"Keep calm," Keith soothed, holding on to the back of the seat so tightly that his fingers were beginning to hurt. "Just pull up slowly. Hold on to the yoke gently, not gripping it like you are now. It's very sensitive. Do it like you did in the sim."

"I'm just surprised is all," she said defensively.

"I know. Just relax."

Allura loosened her grip and pulled back. Slowly, the Blue's nose rose. She blew out a relieved breath that wasn't lost on Keith.

"That was a close one," they heard Pidge mutter.

"I had it in control," Allura protested, sharing an amused glance with Keith.

"If you say so," Hunk said.

"I want you to fly in diamond formation, Team," Keith said. "Allura, try to stay with them. Take the lead, Lance."

Red Lion moved to the front and the Yellow and Green took positions on either side of it. Keith instructed Allura to take her place in the back of the formation, directly behind the Red. Sweat beginning to form on her brow, she did so, concentrating hard on staying with them. As they flew, she grew more comfortable and began to fly as she did in the sim. Keith could see from the expressions of the others that they were impressed with the skills she had learned in just a week. But she still had a lot to learn.

"Lance, run us through a few speed drills."

"Gotcha."

They practiced going fast and slow, moving left and right. Allura did well, only faltering a few times. She was actually doing better than he expected her to and he realized she was constantly doing more than he expected. He was proud of her. He told the others to go off and do some scrimmages while Allura practiced her targeting. All five Lions were equipped with dummy bogeys and she shot at them, getting seven out of ten, but they weren't flying at top speed. Still, it was impressive.

"I think that's enough for today," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We need to take things one step at a time. Put it on auto."

She did as she was told and stood to let him take the seat. He took control of the Lion and opened a link to Castle Control.

"Has Commander Silver arrived, Coran?"

"I'm waiting for you to bring that Lion down here so I can take her for a spin, Keith ol' boy."

"I'm on my way."

Allura crossed her arms and Keith could feel her eyes boring holes in the back of his skull. He hadn't told her that he knew the substitute pilot personally. In fact, he was a close friend.

"It won't affect my decision, Princess," he answered to her silent question.

"If it does, I'm going to take the Black away from you and teach myself," she threatened.

He turned and pinned her with dark eyes.

"Don't worry, Allura. I'm going to give you a fair chance if you give me one."

She still looked suspicious, but she nodded her head. He landed the Lion near the castle and they got out. She took her helmet off and shook out her waist-length blonde hair. It had made wearing the helmet a little difficult and she was afraid that she was going to have to cut it. She twirled a strand around her finger, an old habit that was hard to break, before tucking it behind her ear. Keith watched her silently, at the sunlight catching the fall of golden light down her back. She turned her head, her profile outlined by the light. She reminded him of a painting of an angel that his mother used to have. He swallowed hard.

"Keith!"

He blinked and looked towards the castle doors to see Jeff jogging towards him. He wore a big grin on his face, excited at the opportunity to fly the legendary Blue Lion with the now famous Voltron Force. He knew that he was going to be up against the Princess for the spot, but he was confident that he would get it. He was a seasoned pilot and she was only learning. Still, he greeted her graciously, kissing the back of her hand. Keith watched with amusement as Allura's face turned red, not from anger, but from embarrassment. No one had ever done that before.

"Nice to meet you, Commander Silver," she said, clearing her throat. She was still unsteady because of that kiss and forgot about her usual tart welcome speech. "Be very careful with her. She's all we've got."

"You have my word, Princess."

She nodded at both of them and took her leave. Keith and Jeff shook hands, and the grin that had been on Jeff's face faded as he noted Keith's solemn one.

"I heard about Sven," he said. "I couldn't go to his funeral because I heard too late and couldn't make it, but I sent his family my condolences."

Keith nodded and averted his eyes, uncomfortable with the topic. "Uh..yeah. I'm going to go get Black Lion. You go ahead and get comfortable with the Blue."

"Sure, Keith. Whatever you say."

His head low, Keith turned and headed towards Castle Control.

The four members of the Voltron Force met later that day in the rec room to discuss the situation at hand. Keith held a cup of coffee in both hands and sat in an armchair. Lance was slouched on the couch, his brown hair tousled because he had just taken off his helmet. Unlike Keith, he loved the fact that he no longer had to get a haircut. Pidge was sitting on the floor at the coffee table as he tinkered with something or other. Hunk sat next to Lance, his hand in a bag of potato chips shipped from Earth especially for him.

"She didn't do bad, I have to say," Lance conceded. "Still needs a lot of work though. Jeff, on the other hand, is ready to go."

"There's been an attack on the northern quadrant," Hunk said. "We can't risk having an amateur in the Blue when Zarkon decides to come here."

"We're lucky that he's busy with the uprising on Climetra or else he'd have trained all he has here. We've only gotten a few isolated incidents," Pidge said.

"A few half-assed tries, you could say," Lance added.

"I have to give her a chance," Keith said. "Like she said, it's Arusian tradition to have a pilot from the Royal House. I can't go against that."

"I hope you know what you're doing," Lance said with a shrug.

"I do. Trust me."