Chapter 2
Dinner

Clarke had been in her bath for so long the water was now cold and gray, but she didn't care. She couldn't remember the last time she'd taken a bath, or even just cleaned up. She thought rainwater didn't count as any form of cleaning. She closed her eyes, reclining further in the metal bathtub. She felt a pang in her chest. The last time must have been right before the siege.
Somehow, though her situation had suddenly improved, she still felt like crying. She was safe, she'd found a powerful ally to help her people. There was hope once again if only a glimpse. She didn't remember crying, not once, during or after the orcs had breached the walls of Arkadia. There had been people to defend and protect, others to heal. She hadn't cried the death of her parents and her friends because there hadn't been time for it.
Now that her tiring journey was over, she wondered whether she should take the time to cry, and mourn. She didn't feel like it. She wondered whether walking away from her kingdom to find help had also helped her move on without ever shedding a tear. Or did it make her a monster, who didn't care about the fate of her dead people, only the living ones?
There was a knock on the door and Clarke instinctively brushed her eyes and cheeks, just in case, leaving a thin layer of water on her face.
"Come in."
Clarke decided now wasn't the time for modesty, plus the water was so dirty it had lost its see-through ability, and in the relative darkness of the room, they wouldn't really be able to see.
A short young woman walked in with a folded outfit in her hands.
"Sky Princess, my name is Maya. Heda asked me to take care of you for as long as you'll stay."
She curtsied and closed the door behind her. The room Clarke had been given was large, with two stairs leading up to the door. An enormous bed rested against the right wall, across from a fireplace. There was a wardrobe in a corner, still empty because Clarke's traveling gear had been thrown into the fire as soon as she'd left them. A screen made from very thin leather and with a wooden frame rested in a corner, with a small stool hidden behind it. The ground, walls, and ceiling were all made of the same dark gray stone. The bathtub had been brought there, and even though it was rather large, it still didn't come close to filling the room.
"Heda asked me to do your hair and help you with anything you need."
Clarke frowned.
"My hair?"
"Yes, she was very specific about this point."
Maya picked up a piece of cloth laying on the bed and held it out for Clarke. Clarke stood up and quickly took the cloth to shield herself from the cold. She would have thought that spending weeks in the wild would have helped her body adapt to the cold, but no, now that the sun was set, the crisp evening air was seeping through everything, especially her skin.
She went behind the screen where Maya had left her new outfit, and began to dry herself as quickly as possible. She heard the fire in the fireplace coming back to life and assumed Maya was taking care of it.
"Would you like me to light some candles?"
"Hum, sure."
Clarke was disappointed to see her outfit wasn't really warm, rather, it was a dark blue dress with a leather bodice tainted in gold. Clarke wondered how they'd managed to taint the leather that way. She slid into the outfit silently. The dress was cut strangely, stopping at her knees on the front, but falling on the ground like a small train on the back. She also found a pair of ankle-high boots to go with.
"Are you ready, your Highness?" Maya asked from the other side of the screen.
"I think so."
The dress was slightly too big for her, but it didn't slip off which was already something. She placed all of her wet hair behind her, untangling the few strands caught in the shoulder pads.
"Is this normal fashion in Polis?" she asked as Maya brought the stool closer to the fireplace.
"Heda asked for a ceremonial dress. In Polis, it is custom to give an outfit reflecting the noble person's culture. I believe this is the best our tailor could do in a day. The leather is laced with meteorite." Maya explained.
She waited for Clarke to take place on the stool, a comb in hand. Clarke sat down, her eyes fixing the door. She quickly felt the fire beside her heating her left side.
"I believe a more comfortable outfit should be given to you before tomorrow, your Highness." Maya declared as she began to comb through Clarke's wet hair. "If you need anything else, only let me know."
"Could you find me paper and something to draw with? Charcoal maybe?"
Maya nodded as she began to braid her hair.
"I will try, your Highness."


Clarke has been led to the dining hall once her hair was done. Clarke wondered why Lexa had insisted on such an intricate haircut. It was full of small braids but mostly left her hair loose on her shoulders. Her dress dragged slightly behind her with every step she took, and she feared she would trip on it when they walked down the stairs of the tower.
Lexa was already waiting in the large dining room when Clarke was introduced and let in. Clarke was beginning to get a good sense of Polis' architectural style. Stone walls and ceilings, very few windows, but a monstrous amount of candles. The dining hall wasn't an exception. Between the large chandeliers attached to the ceiling and the many, many candles resting everywhere there was even half the space for them, the room was an inferno waiting to happen. Though there wasn't a fireplace in this room, Clarke didn't feel as cold as she did when they were walking through the Castle, though that may have something to do with Lexa.
Lexa cleaned up very nicely when she left the armor on the side. Gone was the blood and the dirt. She was wearing a nicely cut black jacket with a red sash hanging over her left shoulder. A small, single braid was made from her short hair. She was staring longly at Clarke, and the blond waited for her to say something, or do something. They stood there for a good minute, neither daring to break the silence until the door was closed behind Clarke and Lexa jolted out of her shock.
"Clarke, please, have a seat."
Though the table was exceedingly long, only two seats had been dressed, one at the head of the table – which Clarke assumed was Lexa's place – and one to her right. Clarke rounded the table and Lexa pushed her chair for her before she sat in her own seat.
"I must say, I may have pressed the tailor quite a bit with your dress, but you look very beautiful in it. Do you like it?"
Clarke had to clear her throat before she could reply, though she couldn't quite hide her blush:
"I do, however it seems a bit impractical."
Lexa smiled.
"Well, it is a ceremonial garment, to welcome you as my guest."
Another door opened, and two servants walked in, carrying two plates. They placed them in front of the two noblewomen and bowed before leaving.
"I hope you don't mind, but I asked for fish tonight. It is easier to come by than meat and I wish to keep as much of it as possible for our troops."
Clarke nodded. She glanced one last time at Lexa before she looked at her plate. She'd never thought the Commander so considerate. But then again she'd taken care of her every need since she'd placed a toe in the Castle. It was almost strange to try and juxtapose the woman who'd been fighting in the field this morning and the one seating beside her.
Clarke was glad for the fish. It was a very good change of pace from her diet for the past few weeks: fruits, roots and any small animals she could get her hands on. She'd try to fish once during her trip, but she'd lost her temper rather quickly, and when a group of orc scouts clearing the forest had stumbled upon her, she'd given up on the activity entirely.
Both women had taken a few bites of their meal when Lexa declared:
"I've received an answer from my blood-riders on their way to Arkadia. They should get there by tomorrow. A small force of twenty soldiers is already on their way there, and the camp should begin construction tomorrow. We think it will take about two weeks for the rescue party to come back here."
Clarke nodded and looked longly in the Commander's forest green eyes.
"Thank you, Lexa. You've done so much for my people already."
Lexa took Clarke's hand, the blond once again feeling the enjoyable heat of the Commander's skin against her own.
"I know you lost everything in that fight, and I feel somewhat responsible. I promise you, if your messenger had arrived, I would have sent help. But now, all I can do is make sure your people are as safe as mine."
Clarke blushed once again, and her eyes trailed on their joined hands before she went back to her plate, the "Thank you" on her tongue gone in a heap of warmth and emotions.


