*WILL BE EDITED LATER*

While Pidge was inside the green lion trying to contact Earth, Hunk and Romelle were chatting in front of the yellow lion. The other paladins, Shiro, Krolia, Arcadia, Coran, and the wolf were gathered in the center of the circle formed by the five lions. As they waited for the green paladin to return, the canine wandered over to the draconian and nudged his snout against the exposed skin of her thigh. She looked down, humming in question. Meeting the wolf's gaze, she could pick up on what he wanted. Squatting down, she smiled and petted the top of his head. "You're bored, aren't you? What's that game that humans play with dogs?"

"Uh, you mean "fetch"?" Lance asked, overhearing the girl.

"Yes! That!"

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but we don't have a ball to throw around. We don't even have rocks or twigs..."

Arcadia stood up with a smirk. "I think I have a solution." She held her hands a couple of inches apart and used her ice magic to form a sphere. Once the ice was solid, she tossed it up and down in one of her hands. "Think this'll do?"

"I think it would," Keith said.

"Let's try it." She turned to the wolf before throwing the sphere in a random direction. He stood up and vanished into thin air before returning a few seconds later with the ice sphere. "Wha—?" Arcadia's mouth fell agape at how he was able to teleport. She took the sphere from the canine. "That's cheating!"

Keith, Krolia, Lance, Shiro, and Allura continued to watch Arcadia play with the cosmic wolf with smiles on their faces. Krolia crosses her arms before smirking slightly in her son's direction. "It looks like he became attached to Arcadia in no time."

"I'm still surprised at how quick and easy he warmed up to her," Keith commented.

"I do believe it has to do with Arcadia's elemental signature. Animals have always been attracted to her ever since she arrived on Altea after her planet's destruction. My father determined the cause was because of her elemental signature, which creatures find comforting," Allura stated.

Keith remembered when he first met Arcadia on Earth, blinking in realization. "There was a cat that was following her around when we first met."

Lance grinned in his direction. "Worried you might be replaced by a wolf, Keith? Or—Ow!" He felt something hard and cold hit the side of his head. He rubbed the sore spot with a childish pout. "Really, Arcadia?!"

"My bad!" She shouted while giggling, running over to grab the ice sphere. She picked it up as the cosmic wolf appeared by her side. "It slipped 'cause, y'know, ice. Ice is very slippery."

Lance glared at her. "Saying it like that makes you even more suspicious..."

She smiled innocently in response. "I have no idea what you mean." She turned back to the wolf as he waved his tail happily. "C'mon, buddy! Let's keep going!"

Arcadia continued to play with the wolf until Pidge returned from the green lion. She jogged over with the canine by her side, standing beside the stack of metal crates Shiro was sitting on. "How did it go?"

"Were you able to contact Earth?" Shiro added.

Pidge sat on the edge of the crate, hanging her head. "No luck. The low power levels are probably affecting our broadcast distance. I'll keep trying as we head for Earth."

Lance, with his hands on his hips, spoke up as Hunk and Romelle joined them. "I can't believe we're finally going home."

Hunk hugged himself with a warm smile. "I'm gonna hug my parents and never let go."

"I can't wait to see how Dad integrated altean, draconic, and Earth technologies together," Pidge beamed excitedly. "I bet he came up with something amazing. And my mom... Oh, she's gonna be so mad at me for running away. I hope I'm not grounded."

Keith glanced over at Coran. "How long do you think it'll take us to get home?"

"I was just calculating that now. Without the luxury of a wormhole, and with diminished power cores, let me see, carry the one..." The royal advisor riddled with his fingers as he counted on them. "Ah, it's gonna take us approximately 150,000 Earth years."

Everyone except for Arcadia gasped in pure shock. Keith couldn't believe what Coran just told them. "A hundred and fifty thousand years?"

"Okay, so I might not be the best at math, but I don't think that's correct," Arcadia stated.

"Oh, he's definitely wrong," Pidge said before looking back at the advisor. "Coran, I think your finger counting is a little off. It's gonna be 1.5 years."

A collective groan came from the others as Coran smiled innocently. "Oh, right. I didn't carry the three."

"It's going to be a very long and difficult voyage, but it's our only chance to replace the Castle of Lions," Allura chimed in.

