Previously in chapter 25
Lexa has to deal with Marie's nightmares and feels completely out of her element comforting the young girl. During breakfast with Lexa, Marie hears a scout reporting that armed Skykru soldiers have been seen traveling to the drop ship. Marie has her first training session with Lexa and Gustus with wooden staffs.
Chapter 26
The next few days passed in a similar manner, as Lexa tried to work out a routine for her new second, hoping to get her used to her new role quickly.
Marie was still sharing a tent with Lexa and ended up snuggled to the commander on most nights after only a few hours of peaceful sleep. Lexa found it almost comical, how the girl sought her out for comfort in the night and was clearly still hesitant and unsure around her in the light of day. The commander had absolutely no idea on how to get the girl to trust her and she could only hope that it would get easier between them with time.
What made Lexa worry the most about the girl, was the extent of her grief. Marie was still doing her training and followed the orders she was given to the point, but there was clearly something off with the girl. The girl was barely making any progress in their training and the lack of it was only increasing her impatience with the child. She had not once shown a desire to visit the horses, that she obviously admired greatly. If Lexa did not keep the girl occupied with one mindless task after the other, she would see her just standing somewhere, staring into nothing with a forlorn expression. She had also not seen the girl smile since Anya's disappearance, not even the hint of one.
Tension with Skykru were running high on the other hand and worsening with every passing moment. An increasing number of them had been trespassing armed with guns on her lands. Her scouts had the strict order to remain unseen as much as possible. But there had been some minor losses nevertheless. She had been informed that one scouting team had actually crucified three Sky guards on patrol. Lexa was aware that something would need to be done against them and the sooner the better, but she was waiting for the reinforcement of the other clans to arrive. She would not sacrifice any more of the Trikru warriors before her army had reached its full strength.
It had now been seven days since her warriors had been burned at the Sky children's crash site. She had sent out riders to the other clans to announce that a bounty had been put on all Skykru. Late in the night a bounty hunter had brought a lone Skykru man to TonDC, claiming to have found the man in the Dead Zone. Lexa had no idea how he might have gotten there, but she would deal with him later. He had been put into a holding cell in TonDC and she was convinced that letting him wait there for some time would only increase his likelihood of actually saying something voluntarily.
Right now, Lexa was watching Gustus trying to train with Marie again. Unfortunately, the emphasis lay in the word trying. Lexa shook her head in frustration. It had been a week now and the girl did not even show the slightest improvement. Her movements were sloppy and there was no force behind any of her attacks. If Lexa did not know any better and was practically ordering her to eat, she would suspect the child to be sick and in the process of slowly wasting away. Lexa knew that they had trained often enough with the girl, that she could have improved already, but she obviously wasn't into the training anymore. She had seen how the girl's body was covered in an increasing number of bruises with each passing training session, but Marie was not increasing her effort to defend herself, apparently preferring to suffer in silence instead.
"Enough, Gustus" Lexa called over and the man immediately lowered the staff he had been training the girl with. Lexa would have liked the girl to have improved to a point by now that they could move to real weapons, but with the lack of improvements she would never get to the point to hand over a sword to the girl without having to worry that the girl would accidentally kill herself.
"Return to the village" the commander ordered Gustus with a tone, that left no room for argument.
Marie blinked at the woman in honest confusion, up to this point she had only trained directly with Gustus and Lexa had stood beside it, watching and criticising her. She was unsure what exactly she had done wrong now, but she had learned enough of the commander by now to know, that she had angered her.
Gustus nodded, albeit reluctantly and left the small meadow they had been training on handing the staff over to Lexa on his way. He had already told the commander, that he regarded the girl as completely unfit to ever become a warrior the prior night.
If the girl really had no will to become a warrior, Lexa would not continue to waste her time with the child. There were enough professions the girl could apprentice for after all.
"Attack again" Lexa ordered Marie in a stern voice, getting into a defensive stance and waiting for the girl to follow her order.
Marie looked truly startled for a moment. Up to this point, she had always only had to attack Gustus and never the commander herself. But she could see the commander's jaw tightening in rising annoyance at her hesitation and she tried to attack the woman.
Lexa easily deflected the flimsy attack with her staff and asked in a taunting voice "Is that all you can do?"
Marie tried again, but Lexa found the attack similar to her first try without any real effort behind it. If Lexa had wanted, she could have just easily ripped the staff from the girl's hands, she seemed to barely hold onto it with any strength.
Lexa gritted her teeth angrily, she had seen a little flash of something flash through the girl's grey eyes after her previous question. She steeled herself, hoping that angering the girl would get a rise out of her and changed her tactic. "Again" Lexa ordered in a bored voice, twirling the staff between her hands in practised movements, which would surely intimidate the girl even more.
