Chapter 25
Trying to calm Marie down on the way back to TonDC proved much harder than Lexa had anticipated. It was obvious that the girl was shocked by what had happened and she continued to almost chant that Lexa could not die as well. It pained her to see the little girl so distraught.
Additionally, they had to be vigilant that they did not run into another patrol of the Mountain. Their guns gave the Mountain Men an unfair advantage and Lexa knew that she had all in all been lucky not to have been wounded mortally by their bullet. The shot had been fired before any of their warriors had noticed the presence of the Mountain Men after all.
Lexa internally hoped that she had not sustained permanent damage by the bullet. She was used to fighting with two swords simultaneously and her fighting technique gave her the advantage she needed to outbalance the fact that she was physically smaller and lighter than most of her opponents so far.
They were moving faster through the forest now than Marie could keep up with. Lexa tried to keep the girl within her arms without putting any strain onto her left arm. The pain was blooming from her shoulder through the complete side of her left body by now and Lexa knew all too well that it would only get worse once the rush of danger wore out.
She tried to bite back another pained groan, when she had to make a slight jump over the fallen trunk of a tree, but she still saw the alarm pass through the girl's almost dazed grey eyes. Lexa was surprised though, when Gustus stepped closer to her.
The expression on the burly man's face portrayed at a least a fraction of the child's worry, as her offered to take the girl for his young leader, wanting to relieve her of the additional weight, which made it harder for her to move right now.
Marie did not seem really happy with the prospect though and Lexa felt her little fingers hold onto her shirt tighter, pushing the fabric firmer into the wounded area.
Lexa tried to adjust her grip on Marie, so that she could place her left hand on the girl's back, holding onto her more tightly. She knew that TonDC was not far away now and that she could continue to hold Marie's weight additionally. She gave Gustus a subtle shake of her head and the man backed away slightly with a frown on his face, but Lexa paid him no further mind.
"It's alright, little one" she tried to sooth the scared girl "I have you" she added as a further reassurance, banning all signs of pain from her features for now.
Anya heard about the arrival of the commander before she saw the small group of warriors. Word travelled fast among the warriors and she wiped away the sweat from her forehead just as she heard the quick order to send a healer to the commander's tent for their leader.
She quickly made her way towards Lexa's tent as well, awaiting her former seconds arrival, hoping that the young leader had not been wounded gravely. The clans just had found a shacky peace with each other under Lexa's reign and that would never hold if the commander fell now. She had helped to shape the young woman into the leader she was now and she did not wish to have to witness her fall. She also knew that the commander had taken the little blonde child with her and she could guess that the girl would need to be occupied for the healer to efficiently be able to work with Lexa.
She waited in front of the commander's tent, not for the first time waiting for her former second to be patched back together, only now she did not know the magnitude of Lexa's wounds.
Anya watched the commander nearing her tent with the child held to her chest. She frowned slightly at the sight, she had almost expected that it would be Lexa who would need to be carried to the tent and she internally relaxed a fraction. If Lexa was still able to walk, she was surely not gravely wounded.
She already held the tent's flap open for them to enter, seeing a healer hurry towards the tent as well from the other direction. She could still detect the little hints of pain and tension within Lexa's features when the commander finally entered the tent.
Anya listened to Lexa trying to urge Marie to finally let go of her shirt with a deepened frown, wondering if the girl had gotten hurt as well.
"Little one, we are safe now and you need to let go now" Lexa tried to convince the blonde child with slowly thinning patience. She saw the healer hover behind them indecisively, unsure of what to do.
Marie hesitated before she finally did weaken her grasp on Lexa's shirt, she still did not fully want to lose contact to the woman and her expression fell completely, when Anya reached out towards her, pulling her slightly away from Lexa and holding onto her.
"It's alright, little one" Lexa assured Marie, giving one of her chubby hands a slight squeeze, before she turned her attention towards the healer, assured that Anya would take care of Marie for now.
Anya tried to catch the girl's attention now, trying gently to turn the child into her direction, so that she could check her over as well. Marie was clearly reluctant to tear her gaze from Lexa.
"Marie, the healer will take care of Lexa now" Anya tried to reason with the girl in a calm tone, stepping in between Marie and the bed, when the child did still pay her no mind.
Marie pouted at the general, trying to look past her legs and to the bed and what was going on with Lexa.
"Enough now" Anya chided her in a sharper tone, noticing that Marie's hands seemed scrapped open at a few places and were clearly dirty "We will get you cleaned up now" she added with finality, giving the girl a slight push towards a basin with fresh water.
