Previously in chapter 44
Marie concludes that Sierra must have poisoned Lexa, but Anya is unwilling to risk her life for the assumption without proof. Clarke proves that the poison has been in the cup and Bellamy concludes it must have been Gustus. The man seems intent to take the blame, but Marie speaks up and tells Lexa it has been Sierra instead. The woman admits her crime and is put on the tree for her execution. Marie also has to place her cut and can barely bare to watch the execution. She offers solace to Lexa later.
Chapter 45
Marie had no idea for how long she stood together with Lexa, locked in a tight embrace. It had completely passed her attention, that Anya had sat down on one of the stools and Gustus had returned to his post outside of the tent.
Lexa pulled her arms tighter around the smaller body once more, before she let her arms go slack around the child finally. With gentle fingers, she wiped away the tear tracks from Marie's cheeks and forced a slight smile onto her own face.
Marie could easily recognize that the smile was fake on the commander's part, but even she knew that Lexa needed to pull herself back together, watching the death of a close friend like that could not be easy and she shuddered to imagine just how it must feel like.
Now that they had an alliance with Skykru, the planning for the war against Mount Weather was bound to begin soon.
"What happens now?" Marie asked, as the commander bent down to set the table right again, she had knocked over before. The girl quickly helped Lexa with picking up the things that now lay scattered on the floor all round the tent.
"Now we wait for all of the generals of Trikru to arrive" Lexa said while re-arranging maps, she had just picked up from the floor. The commander's voice sounded steady, although Marie could still see a lingering sadness in her green eyes.
"What about Skykru?" Anya asked from her position on the stool "They cannot fight as we do, they even are not able to hunt. How are they supposed to help in this war?"
Lexa took out her sword and placed it on the table, quickly going to the side of the tent, where a basin with clean water and some rags were stored. She wetted a rag and started cleaning her sword of Sierra's blood. It took her a moment to gather her thoughts and finally answer "They understand the Mountain Men and their defences better than we do, we will need their knowledge to win. But I still think, that some of us need to train them in our ways. You are right, they need to learn to provide for themselves and to fight for themselves without their guns. They will run out of bullets sooner or later."
Anya nodded also with obvious reluctance "I hope you do not intend to send me to train them." The woman felt deeply uncomfortable in the presence of Skykru and their guns. The memory of the gunshot still fresh in her mind.
Lexa shook her head "No, you are still recovering. And you will need all the time you can get to recover, before the actual battle."
Anya seemed to let out a deep breath, she not been aware of holding at all and relieve washed over her features.
The commander had taken an empty sheet of parchment and a piece of dark charcoal and started to draw something.
Marie stayed standing beside the table and glanced over Lexa's shoulder curiously, wondering what the woman was drawing. The girl could only see an intricate pattern of lines, which seemed to form the crown of a tree.
Lexa let the girl watch silently, not reacting to her obvious eagerness to discover, what it was that she was drawing. The commander needed something to take of her mind of what had happened today and introducing Marie to Trikru properly, was more pressing than ever. When the other generals arrived, the girl's place must have been made clear, so that no other not so accidental misunderstanding could happen.
Anya also had no idea what Lexa was sketching on the parchment, but she had an idea when she got a glance of the parchment.
"Finished" Lexa said after some time and turned the sheet of parchment around for her to see "What do you think?" she asked.
Marie tilted her head slightly in thought, inspecting the drawing intently. The parchment showed a big tree without any leaves. The tree was surrounded on both sides by twelve stars on top of the tree's branches, Lexa had also sketched her discontinuous eternity symbol and above that her headpiece into the branches. "It looks nice" the girl said uncertainly, clearly not having caught up to what the sketch should represent.
Anya had also stood up from her stool to get a closer look at the sketch, but she looked slightly alarmed to find the commander's symbols included in the design "Don't you think including the commander's sacred symbols is a bit over the top?"
But Lexa just shook her head resolutely and explained "Marie is to be my second as well. And as the commander's second I can grant her the honour to wear those symbols."
Marie had caught up to what she had been presented with and her eyes got wide "This will be my tattoo?" she asked, surprise and awe flashing over her features.
"If you like it" Lexa said softly to her and watched the girl closely to assess her reaction.
"I love it" Marie was instantly delighted "The tree for Trikru" and Lexa nodded in agreement "and stars for Skykru?"
Lexa nodded again "Your origin will always stay in the stars. There are twelve stars for the twelve clans in the coalition. And this" she pointed to the eternity symbol "is the sacred symbol of the commanders. It will mark you as someone highly trusted by me." Silently in her head, Lexa added that it would also offer additional protection to the girl and the commander who would come after her, would most likely honour the symbol as well, so that Marie would remain protected no matter what happened to herself.
