Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Thanks to Miss. Pixie. M for beta reading.

Somewhere in the Ice Nation.

The Queen was sitting on her throne, receiving the last reports from her generals. She frowned a little, the trap didn't work as well as they thought, they weren't able to catch the Heda and the Angel of death unprepared, yet it was a perfect plan, she had elaborated it herself! It would have made everything so much easier, everyone would have submitted to her power without questions once she had killed both of them. Her power would have been absolute!

She knew from her spies and from rumours, that the Sky girl was impulsive and emotional. With Lincoln's capture, she thought she would come running to her. She would have used her, it would have been the perfect chance to destabilize the Heda, to exploit her weakness.

Then there was the matter of this so called 'Eagles clan' being reborn. She didn't believe it true for one second. It was just a lie told by some impressionable young warriors who heard about the fall of the Mountain and wanted the Angel of death as their leader. It was just for prestige. But still, it was an opportunity. An opportunity to hurt and weaken the Angel of death and the Heda, so she sent her best warriors with a simple mission, to capture the closest people to them and to lead them into a trap.

She gritted her teeth, it would have worked if not for the Heda, of that she was sure, since she didn't consider the Sky girl as a threat to her. She had once again underestimated her enemy. The anger was quickly replaced by a vicious smirk, they were going to play a game with the Heda and this time she would not be the one to lose. She would be the next and the most impressive Heda who has ever existed.

She walked outside of the castle, her generals walking behind her, to inspect the troops, her strong, brave and savage warriors. The pride of her nation. They were all looking so fierce, ready to fight and die for her. She was so proud of their devotion, she stepped onto a podium, ready to make her encouraging speech of war when a strong wind blew on them. Once the wind had stopped, they heard some cries coming from the sky. Everyone raised their heads, a group of eagles was soaring in the sky above them, she heard some worried whispers coming from her warriors. What an absurdity! It was just a coincidence, they had nothing to be worried about. She screamed a warrior cry to capture their attention and started her speech.

In a cell, Indra and India could only hear some muted words, they were too far to hear the speech.

"What do you think will happen now? " asked a badly bruised India.

"A war, soon. They will keep interrogating us and once we've told them everything they want to know, once we are of no more use to them, then… " Indra couldn't finish her sentence, it was hurting her too much to think about what could happen to her sister.

India nodded her head with a resigned expression, she could already guess, the Ice Queen wasn't known for her mercy. "I just hope that Clarke will not do anything stupid." She mumbled, worried.

Indra scoffed. "Don't worry, the Heda is with her." Her sister gave her a tired smile before falling into a troubled sleep. When she was sure she was asleep, she muttered to herself. "I just hope that the Heda will not do anything stupid."

In the Heda's childhood village.

After Clarke had finished helping the old healer take care of the hurt villagers, under the watchful and worried eyes of Lexa who never left her side, Lexa asked for a spar. She wanted to test her skills, she needed to know if she was ready for what was waiting for them. Let's just say that the test didn't convince her at all.

Clarke was starting to regret the India's training sessions, which was saying a lot. Lexa was even more brutal. Maybe it was the fear of loosing her, maybe she wanted her to be so tired that she would forget everything, so she wouldn't do anything stupid, but she was relentless. From morning to evening, she had to run and fight against some warriors. At the end of the day, when she thought she could finally have a break, she had the great honour to fight against the Heda. Lexa didn't need to use words to mock her and motivate her like India, she just needed a single look, the disappointment and worry in her eyes were enough for Clarke to make her want to be even better, to surpass herself.

Once the light had started to fade, as she was laying next to her beautiful girlfriend in the commander's tent, she didn't have any strength left, she could only mutter a goodnight and fall asleep under Lexa's worried eyes.

After a few days of intense training, Lexa judged her level adequate. They were sparring together each day when they had time but they had more pressing matters to take care of. Clarke was feeling a little better mentally, more calm, and her fighting skills had improved. They were still waiting for the answers to the messages sent a few days ago to the clans. Lexa should have gone back to Polis to organize everything but she knew Clarke too well. She knew that the moment she would have left, Clarke would have been on her way to the Ice Nation. Lexa had to stay in the village and keep an eye on her, the Ice Queen had already taken someone she loved once, she would not let it happen again.

She had no other choice but to set up her commanding camp here. She didn't think anymore that loving someone was a weakness, Clarke was proving it to her every day just how strong and determined she was. Her passion and fire were very inspiring for Lexa. On the other hand, what could be considered as a weakness was that Clarke didn't need to do anything, but she was already changing and trying to make things easier for her. She was the Heda. People were coming to see her, they were travelling from far to talk to her, to seek her advice, not the other way around. With Clarke, everything was always different, she even had some good arguments to convince her to come to Polis with her but Clarke had to just look at her with her beautiful and mischievous eyes, and, well, after some heated kisses, she was completely forgetting what she wanted to say in the first place. Anyway, she was in the village because she wanted to be there. No one would dare to question her, the words of the Heda were law.

