The next morning, the Castle of Lions began to get ready for the wormhole jump to the Balmera, where the Kirins were residing.

In the middle of the week while the castle was still out of power, the Balmerans came to relieve the castle of its extra passengers in order to ease the stress placed on the paladins, allowing them to focus more on finding their companions.

The Kirins were settling in quite well and had even started trading with the Balmerans, giving each other new goods, ideas and experiences. When the paladins stepped foot on the planet's ground in late evening, they were suprised that this had happened in only a matter of days.

Allura bent down, pressing her hand to the ground beneath her feet, and after a few seconds, a soft blue glow emanated from it.

"Balmerans," Allura addressed them aloud. "Please relay this message to the Kirins in your midst: the paladins of Voltron are here to ask your plans for the future of where you will stay permanently. This gathering will be held above ground and by the Castle of Lions if you wish to attend and have your voice heard. It will commence shortly, and we look forward to seeing you there."

She lifted her hand off of the brown soil and stood up, facing Shiro, Keith, Pidge and Hunk. "Now all we need to do is wait until they show up."

"There you are!" Coran bounded up to them, holding small microphones in his hand. "I have these for all of you, because if you didn't have them, it would be hard to hear you over the crowd," he said as he handed them out.

"How. . . . exactly do you use these?" Pidge asked, dangling hers in front of her.

"You wrap the piece that is shaped like an ear around the back of your ear, and then adjust the actual mic so that it's by your mouth," Hunk informed her. He demonstrated this exactly as he had said. "I learned this in the theatre club at the Garrison."

Keith frowned. "Theatre club? At the Garrison? I had never heard that that was a thing."

"And you don't really seem to be the theatre type," Pidge added, adjusting the mic around her head.

Hunk laughed. "You're right, I'm not. I didn't want to go, but Lance dragged me into it." He smiled. "I didn't enjoy it as much as he did, but it was still fun for me. Lance forced me out of my comfort zone, and I'm glad that he did. Sure, since our daily schedules were so strict, our club hardly met up, but it was still an interesting experience."

"Lance can make anything interesting," Pidge remarked. "It's a talent of his."

Suddenly, they were interrupted by Coran once again as he ushered them onto a platform.

When they turned around, they noticed that the ground was almost packed full of Kirins and Balmerans alike, and more were still trickling in.

"Wow, they sure came quickly," stated the green paladin.

"Yes they did," Shiro said. "They're anxious to know about the decisions that could effect them."

Coran gave them the signal that their mics had been turned on and hopped on the same platform with the rest of them. Immediately afterward, it began to rise into the air, giving them an even better view of the masses of people that lay before them.

In the mass of aliens was a young Kirin girl that tugged at her drab brown clothes, still deciding whether they were better than the prisoner rags she had worn before. Both were scratchy and too loose, and she didn't like it.

Her father nudged her gently and pointed up at the platform. Her big eyes looked up at the colorful figures that stood up above the rest of them, curious.

She watched as the pretty lady with white hair, illuminated against the setting sun, began to speak in a language she didn't understand: "I am so glad that this planet has flourished even more with the addition of the Kirins, but we have come here today to discuss their future. All of your futures. So, in order to decide this, we shall cast a vote. . . ."

And that was where the little girl's attention span ended. The words were meaningless to her, plus she had noticed something that bothered her.

She tugged on her father's sleeve and he bent down toward her, his eyes still on the pretty lady as she spoke.

In her language, she asked him, "Where's the nice man that saved us in the blue lion, daddy? I don't see him."

He frowned. "I don't know. Maybe he's inside the castleship." He grabbed her by the sleeve when she started to head toward it. "Arei, no. You can't wander off here, you could get lost."

She turned her big forest green eyes to him, pouting slightly, trying to sway her father's will with as cute of a look as she could muster. Unfortunately for her, he refused to be swayed.

"You know those eyes don't work on me, Arei."

She looked away from him and back at the castle dejectedly, as innocent as an angel. However, she was secretly planning her getaway inside her head.

Slowly, the people around them started to drit toward the platform where the voting was taking place.

The youth's father bent down and looked at her straight in the eyes as he said, "Listen to me, Arei. I'll be getting someone to watch you, but if you still manage to slip away, I'll be really angry. You don't want your dad to be angry, do you?"

"Of course not, daddy."

"Then stay where you are. No running off. Just. . . . keep that curiosity at bay, please." He got up from his uncomfortable position and began talking to a fellow Kirin.

Arei noticed that they kept looking back at her, barring her way to escape unnoticed. She didn't appreciate it one bit, especially when she watched her father weave his way away from her and toward the voting table, and even more when the other alien started to walk toward her.

"Arei, you remember me, right?" She asked.

The little girl didn't reply.

"I'm a friend of your father."

This was met with more silence.

"Well. . . ." The woman started, "how has your day been today?"

After that, she kept on trying to jump-start a conversation with the girl, but nothing was working. Once her mind was set on something, nothing would distract Arei from her goal.

Eventually, the woman gave up and started to talking to her friends. Gradually she payed less and less attention to the small child behind her, and that's exactly why she didn't notice when Arei slipped away.

She made her way through the crowd and to the castleship, grinning at her accomplishment. Her feet barely made a sound as she crept inside it.

She had watched as the pointy-eared man with the orange mustache bustled around, trying to get everyone and everything in their places so they could be ready for the gathering. He had been so busy that he had forgotten to close the metal door into the ship behind him, and it was through that which the alien child slipped through.

The blue-tinted lights sprang to life as she walked through the hallways, the white walls almost blinding her. She had expected it, though, since she had spent many hours exploring while all the rest of her surviving race stayed in the room with the healing pods. She had limited it down to a few rooms where she could find the man that had saved her and her father. She wanted to properly thank him.