Shiro solemnly stared at the ground. "There were times when I thought I'd never see Earth again. To be able to go back—"

Lance interjected with a joyous shout. "Well, what are we waiting for, guys? Let's hit the space road!"

"I suppose we need to figure out who's flying with whom," Krolia said.

"And what about the animals?" Coran asked.

"What about them?" Pidge remarked.

"Well, the wolf can't go with Kaltenecker. Wolves eat cows. And the cow can't be in the same area as the mice because aren't cows afraid of mice?"

Arcadia tilted her head slightly in confusion. "I've read about Earth creatures. The books never mentioned what cows were afraid of or if they were afraid of anything. Wouldn't Kaltenecker be fine with the mice?"

"Definitely," Lance replied. "Elephants are afraid of mice."

"Oh, yes!" Arcadia giggled. "The books did mention how skittish elephants are around mice and other small creatures."

"Elephants?" Coran questioned, puzzled at the word he'd never heard before.

"Yeah," the red paladin said. He pinched his nose, his voice faltering slightly. "They're giant, gray animals with long noses that grab things."

Allura glanced up at the sky, trying to imagine what Lance was describing. "Giants with long, grabbing noses? Earth seems so strange."

"It's a wonderful strange, though," Arcadia commented. "I'm excited to go back. So, who's taking who?"

"The wolf is riding with me, but that means Hunk will have to take the cow," Keith answered.

Hunk pointed at himself. "Me with the cow? Not a good idea."

Lance, with hands resting on his hips, agreed with the yellow paladin. "Hunk's right. Keith, you're keeping the cow. Someone else is gonna have to take the wolf."

Hunk, Lance, and Shiro's gazes drifted towards Pidge. She looked at them before shooting down what all three boys were thinking. "Not me. I am allergic."

"I'll take the mice," Allura volunteered.

Keith folded his arms with a disapproving look. "How come you get the smallest passengers?" His question earned a pout from the princess.

"I say we go old school and draw straws," Hunk suggested.

Allura slumped over in defeat. "But I'm terrible at drawing straws."

"She really is," Coran confirmed, twirling the tip of his mustache. "One time, she tried to draw her nan-nan, but what she came up with, I've gotta say it looked more like a flanbildiplor."

"I...don't think Hunk means to literally draw," Arcadia commented. "Drawing straws, if I remember correctly and was listening, is when a group of people pick out straws from a set. These straws, depending on length, determine who gets what task. Am I right or wrong?" She glanced around at the humans in the group.

"Oh, hey, we do have an alien who understands!" Hunk cheered.

Keith was surprised she knew what the yellow paladin was getting at. "Where did you learn about drawing straws?"

"Walking around a single earth town taught me many things, but not all," she said. "Some things were...odd while others were intriguing and entertaining. Drawing straws was one of the weirder customs of your people."

Lance promptly chimed in to prevent the conversation from getting off-topic. "Guys, you're all overthinking this. I know exactly where everyone should go." He distributed passengers among the paladins. The mice were with Hunk, Allura would take the wolf, Keith would be with Krolia, Shiro, and Coran, and Lance was in the company of Arcadia and Romelle. With the passengers decided, the paladins activated their lions and left the planet.

Traveling through the darkness of space with only little speckles of light from distant stars to illuminate the way, the lions soared in the direction of the Milky Way. They hadn't been traveling for long until Coran's exuberant voice came over the comms. "Oh, I get to finally play some of your Earth road games."

Arcadia knew where this was going and tried to intervene. "Coran, I don't think space is the best place for road games."

"Oh, nonsense, Arcadia! It's the perfect place!" He leaned over the seat and peered out the eyes of the black lion. "I'll go first. I spy with my little eye something that starts with 'plexus'."

"Excuse me for a moment, Lance..." Arcadia leaned over, disconnecting the comms right as Shiro told the royal advisor they didn't know the altean alphabet. She then contacted the green lion to ask Pidge a question, not noticing she was alone as she played a video game. "Did you grab any of my stuff before departing the castle, Pidge?"

"Oh, yeah. I grabbed the grimoire and your suit. Guess I should've given them to you before we left," she answered with a small smile.

"Praise Aethios..." Arcadia sighed in relief.

"Aethios?" Romelle questioned. "Who's that?"

"A god my people worshipped. I still worship him from time to time."

"I wish Panlu could have shared more about his people," the altean mumbled sorrowfully.

