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“I haven’t done this in a long time. Not since before the war began.” Said Allura.
“A pity, really.” Coran said. “It used to be a regular thing on Altea.”
Without a sound, the glass like dome above the platform slid back until the people standing on it where drenched with cool night air, the smell of saltwater and a perfect view of an entire galaxy of stars.
“Anyone willing to bet I know every star in this sky?” Coran asked, twirling his moustache. The response he got was chuckles and a few, “No way”’s.
“A lot can change in ten thousand years, Coran.” Allura said softly. For the space of a heartbeat, no one said anything. Allura wasn’t looking at the stars. Her gaze was downcast, unfocused, and didn’t escape the notice of her companions.
“Hey, Princess, come sit next to me!” Lance said, scooted aside to make room on the blanket he was kneeling on. Allura, with a smile, settled down between Lance and Hunk and casually shifted away when the former tried to move himself closer.
Lance tried to say something flirty to Allura, but Hunk interrupted him. “So, this viewing deck is super cool. Did all Altean castles have one?”
“Not like this,” Allura said, face brightening as she spoke. “My father specifically designed this one. He and I used to sit up here every night, if it was clear enough.”
“Um, nice. Lance and I just had hay bales and barn roofs before we got into the Garrison.”
Allura’s brow furrowed, and she gave Hunk a questioning look.
“To stargaze from, I mean.”
“Oh, I see!” Allura said.
“Not to brag,” Lance said cockily, “But I knew the Milky Way like the back of my hand.” He leaned back, rested on his forearms, and said, “This galaxy is totally new, though. Perhaps you could introduce us, Princess?” He grinned unashamedly, oblivious to Hunk’s sigh and Allura’s slight frown.
Nonetheless, she said, “Of course!” After pointing out a few of the prominent characteristics of the sky above them, she asked, “I’m curious...what is a hay bale?”
Lance looked surprised and didn’t respond, but Hunk said, “Did you not have, like, grass, on Altea?”
“Oh, I know what that is!”
“Okay,” Lance took over. “Well, hay is basically really long grass that you dry out and feed to cows and horses. It can be rolled up and compacted into these big cylinder shapes, and that’s a hay bale.”
“Yeah. There was a bunch pushed all together on Lance’s farm - ”
“My parent’s farm.”
“ - and sometimes we’d take all these quilts our Mima made and sit on the hay bales at night and roll ourselves up like giant burritos-”
Lance groaned.
Hunk continued, “ - and sleep out there. It made for really great stargazing.”
“It sounds wonderful,” Allura said.
“Yeah.” Lance agreed.
“It was.” Said Hunk.
“Is that why you wanted to become pilots?”
“Yep!” Lance said.
“Eh, sort of.” Added Hunk.
“On Altea, children were taught how to identify many stars and planets. It was quite useful for travel.”
As they’d been talking, Coran had been pointed out and described several of the visible stars and planets, for the benefit of the rest of the paladins. Now, he was talking about his grandfather. “Like a living map of the universe, he was. Quite impressive, and he passed as much as he could on to me. What about you three? You said you could see stars from Earth?”
“Usually,” Said Shiro. “Though, they were hard to see from the cities where I grew up. I used to go camping a lot, and that’s when I could really see the stars. Not as cool as being among them, though.”
“Oh, nothing is. What about you two?” Coran asked Pidge and Keith. Both looked surprised at the address and it took a minute for Pidge to finally say, “I’ve actually never really liked stargazing. Which is funny, since I love learning about the stars. But, when I was little, my mom and brother and I would sit on the roof at night, look up and think about Dad when he was on a mission.” Pidge sent a bashful look at Shiro, then added, “Matt and Dad made up this code to let them communicate without letting the Garrison know. During the Kerberos Mission, I used to talk to them. The signal was best out in the open, so I guess that’s sort of stargazing.”
With a laugh, Shiro said, “I wondered what they were being so secretive about.”
Pidge returned a smile.
“Keith?” Coran asked.
Keith leaned back to look up at the sky, let the silence elapse for a long moment, then quietly said, “My dad and I lived in the middle of nowhere, which meant that we could see everything at night."
“He told me that my mom loved looking at the stars. I guess I always feel closer, to them both, when I look at the sky.”
The soft conversation that Allura, Lance, and Hunk were still having carried across the platform, filling the quiet of the moment. Then, Pidge said, “I feel that, too, when I think about my dad and brother.”
“Me too!” Hunk suddenly pitched in. “Makes me think about Earth!”
“I think about Altea,” Allura said softly.
After that, everyone remained silent. Before them, an ocean of stars, planets, and galaxies stretched further then any of them could imagine.
The End