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Keith sat in the dining hall of the Blade of Marmora, moving his fork around his plate. He was sitting alone, like always. He found himself feeling melancholy. He didn’t know why, but he wanted to talk to someone. Most of the blades don’t speak to him, but those that do are nice and respectful. He gave a resigned sigh, only for it to turn into a noise of confusion as someone slid into the seat beside him.
“Hi, my name is Regris. You must be Keith. It’s nice to meet you,” The Galra’s bluish grey tale poked him.
Keith blinked at the energetic greeting. He had met Regris briefly before, but he had been stoic and quiet, very different from the bundle of energy sitting next to him, “Uh, yeah. Nice to meet you,” He muttered before pointing over toward a different group of galra, “Don’t you normally sit with them?”
“Yeah, but you seemed down, so I decided to sit next to you today. I am almost an adult. I can make my own choices and sit where I want to. Isn’t that amazing?”
“Yeah… that’s great? I think I am having a culture clash here. On my planet, children get sent to a place to learn what they need to learn with adults monitoring. They get to choose who they sit with. Is that not normal here?”
Regris barked out a laugh, “No, normally children are taught by their family group and eat with them. It stems from when our children were in danger unless they were with their family. Though, we call our children kits.”
“Ah, kits on earth are baby foxes. Galra are a lot like cats though and baby cats are kittens. That is going to be hard to get used to.”
“Are you an adult?”
Keith looked at Regris again in surprise. He hadn’t even realised he had looked away, “What? Oh, yeah. I became an adult the year, or decaphoebe I guess, we came to space. I don’t even know the day, or quintant, it is on earth. I am sure Pidge figured something out to calculate it.”
“You miss them.” Regris said.
Keith sighed and replied, “Yeah, I do. They were like family to me.”
“Then, why did you leave?”
“It was for the best. Lance had come to me because there were too many people for the number of lions and was thinking of stepping down. I couldn’t let that happen. He is the moral support. I am just the reckless failure of a leader. They didn’t need me, but they do need Lance.”
“So, you left?”
“Yeah, they didn’t even try to convince me to stay,” He shook himself from his thoughts, “but it doesn’t matter. I am here now.”
Regris slung an arm around his shoulders, “Yep! You’re here, and you’re ours!”
Keith chuckled lightly, and they continued talking until Kolivan walked up to them with his data pad out, “Keith, the paladins said there was an emergency at the Castle and you are needed immediately.” Kolivan sent a message to Keith’s communicator, “I just sent the coordinates to your communicator. Stay safe.”
Keith nodded and headed out. He reached the castle within a varga and landed. The lights were off with no sign of life. Tension blanketed the air, and Keith crept forward. His near silent footsteps echoed in the air. Keith checked every room and every crevice. When he reached the training deck, he stood to one side, opening the door. There were no sounds from the room, so he stepped in.
The lights flipped on and everyone in the room shouted, “Surprise!”
Keith jumped back and took in the room. There were red streamers and a banner that said, Happy Birthday Keith! He noticed presents on the table they had set up in the room, causing his confusion to grow.
“W-what is this for?” He inquired.
Lance beamed at him, “It’s October twenty third on Earth.”
It dawned on Keith that this wasn’t a prank, and they actually threw a party for his birthday.
“Let me get this straight. Despite me telling you all that I do not celebrate my birthday and that I do not want you guys to do anything for my birthday, you threw me a party and got me here under the guise of you all being in danger.” Keith said slowly, trying to make them see the problem.
Allura gave a bright smile, “Yes!”
Hunk took a look at Keith’s face and muttered, “I told you guys that this was a bad idea.”
Keith stormed up to Shiro. His face full of fury as he demanded, “And you let them do this? I explained why I stopped celebrating back on earth! I trusted you to respect my wishes!” He turned to the others, “I requested that you treat my birthday like any other day, and you did this. You blatantly disrespected my wishes. Did you expect me to be happy about this? Yes, I am touched that you care, but I am hurt that you are not taking my feelings into account.” He huffed a sigh, “I’m heading back to base. I can’t deal with this.”
He walked off leaving the others in the room. He left the castle quickly and returned to base. Upon his arrival, he informed Kolivan that it was a false alarm and headed for the training deck. The deck was silent, and he quickly got out a bot. He activated it to the level he had been at before and began training. He ducked, lunged, swiped, and kicked. He passed level after level, the vargas flying by until Antok entered the room.
