Chapter 24
Once Marie woke up on the next morning, it took her a moment to realize that she was not alone in the bed. The mornings before, the commander had already been sitting at the table over a map or another document, but now, the woman was still lying next to her.
Light was already filtering through the fray material of the tent, so that Marie could inspect Lexa's sleeping features more closely without being caught.
Marie slightly wiggled out under Lexa's arm which had been slung over her body and turned onto her tummy next to Lexa, letting her gaze slowly wander from the woman's wavy wild brown hair which was right now distributed freely across the pillow around herself, over the woman's forehead, to her closed eyes and her lips, down to her chin. The woman looked much younger now and Marie internally wondered just how old Lexa actually was.
Once Marie looked back up again, she let out a surprised quacking noise when her gaze connected with Lexa's suddenly opened piercing green eyes.
Lexa's lips pulled into an amused smile at the child's reaction. She reached out and put a strand of blonde hair behind the girl's ear.
Marie's smiled brightly at the woman, leaning into the slight caress.
Lexa frowned at the girl in confusion. Marie's smile had revealed the gap within her teeth, where there had been a slight hint of an insetting inflammation yesterday, the girl's gum looked completely fine now. Additionally, the girl's lips did not show any signs of where she had busted it as well.
"Are you feeling well, little one?" she asked the girl in a concerned tone, trying to understand why there was no sign of any injury visible anymore.
Marie tilted her head the side slightly, not understanding why the commander seemed worried somehow. She nodded with a smile on her lips. She was not in any kind of pain anymore. Her lips did not feel swollen either. "But I'm hung'y" she exclaimed as her stomach gave a low rumble in agreement.
"Oh, we will certainly be able to help with that" Lexa answered with a smile "Let us get ready for the day then. The sooner we are ready, the sooner you can get something to eat".
Marie nodded enthusiastically, scrambling to get up under the furs.
Lexa hurried to sit up as well, already internally predicting that the girl may tangle her legs between the furs and just fall from the bed in her admittedly clumsy eagerness.
Marie giggled under her breath when Lexa's grip unexpectedly tickled her sides.
"You are ticklish?" Lexa echoed in mock surprise, but she refrained from tickling the child on purpose for now. She knew that it was already much later than she would usually get up and she was not sure why nobody had brought breakfast into the commander's tent yet.
Once she had helped the little blonde girl to get down from the bed safely, Lexa got up as well.
To Lexa's surprise, Anya entered the tent together with Alira sometime later, while Lexa was still in the process of helping Marie wash herself. She would have expected the general to remain on the training pits or mourn the recent loss of her second alone, but Anya's voice sounded as calms as it could have as she proclaimed her own arrival loudly.
Marie's features enlightened when she heard the general's voice and before Lexa could make a grab for the young girl, Marie had already slipped past the curtain separating the bathing area from the rest of the tent, not even completely dressed yet and her hair still tangled and damp.
Lexa watched the child storm away, shaking her head with an amused smile pulling at the corners of her mouth, while she remained behind the curtain to put on her clothes first.
"Anya!" Marie exclaimed a tad bit too loud, running straight towards the general with a wide smile on her features and extending her arms towards the woman.
"Hello to you too, little one" Anya retorted, bending down to catch the girl before she could topple over "You could have gotten dressed before greeting me" she added with a slight smirk. Although she had come to the commander's tent to try and convince Lexa to let her lead a bigger unit towards the invaders and she had felt tense with grief, the little girl managed to clear her mind in a blink.
Marie gave the general a wide smile, broadcasting the gap between her teeth, but she did let herself be distracted by Lexa who stepped up behind her with a shirt in her hand for the little girl.
"Lift your arms, little one" Lexa prompted the young child in a gentle tone.
"I will do her hair as well" Alira offered in a kind tone, placing the tray with breakfast onto the large table and waiting for the commander to sit down to weave her leader's hair into her typical braids first.
Marie obediently lifted her arms, so that Lexa could slide the shirt over her body and the commander pulled on it until it sat right on her small frame. It was not the exact size the girl needed, but it would certainly do for now.
The little girl likewise pulled Lexa and Anya to the table, waiting for Lexa to sit down and trying to climb onto the commander's lap as if that was her natural place now. The commander even slightly bent down and pulled the young girl up onto her knees, before she helped her by cutting a piece of meat for her.
Anya watched her previous second and the young girl interact without words and apparently still without any problems for a long moment. "I want to lead another unit against the invaders" Anya destroyed the peaceful moment abruptly, expression grim and her tone as sharp as ever.
Marie looked up at the general with wide grey eyes. She could imagine who the invaders were to whom Anya was referring to. She may not have liked many of the other 100, but she still felt weird hearing that there would be a war between them. She highly doubted that the 100 stood a real chance against an army of Lexa's people; she had seen them train after all.
Lexa shook her head in the negative "Not yet" she wanted to wait until the surrounding villages had sent their warriors and they should be arriving within the next day or two. She also wanted to increase the patrols around the Mountain.
After the breakfast, Anya had left the commander's tent like a storm, annoyed by the fact that her young leader had denied her proposal and she wanted to fight off her frustration on the training pits.
Marie was visibly taken back by the general's abrupt leave and her good mood seemed dampened by it as well.
Fortunately, Marie was almost ecstatic again, when Lexa proclaimed that she would be allowed to accompany the woman onto a patrol around the village. It sounded like it could be a little fun adventure.
