Chapter Nine

 

 

Keith watched the Lions dance across the sky and felt a strange sense of déjà vu, except he was not the one in the Black’s cockpit.  He sent them out to practice over the barren deserts an hour south of the Castle of Lions and he listened to their excited conversations.  Despite his lecture the night before, they could not quite maintain the semblance of seriousness that he had asked for.  He allowed them that for this practice, but the next one would be different.  After all, he still remembered what it was like to fly the Lions and he could not blame them.

 

He let them fly at will as he studied their styles and skills.  They were what he expected, though Bethie was much better than he even realized.  She took to the Black as if she was born to fly it and he wasn’t sure if she wasn’t.  The Black Lion flew smoothly and gracefully as it wove through the other Lions and he had to smile as he imagined what Bethie had to be feeling.

 

“Keith.”

 

Allura walked into his study.  They had decided that until they announced Voltron’s return, he would conduct practices away from the Castle Control and away from curious eyes.  There was no other way to get to the Lions besides the shafts underneath the command console, but the personnel in Castle Control could be trusted to keep quiet about that particular aspect of the operation. 

 

“The pod is showing activity,” she said gravely, sitting on the edge of his desk as his eyes scanned the message she brought him.  “As far as Alliance scientists can tell, they’ll be hatching within the week.” 

 

“Great.”

 

Allura looked towards the viewscreen, her brow furrowing as she watched the Lions.  “They look good.”

 

Keith watched as they began to scrimmage against each other.  He didn’t want to admit it, but this generation of pilots might have come into this job with more skill than their predecessors.  Then again, they had the luxury of having been trained without the threat of war hovering over their heads.  When it came to a real battle situation, they were all still untested and that worried him. 

 

“They’re good,” he said.  “Better than I thought.”

 

“The Red looks like it’s falling behind a little bit,” Allura pointed out.

 

Keith’s lips twitched.  “I don’t know about that.”

 

To their admiration, Jack squared his Lion directly behind the Green Lion and blew it away.  Jordan let out a vicious curse that her mother would have been aghast to hear.

 

“Sorry about that, Uncle Keith,” she said contritely as she landed the Lion.

 

“Just take it easy, Jordan,” he said with a laugh.

 

“What happened to all the, ‘I am not your uncle’ talk?” Allura said, her lips tilting upwards.

 

“I can’t break them of it,” Keith said.  “We’ll get around to it eventually.”

 

“I doubt it.”

 

Keith gave her a look but she merely smiled.

 

The doors slid open again and they turned, expecting to see Alana.  Instead, they found themselves looking at a tall blonde Ensign with a serious expression in his sky-blue eyes that seemed too old for his age.

 

“Hi,” Ethan said as he dropped his bag.  “Did I miss practice?”

 

 

 

the legend will continue…