Clarke is hung before the White Woman. Her limbs wrapped in chains and secured to the wall.
"Have you forgotten?" The man who asks is irrelevant, an empty face in the halls of millions.
Clarke growls, "No."
Again the man asks, stepping forward imposingly, "Have you forgotten?"
Clarke denies, again and again. She states that she has not forgotten but she never expands onto what.
The White Woman steps forward, her eyes calculating and cold, "You have forgotten. Haven't you?" She runs a hand along Clarke's jaw. She only removes it when Clarke snaps at her, "Or perhaps you were never taught."
Clarke growls at her, frothing like an enraged animal.
The White Woman steps back, and gestures at the faceless man. He leaves the room and shuts the door firmly behind him, "I am Queen Nia of the Azkru, White Woman of the Hill and Mother of White and Black. Do you know of the arrangements?"
Clarke shakes her head viciously, denying both the names and the knowledge, "I know of the replacement. That when Bugia takes the throne I will be free from my oaths."
Nia nods, "Do you know how the replacement takes the throne? Do you know the events of the last Twilight?"
"You died, Lupa killed you. Luna beat back the Maunkru and ascended to the throne as your replacement."
"Wrong. You have forgotten."
"I have not. You died. Luna replaced you."
Nia pulled out a nearby chair and splayed herself across it lazily, "I am obviously quite alive and as such Luna could not have replaced me. For you see, it was not the Maunkru who marched on Hali in the last twilight."
Clarke raised an eyebrow, puzzled. Her struggling stopped as she considered the honesty of her words, "Lies."
"Truth. Why would Lupa be allowed into Hali if he'd attacked the city. If he'd killed me. The one core belief of the White is the power of transferal. To obtain someones power you must kill them."
"Then kill me and get this over with."
Nia chuckled again, "You're worth far more to me alive than dead. Why do you think even those who know the tenants of the White follow Luna?"
"Because she's the Mother."
"Because you back her up. The one fault of my reign, the one reason people believed Luna when she spoke of my death, was that I could never teach someone the ways of the Black," Nia looked to the ground, letting out a huff, "I was the Mother and yet whenever people came to me and attempted to learn the ways of Black, of the void, I couldn't help them. It's why they called me the White Woman. The Mother before me, the Vixen never had the time to pass on her Blackness before she fell to my sword. Yet somehow, Luna taught you."
"I taught myself."
"How?"
"Pain."
"I see," Nia lifted her head, "I never was very good with pain."
"Neither was I,"
Nia nodded, "The arrangements. The passing from Mother to Mother can only be accomplished through one method. The only way for a Mother to be crowned is by killing the one before her."
"And you are still alive."
Nia nodded again.
"I will teach you."
"I do not need to be taught."
"You said the black was your weakness, your one failing. I will show you how to enter the void."
"Will you join me, Clarke of the Bloody Smiles?"
"No."
"Why?"
"You are not my Mother. My last two have betrayed me, wrapped me up in webs of lies and strangled me in my sleep. I will not join you, I will teach you as you teach me,"
Clarke slipped her gauntlet clad hand free of the restraints, "I will be your sister. I will be your friend, your companion in the battlefield alone. I will not follow you but join you. I am Clarke of the Bloody Smiles, daughter of those dead and traitorous, and Warrior of the Black."
"I am Queen Nia of the Ice, White Woman of the Hill, and Mother of White and Black. I shall join you, Clarke of the Bloody Smiles. May our world bathe in the blood of our enemies," Nia grasped Clarke's proffered hand.
"May our enemies tremble in fear of our name."
Nia grinned, "Luna raised you almost half as well as I could've."
Clarke grinned back as Nia called the man back in and he let Clarke down from the wall.
Clarke lead the way out of the cell, "Luna didn't raise me."
Nia chuckled and took the lead from Clarke, "It's my castle remember, I'll show you where the chamber is," She paused briefly in thought, "Who did raise you then, if you don't mind me asking."
"Ghosts and animals. Speaking off, don't tell me we left Delos with Lexa."
"Wouldn't dream of it. I believe Aela had great joy rescuing your little monster."
"Aela the warrior queen? Isn't she dead?"
