Hi guys,
I should probably point now for all now, that I am not going to update this story after a regular schedule. I will try to update at least once a week, it may be more often, but I cannot make any promises. I am still writing Skaifaya as well and I can't write more than a chapter a day at most.
Hope that you continue to enjoy this as much as I enjoy writing it =)

Chapter 7

Anya looked over at Freya, genuine surprise flashing over her features, before she let a slight smile take over her expression. She nodded in acknowledgment to the girl's previous words.

Freya answered the general's smile faintly. "Can you stay?" she asked meekly, blue eyes hopeful and desperate and she let go of Anya's wrist again.

The general inclined her head, sitting down on the edge of the bed again. She had planned to join the meeting with the ambassadors, speaking for her wife, but she knew that Lexa would handle the case just fine on her own. The commander had not asked her to be present after all.

Freya blushed slightly, she did not know for sure, why she had asked at all, but she had felt a new surge of panic when Anya had turned around to leave.

The realization, that she was now basically clan-less, felt like a blow to the heart and she did not wish to be alone right now. Anya was basically the only one she had left right now. Banished from her clan and clearly rejected from her mother, Freya knew how pathetic her thoughts were at the moment, but she could not help herself. She could still hear the assassin's hissed words in her ears and the smell of her own scorched skin still lingered in her nose, making her sick again.

She fiddled the pendant around her neck again and was internally relieved that the other woman had just sat back down mutely, it did not seem as if she would force her to talk either.

Freya looked up at Anya in silence, letting her gaze travel over the other woman's sharp profile. The woman emitted a certain kind of strength and calmness, that Freya immediately associated with a sense of safety and protection. The general had barely winced while Nyko had patched her back together and Freya had spotted several other scars on the woman's exposed skin, together with a wide number of kill marks etched into the skin of her shoulders.

Freya internally wondered just how they were supposed to turn this bond into a real marriage, they knew basically nothing about the other.

"Have you been born in Polis?" Freya asked, trying to keep her tone light and banishing her own thoughts from her mind, focusing her attention on Anya instead.

"No" Anya shook her head in the negative, looking down at the princess with a slight frown. Maybe the girl was seeking for a distraction, it could also not harm to try to get to know each other a little better. "I was born in a small village near TonDC" she added.

"I do not know where TonDC is…" Freya admitted after a beat of silence. She knew nothing about the other clans, besides what her mother had deemed important.

"I can show it to you someday" Anya promised thoughtfully. It might do both of them some good, to spent some time away from the capitol. She feared that the princess would remain targeted by assassins and she had the foreboding that she would not survive the next attempt either. She was fairly certain that Lexa would let her leave the capitol, if she asked. "You should learn how to fight" she proclaimed, she had noticed how Freya had simply curled into herself during the attack, not trying to aid her. She did not know if the girl had simply been too shocked to do something else, or if she had simply not known how to fight.

Freya frowned "I know how to fight" she retorted almost hotly with a flash in her blue eyes, but she quitted down immediately again. She clasped her hand strongly around the pendant and her eyes clearly swam in tears again "My mother stopped my training years ago…" she admitted faintly and her voice had turned bitter "…she said I was too weak, to waste precious time with…". Freya tried to swallow down her tears forcefully, unwilling to shed any more on her mother's behalf.

Anya looked down at the girl with compassion, she would not pity the Ice princess, that would help neither of them. Nia's reasoning also did not make any sense to her, stopping her training would certainly not make her strong, she would have doubled her effort in training and not stopped it completely. "You can take up training again, once your wounds are healed" she offered in a kind tone, training would certainly help her in increasing her strength as well. "If you wish, that is…" she added quickly, when she could not detect a positive reaction on Freya's features.

Freya smiled slightly and she nodded in mute agreement, she had enjoyed the training before she had to compete against Ontari constantly. She groaned slightly, moving her face made the skin pull tight and flashes of pain ran through her mind. She had no idea what kind of ointment Nyko had applied on her burnt skin, but it seemed to cool it at least slightly.

"I am sorry…" she uttered lowly, after long moments of silence. Freya had been sure that assassins would come for her, but they had obviously not anticipated that Anya would return so quickly. They must have counted on the fact that the guards at the door, were the only protection she had.

