Chapter 17

Lexa waited in silence with Marie for the healer to arrive, letting the girl sit on her lap, keeping an arm looped around her smaller body. She felt how Marie's sobs slowed down and her breathing was just slightly hitched, once Alira arrived.

Nyko had still not returned to TonDC, so the handmaid was the only one with some founded knowledge about healing. Lexa was relatively certain that Marie would be keeping the healers in Polis busy, once she brought the child to the capitol. Small children were prone to accidents and the capitol would offer so much for the little blonde girl to explore.

Marie smiled shily at the older woman. She remembered from the Ark that she had to sit still and let Abby examine her, so she behaved herself now as well.

Alira was as thorough in her examination as she could, feeling along the girl's slightly swollen ankle, twisting it in various directions and pressing on it to feel if any bones were shifting.

Marie only winced mutely at the administrations, trying to resist the urge to pull her foot away from the woman.

Lexa felt the girl's body tense as soon as Alira began and she soothingly rubbed the child's back. It was obvious that Marie was trying her hardest to remain motionless and still and she internally had to acknowledge that child's strong will in that moment.

Alira gave the girl an encouraging smile "Nothing appears broken" she assessed towards Lexa "I wish Lexa had been such a compliant patient as a child".

Lexa pulled a slight grimace at the older woman. She had been about the age Marie was now, when Anya had first brought her to Polis and she had gotten to know Alira then. The woman had been serving the commanders before her from young adulthood on.

Anya had taught her from their very first lesson together that as long as she was still able to stand and hold up her weapon, an injury needed to wait to be assessed and cared for until after training was done; no enemy would just stop and pause their attack in a real fight after all. She had been ecstatic about starting her own training and had been quite overambitious at times and sitting still for an examination which she regarded as pointless had never been her strong fort as a child.

"The boy can be released soon" Alira relayed the message Indra had told her for the commander. One of the invaders had been caught by a patrol some time ago. Now that they knew the invaders to behold guns, Lexa had decided that they could use the boy to weaken the invaders. The boy had given up all the information he beheld after some mild torture wilfully. The amount of information the boy had had been disappointing though.

Marie's smile at the small anecdote dropped and she frowned slightly at the switch in language in front of her. She had noticed before that Lexa and those around her usually spoke in English for her sake if she was around. So, naturally she was curious about what was being said now.

Alira shortly left the commander's tent to gather what she would need to prepare a salve for the child's ankle which would bring down the swelling more quickly and help with the pain the girl would be experiencing once she put weight back on her feet.

"Is eve'ything fine?" Marie asked in a soft tone once they were alone in the tent again and waiting for Alira to return.

Lexa nodded her head in agreement, she would need to decide soon about how much Marie would be privy to. If she kept the child around herself like she was planning to, then the girl would naturally be exposed to all different kinds of information. "It is nothing you need to concern yourself with" Lexa tried to ease the child's obvious curiosity. Now that the girl was not able to speak their language it was still relatively easy to keep things from her, but Lexa highly doubted that Marie would need very long to begin to pick up certain things. She knew that young children had an easy time learning a new language and Marie would of course need to learn Trigedasleng if they ever wanted her to be able to truly integrate with their people.

Marie's frown didn't really ease and it was obvious that she was not satisfied with that answer, but the girl did not speak up again, instead she began playing around with a clasp from Lexa's coat. "Will you teach me how to climb a t'ee?" she asked into the easy silence a moment later in a soft tone. She wanted to be able to do what the other children could.

Lexa's lips curled into a slight smile "Of course, once your foot is well again" she promised the little girl. She doubted that they would need to remain much longer in TonDC. Once Anya lead her troops against the invaders and they had been dealt with, then there would be no need for her to remain in the Trikru village.

Marie remained still again while Alira applied the salve and a bandage for stabilisation around the child's ankle. To cheer the girl up a little, the handmaid had brought along a small honey cake for the girl; a treat most of their own children loved.

Marie looked at the offered pastry for a moment in silence, mutely glancing up at Lexa for confirmation that she was allowed to accept the pastry from the woman.

Lexa gave the child an encouraging nod, although she was internally perplexed that Marie would be looking for allowance to her at all, but she was touched by it. The child's immediate trust to her was obviously morphing quickly into an emotional bond.

