Chapter Text
Allura sat with her head in her hands. Coran balked. Hunk was frozen, new goo concoction slowly leveling out on the floor. Shiro looked stricken, hand in a white-knuckle grip on the back of a chair. The only sound in the room was the little clack-clack of Pidge's keyboard.
"Listen—"
"QUIZNAK!" Screamed Allura. "How in the name of my father's kingdom did you agree to be—"
"DON'T SAY IT!" Lance covered his ears, desperate. Keith's eyebrow twitched but he was otherwise stiff as a board next to him, stuck in parade rest.
"The Parencia are very particular about their customs," Coran fussed, "and it is beyond me how you could have possibly fulfilled all 56 steps to—"
"LALALALALA I'M NOT LISTENING!"
"Lance, honestly." Shiro's grip on the chair hadn't loosened. "I understand it was an accident, but to pull Keith into a—"
"Oh my god are you guys STILL talking?" Lance turned to Hunk, who was looking at him with wide eyes. "A little backup man? Please?"
Hunk's face slowly morphed into the picture of glee, and a he began to emit a high-pitched squee. Lance groaned.
"Ohmygod!" Hunk grabbed onto his shoulders, displacing his arms. "Does this mean I get to make a cake? I never thought that I'd get to go to a—"
"EH!" Lance pointed at Hunk, like chastising a pet. When Hunk opened his mouth to speak again he wiggled his finger in what he hoped was a threatening manner. The room was filled with tension thick enough to be cut with a bayard, a silence so loud none of them noticed Rover hovering behind Keith.
They sure noticed when he started playing the Wedding March.
~*~*~*~
The Parecian General outstretched his hands before the grand, doors inlaid with intricate patterns of silvery metals and polished red jewel. "Please Paladins, enjoy what you have saved today." The sound of well-oiled gears started up, and the entrance to the capitol gardens crept open.
The gardens were beautiful, a motley of brilliantly-hued flowers over a carpet of blue-green and soft pink grass. The immediate view of the garden was strictly regimented, every petal perfect; multiple rows of lavender-like flowers standing at perfect, even heights like soldiers; topiaries cut into presumably perfect recreations of local fauna; and the centerpiece was an exquisite wall, about ten feet high, covered in rose-like flowers shifting colors in intricate patterns. The general preened under their awe.
"The shifting wall is comprised of our Seszuah! They are a great point of pride for our capitol gardens. Please, if you all would like a demonstration?" The rest of the group followed close behind, Pidge running up to the wall to inspect them more closely.
"Are these a bioengineering project, or is there like a natural chemical manipulation?" She pushed her glasses up, inspecting the wall behind the flowers. "I don't see how you could get the precision either way, it seems like they're changing on a... petular basis." She looked to Hunk. "Petular?" Hunk shrugged.
"You're very perceptive, Green Paladin." He smiled. "I may operate it, if you'd like?"
Pidge's eyes shone. "Operate?"
"Why, of course!" General walked to the side of the wall and pulled out a small console. He smiled and turned some knobs, making the colors before them go crazy. "Any requests?"
"Can you spell my name?" Asked Lance. "Oh! No, Voltron! Can it say Voltron?"
The general smiled, and the flowers became a wall of black. A series of geometric shapes showed up, in the colors of the Paladins. "It is in the Parencian language, if that is acceptable."
"Dude it's awesome! Uh, sir." Lance walked up to the blue section of the name. "This really is something special."
"It is achieved by a mixture of the bioengineering and chemical signaling." He pulled a petal from a flower and bought it to the group. "Very few flowers changed naturally, and even then they don't have half the range of these. Our scientists were able to coax these out, but the problem was control." He waved the petal over the wall, and it changed to the closest color when it passed.
"Oh, so there's some dispersal of chemicals through the wall?" Hunk was interested now, scouring the wall. "Is it a Solemean Spray system?"
