It's like someone has removed all understanding and comprehension from my brain. Finn? Out of all people, Lincoln took up the offer of a truce from Finn?

"Oh, you accepted the word of a smarmy bastard who doesn't know when to keep it in his pants when he sees a girl other than his girlfriend?" I demand.

"What's the meaning of this?" father demands, his eyes rolling.

"This is most likely their strategy," says Titus. "To confuse us before they could attack without warning."

"That idiot Sky Boy was gone when Wells approached me," I argued. "So, he didn't know about the idea of a truce!"

"Calm down!" Lexa commands, lifting her hand for silence. She turns to Lincoln. "What were the arrangements this boy gave you?"

Lincoln turns to me. "Costia should go first since she arrived here before I did."

I clear my throat. "That the meeting place is the bridge, that Wells should engage in the peace talks with Anya, and that both groups were to bring back up in case the meeting was comprised by a third party."

"What we decided, the location was the same," says Lincoln. "Only the differences were that a girl named Clarke was going to discuss the truce and that there were to be no weapons."

I purse my lips. Clarke? Self-centered Princess Clarke? Is Finn that shortsighted that he never really considered that Wells was the proper candidate and instead decided on a girl who sees my clan through a negative prism? And what an idiot for not wanting armed back up, since he's seen the aftermath of a Reaper attack.

"I don't have to know these boys by meeting them from little I heard," father says. "The boy that consulted with Costia is smart. The boy you consulted is a certified imbecile."

Certified imbecile describes Finn. However, given that Anya was given two different stories sets a roadblock.

Like she read my mind, Anya say, "We will find a way around this. I will take from both. I will assemble my archers and riders and when they meet us, I will speak with this Clarke."

I wanted to roll my eyes but I refrain from doing so. Everything is going to go badly.

"Go back to their camp and inform them of the plans," father says.

I nod and push the door open. Thanks to Finn, everything will mess up badly. It will be all on him if the meeting takes a bad turn and everything erupts.

When I return back, the delinquents were still having their Unity Day celebrations. I look around as I set my feet on the ground, and away from the center of the festivities, I see Clarke and Finn; with Clarke looking in obvious duress.

Probably because a meeting was already planned and that Finn arranged one without her consent and knowledge. When did Finn respect people's judgments anyway?

"Hey, asshole!" I shout, darting towards them with my fists balled.

They both look at me. "Did you get the meeting set up?" Clarke asks.

"She met it with the same hesitation that you and Bellamy approached it with but she agrees to the meeting," I answer, before looking at Finn. "Only this dumbass complicated it that it caused Anya to work over it and use elements of both."

"Well, great," says Finn with a hopeful smile. "What did she say?"

I roll my eyes and sigh. This boy is going to be so disappointed.

"For one, both groups should bring back up," I say before turning to Clarke, "and two, she will be speaking with you."

Clarke pauses while running her hands through her hair. "Alright then," she says after composing herself. "I'll give Bellamy and Wells a update."

We walk away but Finn follows us. "You can't be serious. There is a reason why I didn't want weapons," he says.

"We are not the only people out here," I snap. "Do you really want the meeting to be compromised by either the Mountain Men or the Reapers?"

"She's right," says Clarke. "The last thing we need is to have a third party ruin it. Also, the backup was Wells's idea."

"I know he's your best friend but just trust me," Finn pleads.

Clarke snorts. "The difference is that Wells actually shared the plan with Bellamy and me and consulted us about it before Costia left to offer the agreement, whereas you went behind my back and did it whether I liked the terms or not."

I chuckle at the taken-aback expression on Finn's face. Someone needs ice for that serious burn.

Bellamy and Wells are at the communications tent with Raven who's working on bullets and gunpowder.

"Were you able to set up the meeting?" Wells asks me as soon as he sees me.

"Yeah, but because of Finn, there were some complications," I answer. "There is a change of plans." I turn to Wells. "Unfortunately, you will not be discussing the truce. Clarke will."

"I have no reservations against that," says Bellamy.

"Okay, not what we planned but doable," says Wells.

He doesn't seem too upset. Most likely because he plans on helping Clarke what words to say to Anya. He would know what words to say and he'll have his best friend rehearse them.

"How long will you have to get back up ready?" I ask, folding my arms. "Anya is assembling her archers and riders as we speak."

"In a few," says Bellamy. "Why would she bring archers? We will be on ground level."

"In case a third party is spotted and they have to send a signal," I say. "I plan on doing that myself as well."

"Nothing against that," says Bellamy with a nod. He turns to Clarke, "Why don't you get started for departure. I will depart with Raven, Jasper, and Murphy after you."

So that's his backup team. I would choose Miller over Murphy but at least I won't be near him to hear from him about how Wells and I have it bad.

We leave the tent and Wells, Clarke, and I put bags of dried fruit in our packs. And Finn approaches us.

For the life of me, he has to be kidding me.