The rest of the dinner was mostly silent. Lexa sometimes asked a few questions, and Clarke asked one or two, but when their dessert plates were taken away Clarke realized she still had a thousand questions to ask, and didn't know how to phrase them.
Lexa stood up and looked at Clarke with a smile and a held-out hand.
"Walk with me?" she asked.
Clarke nodded and stood up. She took Lexa's hand, and together they walked out of the dining hall, and up the stairs of Polis Tower. They walked slowly, Lexa careful not to wind Clarke with her usual walking speed, and Clarke still struggling with her dress slightly.
Lexa pursed her lips as they reached the first floor, then asked:
"Can I ask you a question? Just to confirm a theory of mine?"
"Sure."
"The Meteorite mine, what happened to it after the siege?"
Clarke was first perplexed by the question. Sure, meteorite was Arkadia's most valuable resource, but it hadn't mattered while she was trying to save her people. She only knew the answer because a few people had been hiding there from the attack:
"Nothing. The orcs didn't even come close to it."
Lexa nodded.
"That's what I thought."
She sighed.
"I think I know why the orcs attacked your kingdom. They know we've been buying meteorite from Arkadia for the better part of five years now. They know we were preparing a decisive action against them. I believe they wanted to cut our supplies, so they went to the suppliers. I'm sorry."
Clarke listened carefully to Lexa's confession. It sounded true, but even if it was, it wasn't Lexa's fault, not in the slightest. The orcs had attacked her country, not the people of the twelve clans.
"How would they know? Is meteorite so important?"
"Meteorite is the orcs' only weakness. They hate it, which is why we were stocking up on it. But they knew we knew because we had a traitor in our midst."
Lexa paused.
"My most trusted advisor, actually."
Clarke tried to smile apologetically at her.
"We all had our lot of traitors, and there's nothing else either of us could have done."
Lexa nodded.
"You're right."
After walking a few more steps they reached Clarke's bedroom door. Clarke finally let go of Lexa's hand, and only realized then that she'd been holding on to it through their entire walk up the stairs.
"Thank you for inviting me, Lexa."
"The honor was mine. Before you go..."
Lexa fetched something in her pant's pocket. She quickly held it out for Clarke to see.
"I believe this is yours."
Indeed, it was Clarke's necklace, the one she'd lost earlier this morning while fighting against the scouts. It was a stylized four-pointed star within a circle, all made out of meteorite.
"Thank you for keeping it safe."
Lexa nodded with a smile.
"Would you like me to..."
When Clarke understood what Lexa meant she turned around.
"Sure."
Lexa swept all of Clarke's blond hair over one shoulder, exposing the nape of her neck. Carefully, she placed the necklace around Clarke and closed it. Clarke turned around to thank Lexa again. But noticed with surprised how close from each other they were suddenly standing. She looked up to Lexa's eyes, losing herself slightly in their deep green color. She thought she felt Lexa's hand on her waist, though that may have been her imagination.
Before they could close the distance, though, a horn echoed from the top of the towers, so loud the walls almost shook. Lexa pursed her lips and sighed. She took a step away from Clarke, breaking their eye contact.
"I'm sorry, but it seems my presence is required at the gates. I trust you can find your way to your room?"
Clarke tried to ignore how she felt to focus on the conversation.
"From here, sure."
Lexa smiled again and took Clarke's hand to press a kiss there.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Clarke. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
Lexa bowed again and promptly hurried down the stairs, while Clarke watched her go, forgetting for a second where her room was.


A/N: Hi guys! First, I wanted to thank SophiaFox17 for leaving reviews! Don't worry, there is plenty more to come. So much more, in fact, that as soon as I'm done posting this chapter, I'll be posting a one-shot Clexa story, set in the Fear the Walking Dead universe (kinda). It's called "The Bite" so if you want to check it out, it should be up in thirdy minutes top (I hope). Anyway, I'll see you guys tomorrow!