Another thing was bothering her, the golden eagle that was following Clarke everywhere was starting to annoy her, maybe she was just imagining things, but every time she was losing an argument with Clarke, she had the feeling he was laughing at her! The Heda was a calm and understanding person, she could accept a lot of things, but being mocked wasn't one of them. And she didn't like seeing him constantly on Clarke's shoulder. She couldn't explain it, she just didn't like it. One evening, while Clarke was in a house to heal someone, she decided to make him learn respect, to show him who was his superior.

When Clarke left the house, she saw a scowling and dishevelled Lexa, who was breathing with difficulty, while her golden eagle was in a tree, some feathers still falling from behind him, turning his back to them as if he was pouting.

She shook her head with a smile and rolled her eyes, those silly grounders, be animal or human, they were all the same. It was no secret that they liked to tease and provoke each other, it was as if they needed to mark their territory by showing their power to her. She took Lexa's hand and whistled, the golden eagle landed on her shoulder, and she walked slowly towards the village festivity. The harvest has been good this year and the villagers were going to celebrate. She really liked this mentality about the Grounders, they were attacked almost a week ago but they had already moved on, she guessed that when you were confronted with danger every day since being a child, you were just used to seeing things differently.

The Sky people would have panicked, organising meeting after meeting filled with yelling and insults that would have been for nothing. The situation would still be the same. She had time to think more calmly and to analyse the situation, her first reaction was to act as a member of the Sky people, India would have been so mad at her, she would have scolded her for being so careless and emotive. She knew she had to act more like a Grounder if she wanted to save her friends, panicking, then charging in with a half-assed plan would only get her killed as well as her clan, and her friends would still be in the hands of the Queen. Plus, she just couldn't do this to Lexa, not when she was seeing her making so much effort to accommodate her and to keep her alive. When she was in her worst depressive moods, India always told her to stop brooding and do something that would make her forget, make her happy, and right now it was Lexa who was making her happy. She would enjoy the little moments she had with her and tried to keep a level head until they had a solid plan.

"Lexa, stop doing your death glare to Angelin!" said an exasperated Clarke.

It made Lexa and the golden eagle stop their staring contest, they turned their heads towards Clarke.

"Angelin? You are going to give a name to this flying threat?" replied a disbelieving Lexa, a cry and a hiss, then another glare was exchanged.

"Of course I'm giving him a name! And Angelin is the perfect name for him, it came from the Greek 'agellos' which means messenger. You like it? " Clarke asked her golden eagle, petting him gently, he answered with a cry of approval, looking smugly to the Heda.

Lexa scoffed but didn't say anything, some battles weren't worth it and this was one of them. At least they both agreed on the most important thing, protecting Clarke. The rest would come later, probably.

They were arriving at the festivity place, some fires were illuminating the area with music being played. The Grounders had made some sort of banjo and were clapping with their hands. It was really ridiculous to think they were only warriors who wanted blood, thought Clarke with a smile, watching the children dancing.

Lexa had a small nostalgic smile as she was watching the festivities, it brought back some good memories from her childhood.

She was the one to give her hand to Clarke and invite her to dance. She felt safe here. The warriors were not here to witness their Heda acting strangely, they were patrolling the forest for any signs of threats and she knew the people here since she was a child, she trusted them, she could be herself in public for once. With some quick moves from her hand, she chased the undesirable golden eagle and smirked when she heard the annoying cry while he flew away. They started to dance and were soon joined by the old healer and other people. While Clarke was dancing with the old healer next to Lexa, she felt Lexa's eyes on her, never leaving her. She turned her head to smile and say something to her, but stayed breathless, Lexa's face was so open tonight, her eyes were so expressive, the care and love she could see in them made her feverish, she leaned her head a little and smiled timidly at her.

The old healer shook his head with a smirk. "Young people. You can have my house tonight." He said gently to Clarke as he pushed her lightly towards Lexa. She gave him a smile of gratitude and took hold of Lexa's hand, leaving the festivities.

They were kissing at the door and smiled at each other before entering the house, it was a beautiful night and they were going to enjoy it until the end.

The next morning, it was a still smiling Lexa and Clarke who left the house. The past night had been really special for them, something they would treasure for a long time. After one last gentle kiss, they walked towards the camp that was outside the village, ready once again to assume their role as leaders.

Octavia was the first to come to meet them. "Clarke, we have a problem! Bellamy is here. We have some traitors in the Sky camp!"