Initiating the girl into Trikru, would also serve to rectify the mood in TonDC as most of the inhabitants had already taken a liking to the quite Sky girl. Trouble concerning Marie would probably brew again, when she met with the other generals or with Titus in Polis the latest. She could almost hear her flamekeeper's angry tirade already.
"And where will it be made?" Marie asked trying to picture the motive somewhere on her body and being completely unable to do so.
"Here in the tent" Lexa answered easily, not having understood the question at all.
"No" Marie answered quickly, shaking her head with a frown "I meant, where it will be placed on my body."
Anya snorted slightly, being better aquatinted with the girl's way of thinking. She had directly understood what the girl had actually wanted to know.
"That depends on where you want it to be placed" Lexa answered, shooting Anya a look to silence her "You could have it placed on your upper arm, a leg, your back or even one of your sides."
Marie looked down her body, as if to judge where it would look best and Anya really laughed, when the girl turned around herself once, while trying to look at her own back.
"If you get it on your back or sides it will probably be too big to be done in one go. But it is your first tattoo so it will probably be made in several sessions anyway" Lexa said evenly with the hint of amusement in her tone.
The girl suddenly looked smaller somehow and worried her bottom lip between her teeth "Will it hurt much?" she asked lowly.
"Well it is not exactly pain free" Lexa admitted fighting against a smile "But there are special creams or even a tea that you can get to numb at least some of the pain."
"Are there any other rituals or something?" Marie wondered out loud. She truly looked forward to being integrated officially into Trikru.
Anya shook her head "Not for you. A child being integrated into a clan, works differently from petitioning to be integrated to another clan as an adult. If you were older, you would have been sent on a hunt of your own, to prove that you can provide for yourself and aid the clan, you want to join. But you are still a child and Lexa already proclaimed her intent to have you made a member of Trikru, so there is no need for you to prove anything now."
Marie nodded with relief evident on her face. After what she had seen so far, Marie had envisioned the initiation to somehow involve a fight or something.
Gustus suddenly announced Indra's arrival and the commander told him to let the general enter.
Indra strode into the tent and also shortly glanced at the parchment, but the general did not comment on it at all, she rather stated what she had come for "Our scouts report, that the generals from Ice Nation, Rock Line, Lake People and Blue Cliff are approaching fast. They should arrive at TonDC in the morning."
Lexa nodded, she had already sent word to the clans days ago now and expected all of them to arrive in the next two days. She said "I want you and some of your warriors to accompany whoever wants to return to Skykru camp from them. Stay with your warriors and start training them in our ways to fight and hunt."
Indra's lips seemed to thin slightly, but the general nodded silently.
"You can tell their party of the plan yourself" Lexa added evenly.
The dark-skinned woman nodded again "Anything else?" she inquired, tone tightly controlled.
The commander shook her head and dismissed Indra again. She turned to Anya "Do you know, if Leilani is still in TonDC at the present time?"
The other woman nodded "I think I have seen her around. Should I get her?"
Lexa nodded and added "And ask her, to bring her equipment to start right away."
Marie watched the exchange with interest unsure, if she should stay with Lexa or accompany Anya.
Lexa answered the girl's silent question, by slightly pushing her towards Anya to go with her. Lexa wanted a few minutes of quite solitude for herself at the moment.
From the position of the sun, Marie judged it to be sometime about early afternoon. She was internally still thinking about where to have her tattoo placed. "Do you think I should get it done on my back?" Marie asked Anya on their way through TonDC and added "And who is Leilani?"
Anya chuckled at the girl slightly "It will probably look most impressive on your back, but it will be covered by your clothes most of the times. But you can get other tattoos later on in different places, if you want. And Leilani is well known for her talent in marking another's skin."
In the distance, they could see Indra talking to Marcus. The man nodded and went back to the other Skykru.
"When will they leave?" Marie asked. She hoped that the atmosphere in TonDC would get friendlier again, after the others had left.
Anya had watched the girl closely guessing her train of thoughts and she shook her head with a slight frown "Not all of them will leave, Marie. Clarke will be expected to be part of the war meetings. Our people will need time to adjust."
Marie nodded with a thoughtful expression. With what had happened with Sierra, she doubted that it would be easy.
Leilani lived in a small cave on the outskirt of TonDC and the woman turned out to be much older than Marie would have guessed. Her skin was wrinkled from age and her hair had started to turn grey. But her brown eyes were still sharp, when they assessed Marie standing next to Anya.
Anya addressed the woman curtly "The commander asks for you to come and mark our new second."
Leilani's brown eyes were fixed onto Marie's for long moments and the girl tried not to squirm under her intense stare. Suddenly the woman nodded with a smile and turned around to gather the things she would need. "I am sure she will do great for Trikru" the woman said, after she returned with a pouch under her arms.
Marie blinked silently, unsure of how to react to such a comment, but Anya just shook her head with a smile dancing in her eyes and shoved the girl back out of the cave in front of her.
