Keith woke up to find that the others had almost finished dinner, but they had saved him a whole bunch of - whatever it was. It was food. Food was a good word to describe it.

"There's dessert too!" Pidge said as she saw him sit up and stretch. Lance pointed proudly at an entire plate of what looked like purple brownies and grinned.

"Really?" Keith asked, still feely pretty groggy, but interested all the same. He rubbed his eyes and let out a curse as he remembered his left hand was still healing.

Hunk's friendly face winced empathetically as he pulled out a chair for Keith. "Oh, sorry, man, I know that's gotta hurt-"

A few weeks ago, Keith would have snapped something brusque. Now, he settled for a gritted "Just some," between his teeth as he came over to sit down in the chair Hunk had pulled out for him. He saw Shiro look over at him - the Black Paladin was sitting next to Coran and -

"Allura!" Keith said, his memories of what had happened earlier that day rushing back to him. He stopped in his tracks, turning to look around at his team. "Did we find Sendak - is he - "

Pidge reached over and tugged on Keith's sleeve, pulling him towards the chair again. "Yes, Keith," she said, "and he's really, really, really dead. All dead, not mostly dead."

Keith felt a relieved breath rush out of him as he found himself sitting in a chair between Pidge and Hunk. They must have pulled him into it. Keith found that slightly annoying. He turned and looked quizzically down at Pidge, feeling oddly puzzled and a little dazed.

"Why am I so - disoriented?" he asked Pidge, and she grinned at him as she pushed a big plate full of food at him.

"Afftereffects of pain meds," she said. "Don't worry, we've got more if you need 'em later."

Keith hadn't realized how hungry he was until he began eating. He practically inhaled the food. As he did, he saw Shiro grinning over at him, so Keith waved a spork at his friend in a 'hey' sort of greeting. Allura and Coran were smiling over at Keith too.

This was kinda weird. Why were they smiling at him?

" 's up?" he asked. Allura nodded at his bandaged hand. "Rayzor told us what happened to your hand," she said. "And he told the Council how you almost kept Sendak from - " she broke off, gesturing vaguely, clearly not wanting to bring up bad memories. "Well, the important thing is that you showed phenomenal reflexes in the tunnels, Keith. And I wanted to thank you for it."

" 's no big deal," Keith mumbled. He still felt pretty out of it, but he didn't like thinking he'd shown off. He'd just tried to keep Sendak from taking Allura. Everyone else had tried to do the same thing.

Shiro leaned back in his chair and laughed softly. "I told you he'd downplay it," he said. Keith felt slight annoyance at the words, but then Lance grinned over at Keith and pointed again towards the plate of what looked like purple brownies, which were near Keith's left hand.

"Let it be known," Lance said, taking on a noble and sacrificial air, "that the Paladins have stuck to their code of honor and saved dessert for their injured fellow-"

"I'll give you injured," Keith muttered under his breath as he swigged his drink. Pidge and Hunk laughed at that, and Lance beamed as well.

"Oh yeah, he's almost back to normal," he said as he reached out for a brownie. Keith swiped the top one off the plate as Lance's fingers drew near, and Lance made a sound of mock disbelief and horror.

"Thief!" he said, throwing a hand against his own forehead dramatically. "Oh - how dare thee!" He made a dramatic choking sound - a fake sob? - and Pidge giggled at the over-the-top theatrics.

Keith had already bit into the brownie. Suddenly, he couldn't believe how much the purple brownie tasted like Earth chocolate chip cookies. It was incredible.

He eyed the plate again, and Lance saw, and pushed the plate towards him. "Dude, seriously, we saved these for you," he said. "Take as many as you want. We had tons." Hunk nodded as Keith glanced around at them, grabbed a few more brownie-space-cookies, and pushed the plate back towards the middle of the table.

"Take some," Keith said. "Hurry - while I'm still coming off the pain pills, before I can change my mind-"

Pidge muttered "Yeah, well, never can have too many cookies," and grabbed a few off the plate, shooting Keith a half-smile as she did so.

Keith glanced around at the rest of the table and saw that Rayzor had just entered the room. The others saw and all turned to face the Proselyt as he approached the table.

