Sometimes, Clarke wonders why life dealt her this hand. The blood of hundreds stain her hands, and sometimes she forgets what smiles are real and which ones are fake.
Sometimes, it becomes too much and Clarke will spend hours trying to wash away the blood before Luna comes to calm her.
Clarke's mission has almost come to a close. There's only one more village left now, twelve days have past. A well of panic rises as she realizes that soon she will have to return to Hali, where mothers glare and their children cheer.
It's strange that driving her dagger through an innocent woman's heart brings her more peace than walking through Hali and having children smile at her in wonder. Clarke ponders what her smile reflects back.
Clarke thinks these small pieces of philosophy as she continues sailing further north up the coastline. Delos is secured below deck in a mound of furs. Clarke tightens her cloak around her and shivers. One more village, three more days. Then she has to return, to the horror, to the happiness. Clarke wonders through the boredom. There really isn't much to do while drifting up the coast on a steady draft. Even if the wind does suddenly shift Clarke has enough experience that tacking and controlling both the main sheet and the rudder comes naturally.
Clarke wonders for hours, until she decides that Luna is her mother, so if she thinks Clarke needs to kill, she will. Clarke is reminded then of Abby, sweet doctoring Abby. She wonders if Abby would be proud of her. She takes care of her people, keeps them warm and fed and smiling. Abby should be proud! But she wouldn't be. She'd look at Clarke and see only a mistake. She'd look at Clarke and it wouldn't be her daughter that she saw.
Clarke shoves off the thought. Abby is dead to her. She's probably completely content in space with Jaha hanging off her every word and Kane praising her sacrifice. She probably isn't thinking about the husband and daughter she betrayed.
Abby is dead to her, Clarke decides. Though Luna's drug tampering had managed to block out most of Clarke's Arc memories the rampant thoughts of Abby and her smile still returned. Luna had wanted to block out all of her memories of Libra as well, but Clarke needed them. She needed the memory of her knife digging into Libra's skin over and over in order to remain strong.
Clarke is proud of being a monster. Because she's Luna's monster.
Her wonderings are brought to a merry halt as smoke one again appears on the sunset. Clarke promises to revel in this kill, for Lexa. She may be a stuck up child most of the time, but she's broken. Clarke knows the feeling. She decides to leave Delos here, he's more content out of the cold.
Clarke climbs up to the bow to ensure her feet are dry, before climbing off the boat and securing it to land. She waits for dark, when her clothing will blend in most, before setting off into the trees. Normally she has Delos to guide her and thus can cross through the trees almost as fast as she can across the ground. However, with Delos gone Clarke has to test all the branches herself and it takes nearly twice as long.
The tree trip is worth it as the shock from her appearance is always fresh. A quick check as the moonlight reflects off a patroller's weapon ensures that the last flag is tucked into her belt before she sets off. Her right foot pushes off against the solid trunk of a maple tree before her katana meets the offending patrollers neck and Diana is thrown into his partner's eye.
Clarke feels a shiver of delight in her spine at the squelching sound of Diana being pulled out of the woman's eye socket. She climbs back up the maple tree before continuing on her way. She meets two more patrols on the way, both meet the same fate as the first, and then the tree line empties to reveal a burning pyre in the middle of the town.
Clarke tilts her head at the weird tradition, normally Azkru throw their dead into the sea, before a horn is blown behind her.
Clarke swears mentally, they know she's here.
"Come out! Oh great Smile! Reveal to us your plight!" The weird call emerges from a red-clad priest standing on a podium behind the pyre.
Clarke decides to have fun, might as well make a priest's day while she's at it. So she jumps down from the tree, and draws her hood over her face to conceal her bright hair. A familiar smile draws itself to her lips, before she walks into the small village. The townspeople had gathered when they heard the priest's call and now backed away as she made her way through the crowd. She still wears the winter armor soaked in Libra's blood, and her legend increases as the scent stale blood follows her path. The crowd is silent as the grave as she walks through the gap they'd revealed.
Luna had set out to protect her people by giving them a legendary guardian. In Hali there are festivals dedicated to her kills on the full moon. Outside of Hali, she's a story used to shush children and inspire armies. 'The Smile will take you' is an expression commonly used amongst the Azkru to warn their children against misbehaving. It strikes Clarke that for a legend renown all across the world for being ruthless, she really looks the opposite without her hood and armor.
"I have come, Priest of Red, why do you summon me?" Clarke decides to play along. She'd promised Lexa, in spirit, to revel in this kill.
"Why oh great spirit of souls, do you kill our people?"
