This fic will be posted in three parts. Part two will be posted on Monday, and part three will be posted next Friday.

"Are you sure I need to be there?" Keith asks, looking uncomfortable.

"The Eyuri specifically asked for the Black Paladin," Allura replies as she checks her hair one last time in the mirror. Dressing for formal events has grown more difficult now that she's a Paladin as well as a princess, but considering that the Eyuri are celebrating Voltron's defeat of their Galra invading force, she thinks it's best to wear her Paladin armor. Her hair is down, though, in a small concession to her royal bloodline. It's not ideal, she thinks as she makes a face in the mirror, but very few things are ideal these days.

"Can't we just pretend you're the Black Paladin or something?" Keith asks.

Allura shoots him a look. "And start out a new alliance with a lie?"

Keith wilts. "I know, but I'm not good at all this… diplomatic stuff."

"I understand," Allura replies, because she does - a part of her even agrees - but they have little choice. "But the Eyuri specifically asked for you to be there, and hopefully they will be understanding of any… cultural differences."

Keith scoffs. "Cultural differences. Right."

"We need this alliance, Keith," Allura adds. "The more allies we have in this fight, the greater our chances of defeating the Galra Empire become. And the Eyuri are a powerful people. They can help us greatly, but we still need them to join our coalition." She adjusts her hair a bit, then heads out of her room, Keith at her heels. "Besides, it's only three nights. I can do most of the talking. Just… be cordial, if you're spoken to, and try not to offend them." She pauses for a moment, thinking over the reading she's done on the Eyuri people, and adds, "Oh, and be sure to eat the food. The Eyuri take great pride in their culinary skills."

"Then we should send Hunk down, not me," Keith mutters petulantly.

"Hunk is not the Black Paladin," Allura replies. "You are. This is your duty, Keith. You have to fulfill it."

Keith sighs, then nods. "I'll meet you down there."

"I'll follow your lead," Allura replies.

Keith splits off to go to the Black Lion's hanger while Allura goes to the Blue Lion's. She figured it was best to go down in her own Lion, to cement her position as a Paladin. The Eyuri aren't particularly interested in Princess Allura of Altea, as far as she can tell, but they're very interested in the Voltron Paladins who saved them from the Galra. That's why they asked for the Black Paladin in particular. They really only asked for him to come, but Allura managed to finagle an invitation for herself as well. She loves Keith, of course, but she's not about to trust him to do a diplomatic mission on his own. She doesn't think Keith would trust himself to do it either, so it's best for everyone involved if she takes point on this one.

The Black Lion roars out of the Castle first, then Allura and Blue follow. She can feel the Blue Lion purring under her hands. Her good mood is infectious, and when Allura lands next to the Black Lion, just outside the capital city, she's far more at ease than she was before she left the Castle.

Keith, on the other hand, still looks incredibly tense. "Relax," Allura hisses as she steps up next to him. "You look ridiculous. This isn't a battle, it's just a dinner."

"A diplomatic dinner," Keith retorts, but he does relax a bit. He's still tense, but Keith is always tense when he's somewhere he's not used to being. Allura hopes the Eyuri will just assume it's a soldier's temperament.

The two of them head into the city together. The Eyuri king is waiting at the gate, a wide smile on his face. The smile shows more teeth than Allura is comfortable with, but she knows that the Eyuri only trust smiles with teeth. She hopes Keith remembers as well, although she doubts he'll smile much anyway.

"Princess Allura," the king says, bowing. "And is this the Black Paladin?"

"This is Keith, the Black Paladin of Voltron," Allura replies with a bow. She smiles widely at the leader, baring her teeth. "We are honored by your hospitality, Great One."

"We are honored by your presence," the king replies. "Although, I must admit to some confusion. If you are the Blue and Black Paladins, why are you wearing pink and red armor?"

Allura doesn't let her smile falter. "When we began fighting Zarkon, there was another Black Paladin, and Keith was the Red Paladin. However, our first Black Paladin has been lost, and Keith has stepped up to his role. But all of the Paladins preferred their original armor, so Keith still wears red while I wear pink."

