As Keith and Lance went back and forth, and Pidge and Hunk started to watch something on the tablet, Coran leaned over and whispered to Allura, "Princess - do you have any idea what they're arguing about this time?"

Allura smiled faintly and shook her head. "Not really - but it certainly is entertaining to watch them go at it."

Coran laughed. "I wonder who Rayzor would like us to meet?"

Allura shook her head. "I really don't know - but I doubt it's going to be a Council member."

When Rayzor had entered the room a little while later, all the Paladins and the Alteans stopped what they were doing and turned towards the door. They saw that Rayzor was leading a little girl by the hand. She hid behind him as they entered the room, but she peeked out from behind his knee as he introduced her.

"This is my niece, Beyris," he said. Coran looked at the girl, then back at Rayzor. Rayzor nodded, and pride entered his voice then. "My - brother's daughter."

Allura leaned down so that she was eye to eye with the little girl.

"Hello, Beyris," she said. "It's so nice to meet you. Your uncle -"

Beyris looked up at Rayzor, and then back at Allura, and a shy smile crept over her face. "I like your hair," she said, and then Beyris turned and buried her face into her uncle's leg.

"Aww!" Lance said, practically melting at the cuteness. "Rayzor, she's adorable! How old is she?"

"Almost five," Rayzor said, even as Beyris held out one clawed hand out to show her age, all five of her fingers spread wide.

"That's a great number," Hunk said. He and Lance had come over together and now stood by Coran.

"Yeah," Beyris said. "I know - you're five too, right?"

Hunk and Lance looked at each other, a bit confused, but Pidge thought she understood what Beyris was asking.

Pidge leaned against a wall and adjusted her glasses. "Yeah, we're the five Paladins of -"

She broke off, realizing that wasn't quite true right now. Shiro wasn't with them right now.

"Well-" Pidge said, trying to ignore the way her heart suddenly hurt at the thought of Shiro still asleep in the healing pod, "well - our friend is resting - but yeah, there are five of us. And Allura and Coran, of course."

The girl silently counted on her fingers for a second, and then she looked back up at Pidge and Coran. "So…seven?" she asked, uncertainly, and Coran nodded, smiling down at her.

"Ah, right on the first try," he said genially. "You're better at finger counting than I am!"

Beyris smiled again, looking up at Rayzor. "Did you hear that, Uncle? He says I'm really good at finger counting!"

Rayzor patted her shoulder. "Yes," he said, "He did -"

Beyris looked over at Keith then, and she suddenly scurried forward, coming to stand in front of him, and she looked directly up into his face.

"Uh - hi there," Keith said, freezing into place. His eyes flicked between the others and the girl. He was clearly uncertain of what to do.

"Are you the Red Paladin?" Beyris asked, her voice inquisitive.

" - yeah -" Keith said, not knowing what she might do next.

"I thought you had yellow eyes," she said, but she didn't sound scared, just disappointed. Keith felt something like amused relief then, and he half-smiled down at her.

"I - I think I do - sometimes," he said. "It - just - uh - kinda - happens - "

Beyris nodded. "Can you show me next time it happens? It sounds really - "

"Beyris," Rayzor said, leaning down and gently scooping the girl into his arms, "Beyris, that's not something you just - ask-"

But Keith was grinning as he looked over at Rayzor and answered Beyris. "Well - I can't really - control it," he told her. "But - uh - if you're ever around - when it happens - I'll - tell you, okay?"

Beyris nodded, then leaned over to her uncle's ear and whispered (in a voice that wasn't really any softer then her speaking voice), "I think I like him. He's not scary."

Rayzor face palmed himself with his free hand, and Keith couldn't hold back a snort of laughter.

"Not scary, huh?" he asked Rayzor once Beyris had gotten down and run off to go play with the other Paladins.

Rayzor snorted again. "I never told her you were scary. She's five. She says a lot of things."

Even as Keith smiled at that, he raised an eyebrow. "But she does know my eyes change color?"

Rayzor sighed. "She kept asking about how the Paladins of Voltron looked, and so I told her that - sometimes - your eyes change color."

Keith looked over at where Beyris was oohing and aahing at Pidge and Hunk's newest piece of technology experimentation, and when he looked back at Rayzor, his face was serious.

"Does she know - that I'm - um…"

"Not yet," Rayzor said. "I wanted her to - just - meet you all. For who you are."

Keith blinked, but said nothing. Coran and Allura had been nearby throughout the conversation, and they looked at each other than with something resembling happiness.

Rayzor had clearly changed since first they'd met.

And that was enough to hope that maybe this alliance would continue to grow.