Previously in chapter 6

Tris takes pity in Marie and gets food for both of them, for which she is immediately punished by Anya. Marie meet the commander later and is interrogated again. Lexa decides to let the girl stay with them and Anya takes the girl as her second.

Chapter 7

After they had left the commander's tent, Anya guided her through the village silently. Marie just hoped that following the woman was the right thing to do. A few moments later, Anya came to a halt in front of a small wooden hut. "You will get clothes suitable for your new status here" Anya explained and held the door open to Marie.

Marie entered the building and was met by the sight of an old woman. The woman's skin was wrinkled from age and the exposure to the sun. In contrast to the reactions from the other inhabitants of the village, the woman smiled first at Marie and then directed her glance towards Anya.

"Landed yourself with another one, did you?" the woman asked Anya with a playful tone and her brown eyes twinkled visibly.

Anya just nodded stiffly, expression not turning even the slightest bit friendlier and gave the woman a look that clearly translated into "get on with it", tapping her foot impatiently against the rough wooden floor.

"Come nearer, young one, and take off your clothes" the old woman demanded with a gentle voice, motioning her closer.

Marie blinked at her for a moment, her brows creased in confusion. Why would she need to strip in front of them?

"Can't see what will fit you best under these loose clothes, girl" the woman explained as amusement creeped into her tone, when Marie hesitated a moment too long.

Anya seemed rather impatient as well and the glare Anya sent her way made Marie spring into action finally.

Marie shrugged out of the jumper and the pants she was wearing, but she kept her underwear and her boots on. Internally she hoped, that she would not be required to strip completely, not feeling well with the thought of being exposed in such a way.

"A scrawny one, I see" the woman commented in a teasing tone, when Marie was done with undressing and she inspected her body shortly.

Marie crossed her arms over her chest self-consciously. It was not her fault the rations on the Ark had been this small. When her mother was sick, they had tried to get extra medicine for all the rations they could spare. Later in the sky box, the prisoners were fed only the minimum to keep them alive. Mostly two small meals a day and if there was a shortage of something the prisoners were the first to go hungry. She had been in the isolation of the sky box for around a year and she knew that she had thinned even further.

The woman had turned around and was looking through a pile of different clothing articles she had pulled from a cupboard behind her.

Anya did not spare Marie's reaction any attention and tapped her foot impatiently on the ground. The process was obviously taking too long for her liking.

A few moments later, she was handed different articles from the old woman with the instruction to put them on. Marie was a bit overwhelmed on how to dress in these strange clothes. All of the clothes seemed to have been recycled from other clothing. Different materials had been mixed together and sometimes a piece of metal had also been added into the mix. The clothes all had various straps and buckles and Marie was confused on how to fasten them properly. She fiddled around with the items helplessly, trying to figure out where they belonged on her own, but it did not seem as if she succeeded.

The old woman finally stepped closer to her and lend her a hand, noticing how helpless the girl was and fastened everything where it belonged. "That should do" the woman said only a short moment later. She was obviously satisfied with the result, as she stepped back with a small nod and a satisfied expression.

Anya shortly inspected Marie and nodded her consent to the clothes mutely. "Have some comfier ones and light armour for her sent to my tent as well" Anya ordered and without waiting for a reply from the old woman, she turned around and left the building, holding the door open behind herself for Marie, expecting the girl to follow her.

Marie was unsure if she should take her old clothes with her, but as she bent down to pick them up, she saw Anya turning around in the opened door.

"Leave them" Anya instructed sharply "You will not need them anymore and they can be repurposed."

Marie nodded feeling strangely numb, leaving behind her only possessions from the Ark. But she knew, that Anya was right. She would be integrated into this culture and she would stand out even more among the people of the village in her old clothes from the Ark. But still it felt as if leaving the clothes behind would cement her leaving the delinquents completely. The numb feeling left her the instant she had followed Anya out of the house after waving goodbye to the woman. The village was bustling with people still.

"Wow, we were taught humanity had died on earth after the bombs fell. But it is so … so alive here" Marie voiced the wonder she was feeling aloud, looking up at Anya expectantly.

