Lexa had led Clarke and Bellamy to the clearing north of the drop ship that Clarke had requested they meet the night before. The Commander was not new to politics, but both the Skaikru following her were. Granted Clarke had some insight, due to the fact that her mother was part of the Skaikru council, but Bellamy had nothing to lead his intuition but anxiety and paranoia.
"I understand that your people need to thrive and govern themselves within this local area, but you will always answer to me in the end," Lexa began instructing, as Clarke listened intently due to her newfound pleasure for diplomacy, while Bellamy couldn't keep the worry off his face. He still found it within himself to wait for Lexa to finish her statement. He knew it was better to hear the Commander out first so he wouldn't make a fool out of himself for asking questions. "You may select a Chancellor, or any title of a leader, using the methods of your culture. You may even elect an ambassador if you do not wish to give your local leader the responsibility of corresponding with the Twelve Clans on a regular basis. These two titles will be the start of Skaikru with privileges to leave your five-mile radius. If your people follow my rules and prove to be harmless, we will extend the privilege to more."
"What about protection?" Bellamy asked, his deep voice startling Clarke.
"If it makes Skaikru feel safe, I will assign some of my warriors to patrol the boundaries of your grounds." Lexa spoke this offer with a genuine nod of understanding, but she knew in the back of her mind that Bellamy was asking about something different.
"You keep mentioning that your people are wary of us," Bellamy began, presenting his argument professionally, "But I can't help but feel like you're not considering what my people may feel about yours. I want to establish a militia. As a colony, we deserve the right to be able to defend ourselves."
Lexa raised an eyebrow tentatively as she heard his words. History had always proved that arming a fanatic resulted in tragedy, but the Commander knew that this military security blanket was the only thing that was going to quell Bellamy's interference.
"You may have your militia," Lexa said, playing her card, "but it can only consist of the men you already have armed. That includes you, totally to four. With your kind of weapons, you do not need more than that for now."
"That's not a good ratio," Bellamy said, "That's not even one militia man per ten Arkers. How's that enough?"
"My people will be there to protect you too," Lexa said, raising her voice just a bit. "I am being generous, Bellamy. This is just the beginning. Prove to be trustworthy and I will allow your community to grow. You don't want protection for your people, you want to be a contender against mine. I can assure you that trying to build an army against me will not be fruitful. Remember that you're at my mercy."
Clarke could feel the tension as she watched these two debate, and knew that it was going to take a turn for the worst if she didn't interfere in some way.
"We accept," Clarke said, earning Bellamy's shocked attention.
"Clarke, we're not finished yet," he said.
"Yes, we are. The Commander is being more than lenient. She already has with everything so far. Let's just be grateful that she's not taking away your guns. Don't you think that if she wanted us to be powerless that she would have taken them away by now?" Clarke knew that openly sharing Bellamy's concerns in front of Lexa was not a smart move in general when it came to politics, but she just knew that they truly didn't have anything to fear from Lexa and the Grounders. "We can always petition for more rights within time, isn't that right, Commander?" Clarke asked, turning to look at Lexa for support.
The Commander nodded, "One step at a time, it's not much to ask for."
Bellamy let his guard retreat, as he came to terms with the simple request. If he wanted to feel safe, he would have to do it by the Commander's rules… for now.
"When your people have elected your officials, you must report this to one of my people, who will all be aware of this responsibility. These officials will then be escorted by my people to the capitol of Polis, where they will meet every other ambassador of my Clans. It is best that everyone be familiar with each other as soon as possible, so that when we see a Skai person outside their grounds, we will be able to recognize them as people of importance."
"Fine," Bellamy agreed. The three of them shook hands to finalize the deal, and turned back to make their way back to camp.
When they made it back, the finishing touches on the last two longhouses were being put in place, fruit and roots were neatly collected on old jackets and pieces of fabric being used as bags, and meat was being smoked in a small rickety hut, that must have been constructed just for the moment. Clarke smiled as she saw Monty attentively writing down and illustrating each root, berry, bark and fruit, into a small journal. She was thankful that someone was clever enough to document the safe plants for future use. It would serve them well in the future, especially when it came to efficiently trading with the Grounders. It was one step towards being a self-sufficient community, and she hoped that Lexa took note of Monty's initiative.
Octavia was passing through the crowd following Indra, asking the warrior all kinds of questions that must have reminded the veteran of a child. For a girl hidden in a floorboard for her whole life, Octavia Blake was proving to be a very social person.
In the distance Clarke could see Wells and Finn, who were team-lifting large planks of wood to be stored behind the drop-ship. Now doubt it was excess lumber, and they planned on using it for future buildings. Ever resourceful, those two were. Jasper, who was still too weak to be much help with physical labor, had found purpose in boiling large quantities of water, determined to create a supply of safe drinking water.
It made Clarke feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment just looking at the rapidly growing community. So much, that for a brief moment she forgot all about the Ark, and all the electricity and technology it had. She was beginning to feel that somehow this life, with fresh air, daytime sunlight, and real meat and plants was completely worth the lack of electricity. And to top it off, a Grounder healer had actually stopped by already, the unofficial first trader of the Arker Trading Post and had donated a medium-sized amount of herbs, mysterious vials, and clean linens. Not wanting to seem like a freeloader, Miller took it upon himself to insist on making it a trade, and gave the healer a spare leather jacket (which had belonged to an Arker who passed away in the landing of the drop ship).