The atmosphere of the room didn't cool, exactly, but it did became less relaxed, and a bit more formal. Coran moved his chair back so that he could stand up to greet Rayzor, but the man waved one clawed hand in a gesture that said 'No need,' and took a seat at the far end of the table.

The leader of the guards nodded to them in what seemed to be an informal greeting. Then he glanced over at Keith, and asked, somewhat awkwardly, "Glad to see you're awake." Funnily enough, it didn't sound like he was being condescending.

Keith swallowed the last of his first space-brownie-cookie and shrugged, as if to say, "Yeah, well, it's nice be on my feet again."

Rayzor turned his attention back to the table at large, and said, "I know you've all had a long day - "

"-'s kind of an understatement," Keith said, and only realized he'd spoken out loud when Rayzor turned his gaze back to him. Keith felt Pidge tense next to him, as if she expected the blue-skinned alien to take offense, but Rayzor seemed only slightly taken aback, and then seemed to guess what was the cause of the interruption.

"Pain meds?" he asked, and Hunk nodded, not cooly, but a bit abruptly.

"It's not his fault," Lance said quickly. "He only woke up a few minutes ago-" but Rayzor was nodding in what seemed to be understanding.

"I'm familiar with them," Rayzor said. "Greatly effective, but the side effects can be - hard to predict." He looked towards the head of the table, at Shiro and Allura and Coran, and asked, politely - "I can come back later, if I came at a bad time -"

The two Alteans and the Black Paladin exchanged looks, and then Shiro looked over at Keith.

"What do you think, Keith?" Shiro asked. "Either way's fine. If you'd like to rest, I don't want you to feel like you have to stay - we can always catch you up later-"

Keith shook his head. "-no, I'm fine," he said. "-just - just more likely to talk now, is all." Pidge pushed the cookie space brownies back towards him, and Keith smirked with sudden inspiration. He was still hungry. And the dessert was delicious.

He pulled the plateful of space-brownie-cookies closer towards him and began eating again, taking careful, measured bites so he didn't make himself sick, and gave Shiro a thumbs-up.

" 's cool," he said. " 'm okay now."

He took another bite of space-cookie-brownie, and saw that Shiro couldn't keep a half-smile off his face as they all turned back towards Rayzor, who had leaned forward, bringing his elbows to lean upon the tabletop in what seemed to be a concentrated effort to help make the atmosphere a bit less formal.

"Please," Coran said, bringing his chair in closer to the table again, "- Rayzor - continue."

Rayzor nodded, looking at them all and beginning to speak. Keith chewed as quietly as he could, and no one - not even Rayzor - seemed to mind him eating while they listened to the leader of the guards.

"Coran informed me - while we were out tying up loose ends - that your Castle is currently undergoing a full recharge cycle," Rayzor said. "I understand that to mean that your Castle is - what is the word - effectively grounded until the cycle is complete?"

Allura and Coran nodded. Rayzor nodded in reply. "Right," he said. "Since the Lions are all here on the surface, Coran and I also spoke about ways to camouflage or conceal them, to ensure their safety until they can return to their bays. There are caves large enough for four Lions, but not five."

"Well, I can't say I'm surprised," Shiro said. "With your entire people living underground, there would be very few caves near enough to the surface to allow for a Lion to pass through without inflicting - "

"-structural damage to the tunnels around it?" Keith said. Feeling his face heat up as he realized he'd interrupted again, he shoved another cookie into his mouth and began to chew. Shiro broke off, nodded at Keith to show he'd said exactly what Shiro had been thinking, and then Coran interjected.

"Well - actually, as regards to the Lions' condition, the Princess and I have some information for the team - and for you, Rayzor."

Allura nodded in her turn, turning towards the Paladins and Rayzor, all of whom looked extremely curious.

"As you know, each of your Lions is the Guardian Spirit of a particular element -"

"-they….are…?" Keith muttered. Even as he did, he scowled at himself and grabbed another brownie, feeling embarrassed and annoyed at himself.

Of course he knew Red's element was fire. This lingering mental fog from the pain meds sucked. Though to be fair, his hand felt way, way better than it had before, so it wasn't all bad.