The draconian placed a hand on her shoulder, smiling. "Maybe I can share more with you, Romelle. I can even continue where Panlu left off, if you'd like."

Romelle's melancholic expression morphed into a jubilant smile. "Oh, I can't wait to learn more! Tell me everything and don't leave out a single detail!"

Arcadia started from the beginning. She shared the tales and history of her people. She told her about the Tree of Mana, the twelve grand masters, the twelve grimoires, and many other things. In the middle of sharing, Allura's shrieking was broadcasted from the comms. "No! Bad! Stop!" She hollered. Mixed with her yelling was the muffled sound of creaking metal.

"Is everything okay, Allura?" Arcadia questioned, eyes glued to the red lion's main console. She thought she had disconnected the comms, but Lance must be reconnected them while she was speaking to Romelle.

"No!" She wailed in annoyance. "Keith, your wolf is tearing up the cargo hold!"

"Because he's lonely," Keith answered, voice tinged with irritation. "Just let him in the cockpit."

Besides Keith's voice, she could hear Coran was singing the altean alphabet. She stood behind Lance and glanced between the two as they started to argue.

"I will absolutely not let that beast in the cockpit," Allura snapped back.

"You let me in the cockpit," Arcadia said.

"You are not a beast! You wouldn't dare chew on the lions as if they were toys!"

"If you let him in, he'll stop chewing."

"Absolutely not!"

"You really rather repair damage than let him in?"

"That—!" Allura paused for a second. She childishly pursed her lips when she realized her rebuttal wouldn't be a plausible argument. She huffed out an annoyed sigh, a sign she didn't have a comeback. However, she still refused to let the wolf into the cockpit. "This is ridiculous! We must—"

"Guys, check out this picture!" Hunk shouted and interrupted the princess. An image of the mice appeared on the digital display. "The mice look so cute!" He squealed.

Arcadia felt her eye twitch when she still could hear Coran singing. She heard the low growl from Keith and knew his patience was treading on thin ice. He wouldn't last much longer.

Lance heard the cacophony of sounds coming from the comms and came to a realization. "Guys, I think I did a bad job choosing the passengers," he sighed deeply.

"The first step in addressing a mistake is to acknowledge the problem. Don't beat yourself up over this," Arcadia said, patting him on the shoulder. "Let's start by—"

"Who wants to see the mice stacked on my head?" Hunk asked, interrupting the draconian.

Coran kept singing and Romelle, having become bored while waiting for Arcadia to continue her story, started to push random buttons in the cockpit. The snowy-haired girl quickly ducked when foam spurted out. Lance's right side was completely covered in foam as he groaned, "You've gotta be kidding me!" Another glob of foam fell from the ceiling and covered the left side of his face. He shook the foam off his body with another groan. Arcadia stood up and wiped a small amount of foam off his helmet before shaking it off her hand.

The cacophony crescendoed. The comms were chaotic with arguing and singing until Keith finally snapped. "That's it! We're switching passengers!"

"I second that!" Allura agreed within a heartbeat.

"Agreed," voiced Lance.

"Hey, why haven't we heard from Pidge?" Hunk asked out of the blue.

"Yeah. Wait, who's in her lion again?"

"I don't know. You're the one that came up with this grouping," Keith stated.

Hunk then started to do a mental checklist of all the passengers. "Well, she must have--no, they're with Keith. And the wolf is with Allura, I have the mice..."

"Is she all alone?" Allura asked.

Struck with realization, the paladins did a quick passenger swap. Now, Pidge found herself with Coran, Romelle, the mice, and the wolf. "Oh, come on, guys! This is so not fair!" She whined.

Arcadia, who was still with Lance, heard her cry. "Sorry, Pidge. We'll come up with a better passenger system later."

"I hope so..."

All fell silent, even the passengers in the green lion. Arcadia gazed at the stars as they flew through space in silence. She didn't notice Lance staring at her until she caught a glimpse of him in the corner of her eye. "What is it?" She asked.

"I couldn't help but overhear you talking to Romelle earlier about your people. The whole planet blowing up made me think about something," he said.

"Like what?" she pried out of curiosity.

"I don't really believe in fate, but I think all this happened so you could help us. Not that I'm happy your planet blew up or anything! Just happy you're on our side and not the galras..."