"I am sorry for your loss," the king replies. "But I am honored to meet you, Black Paladin."

"I am honored to be here," Keith replies, bowing. His bow is a bit deeper than it should be, but the look on the Eyuri king's face makes it clear that he thinks it's due to flattery and not a mistake. Allura is thankful for it. She doesn't think a too-deep bow would be held against them, but she'd rather the king think they make as few mistakes as possible.

"I will lead you to my table," the king says, turning towards the courtyard. "I trust you will enjoy our food."

"I'm certain we will," Allura replies, following the king. Keith follows her, half a step behind. Really, he should be next to her, if not in front of her, but Allura's going to pick her battles.

There's a large banquet in the courtyard, with full tables everywhere. All of the people stop talking and watch as the king enters, Allura and Keith behind him. Allura falls in step next to Keith, and together they walk up to the high table.

The king sits in his seat and gestures at the empty seats to his right and left. "Black Paladin, Princess Allura. Eat with us in goodwill."

"We are honored," Allura replies, bowing. Next to her, Keith follows her lead. Keith sits at the king's right, and Allura sits at the king's left. She wishes they could be next to each other, but she's not going to complain.

"We eat!" the king declares loudly, and conversation abruptly begins again as people begin eating. The king picks up his plate and serves himself food, then serves Keith and Allura.

Allura takes a large bite. "It is delicious," she says, swallowing and smiling with teeth.

"I am glad you enjoy it," the king replies. He turns to Keith. "And you, Black Paladin?"

Keith takes a bite, swallows, and offers the king a somewhat strained, toothy smile. "It's great."

"Wonderful," the king says, taking a bite of his own food. "We are very proud of our food here on Eyuria."

"It is delicious," Allura repeats. The food is amazing, although it's a bit more spiced than Allura is used to. She's grateful for Hunk's use of spices in cooking; if she'd gone from Coran's food goo straight to this, she thinks she would struggle swallowing it.

Keith, she notices, seems to be struggling a bit more with the food. She thought he liked spicy food, but perhaps this is affecting human taste buds differently than it affects her Altean ones. She's just grateful that Keith is eating doggedly, his discomfort hopefully invisible to anyone but her.

"My king," Allura says a little while into the meal, "we noticed that there were no Galra warriors on your planet, only sentries. How did your people fight off the soldiers?"

"We did not need to fight," the king replies, offering Allura a wide, toothy smile. "Eyuria herself repels the loathsome Galra. They could not live on her surface."

"Eyuria herself?" Allura repeats, catching Keith's eye. He looks as interested as she feels. If this is a way to repel the Galra…

"Our very water and soil are anathema to them," the king explains, his voice almost smug. "At tomorrow's dinner, I will bring a scientist to sit with us, so you may ask them for the details."

"We would be very grateful if you could do that," Allura replies.

"Pidge would be better with that than either of us," Keith says. Allura notices that his face looks a little paler than usual, but she assumes it's the lighting. The lights are very bright, after all, and seem to wash out a lot of color.

"Pidge?" the king repeats.

"The Green Paladin," Allura replies. "She is very scientifically minded. I'm sure she would be fascinated to learn about your planet's natural defenses."

"Perhaps she could speak with one of our scientists," the king replies. "Black Paladin, perhaps we can arrange a meeting for her and my scientists for tomorrow."

"That sounds good," Keith replies. Allura wishes he could speak a bit more elegantly, but he's not doing too badly so far, so she's relieved and proud.

"Excellent," the king replies. "We can arrange this tomorrow."

"Excellent," Keith repeats.

Allura doesn't allude to the Galra again during the dinner, and Keith talks very little. She's glad of it; she doesn't want to push too hard on the first night. They have two more dinners before they leave. She'll start bringing up the Coalition tomorrow.

She scrapes the last of the food off her plate and puts the last spoonful in her mouth. "Your food is truly exquisite," she tells the king.