After Marie's attack, Lexa this time countered the strike with one of her own, hitting the girl in the left side. She took great care in measuring the force of her attack as to not seriously injure the girl, but it would almost certainly leave a bruise. The girl appeared startled to be physically hit for a second. but straightened up moments later.
"Again" Lexa issued the same order again and again. Each time the girl's attacks were nothing but flimsy and Lexa only commented with a scathing "pathetic" and a counterattack of her own. She was sure, the girl would be bruised and stiff in the morning, but Marie did not show an emotional reaction at all, which only increased the commander's worry.
With her last attack Lexa swept the girl's legs out under her so that she fell onto her back on the ground with a thud. Lexa towered over Marie's form in the grass and pressed the staffs end onto the girl's chest "That was the most pathetic attack I have ever seen. Every five-year-old can do better than that."
Marie's eyes blazed angrily a second, before they visibly dimmed over again.
But Lexa had seen the short spark and so kept on hissing her tirade to the poor girl "You will be a disgrace to me, if you continue with this lame effort. How do you suppose to survive even the first attack in a battle? You would lay slain after only a few seconds!"
Marie's eyes filled with angry tears and she forcefully pushed Lexa's staff from her chest, getting up quickly from the grass to face the commander "I don't, alright? I know that I would fall. I will never learn!" The girl's exclamations were nearly screamed at Lexa with frustrated tears glittering in her grey eyes.
The commander let her staff sweep the girl's legs under her again for her insolence and took out one of her swords. "Then let me put an end to you now" Lexa offered the girl in a deadly serious voice and hard green eyes.
Lexa brought down her sword in the direction of Marie's throat in a quick movement. In the last second before Lexa wanted to end her attack as to not behead the girl, Marie suddenly brought up her staff deflecting the sword away from her throat with a resonating clanging sound.
The commander could see the girl's grey eyes glittering angrily at her, but she had her where she wanted her and now, they could finally begin to train in earnest. "Attack again" Lexa ordered still deadly serious after putting her sword away again. The shock of near death had finally been enough to snap the girl out of her pathetic state and Lexa was grateful that the child was showing some emotions again.
Marie really did attack now with a new-found ferocity. Of course, she was no match to Lexa's skill and the commander still easily deflected each and every blow from her, but the girl kept on trying now without being told to.
When the girl was panting heavily and still tried to get a single hit in long moments later, Lexa disarmed her with a well-placed hit against her fingers holding the staff and the girl let the staff drop with a pained hiss.
"Enough" Lexa said with satisfaction in her voice and nodded at the girl in silent acknowledgement for her efforts. She stepped up close to her and took her chin in a strong grip, forcing her to meet her eyes "No one will force you to become a warrior. Either you want to, or you don't. But if you choose the path of a warrior, you will have to put all your energy into it. Never underestimate yourself. You give up way too easily. Get smacked down, get back up!"
Marie nodded with wide eyes clearly impressed with the commander's skill and she seemed to contemplate the woman's words.
"Think about the choice if you want to become a warrior, or not" Lexa told the girl when she let go of her chin. She would not expect an answer right away, but it would surely not do to fore the girl to become a warrior, if she was not into it.
Marie nodded again biting her lips for a second, before she softly asked her eyes clouded with doubt "Do you really think I have the abilities to become one?"
Lexa fixed the girl with her green eyes in an unwavering glare "I would not waste my time with you otherwise. Anya also thought so." The general had told her that she believed the girl to possess great potential and although Marie obviously was lacking in almost all basic skills, the girl was still young enough to learn them.
The girl exhaled loudly and nodded again in acknowledgement. The doubts were still visibly flashing through her eyes and she was still biting at her lips.
"No one expects you to suddenly become a fully trained warrior overnight. This training takes months, if not years. But if you are not into it with your whole heart, you will never succeed" the commander spoke with putting emphasis on her last sentence.
Marie nodded again, but Lexa was satisfied to see new determination burning in the girl's eyes.
"Actually, this was one of the first lessons Anya drilled into me after I became her second" Lexa recalled with a thoughtful expression. No one had believed that the youngest and scrawniest nightblood in the bunch could rise up to become commander. Only Anya had believed in her from the first second, so she knew the importance of that particular lesson and when she recalled the lesson now, Anya's approach all those years ago had been similar.
Marie looked at her with an awed smile on her face. Lexa had already concluded that the girl loved to hear more about Anya's and her shared past.
"Now, come" Lexa concluded the lesson. Although no scouts had obviously searched for her during her absence from her tent, there was always something she needed to organise.
Marie was bleeding from a split lip and her whole body ached with pain, while her fingers where Lexa had hit her last were bleeding also and had started to swell a bit.
