The Law According To Love
Part Five

Penny for Your Toughts

Back in the restaurant, everyone stands around in stunned shock… all except Nanny, who lies as an unconscious heap on the floor. Coran speaks first to remain Voltron Force members. “Come…help me with her.” He moves to Nanny side. “Nanny? Nanny?” He taps her face but gets no reaction.

Lance walks up and kneels beside her. “Well…with that shock… I think she’ll be out for hours. Hunk, give me a hand?”

Hunk comes over and the two of them hoist Nanny’s limp body to her feet and drag her outside to the hovercraft they came in. Pidge and Coran follow, leaving Sven behind.

Sven then stands alone in the center of the restaurant… the same, looming silence is still all around him. “Uh,” he begins to say, rubbing the back of his neck and giving a halfhearted smile. “Sorry for da… uh… disruption… hehe.” He flashes a slight smile, then, walks over to the restaurant’s owner, off to the side. Activities soon returning to normal. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Jean. I really didn’t tink dat… I’m really sorry. Look, about da bill… whatever you need, jist let me know. I’d hate to hurt your business by….”

“Hurt my business?” The woman laughs. “This is the best thing to ever happen here! Once word spreads…I’ll be sending people away!” She grabs Sven’s hand and shakes it vigorously. “Thank you son! Thank you!! Dinner’s on me!”

Sven smiles, knowing better than to argue with the woman. “Tank you, Mrs. Jean.” He bows slightly and takes his leave, heading out the door.

 

“What do you mean her horse isn’t there?” Coran looks to the barn.

Pidge is walking back to the group from there. “Sweetheart’s gone. The groom said she just took her and rode off that way.” He gestures into the woods.

“Oh this is just wonderful.” Coran sinks into a seat in the transport next to Nanny. Can you four tell me what in the hell you were thinking when you planed all this?”

“I guess we weren’t thinking, Coran.” Lance kicks some dirt. “Come on, let’s go after her.”

“NO!” Coran calls. “Please. I think you all have done quite enough for one night. “They will come back when they are ready. They have their COMs. They can call if they need help. And we can track them if necessary...”

The four pilots reluctantly pile into the hovercraft. They all head back to the Castle.

“Coran?” Pidge asks. “What Keith said back there… was that true? He can’t marry Allura?”

Coran bows his head. ”Yes Pidge, It’s true. Allura cannot marry him, not if she is to keep her crown. She would have to step down as ruler and the high council would appoint a new successor.”

“What!” Hunk yells.

“But that s not fair.” Pidge adds.

“Since when are politics fair?” Lance adds from the driver’s seat. “So you’re saying Allura’s pretty much a slave to her people.”

“Lance, I wouldn’t go that far…” Coran interjects.

“What would you call it then? You’re basically saying she has no say in her future. If that’s not slavery, then what is it?”

What is it? Coran tugs on his mustache. What is it?

Allura leads Sweetheart through a dense section of wood, soon arriving at a clearing. There before her is a beautiful sight. A spring fed pond surround by a clearing of grasses interspersed with wildflowers. A few giant trees are interspersed in the landscape. In the far distance are the glowing lights of the Castle, the last place she wants to be right now. Allura lets go of Sweetheart to allow her to graze. She finds a tree to sit by… leans up against it…and looks up into the starry sky.

Why? Why did this have to happen this way?

She lifts her head up to the sky and suddenly...lets out a scream. "WHY!
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? WHY CAN'T I BE HAPPY??"

 

Sitting near a running stream, Keith lifts his head up. He had been leaning up against another tree in the same forest, when he hears the cry coming from the distance. It was unintelligible...at least, to him. And he cared little of its source...at least, right now.

He had been sitting there for nearly twenty minutes, when he heard the shout, coming from deep within the woods. It was probably some teenagers, out having a good time, he would tell himself. Something he wishes had happened tonight.

His steed was tied in some nearby bushes. He sits up and leans against the tree, wiping the tears from his face. Keith realizes that he had acted on his emotions in leaving the restaurant...something he often tries to temper.

"Just who does Nanny think she is, anyway? Accusing me of being a...a... sex maniac? I've saved the Princess...more times than I'd care to count! I can't believe that she would actually think that I could ever... ever do… ARRGHGHGGGGGG!!!"

Keith suddenly slams his fist into the dirt ground. "SHE'S CRAZY! That's what she is! CRAZY!"

Then... he takes in several deep breaths of air...trying to control his emotions and regain some calmness. But the more he thinks about it...the angrier he becomes.