"We have hundreds of Aelas. It's become something of a problem."
"Oh right, the naming thing."
"I'm quite relieved people never found out my name."
"This is the problem with living in a society of warriors, everyone wants to capture the spirits of the greats," the two nameless leaders chuckled together.
Nia spoke next, "Delos is waiting for you in the chamber. He seemed quite at home amongst the fresh corpses left there from our last recruitment drive."
Clarke groaned, "I made the mistake of feeding him the flesh I stripped off a skull for the walls of Hali. He's been obsessed with human flesh every since. If he ever starts begging to you just cut the flesh off the underside of a chin, he'll entertain himself for hours."
Nia knocked at a nearby door before swinging it open, "This is our stop."
A fuzzy blur erupted out of the nearby pile of corpses. Chattering happily Delos ran up the inside of Clarke's leg before she caught him in her right hand and began tickling him with her left. He purred in pleasure as the warrior cooed at him and showered him with affection, "I missed you too! Yes I did! Yes I did!"
"You spoil him."
"Rotten, I know. But he's my only friend so I don't care. There's a little girl back in Hali, Jean. She loves feeding him steak and it's done nothing for his flesh problem. He's a feisty ally to have though and his kind are one of the biggest reasons Hali has never been invaded."
"Perhaps we should recruit them for our army then."
Clarke laughed, "No need for an army. You've seen how quickly I converted to your side. The truth is the only weapon we need against Luna. But first, your training," Clarke let Delos run up her arm and wrap around her neck.
"I know the risks."
"You don't," Clarke turned to the fountain that sat in the middle of the circular chamber. She noted that it was empty, dry of the blood that should be there, "We can't start yet. Get your men to come here and fill this fountain with the blood of those unworthy, it is the most important part of the Black."
Nia signaled to the two guards who stood guard at the entrance to the room. They began dragging the bodies of the fallen to the fountain and slitting their throats, wrists and thighs to bleed them into the water. Clarke turned to the Queen.
"The Black is different from the White in every single way. The White demands that you erase pain, removing it and placing yourself above emotion. However, the Black demands that pain motivates you, that it becomes your one true goal, your essence and pride. To do this we use the blood of those who try to achieve the White but fail to do so, thus immersing themselves in pain completely and dieing from it. The first stage of the Black is simple," Clarke removed her gauntlet and lifted her sleeve to reveal numerous thin designs tattooed into her skin, "You must tattoo yourself using a needle of Wolfs bone and dye mixed with Snake Venom," Clarke reached into a pouch on her belt, and pulled out a vial of venom from the Texas coral snake, "I have this due to my own need to remind myself of the control. You will need to do this for several days in a design of your own choosing.
"Mine is of fur, I like to think of it as my animal spirit come to the surface. I know some have chosen leaves, or waves to signify their homes. Others have names, villages or stars. Still, the choice is yours," Nero accepted the vial and resumed watching the guards as they drained the corpses of blood, "This will be the most painful experience of your life. If you use too much venom it will kill you, and as the dye sinks into your skin it will never leave. The pain will always be lurking in your skull. It will never fade. Sometimes you'll want to kill yourself, to ascend to Valhalla where it can't follow you. Your hand can be weakened as well, only so long as you let it though. It is why Luna and I wear gauntlets.
The second step is what involves the blood. I will tell you of it when your time comes. Go make your markings, learn the pain. I can wait," Clarke finished her speech as she went off to grab a corpse and assisted the guards in bleeding it. Nia fled the room.
AN: Do you guys remember at the beginning of this story when people were begging me to give Clarke a wolf companion? No? Well here they come!
Anyways, who's super excited for episode 3 of this season? Because I am so excited! I am so happy that the show went the direction of having people want to absorb Clarke's power, because that's what I'd always had planned with the passing of Motherhood. Though all I could think of when this was mentioned was Red from Orange Is The New Black talking about "The chicken that is smarter than all other chickens!" and wanting to absorb its power.
My one-person editing/writing team thing hasn't really been working out, so if anyone wants to Beta this story, give me a holler. For the very low price of your soul and happiness you'll get to deal with my slow writing process of watching Viking documentaries!
Insincerely,
Follower of Mania