Lexa took the girl's wounded hand into one of hers and inspected the damage she had done. "We will get you some water to cool them" Lexa said to her young charge and took both of their staffs to return to the village.
Marie followed Lexa the way back to TonDC and let her eyes scan their surroundings. The commander noted with a mixture of satisfaction and relief that the girl was keeping her eyes open instead of silently being lost in her thoughts. So, Lexa hoped that this lesson had been enough to get the message across to the girl.
She would still give her the chance to decide for herself, if becoming a warrior was something she desired or not. Lexa did not think that Anya would have asked the girl for her opinion on that matter. But every one of her people had at least some basic fighting skills, so the girl had needed to acquire them first no matter what she actually wanted to do with the rest of her life.
As promised Lexa sent a maid fetch for some cool water when they had returned to their tent. Marie was sent to clean herself up from the training. The girl was more familiar with the outline of the village and the villagers had become used to the girl's presence, so Lexa had started to send the girl from the tent for some short periods of time. Just as Lexa had predicted, not a single one of the people of TonDC had dared to move against Marie again, now that she had proclaimed her to become her second.
While Marie was following her orders, Gustus came into the tent. He had seen the girl on his way still bleeding slightly from her lip. "I doubt she possesses the skills to ever become a warrior, Lexa" the bulky guard said to her his dark eyes reflecting the same doubt, he had already voiced the previous night.
Lexa looked at him contemplatively from her throne "We shall see in the next days. The girl is still grieving deeply for Anya. But she will have to make the choice to either become a warrior or not for herself." She had honestly not expected the girl to grief this deeply for her general, they had not shared a lot of time together and forming such a strong attachment outside of a family was unusual among her people. She had not yet spoken with the girl about her own family, although she knew from Anya already that her parents had died before the girl had been sent to earth.
Gustus nodded in agreement and before he could say more, Marie slipped back into the tent holding a piece of cloth to her lips to stop the bleeding. The maid also brought a small bucket with water from the stream from nearby and Marie gratefully put her swollen fingers inside, instantly feeling the relief the water provided.
"Lexa" Marie started to ask in a hesitant voice, she had become used to addressing the commander by her first name inside of the commander's tent by now. An idea had bloomed in her head, while she had been away from the tent. She wanted to desperately proof that she could indeed become a warrior and the sooner she accomplished that the better.
"Yes?" Lexa answered, when the girl did not continue and looked at her with an expectant expression.
"Could I join some scouting teams or something?" the girl asked, with her eyes showing that she was still thinking about the idea herself.
Lexa blinked at the girl in honest surprise at her change of mind, while Gustus obviously had to control the urge to stare at the girl in disbelief. The child so far had not shown any initiative of any kind to join in anything the village did, except for when she was explicitly told to do so.
The commander thought about it for a second and then shook her head in the negative "Not right now, no." The girl was not experienced enough that Lexa could let her join a real scouting mission, she was still moving way too loudly and had also not gotten any better at using the trees as a hideout.
"But I need to show that I can help somehow…" the girl trailed off with frustration glittering in her eyes.
"No one would let a second join scouting teams after only a few short days of training, Marie" Lexa explained when she saw disappointment in those eyes as well "But I might be able to spar some hours tomorrow to take you on your first hunt" she mused thoughtfully.
Lexa had made the last offer as a sort of compensation for having been so harsh with the girl before. Marie was instantly into the idea her grey eyes glittering with excitement.
"But I can't shoot a bow, yet" the girl exclaimed in obvious disappointment, after a few minutes of silent anticipation.
Lexa nodded in acknowledgment "That won't matter. You can try throwing knifes tomorrow." In all honestly, she had little hope that they would even manage to catch any prey at all. But she had not been on a hunt for some time as well and would enjoy the little moment of freedom for herself as well. In Polis she rarely had the sparse time to go on a hunting trip and it had been a few weeks since her last hunt.
The girl was even more enthusiastic now, letting out a squealed whoop of joy at the prospect. Although she still felt a lingering sadness in her mind, Marie knew that she could not afford to focus on it. She had to accept that Anya would not return rather sooner than later.
Gustus rolled his eyes at the childish demeanour of the girl, while Lexa watched her with a slight snort of amusement under her breath. If the prospect of a hunt was enough to diver the girl's attention from her residual grief, it had been the right choice to offer her one and even if they would not catch any prey, it would have still been a success.
To both of them it was already clear, that the girl had decided to follow the path of a warrior but she still had a very long way to go to even become close to being one. But now that her will to actually learn had obviously kindled again, there was hope for her still. Lexa had promised her previous mentor to teach the girl and she would make sure that Marie would grow to become the best warrior she could be.