Clarke was wondering in the forest, alone, lost in her thoughts, she had pretexted she was going to search for medical herbs. Finn had a girlfriend, damn it that stung, just when she was starting to trust him, to have feelings for him, he had to lie to her. The worst was that the girlfriend in question was an incredible girl; she appreciated her more and more, way to feel guilty. Add her mother who betrayed her father, the fear of war with the grounders, she needed to release some stress. So she was in the forest , hitting everything she could find, making a lot of noises, if she had a clear mind she would have been a lot more careful, but presently she was past her breaking point.
Suddenly, she heard some noises behind her, a brief shadow-moving fast before the world turned black and she knew no more.
When she woke up Octavia and Lincoln were in front of her . They were in a cavern, a fire in the center was lighting it , making the atmosphere more warm , but she was still afraid of what they wanted with her , Octavia was the first to talk,
« Sorry for that, Lincoln was a little to enthusiasm, I tried to stop him but it was already too late. »
Clarke was not feeling well, her head was pounding, she just gave a grunt, showing she understands, her eyes questioning since she couldn't articulate. Octavia seemed to receive the silent message,
« We need your help. We want you to meet with Anya, the grounders leader, to talk about peace. We want the meeting to be discreet, I just wanted to talk to you alone but when we saw you in the forest, Lincoln reacted before I could do anything! But he is sorry to have Knock you out »
Clarke watched Lincoln closely, he does not seem sorry at all! Maybe the eyes, no! It is more as if he was laughing interiorly, damn grounder, Octavia really chooses well! Maybe it was payback for what they did to him at the drop ship, that she could accept,but it still hurt!
They let her time to recover; finally, she was able to talk again,
« ok, so you knocked me out, want me to go to a peace talking, alone, with a lot of menacing grounders who will surely take the chance to skin me alive. I've got everything right so far? »
Octavia was a little sheepish, « well yes, if we want peace it's the only way, I could have ask Bellamy but well… »
« You didn't want to sacrifice him? » answered sarcastically Clarke
« No, nothing like that! » with the accusing stare of Clarke, « maybe a little? But Lincoln insists , it has to be you! The grounder leader is a woman; he thinks you have more chance to reach an agreement! And you willl not be alone, we will come with you! Tell her Lincoln! »
« Yes,we will come with you, and it has to be you, Anya will listen to you, hopefully… »
What a moving speech , she felt like she could do anything, not! They were sending her to death!
Time to think strategically , if she averted the others, there will probably be a fight, which mean war, well they were already at war but it will degenerate into something worse, if she goes alone , high chances of death, little chances of peace , was it worth it? Surely , she will have at least tried to do the right thing ,will have no regrets.
« Ok , ok , I'm going with you, but Octavia, if it doesn't go well, I will haunt you, and your descendants! »
They were almost where the meeting will take place, Clarke was murmuring to herself , « morituri te salutant », Octavia who was closed heard her , « what the hell are you babbling about? »
« hum? Oh, it is something I was reading on the Ark, those who are going to die are saying hello, the gladiators were saying that before fighting and often dying . »
« Clarke , stop that! We are not going to die! »
« right , not going to die, they will welcome us with open arms and warm smiles! »
Octavia just glare at Clarke , with a huff she moved faster , joining Lincoln who was in front of them.
The meeting was everything Clarke was afraid of, surrounded by grounders with weapons, with a leader who seemed to want her to die if her eyes are anything to go by, great, just great, if they survived this she will never again listen to Octavia!
Lincoln and the leader began to talk in their language, it was not going well, since she knew Lincoln ,she always saw him stoic , even under torture , but here he seemed exasperated , he had a scowl and was moving his arms a lot. Really not a good sign, she looked behind her , maybe in running really fast she could escape in the forest, but then she saw some grounders in the trees all around, no , all she could do was wait, what must happened , happen.
Finally the leader gave a grunt to Lincoln and moved toward Clarke,
« I'm Anya , leader of the grounders, are you the leader of the sky peoples? »
« Yes, I'm Clarke , and I'm the co leader , the other is still at our camp. »
« Do you really want peace, or are you just too afraid of us and will say anything to keep living? »
« No, no I really want peace! Honestly, I am afraid too, but you have to understand we did not know there were others peoples on earth , we never wanted war! »
Anya did not say anything else during a long time , seeming to judge her , deciding if she was telling the truth. She eventually gave her a nod,
« you can have peace but there are some conditions. »
Clarke looked hopefully , « and those conditions are? »
« Three of the sky peoples will have to stay with us , the time for them to learn our way of life, I will do the same, I will send three warriors to your camp. »
« Right , the three at your village will keep the others from attacking, like hostages, and in case something happen in our camp you will have a warrior who will come report it to you , while the others put some traps and kill my friends. »
« you catch quickly , good , one of the three has to be a leader, I don't care which one. Next, you will have to respect our territory, we will put some limits that your peoples will not have the right to cross. »
« Ok , I will see with Bellamy which one of us will go to your village and we will choose two others of our peoples to go, about the territory, if you give us a map and strict instructions, we will make sure everyone respect them! »
« Good and last one , in case one of your peoples cause troubles , I want him to be judge by our laws! »
Clarke was thinking fast, if she agreed to that , they would become more grounders than sky peoples. What's more the grounders seemed hard, their laws are surely even worse than on the Ark, she needed to find a comprise;
« Only when it concerns a grounder and a sky people, and the crime has to be serious . If not we judge our people ourselves. »
« Agreed, Clarke of the Sky people . » she then called a warrior who gave her a map, with the signs to show where the sky people were authorized to go , « take this, our peace start when three sky peoples are present in my village. I will send a warrior in four days to accompany the peoples you will have chosen. » with that she screamed something that Clarke did not understand, and all the grounders began to leave. Well , time to go back to make a rapport to Bellamy, hoping he will accept the terms. She could already guess who will be the chosen leader , she really had a bad feeling!
PS: please tell me what you think of the idea , i'm writting this in waiting for the others stories to be corrected.