"Getting ready for departure?" he asks.

"Yes," says Clarke.

"You know, I can come with you guys," he says. "To make sure this goes well."

I glare at him as I close my provisions bag. "No, you stay here with Miller to watch after camp," I say abrasively. "You messed up this meeting up with your inherent stupidity and you'll only mess things up even further by coming."

I smirk at his taken aback expression and he looks to Clarke for assistance. "You want me to come, right?"

Clarke tilts her head for a moment before turning to him. "She is right. We need more than one person to keep an eye on things here."

Finn would guilt her about not taking him later on but what could we have done? It's best not to risk taking him but I don't want him near Clarke with Raven around. In fact, I don't want Finn around Raven. She needs someone better then him, like Bellamy.

Bellamy would be a much better choice for her.

"Did you want him to not come because you thought he would mess up the peace talks or because of Raven?" Wells asks as we depart from camp.

"Both," I say. "It's not helping matters since he's been flaunting his preference to Clarke when Raven is in full view sometimes."

"He's not flaunting his preference to me," Clarke says. "He just likes to make conversation."

"Then how do you explain the wistful looks he makes and how you would move away his hand sometimes?" I ask, raising a eyebrow.

Clarke doesn't say anything. Probably because she doesn't know what to say.

As we walk through the woods, Wells gives Clarke's tips on what to say when she meets Anya.

"When you see her, say I think we have got off on the wrong foot. Talk about what happened first and we'll clear everything up from there," he says. "If you just say that you want to have peace that will sound fickle."

"Why?" Clarke asks. "From what Costia said, the representative accepted the meeting after hesitating."

"When something happens, people will have a different interpretation of the event," answers Wells. "Given that Anya hesitated, that means that whatever we did was a unintentional declaration of war."

"But we didn't start anything," Clarke insists. "Technically, they started it when Jasper was speared."

"That was when our Commander prohibited any action against you," I clarify. "The men that did it got hung for disobeying that order but that was before the flares and Lincoln's kidnapping."

"Exactly," says Wells. "When those rangers chased us when we were looking for Octavia, I had a feeling that we must have did something otherwise they wouldn't have pursued us like they did. When you look at it, we were the ones that started it, not them."

Clarke sighs but refrains from answering.

"Costia, I don't know if you noticed that a few hours ago, we lost contact with the Ark towards the end of the pageant," Wells says.

My mind was so focused on the truce that I was practically oblivious to most things but I do vaguely remember Raven complaining of a lost signal. "I vaguely remember it. Why?"

"I think something is going terribly wrong up there," says Wells after a brief pause. "My gut is telling me something is wrong."

"I'm sure they will fix the communication up there and we'll be connected to the Ark tomorrow," says Clarke, like she's trying to reassure him.

"Raven was near the video communication at the time and when it got cut off, it was sudden, like a explosive went off," he says. "Considering that not everyone likes my father, it doesn't help matters any."

I remember how Wells was initially treated by his peers when I first met him and I don't doubt that the adults up there felt the same way about his father. One would think that a mutiny was bound to happen up in their Lego Space Castle.

I put my hand on his shoulder. "If your gut is telling you something is wrong, go by it. Hopefully, your father is okay."

"Thank you, Costia," he says. "They always say to trust your gut feeling."

By the time we are close to our destination, the sun has just risen above the horizon and from a distance, I spot Octavia. Like she's been waiting for them.

"Okay," I say. "They might be close by now. I'm going to up in the trees to monitor the situation and if I see something suspicious, I'll give a signal."

"What should we expect?" asks Clarke.

"If Lincoln catches a arrow, that would mean that a third party has been spotted," I say. "That's what you should expect."

"That's all I needed to know," says Clarke with a nod before departing to the bridge.

"Costia," Wells says as he touches my arm, "be careful."

"I will," I reply before receiving a hug from him. I nuzzle my nose in his shoulder, my arms keeping him to me in a vice grip, but eventually, I let go.

We both nod to each other before I disappear into the trees at the other side of the bridge. My fingers rely on the crevices before I get to the branches; where I quickly place each foot and hand on one as to avoid breaking under my feet or in my hand.

When I get to the highest point, I tie a suspension rope to my waist to avoid falling to my death. I take out my collapsible telescope from my provisions bag and look through it. I could see Lincoln running from the other end and I look over to see some movement from the west. Most likely the Sky People's back up team.

I look back to the bridge to see Lincoln and Octavia separate from a hug and shortly afterwards I see the riders and it's not long before Anya arrives with her copper-colored thoroughbred horse, Helios.

I notice that Lincoln blocks Wells from moving. Probably because Anya would prefer to speak to Clarke alone. That wouldn't surprise me.

I focus my telescope on various parts of the area as a third party may come in the vicinity of the meeting though for a few seconds I would focus on the bridge. The third time I focused on it was when I saw Clarke offering her hand only to have Anya silently refuse to. I would too not take Clarke's hand if I was in her position.