"What for?" Anya asked a hint of a growl in her tone, brows creased slightly, while annoyance flashed over her features. She had already told Freya that she did not want her to keep apologizing senselessly.

"That you have gotten injured because of me" Freya explained in an almost guilty tone. She did not wish to think about what else might have happened if the general had not returned, when she had. The assassins had not had enough time to burn the complete side of her face and she was sure that some of her scar markings still remained intact.

Anya's frown deepened, before it was replaced by genuine surprise, the girl had truly caught her off guard with her words, Freya seemed to think that what had happened was somehow her fault. "I have gotten worse before" she retorted, voice a little gruff. It went without saying that as her wife, the Ice princess was now under her personal protection.

"My brother…" Freya began lowly after a moment of silence, but let her words trail off into silence without saying what she had wanted.

"What about him?" Anya questioned in a neutral tone. The few times that she had seen prince Roan of Azgeda, she had not gotten a good impression of the man.

"Could I see him sometime?" Freya voiced her request meekly, but with honest hope shining in her blue eyes. Her whole posture clearly said that she was expecting her request to be rejected.

Anya regarded the girl in silence for a moment, it was obvious that Freya must be having a deep connection to her brother or she would not have bothered to ask at all. "I shall speak with Lexa about it" she answered after another moment of contemplation. Roan was still prohibited from roaming through the tower and Polis at his will and the level which housed the political prisoners in the tower, was also not open for visitors just like that.

"Thank you" Freya breathed with the hint of a smile ghosting around her lips for a moment and a little flash of relieve passed through her blue eyes. She pushed herself up onto her elbows, hovering like that for a moment, uncertainty flashing through her blue eyes, before she followed her instincts and scooted closer to Anya, gently placing her head on one of the general's thighs. She had moved so slowly, that the general could have stopped her or removed her at any moment. "Is this okay?" she asked faintly, she did not look up at Anya, but turned onto her side slightly, so that she could comfortably lie her uninjured cheek onto Anya's thigh and get her weight off of her back as well. Freya did not know exactly why, but even the little contact felt immensely soothing immediately and she felt the knot in her stomach easing slightly.

"Certainly" Anya agreed a little stiffly with a curt nod, surprised by the girl's sudden urge to be physically close to her now. If Freya was seeking a little comfort, she would certainly not deny her. Cautiously and with slow movements, she began to open the braids from her long blonde hair for her, they had gotten untidy after a night of sleep and her scuffle with the assassins anyway. She was unsure of what to do exactly and it at least gave her hands a task and something to keep her mind focused on.

Freya tensed minutely at the touch, but felt herself relaxing again only moments later, almost against her will. The general's fingers were gentle in her hair, as she removed the braids slowly and combed her hair through with her fingers, letting the tips of her fingers scratch over her scalp slightly.

Anya noticed how the girl began to relax shortly after a few moments of her ministrations and after she had taken out all the braids and smoothed out Freya's hairs, she let her fingers continue to glide through the strands soothingly.

The fact that Freya was the one to have deepened their interaction by initiating the contact in the first place, placing herself freely in such a submissive and vulnerable position, spoke of such a high degree of trust, which Anya knew she could not have possibly earned yet. It puzzled her slightly that the girl seemed willing to trust her in such a fashion at all.

She internally mused if getting closer to the girl might be much easier than she had originally anticipated. The girl still appeared shy and meek and even though she had clearly been shell-shocked directly after the assassin's attack, she now appeared completely calm and even close to falling asleep. Although Anya was well aware that they already had slept next to each other during the previous night, she had been the one to fall asleep first, she had noticed that the girl had remained stiff and clearly afraid next to her, almost falling off of the mattress in her desperate attempt to remain as far away as possible. So, letting her guard down like this was certainly a new level of trust, it almost literally spelled out that the girl was willingly entrusting her life to her protection now.

Anya knew that they would have more than enough time to talk later, so she mutely watched on, how Freya's breathings evened out and the girl fell asleep only moments later, her head still pillowed by her thigh. Intent on letting Freya catch some rest, Anya remained sitting in this position perfectly still, letting her thoughts wander freely now.

