Bellamy

It was exhausting to watch how tactful Echo was attempting to be as she explained to Lia why they couldn't go straight to the Ice Nation. Now that Lincoln was awake and understood the ramifications of the visitor in their midst, he was also bending over backwards to be polite.

Lia listened carefully to both of them before she frowned and said, "The queen is expecting us."

"And my sister is in trouble," Bellamy answered evenly, ignoring the death-glare that Echo threw at him. "We're not going anywhere without her."

With a glare that matched Echo's, Lia said calmly, "I could force you."

"Please," Lincoln said. "She has very little time left. We will happily go to the Ice Nation with you, but not until Octavia is safe."

Lia seemed to consider this for a long time. "I will help you retrieve your sister," she said to Bellamy. "And your woman," she added to Lincoln. "But you must do something for me in return."

"Fine," Bellamy answered with a nod.

"Will you please hold your tongue?" Echo growled. Respectfully she asked Lia, "What is it that you wish us to do?"

"The queen will not be pleased when we arrive late," she explained. "But if you bring her something that she wants, it will soften her anger."

"And what does she want?" Lincoln asked tentatively.

"Only what is rightfully hers," Lia answered. "There is a fugitive of the Ice Nation in these lands. A person who must answer for their could act as bounty hunters and bring this person back to the queen."

Bellamy hesitated. "And then what will she do?"

"That is not your concern," Lia answered. "But rest assured, the punishment will fit the crime."

Echo, Bellamy, and Lincoln all exchanged an uncomfortable expression. Finally Bellamy shook his head. "Look, we've already been delayed by me getting hurt," he explained. "And now we're going to be even more delayed by having to get Octavia. I'm not willing to take yet another detour when Clarke is waiting for us."

"Clarke is safe," Lia answered shortly. "And she has no idea you are coming. The queen wants your visit to be a surprise. Do this, or I will not allow you to retrieve your sister, and we will leave for the Ice Nation immediately."

Bellamy's eyes darkened. "Hang on," he snapped. "Just wait a-"

Before he could say anything else, Echo actually clapped a hand over his mouth and dragged him backward. "Do not speak to it like that," she hissed. "Do you want to live to see tomorrow?"

"So what do we do, just agree to her terms?" he demanded, pulling away from her grip. "And you just said 'it' again- stop that."

"We have no choice but to agree," she confirmed, ignoring his second comment. Walking back over to Lia she said, "We will do as you say. But Octavia is in danger within the mountain, and we must recover her first."

"And after we have her in our possession- dead or alive- you will do as I ask?" Lia questioned, her eyes flickering to Bellamy for a moment. "All of you?"

"We will," Echo replied. "You have my word."

"And mine," Lincoln agreed.

All three of them looked to Bellamy. "Yeah," he said with a heavy nod. "As long as we get my sister back, and you take us to Clarke, I'll do whatever you want."

"I have your word?" Lia asked.

"Yeah," he confirmed. "You have my word."

"Very well," the child said with a satisfied nod. "Then we must not waste more time. Come, let us set out for Raven Rock. The mountains are allies to the Ice Nation- they will allow us entrance."

This was surprising to hear, but Bellamy was relieved. Maybe this shadow child wasn't going to be such bad news after all. "Great," he said, impatient to start moving. He went over to his bed and began to pack things up, Lincoln doing the same. Echo dropped to her knees next to Bellamy.

"You must be more careful," she said quietly. "I know what you see when you look at her, but she is not a child and she is not your sister. Be careful."

He remembered when Charlotte had said that to him- I'm not your sister, just stop helping me! It had caught him off guard then, and he had the same reaction now. He knew he had a weakness for children because of Octavia, but even with Charlotte, even after he'd known what she'd done, he would have helped her until the end. Just like he wanted to help this girl now. He couldn't turn it off.

With a sigh, he nodded his head. "I'll be careful," he promised, tying off his pack. "Let's just get Octavia and Clarke. Whatever we have to do, it doesn't matter- let's just get it done and make sure they're safe." He knew that until both Octavia and Clarke were with him, he wouldn't be able to relax, and so he just had to do whatever was necessary to make sure that happened.

