"Clarke, are you paying any attention?" Octavia asked in a huff. Octavia stalked around Clarke once more, eyeing Clarke's stance.
Clarke quickly shook her head, as she brought herself back to reality, a coy smile upon her lips. "I guess we'll just have to see."
Octavia rolled her eyes in a playful manner as she analyzed Clarke's strike.
"No, wrong. What did we just go over?!" Octavia said as she rubbed the brim of her nose, "You know what, just forget it. This is pointless."
"No, you promised to help me improve, last time I checked, I still suc-" Clarke's voice stopped.
She wanted to turn around.
Because, she instinctively knew, that she was there. There was no logical explanation for it, but she felt her presence behind her, like the subtle change in the seasons. A shift in the wind. She didn't know how to feel about this change, yet it made her shoulders tense and her stomach spin.
It was real… and terrifying.
"Don't worry, Clarke, we all have our limitations." Octavia jested.
"What limitations?" Lexa asked quietly.
The sound of her voice slid down Clarke's back, bringing to mind cool water and sun-warmed honey. Clarke gritted her teeth and turned on her heels to face Lexa. "For one, I can't seem to wield a sword. And that seems to be a basic premise of swordsmanship."
Lexa watched her as she spoke.
In one swift motion, Lexa unsheathed her sword, and spun it around, as if to emphasize her mastery. Octavia and Titus cleared the vicinity surrounding both Clarke and Lexa.
"Try to hit me," Lexa commanded softly.
"You can't be serious."
Lexa waited in patient silence.
Clarke swung the sword in a clumsy swipe.
Lexa parried it with ease and grabbed her wrist. "That was awful," she said, pulling Clarke into her. "Again."
"Can you give me any advice?" Clarke demanded in frustration.
"Widen your stance. Don't throw your entire body into the movement. Only your upper body."
Clarke sunk into a lower stance, her brow lined with frustration. Once more Clarke swung her sword at her, and Lexa blocked it, grasping Clarke by her waist and bringing the flat of her sword against Clarke's throat.
In her ear, Lexa whispered, "Do better than this, Clarke. You are boundless in all that you do. Show them."
Clarke's pulse raced in her warmth. In the words and the actions. The nearness of her.
She broke away and raised her sword.
"Smaller movements. Quicker. Lighter." Lexa commanded. "I don't want to see you act before you do."
Clarke lashed out with her sword, which Lexa easily parried the blow. She heard Octavia grunt from the sidelines.
After Clarke had cut the sword in Lexa's direction a few more times, she was shocked when Octavia stepped forward and kicked at her back foot, nudging it into a new alignment. Octavia, with a small smile upon her lips, lifted her chin with a jerk.
Lexa stood by, watching.
"Like-this?" Clarke asked as she raised her chin hesitantly.
Octavia gave a small nod before clearing her throat and stepping back in line with Titus.
When Clarke looked at Lexa again, her eyes were alight with an emotion she recognized.
Pride.
And in that moment everything felt so terrifyingly real that all the air was cinched from her body.
…