"Right on the money!" The general handed the petal to Allura. "For you, Princess."
"Your gift belongs to my people more than I." She said, putting her hands atop each other, giving it room in her cupped hands. The general looked quite pleased by her statement.
"I'm afraid you'll have to drag it out of me if you want the exact chemicals we use, it's actually a highly prized secret!" He pointed to Allura's hands. "You'll be able to see what we call the resting color when it gets far enough away from the wall. It's still quite brilliant, of course! She we move further on?"
Further inside, there was a more sprawling meadow with the flowers allowed to breathe more freely. Dotting the grass were daisy-like flowers with soft, square stems that bent readily in any and every miniscule breeze. There were navy blue bushes with green and scarlet flowers, a gaggle of moonlike and pea-colored blooms, and trees with gold bells hanging down, all surrounding a grassy meadow. There was a gazebo towards the back on a small hill, secluded by hanging vines in deep, deep forest greens.
"This is my Yeoman, Mix Traatoskophy." The general beamed. "She will be here to fill in any gaps in knowledge I've surely left. Is that acceptable?"
"More than." Allura touched her forehead, chin, and abdomen with her palm before extending her hand. "I can only pray that we may repay your kindnesses."
The general looked downright charmed and repeated the gesture with gusto. "I can only pray that we may repay yours." He shook Allura's hand with vigor, and then they did a more complicated sequence of interlocking fingers. "Princess! Your grasp of custom is most admirable, and continues to impress. And such distinguished traditions as well!"
Allura looked relived. "I'm glad to know that they were not so changed. I would be loathe to offend you or your people."
He laughed heartily. "Never princess, the effort you've already made is admirable. I hate to bother, but may I steal you away to my office to discuss some arrangements?"
"Of course!" She looked to the others. "Paladins, please be respectful of our hosts. They are being most generous most their gifts." Her face was a thin veneer of pleasantness, but in front of steel-hard threats easily recognized by the Paladins. "Please try not to cause any trouble."
"When have we ever?" asked Hunk. "No need to worry, Princess." At his feet, Pidge was already squat down on the ground, tongue sticking out to lick some of the local flora with an eye on a softly beeping doodad in her hands. Allura turned to Shiro.
"Please try to keep them out of trouble?"
Shiro nodded, grave. "I'll try my best."
"Now if any of you have any concerns at all, please ask Mix Traatoskophy. She was personally responsible for much of landscaping here!" He leaned in, conspiratorially. "And don't worry, we won't hold you to the our strict standards of our ritual. We've learned by now that most diplomatic partners do not understand our more noble and elaborate ceremonies. So long as you aren't too rude, you'll do well!"
He bid a short goodbye and escorted Allura off, already absorbed in diplomatic chatter. Mix Traatoskophy smiled at them and addressed the Paladins with a small, clear voice.
"You are welcome to partake of the flowers here, in any way you see fit. I am unsure if ingestion will be... compatible with your biology, but from my understanding you have all had allergy testing that came back negative for extreme reaction on the most common elements and flora here. Please, feel free to enjoy them at your leisure." They gave a complicated salute over their chest that Shiro attempted to replicate.
"We will do our best to respect your customs." They smiled politely and went to sit on a grey stone bench out of the way. When they turned away, Shiro smacked the back of Pidge's head without looking, displacing a lighter she held under one of the daisy flowers. "Maybe don't burn their prized plants."
"They said we could do what we wanted!" She whined, shutting up at Shiro's scolding look and sticking the lighter back in her pocket, grumbling.
Spotting some globes hanging on vines nearby, Hunk's eyes lit up. "Pidge, do you have your edibility-testy-thingy? We might be able to eat something that's not goo for once!" Pidge held up the doodad they were holding earlier, excited.
Shiro moved over to Keith, who up to this point had been silent. He was looking around, brow furrowed, like he was panning escape routes. "The flowers aren't going to jump us Keith, you don't have to worry so hard."
