"Bring your leaders, and I'll bring mine," Lincoln said to Finn's request for truce talks.

Finn nodded. "Clarke and Bellamy."


Bellamy and Clarke followed Finn, Lincoln and Octavia through the thick forest. Bellamy glared at the couple while Clarke glared at Finn's back. When they reached the bridge, Lincoln, Octavia and Finn stood back as two women wearing a long coats and war paint approached.

"You must be Clarke and Bellamy," said the one with long hair. "My name is Anya and this is Indra."

Clarke extended her hand, "I think we got off to a rough start, but we want to find a way to live together in peace." When Anya didn't take it she held it out toward Indra who scowled in disdain. Finally she dropped her hand.

"I understand. You started a war that you don't know how to end."

"No. You attacked us."

"We kept you alive. And you return the favor by launching missiles that burned an entire village to the ground. And you captured and tortured one of my soldiers. Those are acts of war."

Bellamy clicked his jaw. "We see your point. How do we turn things around and live in peace?"

"Lincoln said there are more of you coming down, warriors."

"Yes," Clarke said. "But also farmers, doctors, engineers."

"We can help each other but not if we're at war." Bellamy let his gaze roam the trees and found that they weren't alone. There were bowmen ready to shoot them. Recognizing the need to keep things calm he turned his attention back to Anya and Indra.

Indra was talking, "Why would we agree to an alliance that your people can break the moment they get here?"

Clarke was about to say something when Bellamy interrupted. "I need to talk to Clarke for a moment."

Anya nodded, so he pulled Clarke to the edge of the bridge. "We have to offer them something. Now. Something that will make sure a peace sticks after everyone gets down here. Any ideas, princess?"

She looked grave for a moment or two but then she brightened for a moment and then sighed. "Princess. The Ark wouldn't attack if I were collateral and treated well. If I joined the Grounders, then our people would definitely keep the peace."

"We may need more than you." Bellamy hoped that she'd come up with something else, but he wasn't optimistic.

Lincoln had been close enough to hear them talking. "If you offered half of your people up to join the tribes, they'd agree. But you two'd have to offer yourselves up as incentive."

"I don't know. What do you say?" Bellamy looked at Clarke as the gears in her head turned. He didn't trust Lincoln or the Grounders, but Clarke was better at strategy than anyone else he knew.

"What if they just kill us?" The crease in her brow deepened.

"They won't. We have more honor than that." Lincoln said. "Especially Anya and Indra."

"Looking to you, Princess."

"What choice do we have? If this works, it'll save everyone."

They walked back out to the waiting Anya and Indra.

"What if we joined our people with yours? The ones that agree to it. Bellamy and I will be the first to join you." Clarke glanced at Bell.

"Clarke's mother is on the counsel, which means they're even more likely to listen to our peace treaty."

Indra's nostrils flared. "And you, are you important to your people as well?"

"He's important to the ones already here. None of them will even consider this without him. Most of us have parents, and the more kids with parents that join you, the better."

"Clarke, Bellamy you'll come with us, they can tell the others." Anya pointed toward, Finn, Octavia and Lincoln.

Clarke and Bellamy gave each other a look that said, 'I can't believe we're doing this.'


The village Anya and Indra took them to consisted of rows and rows of small one room shacks made out of wood and scavenged metal. They surrounded a large open area lined with benches. "Lincoln tells us that you're a healer, Clarke, is that true?"

"I, ah, more or less." She didn't know how to explain that she'd still been in training when she got locked up.

"Then you can work with Nyko. He's been our only healer for seasons." Anya ushered her into the largest of the shacks. "Nyko this is Clarke, the Sky People's healer. She's joining us. I expect you to learn from each other."

Anya left Clarke with Nyko. "Hi. Why don't you show me the setup here?"

"Setup?" He asked.

"Where everything's at, how you do things. Procedures. I'm going to need to know the ropes."

Nyko gave her a sidelong look before motioning her over to the equipment as it were. "These are our tools."

They only had rudimentary tools. Nothing that looked like anything on the Ark. Some knives, a few vials of liquid in glass that looked older than time. Nothing looked sterile or clean enough to use without causing other problems.

"How do you sterilize?"

"Shine." He gestured to a barrel of what smelled like Jasper's moonshine. Ah, shine. Moonshine.

"How do you distill your medicines?"

Nyko pulled a blanket off a crude chemistry set.

"Evaporation would help remove a lot of the large impurities. I might be able to help you set up something more efficient. Make your medicine more effective." That everything was made of metal or glass here heartened her. "What do you use for bandages?"

"Shine washed old cloth. The launderer should be by with more soon."

"Okay. Let's work on this chem set. With what's already here, I should be able to construct something that does everything we need. We just need to configure a few things differently." She started making a mental model of how the setup should look.


Anya led Bellamy across the village, Indra breaking off to deal with a quarrel. "As I understand it, you've got good aim with weapons."

"You could say that."

"The last attack by the mountain men left us short of hunters and warriors. If you prove loyal you can fight with us. But for now, you'll help with hunting. No weapons at first but we can always use help carrying and tracking." She stopped when they reached the edge of camp. A hunting party was preparing to go out. Men and women wearing intimidating facial cages. "Suit up."

Bellamy saw that there were other masks and skins available. "Yes, ma'am."

"If you do well. You and Clarke. You will find a place here regardless of what your people do. So long as you're loyal to us from now on, you'll have a home here." Anya's serious expression cracked for less than a second and she smirked.

He nodded as he put on a mask with a mouth full of fangs and spikes along the skullcap.


Murphy, wearing his own mask and skins, glared at Bellamy. If he didn't think Anya would kill him for it, he'd eliminate Bellamy during this hunt.

Not that he was jealous or anything but Finn got all the credit for being a great tracker, while Murphy had had the highest scores in Earth Skills seen on the Ark in over sixty years. Add that to what he'd learned in the last couple weeks from the Grounders, and he turned into the village's best tracker and hunter. So he led the hunt. This being the second for him to head up.

When Bellamy heard Murphy's voice giving orders, his head snapped up in surprise. "What'd you expect Blake? That I'd die out here? Well it's your turn to take orders. Think you can do that?"

"Just lead, Murphy."

Murphy knocked Bellamy down and held his machete at Blake's throat, smirking behind his mask. "Watch the attitude."

"Stop this, Murphy."

"Stop this? I'm just getting started." Murphy nicked Bell's neck. "I demand obedience. Are you going to fall in line like a good boy?"

Pinned to the ground until he said, "Yes, sir," Bellamy's palatable fuming amused Murphy to no end.

Springing back to his feet, Murphy said, "Then let's go. The meat ain't going to hunt itself."