Chapter 50
"No," Costia shook her head disapprovingly.
"What do you mean no?" Clarke scoffed. "I'm not doing anything yet, I'm just standing here!"
"Exactly. Your posture is terrible, don't slouch, your stance would get you on the ground within two seconds," Costia scolded.
It was early in the day and Costia kept her promise to teach Clarke to fight.
Except Clarke was joking when they spoke about practicing at the break of dawn, so when Costia walked into her room and rolled her off her bed, Clarke nearly had a heart attack.
She had no idea how the Commander managed to be so sharp so early in the day but Costia didn't show any signs of fatigue, physical or otherwise.
"Here," Costia used her Bo to tap on Clarke's foot. "Widen your stance. You want your feet to parallel your shoulders, otherwise it'd be very easy for you to lose your balance."
Clarke did as she was told but not happily. "Remind me again why we are doing this so early, Commander?"
"It's for your own benefit, Clarke. Not many people are around at this hour, so you won't be as publicly humiliated," Costia explained and with a single, swift Bo movement she hit Clarke's shin and Clarke's lost her footing and fell on her ass.
She yelped in surprise.
"Your stance was still not wide enough," Costia pointed out and offered Clarke her hand.
"Was this really necessary?" Clarke huffed, rubbing her now aching butt.
"Yes, because now you're more motivated to not make this mistake again," Costia offered her a cheeky smile. "But seriously, Clarke, this is very basic. You can tell how much of an amateur a warrior is by his stance and posture. You want to have good footing," she used the Bo to tap at Clarke's feet again until it was the width that she wanted. Clarke was indeed more alert now. "You also want your chest area to be open enough to allow freedom of movement, but not too much that you allow your opponent an opening, here," Costia showed her a good hand position and Clarke tried to mimic it. "Alignment is also key, you wanna stand tall, but not be stiff," she showed Clarke again.
After Costia showed her some basic moves she let Clarke try her luck.
Clarke knew their pace was slow and that Costia was hardly breaking any sweat while Clarke could hardly catch a breath, but she had to admit that the physical activity felt good and empowering. She liked the idea that she could train her body to be something she could use for protection, and that made her realize that she was grateful to Costia for the offer to teach her.
Just as Clark threw a punch towards Costia's face, Costia turned around as if she heard someone call her name. That didn't stop her from easily blocking Clarke's attack even though her head was turned in the opposite direction.
"You are such a show off," Clarke rolled her eyes.
"I have to go, Clarke, I'm sorry," Costia turned and apologized. "We'll continue tomorrow. If you find some free time today, practice. And ask Nyko about his miracle powder. Tell him I sent you, he'll know what I mean. It smells like lavender." She started walking back toward the tower.
"Wait, Costia, where are you going?" Clarke inquired in confusion.
"It's Becca," Costia provided. "She's calling me. She's done with the simulations."
"I'm here," Costia stated the moment after she found herself right in front of Becca. It was much easier now that she knew exactly where Becca was.
"Costia, you don't actually have to show up here," Becca pointed out. "The connection between us has been established. You can just think about your question and I'll give you the answer."
"Oh," Costia offered sheepishly.
"It's okay, I'm sure you can find a use for your time here," Becca smirked, clearly referring to Lexa.
"Commander, I do hope this playfulness means you have some good news for me," Costia's eyebrow quirked in challenge. Maybe the residents of the Flame weren't easily privy to everything Costia was thinking and doing, but Lexa was a different story, she was part of the "mainframe," like Becca so kindly explained. And she was also sort of Becca's neighbor. It meant Becca knew things.
"I do," Becca confirmed. "I hope," she took a deep breath. "First thing's first, the Nightblood is supposed to be sufficient, so you're okay, and I think I found a way to alter the blood within six weeks time with three daily injections."
"Okay," Costia encouraged her to go on.
"Based on my simulation, if we create a new blood type combining the blood of the sky people with this of those from the ground and add a little secret ingredient, the new type should be sufficient as well and can be injected in a similar manner to take effect after six weeks."
"Dare I ask what's that secret ingredient?"
"It's the Nightblood, but," Becca pressed on when she saw the alarm on Costia's face, this should have been a last resort, "just a tinge, as an enhancement, it wouldn't affect the coloring of the blood, and it's just as an extra precaution."
Costia sighed. It was better than nothing. At least she wasn't going to have to deal with thirteen clans full of Nightbloods. "Six weeks, then?"
"Six weeks," Becca assured, "from the moment we have the samples. Which can take another week or two to create to perfection, so keep that in mind."
"I have the formula in my head now, don't I?" Costia shook her head, amused.
"Yes, and if you forget something just ask."
"Alright," Costia agreed, anxious to get back and provide her doctor with the information. "What about the other thing?"
Becca smiled. "I think I have some good news on that front, too."
Costia walked into the new lab, and straight to the whiteboard she asked Abby to have ready. Abby wasn't in the room, but Raven was. Costia ignored her completely and Raven followed her with her eyes, dumbfounded, wondering if this was payback for her behavior when they first met.
"Hmm… Commander?" she tried cautiously.
Costia ignored her still, picked up a sharpie and started writing on the whiteboard.
Raven watched her, fascinated, as the board started to fill with equations and details. Most of it, Raven didn't understand, she assumed it was medically oriented, but every now and then there was something that had to do with technology and she got it, feeling validated, knowing that she was called to the capital for a reason.
Costia kept writing for at least twenty minutes, stopping every now and then. Raven noticed that when she paused, she closed her eyes in concentration and moments later kept writing, as if she recalled the details she was missing.
She finally finished and sighed in relief, turning around and looking at Raven in surprise.