Hunk patted Keith's shoulder reassuringly as Allura continued.

" - and some of you have already seen aspects of your Lion's elements in battle - but what you don't know is that it is traditional for each new Paladin of Voltron to seek for a special crystal that helps augment their Lion's power."

Every Paladin had a different reaction. Shiro's eyebrows shot into his hair, Lance's mouth dropped open, Pidge made a startled - but excited sound - Hunk said 'Yes!' in a half-whispered whoop of joy, and Keith swallowed the last space-brownie-cookie too fast and had to grab a drink of water and swig it down to keep from coughing.

Coran grinned at each of them. "Yes," he said, "It's a special journey that usually takes place in the first few months after being chosen as a Paladin of Voltron."

Hunk raised an inquisitive hand. "So…um…why only mention this now?" he asked. "I know we've been busy lately - but is there a time limit on this crystal thing, or…what?"

Coran nodded at the Yellow Paladin. "There is a time limit of sorts," he said. "If you wait too long to find your crystal and bring it to your Lion, it becomes harder to find the right one. It's been theorized that waiting too long might result in a - a sort of break - between Lion and Paladin. Mind you, that's never happened, but we figured we wouldn't like to chance it!"

"-'s an understatement…" Keith said, but this time only to himself.

Well, thank God that at least the 'talking out loud to the entire freaking room' moments were over. Keith suddenly wondered why Coran and Allura were telling Rayzor this information as well as the Paladins.

"And," Coran continued just as Keith was about to ask, "we thought that now might be a good time to search for your specific crystals! Of course, we'll need to be careful while we're out looking - we can't have the Galra spot us without the Castle. But, the good news is, we are still well within the usual time perimeters for finding your crystals."

"Where can we find these crystals?" Hunk asked. "A Balmera?"

Coran waggled a hand back and forth in a 'sometimes' gesture. "It's possible, and it's been known to happen," he said. "But a Paladin doesn't always find his - or her- crystal in the same place as his fellow Paladins. Besides, if one of you had been drawn to your crystal on the Balmera we helped a short time ago, I know you would have felt it before we left."

Hunk looked a little disappointed that he wouldn't get to see Shay again, but he asked, "So…where else can we find the-"

"You helped a Balmera?" Rayzor asked, astonished. Realizing he'd interrupted Hunk, he coughed and gestured for the Yellow Paladin to continue. Hunk went on, seeming to thaw a little bit towards Rayzor because of how impressed the leader of the guards had been at the idea of them helping a sentient planet, along with all of its inhabitants.

"-find the crystals?" Hunk asked again, and Allura and Coran looked towards Rayzor. "Well, that's what we wanted to ask Rayzor about," Allura said.

Everyone turned to look at the leader of the guards, who suddenly seemed wary and somewhat confused. "Uh…what?" he asked, and Shiro suddenly realized how very, very similar Keith and Rayzor were. Neither were good at finding words, both were stubborn as hell, (and sometimes just as awkward), and they each preferred combat to any type of council meetings.

The Black Paladin almost chuckled at the realization, but Allura had begun to speak, so instead he turned his attention to the Princess of Altea.

Wow, she was beautiful - No. Focus. he told himself. Listen now, admire later. Wow, she was so beautiful - no, FOCUS, he told himself again, just managing to catch her words as she spoke to Rayzor.

"We wanted to ask if we could use one of your ships to help us search for the crystals," Allura said. "It shouldn't take more than a few days, and it would be extremely helpful for us in keeping a low profile."

"I'll say," Pidge agreed. "The Lions are pretty distinct. Anyone with half a brain who knows about the crystals and the time limit is going to figure out what we're looking for - and Haggar and Zarkon are sure to realize it if they see the Lions aren't with the Castle."

Rayzor tapped his claws thoughtfully against the table. "Hmm," he said. "I assume you are thinking of bringing one of the Lions with the ship? To keep it concealed from the Galra while also using it for reaching the crystals?"

Coran nodded. "That was our hope," he said. "We couldn't have kept the Lions in their hangers during the Castle's recharge cycle - it would been entirely too risky. But a stealthy mission like this one - a single Lion and a ship to help us search would be entirely feasible."