"She's got some nerve!" Keith grumbles to himself about Nanny. "And this planet...and its ridiculous laws! How can they be so ridged…so narrow-minded! I know I love her...heck...everyone knows that! But I CAN’T love her! And that's the problem! I can't...because I'm not a prince! I'm just an ordinary guy from Planet Earth…a ordinary guy...whose hopelessly in love with a woman I can NEVER have!! And NO ONE seems to get that!"

Shaking his head, he then looks to the water...and sees how freely its flowing. If only he and Allura could flow that freely...together. How many times, he's fancied the idea of kissing her... taking her in his arms...sweeping her off of her feet...

"DREAMS!" Keith shouts out loud. "Nothing but, DREAMS!"

His head drops once again...and silence fills the air...except for the sound of the running stream.

 

"Allura..."

Allura looks up, hearing her name being called. She recognizes who it is...

"Father?" she replies. "I need your counsel."

Suddenly...the image of King Alfor appears before her. Allura wipes her eyes of the tears and stands to address the ghostly image. "Father... "

"Speak, my daughter."

"Father...I...I'm afraid...afraid that I'll lose the only man I've ever loved...before I can even have a chance to be all that he needs me to be!"

"Yes my daughter. I am aware of what has transpired between you and young Keith. But, he is right… he cannot marry you. The law…"

"Law?" Allura looks at him. "Is there really such a law...prohibiting me from marrying anyone except a prince?”

“There is, my child.”

Allura suddenly becomes angry. “How can a law be so unfair, that it restricts me from being with the man I truly love?"

"Daughter...the laws and traditions of our planet have been well designed, and kept for many years. You are subject to them...just as I was...just as the people are. To break the law would set a president of rebellion."

"But Father... the law is bad, when it does harm to those who are subjected to it!" Allura argues. "What good is a law, if it is not fair?"

"To this time, it has been fair." Alfor's ghost replies.

"Yes...but that's because no one has ever challenged it! There's never been a need to!" Allura says.

"Then...perhaps...it is time." Alfor says to her.

"Time? Time for what?" Allura asks him, somewhat bewildered.

"Perhaps...it is time to challenge that which you do not agree with." Alfor replies.

"Father...I don’t' understand..."

"My child... when a citizen comes to you, challenging a law or ordinance...what is your reply?"

"Well...I look it over and decide if the law is far or not. If it is not fair, I petition it to be changed by the Arusian counsel of elders."

"And what is the function of the council?"

"They are the law enforcers. They apply the law as I have instructed."

"And…when you advise, that a law is unfair..."

“Father…why do you quiz me on things, that you, yourself, already know the answers to?” Allura sighs in frustration.

“Daughter…answer the question. When you advise that the law is unfair…what is the next logical step?”

“I ask the council to change the law.” Allura says in reply.

Alfor remains silent…allowing Allura to ponder her resolve.

Then…as if a revelation had been discovered, she suddenly looks at her father's image...with a renewed hope in her eyes and slowly repeats… "Then...I ask them to change it!"

Alfor smiles in his silence.

"I ask them to change it!" she repeats, yet again.

"But...are you not required to show just cause as to why the law should be changed?"

"Of course," Allura replies.

"Then, my daughter...it appears as if you have your answer. You are the just cause and reason why the law should be changed. When a law is unfair to those it is meant to protect…as Princess of Arus, it is your right to petition an amendment to the law.”

"But...what if they won't listen to me?" Allura asks.

"Then... you must live with the law." Alfor replies.

"But...I can't! Father...I love Keith!"

"Farewell, daughter."

"NO! FATHER STAY! Help me figure this out!!!"

"You can find your counsel from another...when he returns to the Castle. Speak to him, Allura...for this concerns him as well."

"But Father...he hasn’t even really admitted that he loves me! How can I ask Keith to come with me before the council?"

Alfor's image disappears without further word. Allura pauses...and the tears begin to flow.

"But...what if he doesn't love me? He's only said he can't love me? It’s not the same... it’s just…not the same..."

Allura bows her head and walks over to where Sweetheart is grazing. Its time to go home. She wants to return...to a place she knows well... a place she hopes to find Keith at.

His special bench…in her garden.

 

Allura returns back to the Castle of Lions on the back of Sweetheart. Anxiously, she summons one of her pageboys to return to the stable with Sweetheart and bed her down properly.

She then hurriedly runs through the Castle... to the outer gardens, located just outside the left wing. Carelessly, she runs through the doors, making an enormous ruckus, as she quickly runs in to find Keith in the garden, in the only place that she was sure he would be... his favorite bench.

As she rounds the corner along the tiny path... she finds his bench...setting squarely in the middle of the garden. But...no Keith.

Her hearts sinks quickly. "He's...he's not here." Allura whispers breathlessly. "Where could he be?"

