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Bells rang out from the buildings above, tied with white ribbons and swinging swiftly through the cold evening air. Everything was painted in an ethereal silvery light from the large moon above the planet. Shiro perched on the edge of the clock tower balcony, looking up at the glowing grey sky in peaceful silence. He heard a voice calling him from somewhere inside.
“Shiro?” Keith's head popped round the corner and he smiled. “There you are. I don’t want to bother you, but the others are going ice skating. They’re refusing to go without you. Lance keeps talking about wanting to recreate the ‘Voltron On Ice’ scenes. Allura is not happy.”
Shiro took a deep breath in. He took one last look at the landscape before him, then swung his legs back over from the edge and landed softly on his feet. “Well, I’d hate to keep them waiting,” he said warmly.
He joined Keith and they climbed down the steps of the tower side by side. “You okay?” Keith asked, glancing over at him.
Shiro smiled to himself. “Yeah. I was just enjoying the view, it’s beautiful here.”
Keith hummed. “Surprisingly I’m really enjoying it. Usually I don’t enjoy big events like this, but it’s really relaxing.”
“Maybe it’s because all the locals are spirits that do nothing but float around and talk about the moon?”
Keith laughed. “Maybe. Definitely a party more my speed.”
“They are very calming to be around to be honest,” Shiro agreed. “I can’t wait to see them ice skating. I would have thought it wouldn’t be much different to them moving normally.”
“I think the rink is mostly for the tourists,” he shrugged, reviewing the large city square as they exited the clocktower. The residents of the planet breezed around, not quite hovering off the ground, but gliding with a smooth ease that was fascinating to watch. The rest of the crew weren’t hard to miss, their skin bright and warm in comparison to the pale bodies around them. Hunk spotted them and waved them over.
Lance spun round. “You found him! Great, we’re doing the scene whe-”
“No! We’re not!” Allura cut in. Pidge sniggered. Lance pouted and shrugged, turning to Hunk.
“Fine. Me and Hunk will do it.”
Hunk sighed. “Okay, but I’m not doing the part where I fall over. I don’t think my body can take the bruises,” he cringed.
“I wouldn’t dream of making you do that. Just the fun stuff!” he promised. They shared a smile and stepped onto the rink, sliding gracefully away from the rest of them, already laughing. Allura shortly followed and went off alone, forming beautiful shapes as she glided across the ice- then wobbled and unceremoniously fell on her ass.
“No one saw that!” she called out. They watched her get up and dust herself off, playing it cool.
Coran chuckled and turned to Shiro, handing him a pair of skates. “Knew your size from the shows. Enjoy yourself you two!” he exclaimed.
“Thanks,” Shiro replied, as they watched him hop onto the ice.
He fit his feet snugly into the skates and waited for Keith to do the same before they both joined the others. As they went round, all of them found they had to stop at one point to marvel at Coran. He came effortlessly spinning and twirling his way across the rink and they gaped. He was stunning, perfect form, graceful landings, everything done with that little bit of sparkle and finesse. He came to the end of what must have been a whole routine and they all broke out into rapid applause. “Hell yeah, old man!” Lance yelled, whooping as Coran bowed humbly.
Once the show was over Shiro glanced around and spotted Keith, clinging onto the side of the rink for dear life on wobbly legs. He glided across to him and smiled affectionately, offering him a hand. “Wanna go round with me?”
Keith frowned. “I can do it,” he mumbled, taking the tiniest steps that weren’t really getting him anywhere.
“I know, just thought it might be fun. We’ll go slow,” he added. Keith looked up at him and huffed a laugh.
“Yeah, okay.” He took Shiro’s hand and latched onto him as he let go of the side. They slowly pushed off and Keith let out a panicked noise. “Why is this so difficult,” he complained.
“Well, we have all had some kind of practice,” Shiro said, watching the others. “You should have seen me at the beginning.”
Keith gave him an incredulous look. “I don’t believe for a second you were bad at this.”
“I was! Seriously. I fell on my ass too many times to count,” he chuckled. He looked over at Keith as he struggled to move his feet. “I know I wasn’t really… me for a long while. But part of it was. I do wish you’d been there, you know.”
Keith met his eyes and forgot about his panic for a moment. He let out a quiet breath. “I know, Shiro. I’m sorry things were so difficult and weird then.”