Marie looked at her for a moment, grey eyes huge and pleading, but Anya did not budge the slightest bit, staring down at the child with piercing brown eyes.
Anya watched the girl with a raised brow. It was obvious that she was just rushing to get her finger cleaned, to return to Lexa's side. She rolled her eyes at the girl and stood directly in front of her way "I can see from here, that your fingers are anything but clean" she remarked in a strict tone, giving the girl a non-impressed look.
Marie pouted at the general, but she obediently turned back to the wash basin and tried to get all the strains from her fingers. It smarted slightly where she had chaffed off the skin of her fingers, but she forgot all about cleaning her fingers, when she heard Lexa hiss and mumble something under her breath, probably a swearing she did not understand yet.
Anya had turned back towards the commander's bed as well and her brows furrowed when she recognized that Lexa must have been wounded by a gun "The invaders?" she spoke the question into the tent without any direct address.
Lexa shook her head, clearly clenching her jaw together as the healer was trying to close the hole the bullet had left within her shoulder. "Mountain Men" she bit out through clenched teeth, reigning in another course.
Anya sighed under her breath, the last thing they needed was to lead a war at two fronts now. She thought that this could hopefully prompt Lexa though to let her lead another unit against the invaders before the Mountain could make another move as well.
The location of the wound on Lexa's body made worry bloom within her mind though. Anya knew that a commander needed to be physically strong. Their healers also had little experience with wounds caused by bullets.
Anya managed to hold Marie back though, when the child clearly meant to rush to the bed. She wondered what Marie had intended to do though.
"It is okay, Anya" Lexa addressed the general directly. She had noticed Marie's expression when the woman had physically held her back. She reached out with her right hand towards Marie, inviting the child over. She was internally touched that the girl clearly wanted to be there for her now.
Marie seemed to throw a slightly accusative gaze over her shoulder at Anya, before she rushed over to Lexa, immediately grasping onto the commander's offered hand. Her grey eyes were big and empathic as she searched Lexa's face and she seemed to react with a wince to each hiss that Lexa did not manage to bite back.
Marie watched the healer patch the commander back together with wide eyes. Although Lexa had assured her, that she was not hurt seriously, she still feared that the woman could die as well. What if Lexa was not telling her the truth?
Lexa breathed out a sigh of relieve once the healer put a bandage around her torso and gave her a tea against the pain still coursing strongly through the left side of her body.
Marie still seemed worried and was watching her every move. Anya was the only one who had remained within the tent with them.
"Little one, I am fine" Lexa tried to reassure the girl in an honest tone "and you can let go again" she added with an amused smile as the girl still was vehemently holding onto her hand.
Marie tilted her head to the side, her grey eyes switching between the bandage on the woman's torso and the commander's green eyes "But what if you stop b'eathing…" she exclaimed in a shaky tone.
Lexa sighed under her breath "I will not die from this wound, little one" she tried once again repeat what she had been saying for what felt like a long time now.
"You can't not…" Marie did not even seem to have heard that Lexa had said anything at all.
Lexa opened her mouth to retort once again, that she would not die, when the child's expression suddenly changed drastically and the girl seemed to be looking right through her for a second, before she abruptly felt a blinding pain radiate from the wounded area on her shoulder. Her sight was nearly blinded as well by a sudden bright light, which seemed to come from Marie's hands, which were still holding onto her right hand.
Anya watched the scene in front of her with wide disbelieving eyes. She blinked a few times, taking in the light which seemed to emit from Marie's hand. The girl had not held anything which could burn and the light was different from the red light of a burning flame.
Once Lexa could truly see again, as the light seemed to have disappeared, she noticed that the pain had completely faded by now. It had nearly knocked the breath out of her only a moment ago and now she did not feel any pain anymore, neither did she feel the slight exhaustion from the short night.
"Marie, how have you done this?" Lexa asked the girl in confusion.
Marie blinked at Lexa for a moment, as if she was just waking from a daze, letting go of Lexa's hand and she noticed that Anya had stepped closer to the bed as well, looking down at her with a weird expression.
Lexa reached to her shoulder cautiously, but she truly felt nothing. She furrowed her brow in bewilderment. She could still feel a bit of dried blood beneath the bandage, but as she took it off, there was absolutely no sign of the hole from the bullet at all anymore.
Marie felt weird somehow, although she did not understand what had happened. It had felt to her as if a few moments were missing, although she was not even sure where this feeling came from. Her body tingled weirdly and she felt a little queasy.