She called out for the bot to stop and turned to Keith, her voice gentle, “Keith, what are you still doing in here? I was on my way to retire for the night when I heard you.”
Keith shrugged, “I was just working out some extra energy.”
Antok looked at Keith, concern filling her face. This was one of the few times she wasn’t wearing her mask. Keith was surprised that there was nothing that marred the female’s face beyond a slight scar that barely showed above and below her eye, otherwise there was nothing that could even be considered unattractive about her face.
“Keith, get some rest,” Antok urged.
Keith nodded, and headed back to his room. Later that night, he woke up, unable to remember what jerked him awake. He got up and headed toward the training room where he trained until well past breakfast. Keith ducked under one swipe from the bot and failed to intercept the second. It hit him in the side, throwing him across the room. The other blades rushed forward, deactivating the bot and helping Keith up.
Regris pulled him up off the floor, “Come on, we are heading to the med bay. Ulaz will need to look at you.”
Keith sighed, “I’m fine, Regris. I don’t need to have a check up.” At that moment, his stomach expressed it’s lack of nourishment.
Regris looked at the time and noted that he shouldn’t be hungry yet, “Did you have breakfast?”
Keith paused, “Um… I don’t think so. What time is it?”
Regris’s eyes grew wide as he thought, What in all the worlds happened yesterday? , “Well, let’s get you checked out in the medbay and then get some food for you.”
Keith shook his head, “I’m fine, Regris.”
Regris looked behind Keith just before someone swept him up in their arms, causing him to shout in surprise. They carried him to the medbay past Kolivan, Thace, and Antok. They looked at each other in shock before following them to the medbay. Keith struggled in the blade’s grip, telling them he was fine and that he could take care of himself. Ulaz looked up as they entered.
“What’s going on here?” She inquired.
“Nothing! I am fine. They are just overreacting.” Keith exclaimed.
The concern was palpable in the air as the blade set him on the bed, and Regris spoke up, “He was hit by a training bot and went flying across the room. I also learned that he skipped breakfast this morning and just trained.”
Ulaz furrowed her brows as she ran a scanner over Keith’s slim frame, “He has a cracked rib and several bruises, but otherwise, he is fine. I will give him some pain medication and send him with you to the dinning hall.”
Kolivan looked straight at Keith, “You were not being this reckless before your trip to the Castle. What happened?”
Keith sighed, “Nothing of importance. I just need to work through it, and then I’ll be fine.”
Kolivan did not look convinced, but allowed them to leave the room. He quickly headed to his office to contact the Paladins. Something happened and it was negatively affecting one of his blade members. He wasn’t going to let it continue.
Once Allura answered he forgoed any pleasantries and dove into his interrogation, “What happened when Keith was at the Castle?”
Shiro and the others all glanced at each other, “Why?”
Kolivan’s lips thinned into a tight line, “He has begun acting unusually. He has been skipping meals, training far longer than he should, and ignoring injuries.”
Lance scoffed, “That isn’t unusual. He always does that.”
Kolivan glared at the Red paladin in blue armor, “He has not shown any of these habits since he has been with the blades. What happened?”
Shiro sighed, guilt flooding his features as he replied, “It was his birthday, and we went against his wishes for us not to celebrate it… I disregarded his genuine reason to not celebrate.”
“He feels betrayed by you all is what you are saying.”
“Yes.”
“What age is he?”
Pidge spoke up, quietly, “He turned nineteen.”
Kolivan blinked, “Say that again?”
“He turned nineteen.”
They could see Kolivan’s face pale beneath his fur before he muttered, “He’s just a kit… I put a kit through the trials…, “ he made his voice louder, “Thank you for your help. Good bye.”
He quickly hung up before they could reply. He hurried to Ulaz and the medical files.
“Ulaz! I need Keith’s medical file.” He exclaimed as he rushed in.
Ulaz grabbed her data pad and sent the startlingly small file to him, “I don’t have much on him. All that I have is from after his trials. He hasn’t come in for the regular physical. Why do you need his file?”
Kolivan shot a message to Antok to find Keith’s pack and looked up at Ulaz, “Keith is only nineteen.”
“What?” The question came from behind him.
He turned to find Regris and Thace standing behind him.
“Keith is nineteen?” Regris clarified, “He told me he became an adult when he left earth.”
Thace sat on a bed nearby, “Humans could mature at a younger age than us.”
Ulaz nodded, “That is possible. I still need to do his physical.”
Antok marched through the doors, “He doesn’t have a pack.”
