Keith had always been an early riser, and being on an alien planet made no difference. Even an alien planet with three suns. Keith was sure that the planet hadn't even gotten dark overnight. Maybe the Toumians were so used to having three suns that even one -- or even two -- suns going down was considered dark. 

He slowly moved the curtain aside, and for some unknown reason, glanced over at Lance. The Paladin of the Blue Lion was sprawled over the entire surface of the bed. Keith scoffed and turned away. Making sure Pidge was still asleep, he took off his armor and put on some red clothes that had been left for him by the Toumians. He grabbed his Bayard and stepped outside onto the ankle-length purple grass, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. 

A dozen arrows grazed past him and landed on the ground. He rolled out of the way and an back inside the building, summoning his sword from his Bayard. Slowly, he stepped out, looking around, and seeing nothing, stood in the purple grass, tense. 

Three arrows knocked his sword out of his hand, and Pedagogue Tuaste stepped from the shadows and grabbed it. 

"What are you doing?" Keith snapped.

"Did you not hear me last night?"

Keith looked at her, confused. "What?" Then it dawned on him. "Oh. Right. As soon as I step over the threshold, my training begins."

"We thought your leader would be first," said Tuaste. 

"Shiro? No, they're all still asleep."

"So are you, it seems." Tuaste gave Keith his Bayard back. "You allowed us to take your weapon, Paladin. If you're this sloppy when you fight Zarkon, you have no hope in the eternities to defeat him."

"What do you mean, we have no hope?"

Reaching behind her, Tuaste drew a sword from a sheath on her back. "I will admit, you do know how to hold a sword. And I'll even go as far as to say you kind of know how to use it, from what we saw doing your battle with the Galra. However, this is not enough." She raised her sword and tapped it against Keith's sword. He knew what she meant without having to ask. 

Quicker than lightning, she striked, and Keith barely raised his sword to keep himself from being decapitated. Again and again she striked, and each time Keith barely managed too keep her from killing him. She was way too good for him. The best that he could do was to keep on the defensive, barely keeping himself alive. 

Sweat formed on Keith's brow, but he pushed his defense back harder. After several minutes of this, he saw an opening to strike. He caught her sword, slid down to the hilt, but before he could disarm her, she kicked him in the groin. He doubled over, moaning. He looked up to see Tuaste holding her crimson red hand out to him. He grabbed it, and she pulled him up. 

"You have skill," she said, "but there are definite areas that need improvement. Your defensive was good, but I could see your emotions getting the better of you. Emotions cloud our judgement, and those kept you from seeing the sixteen different openings that you could have taken."

Sixteen? Keith shook his head, trying to clear it. Sixteen different openings? Was she sure? "I... I don't..."

"You have patience, and I can tell that it's well practiced. If you had gone after the first several openings, those would have meant certain death. However, the one that you chose to take was a weak one, and the approach you took was equally weak. Pick up your sword, Red Paladin, and let's go again."

"Can I have a break?"

"No. Pick up your sword, Red Paladin, and let's go again."

Keith bent over to pick up his Bayard, but this time, a two-horned Toumian with slate-grey skin and yellow triangular designs jumped from one of the surrounding buildings and blocked Keith from getting his Bayard. Growling, Keith stood up and backed away. Both Toumians had their swords out. Kieth closed his eyes, and breathed in slowly and deeply. Patience yields focus. Patience yields focus. Patience yields focus. 

Keith's eyes snapped open, and he lunged under the legs of the second Toumian, grabbed his sword, and rolled to his feet. The Toumian looked over at Tuaste. When she nodded, they both attacked. 

Their attacks were relentless. They seemed to be able to read each other's minds, because they attacked Keith with such coordination that he was glad that he wielded a dual-sided blade. 

He tried to keep a reign on his emotions, chanting his mantra inside his mind over and over and over again. Patience yields focus. Patience yields focus. Patience yields focus. He saw three openings before he took one against Tuaste. It was even harder and more tiring to be both the offense and defense. When he took a moment to glance over at Tuaste, she was grinning from ear to ear. 

The other Toumian's sword came a hair's breath away from Keith's neck before he ducked, then he was defending himself from the two swordsmen again. It wasn't long before Tuaste had her sword pointed at his chest, an the grey Toumian had his sword pointed against Keith's throat. 

"Dead," Tuaste panted. She turned to the Toumian. "Thank you for your help, Eitim."

"It was a pleasure, Tuaste." Eitim sheathed his sword and stood behind Tuaste, his large arms behind his back.

"You were better that time," Tuaste said to Keith. "At a certain point in the battle, both Eitim and I could tell that you had found some way to focus. Mind telling what it is?"

Keith hesitated. "Something that Shiro told me around the first time we met. 'Patience yields focus.'" He shrugged. "It's stuck with me ever since."

"I can tell. Well, Red Paladin, you have a very strong foundation in the art of the sword. Eitim will take you to the training ground while I wait here for the other members of your team."

"Thank you," said Keith.

Tuaste nodded, and walked into the shadows that she had emerged from earlier. 