Not even considering their soul bond, Clarke really just wanted to drop to her knees and blubberingly express her gratitude to Lexa. All this was incredible and it just felt like the best luck in the world.
"This shouldn't take long," Clarke heard Bellamy's voice over her shoulder. She saw that he was addressing Lexa, and walked over to one of the stumps of the campfires of last night, and created a shrill whistle with his fingers against his lips. The camp quickly came to a silent halt. All eyes, Grounder and Arker, looked up at him.
"The Commander," he began, making sure his voice was heard throughout the camp, "Has given us the opportunity to select a leader. While it has been made clear that we still answer to her at the end of the day," a murmur went through the camp, "we are allowed to have a leader from our own people who will take care of us. We have also been allowed the privilege of banding a militia and having an ambassador. Both our leader and ambassador will have the privilege of leaving the five mile radius, but for business only. It is up to these individuals to communicate with the Commander, especially if we request a petition. The sooner we pick our leaders, the sooner these people get to step outside and see what more this world has to offer. I suggest we hold an election now."
Clarke was surprised by Bellamy's collectiveness, however impatient this leadership selection was going, and found herself admiring his suggestion to an election. She had actually expected him to appoint himself.
"Who do you all think should be our leader?" He asked, knowing that the group shouting these names left and right was going to be a bit difficult. He could hear Wells' name being shouted here and there, but wanted to pretend the votes weren't loud. "You really want the Chancellor's son- the man who enforces the laws that has gotten so many executed and landed you here away from home? Picking someone related to a leader is just lazy voting."
The votes for Wells began to be drowned out by people who agreed with Bellamy, and soon the eldest Blake had his name being chanted among the crowd. Clarke rolled her eyes and was about to make a statement against that when she heard her name being shouted by one lone voice, louder than the chant. It had come from Wells, who was standing beside Finn, as they emerged from their lumber pile behind the drop ship.
"Clarke should be our leader," he said, using his almost hereditary power of leadership to speak, "Without her, we all would have none of this. It's because of her that we are now lavishing in Grounder hospitality."
Whispers of agreement rippled through the crowd.
"Yeah, but Bellamy found us weapons. Without him, we wouldn't be able to defend ourselves from rogue individuals," Murphy's argument came out of the crowd, placing emphasis on his choice of word so as not to offender the Grounders. It was best to choose a word that could be applied to both a Grounder and an Arker.
"Are you serious right now?" asked Octavia, who had taken steps away from Indra to get closer to Murphy. "You know this is a trading post, right? We could very easily trade for weapons and weapon parts."
"Who the hell is gonna bring a spear to a gunfight, though?" Atom teased, standing by Murphy.
"It would have never been a gunfight if you guys never went looking for weapons, it would have been the same kind of weapons used against each other." Octavia snapped back. "Because these Grounders obviously want to attack us after they built a whole damn town for us, showed us how to fly-fish, hunt, and forage. Because that's what you do for someone you want to annihilate."
Clarke could see the hurt in Bellamy's eyes as he watched his sister actively tear apart his short-lived campaign.
"Clarke has secured us an alliance and life-sustaining trades and products," came Finn's voice. "Better a leader who provided us with something long-term than one who provided us with guns that barely have working ammunition. She was also the one who took the initiative to go look for Mount Weather, which was an attempt to find all of us shelter and supplies. Bellamy stayed put at the camp."
"I stayed to build this base camp! If Clarke had failed to find Mount Weather, which she did, this drop ship camp would have been all that we had. And it is all that we have. If Clarke hadn't…" Bellamy stopped in his words, and both Clarke and Lexa knew that he had caught himself about to disclose their soulmate status to everyone present. The two women felt tension twist inside their stomach, anticipating the reveal. "… if Clarke hadn't have been so lucky, because that's all it was, to have found the Commander, we would still be trying to survive and defend ourselves from the threats that this world has. I was doing what I could to make sure we would survive if Clarke had failed."
The commotion began to grow as the crowd began to take in both sides of the argument, making it clear that there wasn't room for any other contender aside from Bellamy and Clarke. Clarke knew that Bellamy did not want to lose because that would mean answering to her, and she would do all she could to keep the way they were going. Bellamy wanted freedom from something, and Clarke still couldn't figure it out. She wanted to let him know that she would still make sure that he felt safe. Having her win didn't mean she wouldn't take care of him too, just like she would with everyone else here in the camp.
She could see him looking at her, almost sorrowfully, as the crowd began to chant her name louder, and soon the chant for Bellamy was swept up like an undertow, and all that could be heard was the name of Clarke Griffin. As she reluctantly accepted the title, she asked the word "Ambassador?" and the crowd immediately erupted with the name of the eldest Blake. It seemed that the crowd was torn on who to pick, so they ended up picking both for these most privileged positions.
Turning around from the excitement of this impromptu election, Clarke could see that the excitement had spread to Lexa, who couldn't help a sly smile from curving at her lips.
"Let's not waste any time," She said, "To Polis?"