Chapter 6 Talking
As soon as Lexa left the tent Clarke stood allowing the fur she now recognized as a bear pelt to fall off of her. Her eyes wandered the room and then landed on the familiar throne. The sight of it made Clarke remember when she first met Lexa. Clarke firstly remembered how frightening she looked with the war paint on. She her eyes kept flicking to the dagger she toyed with in her hand. She was scared of the stoic figure yet Clarke was also able to recognize the beauty that was behind that. She was also in awe that when she spoke she commanded the room of people older than her with little if any of them disapproving of her. Clarke had wished she had that experience with her own people but she had felt that they only listened her because of her mother being Chancellor. It was stupid of course since she knew that Marcus listened to her because he respected her knowledge of the world. What she didn't get was that her mother Abby couldn't listen to her as well it was infuriating after all Clarke had stopped being a child a long time ago well what felt like a long time ago to her.
While thinking these Clarke looks through Lexa's clothes for something that would fit her. All of Clarke's clothing she stole from the Mountain was tattered her only good pair were the ones she decided to take a swim in. She finally found pants that were big enough to fit her. She was glad Lexa's clothing fit her well enough. Clarke's figure was a lot more curvy than Lexa's so they didn't really wear the same size. Since Lexa was more lithe and skinnier than her. Clarke looks down at herself before putting some shoes on. As she did so she wanted to know what Lexa had wanted to talk about? Her mind flashed back to the kiss they shared that was about a month ago. She couldn't possibly want to talk about that could she? Clarke wonders feeling a bit apprehensive. She then shakes her head wondering why Lexa would even want to talk about that or maybe that was her own mind conjuring that up.
Still if they were to talk about the kiss they shared Clarke knew she'd tell Lexa she wasn't interested in her romantically. She felt that if she did she'd be betraying all of her friends and especially Finn. Clarke swallows roughly feeling like shit at even thinking of the person who forced her hand in killing him. Even as she thought that she knew it wasn't a true statement nor was it fair to Lexa to think that way. Clarke knew that what Finn did couldn't go unpunished. That he dug that hole all on his own by shooting and murdering those grounders. He almost had everyone killed. It was a domino effect that led to Clarke having to end his life so he wouldn't be tortured to death. Clarke could feel tears welling up in her eyes so she thought it'd be best to move away from her thoughts concerning Finn.
So Clarke busied herself with looking through her things. She opened her bag and was relieved to see that her gun wasn't ruined. She checked the mags and bullets hoping that they weren't duds. She then looked through her food that she brought and sighed seeing that there was no way to salvage that. She picks her mags up and puts them into her bag before lifting her gun up. She stares at it a few moments. "Should I be worried?" Clarke jumps and fingers hits the trigger. She curses under her breath glad that her safety was still on. She turns to Lexa who was staring at her with a blank face but she could see in her eyes that she was amused.
"Thanks for scaring me." Lexa raises her eyebrows in confusion.
"Are you mocking me?" Clarke sighs.
"No I was being sarcastic."
"Aren't they the same thing?" Lexa questions her. Clarke frowns.
"Not to me they aren't." Clarke places her gun back in the bag. Lexa shrugs her shoulders holding up food. Clarke stomach rumbles at the sight of it. Lexa walks to the table sets down the two plates. Both had a slice of meat, some porridge like concoction and bread on it.
"Eat Clarke." Lexa grabs her chair and Clarke does the same taking a seat.
"What did you want to talk about?" Clarke asks her not wanting to waste any time. She also knew that Lexa was going to wait until they finished eating to bring it up. But Clarke was too curious to do so. So she soaked her bread in the porridge and took a bite waiting for Lexa to speak. When she didn't she looked up to see Lexa eyeing her with a very familiar look. She was studying Clarke to figure if she wanted to continue with what she said earlier or go a different route. Finally Lexa nodded and after eating a bit more of her food she began to speak.
"My warriors and I are heading to Polis." At this Clarke's interest was piqued. She had remembered when Lexa had invited her to their capitol saying it would change the way she thought of grounders. But Lexa already accomplished that by just being herself around Clarke. Those few moments made her see that Lexa…the grounders were just as compassionate and civil as their own people. It was just that they had the ability or rather the training to cross lines that her people were too scared to touch with a thirty foot pole.
"Are you inviting me again?" Clarke asks seeing as Lexa didn't continue speaking. Lexa tilts her head.
"I never retracted my previous invitation so there is no again Clarke. I don't like repeating myself." Lexa states plainly. Clarke rolls her eyes.
"Fine you aren't inviting me again so why did you tell me."
"I was telling you in case you thought I was going to Tondc." Clarke flinched at hearing the name of the village she let go to waste. "Clarke don't let guilt eat your heart it helps no one."
"Again why are you telling me this?" Clarke quickly tried to get the subject back to Polis. She hoped Lexa would just let it go and continue where she left off. She preferred to not think about Tondc.
"Clarke I want you to know so you'd get supplies to continue your journey."
"No my journey is done. Winter is coming plus I'd rather stay with you in Polis than be out on my own again. I'll admit that when your men found me I was searching for you." Lexa eyes flashed before returning to a blank one. She looked down at her food and ate some more. Clarke watched her before doing the same.
"Why were you looking for me?"