Keith jumped and turned to face Shiro. "I know, I'm just—" He looked to Pidge and Hunk. "I'm a little scared to touch anything. Remember the incident on Shalandhar?"
Shiro laughed, a little tired at the memory. "If it helps, I'm really not worried about you sparking a Civil War again. For what we know, this planet is pretty united." He followed Keith's line of sight, where Pidge had clamored on Hunk's shoulders for better access to high fruit. "You can't be any worse than... Others I could name." Keith laughed, his shoulders unravelling the smallest bit.
"Still, I'm not even sure what to do with myself here." He looked around. "Do we just kinda... Look at stuff? Help Hunk pick plants?"
"Well, you can do whatever you feel like."
"Yo guys!" They both looked to Lance as he jogged up to them, excited.
"Check this out!" Lance, excited, held a palm-sized bloom out from them. "It's like, a Pidge flower!"
The flower in question was evocative of the shape of Pidge's hair, and had the same green of Pidge's lion. There were even cream stipples grouped around the stamen, in two circles.
Shiro blinked. "That is... Pretty crazy."
Lance beamed. "Isn't it? And it's so nice looking too!" He looked at it, considering. "If she wanted, I could probably make a crown from them. Their stems are long enough, I'm pretty sure." He wandered away from the pair over to Pidge, who was standing guard over a small pyramid of shiny fruits. "Yo Pidge!"
"What's up?"
He presented the flower for examination. She looked at it, then passed her doodad over it. "It's coming up edible, go for it."
"No!" Lance laughed. "It's you!"
"What?"
"Look closer," He held it out, "This flower looks just like you."
She readjusted her glasses and peered closer at the flower. "Still don't see it."
"Don't see what?" Hunk came up, holding a woven basket loosely in one hand.
"This flower looks just like Pidge! Tell me you see it." Lance said eagerly, holding it out for examination. "It's her Lion's color, it looks like her hair, it's even got her glasses!"
Hunk gasped. "Oh my gosh! That's incredible!" He took a closer look. "Aww, the little glasses are so cute! How crazy is this?"
"It's edible."
"Pidge, I couldn't eat you!" Hunk put the basket down. "Where'd you find it?"
"There's a huge group of them over there." Lance gestured behind them. "I actually came over to ask if Pidge wanted a crown from them."
Pidge looked up from her doodad. "A crown?"
"A flower crown!" He twirled the flower in his finger, spinning it like a helicopter. "Marci was crazy about them for a while, I made so many daisy chains I thought my hands were gonna fall off."
Hunk laughed. "I remember that. You totally should! And then make me one!"
"You know I will bro! I think there are some neat orange ones further in." He held up his hand. "How bout a five, for my leet flower skillz?"
"Oh no." Pidge made a face. "That's the worst thing you've ever said, I don't want it anymore."
"How about a TEN?" Hunk asked, smacking their hands together. The flower fluttered to the ground. "Ah shoot."
"Y'know," Pidge said, their eyes locked onto the fallen bloom. "It might be a good way to test the pliability of the stems. For all we know it could be stronger than a carbon blend!" She fingered a small bulge in her pocket with a glint in her eye. "It might have... other useful properties too."
Lance hmm'd. "You don't have to cover it up, you just want one of my legendary crowns."
"C'mon Pidge, let's try to find other things we can grab." Pidge perked up at the prospect of discovery. They ran off and Lance wandered back to the flower cluster.
Keith was there when he arrived, looking down at the flowerbed. He was holding his hands behind his back, wearing a curious expression. "Hey."
Keith looked up back to him. "Hey." He looked at Lance, not saying a word. This carried on for a couple beats before Lance laughed, trying to break the weird mood.
"Whatchya looking at?"
"Oh, just... these flowers I guess." He looked back at the dark mulch. "I've never seen ones that glitter before. It's... nice?"