Anya gave her a short mild smile as a mute reaction, but kept them moving, weaving them through the tents and huts with the ease of familiarity. They went through the village towards the tent where the commander had stayed. In the near proximity other tents were located. All of the other tents were slightly smaller compared to the commander's tent and Anya guided her towards what appeared to be the second biggest tent. "You will share a tent with me for now" Anya explained calmly, holding the tent flap open for Marie and motioning her inside, before she showed her the inside of the tent.

The tent was definitely smaller. It had two areas, one Marie thought might be reserved for sleeping and a second area where a chest was standing and a small table and two chairs were located, both parts were separated by what appeared to be a think leather curtain.

"Furs will be brought later for you to sleep on" Anya continued to speak in an even tone.

Marie just nodded in mute acknowledgement. She was still intrigued by this different kind of life and felt slightly overwhelmed with all the new impressions her mind had to process.

"We will get something light for breakfast and start your training immediately after it" Anya proclaimed after a short moment, enough time in her mind for the blonde girl to take in the tent, before she turned again and motioned the girl to follow her.

Marie followed her through the village again. On the other side of the village, Marie could see horses grazing. Marie was completely enthralled by the animals, Tris had already told her that her people used horses for transportation. She stopped following Anya when her attention stuck to the majestic looking animals and she wished to observe the animals for a moment longer. She had never before seen a living animal, except for the bird, as there had been none on the Ark. When Marie noticed that Anya had not waited for her, she sprinted up behind her trying to catch up. The woman had not appeared to be the most patient person and she doubted she would be pleased, if she just ignored. Unfortunately, she promptly bumped into a huge warrior, as she hurried behind Anya. She had simply not noticed the warrior crossing her path and had not been quick enough to slow her movements, to prevent crashing into the man.

The man whirled around to face her with a murderous expression on his harsh features and before Marie knew what was happening, she was backhanded harshly across her cheek from the stranger and lost her footing at the hard impact of the harsh blow. "Watch out, filthy invader!" the man sneered towering above her, eyes glinting hatefully and features contorted into a mean sneer.

Only a second later the man was lying on the ground, with Anya kneeling above him pressing a blade to his neck. "You will better watch out, Quint!" Anya hissed angrily at the man, pressing the blade a little stronger into the skin of his neck, piercing it lightly for emphasis "The girl is under my protection now. Heda decided she will be my second and spread word around camp."

The man regarded Anya with a sour expression for a moment, but he nodded and stood up when Anya let him. He left without another word, but only after shooting Marie another hateful glare.

"Making friends already?" Anya teased her new charge lightly over her shoulder.

Marie cast her eyes down onto the ground, her cheeks dusting over with a blush. She knew it was her own fault for not following close enough to Anya, but fortunately the woman did not seem to be angry about that at all. The anger had faded out of her face all together after the man left them.

"Come" Anya ordered finally, tone stricter again and expression blank and they continued their way through the village together now undisturbed. They reached some buildings around a huge fire pit, where smoke was coming from chimneys.

Marie's brain directly associated the smell with food and her stomach began to growl again. It had been a few hours ago already that Tris had brought her the food.

Anya was given two plates of food and two mugs without having to ask for them. It seemed as if everyone knew the woman very well, so Marie gathered that Anya must be pretty high-ranking within this village. Later Marie learned that Anya was one of the commander's most trusted generals.

Anya sat down on some logs that had been placed next to the fire pit and mutely motioned for Marie to do the same. She was handed one of the plates and one of the mugs immediately after from Anya.

The mug did not seem to contain water this time as the liquid in it was of a slightly red colour and smelled strongly and weirdly. Marie took a cautious sip from the mug and had to cough at the strong taste, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "What is that?" Marie asked with a disdainful glare towards the mug, trying to supress herself from coughing and spitting out the foul liquid.

Anya snorted and amusement at the girl's antics danced through her brown eyes. Her tone was even but hinted with the same amusement "It is watered down wine. From your expression I gather you never tasted wine so far?"

Marie just nodded in mute agreement and still looked at the mug distrustfully. She knew theoretically what wine was, but she was not sure if there had been any on the Ark. Even if there might have been wine, children under the age of twenty-one were prohibited from drinking any kind of alcohol by law. Marie knew that probably half of the 100 had been imprisoned, because of breaking this particular law.