"I do sometimes wonder what I would be doing now if my home wasn't gone. I probably would've never met any of you. I guess you could say I'm a little happy Draconia is gone. With its destruction, my world expanded and I've met so many wonderful people. I mean, I do miss my home from time to time, but I've made a new one with you and the others. Whether this is fate or chance, I'm grateful for what I have now."

Lance's eyes became glassy. He looked like a puppy who was about to cry. He sniffled as a few tears trailed down his cheeks.

Arcadia gasped at seeing him cry. "H-Hey, why are you crying?"

"That was so nice!" He wailed with a sniffle. He then awkwardly hugged her with his helmet pressed against her side. "You're like the weird alien sister I never had!"

"Didn't you try hitting on me a few times?" She asked.

"That was before I knew you had a thing for Keith! All the flirting and kissing..." He grumbled. "What if it had been me you met on Earth instead of Keith?"

"I'm not sure what would've happened," she answered honestly. "But I do know one thing--you like Allura and I think you should tell her."

Lance pulled away from her. "You really think she wouldn't laugh?"

"Not at all."

He smiled. "Thanks, alien sis."

She pursed her lips. "Please don't call me that. I draw the line at space dragon."

"Eh, space dragon's pretty cool."

A few minutes later, Krolia's voice came over the comms. "This is the Klii-Nyn System. There's a Blade of Marmora rally point located on a moon here. We should check in with them and get an update on their operations."

"Team, we're going to make a quick stop," Keith said. "Everyone, follow me."

No one argued.

The five lions soared towards the celestial body. As they drew closer, Krolia tried to contact the Blade members who were stationed on the moon. "Hailing Zailox Station. Please respond. Repeat, Zailox Station. Please respond."

All she received in response was crackling static.

The five lions landed on the moon near the entrance to the base. The paladins, Krolia, and Arcadia disembarked from the lions. At the entrance, Allura prices the door open. Krolia and the others ducked under her arms to enter the facility.

Arcadia noticed the entire facility was engulfed in not only darkness but also silence. "Is it usually this quiet?" She asked over comms.

"Never," Krolia answered.

Making their way down the metal catwalk towards the central server, they scanned their surroundings in search of any life.

Keith looked around. "It doesn't look like anyone's been here for years."

Arriving at the main console, Pidge tried to reboot the entire base. She furrowed her brows when not even the main console worked. "The system won't boot. Looks like the backup power has been out for a while." She turned and looked towards the draconian. "Think you can try, Arcadia?"

Arcadia flew towards the console. She placed a hand over the control and delivered an electric shock, but nothing happened. "If there was even a small lick of power left, this pace would be lit up by now."

"So the power's compelled depleted?"

She nodded. "Seems so."

Hunk, who had floated a few feet away, turned to look at his companions. "If the Blade of Marmora abandoned this place, that means something really bad must have happened."

Krolia shook her head. "That's impossible. This base was still fully operational during my last check-in with the Blades."

Suddenly, the entire base shook as the sound of an explosion was heard. Small bits of rubble started to fall from the ceiling. The paladins, Krolia, and Arcadia were able to keep their balances and not fall over when the explosion shook their surroundings.

"Enemy ship! Incoming!" Coran shouted over the comms.

"Everyone, back to the lions!" Keith yelled.

The group made a prompt exit, avoiding any debris that threatened to crush them. They returned to the lions just in time and took off. Flying through the void of space, they came face to face with their attackers.

"It looks like a small fleet. Mostly galra fighters," Keith said after analyzing the ships.

"That's good. We should be able to take them out pretty easily," Lance stated.

Arcadia gripped the back of Lance's seat as he maneuvered the red lion to dodge the incoming attack from one of the ships that were pursuing them.

"Yeah, but remember, we're not flying at full power," Pidge said.

"No, but we've got a mighty space dragon that is at full power!" Hunk shouted.

The draconian patted the back of the seat with a grin. Just as she went to speak up, she felt a furry body bump against the back of her legs. Glancing down, she saw the wolf and gasped. She wondered how it wound up in the red lion since it was supposed to be with Pidge. As she petted the top of its head, her surroundings changed and she found herself in the cockpit of the green lion. "Cosmic teleportation!" He shouted, startling the green paladin.

Pidge accidentally jerked the green lion to the side a little due to being startled by the draconian. She turned her head to see the wolf and Arcadia in the cockpit with her. "Whoa! How did you do that?"