"Come, follow me," said Eitim. Keith followed Eitim as he lead him through the winding streets of the city, then outside to a large circular building. 

"Sit and rest," said Eitim. "Wait until the rest of your team comes. Then will the real training begin."

"I thought I already started?" asked Keith.

"You did. What happened back there was my wife trying to figure out how to best help you, both individually and as a team." They walked underneath a large archway, and Eitim paused. "I should be heading back to help with the assessment. Aensu will keep you company."

He left, leaving Keith alone in the arena-like space. He looked around for a few moments, and then walked around the edge of it. It was an impressive space. Shaped like a sphere that had been hollowed out and the top third of it cut off, there were seats up to where it started curving towards the top, and when it got to that point, the rest of the sphere was glass, so there were no shadows in the entire area. The sand was soft underneath his feet.

"Hello!" a feminine voice called out. Keith turned around to see a Toumian, presumably Aensu, coming towards him. Her skin was more purple than Eitim's, though still grey, and she had several orange-reddish triangular designs on her face. She had two horns that curved upward; they kind of reminded Keith of a ram.

"Aensu, right?" he asked.

Aensu bobbed her head. "You're the Red Paladin."

"Keith."

"Keith. That's a very nice name."

"Thank you." He looked around. "What is this place?"

"It's the Training Arena," Aensu said.  "It's where the great Pedagogues of old became masters." She looked down. "I want to become Pedagogue someday. Pedagogue Tuaste says that I could, but I think that she says that to everyone."

"You're not... a teacher?"

"Sweet Masters, no. I have much to learn before I have any hope of teaching others."

"Want to give it a shot?" Kieth summoned his Bayard, his red sword shimmering into existence. 

"I... I really shouldn't," said Aensu, her face taking on a deep shade of green. "Your training is up to Pedagogue Tuaste. I mustn't interfere."

"It's just sparring. We can make it quick, if you want."

Aensu's face turned an even darker shade of green. "I guess so." She reached behind her back and pulled a khopesh-like blade from a sheath on her back. The gold-like metal glinted in the sunlight. "I hope you're ready," she said, her face still a dark shade of green. 

"Born ready," said Keith. 

The two blades met, and Keith exhaled a sigh of relief after several strikes. Aensu was closer to his level then Tuaste and Eitim had been. The fight was still hard, but he could hold his own.

"Docent Aensu!" 

Aensu froze and collapsed to the ground, her blade clattering next to her. Eitim stood in the archway, his arms crossed, Shiro standing next to him. Aensu jumped to her feet and brushed the dust off of her clothes.  "Apologies, Eitim."

"You do realize that the training of the Paladins are in the hands of Pedagogue Tuaste?"

Aensu hung her head in shame. "Yes, Eitim. I was aware."

"Then what is the meaning of this?"

Keith looked over at Shiro. He couldn't read his expression. 

"We were just sparring," said Keith.

"That is still no excuse, Red Paladin," said Eitim. "Docent Aensu, go and clean the robuck stables."

"Yes, Eitim."

"Right away, Docent."

Aensu picked up her khopesh and turned to Keith, smiling softly. "It was nice meeting you, Keith," she said, her face turning a light shade of green. 

Keith nodded, and Aensu left, trudging behind Eitim. 

"I didn't know you were a morning person," said Shiro. 

Keith shrugged. "It beats sleeping the day away. It gives me time to do more stuff."

Shiro nodded. "Sparring?"

"Yup."

"How was your fight with Tuaste?"

Keith groaned. "She slaughtered me."

"I don't know why we agreed to this in the first place."

"We need a way to defeat Zarkon," said Keith. "And frankly, this is the closest that we've gotten to it."

Shiro sighed, and sat down on the sandy ground. Keith followed suit. His sword shrunk back into his Bayard, and he set it to the side. 

"Sometimes, I wish that Allura had found my Bayard," said Shiro after a while.

"How do you think it was lost?"

Shiro shrugged. "I can't even imagine how it could be lost."

Keith leaned his head against the stone wall of the Training Arena and closed his eyes for several moments. He was rudely awoken by Pidge yelling, "Hey, guys!"

"Hey, Pidge," said Shiro. Pidge sat down in front of him. "How was it?"

"Completely awful," she said. "When I woke up, I was scared at first to realize that you were gone, but then I realized that you had probably woken up earlier, so I walked outside, and that's when she attacked." She shook her head. "I should have seen it coming from a mile away."

Shiro smiled softly, a smile that was reserved just for Pidge. "Yeah."

"Anyway. Hey, Keith, how are you doing?"

"Oh. Good, I guess."

Keith felt the urge to pull out his knife and try to find more out about it. However, his friends didn't know anything about it, and he didn't know how they'd react to a knife with a weird symbol on it. 

Before long, Hunk joined the group, but they had to wait hours for Lance. He walked in, favoring his left side, flanked by Tuaste, Eitim, and Aensu. 

"Rise, Paladins, and take a sword," said Tuaste, moving aside to show Aensu carrying five wooden swords in her arms. They each took one. "Now, stand as if you are Voltron."