"I am glad you enjoy it," the king replies. He finishes his last bite as well and turns to Keith, who's lagging behind them a bit. "Is something not to your liking, Black Paladin?"

Allura shoots Keith a sharp look. "No, it's great," Keith replies, taking a bite. Allura can see a bit of strain on his face as he swallows.

"The Black Paladin's species doesn't have a stomach as large as the Eyuri," Allura quickly says, hoping to distract the king while Keith finishes the last bit of his food. "The Black Paladin must be growing full."

"It's great," Keith says again, setting his fork down on his now-empty plate. He still looks pale, almost bordering on ashen. It's more than just the lighting. Allura hopes that whatever's wrong with him holds off for just another few doboshes. They can leave soon, but if Keith shows weakness now, it could ruin everything.

"I am glad you enjoyed it," the king says. "I am sorry that your species cannot hold as much food as mine."

A loud gong rings through the courtyard, and people begin to leave. "The dinner is complete," the king says. "I hope to see you again tomorrow."

"You will," Allura promises. She stands, and Keith does the same on the king's other side. "We look forward to it, Great One."

"Yeah, can't wait," Keith replies. He looks fairly awful, but he's still on his feet. Allura will check on him when they reach the Lions, but for now, she has to pretend that everything is normal. Keith will understand that, she knows.

They bow at the king, who bows back, and then Keith and Allura leave the courtyard. Keith's steps are a little stilted, and once they're out of sight, he curls an arm around his torso like he's in pain, but he doesn't stop until they reach the Lions.

"What's wrong?" Allura asks before he can get into the Black Lion.

Keith blinks at her. "What?"

"Something is wrong with you," Allura says. "Did you eat too much of the food?"

"Yeah, maybe." Keith shrugs. "It'll pass. Let's get back to the Castle."

Allura watches Keith as he climbs into the Black Lion, but he seems alright, she supposes. If he thinks this will pass, perhaps it isn't worth her worry.

Then again, Keith often says things aren't a problem when they are, so she's not entirely certain how much she can trust him. Maybe she'll have Coran look him over when they get back to the Castle, if he's not looking better. She hopes that whatever is wrong with him clears up before the next dinner.

The Blue and Black Lions get back to the Castle fairly quickly, and Allura heads right up to the bridge. Coran and the other Paladins are waiting, but to her surprise, Keith isn't there yet.

"Allura!" Lance calls. "How'd the dinner go?"

"It went well," Allura replies, looking around. "Where's Keith?"

"He hasn't come up yet," Coran says. "Must still be with his Lion."

Allura frowns. "I'll go fetch him." Keith said that whatever was wrong with him would pass, but Allura should probably have known better to trust him when it comes to his own health.

It's not far to the Black Lion's hangar from the bridge, so Allura arrives there quickly. The Black Lion is there, mouth open, but at first Allura doesn't see Keith anywhere. It's not until she looks a bit closer that she sees him sitting in front one of the Black Lion's paws, head between his knees.

"Keith?"

Keith lifts his head, goes faintly green, and lowers his head again. "Sorry," he mumbles into his knees. "I'll go to the bridge once this passes."

"Once what passes?" Allura asks, cautiously walking closer.

"Just a little nauseous," Keith replies. "I'll be fine. I-"

Keith makes a wet choking noise, and Allura moves faster than she would have thought possible outside of a battle. She grabs the nearest trash receptacle and shoves it in Keith's hands, and Keith immediately vomits into it.

Allura has little experience tending to other people when they're sick, but she thinks she knows what to do. Carefully, she sweeps Keith's hair up into her hands, holding it out of the way. Her father used to rub her back when she was sick, but the Paladin armor is too thick for Keith to feel it if she does, so she just holds his hair, hoping it's enough.

When Keith finally finishes vomiting, he lets out a ragged sigh and leans back against the Black Lion's paw. "Sorry," he whispers, his voice rough.

"You have no reason to apologize," Allura replies. "Different foods can cause different reactions with various species. This must just be how humans react to Eyuria's food."

"'S like food poisoning," Keith mumbles.

