiting for you she thought to herself. This isn't going to make a good impression. Finally, she came to the door of the transmission room to find a VERY impatient Lotor.
"What took you so long?" he asked irritably. "I've been standing here for nearly half an hour and I don't like being kept waiting. Perhaps next time I'll have someone get you up three hours before the appointed time!" He didn't wait for a reply and Allura didn’t dare say anything. The prince unlocked the door to the room and motioned for her to go inside. The inside was much like the control room in the Castle of Lions if you take away the robots at the consoles and the dark interior. Lotor shut the door and came to stand beside her. After a silent moment he turned to her.
"Well, are you going to send a message to Arus or not?" blushing for the second time that day, Allura took in a deep breath.
"Yes, just give me a moment to catch my breath." He looked at her for a couple of seconds then turned away, laughing to himself. Allura gave him an awkward sideways glance as she approached the center of the room to start the transmission.
"What's so funny, Prince Lotor?" She was facing the view screen so she couldn't see him, but the small snort that she heard told her that whatever it was he didn't feel the need to explain. The princess was just getting ready to say something else to him when the view screen came on. She turned around to look at Lotor to ask what she should do now. "Just stay there. I'll have the channel open to the castle in a minute." She nodded and turned back to the large screen.
In the background she could hear a few soft orders that were being given to the guards, plus the sounds of the computers. "The channel's open; time to talk princess." Without looking she knew he was standing behind her. Koran appeared on the view screen and immediately sighed in relief.
"Allura, are you all right?" he looked at her worriedly.
"Yes, Koran. How is everything on Arus?" Koran nodded realizing this was to be a short conversation and very pointedly covering only sparse topics.
"Everything is fine so far. Thankfully there haven't been any attacks while you've been away. . . .Where are you, princess?" Allura began to tell him reflexively, but with the touch of a strong hand on her shoulder she stopped and shook her head. Koran's gaze traveled to Lotor who was monitoring the conversation.
Lotor, eyes still locked on the screen, lowered his head a little so she could hear him better. "If there isn't anything else you'd like to say, I think it's time to end this transmission." Allura looked at Koran for a half a second more then nodded, too afraid to try the prince’s generosity by speaking any longer. With a wave of his hand her old friend's face disappeared from her sight. The princess sighed as she turned towards the door with Lotor in tow. He opened the door and came out to walk beside her. After thinking it over Allura turned to him and sighed.
"Look, I'm sorry for being late; I lost track of time." He kept looking straight ahead. She couldn't believe that HE of all people would be so upset about her being late! She would have thought he would have calmed down by now, but apparently not. Her room was now in view and Lotor stopped walking. With a small bow he waved towards her room.
"Good day, Princess. Oh, and make sure that next time you're not late or I'll have to teach you a little lesson in manners."
"Good day to you too." she added irritably. As she entered her room she noticed Lahana sitting on her bed. Immediately she sat down beside her.
"Why is it that whenever I talk to him we always end up mad at each other? I even tried apologizing to him and that made him even angrier."
"I don't know, princess. He just has a horrible temper; that's the only thing I can think of that might be part of that. Other than that I really can't even begin to guess." Allura sighed again.
"My question is how would he expect me to get along with him the way he acts. There would be NO way I could stand him if I were to marry him." with an odd look from Lahana she added. "Not that I ever WOULD marry him; that was just an assumption." As the young slave got up to leave Allura grabbed her hand.
"Please stay and talk with me for a while. I guess you could say Lotor's grounded me for the day." Lahana smiled, shook her head and sat back down.
Lotor paced his make-shift throne room angrily. He found the princess so confusing lately – lately, hell, all the time; and he didn't like being confused. It made him angry. With an aggravated yell, he threw the nearest thing he could get his hands on across the room. The guards were used to this behavior and moved to avoid the flying object. The prince slumped into his throne in an attempt to calm himself down. She won't be bothering me for a time; maybe that will give me some time to think this over. All of her apologizing and mood changes. I suppose I should be happy about her new attitude towards me. Hmmph! I don't understand why she is acting this way! Then with a sly smile, Maybe I should find out.
Koran spread the news throughout the kingdom as fast as he could. The news of their princess’ wellbeing put new hope in the people's hearts even after they knew that Voltron was no more. He had gotten a message from Pollux that Keith was alive but that made little difference anymore. Koran would have told Allura in his message, but not with Lotor in the room. Sven had specifically told him not to tell anyone that Keith was alive since they had a plan to rescue the princess. I hope it works and she gets back to us safely the old advisor thought.
To Chapter 9: A Tryant's Values
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