Lance looked down to the flowers that seemed to guard the Pidge flowers, a black that sparked red and orange with every shift of light. Lance laughed. "You would like these. edgy fireboy." He crouched down to pick some of the green flowers. "I'm going to make a crown for Pidge, maybe I'll make one for you with— He stopped and frowned at the ones he'd already picked. "Hey, how big do you think Pidge's head is?"
Keith thought a bit, then made a circle with his hands. "This big?"
Lance pondered the size of the circle, then pondered the flowers. "I guess I can do it in twenty? What do you think?"
"I don't—" Keith looked annoyed, "I don't really know how to make flower crowns." He crouched next to Lance, looking pointedly at the flowers. "Didn't learn when I was young. And there's not a lot of flowers in the desert."
"Oh yeah." Lance shifted. "I guess so, huh." He pulled a couple more flowers in silence, Keith a silent heat beside him. This really wasn't a big flowerbed, but the proximity seemed a little much. "Hey if," He looked to Keith. "If I make you a crown, do you want the black flowers?"
Keith looked flustered at the question. "Oh, you don't—"
"Don't make it weird man." Lance stood up, flexing his weirdly sweaty palms around the stems. "I'm making one for Hunk too, probably doing one for everybody. Bonding, yanno?"
"Bonding." Keith fiddled with his glove, looking out at the others putting fruit in the basket in the field. "Yeah."
Lance's feet were frozen in place, feeling a little to awkward to move. Lance couldn't stop looking down at Keith. "Are— So— Yeah." Keith looked back up at him, looking a little weirded out. Lance bristled and broke eye contact. "Oh— Shut up." He walked out to a clear spot in the field, beginning to work.
***
Lance placed the crown softly on Shiro's head, careful not to get the leaves caught in his white tuft. "Done!"
Shiro straightened, looking a champion with a crown of small black flowers surrounded by a bed of laurel-like leaves. "This is amazing Lance, thank you."
"Yeah, well." Lance sniffed, prideful. He looked to Hunk, who brushed some hanging flowers from his brow and peeled some aromatic bark from a broken branch. Pidge's sat high from her face as she held her lighter beneath a broad leaf that was beginning to smoke, a small army of inquisitors. "It is me."
His gaze drifted over to the patch of black and green flowers, a little more lonely. "Where'd Keith go?"
"I'm not sure." Shiro scanned the garden, his gaze landing on Pidge and the leaf. "Should we stop her?"
"Can we stop her?"
Shiro gave a short laugh. "Well, you know her. Can't get enough of flowers. Or wait," he raised his voice so she could hear, "Was that science at ungodly hours?"
"You shut up," She yelled back, "I've made a lot of important breakthrough in those small hours."
He quirked a brow. "Yup, the food goo gun was completely necessary."
The leaf was turning black. "Keep talking like that and you won't be on my side come the next food war."
"Keep burning that leaf and you won't be allowed back on the Castle."
"You're not my dad!"
"Might as well be." Shiro said under his breath. He turned to Lance. "I'm not sure these crowns were a great idea after all, I'm not sure we can handle more Pidge." He waved a short apologetic goodbye to Lance and went to sort out the situation that had spread to Hunk's bounty.
When Lance turned around, Mix Traatoskophy was standing very close behind him. Very, very close.
"AH!" He yelped. Mix Traatoskophy just stared at him. "H-Hey. What's up?"
"Are you going to make another crown?" They asked, intent. Their wide eyes shone and there was a bluish-green tinge high on their cheekbones. Their previous composure was shuddering under the strain of... something.
"Yeah, I—" Lance floundered under the intensity of their gaze. "Did you— Want one? I could—"
"No!" They cried, shaking their head vigorously. "It's going to the Red Paladin, correct?"
"...Yeah?" A sense of dread began to ignite a little panic his chest. Was this going to be another Shalandhar? Allura was going to kill him. "I'm sorry about picking so many flowers, was that—"
"Come with me." She grabbed his wrist in a surprisingly painful grip and dragged him to the wall of Seszuah. She loked him in the eyes, serious. "Would you like to use these?"