"Pidge!" Arcadia shouted as she spotted a ship aiming at them.

The green paladin returned her focus to the small fleet and maneuvered her lion out of the way to avoid being hit by the lasers. "Sorry!" A single laser had struck the back of the green lion and shook the interior. Pidge grunted from the impact while the wolf and draconian hunched over and braced themselves. "It's gonna be a rough ride!"

Arcadia stood behind Podge's chair. She looked at the wolf who, in return, stared up at her. A mischievous grin registered on her face as an idea came to mind. She kneeled down and the wolf turned around to face her. She stroked her fingers through its fur while gazing into its golden eyes. "Wanna be my partner-in-crime?"

In response, the wolf nuzzled his nose against her cheek. She smiled at the cold, wet sensation before conveying her plan to the animal. She hoped it understood and was thoroughly surprised when she found herself in the cockpit of one of the small galra ships. She blinked in shock and looked around the small space. Luckily, the galra pilot hadn't noticed her yet.

Sneaking up behind them, she curiously peered out the glass that protected them from the hostile conditions of space. She saw it and another ship had captured the yellow lion. As she wondered how to help, Keith swooped in and used the black lion's jaw blades to sever the tethers.

She winced and patted the pilot on the shoulder as if to comfort them. "Oooh, and you were so close too! Nice try, buddy. I would say try again, but then that would mean I'd have to let you go."

The pilot of the ship went to grab their weapon. However, they weren't able to move their hands and looked down in panic. Their hands had been frozen to controls. They started to pull frantically as their panic skyrocketed. The ice was beginning to creep up his arms and engulf the cockpit.

Arcadia smiled innocently as she turned to the wolf. "To the next ship!"

The wolf teleported them to another fighter. This time, the pilot was flying after the lions as they tried to form Voltron. Like before, she watched in silence to avoid being detected. Seeing the paladins weren't able to form the mighty defender due to the lions' low powers, she had a slight change in plan.

Grabbing the pilot, she knocked them unconscious and tossed them out the rear hatch. She climbed into the seat and took control of the vessel. Her eyes scanned the galra symbols in confusion. "Maybe I should've learned galra..."

She heard the wolf whimper. Looking over her shoulder, she smiled in assurance. "Don't worry. I have a workaround." After some stumbling and wild guessing, she accessed the control panel and entered a small hack Pidge taught her. The galra symbols were replaced with draconic ones and the ship now radiated a faint gold instead of violet. She gripped the controls with a victorious smile. "Now we're in business. Let's go help our friends."

Arcadia flew the small ship towards the lions and contacted the paladins. "You all focus on escaping. I'll try to take down as many as I can."

Lance's eyes were wide in bewilderment. "How did you hijack that thing?!"

"No time to explain." She typed on the main console and shared a display with the others. "We're about to enter a field of xanthorium crystals. The galra have—"

"Ah!" Hunk screamed as he collided with one of the cloaked xanthorium crystals, resulting in an explosion.

She sighed and continued. "The crystals are cloaked, making this sector an invisible minefield."

"Weve got a field of exploding crystals in front if us and a fleet of angry galra on our tails. What're we gonna do?!" Lance hollered.

Arcadia scanned the area with the ship's radar. She spotted the large cyclone and the planet within this sector. "Pidge, can you scan the planet past the storm?"

"On it!" The green paladin typed frantically and found the planet. "There's a volcanic ice planet nearby. It has geysers, steam vents, ice tunnels, extreme changes in temperature, and an unstable core. It's super dangerous. It's perfect."

"The only way to get there is through the storm," Arcadia added.

"Okay, team, let's do this," Keith said.

"I'll bring up the rear and take down as many fighters as I can. You all just focus on making it to that planet."

"Don't take any risks, Arcadia," the black paladin warned her.

"I am not dying until I get my pinata." She gripped the controls tightly and guided the fighter behind the lions. She followed them into the cyclone and shot down a few other fighters. She dodged their lasers and took down a couple more. The display flashed red and a high-pitched beeping echoed through the cockpit. The wolf whimpered and lowered its body to the floor. "It's okay, buddy. We'll make it, I promise."

Arcadia followed the lions out of the storm and into the planet's atmosphere. The remaining ships of the galra fleet were close behind them. She expertly dodged laser after laser as they flew through an icy ravine.

