I was talking with Sekhem about some ideas for Humans and one of them was ages. I don't plan to do a chapter for that, but it did give me some ideas.

When the whispers started, no one really believed them.

"They're tiny."

"It's just their species."

The more people saw them, though, the stronger they grew.

"I heard the black one yellow at the green one for cursing because she was too youngor something."

"Cavni said Morre told him the blue one called the black one dad."

"The green one is nearly half the size of the others."

Soon half the planets that knew about Voltron believed.

"It's so sad."

"They're so strong, going through all this at such a young age."

"Those poor children."

When the rumors reached the Galra, they weren't entirely surprised.

"I know what it says in the history files for Altea, but I never really believed it!"

"Do you think they really send their children out after only half a decafeeb?"

"You don't think the Champion… No, the druids would have figured that out and sent him off to the data camps, right?"

"I used to get into debates with my instructor all the time about whether or not the Alteans used children. I was sure that it had to be a myth since they were supposed to be fool-hardy, pushover diplomats."

"Alteans are supposed to be war ready before they're even half-way to adulthood!"

When the rumors reached Zarkon, he was mostly unaffected. That is, until the next time he faced Voltron.

"Children! I'm facing children and losing! How is this possible!? It's those Alteans! They must share their growth pattern! What do you mean the Champion didn't display such when you had him Haggar!?"

For the most part, the war went on unimpeded. The army couldn't just… stop fighting. Children or not, bases needed to be defended and Voltron had to be captured. However, if shots tended to go wide when aimed at the Red Lion or if the right side of Voltron never took as much damage as the left…

"Those Alteans have got a lot of nerve!"

"Have you heard the stories about the Red Paladin? I can't believe something like this could happen!"

"My big brother warned me that if you misbehave, the Ghost of Altea will steal you away in the middle of the night and force you to fight in the war!"

"Honestly, it's bad enough they kidnap children from some backwater, primitive planet to fight their battles, but to think they'd use a Galrachild? It's despicable!"

Voltron's allies had… mixed reactions.

"Excuse me," Kolivan growled before ordering for someone to ready a pod for him to take to the Castle of Lions.

"Gods and goddess are immortal and eternal. Age means nothing to them," the King of the Arusians scoffed.

"That… certainly explains some things," Rolo muttered while behind him Nyma was nauseated at the realization she'd been pretending to flirt with a child.

"He better not have been an adult," Rax muttered with Shay looking pleased at his side.

"Coran never said nothing about children. Maybe I should've given them a harder exercise to really test them," Kythylian Mu huffed.

"No, no, no. You are mistaken. No mere children could have killed Our Guardian, discovered how to defeat Abomination, or showed us how to cook such a delicious meal! No, you are wrong! Now leave," Elderbug Blate scoffed.

"Pidge is a child? Such a pity," Princess Malocoti sighed.

"Well of course they're children! I didn't have to peer inside their minds to know that," the Great Universal Sphinx boasted.

"Are we all not children? Are we all not elderly? Time is different for all and should be experienced as…" the Krell High Priest continued on.

"I had thought they'd looked young and experienced, but children?" Ryner sighed and shook her head. "The lions have spoken. We can only hope they have a good reason for having chosen such young paladins."

"That is very distressing to know. I would feel more comfortable if they were adults. They do an adequate job though," Baujal noted.

"You know there are many realities where all the paladins are adults and all the paladins are children. There are some realities where all the paladins are adults even though the Green Paladin, who is a boy in that reality, looks like a child. There are some where all the paladins except the Green Paladin are adults, and some where all except her are children. There is even-" Slav is cut off by a shout from Shiro.

"He is a child! No, do not tell me to calm down! If I had known I never would have allowed him anywhere near that battlefield! We sent him in alone! We sent in a chi- I thought he was small because he's mixed, but he's a child! I had assumed the rumors were false! I should have been informed immediately! How dare you!?" Kolivan ranted to a flustered Allura.

"Humans are clearly similar to Alteans. I thought it was obvious they would have a similar growth pattern. They even said they attended a military educational before becoming paladins," Allura tried to explain. "And obviously I hadn't known about Keith's heritage until recently."

"Actually, although humans look similar to Alteans externally, judging by Lance's scans they are far more similar to Galra internally. And from what Lance has told me, their education was mostly in the form of drills and simulations without any real threat of injury or danger, to strengthen the mind and body for when the actual exercises would begin. A pre-military training if you will," Coran added unhelpfully.

In the end, the paladins were the last to discover the rumors.

"Pidge and Keith might be children, but I-"

"Am sixteen and therefore a minor by the laws of the country you are a legal citizen of. As are Pidge, Hunk, and Keith."

"Actually, Lance has dual citizenship. He's technically an adult in Cuba. Hey, what's the age of majority in space? Galra Keith might be an adult!"

"Judging by the fact Kolivan's still going at Allura, I don't think it works that way. And would you stop calling me that!?"

"Technically, all of us are both adults and not, just depending on if you're going by sexual, physical, mental, emotional, or legal - which obviously can differ greatly between countries on Earth - maturity. By the way, is anyone else concerned that apparently the entire universe thinks four-to-five of us are children?"