Shiro shrugged. “It’s nothing to be sorry about, I just wanted you to know I missed you.” Keith smiled softly and Shiro patted his hand. “See, look. You’re doing great. We’re already at the other side.”
He looked away from Shiro’s face and saw he was right, they’d somehow made it across the rink without being knocked over- or Keith dragging them down.
“The river dance celebration with begin in 10 minutes, please take your lights and make your way to the river bed,” a voice informed them, ringing out over the city through high up speakers.
“A river dance? That’s awesome!” Lance exclaimed, hurrying too fast to the exit and missing it completely, colliding with the side and letting out a surprised grunt. Allura helped him up, laughing the whole way out the rink. He scowled but broke out into laughter too, and Coran gave him a pat on the back.
They all handed back their skates and followed the crowds to find where the celebration was going to take place. They were handed small glowing lights in little cups and found a nice area to sit and watch, amazed at the sheer number of people there to witness it. The riverbed was gorgeous, streaks of silver danced in the sky above it and the water reflected the light like large silver fishes.
“Three, two, one!” everyone chanted, and the sky exploded with light. All of a sudden there wasn't just silver, but all kinds of colours, in every hue, folding over and twisting around each other. It was like watching electricity zap and change, or colourful bolts of lightning cut through the dark from everywhere above.
“This is incredible,” Keith murmured. No one could take their eyes off the sky, the display was enthralling like it was telling some kind of story. It lasted ten minutes at least, then there was a last crackle of lights and it faded back to its silvery state.
“-and then the dragon came in and burnt down his house, only for the magician to strike it through the heart and kill it!” Lance raved excitedly about the story he saw, a very adventurous sounding tale that seemed fitting for him.
“What did you see?” Keith asked Shiro, leaning his back against the cold brick wall.
Shiro thought for a moment. “Well, it wasn't much of a story. It was sort of like, impressions I got of things. I saw the slow rise of someone's self doubt and fear taking up the whole sky, and then things started breaking through it, anger, frustration, but also hope and discovery. They had been clouded by one thing and it took jolts of realization that they could feel and experience something different. More started piling in- love, worry, wonder, excitement. Soon there was everything mixing and filling up the person with so much more and at times one would take over, maybe worry for a loved one, or loneliness in themselves, but then happiness would burst in and light up everything, or gratefulness, or relief. It was like watching a person's life from the inside. It was very beautiful. Made me think a lot about my own life,” he said gently.
Allura reached over and took his hand. “That's wonderful. I'm really glad you got to watch something so lovely and meaningful.” They shared a smile and she let go.
Keith hesitated, but quietly took his other hand. Shiro squeezed it lightly.
“Thank you. It's not quite as fun as Lance's, but I don't think I would have been able to keep up if I'd seen the same thing he did,” he chuckled.
“Fast brain,” Lance confirmed, tapping the side of his head.
They stayed there on the river bed for a while, swapping parts of their stories, comparing moments and relating them to nostalgic memories, or old well loved Earth movies. The space had almost completely cleared out by the time they realized how late it was, their candles dwindling in their small glass cups.
“I reckon it’s time to head out,” Shiro said, calling it a night for them.
Pidge sat up and put on her jacket. “I’m just going to collect a few last samples, I’ll see you guys by the ship.” Coran stood up and followed, probably to keep an eye just exactly what these samples were going to be and how long it was going to take. Pidge had habits of disappearing off on new planets.
The rest of them slowly made their way back to the town centre, the lights stringed up all across the square dimming to allude it was the end of the celebration. A few of the residents still lingering around said goodbye and told them to come back whenever they liked. It seemed unanimous that it was definitely one of the team’s favourite planets they’d visited. Allura was still glowing from all the compliments on her hair colour, Shiro was only just getting used to it.
Back on the ship they got settled in their new communal space. Lance and Pidge sat in the corner with their game set up and played quietly, Coran hummed as he brushed Allura’s hair and she sat on the couch, dozing off. Hunk was already soundly asleep on his own couch. Keith came into the room last, donning his red pajamas he finally gave into wearing, and hovering awkwardly.
Shiro smiled and patted the empty space on his couch. Keith smiled back.
“I saved you a seat.”