"I give no reasons for my orders. Mistress asked it of me. Who am I, a lowly servant of Mania, to reveal my mistress' will?" Another part of the rumor, that Clarke loved to foster, was that Luna is the embodiment of the goddess Mania, though it's unknown if anyone actually knows who Mania is outside of Hali. It's bizarre how a village known for it's trade suffers from almost no leaks of information.
"Of course oh great Smile! But please, accept our offering... we offer this village as sacrifice. Please, spare the rest of our people!" Clarke's eyes widen. She notices then, the patrollers were all elderly, with many scars and sickness written across their faces.
She looks around as if appraising her prey. There are no children in this town. There are no seconds or fresh warriors. There are no young, there are only souls with saddened eyes and stalwart expressions.
"Who makes this offer?"
"Queen Aela, wolf warrior of the Azkru," I'm surprised then. The red priest steps away from the fire, and a woman wearing old fashioned, and revealing, armor steps forward. Clarke can see harsh lines drawn across her face in warpaint. Her hair is revealed to be red in the candlelight and Clarke can feel her heart speed up. She shoves the faint attraction into the back of her mind.
A predatory grin emerges from the false one, "I've always wanted a wolf. Tell me Aela, why is it that a Queen stands amongst her elderly, and offers her life as sacrifice?"
"I speak not the wills of my masters, just the same as you," Aela wears a remarkable mask, but Clarke can see the faint shaking of her hands through the flames.
Clarke takes a leisurely stroll around the fire, "I thought Queens bow only to their Kings."
"I thought the same, until one of the Trikru Queens begged on her knees for my mercy," Clarke steps up onto the small podium to stare into Aela's eyes. Aela attempts to look away, but Clarke grasps her chin and tilts her own head back so Aela can see her eyes under the hood.
"Mania frowns upon those who beg."
"As do my masters," Clarke's grin turns to a smirk.
"So the wolf has claws as well as a tail!"
"The wolf also grows tired of this game."
"Oh! But I was just getting to know you, wise warrior queen."
Aela's eyes narrow at her, "Why get to know someone you will just end up killing?"
"Because the other Trikru queen sends her regards. But I look out for my own above all others."
Aela's head tilts at her in question, Clarke suddenly wonders why she finds the expression both cute and frightening. Clarke realizes that Aela's expression is much the same as her own when examining a fine piece of prey, "I see not what that has to do with my coming execution, Smile."
"But it has everything to do with your execution, for now it doesn't have to happen," Aela's head tilts in question at this.
Clarke considers what she's about to do. Aela makes for excellent conversation, not to mention that red hair and predatory eyes make her a unique beauty. Clarke can see wisdom within her grey eyes. Her words carry the weight of a true leader, and Clarke would probably follow her just as faithfully as Luna if she'd fallen from the sky only a hundred miles further north.
Clarke turns to the crowd. She knows what Luna would do, but for once she decides that her own solution will function better. She searches the faces of all the weary souls gathered around her, and makes an offer,
"Mania has spoken! She has observed your sacrifice and declared it unnecessary! I have heard news though, of a war brewing. Mania is no war goddess, and thus she requests peace. In return for sparing your lives, I will take Queen Aela with me and guarantee her safe passage through the ocean. Together, we will join the Commander on her path for peace amongst all clans! No more blood needs to be spilt today!"
Aela's eyes sparkle in wonder, and Clarke knows that she's made the right choice.
For a second I wonder if she knew him. If she knew Libra, before he went traitor. I can see another face, very similar to Aela's. Another young leader with an animal spirit drifting afloat without someone to guide them. Lexa's anguished face is brought to mind. The missed vengeance will hurt her, but it is a sacrifice she will have to make. Hundreds of Azkru have already payed in blood, there is no further need for it.
Above all, letting this war continue would harm my people more than aide them. As I watch Aela's mask break into a smile, I realized that she understood the same.
I offer my gloved, blood stained, metal hand out to Aela, and the Wolf Queen becomes the first to shake hands with a guardian spirit. As her eyes sparkle and a small grin forms on her lips from the weird twist of events, I feel a shift.
She smiles just like Libra and Wells did.
AN: Holy high horse wearing a tutu!
Now who saw that alliance coming?
Ik Ik... I'm sorry that the chapter's late again.
Questions? Feedback? Random things you want me to add? Tell me em and I'll respond, though I can't promise that you'll like what you hear.
~FoM
PS. Yes Aela is a huntress... and yes I was playing Skyrim before I wrote this chapter.