The girl was impatient to get out of the village once Lexa had broadcasted her plan. Although Lexa tried to brief Marie on what she needed her to do during their outing, it was painstakingly obvious that the blonde child barely listened at all.
Lexa contemplated if taking Marie with her on the patrol was really a good idea, but she had coordinated with Gustus to accompany them and three additional pair of warriors would leave the village with them in the same direction, so that they should be protected enough. Lexa did not truly anticipate to run into warriors from the Mountain.
She made sure that Marie was dressed accordingly and she tried to brief the child again in a sterner tone right before they were ready to leave "It is of utmost importance that you obey me without second thought out in the woods" Lexa said in a calm tone, crouching down to be on the same level as Marie "When I tell you to run, you run, and when I tell you to hide, you hide. Is that clear?"
Marie nodded obediently that she had understood, although she was internally confused as to why the commander was so serious all of a sudden, she was just eager to return to the woods. The woods had appeared so interesting and much more entertaining than just having to stay within the tent.
Lexa sighed under her breath, looking down at the overly excited girl critically, debating if she should just leave the girl in the safety of TonDC, but also not wanting to disappoint the child's expectations.
"Can we go now?" Marie asked in a high-pitched tone, disrupting the commander's internal debate.
Lexa nodded "We shall go now, but remember to listen to me" she added just to repeat her instructions.
Lexa watched the child trail ahead of her with a little sigh. As soon as they had set foot outside of the village, Marie had let go of her hand and quickly went from one flower to another and if Marie was not inspecting flowers or plants, she tried to catch the leaves falling down from the trees.
Gustus who was mutely walking beside the commander had his eyes trained around them, barely giving the child more than a brief glance, it seemed that the commander only had eyes for her though.
Marie more than enjoyed herself. The forest was so exciting and she did not notice how quickly the time passed. She still felt full of energy and the soft breeze on her skin felt amazing. She only noticed after some time that her ankle had not started to even hurt a little bit and it made even more fun once Lexa truly joined her and they made a sort of little game of who would catch a leave quicker.
"You letting me win!" Marie accused the commander in an affronted tone, once she had caught the third leave in a row.
Lexa looked surprised for the flash of a second, not having expected the girl to catch on with what she was doing. They had already covered the way she had planned and she had made them turn around only a few moments ago. As they had not encountered anyone, Lexa let her guard down slightly and concentrated fully on the blonde little girl, aware of the fact that Gustus was with them and would protect them. "I may not perform to my full abilities" she agreed after a moment of silence.
Marie pouted at the commander "Don't wanna be let win" in a whiny tone.
Lexa gave the girl a gentle look "I will refrain from letting you win then" she amended "Are you good at losing?" she added in a teasing tone and an almost mischievous twinkle within her green eyes.
Marie pursed her lips in thought for a moment. She actually had not really liked losing in a game. She had been in a sort of preschool class on the Ark and they had mostly played games there. The teacher had chided her, when she threw down the memory cards after losing. After the teacher had chided her though, she had never reacted badly to losing again.
"I guess so" she finally settled on as an answer to the woman's question and her grey eyes quickly flicked back to the trees around them, settling her gaze on one particular leave which soared through the air in front of them.
Before Lexa could reach over the girl's head towards the leave Marie had pointed out, there suddenly was an unexpected booming loud noise and the next thing Lexa realized was that Gustus had pushed her out of the way and she felt a blooming pain radiate from her left shoulder.
Marie let out a startled screech at the loud booming noise and she suddenly was pushed down to the ground, scraping her hands and knees in the process.
She could not fully see and grasp what was happening around her. Everything suddenly seemed to happen way too quickly. Several warriors seemed to appear out of nowhere and more booming noises resonated around them. Marie startled strongly with each one of them and the hair on her neck stood up as a shiver ran through her frame at hearing what would probably be called a war cry coming from the warriors from TonDC.
While the fight around her seemed to go on quicker than she could truly watch, time seemed to almost stand still between her and Lexa. Her grey eyes widened once she watched Lexa apparently a little dazed, reaching one hand to her own shoulder and her fingers came back visibly coated in thick black blood.
The commander was hurt. Marie needed another moment to connect that the noises around them were gunshots and she wondered for a moment if the other 100 could be attacking them.
Marie crawled over to Lexa, feeling her heart beat faster within her chest as her eyes constantly switched back and forth between the commander's eyes and her bleeding shoulder and occasionally to the fight going on around them.
Once she looked up again, she noticed that the warriors seemed to have nearly won against their opponents. Their opponents did not really appear to be human though, they had the shape of a human, but they seemed covered from head to toe in a strange suit. She remembered seeing a similar thing on the Ark.
Her attention returned to Lexa though. The commander had promised to protect her, but now she was hurt. What if the woman stopped breathing as well?
"Everything is alright, little one" Lexa tried to reassure the clearly worried child in a calm tone, blocking out the pain from her wound as well as possible.
"You cannot stop b'eathing as well" Marie exclaimed in a panicked tone.
Lexa reached out towards the child, biting down a pained groan, not wanting to worry the girl further. She had been hurt before and she would survive this. Her warriors had the situation well covered and she felt anger bubble within her mind. The Mountain Men rarely moved this far away from their hideout and she had exposed Marie to unnecessary danger by taking her into the woods with her. She needed to bring her back to TonDC, increase the patrols around the Mountain, organize the troops which would attack the invaders and see a healer.
