Chapter 1: The Beginning of a Tale
Clarke is fifteen when she is pulled aside by the Committee.
Days before, her mother had received a summons by Chancellor Jaha—which wasn't out of the ordinary—but she came back looking upset. Clarke tried to ask why, but she wouldn't answer. That night, she could hear her parents arguing. She isn't able to hear much, but she does hear a few snippets. "She's only fifteen!" and "danger" from her mother, interspersed with "duty," "she's strong," and "no choice" from her father. She hears her mother talk about pulling strings with Thelonious, but her father forbids this.
Of course, she's worried, and Clarke has trouble sleeping that night, but the next day, while her mother remains angry, her father assures her everything is fine, and she believes him.
Three days later, her mother is escorting her out of Earth Skills class. Abby Griffin's face remains expressionless as she brings her daughter to a room in Go-Sci that Clarke's never been in before. With her mother on the council, and being brought up to take her place some day, Clarke's gotten something of a grand tour many times before, but she's never been here.
Clarke and Abby sit down in the two chairs on one side of a table, and wait for the person they're meeting. She looks around the room for some sort of clue about what this is about. She wonders if she's done something wrong, if she's being reprimanded. The oft repeated phrase all crimes are capitol crimes rings in her head as she wracks her mind for some small infraction she may have committed. Even if that were the case, though, she can't imagine why they wouldn't just arrest her. Isn't that how it goes? They don't get trials—not really—and certainly not like this.
Finally, an older red-headed woman enters the room, closing the door behind her. In her hand is a tablet, and Clarke is able to peer at it enough to see her own picture staring back at her. The woman smiles at her. "Clarke Griffin," she says, holding out her hand. Hesitantly, Clarke stands and shakes hands with the woman. "My name is Tracy Cameron, head of the Cohabitation Committee. You have been chosen."
Clarke's eyes go wide and she thinks she forgets how to breathe for a moment. She barely registers sitting down once more as the woman—Tracy—gives her the standard talk about the Committee. Everyone's heard it before—all the time, but it's so rare to be chosen that most people put it out of their minds.
According to tradition—or lore, depending on whom you ask—the Ark formed the Committee after about fifteen years in space. The Chancellor of the time noticed a lot of dissention between the members of the different stations, typically because of class differences. The upper class fought with the lower class and the middle class fought with themselves, until all of the stations were fighting over recourses, privileges, and status. To combat this, the Committee was formed. They were chosen to pick different young people from each station to enter into a union with another from a separate station. The goal of the Cohabitation Program was to increase unity and cohesiveness amongst the members of the Ark.
"Over the past eighty years, we have succeeded in pairing over three hundred young couples," Tracy is saying. "If, however, once you reach the age of majority, you are allowed to opt out of the program. Your name will not have been disclosed to anyone, and you would be free to continue on with your life as you always planned. We've only had 82 couples opt out in the last eighty two years."
Clarke doesn't point out that, that likely means one couple opts out each year. Instead, she asks, "What is required of me in the meantime?"
She doesn't look at her mother, but she can feel her tense up beside her.
"There is a ceremony," Tracy Cameron explains. "You and your chosen will be pledged to each other up until you reach the age of majority, at which point you must decide whether to meet him and stay in the program or opt out before meeting him. Up until that point, your only job is to act a model citizen—to not display any negative attitudes toward the other stations, to not abuse the power afforded you as a member of Alpha Station." She doesn't really need to ask anything more about the ceremony she mentioned—Cameron can be as vague as she wants but everyone already knows it's just as much a marriage as her parents' marriage is. The only difference being, she won't know her husband until she's eighteen—and that's only if she decides to stay married.
In spite of her misgivings, and in spite of the worried look on her mother's face, Clarke nods. "I'll do it," she says, knowing there isn't a choice. Given the information presented, she gathers that this meeting is really only a formality. They are going to perform this ceremony today; there is no way to stop it, just like her father had told her mother. She will do her duty, as she must.
Immediately after gaining her verbal consent, Tracy Cameron exits the room for a moment, only to reenter with another person, introduced to her as Turner Wood. In the ceremony, he stands in for her 'chosen' (a lovely, if romanticized, euphemism for her forced husband).
She speaks the generic vows and signs the generic documentation. She notices the side for her intended is blotted out so she can't see it. Truly, her only real clue about the identity of the man now her husband, if in name only, is the fact that, by Committee rules, he is not in Alpha station.
Lastly, she is given a ring, and a chain. Given that her identity as a chosen one must remain hidden, she isn't allowed to wear the metal band as normally dictated, so it must remain under her clothing, on the chain provided. Tracy had handed the ring and chain to her mother at first, but Abby had refused to take it, so Clarke took them from Tracy herself. She threaded the chain through the ring, and fastened it around her neck before pulling her hair out from under it and dropping it beneath her clothes.
She walks back home with her mother, glancing up at her mother's stern expression. Clarke wonders why she's so against this, why she didn't want Clarke to do it. Her mother wasn't in the program, Clarke's parents fell in love, but the program has been around for more than eighty years. She's seen how it works. She has to know there was never a choice to be made. And, really, if in three years she decides she doesn't want to go through with it, an annulment is drawn up, and she'll be able to go on like it never happened.