Exhausted from the run, she makes her way over to the wooden bench and takes a seat on it. Her heart is downcast...she wants desperately to see him...to talk to him...to explain things...and to find out more about this, so called, 'Law' that she's heard so much of, and yet, knows nothing about.

But...conveniently...he is no where to be found.

She drops her head, catching her breath...

"Did you have a good ride, Commander Keith?" the stable hand asks him.

"It was...for a time." Keith replies, somewhat flippantly. "It took a turn for the worse a short time ago."

Keith looks to his right... and then, he sees another stable attendant rubbing down Sweetheart…Allura's horse. She has evidentially returned to the Castle.

"Trouble, sir?" the stable hand asks him, seeing him staring at the Princess's horse.

Keith takes a quick, deep breath of air before turning back to the boy... "You might say that."

"I'm sorry, sir. Anything I can do?"

"Not unless you can make my dreams come true." Keith replies.

The stable hand pauses...suddenly confused by his answer. "Sir?" he says to Keith.

Keith laughs, shaking his head a bit. "Nothing... it was a joke."

"Oh...I see…" the boy replies... now even more confused them before.

"I see that the Princess has returned." Keith says. "When was that?"

"I'm guessing about twenty or so minutes ago, sir. The Princess delivered her horse to a Castle pageboy, who in turn brought the mare here. Did you need me to send someone to find her for you..."

"No, no. I was just wondering if she had returned." Keith replies, before slipping his hands into his jeans pockets. "Just...take care of my horse, please."

"Yes sir." the young lad replies, reaching out and accepting the reigns.

Keith turns and begins to make his way to the Castle. He needs to think...but what is there left to think about? Things are, as they are. There is no changing royal custom...or...the law.

He decides to go to the one place he likes to go to, whenever he needs time to himself. A place he often visits...for sometimes, hours on end...a place, where he was free of duty...
free of command... free...to be himself.

A place of peace and quiet... The garden…and his bench.

Allura is still sitting on the bench... hoping that Keith would show up, yet. But...perhaps...he wasn't back yet.

"Oh Romelle..." Allura sighes, as her eyes suddenly gaze up into the night...finding the tiny light in the sky that is Planet Pollux. "I know you meant well... but...you have no idea of the heartache that you and Sven have unintentionally committed. This law... what is this law? I would really like to know why Coran never brought it to my attention before! What kind of a law bars a person of their freedom? If being Princess means being denied the opportunity of loving the man I choose... then..."

She felt as if her world were crushing her very existence. And still, Keith had not come

She suddenly begins to cry... racking sobs of anguish.

Keith silently enters the garden...

The starry sky and moonlit night act as a light to guide him. His old friend...the moon...the keeper of a great many of his secrets. He spent many waking nights, proclaiming his heartache to his silent, celestial friend. If only...this law weren't in the way... then he and Allura would be free to...

Suddenly... he pauses in mid step. He can see the spot where his favorite bench is... just over the tops of the bushes. But...he can also now see that someone is seated at the bench... a blond haired figure...

"Oh, great." Keith groans inwardly. "What's SHE doing here?"

Then... as his frustrations had reached maximum... he was now becoming aware of an all-too-familiar sound...

Allura's tears.

She is crying.

His head bows in both shame and bitter anguish. He was part of the reason why she is now in tears. Why did he leave her, standing like that, in the middle of the road? He was so angry...so eager to get away... get away from the bickering...from the accusing...

He ran… and left her standing in the shadows of the moon at the restaurant. He wanted to leave her... for staying would have only broken his heart even more.

Keith thinks to himself, as his ears settled on her sobbing in the distance.

Allura...why was I so fortunate to be blessed by your love...and yet...forbidden to love you back, in return? If only...I could tell you... if only...it were proper...I would love you, as no other man ever could. If only...you weren't a Princess...then...I could love you. Allura...why is it that...

He suddenly stops in mid-thought...and wondered if he should go over and comfort her...but no. That wouldn't be proper at all. He would want to take her in his arms, calm her fears... hold her... rock her gently in his embrace... kiss her...

NO! I CAN'T DO THAT!

His mind is made up. He turns and leaves the garden... as quickly as he had come. He will retreat to his room...the only other safe haven he had left on Arus.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, she suddenly decides to go back to the stable... perhaps...Keith would return and she could catch him there...

A lone figure makes his way silently through the corridors of the Castle of Lions. His direction is detoured, however. Keith decides that he needs something to occupy his mind. So, he decides to check in the Castle Control room...just a quick check to make sure all is well in Arusian airspace...then...he would retire for the evening.

Back to his silent quarters...safe in his self-chosen solitude.

Next Part
Intro, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6