Lance was bouncing up and down in his chair, he was so excited at the thought of finding something for Blue. Hunk was tapping his chin thoughtfully, muttering to himself about what kind of crystal would best suit his Lion. Pidge seemed very interested, and even Keith seemed genuinely enthusiastic about the idea. His eyes were fully clear now - it seemed the mind fog the medicine had caused had finally worn off.

Rayzor was nodding to himself, and he seemed confident when he spoke. "I think it could be arranged," he said. He paused for a moment, seemingly reluctant to say what he had to next. "I will have to speak to the Council - but I am in favor of this plan," he hastened to add.

Allura could tell Rayzor was being genuine when he continued, saying, "I fully intend to convince them this is the best course of action - however, I'm sure they'll want a pilot familiar with our ships to have control of the transport ship. I would be happy to put myself forward as a possible pilot for this mission. I would need to take a crew, of course, but I could pilot the ship by myself if it came to that."

Pidge looked over at Rayzor, startled. "You would do that?" she asked. The tall, blue-skinned man smiled slightly over at her then, but it was a sincere expression.

"I would," he said. "Up to this point, the Council has done very little to aid you in the manner allies should. I intend to remedy that."

Keith looked over at Rayzor and felt like - maybe - just maybe - he had come to like this guy. Sort of. A little. Kinda.

Lance pumped a fist into the air, excitement all over his face. "Cool!" he said. "It'll be like a - a space scavenger hunt!"

Hunk chuckled, even as Pidge adjusted her glasses and smiled. "Yeah…" she said, grinning hugely, "but at the end of it, our Lions will get even more powerful. That is a pretty bad ass scavenger hunt."

Rayzor looked around at them. "One last thing before I go to the Council with this idea," he said. "Which Lion are we taking?"

Shiro looked across at his team and smiled. "Mine," he said. "I think Black might be familiar with how the crystal-gathering thing happened in the past."

"Because she's the mom of the pack?" Lance asked. Hunk chortled and Pidge sputtered. "Shiro is Space Dad!", and Keith glanced over at Rayzor - who was looking a bit confused - and shrugged, spreading his hands out in 'what can you do' sort of gesture.

"It's a long story," he said, but Allura was nodding at Shiro's suggestion. "I think Black is the best choice," she said. "Not only is Shiro the leader of the team, but I think his instincts are right here. Black will be able to help us the most if we encounter difficulties with the crystals." She sighed, but continued. "I wish we could take each Lion with its Paladin on an individual quest to get the crystals, but with the Galra Empire as strong as it is, and with the Castle's recharge cycle, it's just not what our first plan should be."

Everyone nodded in understanding, and Rayzor stood. "I'll call a Council meeting," he said. "I'll try to get an answer to you by this time tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll arrange for your four Lions' caves to be cleared and ready by the morning."

Allura nodded her thanks, rising as well. Coran and Shiro also rose, and together, they made a polite bow of farewell to Rayzor. Rayzor returned it, and then he left the room. Coran, Allura, and Shiro all sat back down at the table after Rayzor had gone.

"Wow!" Pidge said, looking after Rayzor as he disappeared out of sight down the corridor. "You know, I think he might actually be kinda likeable?" She scratched her head. "Maybe? Eventually? Years down the line?"

"Maybe…" Lance said, crossing his arms defensively over his chest and glowering at the doorway. "Or maybe he's trying to trick us."

Hunk patted his friend on the back reassuringly. "Nah, I don't think so," he said. "If he were trying to get in our way, wouldn't it be easier to keep us from going to search for the crystals in the first place?"

Keith nodded at Hunk's words. "That would make more sense to me," he said. "Flying into space for this kind of mission isn't going to be easy - and anyway, it's not like Black is going to let anyone get away with harming us."

Shiro smiled at that, leaned back in his chair, and crossed his arms behind his head.

"No one's going to harm any of you," he said, and Coran saw that although the smile was kind, there was iron in Shiro's eyes. If Keith had been looking at his friend, he would have seen exactly what Shiro was thinking.

Harm any of you?

Over my dead body.