They set out as a group- Lia had her own horse that she'd put out to graze, so only Echo and Bellamy had to share, which he was used to by now. He let Lia take the lead, with Lincoln following her, and Bellamy and Echo bringing up the rear.

"You must be prepare yourself," Echo's voice suddenly came quietly from behind him, her lips close to his ear. "We do not know what we will find inside that mountain."

"I know," he said, letting out a heavy breath, his whole body becoming tense. "But she's not dead until I see her dead. Got it?" Even the thought made him feel sick.

He couldn't see Echo where she was sitting behind him, but he could imagine her frown as she said, "I do not mean to make you feel hopeless, but I fear that you will act recklessly if we find something inside that you do not like."

"She's not dead," he answered shortly.

"But if-"

"But if," he interrupted, cutting her off, not wanting to hear those words spoken out loud. "Then everyone inside that place is going to die."

There was a short silence where he was sure Echo was going to get angry at him, tell him off yet again, and he was acutely aware of her hands around his stomach. He remembered the first conversation they'd had, when he'd told her he was going to kill everyone in Mount Weather. She had understood then. So, when she spoke, her voice was soft and gentle as she said, "Jus drein, jus daun."

He knew what that meant- blood must have blood. It was ironic, because when he'd first heard that expression, before Mount Weather, the only thing he'd been able to think of was the famous quote: 'an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.' He had disagreed, then, with that concept of justice, yet when it came to Octavia, he had no qualms about revenge. Maybe it was fitting that he and Echo were having such a similar conversation now.

But he wouldn't- couldn't- accept that Octavia might be dead. Not unless her body lay cold in his arms. Until then, she was alive, and he was going to find her. Until then, though, he refused to think about it.

Whenever he forced himself not to worry about Octavia, Clarke's face came to the forefront of his mind. He reached for Echo's hand and touched the back of it lightly to draw her attention back to him. "Do you think Lia's telling the truth about Clarke?" he asked her quietly. "Do you think she's really safe?"

"I do not know," she admitted. "Shadow children are trained to be excellent liars, but I see no reason for her to tell us that Clarke is well if she is not. We were already travelling to the Ice Nation, without her prompting."

"Okay, so if she's fine then what does that mean?" he asked. "She may have left Camp Jaha, but I don't see her just joining up with another clan and never coming back. And Lexa said that she was taken, not that she went there voluntarily."

"Being well and being free are very different," Echo pointed out. "She may be alive, perhaps even treated well, but that does not mean that she would choose to be there."

"Lexa said that the queen took her because of their alliance," Bellamy said thoughtfully. "That she didn't know that Lexa had betrayed us."

"And yet by now she must know the whole truth," Echo said. "But she still has Clarke in her possession. She still needs or wants her for something."

"Yeah," Bellamy said heavily, his brow furrowed. "The question is what."

"And that is what we do not know," Echo said gently. After a brief silence she asked, "What is Clarke to you?"

He shifted a little and said nothing for a minute. Finally he replied, "I don't know. A friend." It was such an inadequate word, even the shape of it tasted wrong.

"More?" Echo questioned.

Again he didn't answer, he just shook his head and said once more, "I don't know." After a moment's thought he added, "If Octavia wasn't in trouble, I'd be getting to the Ice Nation as fast as possible."

"She is very important to you, then," Echo said.

Bellamy let out a long breath. "We've been through a lot."

"And yet she left you."

His jaw tightened, then relaxed. "Yeah," he agreed heavily. "She left me. But I can be mad about that when she's safe."

Echo's fingers curled around his and she gave his hand a squeeze. "You are an honourable man, Belomi kom Skaikru."

He smiled a little, but it faded quickly. He squeezed her hand back before letting it go, and then he shook his head, feeling uncomfortable with that compliment hanging between them. He never felt he deserved praise so he tried to brush it off by saying, "I do what anyone would."

He could hear the sadness in her voice as she said, "If only that were true."