Allura eyes him, alarmed. "Poison?"

"Not real poison," Keith assures her. He curls his arms around his stomach again, his expression tense like it hurts. "Just something that happens when you eat bad food."

"Does it last long?"

"Not that long," Keith replies. He frowns a little. "Normally doesn't happen this fast, though."

Allura picks up the trash receptacle and moves to set it aside. She freezes, though, when she catches an accidental glimpse of what's inside.

"Keith," she asks slowly, "does food poisoning normally result in humans vomiting blood?"

Keith looks at her, eyes wide. "No."

Allura sets the trash receptacle down and holds out a hand to help Keith up. "We're going to the infirmary. Now."

Keith nods, which tells Allura how serious this is. He hardly ever agrees to go to the infirmary, not without a fight. If he is…

"Coran!" Allura calls. "Meet me in the infirmary. Something's wrong with Keith. He's vomiting blood."

"He's doing what now?" Lance cries.

"On my way to the infirmary now, Princess," Coran replies.

"Are you well enough to walk?" Allura asks Keith.

Keith nods, slowly levering himself upright with the help of the Black Lion's paw. "I'm okay."

He's trembling, and he's most definitely not "okay," but Allura decides she'll give him the chance to walk on his own before she picks him up. She suspects he'll have to be carried eventually, but she won't do it yet.

Keith takes a few stumbling steps before Allura slips in and wraps an arm around his waist. He leans on her without complaint, which only worries Allura more. Keith is never this tolerant of aid when he's injured, not unless the injuries are very serious. If he's letting her help without saying a word, he must be feeling very miserable indeed.

They're halfway to the infirmary when Keith trips over nothing and crashes to his knees. He retches a few times before vomiting on the floor. Allura holds his hair back again, trying to avoid the vomit as much as she can. Before, there had been a bit of blood in the vomit, but this time, it's more blood than anything else. Allura doesn't know as much about human physiology as she probably should, but she can't imagine that this is normal.

"Keith, can I carry you the rest of the way there?" Allura asks.

Keith only lets out a pained groan in response. His face is paper-white and sweaty, and he's clutching his torso again in clear pain. Allura makes the executive decision that carrying is the best idea, so she picks him up as smoothly as she can and continues to the infirmary.

Coran and the other Paladins are waiting when they get there, all of them looking worried. "Set him down here," Coran says, patting one of the examination cots. Allura tries to lie Keith down, but the second she steps away, he sits back up.

"Threw up in the hallway," he tells Coran. "'M sorry."

"He vomited again?" Coran asks.

"More blood this time," Allura replies.

Coran nods once. "Alright, Number Four," he tells Keith, his voice gentle. "Let's get you out of this armor."

Keith nods and moves to take the armor off, but his fingers are shaking too much to work the clasps.

"Need a hand with that, man?" Hunk offers, taking a step forward. "Being sick like this is the worst. Trust me, I know."

Keith allows Hunk to take over removing his armor. He's still startlingly compliant, not fighting them at all. Allura has never seen Keith like this, and frankly it's a bit terrifying.

Coran picks up a handheld scanner and runs it over Keith's body. Allura catches the second of alarm on his face before it smooths over again.

"Alright," Coran says once the armor's off. "Let's get you into a cryopod, Number Four, and that'll fix this whole thing up."

Keith nods and allows Hunk to lead him to a cryopod. Allura waits until the glass closes in front of him to whirl on Coran.

"What's wrong with him?"

Coran's face is grim. "It appears to be poison."

"Poison?" four voices ask in unison.

"But what could have poisoned him?" Allura demands. "I ate the food as well, and I feel fine."

"Why would the Eyuri poison him?" Lance cries. "We just saved them! Literally yesterday!"

Coran pulls up a more detailed chart and studies it. Allura can see that there was damage done to the linings of some of Keith's internal organs. If they had just left it, the poison would have eaten through the linings entirely. She shudders at the thought.

