#baby allura
New headcanon:
Alfor was not prepared to be a father.
When he finds out his wife is going to have a baby, he panics and runs to the only person he’s friends with that actually has kids: Gyrgan. He’s not at all surprised that his friend is freaking out. Gyrgan manages to calm Alfor down and assure him that he had plenty of time to prepare and that he would be a fine father.
Coran finds out before Gyrgan, actually- he is witness to the immediate panic when Alfor finds out, and quick to reassure Fala that, yes, Alfor is happy, this is a good thing, he just needs time to realise he won’t somehow mess up his son or daughter from early childhood. He’s completely ready to fill in the role of favourite uncle.
When Alfor and Fala tell the rest of the alliance, they’re varying degrees of thrilled. Trigel is actually super excited, and she starts researching right away so she can a) help Fala through her pregnancy and b) know everything she needs to know to babysit the Altean baby. Zarkon actually panics a lot like Alfor did- something along the lines of “Wait, I’m not ready to be an uncle!”- and it’s actually quite touching, really. Blaytz decides immediately that it’s the best thing to ever happen; he starts badgering them to find out how long it will be before the baby gets there, when can he babysit the baby, the baby’s going to love Nalquod, he’ll take it swimming- no one is completely sure if he actually knows how babies work.
When Allura is born, Alfor has another mini-panic-attack, but someone shoves the baby into his arms and he just freezes and stares at her. She makes a cute noise, and Alfor just melts.
Coran meets her next, very soon after she is born. He too melts and thinks she’s just the cutest creature in the entire universe. He doesn’t even want to give her back to Alfor, protesting that his friend is clumsy and will probably drop her and really Coran should hold her a bit longer, just so she’s safe. It’s a rather amusing sight.
As soon as Blaytz gets the news of Allura’s birth, he drops everything and comes straight to Altea. Alfor explains that he would have brought Allura to Nalquod when she was old enough to be travelling that far, but Blaytz kind of gives him an offended, “You would make me wait that long to see the baby?” He thinks she’s adorable, and tells Alfor that he could start teaching her how to swim- Alfor has to explain to him that Altean babies cannot swim at this age, and, in fact, he’s pretty sure Nalquodian babies can’t either.
Gyrgan brings his kids to Altea to meet the new princess. Every single one of them falls in love with her automatically. Gyrgan sits Alfor (by this point a very sleep-deprived and frazzled father to a two-month-old) down and gives him some more much needed fatherhood advice, and offers to watch the baby if Alfor and Fala ever need a break.
Alfor ends up taking baby Allura to visit Trigel in the Dalterion Belt. Trigel has procured a bunch of baby supplies and baby toys for her, all “scientifically proven to help with Altean children’s early development.” She talks all formally to Allura, who understand absolutely nothing and is more fascinated by Trigel’s ears (she seems to choose something on everyone to be fascinated by and tug at, be it Alfor’s beard, Coran’s mustache, or Blaytz’s fins).
Zarkon, when he finally meets her, is somewhat amazed by how small and squishy and fragile the baby is. Allura steals his “cold emperor heart” (to quote probably Blaytz) right away, and it’s probably right after meeting her that he starts asking Honerva, “When can we have one? Will it be this cute? You do want one, yes?” Alfor decides not to even bother warning him about the less adorable and cheerful sides of parenting- Zarkon can figure those out for himself.