"All right, everybody, stay in formation and follow me," Keith said.

Flying through the icy ravine, hot water spurted from a crevice and shattered the ice. A torrent of hot water spewed out at an incredible rate.

Hunk's eyes widen at the sight. "Geyser. Geyser!"

One by one, more geysers erupted. Arcadia used the fighter to ram another fighter into the rushing water. It was destroyed instantly. She smiled in satisfaction. "Y'know, this is pretty fun!"

"Don't get too excited," Pidge said.

The remaining fleet of fighters was split down the middle. Half we're targeting Arcadia while the others tried to take down the lions. The ones chasing the lions aimed their lasers at an icy archway, destroying it. The ice started to rain down on the paladins and the draconian.

"Watch out for the falling ice!" Shapiro warned.

In the distance, Keith spotted something promising. "A cave. That gives me an idea. Lance, bring up the rear with Arcadia. When everyone's through the tunnel, fire above the cave opening. Red should be fast enough to get in before the avalanche completely blocks the way."

"Roger that, team leader," Lance replied.

"Arcadia, keep the fighters off Lance's back. I don't know if that fighter is fast enough, but..."

She smiled at him. "If I can't clear the avalanche, I have another way of regrouping with everyone. Don't worry about me. Just focus on escaping."

Keith nodded and the feed ended.

Arcadia remained with the red lion and blew up a couple of fighters that were aiming for it. She watched the four other lions enter the tunnel just as Lance fired above the cave opening. Seeing the rocks and ice raining down, Lance yanked on Red's controls and went as fast as the lion could go. He checked the feed to see she wouldn't make it before the entrance was blocked. "Arcadia!"

The draconian huffed in sorrow. "Looks like this is farewell, my little spacecraft." She tugged at the controls and decided to fly straight into the group of fighters. She melted the controls with her alchemy and quickly hopped out of the seat. "Time to go, buddy! Take us to the red lion."

The wolf nudged its muzzle against the palm of her hand and teleported them to the red lion just before the vessel exploded. It took a few enemy fighters with it. They both appeared behind Lance as he soared into the tunnel. She walked up behind him. She looked at the feed and groaned. "Some made it through..."

Lance jumped slightly. He didn't know she was there until she spoke up. "What the—?! How?!"

"Still not a good time for storytime," she retorted. "We've got to deal with the rest of these fighters."

"Y'know, you could wiggle your fingers and blow them all up with your mind if you wanted to."

"In this hostile environment? No way! Besides..." She grinned in the wolf's direction. "My plan is going pretty well so far."

"What plan?" He asked, but she was already gone.

After Keith ordered the team to split up, Arcadia found herself inside another fighter. The wolf was the one to take out the pilot to allow her access to the ship. She praised the animal before hacking the ship and taking control. She followed the red and green lions after seeing three other fighters were chasing them. Flying behind the three enemy ships, she aimed the lasers and fired. She took down two while the third dodged.

She huffed in annoyance at how slippery the last fighter was. Before she aimed a second time, she heard the distortion sound of the wolf as it vanished. She looked behind her to see the canine was gone. She wondered where it had gone until she saw the last fighter lose control and collide with the wall of the tunnel. The ship exploded, taking its pilot with it.

"Was that you, Arcadia?" Lance asked.

"No, it was the wolf. It's because of him I was about to hijack a fighter in the first place." She looked behind her to see the wolf doesn't reappear in the cockpit. "Is he with you?"

"He's with me," Pidge replied. "And he's hurt."

"I'll heal him later. Keep an eye on him for me in the meantime, Pidge."

"Will do."

Arcadia went to boost the fighter's engine to catch up to the green and red lions. As she went to press the button, she heard the painful cries of her friends. She quickly guided the ship to the tunnel's exit, but yanked on the controls and came to a quick stop when she saw the lions were pinned down by a gravitational beam. She wanted to help them, but the small fighter wouldn't be enough to take down the galra cruiser. She would only end up being captured as well. Retreating into the shadows of the tunnel, she watched as the paladins and the lions were captured and taken aboard the cruiser.

As the lions were being hauled onto the ship, Arcadia abandoned the fighter. She flew over to the lions and avoided detection. Hiding in the mouth of the yellow lion, she patiently waited for her time to strike.