"The poison seems to be acting on him strangely," Coran remarks. "I'm not sure that it was on purpose. If it were, I think they'd pick something more effective. Eyuria has a lot of plants that could make poisons that would kill you like that." He snaps right in Pidge's face, making her jump.

"Then how did Keith end up poisoned?" Lance demands.

Coran pulls up another chart. "That's odd. It seems to be interacting more with the Galra aspects of his biology than the human ones."

And suddenly, Allura thinks she understands.

"Their water and soil are anathema," she breathes. "Coran, I think I know what's wrong."

"You know who did this to Keith?" Pidge says. "Can we go beat them up?"

"It wasn't purposeful," Allura replies. "When we asked the Eyuri king why there weren't Galra soldiers on Eyuria, he said that the planet itself repelled the Galra. He said that their water and soil were anathema to them. There must be something on Eyuria that's poisonous to Galra. That's why there weren't any Galra soldiers on the surface, and that's why the food and water affected Keith like this."

"Do you have any samples of the food?" Coran asks. "Or the water?"

"I can go down and get a sample," Pidge offers.

"Do it quietly," Allura says. "The Eyuri don't take kindly to unexpected visitors. As a Paladin of Voltron, you may be able to get away with more than others, but it's still best not to antagonize them."

"Green and I will go down in stealth mode," Pidge replies. "Hunk, wanna come with?"

"Sure," Hunk replies. He shoots Keith's cryopod a look. "Uh, wait, how long will it be until he's out of there?"

"Probably about two or three vargas," Coran replies. "It could be much worse. It's a good thing we caught this early and put him right in."

Hunk looks over at Pidge. "We'll be back in two vargas, right?"

"Definitely," Pidge replies. "Are you coming or not?"

Hunk hurries out of the infirmary after Pidge. Lance watches them leave, then looks back at the Coran and Allura. "What can I do?"

"Well, Keith did say he threw up in the hallway," Coran says. "You could clean that."

"What?" Lance demands. "Why do I have to clean it! Keith's the one who puked! He can clean it!"

"Please, Lance?" Allura asks. "It would be so good if we didn't have one more thing to worry about."

Lance deflates a little. "Well. Okay. But just cause you asked. And I'm not happy about it!"

"Thank you," Allura says, offering Lance her best attempt at a smile.

Lance leaves the infirmary, muttering something under her breath. Once he's out, Allura lets herself slump, just a bit. She can afford to let some of her royal bearing go when it's just Coran.

"He'll be alright, Princess," Coran says gently. "We caught it in time. The cryopod will fix him right up."

"I should have known," Allura replies sharply. "He started acting strange during dinner, but all I thought was that I hoped he could hold it together until we returned to the Castle. This food was killing him, and I didn't realize it!"

"It's not your fault," Coran replies. "You couldn't have known. And you brought him right here when you realized something was wrong."

"We'll have to make some sort of excuse for the next two dinners," Allura says, running her hands through her hair. "Obviously, Keith won't be able to go back down there. And we can't tell them that he's half Galra without his permission, and I doubt he'll give it."

"They'll take it as an insult," Coran warns.

"We don't have another choice," Allura retorts. She deflates immediately. "I'm sorry, Coran, I shouldn't snap at you."

"We're all stressed," Coran replies. He puts a hand on Allura's shoulder. "But Keith will be alright, I promise you."

Allura nods, pressing her lips together to keep them from trembling, then she falls forward into Coran's embrace. He holds her tightly as she tries not to cry. Keith will be fine, she's being foolish, but she can't stop.

"Hey, guys?" Pidge says, her voice crackling across the comms. "Are you there?"

"We're here, Pidge," Allura replies, her voice perfectly steady. "Has something gone wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong," Pidge replies. "We're landing Green right now. Just wondering how big a sample you want. And what exactly you want."

"Water and soil would be best," Coran replies. "And a sample of anything growing."

"Cool, will do," Pidge replies. "Will a flask of each be enough?"

"Better make it two," Coran replies. "Just in case."

"Okay. We'll be quick. Green out."

"Why do you need a sample?" Allura asks Coran. "The cryopods can cure unknown poisons."