Lance looked up to the wall stretching above him. "Seriously? I mean, I was planning on using those—" He gestured to the black ones and was cut off by Mix Traatoskophy letting out a high shriek. "Or not! Oh my god I'm Sorry, I'll—"
"Please use whatever you want!" She yelled, face even bluer. She picked a neon orange flower hurriedly from the wall and put it into Lance's hand before running off to one of the discrete side doors, exclaiming something in Parencian.
Lance looked down at the rose-like flower in his hands, with a surprisingly long and pliable stem without thorns. Slowly, as it was away from the wall, it began to fade into a brilliant scarlet with the inner petals gaining a gold sheen. "Woah." It matched the colors glittering black flowers perfectly.
This crown was gonna be so cool. Lance considered for a half a second that it was too pretty for Keith. He pushed it out of his head quickly, as it ssat unevenly somehow. "I promised him a crown didn't I?" He looked to Hunk, Pidge, and Shiro, who were all laughing together over some slightly blackened fruit. He smiled and walked over, his fingers itching to begin weaving flower stems.
***
Hunk gave a low whistle, admiring the crown Lance made. "I gotta say man, you've really outdone yourself."
"I agree Lance." Shiro said, passing a leaf that fell from his crown between his fingers. "You're very talented at stuff like this."
"Hey, he's gotta be good for something."
"Ah, shaddup." Lance rested an elbow on Pidge's head, ignoring the indignant yelp. "You're just jealous that your book smarts don't translate to beauty."
"I think I saw Keith head over near the gazebo." Hunk supplied, a few crumbs falling from his mouth.
"I'm just glad he hasn't climbed over the garden walls and caused another interplanetary incident."
"Hey now," Shiro gently reprimanded. "With our track record, that could've happened to any of us."
Lance quirked a brow. "Would any of us have punched someone like that?"
"Why don't you go get him that crown?"
Lance laughed at the dismissal and strode over to the shaded area. "Yo Keith! You over here?"
Keith emerged from the shadows of the wooden structure, out of the window closest to Lance. "What's up?" He asked from above.
Suddenly there was a sharp, collective intake of breath. They looked up alarmed, seeing a crowd had amassed at the balcony overlooking the gardens. Keith looked to Lance with a question on his brow. "I didn't do anything!" Lance shrugged, and put up a hand in a confused wave, and they burst into excited murmurs.
"What's with them?" Keith asked.
"I dunno. I guess cause we're human? Or special guests or something?" He fingered the edge of the crown before realizing it was still in his hands. "Oh yeah!"He held it up. "Here you go."
Keith looked at the crown, to Lance's face, then back to the crown. "What's that?"
"Your crown man!" He came closer to Keith, looking almost straight up to him. "It was only a few minutes ago, is your mind going?"
"It is not!" Keith snapped. "I just didn't think you'd do it."
Lance barked out a laugh. "And leave you out of the bonding?" He jerked a thumb at the others, who waved back to the pair. "Everyone's got one man."
"You don't."
Beat. "Huh?"
Keith studied him, and Lance kind of regretted moving so close. And being at a lower angle. And ever enrolling in the Garrison come to—"Did you not make one for yourself?"
Lance laughed, the same discomfort from the flowerbed creeping up on him again. "Why don't you make it? From what I can tell, you've just been roaming around the garden like a crazy man."
Keith scrunched his face up, brow wrinkling and nose crinkling. "I told you, I don't know how."
"I'll show you, we can make it together." He said dismissively. He held up the crown in both hands. "Wanna grab it? I can't give it to you from down here."
Kith looked surprised. "Are you... Sure?"
"What?" Lance balked. A little splash of rage came over him. "Dude, it's not that bad! If it's not good enough for— "
"No! No, I mean..." Keith looked askance, toward the group with Shiro who looked statuesque in his laurels and Pidge beside him, the crown falling in her eyes. "It was a lot of work..."
