The Gold Paladin

Chapter 3 - Nightshade

Down in the village, all the inhabitants had lined up outside the Lion and were one by one trying it out. It was a slow process. Lance yawned. He tried to be perky and friendly, but it had been 2 hours, and Lance was bored.

"Hey, Keith," He elbowed Keith in the side. "Do you wanna go check out the village?"

Keith groaned and stretched. He had been sitting on a stump for the past hour.

"Sure. I hope there's food."

Lance and Keith started down a gravel path, towards the town square. Lance immediately saw a restaurant. He gasped.

"Keith! Food!" Lance pointed at a small cafe that appeared to be hollowed out of a tree.

Keith smiled. "Just in time. I could eat a whole horse!"

"But," Lance's face fell. "We don't have any money."

"Yes, we do," Keith opened a hatch in his paladin armor, and shook out a few coins. "I hear they accept GAC here."

Keith and Lance wandered out of the cafe and were headed for a small shop when they heard a deafening roar.

Keith looked up. "Did you hear-?"

"Sure I did!" Lance nodded.

They ran as fast as they could back to the field. When they got back, the Kty'hiptans were cheering, and King Kytha was escorting a girl towards them.

"This is Nightshade." Kytha placed a hand on her shoulder.

Nightshade waved meekly.

Lance fought the urge to go up to her and ask her for her number. These tree people probably didn't have phones, anyways. Instead, he studied her. She looked to be about Lance's age, with honey bronze skin and forest green eyes. She had raven-black hair that was pulled into a braid. Nightshade was dressed in what appeared to be battle armor. He also noticed a small scar on her neck and a phoenix tattoo on the inside of her wrist.

King Kytha interrupted Lance's analysis.

"Well, I'll leave you guys to do your paladin stuff. The gold lion is there if you need it! Have fun!" He strode off. Kytha didn't seem to care much that he was sending away a citizen and a lethal weapon, and/or putting his planet at risk for attack from the Galra.

Keith stuck out his hand. "I'm Keith. I pilot the Black Lion."

Nightshade shook it. "I'm Nightshade, but you can call me Night."

Lance butted in. "The name's Lance. I pilot the Red lion." He smirked vivaciously.

Night shook his hand warily. She looked up at Lance and Keith.

"So, do we leave, like right now?" Her voice was silvery, like moonlight reflecting off the ocean on a starry night.

Lance stepped forward. "Yup! We leave as soon as possible!"

Keith glared at him. "Actually, you can take your time, but we really should leave as soon as we can. No rush."

"Okayyyy, so I can pack my bags and tell Andrew to feed the cat while I'm away?" Night asked.

"IS ANDREW YOUR BOYFRIEND?" Lance yelled.

"Actually, no," She replied, looking at a large tree with windows. "He's the supervisor of my apartment."

Lance did a small fist pump. Keith sighed.

"Don't mind him. I think he had too much oak tea at the cafe."

Night rolled her eyes. "Alright then. I'll pack. After that... I guess we're off?"

Keith frowned. "But don't you like have to say bye to your relatives and parents and cat?"