"They work better if the poison is known," Coran replies. "And if we have a sample, I might be able to make an antidote if we ever run into this again. Or we might be able to weaponize it against the Galra."

Allura thinks of how miserable Keith was in the Black Lion's hangar, how horribly compliant he's been this whole time, the way he only is when he's feeling really terrible. She knows they're at war, and she knows the Galra Empire is evil, but she's still not sure if she can reconcile herself with purposefully putting another being through that sort of pain, even an imperial soldier.

"Okay," Lance says, entering the infirmary. "Hallway is clean. It was gross. Mullet owes me big-time for cleaning that up." His eyes flicker to Keith worriedly. "Any, uh, any change?"

"The cryopod is repairing the damage," Coran replies. "And once we have the sample from Eyuria, we'll be able to whip up an antidote to help it work faster." He claps Lance on the shoulder. "Cryopods are fairly good at repairing damage from poisons. Why, I remember once on Altea, there was an attempt to poison King Alfor! We popped him in a cryopod and he was better in less than a quintant. Do you remember, Allura? You were tiny when it happened. So small I could hold you with one arm!"

"I remember hearing about it deca-phoebs later, but I don't remember when it happened," Allura replies. "It was a Polluxian who did it, wasn't it?"

"Polluxian?" Lance repeats. "What's that?"

"Pollux was Altea's sister planet," Allura explains. "The two planets were at war for many deca-phoebs."

"It was a Polluxian," Coran replies. "Never caught them either. But King Alfor was fine, and Keith will be fine too."

"Hey, guys," Pidge says across the comms. "Hunk and I are on our way back to the Castle with a bunch of samples. We'll be back in five."

Allura knows from experience that when one of the Paladins says they'll be back in "five" without giving an actual increment of time, they mean five doboshes. She's tempted to ask if they can be back any sooner, but she holds her tongue. She knows Pidge and Hunk are going as fast as they can.

"Anything else I can do?" Lance asks.

"You could research the Eyuri, to help us come up with an excuse as to why Keith won't be able to attend the next two dinners," Allura offers. "If you learn about what they consider to be good and bad manners, we'll have less of a chance of accidentally offending them."

"Okay," Lance replies with a nod. He shoots one last glance at Keith, then he leaves the infirmary.

Hunk and Pidge do indeed return within five doboshes, and Coran quickly starts examining the samples they give him. "I ran a couple of tests on the way here, and some of the results were pretty interesting," Pidge says as she follows Coran to his work table. Allura and Hunk are left standing in front of Keith's cryopod in silence.

"It's weird to see him so calm," Hunk says after a moment. He gestures at the cryopod, where Keith floats with a peaceful expression on his pale face. "Even when he sleeps, he doesn't look this calm. And earlier was scary. Keith would normally never let me help him with his armor like that, but he didn't say anything. It's creepy, you know? I don't like it."

"Nor do I," Allura replies quietly. "When I found him in the Black Lion's hangar, he was terrifyingly weak. He could barely stand. I've never seen him like that before."

"I wish I could do more to help, you know?" Hunk says. "I mean, I went with Pidge to get the samples, but she didn't really need me there with her. And I can't help with this stuff." He flaps a hand in Pidge and Coran's general direction. "I'm an engineer. If there was a machine involved in this, I could fix it, no problem, but no machine, so…"

"Lance is researching Eyuri customs in the library so we can figure out how best to tell them that Keith won't be able to attend the other dinners," Allura offers. "You could join him."

"Yeah, maybe," Hunk replies. "Do you want to come too? You're the best at all this diplomacy stuff."

"I think I'll stay here a bit longer," Allura replies. "In case Pidge or Coran need me."

"Okay," Hunk says, even though the excuse is paper-thin. "Call me if you need me."

He leaves the infirmary, heading for the library. Allura looks over at Pidge and Coran, who are still bent over the samples from Eyuria, and then she sits down at the foot of Keith's cryopod, leaning her head against it.

"Please get well soon, Keith," she whispers, and she settles in to wait.