"On top of each other?" asked Lance.

Tuaste glared at him. "No, Blue Paladin." She sighed. "Black Paladin, you are in the middle, with the Red and Green Paladins on his right and left. I assume you can go from there?"

The Paladins did as instructed. Eitim and Aensu walked out of the Training Arena. Tuaste walked up and down the line, fixing things as necessary. 

"You have waisted most of the day," she said, "so we will have to make do. Take your trainers in your right hands, and point them forward, like so." Again, she walked up and down the line, fixing things as necessary. "I have personally assessed each and every one of you. You all have definite strengths. And definite weaknesses. I hope to fix that."

Slowly, the Pedagogue called out several commands, then showed the Paladins how to do them. 

"Right!"

The Paladins pointed their training swords to the right.

"Left!"

The Paladins pointed their trainers to the left.

"Lunge!"

They all lunged forward onto their right legs, swords pointed forward. 

"Parry!"

The trainers flew up to defensive positions.

"That was the first set. When I call out 'One!', that is what you will do. One!"

The Paladins did so, but all at different speeds. Tuaste rubbed her temples. "We have a long way to go. Right!"

=^.^=   =^.^=   =^.^=   =^.^=   =^.^=

The three suns had been below the horizon for hours before Tuaste finally let them go, saying that they would be awoken at the second dawn to begin their training. "Most usually wake up at the first dawn," she said, retaliating to Lance's complaining. Keith gladly flopped down onto his bed. As soon as he closed his eyes, he was being roughly shaken by none other than Hunk. "We gotta go," he said. "Tuaste is going to be really mad if  we're late."

"But I just fell asleep," moaned Keith. 

"I know, buddy, but she said that if we don't get out there right now, then we won't get breakfast."

Knowing how much food meant to Hunk, Keith managed to roll himself out of bed and stumble into the intense light of two suns. Hunk pulled Keith behind him as they raced to the Training Arena.

"Late!" Tuaste called out when they burst into the middle of their sets. "And as such, you two all will stay behind for an hour before you eat."

Hunk groaned, and the two of them fell into the lineup after grabbing to training swords.

"One! Three! One! Four! One! Two!"

Keith gritted his teeth together. If he wanted to defeat Zarkon and his empire, he would have to suck up the sore muscles and the rough treatment.

Patience yields focus. 

Breathing deeply, Keith threw himself into the exercises that Tuaste set for them without abandon. 

"Stop, stop, stop! Red Paladin, if I don't call a break right now, I swear by the first masters that you will pass out from exhaustion." Tuaste sighed. "You all have deserved a small recess. Be back here in half an hour. I don't care what you do during that time, as long as you are back by then. Dismissed."

Keith watched as his teammates raced out of the Training Arena and to the nearest well. "Are there any more exercises you can give me?" he asked. 

"You remind me of myself when I was younger, Red Paladin," said Tuaste. "Come, sit down. You need the break."

"We don't have the luxury of getting a break when it comes to the Galra Empire, Pedagogue," said Keith, sitting next to the regal leader of the tribe.

"Do you remember what you told me this morning? 'Patience yields focus?' Paladin, if you ever want to improve, both as a person and a fighter, you need to have patience with yourself. It's something that I wish I learned earlier." She looked up into the sky. All three suns were above the Training Arena. Keith realized that he was getting used to the abundance of light, more so then on Earth, and definitely more so then in space. 

"I wanted to become the youngest Pedagogue of the Ibhe Htua," continued Tuaste. "I trained harder than anyone. I mastered all that my own Pedagogue had taught me. During my final assessment against him, I thought that his age would affect his skill. I did not realize that to be Pedagogue, you don't have to just master a certain skill. You must be master of many.

"Do you want me to tell you what he told me the day that I failed my test?" She looked over at Keith. "'Tuaste,' he said, 'you are the most skilled student that I have ever had the privilege to teach. You are the top of your class, and you love learning more than life. However, the most important thing for a warrior to learn, for a Pedagogue to learn, is that of restraint. Once you can restrain yourself, then I have no more to teach you.'"

Keith looked down. "You're saying I'm hot-headed and have no restraint."

"In a way, yes, but as your teacher, I cannot tell you everything you wish to know. The greatest part of learning is knowing that you will never have the all of the answers. Paladin, I cannot teach you how to become a better warrior; you already are one. That was clear during my assessment of you. What I am saying is that you need to find the message in my words, and learn from them. Then, and only then, will I have succeeded as your teacher."

"Coran was right," said Keith. "You guys really do value teaching above all else."

"It is not teaching we love, Paladin. It is learning. When we find something we love, we must learn all we can about it so that we can pass our knowledge onto the next generations. Our societies are about growth." She grinned. "In this, your mantra works well. Patience yields focus, young Paladin."

Tuaste stood up.

"My name is Keith."

Tuaste turned to him, a twinkle in her eye. "I know, Paladin."

She turned and walked out of the Training Arena, leaving Keith to ponder on her words.

Patience yields focus, he thought, and focus yields restraint. Satisfied, he stood up to go grab a drink of water with his friends.