"Look, if you really don't wanna wear it, that's fine."
"No! I-" Lance swore there was a little color booming on his cheeks, but the shadows make it hard to tell. "I'm worried I'm gonna break it."
Lance laughed. "Don't worry, so long as you let it sit that heavy crown of hair you've got it'll be fine." He stuck in nose in the air, letting out an air of pretentious pride, affecting a pompous accent. "I take great pride in the care of my crowns, thank you." He lifted it up again, a more genuine question on his face. "So do you want it?"
Keith smiled, more relaxed than lance can recall seeing him. "I'll come out of here, how about that?" He climbed out through the window (Still a show off, Lance thought privately.) and landed in front of Lance, who was again acutely aware of their lack of distance. Keith looked to the crown, then ducked his head. Seeing an opportunity, Lance took the crown and placed it gently on Keith's bowed head, fingers brushing over his smooth hair. When he released his fingers, they touched the tips of Keith's ears and the glittering black flowers stayed in place.
"See? Nothing to worry about." Lance said, mouth dry. Keith looked up at him under his (thick, pretty, obnoxious) lashes and smiled.
"Thanks."
"It's good to see you guys getting along." Shiro laughed, coming over to clap them on the back, making them almost jump out of their skin. Hunk and Pidge were also there, looking pretty content.
Keith kept smiling. His rare, genuine smile too, not at anyone's (Lance's) expense. He reached down and picked up one of the many dasiylike flowers sticking out from the grass. "I don't know how to make all that, but I can give you this."
Suddenly, there was a roar of boisterous applause from the balcony. On alert, the paladins all whipped their heads to a group of Parecians, who were all hugging each other, or on the verge of tears, or shouting seemingly encouraging things down below.
Mix Traatoskophy casught their attention, large eyes misty and blue-greener than ever, visible still across the distance. "Congratulations, Blue and Red Paladins!" They fanned their face, overwhelmed. "It means so much to us, to me personally, that you would choose our gardens as your Forthanjoa!" A few tears began to form in their eyes. "To think, the gardens I worked so dearly on..." They hid their face in a handkerchief, loudly blowing their nose.
Lance blinked. "Our what?"
"The general is coming now with your Princess!" Mix Traatoskophy continued. "Oh, this is s bright day indeed!" They began to hum a strange melody beneath their vocal chords, a few others joining in a strange harmony.
Keith turned to Shiro, beginning to panic. "Did Allura mention anything like this? Some— Celebration or something?"
Shiro looked puzzled. "I don't think so?" He looked to the others, who shook their heads.
"Did we accidentally offend them?" Hunk gasped. "Oh no, can we make it up?"
"It doesn't look like they're too offended." Pidge looked to the balcony, which was becoming overcrowded with euphoric onlookers. They all kept pointing to him and Keith, the latter of which was beginning to look supremely uncomfortable at the attention. Lance unconciously angled himself to block him.
"This is gonna be Shalandhar all over again." Moaned Keith.
A breath later, Allura and the General came running in. "Oh happy day!" The general shouted, overjoyed. He looked to Mix Traatoskophy above them all. "Could the news be true? Do we have a genuine Forthanjoa on this day?"
Mix Traatoskophy nodded in conformation, blowing their nose again. "Truly! And more than that" they squealed, excited "It is a Garleth! A true Garleth!"
"A GARLETH?!" The general fell off of his equilibrium before quickly righting himself. He strode proudly over to Lance and Keith, shaking each of their hands vigorously. "Gentlemen, we thank you profusely! To do so great an honor to our home, our land—" Fat green tears began to pool in his eyes. The shaking stopped but his vicegrip remained on their hands. "You honor us. You honor us!" He shook Allura's hand, then ran over to the balcony and started conversing in rapidfire Parencian.