"Raven, I didn't see you there. How are you?" she offered kindly.
"You didn't…" Raven snorted, "you didn't see me there? I was talking to you."
"You were?" Costia smiled in disbelief. "I'm sorry, I was pre-occupied. You guys done a really great job with the place, considering not all the equipment is even here yet."
Raven shook her head in puzzlement. Costia acted as if her little trance-like display was completely normal.
"Yeah, we're trying to set everything up as quickly as possible," she finally replied, "listen, about yesterday…"
"It's fine, Raven, it's a new day," Costia brushed off. She was stuck in the past in so many ways, she didn't want to add to that, she didn't want to hold even more grudges.
"No, it's not, I was out of line. Things… things have been hard," she added. "And it was one hit after the other without a moment to think about what it all meant, but since the City of Light…"
"You had some time to think," Costia understood. She had years to think in Azgeda. It wasn't always a good thing.
"It's just… we came down here, and we met the people down here, and I thought we couldn't be more different. You guys seemed so violent, so much more prone to war," Raven tried to explain.
"From what I'm hearing, a girl was forced to grow up under a floorboard in order to keep her mom from being executed, and your people used execution as a tool for population reduction," Costia pointed out flatly.
"Yes, and I was finally starting to understand it, that we weren't so different, that it was always about survival, and then Lexa killed the man I loved," she gritted her teeth.
Costia stiffened. "Did she?" Costia inquired coldly. Raven had to know this conversation wasn't going to be easy and she insisted on having it anyway, she opened it with an apology, so Costia had to wonder what she was trying to achieve.
"Well, Clarke killed him, but Lexa made her do it."
"And what did he do to deserve such fate?" Costia asked sarcastically. She didn't think anyone deserved such fate, but she knew in what sort of a world they lived, and she knew the sort of choices Lexa had to make.
"He killed eighteen people. Including women and children," Raven looked down, shaking her head at the haunting memory, still not believing that Finn actually did what he did.
"Huh." Costia didn't add anything, she knew Raven was working through something.
"I blamed everyone for what happened to him, Clarke, for a long time, Lexa. So when I heard it was her lover who was going to be in charge, maybe there was a part of me that wanted to provoke you," she finally admitted.
"Have you ever had to lead, Raven?" Costia asked calmly, knowing very well what it felt like to lose the person that she loved. It made her feel much more compassion towards the other woman.
"No, and I don't wish to."
"You are smart, I never wished to, either."
"Yet you are here," Raven pointed out.
"Yes. Circumstances force us to do things we never wished to do. Say goodbye to a loved one, take upon ourselves roles that we didn't ask for, forgive those who wronged us under impossible circumstances."
Raven stared right into Costia's eyes, realizing that what Costia said was true to almost everyone she knew, not just the both of them.
"I wanted to provoke you, but I did also hope to find something familiar. When we just heard about the mountain it sounded like they were like us, culturally at least, and the Grounders were the savages. Which is ironic considering how the mountain men used my people as guinea pigs, and of course, this happened," Raven pointed at her injured leg.
"On the mountain?"
"Before, actually. By one of us," Raven looked away. "But it gotten worse when we tried to take the generators down at the mountain. And then they got us and… I guess you can say the enemy got me hurt when I was being a part of a hostile takeover that turned into a bit of a genocide."
"Everyone hurts everyone, right?" Costia suggested, a dark cloud on her face.
"Everyone helps everyone, too, isn't that what you were trying to tell me yesterday?"
Costia smiled softly. It was painful how she hardly remembered anything about her mother anymore, but the first lesson of her life, a lesson about people, how there was always a room for both caution and hope, was her mother's doing. "So where does that leave us?" she asked the young mechanic.
"I guess I was trying to say that we're all the same and the future is scary and trusting each other is hard?" Raven smirked.
"Sounds about right," Costia chuckled.
"But like you said, you trusted me, and I'm going to trust you," Raven promised, trying to convey to Costia just how much she meant it.
"I think the best way to show someone that they can put their trust in you is to put your trust in them, first," Costia noted.
"It has the potential to backfire," Raven pointed out.
"It does," Costia agreed, "but I don't think it will, not this time, as a matter of fact I'm just about to become a whole lot more trusting."
"What do you mean?" Raven inquired in confusion.
That was the moment Abby chose to walk in, stopping dead on her tracks when she noticed the white board which stood completely blank only half an hour before.
"What is all this?" she asked, completely dumbfounded.
"That," Costia looked at the board, "is how we synthesize a new type of blood, how we create more of my blood, and how we make it take effect in six weeks time," she summarized in self satisfaction.
"You did it!" Abby stared at her in amazement.
"Oh, no, Becca did it, and now you are going to do it," she concluded and Abby exchanged an excited, hopeful look with Raven.
"Also," Costia cleared her throat, "I know you are already stretched thin, so, so thin, but, I have a little side project for you."
"Is she an absolute nut job?" Raven asked her lab partner once Costia was gone after dropping a huge bomb on them.
"It's either that, or that she's an absolute genius," Abby observed, still quite rattled herself.
"Can we actually do this?" Raven questioned and Abby could see the young woman was both frightened and excited at the same time. She could very much sympathize with the sentiment.
"We will most certainly try."
"Do we want to do this?"
"From a scientific point of view? I think we most certainly do," Abby half stated half asked, but she saw the intrigue in Raven's eyes.
"And from other points of view?" the younger woman questioned cautiously.
"She thinks it's the right thing to do and she keeps trusting us. This, above all, is a sign of just how much. I think it's only fair that we trust her, too."
Notes:
Nyko's powder probably had the most "guest appearances" in this entire story.