"I thought it was because I wanted to yell at you, to hate and maybe even kill you." Clarke paused hoping to not get a bad response from Lexa at her admittance. But Lexa just stared at her with a small smile on her face and expectation in her eyes. "But I know now that I was looking for someone that could understand me to help me move on from the pain I was feeling. I guess somewhere in me I knew that you had the answers I needed." Clarke admits making Lexa nod a small smile on her face. The sight of the smile made Clarke smile.
"I'm glad you came to me as well." Lexa closes her face off once more not wanting to give out any more information concerning her feelings that she had when she knew that Clarke was out all alone near winter. Lexa felt the need to tell Clarke about her people would be in Polis soon. She wanted to not keep that hidden from her. "Your leaders will arrive in Polis too." At this Clarke's eyes widen.
"What why?"
"Clarke your people came to me about a week or so ago asking to join the coalition. I honestly think it's a good idea. I'd rather have you as an ally than an enemy. The other clans out there that aren't a part of the coalition would most likely make you an offer so you would join them either that or maybe one of my enemy clans inside the coalition might attack you or have you join their side and tearing me down."
"Like the Azkru." Lexa nods stiffly. "Why do you keep saying you? I'm no longer my people's leader or rather I was never my people's leader. My mother is the leader." Lexa's face softens.
"You are to us Clarke. You are the leader of the Skaikru whether your people recognize it or not. Your mother may be Chancellor but you are in charge." Clarke remembers the time she told the same thing to her mother and then shakes her head.
"So what you're telling me is that my mother probably won't make any headway into joining them unless I'm there as a leader." Clarke swallows looking down at her hands. Lexa reaches across the table and touches her hand lightly. The movement causes Clarke to look up at her.
"Clarke you don't have to be their leader. You could be their liaison between our two people. An ambassador of sorts. That way you won't have to return to them until you're ready."
"How can I do that?" Lexa smiles.
"Well firstly I need to teach you our ways and traditions. You'll also need to learn the way of the warriors. All of my people know the way but others train specifically as warriors. I just want to teach you the way." Clarke knew this would be a long difficult process.
"How much time do we have?" Clarke asks her. Lexa hesitates before slightly before answering.
"We should arrive in Polis in two days at the latest. If we move through the night tomorrow we could make it in one day. After that there is about two weeks before all of the clans arrive for our talk on how to deal with your kru. Your people should be here in the second week as I've instructed my warrior to take them there then. The first meeting will be me pitching the idea to them and the second will take place the next day and you'll be there with me. If you have no understanding of our culture and I have none of yours then the coalition idea will become strained. So we have pretty much three weeks and two days." Clarke sighs.
"That isn't a lot of time. Is there a shorter and easier way we can do this?" Clarke asks her hopefully. Lexa nods. "What is it?"
"A union between clans."
"It's not what I think it is. Is it?"
"A merger or Union between two clans occurs when the heads of each clan undergo a union or I believe your people call it a marriage. It will be a bond for life unbreakable by any." Lexa explains.
"Well they do say the easiest way isn't the best way so I'll take the long and hard way." Lexa smirks. Clarke could tell that she was pleased by her decision to learn more about grounder tradition then jump into a marriage. Though Clarke felt irked by the fact that Lexa looked so happy about her not jumping into a marriage with her. She was the only grounder leader she knew and the Trigedakru was the only kru that Clarke ever interacted with intimately so there was no way she'd as Lexa liked to say bond with another clan leader. So she felt kind of peeved that Lexa was happy to not be with her. Why do I even care whether she wants to be with me or not? I don't even like her like that. Clarke thinks shaking her head. "So when do we start?"
"Now."
…
The next morning Clarke woke up beside a very much awake Lexa. Her eyes widen when she noticed that she was pretty much lying on top of her with her legs entangled with hers. Her face was pressed into Lexa's neck well until Clarke lifted it up and scrambled away from her. She tried to figure out how she got into this situation. She remembered that her and Lexa talked throughout the day about each other's different customs. She was also given a lecture in Trigedasleng language. It was difficult to learn. Clarke was taught different languages on the ark since the ark was comprised of twelve different stations from twelve different countries. They all had the common language of English but they also continued speaking their own languages to keep them alive so it was understood to at least learn one but Trigedasleng was difficult to learn. But Lexa told her she was a quick study so that boosted her confidence which made them continue until late at night.
When Clarke was finally tired Lexa gave her the cot and told her she'd sleep on her throne. Of course Clarke being Clarke denied her that and told her that she wasn't making her sleep in a chair. After a very heated discussion Lexa caved into the much more stubborn Clarke and the two decided to sleep on the same cot. But they had slept on the exact opposite sides not touching and from what Clarke could see she pretty much invaded Lexa's zone. For that she was incredibly embarrassed. It was also the reason that she had scurried away so quickly and her face was bright red. "I'm so sorry." Lexa raises eyebrow at Clarke before standing.
"It's fine. It's not like I minded." Lexa then stands. "We'll eat and then pack the tent up to go." Lexa moved to leave the tent most likely in Clarke's eyes to get food.
"Wait!" Lexa paused and turned towards her. "Why didn't you push me off when you woke up?" Lexa stiffened before looking Clarke straight in the eyes.
"I told you I didn't mind plus every time I tried to pull away you'd just tighten your grip on me."
"Then you should've just woke me up." Clarke says feeling embarrassed.
"I enjoyed watching you sleep plus you were tired." With that Lexa turns and walks away. Clarke just stares at her in shock as she leaves her mind reeling from what Lexa had said.
I'd like to thank everyone who is reading my stories and giving reviews. I put up another story that I'd like you all to read and hopefully review it.