Allura coughed, polite. Slowly, the Paladins turned around to see thin veneer of pleasantness with deep, murderous intent behind them. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourselves Paladins, but I'm afraid we need to get back to the Castle as soon as possible."
Shiro audibly gulped. "Yes, princess."
~*~*~*~
"WE ARE NOT GETTING MARRIED!" Keith exploded, drowning out the sound of Pidge's raucous laughter, so loud it almost made Lance's ears ring. "We are not engaged, we are not dating, sometimes we are not even friends." He turned to Lance. "No offense."
"No, same."
"We are going to march right back to that stupid glass triangle or whatever and setting their record straight, and Lance—" He grabbed Lance's ear with an intent to kill ("OW!") "—is going to apologize."
"I wish we could." Coran sighed into the table. "But there are... Diplomatic difficulties."
"'Difficulties' doesn't even begin to cover it." Allura stood up from the table ("OW Keith let go of my ear PLEASE") and marched over to the boys. "If they find out we've deceived them about something as important as this we may as well turn ourselves over to the Galra!"
Shiro blinked. "Is it really that bad?"
Allura let out a short frustrated groan. "The Parencians are very advanced, and in some areas very, very particular. They place a very high value on the formalizations of relationships, from friendships to kismesitude to adoptions— It's basically the cornerstone of their cultural society."
"And marriages, as a positive union of two persons, are definitely near the top of the pyramid." Coran added.
"Well that's kinda nice." Hunk mused, mopping up the goo he spilled earlier. "Love being the cornerstone and stuff. Are their ceremonies like ours? Can I try to make a cake?"
"You can do whatever you want if you get Keith OFF OF MY EAR." Lance was ineffectualy trying to pry off Keith's arm. "OW! Don't squeeze more!"
"Nobody will be baking anything. Do not encourage this." Keith hissed at Lance.
"You're right, who knows if I can find a good flour substitute?" Hunk looked sadly down at the goo he was cleaning. "I could maybe get a custard, at least..."
"OW! Keith, let go of my ear already!"
"Keith, please let go of Lance's ear." Shiro asked levely. "We'll find some way to fix this." He turned to Allura, in full strategy-leader mode. "The general seemed to be a reasonable person, is it possible to speak with him?"
"Don't think I haven't thought of it." Admitted Allura. "But it is a far bigger favor than you think."
"You see," continued Coran, "Lance proposed—" ("Accidentaly! OW!") "—In a Garleth. If I didn't know any better, I'd believe that you researched this extensively." He pulled up a holoscreen displaying an elaborate tapestry of two Parencians with entwined fingers and flower stems. "The history of the Garleth is truly fascinating, but it basically outlines the engagement of one of their greatest heros." He sighed. "I've been studying it since I'd been alerted of the situation, but from every angle you've faithfully duplicated one of the most important myths in their culture, down to some of the smallest details. Keith even climbed through the gazebo window, for goodness' sake!" He looked at the group suspiciously. "You all didn't plan this, did you?"
"Of course we didn't!" Keith yelled, throwing his hands up in the air. "Why on Eareth would I want to get married to him?"
"Hey!" Lance protested, rubbing feeling back into his ear. "I'm not that bad."
Coran sighed. "It would have to be all of you. From the number of fruits Hunk picked to Pidge burning the Torth leaf, you covered every conceivable angle."
Shiro shot a disappointed look to Pidge, who looked indignant. "How in the universe could I have known that?"
"None of you could have known, but that doesn't change the situation." Allura stood beside Coran. "The point is, if you two don't go through with the ceremony Voltron could be in deep trouble. And you," she pointed to Keith and Lance, menacingly, "will be in more trouble than you could ever imagine."
Lance gave small "meep" and Keith blanched. The room was silent again as the threat weighed heavily on the room. Hunk shot a dirty look at the woven basket of fruit on the table.
"And to think, I trusted you."