The girl looked almost peaceful while she slept. She could fathom that the addition of this scar would not be to her liking later, but there was no way to remove it safely either.

It appeared to Anya as if she had interrupted the assassins' work. Some parts of the original Ice Nation markings still remained intact above Freya's cheekbone, climbing up onto her forehead.

Anya had already seen how clan markings were removed from the skin of a banished traitor. Lexa had taken up banishing traitors if their crimes allowed it, instead of executing everyone, regardless of their sins. So, she knew, just how cruel of a punishment the banishment from a clan and the removal of the visible marks could be. She fleetingly wondered if offering her wife an official place within Trikru and not just because of their bond would be able to ease some of Freya's suffering, but she pushed the thought from her mind again. The Ice princess had no reason to wish to be integrated into her own clan yet and Anya could not speak on the behalf of Trikru anyway, she would need to discuss the future possibility with Lexa first.

When she heard footfalls coming from the hall outside of their new quarters, Anya tensed slightly. Lost in her thoughts, she had not paid any mind to the time passing. A quick look down showed her, that Freya was still sleeping peacefully in the same position, face relaxed in her slumber. She had not consciously felt it, when one of the girl's hands had sneaked onto her thigh as well, clutching at the material of her pants, as if she was anchoring herself in the presence.

She did not expect that assassins would manage to reach the highest level of the tower, she was certain that Lexa would have even increased the security measures for now. It was not out of the scope of possibility, that Nia would not have just sent assassins behind her daughter, but was targeting the commander in addition. It was also reasonable to expect more than just a mere pair of assassins, but that rather more were still lurking within the streets of the capitol.

A soft knock resonated through the room a moment later and the door was pushed open, before Anya could call out. She relaxed slightly, an assassin would never known on a door beforehand.

It was in fact Lexa herself, who strode into the room. The commander stopped in her tracks with a slight frown on her features, when she spotted her former mentor sitting on the bed, with the Ice princess clearly asleep in such an intimate position. She raised a brow at the older woman in silence, coming to a stop in front of the bed, hands clasped behind her back and a hint of amusement dancing in her green eyes.

Anya's lips thinned slightly and she narrowed her eyes, daring the commander to comment on their position. Her brown eyes minutely flitted down to Freya's face, still relaxed in slumber and her own fingers still softly carded through her long blonde hair.

Lexa smirked slightly, before her expression turned sober again. The attack on the Ice princess was not enough yet to truly allow her to take steps to remove Nia from her throne, she could cut down their trade slightly, but there was not much more she could do. She knew that Nia could easily claim to have had no knowledge of the assassins' doing, claiming that they had acted on their own on the seemingly defecting princess. She told Anya as such and while her tone was calm, there was anger boiling in her veins. She was just waiting for Nia to give her even a little reason to march her armies north and remove the vile woman from her throne.

Lexa's green eyes trailed over the Ice princess' sleeping form, she looked even frailer in this position. Her thin fingers looked almost as white as the snow into which she had been born, contrasting starkly against Anya's dark pants. The burn showed clearly even through the ointment which had been applied to it and Lexa knew that it would certainly take some time to heal. She wondered how Nia was capable of discarding her own flesh and blood like this. She had expected to feel nothing more than boiling hatred for the girl, sharing her mother's eyes, but even Lexa had to acknowledge that Freya was not guilty of her mother's sins.

Anya nodded with a slight sigh, she had not expected anything different. They both were aware just how slippery Nia was. After Costia's murder, the queen had behaved herself, only resorting to little jabs against Lexa's rule and she would not be foolish enough to rile the united force of the clans against her. Both of them knew very well that Nia could be patient and would be waiting for the clans to lose faith in Lexa's rule before the queen made her next move. The coalition was anything but stable and every small misjudgement on Lexa's part could easily cost her dearly.

"Has she suffered more injuries from the attack?" Lexa asked, expression calm and tone low, still standing in front of the bed. Assassination attempts were nothing out of the ordinary and they had gotten more regular after she had begun to forge the coalition, but usually she was the target as the commander.