And that's how Clarke found herself married at fifteen; to someone she hasn't met, and doesn't yet know if she ever will.
-x-
Bellamy Blake is twenty when one of the guards hands him a tablet with a locked message on it. Most business on the Ark isn't really a secret from anyone else, and messages are passed on verbally or through the tablets, however, each citizen is given a passcode to unlock any confidential messages and files that are coded for them to open. He has never received one before, and watches the guard's retreating back for a moment before typing in his code numbers.
The message is simple in instruction but unclear as to its meaning. Report to Go-Sci Section 8 Room 32c tomorrow at 1 o'clock pm. There is no indication about the nature of this summons, which worries him.
He tells his mother and Octavia later that night. Aurora Blake's lips form a tight line, and her brows furrow.
"Is it about me?" Octavia wonders, "Do they know about me?"
Their mother shakes her head and pulls Octavia close to her, giving her a hug. "No, of course not," she answers. "If they knew about you, we wouldn't still be here together."
"They want something from you," Aurora continues, locking eyes with him. "I don't know what, but it must be serious."
Bellamy doesn't find this the least bit reassuring and has trouble sleeping that night. His eyes stay focused on his sister, and he watches her rhythmic breathing, hoping it isn't the last time he sees her sleep.
Later, while he navigates the Go-Sci station's intricate hallways in order to find Section 8, he tries to ignore the looks he receives from the workers. They all know he doesn't belong there without his guard uniform. He never would have gotten access to this part of the station were it not for his position as a Cadet or this summons, and seeing as he can't mention the summons to anyone, no one knows why he's here.
Eventually, a man comes in and introduces himself as Turner Wood. He tells Bellamy that he's from the Cohabitation Committee and that he's been chosen.
Bellamy isn't sure how much of the man's following speech he actually catches, because he's quite lost in his own thoughts as he finds himself nodding along with the man. It doesn't really matter though, he realizes. Wood couldn't possibly tell him much that he doesn't already know.
He's been chosen to be wed to someone—someone obviously not yet eighteen—as a waiting period after the ceremony is customary. Truly, it's their way of forcing the marriage to stick. Not many people can deny the marriage after spending years in its grip, being brought up to revere the chosen couples and honor their choice to continue forward for the good of the society. Bellamy had always likened it to some sort of Stockholm Syndrome.
He does wonder why they chose him, not someone younger—closer to her age. When he puts forth the question, Turner simply says, "You were the best candidate." And, if he were a romantic sort of person, he might be offended. As it is, he just wonders what that means. What qualified him for this program—revered and feared by the citizens of the Ark? Why him over others from Factory? This, however, he doesn't ask; he just nods his acceptance—not, of course, like he ever really had any.
Turner leaves the room shortly thereafter, after hearing a knock on the door, and Bellamy is left alone for at least five minuets. He isn't carrying around one of the tablets—his family doesn't have one, and he hasn't been issued one as a guard—so he isn't exactly sure about the time, but he can guess. When he comes back, a woman enters with him. She introduces herself as Tracy Cameron.
Turner Wood proceeds to read off the vows, and Bellamy speaks when required. Tracy Cameron stands in for his nameless and faceless wife, and within minuets, it's over.
He is given a ring and a chain and instructed to wear the ring at all times, but never where it is visible. His identity and that of his wife are protected knowledge up until she is legal age. Even that, however, is conditional, because if she decides to opt out of the program, he will be notified at some point in time about their divorce, but not who she was. Of course, they can't tell him right away, because it can't be impossible to locate someone who just turned eighteen on their birthday. He'll be afforded the same opportunity, of course, but only after her.
Bellamy threads the chain through the ring and fastens it around his neck, the new weight resting comfortably yet heavily under his shirt.
Not on duty that day, he finds himself walking back home. For obvious reasons, Bellamy knows he can't go around telling just anyone about this. The program values the privacy of its 'chosen' very highly, everyone knows this. He decides pretty quickly, though, that he's going to tell his mom and Octavia. They need to know.
When he breaks the news to them that night, Octavia's actually rather happy at first. "Can I see the ring, Bell?" she asks. Bellamy smiles ever so slightly as he tugs at the string until the ring is visible for the second time. He holds it out, and Octavia leans over and takes it in her hand, turning it around. When she's done, she drops it and it falls against his chest.
Bellamy looks to his mother as he tucks it away once more. "You'll have to opt out when she turns eighteen," she says without preamble. "No matter if she wants to continue with this marriage or not, you'll have to turn her away."
"Why?" Octavia asks. Bellamy has told her stories about the program before. Factory Station's Felicity Tomlin's marriage to Ben King from Alpha Station ten years ago was rather major. Everyone had been talking about it, and Bellamy had relayed a lot of it to Octavia in the form of stories.
"Another person in the family means another person who would know our secret," his mother says wisely. "And we can't afford for someone to know…someone we cannot control." Bellamy nods his understanding. Octavia must come first.
And that is how Bellamy finds himself married to someone he's never met, and likely never will.