Ulaz looked up, “What? No pack? How?”
Antok let out a low growl, “I don’t know. Did we ever assign someone to talk to Keith about our culture and instincts?”
Kolivan furrowed his eyebrows and quickly typed on his data pad. After a moment, his eyes widened, “Oh dear.”
Thace shot to his feet, “What? What is wrong?”
Kolivan pinched the bridge of his nose, “The person I had assigned to teach him… died on a mission the quintant before he was supposed to begin and when I was dealing with the possibility of there being a serious problem with the medbay.”
“Oh, that’s…,” Thace began, pausing as he searched for the right words, “bad. We need to make him part of our pack.”
“Thace, he didn’t know that I was older than him. He still thinks he is an adult, even in our culture,” Regris informed Thace.
Antok sighed, “So, who is going to inform him of the fact that he is still a kit.”
Everyone backed up at that, knowing that Keith would not take it well. They did not want to be the messenger of that bit of news. Antok looked at Kolivan, a disappointed expression on her face. Kolivan shot her a wide eyed look, and Antok met it with a frown. They continued their silent conversation until Kolivan sighed.
He turned to the others, “I’ll tell him. Just make sure there is a spot in the medbay open for me. Who knows how this will turn out.”
Thace walked out of the medbay, “I see you had a silent conversation with Antok.”
“Yeah,” He said quietly, “I still don’t know how she convinced me to tell Keith.”
Thace placed a hand on his shoulder, chuckling, “That, my friend, is what happens when you deal with women. They have some form of magical abilities that we men can never understand.”
Kolivan chuckled, “That is very true. You know that from experience, Thace?”
“Why of course. I am mated to Ulaz. She is one clever woman.”
“Well, I must head off. I have some news to give to Keith.”
“Yes… if it means anything, I think Keith will take it rather well. We all just want to prepare for the worst.”
“Thace,” Kolivan interjected with a sigh, “his actions of late have stemmed from the paladins throwing him a birthday party against his wishes.”
“What do you mean by ‘against his wishes’?”
“When he told them his birthday, he requested they treat the day as any other day.”
“... And they didn’t. He must feel so hurt.”
“I suppose he does. They also informed me that his actions of late were normal before he joined us.”
“That is awful!”
“Yes, that we can agree on. Now, I really must go tell Keith that he is a kit and offer him a place in our pack,” Kolivan said, starting to walk off.
“Hold on, why do you think I’m a kit?” a voice asked from behind them, causing them to jump.
“Oh! Um, well… you see…,” Kolivan stutterd searching for words, “I learned that you are nineteen and, to the galra, that is the age of a kit.”
Keith blinked, “Please tell me you are joking for the first time since I have known you.”
His voice was unsteady as the words rushed out in a burst of air. His chest constricted at the thought of what that could mean for him. Regris said that kits can’t leave their families. Are they not going to let me go on missions now? His eyes widened.
Thace placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder, “I am afraid he is serious, Kit.”
Keith drew in a resigned breath, “What does that mean for me?”
“What do you mean?” Kolivan asked, face the perfect mask of indifference as confusion rolled through his gut.
Keith held back the waves of panic at the comment, “Regris mentioned some things about kits to me. Am I going to be allowed to continue going on missions?”
Kolivan’s eyes widened in realisation, and he was quick to reassure Keith, “Of course, Kit. We know you grew up in a different culture and mature much faster than normal kits. However, we would like to invite you to join our pack.”
“Pack? What is that?”
“Well, it’s a family group, both chosen and blood.”
“Oh,” a small smile graced Keith’s features and warmth filled his heart, “yeah. I would like to join your pack if you are sure.”
Thace hugged Keith close, “We are sure, Keith. To be frank, we were surprised that you hadn’t been asked to join a pack sooner.”
Keith nodded, relaxing into the hug, a small chirping noise escaping, causing him to stiffen and cover his mouth, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.”
Kolivan came around his other side and joined the hug, “That is alright kit. That is only your instincts. It is perfectly natural.”
“It’s natural?” Keith’s voice was small, “I didn’t realise that.”
Thace gave him a smile, “Then I guess we will just teach you all about them.”
Keith smiled, instinctively snuggling closer to Thace’s warmth, happiness bubbling in his chest. He figured that maybe being a kit wasn’t so bad. Little did he know, he was purring, causing the two older galra to smile at the newest addition to their pack. Everything was going to turn out fine if they had a choice.