"You will have to get used to the taste soon" Anya commented lightly and continued with her own food, although she kept close watch over the girl from the quarter of her eye. Water was not always safe to drink on the ground and wine was a common beverage.

The plate contained a strip of meat, a chunk of bread and some fruits again. Marry started with the red berries and let out a sound of delight at the taste. "What are those?" she asked after taking a second one and savouring the taste on her tongue. Her grey eyes clearly showed her joy as she glanced up at Anya.

"Raspberries" Anya answered simply with the corners of her mouth curling upwards in the ghost of a smile. It seemed weird that the girl was so intrigued by something so trivial, but it was refreshing to watch her reactions.

Marie decided that she liked raspberries definitely much better than the wine. The rest of the meal continued in silence and shortly after, Anya ushered her through the camp again towards the training pits. The training pits actually were just some free space, where wooden targets had been placed and borders were marked by some logs.

"I will need to test your skills first to start efficiently training you" Anya informed Marie, circling around the young girl.

Marie looked at the woman with a doubtful expression. "If you mean skills to do with fighting" Marie started lamely "I don't have any. Children were not trained on the Ark."

Anya looked slightly irritated by that statement, but just nodded in the end. Her lips thinned slightly "Then we will start with the basic skills."

Basic skills for Anya obviously contained a perfect fighting stance for hand on hand combat to begin with.

For Marie it felt like endless hours, before Anya was even mildly satisfied with the way Marie placed her feet and got into a slight crouch raising her hands up to defend her head. She was sure that her shoulders and thighs would be sore in the morning from the uncomfortable position and having to take it up endless times again.

Anya also made her run around the fighting pits and the woman was really irritated to see that Marie's stamina was next to none existent.

But how should she have gotten stamina to begin with? There were no offers of sports on the Ark and she had been in the sky box for the last months. Her cell had been so small, there was not much space to walk around in, so most of the days she had not made more than a few steps from one wall to the other. Marie was breathing heavily after only two rounds around the fighting pits and she felt the muscles in her legs burn and her feet ache. Some of the kids from the village who had eagerly wanted to watch the strange girl train where outright laughing at her now and begun to make fun of her. Marie had to struggle not to let tears of frustration flow and bit her lips hard to get her breathing under control, when she noticed them pointing and laughing at her.

Anya had her arms crossed over her chest and was showing a slight glare on her face. The woman shook her head in exasperation, her tone turned steely "You will just need to improve faster then."

Marie nodded mutely, clenching her teeth together. She was feeling, as if she was confronted with an impossible task. But she would try hard to improve and satisfy Anya's expectations, which she judged to be impossibly high. She prayed they would not cast her out on the spot for being weaker than Anya had thought.

After all, the training did end on a positive note as Anya handed her a dagger and told her to try to throw it at one of the wooden targets. Although lifting her arms felt weird and there was not much force behind her throw, she had not missed the target entirely. The blade fell down again only a brief second later, but her aim had obviously been well enough.

Anya nodded with a hint of satisfaction in her brown eyes "Good. When you improve your strength, the daggers will be your first discipline. Your aim was well, only the strength of your throw is lacking."

Marie smiled proudly, she had a feeling that statements like this, would be all the praise she might get from Anya. The woman seemed nice enough, but definitely did not seem to be the cuddly type. Nonetheless, Marie was internally grateful when Anya told her that training would end for the day. Her limbs were feeling heavy and her back hurt from the unfamiliar fighting stance, she doubted she would be able to move again any time soon.

Anya brought her back to the tent, they would be sharing from now on, but told Marie she was allowed to roam through the village, if she did not go into the woods on her own. Dinner would not be for another few hours and Anya obviously had other things to do than babysat her the whole time.

So, Marie was left on her own in the unfamiliar surroundings. She stood in front of the tent undecided, unsure of what to do. She had no intention to go into the woods any way. She was sure that someone would haul her back sooner than she could try to leave any way. Anya had left her with the instruction not to get into trouble and Marie definitely was not planning to do that. She wanted to stay within her good grace as long as possible. Although her body felt tired, her mind was wide awake and she did not feel like sleeping now.