Marie accepted the pastry with shining grey eyes, sniffing at it cautiously before she took the first bite. The smile which grew on her roundish features at the sweet taste was almost blinding and she immediately took a second bite "Yummy!" the girl assessed with a full mouth in an enthusiastic tone.

Alira nodded her head with an answering smile "I will make sure that you receive another one alongside of dinner tonight" she promised to the girl.

Marie's enthusiasm visibly grew and a few curls bounced around her roundish features as she nodded her head in agreement, obviously excited about the prospect of getting more of the honey cake.

"Do not speak with your mouth full" Lexa chided the girl gently, before she continued to watch the child eat the pastry in silence, Alira had left a moment ago and she was surprised by how slowly the child was eating, as if she was trying to make it last as long as possible.

Marie even offered a part of the treat to Lexa, but the woman declined with a slight smile. She had never cared too much for the overly sweet pastry, while Costia had loved it, so much that she had gotten up earlier before training just to be able to get her some from the markets in Polis.

"Do you want to explore more of TonDC now?" Lexa asked after Marie had finally finished the small cake.

Marie slightly shook her head. Her foot was still pulsing painfully and she doubted that walking would be comfortable at all.

So, instead Lexa remained within her tent with Marie for the next few hours, starting to teach the child a few basics of their language. It was cute to watch Marie trying to mimic the harsher pronunciation, making little grimaces as she did so.

Anya joined back with them in the early evening, she had questioned the boy from the intruders again. "You're teaching her Trigedasleng already?" the general asked Lexa with slight surprise in her tone.

"Me lea'ning Tigeslen'" Marie answered with a grimace of utter concentration, she obviously had difficulties to form the words.

Lexa chuckled under her breath at the horrible pronunciation of the young girl "It is "Tri ge da sleng"" she intoned the word extra slowly, emphasising each syllable carefully for Marie.

Marie mouthed the word back almost perfectly.

"You will be able to talk in our language in no time" Anya assessed with the hint of a smile on her lips.

On the next morning Marie was already feeling better. The girl had slept peacefully through the night, sheltered by Lexa's closeness and was fully energetic again after breakfast.

Lexa had agreed to Anya challenging her to a combat fight on the training pits and she brought Marie along to watch. Quiet a few people had already gathered around the small clearing they used for training, having heard that the commander herself would be showing off her skills.

Lexa left Marie at the side-line under the watch from Gustus and in Tris' company. The older blonde girl was clearly awed with her and she was fairly certain that her former mentor had told the girl many stories of the time she had spent under her tutelage.

Marie was surprised why there were so many people around now. She had watched Anya and Tris train together yesterday and the place had been almost empty then.

She watched Anya and Lexa fight with each other under the almost constant comments coming from Tris.

The older girl continued to point out certain moves, naming each one and it seemed that her adoration for her mentor and her leader was only growing with each second "I wanna be able to fight like this one day" she told the little girl in an excited tone.

Marie titled her head sideways a little, trying to picture herself being able to fight like this, but she doubted that she could even move this quickly at all, not speaking about having to handle a weapon as well. She had thought that Anya had already used her full strength yesterday with Tris, but it was obvious now that this had not been the case at all. Anya and Lexa both seemed to be exerting themselves now, but it seemed to her as if Lexa was prevailing Anya slightly.

"Do you think I can lea'n that, too?" Marie spoke up for the first time since Lexa had left her side. She was standing close to Gustus, just like Lexa had ordered her to, but she was not feeling at ease in the burly man's presence. She had been fine with just listening to the older girl talk and watching the fight between Lexa and Anya, trying to follow the women's movements was challenging enough for her.

Tris only begrudgingly turned her eyes from the fight to shortly glance over the younger girl. "You're going to have a great future with the commander and the best Trikru general teaching you" she promised easily, having heard already from Anya that it was likely that they would not return to the small outpost they had resided in previously, but instead accompany the commander to the capitol. She was excited about the prospect, as she never had seen the capitol yet.

Marie seemed unsure of the older girl's words, but she did not comment on them, feeling the dark eyes of the burly man having turned to her and she wished that the fight would end soon, so that Lexa would return to her.