Anya shook her head in the negative, her fingers stilled in the princess' blonde hair momentarily. "The fact that she was basically banished from her clan will hurt far worse, than the physical burns ever could" the general said lowly, compassion clear on her face. The thought of including Freya into Trikru returned to her mind unbidden again. She could not deny that it had a certain appeal to imagine a tattoo similar to her own adoring the girl's arm, signifying that they now belonged to each other.

Lexa inclined her head in mute acknowledgment. She had personally banished more than a hand of people from Trikru, destroying their markings in the process. She could still remember how quite a number of those to be banished, had chosen their own death instead. The people took pride in their clans and the visible signs signifying to which clan they belonged, stripping them of the marks, was like destroying their home and a significant part of themselves as well. They had survived after the end of the old world because the clans had formed, those who had preferred to stay on their own, did not have an actual chance at survival. The clans claimed the resources needed for survival, so being without a clan almost automatically meant death. Lexa knew that some clan-less people had searched refugee in the desert, but survival was a constant struggle there.

Freya would certainly not have an easy standing in Polis. The girl was visibly frightened and physically weak. Although her Ice Nation marks might have mostly been erased from her skin, her origin was still well known and although Azgeda was part of the coalition now, the people from the north were still the most hated among Trikru and the other clans.

It appeared to Lexa as if Anya had begun to feel at least a little towards the princess. She still remembered how harsh of a mentor the general had been, she had never been one to cuddle her and Lexa had earned every little praise the hard way. Seeing the woman now almost casually caressing the princess' hair like this, was a weird sight to say the least.

"I know that I cannot speak on her behalf..." Anya begun, voice uncharacteristically hesitant "...but I think, we should consider to include her officially into Trikru in the future". The idea just could not be pushed from her mind completely.

Lexa's brows furrowed, while her jaw tightened. Her initial automatic response would have been a quick and decisive denial, but the way Anya had worded her request, made her pause. The general had obviously already thought about this beforehand. "You plan this to become a real union one day" she assessed, not voicing a question but rather stating her observation. Lexa had expected for Anya to seek for a possibility to bring some lasting distance between herself and the princess, the general had not been enthusiastic about the union at all, but Gustus had been outright against it, only his loyalty to her, had the man made to agree with it in the first place. It seemed that Anya was willing to regard the princess on her own right, Lexa would need to try that as well in the future.

Anya just subtly inclined her head and a sigh underlined her tone "We agree on that at least..." she said, glancing down minutely "...she asked to be allowed to see her brother".

Lexa's furrow deepened, slightly confused by Anya's quick change of topic. It seemed the older woman was not expecting an immediate answer to her previous request. Roan was still tightly restricted in his access outside of his small room and Lexa was not sure how she felt about changing this just yet. "I shall think about it" she cautiously retorted, tone controlled. It seemed Anya was not finished with her surprises just yet.

"I want to leave the capitol with her for a few days" Anya proclaimed, aware that Lexa had to allow her a leave before she could just abandon her duty.

"Why?" Lexa asked with a frown. She did not like the idea of her former mentor leaving her post just like that.

"Freya is convinced that there are more assassins waiting for her" Anya reasoned "and I think a change of scenery for a few days would be beneficial for both of us". She knew that getting to know the girl would be easier on a journey, where they were forced to spend the whole day with each other.

Lexa sighed, but inclined her head in agreement. "For how long?" she questioned, her voice hinted at her displeasure of letting the general leave the protection of the tower.

"Just a few days" Anya reassured quickly. It surprised her slightly how hesitant the commander appeared to let her leave. "Freya should see more of the Trikru lands than the capitol" she added "and I have not been to TonDC for too long".

"A few others will accompany you" Lexa decided quickly and her tone left no room for negotiation on this requirement. If assassins were to follow the pair out of Polis, Lexa feared that she would lose the general to them.

Anya nodded curtly "We will leave at first light" she proclaimed strongly.

Lexa sighed lightly, but nodded "I will arrange some preparations" she offered and turned on her heel without waiting for an answer.

Anya watched her previous second leave in silence, before she looked down again. She would return to her place at Lexa's side, but Freya deserved a fair chance for this bonding to develop as well.