"It is healed…" Anya had leaned down over Marie and was inspecting Lexa's shoulder with a puzzled expression. She stepped behind Lexa, crouching down as well, to look at Marie. Although she had seen what happened, she did not understand it one bit.
"You have healed me, little one" Lexa repeated what Anya had just proclaimed "How have you done it?"
"Can you do it again?"
"Do you know if others have such a talent on your Ark?"
"Are you feeling well?"
"Has the healing been a painful experience to the others as well?"
"Why can you do this?"
"Have you done it before?"
Lexa and Anya bombarded the child with questions, not even giving her the slightest bit of a chance to answer even one question and not noticing how every further question had made Marie shrink into herself. Halfway through the rapid questions, the girl had begun to breathe quicker and once Lexa had asked the last question, tears were rolling down Marie's cheeks.
Lexa and Anya exchanged an alarmed gaze, both had not noticed how overwhelmed the child truly was with the situation.
"Ssh, little one" Lexa tried to sooth the girl.
"We will figure this all out later" Anya made an attempt to calm the child as well "It is alright, there is no reason to cry now".
Lexa reached out and wiped away a few tears from the girl's cheeks, but Marie's eyes continued to dart back and forth between the two of them, clearly unsettled by everything. She finally pulled the girl into a hug, hushing to her and she felt guilty that they had bombarded the girl with so many questions.
Marie's thoughts were rushing through her mind and she was still feeling slightly sick. She did not like the way Lexa and Anya had looked at her in alarm, as if she had done something dangerous, but she could not remember doing anything.
No matter how Lexa tried to sooth Marie, the child continued to cry, beginning to slowly quiet down in the comforting warmth of Lexa's embrace, until she had fallen asleep within the commander's arms. Lexa continued to hold onto her for long moments further, as silence settled between them, as Marie's weeping had evened out into soft breathing.
Lexa's expression turned soft, when she slowly tried to ease Marie's sleeping form out of her arms and down onto the bed and she noticed that Marie had been sucking on her thumb while falling asleep. She gently wiped the residual tears from the girl's pale roundish cheeks.
Anya had sat down at a table, looking over at the bed, obviously deep in thought. She was wondering if someone could know more about this strange healing talent the child must be possessing, but she could not remember ever hearing about such a thing before.
Lexa remained sitting on the edge of the bed, looking down at the sleeping child, as she continued to caress over the girl's cheeks gently.
"I have never heard of such a thing" Anya broke the silence after long moments.
Lexa finally stopped looking down at Marie and looked over at her former mentor instead, still keeping up physical contact to the girl though. She shook her head "Neither have I" she retorted simply. She had tried to remember if she had ever read a reference to such a thing but the only thing which could come even remotely close, were fairytales.
"Do you think that she did this before?" Anya asked after another pause.
Lexa already wanted to reply, when she took a closer look at the girl. She carefully turned over the girl's palm and there was no sign of any scraps anymore. She remembered the shining light she had thought to see after the burning ceremony. "I am not sure" Lexa finally answered "but I don't think that she's doing it consciously" she added in a thoughtful ton.
Anya's brows furrowed "You mean she does not have control over it?".
Lexa told her former mentor about what had happened after the burning ceremony and when Anya moved back over to the bed, she pointed out that the child's hands looked completely fine again and how there was no sign of her split lip either.
Anya took a moment to process the new piece of information, mulling it over internally "Do you think someone could know more about this?" her tone was vague.
Lexa slightly shook her head "I do not know, but…" she trailed off with a slight sigh.
"You fear for her safety" Anya ascertained and her gaze remained on the commander's hand still gently caressing the child's cheek. The connection between them was palpable.
Lexa nodded in agreement "Such a talent if controlled somehow, will make her a target" she said. She had already feared that the connection to her own person might be putting the girl into a precarious position in the future and this would only add to it.
"It certainly cannot become public" Anya agreed as silence settled between them again. It would probably get complicated to keep such a big secret and especially for a child that young, but she would do all she could to protect Marie, she knew that Lexa would die trying to protect her, so she would be helping.
Lexa offered to the general to stay within the commander's tent for the night, but she was not too surprised when Anya declined, saying that she would return in the morning with breakfast.
"Rest with her" Anya said as a farewell "We will figure this all out … together".
Lexa nodded with the hint of a smile as she watched her former mentor leave. She remained sitting on the edge of the bed for a long time. She was not feeling tired and her mind was turmoiled. She could never have imagined that such a young girl could change her life so much in such a short time.