Their way towards the commander's tent was silent and short.
Lexa stood in front of the tent and it seemed as if she had just finished a speech as most of the inhabitants of TonDC stood gathered around the tent, their attention fixed on their leader.
When they saw Anya, Leilani and Marie approaching the tent, they cleared a path for them and Marie could see, that Skykru had also gathered, interested in what was happening.
The commander turned around and entered her tent again and they followed her inside, leaving the rest going back to what they had been doing previously.
Lexa showed Leilani the sketch, she had made for Marie and the woman nodded silently.
The old woman turned back to Marie and walked around the girl once "Her back would be most suited" she proclaimed thoughtfully.
The commander nodded and Marie was told to strip out of her clothes and to lie face down on the commander's bed for now.
Anya and Lexa had both followed her into the sleeping part of the tent and Anya had sat down on Marie's other side, while Lexa still stood next to Marie's head. It was obvious to both of them, how exited and scared the girl was to get her tattoo and with that to really belong to Trikru from now on.
At the first prick of the needle, Marie shrieked slightly in surprise.
Leilani had not announced that she would start, so she had simply startled Marie.
Lexa had taken to sitting down next to the bed cross-legged, after she had rid herself of her shoulder guard and long coat. To calm the girl, she had taken hold of one of the child's hands and she shrieked again, Lexa could see Anya taking Marie's other hand.
After some time, Lexa softly asked "And how is the pain?"
Marie blinked her eyes owlishly, as if she had been only moments ago from falling asleep "It doesn't really hurt."
Lexa chuckled softly and squeezed the girl's hand once.
Anya was leaning against a post of the tent, while still holding on to Marie's hand and also seemed to be close to sleeping, so Lexa simply began to try to mediate. She had expected her focus to be off, while she still held the girl's hand, but it did not take her long at all to settle her thoughts into the trance like state she wanted to achieve.
The tattoo took hours without end. Luckily, Marie still felt the sensation as not being really painful per se and she had truly even slept for some of the time. When she blinked her grey eyes open again some time later, she could feel Anya's hand completely relaxed and a short glance out of the corner of her eyes told her, that the woman had also fallen asleep. She doubted though, that her half sitting position was very comfortable to sleep in.
Lexa had her eyes closed, but she sat with a straight back next to her bed, so Marie thought that the woman was probably awake. She softly squeezed the commander's hand and instantly her green eyes snapped open again.
Leilani was humming a constant melody under her breath and Marie wondered, if the woman did not want to take a break.
"How far are we?" Marie asked in a low voice to Lexa.
The commander craned her neck and looked at the girl's back shortly. She must have mediated longer than she thought. Most of her charge's back was already decorated with dark ink now.
Leilani had started at the girl neck with her symbols and the stars and worked her way down the girl's spine and was at the moment occupied with outlining the tree's bark.
Lexa told her that it would not take much longer and most was done already and saw the girl's eyes light up happily.
Leilani had also heard the question and shook her head slightly "I will still need some time" she denied the leader's words.
Lexa nodded for her to continue.
Marie felt awake now and did not want to sleep again, but when Leilani moved to colour some of the tree's bark directly over her spine, she winced in pain. It was really starting to hurt now.
"Can you distract me somehow?" the girl asked, wincing again and her back straightened and as she tried to arch away from the needle.
Lexa squeezed her hand reassuringly and said "And what do you want to hear?"
Marie thought for a second "Can you tell me of your time before you became the commander?" she asked. She had wondered about the woman's past before, but had not dared to ask.
Lexa nodded again and silently thought about what to tell her specifically "You already know, that I have started my training early on. Our children start training in fighting, when they pick up a weapon for the first time. I did that with three summers."
"You have always been overly eager" Anya interjected in a sleepy voice, having woken up only a few seconds ago.
Lexa chuckled softly at the memory and so, they passed time with speaking about Lexa's childhood.
It had already turned completely dark by the time, Leilani finally stepped back with a satisfied nod and left them again only moments later, after gathering her things.
The skin on her whole back felt slightly irritated as Marie turned her head to catch a look at the new tattoo. She could see some branches of the tree even climb over her shoulder and the stars had been interwoven into them. But she could not see very much of the design without a mirror.
Lexa and Anya both seemed satisfied as well with the result and Anya left shortly to go to Nyko. She still needed her bandages to be changed and she wanted to get a balm for her second to help with the healing of the freshly tattooed skin.
Marie was feeling absolutely blissful right now. She finally belonged to Trikru. She had a place, where she belonged again.
"Thank you" Marie said softly to Lexa, eyes shining with deep emotions.
"For what?" the commander asked, slightly confused. It was normal to be marked at an initiation.
"For giving me a place to belong to" Marie added with a big smile and hugged the perplexed commander again.