I hadn't paid much attention to the bridge as my primary focus was the vicinity around it. It might have been ten minutes later when I could see movement from below. I couldn't it see well considering that I was high up but the movement of the bushes was very obvious.

What makes it more dangerous is that I don't know whether they were the Reapers transporting prisoners to the Mountain or if it was the Mountain Men themselves. Both are horrifying but the latter was much more horrifying because they have more clear and coherent thoughts.

I take out my arrow and pull it along the bowstring, eyeing Lincoln. Careful to aim close to him and not at him so he could catch the arrow.

My fingers are ready to release the arrow –

"Clarke, Run!" I hear Jasper shout. "Run!"

The sound of gunshots fills the air. On the bridge, the small dot that is Anya lunge at Clarke but she's forced to run the other direction due to something. Then, I see arrows coming from the trees and I thought I see her riders shoot arrows.

Chaos, caused by a domino effect. What the ever living heck?

I grab the suspension rope and lower myself from tree, my heart pounding in my chest and a knot tied in my stomach. My feet touch the ground and I untie the rope from my waist before running towards the bridge; the blood pounding in my ears.

"What happened?" I demand.

Wells grabs my wrist. "We have to go!" he shouts, the urgency in his voice obvious and he drags me out of there.

The four of us run through the forest, our feet pounding from beneath us and we could hear each other's frantic breathing. We collide with hanging branches, step on twigs, and one of us nearly trips.

Technically, none of the members of my group are in danger in getting captured since people would be at the villages preparing for tonight's Harvest Day celebrations. However, there might be stragglers who would see one fall behind and they would capture that person.

I don't know how long we have running but by the time we see the fence it's late morning. Everyone stops for a deep breath. Through my panting, I glare at Jasper.

"What happened?" Clarke demands, looking at me for an explanation.

"I saw some rustling in the bushes several feet below me and I was about to send the signal when he started shooting," I say, glaring at Jasper once more.

"I saw him aiming at Clarke!" Jasper insists.

I approach him and grab his jacket labels. "He was trying to give Anya a signal as well for he would have seen it too. We don't attack just for the fun of it."

"Back off," says Bellamy, putting his hand on my shoulder. "It's my fault. I should have told him that their back up would be in the trees. I tried to stop him."

"Whoever the third party was, the gunfire most likely scared them off," says Raven.

"It's not good when you look at it," says Wells. "Since Jasper misinterpreted the situation and fired the first shot, we just committed another declaration of war."

Octavia turns to Jasper, her green eyes sending him daggers. "You ruined everything," she says before walking to the gate.

"I was just trying to protect you," he says following her.

Wells turns to Clarke and Bellamy, wringing his hands. "This clan has been at war with another clan for nearly two centuries and this was their fifth year of peacetime when we landed. As I said, they are going to see the incident at the bridge as an act of war and they are not the forgiving type. They will retaliate."

Wells is correct on that. My clan is not entirely forgiving. We have been hardened from years of war; some more hardened then others depending how long they have participated.

Evidently, they might as well arm up because they don't know what's coming from my clan.

Wells walks to the gate and I follow him.

"Best Harvest Day ever," I mutter to myself. We shouldn't be preparing for war today. Had it not been for Jasper's recklessness, this would have been our first Harvest Day during peacetime.

"Where is Murphy?" I hear Raven ask as I walk through the gate.

"I thought he was with us when we were running from the sight of the skirmish," I hear Bellamy answer.

If Murphy was snatched while running, Anya's unit is most likely taking him to the village where he'll be locked in the prison cabin. From what I hear, Reed doesn't have difficulty torturing information out of people. He would be likened for a sadist.

In the camp, they are gathering around eating breakfast. Finn is talking to Jasper and I roll my eyes.

"Truth be told, things actually got worse without the guard coming down," Wells says to me. "This is my fault. I shouldn't have approached you with the offer."

"This is not your fault, Wells, I say, looking at him in the eye. "The skirmish at the bridge wouldn't have had happened if Jasper didn't act out of impulse. Or it wouldn't have had happened at all if he wasn't present."

Wells nods, though I doubt my assurance helped. "We're going to war, are we?"

I don't want to answer him. These kids don't know what they are in for. My clan has over three thousand people and of that number our warrior count is two thousand and fifty and growing while the rest are farmers, healers, butchers, merchants, blacksmiths, and craftsmen. The whole lot won't go after them but an army of three hundred will wipe them out.

Anya's going tobe massing up against them first. If she can't then father will take care of the problem and for the love of me I hope it doesn't get to that point. Being a part of his unit eleven years and when I fought for six years, I know that armies were able to wipe out a enemy encampment very quickly under his command.

I swallow. "Yes."

And I'm going to make sure that Wells doesn't get killed. His life is my first priority.

Great, I'm really emotionally attached to him.