Arei glanced in random rooms, checking just to be sure that he wasn't in any of them.

Suddenly, she turned her head as what seemed to be the sound of broken sobs and a language that she didn't understand drifted to her ears. She hated it, and she made it her new mission to help whoever was crying.

Arei followed it until she located its source: a shadowed figure curled up, with his knees to his chest.

The room was completely dark except for the haze of light the partially open door left on the floor.

She cocked her head to the side and shattered the lonely dark with her voice: "Why are you crying?"

There was a gasp and a shuffle of movement. A male voice, laden with panic, stuttered: "W - who are you? D - don't come near me!"

Confused, Arei frowned. His words made no sense to her, so she decided to do the best she could with communicating to him that she was there to help him. "Don't you want some light?" She fumbled around for a way to turn the lights on. "I don't want you to be lonely, and light can help!"

When she pressed her hand to the metal plate at the edge of the door, and when the room illuminated, it was her time to gasp. "It's you!"

. . . .

- A few minutes before -

Lance rocked back and forth, muttering to himself frantically through his tears. "I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine - "

"Tanehari ati sjiki?"

Lance inhaled sharply at this unexpected sound and glanced up to see the outline of a small child with tiny horns, haloed in light. Her forest green eyes blinked at him innocently, unaware that he couldn't understand her.

Despite her appearance, he cried out, "W - who are you?! D - don't come near me!"

The girl frowned but continued speaking in her lyrical and soft voice. "Ju ati ni taro lumi'ka?" Her hands felt around the walls, for what reason he did not know. "Ti ju ni wik ati numé mikato, lumi'ka sai he'ki!"

Suddenly, the overhead lights flashed on and the little girl's eyes lit up. "Ti'ras ati!" she exclaimed. Her face was joyful as she ran to him and hugged him.

It was not the right time.

Lance's heart started beating faster and faster as he got more frantic at her touch.

Flashes of one of his "memories" - courtesy of Haggar - resurfaced, and for a moment, the little alien girl became a little human girl who glared at him with a look laden with disgust. Her voice echoed in his ears once again, biting at him.

"Get away from me! You're ruining our game with your ugliness!"

He held his head in his hands as more voices joined the phantom girl's. "G - get away from me! L - leave me alone!"

She jumped up, a look of hurt on her face. "Eari du Ti ju?"

(Translation: What did I do?)

Still breathing heavily, Lance closed his eyes, trying to calm the feeling of alarm that wouldn't go away.

After his heartbeat had slowed and he was able to think more clearly, he looked up at the child in front of him.

Her face was drawn up in concern, and she was frowning slightly.

For some reason, she reminded Lance of his younger sister when she had been her age. While the voice screeched for him not to trust her, he couldn't help wanting to protect her and lift her spirits.

So, he said, "I'm sorry. I didn't want you to see that."

She leaned forward, causing Lance to flinch. A small, light brown finger gently wiped his cheek, its touch as light as a feather. When she stepped back, she had a single teardrop on her finger which she discarded with a sweet smile.

Lance touched his cheek with his hand. It was still wet. He brushed the teardrops away and gave her a half-smile in return.

"Tanehani ati sjiki?" the little girl asked.

(Translation: Why were you crying?)

Lance sighed and got up from his bed. He picked up the translator that lay on top of his abandoned console. He turned it on, and when he did, the little girl smiled even brighter. She seemed to remember it.

He bent down in one knee so she could reach it, and she repeated herself above the microphone.

The translator conveyed her message, this time in English.

She's worried about me? Lance thought. Why?

"Oh, well. . . . I was just sad, that's all," he replied. "But I'm fine now."

She raised an eyebrow. She clearly didn't believe him. In spite of her age, she was really intuitive.

"Now, can you tell me your name?"

Though it was obvious that she didn't want to move on, she said, "Arei. My full name is Annareiliakiratari - "

Lance blinked, suprised. "Wow, that's a really long name."

"I wasn't done."

"Oh."

"I don't think this" - she pointed to the translator - "would be able to say it in. . . . in. . . ." She frowned, struggling with a word. "En. . . . Eng. . . ."

"English?" Lance supplied.

Arei nodded. "Yes."

Suddenly, she grew shy.

"I wanted to thank you." She smiled warmly at him. "For saving me and daddy."

He tried to return her smile, but failed. His mouth wouldn't cooperate. "Anytime."

Their conversation continued, with the translator as an aide.

Lance began to grow more comfortable with her, slowly but surely. He sat beside her on his bed, holding the translator in between the two of them.

He had had only good memories with her by his side, unlike with the rest of the paladins. Even though the mission during which she appeared had been a terrible one, he remembered only good things about their interactions.

They talked until Arei's eyes began to droop. Eventually, her head dropped onto his shoulder, and when Lance gently poked her, he found that she was fast asleep. He quelled the lingering fear at her touch and instead froze in place, focused on not waking her.

After a while, though, she didn't wake up and Lance's exhaustion was beginning to get to him.

It weighed down on him, making every limb feel leaden and heavy. It took so much effort for him to hold his head up and keep his eyes open, and he hadn't realized that until now.

Maybe. . . . for a little while. . . . His head fell back against the wall, and his eyes closed. I'll trust her. . . . this time.

Sleep overtook him.

(A/N): Finally a peaceful moment, right? Poor Lance really needed this. And I know, it's only the second chapter I've used her in, but Arei's already stolen my heart. I've gotten so attached to her already. Have you guys? (hopefully, cause that was my intention.) True, I am the one who's writing her character, but. . . . she's so cute and innocent how can you not love her?

Anyway, I'll see you next chapter! Bye :)